Still Quarrying: Surface Or Substance.

 There is no doubt that the World Cup is the poorer for the home coming of the Tartan Army.  The most colourful, joyful in song, generous contributors to local economies as bars and restaurants were eagerly patronised.  It’s just a pity that the outward display was not matched by what happened on the field of play.  Again we are faced with the inescapable truth: we are just not good enough.  

This got me thinking about the Church.  It’s possible for us to generate liveliness, variety, even imagination and up-to-dateness.  But does the substance measure up to what is on the surface?  

In a book of his sermons the American theologian Richard Lischer recalls a post-worship encounter with a young woman who approached him rather aggressively with the question: ‘What does this church have to offer me?’  I’ll let him tell you the rest:

‘ . . . I recited the most attractive features of our “program”.  She looked at me with pained forbearance.  “Well, that’s nice, but I’m looking for a church that can help me die.  Do you think your church is up to that - and what about you, Reverend?’

I have some sympathy with Richard.  Sometimes in the immediate aftermath of a service it is not easy to cope with big challenges like this.  But the young woman struck a chord that resonated in his head for years after.  Like the time, years ago, when a young man in a hospital asked me: ‘What is the purpose of your church?’

So what would you say?  Paul once recalled his first visit to the people of Corinth in which he laid out his priority: “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you  except Jesus Christ and him crucified.’  (1Corinthians 2:2).  However attractive our “program” sooner or later those we are seeking to reach have to come up against this.  What makes us a church in the first place?
  We can dangle the carrot in front of them but sooner or later it will shrivel and deliver less than it promises.  Paul knew not only what would help people die but also to live a quality of life made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 

Still Quarrying: Staying In The God Zone

 

I was interested to discover that I am 'one of the more established patients' in the Beatson Cancer Centre. This doesn't come with any extra privileges I hasten to add.  It just means I have been around a long time.  My cancer was diagnose as active in 2019.  Then began treatment which involved a stem-call transplant until today when the treatments continues.  There is no actual cure for Multiple Myeloma but with continuing chemotherapy and various back-up medications the worst can be kept at bay.  But for how long?

That is a Biblical question.  It particularly arises in the Book of Psalms.  Going through the mill in various ways the Psalmist asks: 'How Long?'  I can't pretend that that question has not from time to time rattled around my head.  The fatigue and other unpleasant side effects from the medication can be difficult to cope with and I can identify with the Psalmist's: 'How Long'.  

Just recently I have been slowly working through Psalm 119.  With 176 verses certainly the longest of the Psalms.  We often dip into to it but what is often forgotten is that throughout the Psalm the writer is responding to 'affliction'.  Sometimes it is persecution from people who wish him harm.  At other times it is physical or psychological pain.  Typical is:

My soul faints with longing for your salvation,

but I have put my hope in your word.

My eyes fail, looking for your promise;

I say, "When will you comfort me?":  (verses 81-82)

He is undoubtedly on a spiritual low but though prayer stays in the God-Zone and perseveres with his meditation on God's Words.  They contain promises of His goodness and love:

If your law had not been my delight ,

I would have perished in my affliction. (verse 92)

Strong or weak, healthy or 'afflicted', up or down we can depend on this:

Your word, Lord, is eternal;

it stands firm in the heavens.  (verse 89)

Lying, Deceit, Backstabbing

We’ve just about recovered from ‘Celebrity Traitors’ and we are plunged into the more run of the mill version - with a few new tweaks here and there.  

I’ve never been much of a fan of ‘reality TV’.  How anything can be real when you are being followed by a camera with a sound boom hovering over you is at least questionable.  So when I first heard about ‘The Traitors’I was prepared not to be impressed far less drawn in.  More especially when when the prize-winner is the one or ones best at lying, deceit and backstabbing.  Are those characteristics worthy of reward?  I have to say, though, that apart from live football, I can’t remember being more emotionally involved in a tv programme than the recent‘Celebrity Traitors’.  I really was crushed when Stephen Fry got the bullet and mourned the loss of Jonathon Ross surely the best of  traitors.  

The thing is, maybe to some extent we all have the characteristics to be a traitor and we relate to the tv programme because it is giving some people the opportunity to let it all blast forth. Imagine my shock when a friend told me about a continuing experience in Church life which they described as being just like an episode of ‘The Traitors’.  Really?  But sadly this rings true for too many people.  The knee-jerk reaction is to remind ourselves that the Church is made up of people. We are not perfect and therefore we have to expect the worst to leak out occasionally.  But when it becomes a fixed pattern of behaviour we have to be concerned.  

Reading through Philippians recently I was struck by these words of Paul:

‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.’  (2: 3-4)

This is a principle that Paul repeats in various ways throughout his teaching.  A principle that should govern our personal relationships.  We are called to value others more than we value ourselves.  This is not something we can just decide to do, like a New Year’s resolution or a new fitness regime.  It is the outcome of having Jesus as our pattern for living and depending on His grace to see that pattern established in our lives.  In that same chapter of Philippians Paul goes on to say: 

‘In your relationships with one another, have the same attitude as Christ Jesus.’  (Verse 4) There follows what many believe to be an early Christian hymn in which Jesus is portrayed as making Himself ‘nothing.’, taking on the role of a servant, humbling Himself as He worked out His mission to be the Saviour of humankind.  It is in adopting this commitment that we realise Paul’s wish for followers of Jesus that we shine as stars in the sky in a world gone wrong.  (Philippians 2: 14-16)

No room then for lies, deceit and backstabbing.