Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Words & Music: Mar­tin Lut­her, 1529; trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Fred­er­ic H. Hedge, 1853.

Puncture a human heart and it will bleed; pierce it spiritually and the result is tears.

Columba Stewart, Prayer and Community: The Benedictine Tradition

Stories need to fit into one of these categories:

• The shape of things to come
• They came from outer space
• Time travel
• Trouble in paradise

Whether you want to author a short story yourself, or just want to read the stories I hope you find the blog entertaining. Just click here.

I went to see John Shuttleworth at the Everyman a few years back. He’s brilliantly funny. I saw him on an advert for Yorkshire Tea tonight. I hope he does another tour.

This year we thought we’d watch from the beginning and caught the first episode the other night.

About half way through a lady from Scotland by the name of Susan Boyle came on the stage. The audience and judges found her appearance funny and scoffed at her dream to sing like Elaine Page.

She’s in her late 40s and had never sung to a large audience. She’d never had the opportunity before and because she didn’t look the part she was mocked.

As soon as she opened her mouth and sung the first notes of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables, it was clear that she had an amazing voice.

The crowd instantly changed from derision to acclamation and they all applauded and were behind Susan for the rest of the performance.

It was amazing to see someone use their gift for the first time. When a person finds their purpose, when they use their gifts in the way they were intended then everything changes.

It’s never too late. You’re never too old or too young. You’re never the wrong gender, or education or appearance. God can use it all.

Susan Boyle came to life on that stage; and it was good.

Click here for YouTube clip

I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships so will our healing.

Wm Paul Young, The Shack

I haven’t seen it yet, but will post some photos on here when I do.

See more about it here.

This is a health and safety announcement, this is a health and safety announcement. You may be hit by a ball.

I haven’t seen one yet, but I will post a photo of one on this blog when I do.

This website seems to have some more useful facts & figures.

All was okay for the two and a half hour journey to Lynton. It was very picturesque seeing the white fields, and driving was fine with less traffic on the roads.

Then with just 2 miles to go we hit a snag. A fallen tree blocked the road. It was already being cleared so we decided to wait and half an hour later we were on our way again. Only one minor mishap, so we thought we did okay.

Then the second snag. The hill into Lynton was still covered in snow and despite several attempts, we weren’t going to get up it. We prayed for divine intervention and our prayer was answered, not by a supernatural push but by a very opportune Land Rover and driver. There were half a dozen of us stuck on that hill, so one by one our own angel from Lee Abbey towed us up the hill and we were on our way again. All this had taken another hour so we were late for dinner, but thanks to the lovely welcome from the Lee Abbey staff, they had kept the food for us.

Lessons learned:

• The flasks of hot water made a welcome cup of tea while we waited.
• German cars stay nice and warm but can’t always get you up a hill.
• The traffic reports on the radio are very helpful, but not always accurate.
• God answers prayers, but not always in the way you imagined.

It tastes like the fresh fruit of Eden.
It sounds like “Father forgive”.

It feels like nail holes in the hands.
It feels like a weight lifted from around my neck.

“It is finished”, he said, and it was.

How ironic given that prior to the foundation of modern nursing, nuns provided a nursing service, which is why in Britain a senior female nurse is known as a Sister.

1. Goes out and there is a news for you whom gets
2. Transactions or transactions nil
3. Drop the donkey which dies
4. In lower part of hammer family
5. Is what which happens in the boy where this probability is high

I know on an individual level my behaviour is influenced by the size of the audience. Anything over two and I’d rather not know. What about on a larger scale?

There has been a huge amount of reporting of economic events – “credit crunch”, “financial tsunami”, “World growth worst for 60 years”, “Grim predictions for UK economy”. The internet news pages and 24 hours news channels all need their content and the economic situation is the latest story subjected to the media frenzy.

Now the mass media we have these days can be a good thing. World events are instantly in our living rooms or on our mobile phones. We were able to watch the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony from our hotel in Italy last Summer. Great.

There isn’t always things that need reporting though. It’s not a case that the media makes things up, but the stories get laboured far more than they would have 15 years ago. I remember seeing job losses on a scoreboard on the ITN News at Ten. But that was once a week I think. Unemployment isn’t as high as it has been in the past. Inflation is a lot lower than it has been. Interest rates are at record lows. But I think the population has been scared into thinking it isn’t safe to spend your money because it is going to run out. I think it is more about confidence than reality. And confidence is being undermined by a repeated doom and gloom message from the media.

In the words of Private Fraser, “we’re all doomed”.

The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Cicero, 55 B.C.

The really annoying thing about it though, is that I could download the master collection for free from one of the various pirate sites that are out there. But I don’t want to. I want a legal copy.

I bought a new PC recently as my old one gave up after 9 years. It cost a very reasonable £500. Why, when PCs are so much cheaper, is software so expensive? I think if software houses charged a more realistic tariff, they would send the pirates to Davy Jones’ Locker.

Yesterday we got to Lynmouth just up the coast.  The Valley of the rocks in between Lynmouth and Lee Abbey is quite spectacular.  I’ll try to get some photos on here.

How Much? www.how-much.co.uk

Announcing an all new Online Price Comparison website – How Much? www.how-much.co.uk

Hello

I’m writing to let you know about a new website I have recently launched.  It’s called How Much? www.how-much.co.uk.

How Much? is an online price comparison site with a live feed shopping engine that enables you to search a database of over 4 million products from over 700 retailers on a sale popularity basis. There are many well known high street names in the database, such as Boots, Currys, PC World, Halfords, Hamleys, Maplin, BHS, Iceland, Marks & Spencer, Next, ToysRUs, with more being added all the time.

Product categories include: Clothing & Accessories, Health & Beauty, Telephones & Faxes, Computers & Software, Home & Garden, Tickets, Electronics, Home Appliances, Travel, Entertainment, Jewellery, Vehicles Parts & Accessories, Gifts, Gadgets & Toys and Sports.

Every sale our affiliate partners generate over a period of time is analysed and together with sales trends in the market this data is used to order the product search results.  This means that the results displayed from a How Much? search have taken into account the cost of the product, the merchants’ reputation and the confidence of the buying public.

How Much? therefore uses the first product comparison engine that truly sorts data in the interests of consumers.

If you like the site, then please tell your friends, and feel free to forward this message.

If you don’t, then please tell me, and I will do my best to put it right.

Happy shopping!

Angel Chimes

A Christmas edition of this feature that I was reminded of when Mrs A and I visited the Christmas Shop in Lechlade this weekend.  They were selling them as the original Swedish Angel Chimes. I didn’t realise they were Swedish in origin, but they must have been the feature of many households in the 1970s.  We had one, my friend who lived across the road had one at his house and Mrs A had one too!

I found a You Tube clip, but it didn’t have very good sound, so I’ve put in this photo.  When the candles are lit, the heat drives the top round and round causing the bars hanging under the angels to strike the bells.

Lovely!

Did anyone else have one of these?

• Is faith irrational?
• Does religion do more harm than good?
• Has science disproved God?

Is God a delusion?

Part two is O Holy Night.  This brings back fond memories of a car journey home from Cirencester one cold December evening. Pure magic.

When you plant a tree, you need to put a stake in the ground to give it support.  Many people put the stake parallel to the tree trunk and tie the tree to the stake at a high level. The stake will keep the tree upright as it grows, and at some point in the future you can remove the stake.  But the tree won’t have endured much testing.  The stake will have prevented much strengthening in the trunk as it was growing. And this lack of strength is the cause of many mature trees uprooting.

Instead, the stake should be put at 45 degrees to the trunk, with the tree tied not far off the ground.  This method will mean the tree when it is growing will sway in the wind more, which will help the tree grow a stronger trunk. And a stronger trunk will mean the tree can endure more powerful storms.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Romans 5:1-5, NIV

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Gil Bailie

A phrase often used, and not just about newly marrieds. The press say this about a new Prime Minister or leader of a political party, or about a new football manager. They’ll say it about the new US President. It of course refers to the end of the period of newness and excitement. The possibility of a change from the old ways and new beginnings that promised so much. Then reality hits, and the dawning that there is no change. There is no new. The new leader is just the same as the old one. Excitement diminishes and life returns to normal.

God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Israel:

“I remember how eager you were to please me
as a young bride long ago,
how you loved me and followed me
even through the barren wilderness”
Jeremiah 2:2b, NLT

Again in the New Testament God speaks to the church:

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”
Revelation 2:4, NIV

God is saying the people’s honeymoon with him is over.  They have drifted away and forgotten about their first love.

Does the honeymoon have to end? Why does it seem as though it ends.

I think the answer lies in our feelings.  Reality hasn’t changed.  In the case of a marriage, when you come back from honeymoon you are still married.  The new leader is still the leader.  The new manager is still the manager.  How we feel about these situations is what has changed.

In his book Walking with God, John Eldredge asks the question what agreements have we made about love?

I’ve been noticing that most mornings I don’t wake up super-happy, and I’m not sure why. I’ve also been noticing for some time now that when I first wake up, I find myself racing through the coming day in my mind, bracing myself for what’s required of me, but even more so searching to see if there’s anything to look forward to. It’s not really voluntary. It’s almost as if my heart has a life of it’s own, and it wakes up before I do and begins to assess the prospects before me. “I slept but my heart was awake” (Song of Songs 5:2).

By the way, I think this is how our addictions get their claws deeper into us. Our day-to-day grind isn’t anything close to Eden, and our hurting and desperate hearts look for something to which we can attach all those yearnings. We’ll settle for a doughnut if that’s all there is to look forward to. We have to be careful what we give our hearts over to.
Walking with God, John Eldredge

I think this is the key.  Our emotions, and in particular what we give our hearts over to which determine our emotions, have a dramatic impact on our day.  We eat the doughnut, but then then memory of it fades and we wish the day over to yearn for the next day’s doughnut. We buy the latest gadget, and then look forward to the time we can buy the updated version. We have a great holiday and then return to work and book the next holiday so we have something to look forward to. We give up on a relationship because it doesn’t feel the same anymore. We don’t commit to things in case something better comes along. We aren’t present with the people we are speaking to, we instead wonder about the next thing and whether that will be better.

Why do we live in tomorrow or yesterday, but never today? Never now?

What then is the answer?  What should we be doing instead of yearning after doughnuts? God says through Jeremiah:

“For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all!”
Jeremiah 2:13, NLT

Losing our first love, means giving our heart over to something other than God.  God promises a fountain of living water, but we are happy to rummage in the mud looking for other sources that won’t sustain us.  We should give our heart over to something that will last.  Then each day is not about looking forward to some illusory promise. Each day should be about living in the now of the Kingdom.  Yes our emotions will go up or down.  Life is hard sometimes, and these hardships will affect our feelings.  But they don’t affect the reality of our relationship with God.  Even what we eat or drink will affect our moods.  But that is not who we are. We drink to excess to blot out our feelings.  We eat to much or too little because of how we view ourselves.  We let our random emotions rule our live.  God calls us to have one emotion.  Love.  Love God and love our neighbour as our self.

So restoring our first love, and giving our heart over to something that will last forever means tapping into this living water. But where do we get the living water?

Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ’streams of living water will flow from within him’.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified
John 7:37-39, NIV

Jesus is the only true source of living water that we can drink from and never thirst again. I make this song my prayer.

Let Your living water flow over my soul
Let Your Holy Spirit come and take control
Of every situation that has troubled my mind
All my cares and burdens on to You I roll

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Father, Father, Father
Spirit, Spirit, Spirit

Come now, Holy Spirit, and take control
Hold me in Your loving arms and make me whole
Wipe away all doubt and fear and take my pride
Draw me to Your love and keep me by Your side

Give your life to Jesus, let Him fill your soul
Let Him take you in His arms and make you whole
As you give your life to Him He’ll set you free
You will live and reign with Him eternally

© 1986 Ampelos Music

Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
Luke 12:51, NIV

Not everyone will accept Jesus’ teaching.  But what about inside the church?

Paul writes to the church in Ephesus pleading for unity in the believers.

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.
Ephesians 4:3-6, NLT

Now I don’t think this means we should all be uniform.  God has given everyone gifts and talents, and different local churches use these in an amazing variety of ways.  The music we use, for example.  What a wonderful diversity of styles we use to worship our great God.  Nor does it mean we don’t challenge our leaders.  Our pastors and leaders are human and can make mistakes.  Don’t we all?  In matters of doctrine, there are different interpretations.  For example baptism – children or adult?

But above all that is unity.  And in the unity there is seeking after truth.

Paul continues:

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Ephesians 4:11-16, NLT

As I wrote in an earlier post, the Internet has given anyone the ability to write what they like.  This includes the new teaching and lies so clever they sound like the truth.  I want to seek the truth.  I want to learn from other believers and other denominations.  I want to know truth when I see it and realise the lies when I see those.

I used to work in a bank.  We handled a lot of money, and we would get passed a forged bank note now and then.  Some of the forgeries were very good.  But the best way to tell the forgery was to hold it up against a real note.  Forgeries stand out in a pile of real notes.  Lies stand out held up against the truth.

I’m not interested in the websites that knock the church or what it believes, or seek to break the unity in the body of believers.  I want to seek the truth.   I want to post about the truth.  Show me what is real, not the forgeries.

Jacob Wrestles with God
So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob”, he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
Jacob said, “Please tell me your name”. But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.
Genesis 32:24-31, NIV

I was reminded of these verses at Hungry For God last night.

Jacob wrestled with God and refused to let go until he was blessed.  There was a personal cost – his hip was put out.

But in this wrestling with God:

• he was blessed
• he received a new identity – Israel
• and through his descendants the whole world has been blessed.

Mark talked about passion last night.  Pressing in and wrestling as we contend with God.  And through this contending passion is revealed.

Jacob carried the memory of that struggle with him for the rest of his life as he limped because of his hip being put out.  He also carried his new identity in God and the blessing.  My prayer is that I do not give up wrestling with God as I work out my passion with his help.

Redbush tea

Do you refer to it with the personal pronouns we, us, our? Or as they, them, their?

It’s an important distinction.  The former way denotes a feeling of belonging and ownership.  Whereas the latter sounds like you’re just a visitor passing through, a consumer rather than a member.

Get involved and encourage your pastor by belonging.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No-one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.
Acts 4:32, NIV

The Nicene Creed has the line:

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

And I do.  The institution of the church may be divided into many denominations, sects, streams and groupings.  But the actual body of believers, the universal church of all who believe in Jesus Christ as their saviour, is a single unit and is the Bride of Christ waiting for the Bridegroom to return.

Thank you Lord for the church.

It’s my birthday.  Not a landmark year, but nearly one.  Birthdays are a good time to reflect on the year past and the year ahead.  Mrs A has brought some presents.  She’s a treasure.

The other thing that’s needed on your birthday is candles.  The Saturday evening service is full of them.  All 2500 of us in the church had a candle, and at one point in the service the light was passed from candle to candle, starting in the centre of the church until all candles were alight.  It’s truly an amazing and moving sight.  Symbolic of Jesus as light of the world passing from believer to believer.

Taizé candles

So as our week in Taizé draws to a close, I am struck more at the thought of the new beginnings that lie ahead for me.  As my current job is ending, I am more excited at the new thing that I could be doing.  I don’t know what that is yet.  It may be a drawn out process to get there.  There may be hard times ahead.  But I entrust it all to God.

During lunch on Friday there is silence as we remember Good Friday.  I think silence is a good practice that we don’t have enough of in some of our corporate worship.  A chance to hear the still small voice of God.  A chance to meditate on God’s word.

The Icon of the Cross

Friday night in Taizé is the prayer around the icon of the cross.  The first time I was in Taizé I wasn’t sure what to make of icons and in particular the ceremony that takes place on a Friday.  It did seem like a rather unceremonious bun fight as people rushed around the icon of the cross.  People would queue for hours on their knees in order to place their forehead on the icon, which had been laid flat on the floor.  The symbolic act of laying your prayers, concerns, hopes and fears at the cross.  All seemed very medieval and what the protestant church rejected.

However, I have mellowed in my opinion of it.  My view had been influenced by the considering of icons as idolatry.  But people do not worship the icons, they are a symbolic representation.  An act that you can do in the physical to mark what is going on in the spiritual.  I have joined the crowds in the past, but chose not to this year.  For one thing, the jostling that takes place breaks the mood.  I did pray though, and it was good to lift up all the things that had been going on in the two years since my last visit.

But this cloistered life is only one week in the year.  How to keep the relationship with God and other people, and throw in the cares of the world when we return home?

I think there is a lot to be said for the rhythm.  Jesus got up early each day to pray.  There were seasons in the life of the Jews.  Times of fasting and times of feasting.  Religious festivals and obligations.  All of these are the outward symbols of the relationship with the Father, not the end in themselves.

We looked at Cain and Abel today.  Brother Han-Yol made the point that the farmer and the shepherd should live in relationship with each other – supplying each others needs.  Not as Cain did, which was to compare himself with Abel and to see it as unfair that God seemed to favour Abel.

Life is unfair sometimes and to compare your own situation with that of another is very natural, but is not healthy.  The reaction to unfairness could be anger or could be depression.  An interesting phrase that I hadn’t noticed before:

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.
Genesis 4:7, NIV

Sin is crouching at your door.  Cain had a choice.  He made the wrong one.  I don’t always realise that there is this spiritual battle going on.  All of our life choices can be part of the battle.  I pray for wisdom in my decisions.

If you want to compare yourself with anybody, then compare yourself with Jesus – the author and perfecter of our faith.  And to be absolutely clear, I am using the word compare in the sense of the model I would like to attain, not that I am already there.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2, NIV

A work colleague asked to borrow it, so he could transfer some old cine films to DVD. I was a bit hesitant, not because I didn’t think it would be looked after, but because it was one of my Dad’s things and is precious to me.

So I lent him the projector and he transferred his cine films. His mother-in-law said she thought her late husband had a cine film in a tin, but she had no idea what was on it.

So my colleague ran it through the projector and discovered that it was film of her wedding, that she had never seen, from nearly fifty years ago.

Me letting go of something precious to me allowed the discovery of something precious to someone else.

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:3-10, NIV

It has occurred to me that the whole story of the Old Testament is about God wanting to be in relationship with mankind.  Man doing something to break that relationship.  Then God putting together a plan to restore the relationship.  Ultimately the relationship is restored by God becoming man in the person of Jesus.

A second thing from the Fall is that Eve shouldn’t get all the blame. The serpent tempted her, but…

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Genesis 3:6, NIV

Adam had been there all along.  He should have said NO.  But then, I guess he’s no different to the rest of us who have trouble saying no.

I’ve also discovered what my Native American name would be – “Dances with wasps”.  I don’t like them and there are a lot here this week.  Wasps that is.  I have nothing against Native Americans.

What a rich, multitude the human race is.  We’re looking at the two stories of the creation of mankind today.  We’re created in His image.  And in the diversity that is our race, we can begin to see how much bigger our image of God needs to be.

Brother Han-Yol had an interesting comment on idolatry.  There is no need to make idols or substitutes for God, there is only one image of God and that is mankind.

The day starts with prayer in the church at 8:15.  Feel a bit creaky sitting on the floor, but soon able to enter into the presence of God in worship.  Communion is every day in the morning prayer and also, as in all services, the period of silence to listen to God.

I love Taizé breakfast.  A bread roll with butter and a bowl of hot chocolate.  We used to get a bar of chocolate as well, but I think only the young people get that now.

Monday in Taizé is a day of new beginnings.  The start of the week of teaching with one of the brothers.  The start of our job for the week.  The start of our small groups.

Brother Han-Yol from Korea is leading our Bible introductions.  His theme for the week is Creation.  We’ll be looking at Genesis 1 to 11.  The message today was that God created everything and it was all good.  All things together when they were created were very good.

There is a unity in creation in the person of Jesus.  There is a blessing in creation and creation is not just history it is also for now.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV

Our small group is comprised of several Germans, a Norwegian, a Dane, a Catalan, an Italian, an American and us two from England.  Mrs A says I’ve already slipped into “Taizé-English”, for English is the second language of so many here.  Just introductions this morning and then a discussion on the text this afternoon.

After midday prayer and lunch is song practice in the church.  I’m no great singer, but I like to listen and maybe read or reflect.

We had a very good discussion in our small group.  Lots of participation and sharing.  Should be a good week for discovery.  Our small group duty after dinner is washing up the cooking pots for the whole site.

A very clear night tonight.  Could see lots of stars, a planet and the milky way.  How appropriate to see so much of Creation in the week we are studying it.

Arriving back in Taizé and it feels like I never left.  Fifteen years of change for me in the outside world.  Here a world that is constant.  At least constant in appearance.  The pilgrims are different and some of the buildings have changed.  Young faces looking lost.  A big group of singing Spaniards.  Monks in habits.  Lots of luggage; rucksacks, suitcases on wheels, sleeping bags.

It’s true to say that people bring baggage to Taizé.  Their hopes and fears.  Their life story.  For me this year, it’s the possibility of redundancy.  After 18 years with the same company, it wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen.  If I got it, the pay out would be very handy.

I don’t get my identity from my job.  Who I am does not equal what I do.  So if I lost my job I won’t worry about my identity.  Yes, it’s an uncertain world, and looming recession won’t make things easy.  Anyway, this is my baggage, and I hope to unpack some of it during this week.

The worship tonight in the church was as awe inspiring as ever.  Simple words taken from Scripture, sung to beautiful melodies in multiple languages.  The theme I took from tonight’s songs was to trust God, wait for Him, and He will be with us, and lead us into life.

On a side note, our accommodation.
Lovely to have a caravan so close to our meeting/food tent.  However, have discovered the meaning of the word ramshackle.

I’ve been to Taizé a total of ten times, with my first visit in 1993.  Each time has been different.  A couple of times I spent the week in silence.  I’ve traveled by train, ferry and bus. I’ve met and made friends with people from all over Europe.  I’ve traveled by myself, with a group, and the last few times with Mrs A; who, I was glad to discover, also enjoys Taizé after I introduced her to it.

Each time I go I do feel closer to God, and my hope is I’ll hear from Him this week also.

We were by train this year, as I say in my “Taizé-English”.  The Eurostar to Paris is much quicker now from St Pancras.  Not sure who St Pancras was, but probably a more French friendly terminus name than Waterloo. There was a family in the seats near us, and I guess it was the children’s first trip through the Channel Tunnel.

Daughter: Mummy, I suppose we’ll have to come up slowly on the other side of the tunnel.
Mother: Honey, we’re not going deep enough to get the bends.

We didn’t have a great hotel in Paris, but it was close to Gare de Lyon for our TGV train on Sunday morning. And after dinner in a local pizzeria (even with two weeks in Italy this Summer we still wanted Italian food) we had a nice evening stroll around the Seine and Place de la Bastille.

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Later on in verse 36 Jesus says:

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Free from sin, free from slavery to sin, free from the judgment of sin. Jesus came to give freedom. Not freedom to do what you want, but freedom to be what God designed you to be. Freedom to find God’s purpose for your life. Freedom to be all you were meant to be.

What is truth?

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6

But in recent months, as our Church leadership have discerned an increased move of God around the world, the frequency of these meetings have increased to two or three times a week.

They’ve all been different. I’ve heard from God at some, prayed for others at some and received prayer at others.

I’ve had a couple of thoughts about these evenings in recent weeks.

Firstly, the title: Hungry for God. I initially thought it meant those who went were hungry for God and all that he has for us. But I now think it’s actually a question for me. Am I hungry for God? Rather than go with an agenda I’ve tried to go with a mind set in receive mode.

Secondly, who is it – and this move of the Holy Spirit in particular – for? The night is moving to a regular Thursday slot. This presents a problem for me as Thursday night is Mrs A and my date night, and has been since long before we were married.

Incidently, I could not recommend highly enough the value of a date night for the health of a relationship. But that could be the subject of another post.

If the purpose of going to Hungry for God is a warm, fuzzy feeling of being blessed then it would be missing out on what I feel is the real purpose. Which is to equip the church to: “preach good news to the poor,
… to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

I have not yet resolved what to do about the clash of nights, but I am challenged about the need, well the urgency really, to take it outside the doors of Trinity to the streets, shops and offices of Cheltenham. To be Jesus to my neighbours. Very scary and well outside my comfort zone.

In the spa we went to there was a circular section to the pool. It had these underwater jets that created a current. If you let go of the sides the current would would take you round and round.

I was reluctant at first, but Mrs A persuaded me to have a go and in the end I enjoyed it so much I didn’t want to get out.

I think moves of the Holy Spirit, like we have seen in Trinity in recent weeks, can be like that. It is all to easy to see it as a spectator sport. But if you set the sails of your heart to catch the wind of the Holy Spirit, you allow God to work in your life.

Yorkshire Day

A friend joined me for the trip to collect it from near Amsterdam. He lived in Norfolk and I lived in the west country at the time.

My friend had a Brompton folding bicycle and brought it with him on the trip as he planned to cycle back home from Norwich on the return leg of the journey. A work colleague dropped him off at Norwich railway station on his way to me.

I collected him and his Brompton from the railway station near to me. The Brompton as neatly folded as when he’d left work.

The following morning we got a taxi to Heathrow for our flight to Amsterdam. We checked in with no luggage except for my friends Brompton. Not sure what the check in staff thought but they insisted the bike was unfolded and put in the hold.

Arriving in Amsterdam Schipol we were met by a man with a card saying Mr Atkin. (Always wanted to be met at an airport like that.) The Dutchman was a customer of the car dealership who would drive us to the garage.

The car was all ready, so I signed the papers and we drove to the ferry, with the Brompton safely in the boot.

The ferry journey back to Harwich was ok and soon we were driving to Ipswich, where I dropped my friend off so he could catch the train to Norwich.

A good trip. A nice new car.

But here’s the thing. When my friend got to Norwich, he met another work colleague who gave him and his Brompton a lift home.

So in the end he never rode the bicycle once in the several hundred miles round trip. D’oh.

The Brompton video

Evan Roberts

Evan Roberts

….Within a month he felt compelled to share this message of the reality of God and the possibility of complete forgiveness of sins with his home youth group at Moriah Loughor.
Summing up the message in 4 parts, Evan pressed it home to the astonished church

1. Confess all known sin

2. Deal with and get rid of anything ‘doubtful’ in your life

3. Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly

4. Confess Christ publicly

By the end of the first week over 60 responded. By the end of the second week Evan had already started on a whirl-wind tour of the South Wales valleys with his team of 5 girl singers and within a year or so 100,000 converts were said to be added to the Welsh Church….

Extract from the Evan Roberts Section http://www.welshrevival.com/.

2 Chronicles 5:1-14 NIV
5:1 When all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the LORD was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and all the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of God’s temple.
The Ark Brought to the Temple
2 Then Solomon summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. 3 And all the men of Israel came together to the king at the time of the festival in the seventh month.
4 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark, 5 and they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests, who were Levites, carried them up; 6 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.
7 The priests then brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 8 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles. 9 These poles were so long that their ends, extending from the ark, could be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. 10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
11 The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. 12 All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. 13 The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang:
“He is good;
his love endures forever.”
Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, 14 and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.

It got me thinking about how I should worship.  They were “…sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.”  What extravagant worship when they dedicated the Temple.  They “…had consecrated themselves.”  The choir, the musicians, all giving glory to God.  And what was the result?  “…the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.”

We do not have a temple in which to worship God these days. Rather:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV

So, should we not give ourselves over to extravagant worship when we give glory to God.  Not just on Sundays, or when we go to church, but every day, all day.  We carry the presence of God with us wherever we go.

Meaning 1: A quick win, something that can be implemented easily without much effort.

Meaning 2: What the serpent tempted Eve with.

We’ve been singing this at Hungry for God in Trinity. Very powerful words.

He came so we could know the Father’s love:
The Saviour, the Healer
He came to seek and save all that was lost:
Restorer, Redeemer

Light in the darkness,
Help to the helpless,
A song for those who mourn
Strength for the weary,
Friend to the lonely
The joy of the whole earth

The King has come
The glorious, the awesome
Son of God
The beautiful, the Sovereign
Lord of Love
Jesus

The King has come
And everything within this heart believes
That He is everything we’ll ever need
Jesus
The King has Come

He came to speak the message of new birth:
Creator, Sustainer
He came to bring His rule upon the earth
With justice, and mercy

His ways are higher,
His love is greater,
Than the treasures of this world
His grace is wider,
His name is stronger,
The joy of the whole earth

This is the time, this is the place,
Let the Kingdom of our God reign

© Copyright 2008, Thankyou Music / Trinity Publishing / Admin by Kingsway Songs TYM@kingsway.co.uk

There were two Soviet Union newspapers. One called Pravda, meaning “truth”, and the other Ivestia, meaning “news”.

The joke was: “There’s no news in Pravda, and no truth in Izvestia.”

The BBC’s latest Bonekickers is a poor showing compared to the what the US is producing: CSI, Without a Trace, Lost, Heroes, 24, Prison Break, The West Wing.  There have been a couple of decent period dramas recently – Lark Rise to Candleford, Bleak House.  But no long running series that can stand against the imports from across the pond.

And sitcoms?  What decent sitcoms are there that are side-splitting make you laugh at loud?  One day I’ll write a sitcom.  I’m still collecting material for that.

In the mean time I like this:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRaUVp5DfRk]

Consider the Earth.  Popular opinion at one time thought the Earth was flat.  It could be.  The bit I live on is flat.  I can see a long distance from where I am and that is mostly flat, apart from the hills.  I’ve been to the coast and looked out to sea.  It is mostly flat, but waves change the shape and there may be a bit of a curvature.  But I will dismiss this if my world view is that the Earth is flat.

If my perspective is changed then my world view could change.  To know whether or not the Earth is flat I would have to look from a different perspective.

So I look up.  Night time on a clear evening, away from street lights.  Lots of stars.  If I were to trace them all they move across the sky.  But the Earth could still be flat.

A few of the points of light are different.  If I look at them through a telescope I see that some are small discs rather than points of light.  Some of the discs are round.  One looks like it’s got ears.  One looks like it has little dots around it.  These are the planets.  They are different to stars.  If I trace the movement of planets across the sky they sometimes move forwards, but sometimes they move backwards.  This is evidence that the planets don’t orbit around the Earth, but that they orbit around some other object that the Earth must also orbit around.  Also, the planets look different.  They could be spheres.

So observing the creation hints at a possible different perspective.  But the Earth could still be flat.  The planets might be different to the Earth.

OK, so changing perspective again.  I have a trip on a rocket and go high above the Earth.  Now I can see that the Earth is round, and not only that it is a sphere.  It isn’t flat it’s a sphere.

So my former believe that the Earth was flat has been replaced by a new believe through the change of perspective, the additional evidence and observation.  So can others still believe the Earth is flat?  Both cannot logically be true.  Only one reality exists.  The Earth isn’t flat.  There is only one truth.

So do all paths lead up the mountain.  The only way to know the answer to that question is to have the perspective of looking down at the mountain from above the top.  The God perspective.  To claim that all paths lead to the top is to claim the perspective of God.

Can we know the God perspective?  Has God revealed anything to point to this answer?

Turns out it was the HP Spicy Woodsmoke BBQ sauce.

If you search Google for the answer to a question, then you are presented with many answers.  Often contradictory.  In the equality of publication that is the Internet, anyone with a view can publish their version of the truth and back it up with their reasoning as to why it is true.

• But who are the people with these views?
• What is their source of information?
• Can their claims be substantiated?
• Do they speak with authority?
• Is one truth more valid than another?
• Could they all be correct?

Twenty or more years ago if you wanted your truth to reach a wide audience you’d have to publish a book, write an article in a journal or magazine, appear on TV or radio. You would have to validate your comments, citing references and authority.  It would take time and dedication.  Your work would be reviewed and critiqued and time would tell if it would be accepted.

Now a view can be authored and published within minutes to a worldwide audience.

I am not saying that this change necessarily means that all is untrue, rather that it is easier for the untrue to be found on an equal footing with the truth.

So how do you differentiate?

A possible answer is an anagram of the phrase: est vir qui adest - ”it is the man who is here.”