Light - Christmas message!

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

This is the truth of Christmas. Light came into the world. The world hates light. Come into the light! Come and see how dirty you are! Come and be cleansed by the blood of Jesus! This is the uncomfortable message the world must hear.

Married into a family (part 2)

Following on from the last post, the sacredness of marriage expressed in the Bible is directly applied to the church. Paul says in Ephesians 5, “Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her... so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” and “as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”

You've probably heard new Christians say that they were amazed when they suddenly had a new family. There is an important personal intimacy with our Creator God shown in these words from a hymn, "My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine." But somehow, particularly in the western world, we struggle to say "I know thou art ours." We can be so focussed on being 'in love' with God that we forget all about our brothers and sisters - our new family. Think if God had done that with the Trinity (theirs was a perfect loving, sharing, complete love) - if he'd not decided to extend his love to humankind, we wouldn't be here!

Jesus is not a boyfriend. His love and our love for him shouldn't be reduced to a human level. "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church." We imitate him; he is 'the way'. Jesus "loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy". So if his love stops with me, there's something wrong. I am part of the Bride of Christ - the church. He is "My Jesus, My Saviour" but he doesn't belong to me. Neither is he only for me. Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you." As we embrace our Father and our Saviour in love and worship, let's embrace the community of Church.

I've got many questions: Where does 'me and God time' fit in the community that is church? What is corporate prayer and worship and how does it work? Where is the church God wants me to be?
At the end of the day there is one thing that matters. That the compassionate, concerned, obedient, humble servants heart of Jesus would be my own.

Married into a family

“I'm not losing a daughter, I'm gaining a son,” said the bride's father. I was at the wedding of my friend in Uganda and the bride's father was giving his daughter to the family of the bridegroom as is the custom. She was not simply marrying the man but becoming part of a new family. I fought back tears – this was a special moment. The significance of what her father said could only be seen in the wedding of believers. And I knew that my friend would be a son to both fathers and a brother to the sisters of his bride.

Here in the West we see things differently. A relationship is two people – at best headed for marriage; at worst for a selfish fling. Two people, together, for each other, no one else matters... family included. I'm thankful to know several 'couples' who in their relationship have stepped into the life of their girl/boyfriend. The family matters because the girl matters to him and because they matter to the girl. Many married couples also, don't merely oblige their in-laws, but love and embrace their new family. Isolation is arrogance; friendship is humility. To quote one of my favourite authors, Josh Harris: “The place of community in Christian romance is both biblical and beautiful.”

Postview

I think it'd be nice for some to know what I have been doing since September. Three months ago, I really didn't know what I was letting myself in for. Was I going to sink in a mire of theological terms, philosophical arguments and unsuccessful attempts at cooking? Crucially, with all this learning about God, was I actually going to get to know him better?

Thankfully, the answer to that last question was yes! As for the others:

Yes, I had to learn a lot of new words and terms like: canonical approach, hermeneutics, traditio-historical exegesis, redaction criticism, autographs (no, not the ones I've got in my scrapbook from my football heroes; but the original manuscripts of the Bible), phenomenological... and so on... and on... and on. Whilst silently cursing their existence, I found that they saved time and space in my essays and occasionally made me sound like I knew what I was talking about!

Arguments have been few and far between. Most concern something known as 'Calvinism' and the extent of God's sovereignty and mercy. Some of us are creative (or abstract!) thinkers and hate to apply cold logic to our faith; others of us are happy as long as everything adds up. I'm not happy and not sure what to believe on this issue. But I trust God as he slowly reveals his truth to me and does all possible to save me from pride of knowledge.

Cooking has been fun, sometimes dangerous, often original – it's good to have friends in college who, aside from being great people, are pretty solid cooks. They've been a great encouragement and distraction in the busyness of essays and exams.

I've gone up regularly to the Bridgend Christian School to be with another special group of people; been involved in sports, spanish and devotions there; and generally been very blessed by their friendship. Last week, they had a Christmas concert and their music and drama was so anointed – they really ministered. As much as I like adults, it seems that God has placed a desire within me to work with children and teens. I've also been involved in a kids club at a local church.

I've got a fairly long break now, but I'm already looking forward to being back in Bridgend.

End of Term Musings

So it's the end of term. Exams finished; weeks of study over. I'm happy. Actually, I've rarely felt so exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. And I haven't even got any feedback as to results. To anyone reading this blog who, in the back of your mind, has thoughts of attending Bible college: don't suppress them! Do it! I've been pleasantly surprised, incredibly stretched and if iron sharpens iron (through occasionally uncomfortable, often intense conversations) then I've never been somewhere with so much around.

At the end of the day, whilst here we "seek truth and pursue it", it is wise to become ever more aware that in Christ there are many great mysteries. God himself is unsearchable. Who can fathom his mysteries? Job knew that no one can. I pray that I may too. Pride is too dangerous and with more revelation of God comes more temptation of pride.

Tonight the moon is going to be bigger and brighter and closer than it has been for 15 years. I hope the clouds are swept away to give me a nice long look and maybe a few snaps with my camera. Looking at the moon, I can't help wonder at anyone who doubts God's existence. This planet itself is incredible but to see the moon lit up by the sun winging its way across the sky is awe-inspiring. We have little round baubles which we hang on the tree, but here is a gigantic hunk of rock just there - hanging on nothing! What a Creator!