The Holy Spirit – Classroom Assistant

“The Holy Spirit is interested in having an authentic relationship with us. He has no interest in interfacing with our religious pretences and fictions. The Holy Spirit is waiting to meet Christ-followers who are painfully aware of their limits, quirks and moral shortfalls, so that he can overcome them. He is actively seeking those who will present all of their brokenness to him and allow him to burn a signal fire over it.”
-The Divine Intention by Larry Shallenberger.

This passage (and others in the same chapter) led me on a thought process. Imagine a situation in school or college, where the teacher is quite a formidable character. Scary even. He has little patience, and he sets a task for the whole class to do, and says ‘get on with it.’ This could equally be a boss in work, or an officer in a military situation, or something like that.
Despite his explanation, you haven’t really understood, or got a clue what you are supposed to do. You look around to see what everyone else is doing, but it’s still not clear. There is no way you can ask the teacher/boss – even thinking about it brings you out in a cold sweat. However there is another person – maybe a kind of classroom assistant, or even just another student or a colleague. And this person comes alongside, spotting your discomfort, and asks, ‘do you know what you are supposed to do?’ You shake your head. The classroom assistant gently goes through it with you, and sets you going on the task. And keeps an eye on what you are doing, offering helpful suggestions.

This, for me, is what the Holy Spirit is like – aware of our weaknesses, non-judgemental, waiting for us to honestly admit our difficulties, helping us do what we are supposed to do, pointing us in the right direction…

In any analogy, you can’t always make all the parts fit. In this case, who is the fierce teacher who is totally unapprocahable? Clearly not God the Father. Could it be the Bible? Certainly – especially the bits we struggle to grasp. If this were Paul writing to some Jewish Christians, it would be the Law of Moses. For us, it could still be that, or, more likely, our sense of what is required to be religious. The unapproachable teacher might represent the church, or our cultural interpretation of Christianity. Any other thoughts? Answers on a postcard….

Where’s the party?

I cycled to Ararat in Whitchurch yesterday, for the Central Ministers’ Fellowship – a gathering a Baptist Ministers from Cardiff and the valleys which meets roughly six-weekly. I don’t mean the meetings are rough – they’re usually quite peaceful!
So a 20-mile round cycling trip is a new record for me in my married life. I used to do those kind of trips regularly (and a lot longer) when I was a student, but I was less than half as old then as I am now!
The meeting was good, and it is always encouraging to be in that kind of group. I stopped to eat my packed lunch in a park in Whitchurch, and read some more of the book I am currently on, which is called Divine Intention – How God’s Work in the Early Church Empowers us Today, by Larry Shallenberger. No prizes for guessing the nationality of the author!
I’m really enjoying this book – in each chapter the author takes an episode from the Book of Acts, then writes a short piece of fiction to go with it, about three friends meeting up, then describes something of church life and about the Holy Spirit. There is an extremely good chapter on the question of suffering, which includes a very helpful section about free-will, “the loaded gun that fatally wounded humanity.”
The chapter I read in the park at Whitchurch was called Love without partitions, concerning Peter’s visit to Cornelius, and the question of breaking down fences of race, culture, etc. The author pointed out something that is obvious, but still really struck me, which is that Peter and Cornelius weren’t looking to connect, and in the normal way of things there would be no way these two men would have met.

“We need to realise that God is and intensely social Being. He is constantly working to bring the lost and the least to the feast at his table. He is perpetually connecting his followers with those who need to experience his love. He orchestrated the party between Peter and Cornelius’s family.”

He continues by saying that we should be asking the Holy Spirit regular questions, such as: “Now what?”, Where do I go from here?” and “Where’s the party?”
On the way home I met someone on Aber Cycleway, not far from Bethel who stopped me and wanted to talk at some length. And I had one of those moments where you think something, and God comes right back with a response and it’s suddenness makes you gasp (or maybe laugh). The thought I had was ‘I’m not supposed to be doing this kind of ministering while I’m on sabbatical’, and the answer from God struck me instantaneously and with some force: “Didn’t you just ask me ‘Where’s the party?’!!!”

Monday 23rd May 2011

My cover is blown! The people at the course on Acts now all know I am a Baptist minister on sabbatical! I don’t think it has particularly affected anything…
The lecturer still thinks that the teaching in evangelical churches is very shallow. And I am intrigued by one lady there who has very strong views that the whole Bible is not very believable, and that the message of Paul has swamped and eradicated the true church on Jerusalem led by Peter and James, and the true message of Jesus has been lost.
It is helpful to go on a course like this, but I can’t help comparing this to the two Baptist services I went to yesterday where there was a real sense that Jesus makes a difference, and that following him affects every area of our lives, without needing to look for conspiracy theories and take a Dan Brown view all the time.

Sunday 22nd May 2011 - Service on a Sunday

Mount Carmel this morning, and Bethel, Whitchurch this evening. Being Baptist churches, there was no way they would be having communion on the fourth Sunday of the month, so my communion score is now down to four out of eight, which is closer to what you would expect.

Howard Jones preached at Mout Carmel on the subject of Jeremiah 29, where God tells the Israelites in exile tht they should settle down in Babylon and work for the prosperity of the place. Sometimes we don’t want to be somewhere, but God has good plans for us which we might not recognise at the time, and we should work for him wherever we are.

Today was the first time I have ever been inside Bethel, Whitchurch, and I was impressed with the way an old building has been made to look so modern. Simeon led the first part of the service, including an interview with a young lady going to London to be part of a mission called Eden. Jonathan preached on the subject of Matthew 10, which is part of a series on “Jesus-shaped mission”. An excellent sermon, which included a bit which I felt was particularly relevant to me at this moment, namely that ‘you can’t give what you haven’t received’. Which is pretty much the purpose of this sabbatical!

Next Sunday evening they are doing some gardening in the local area on Sunday evening – an act of service on Sunday in the place of the usual Sunday service. An interesting idea!

Monday 16th May 2011 - Molech, Rephan and the politics of archaeology in the Middle East

Week 2 at the CACEC course on the Book of Acts. The course is specifically about some of the speeches in the book, of which there are nineteen altogether, apparently: eight by Peter, one by Stephen, one by James and nine by Paul. Today we looked at Peter’s sermon to Cornelius, James at the council of Jerusalem and Stephen’s long speech in Acts 7. Interesting and helpful like last time. I was particularly intrigued by the fact that in the Good News Bible (which is the version use on the course), Stephen’s quote from Amos 5 is almost unrecognisable from the original. When I got home I checked it out in the NIV, and found that Acts 7: 42-43 and Amos 5: 25-27 are a lot more similar, and the footnote explained the use of the Septuagint by Luke in Acts 7. I will have to check a few more versions, because the words in Acts 7 in the GNB really are a long way different!
The discussion got onto the crossing of the Red Sea, somehow, and we were assured by one of the group that “all the archaeological evidence says that the Jews did not come from Egypt.” I did try to point out that any such ‘evidence’ will inevitably be simply to back up a political point of view, and therefore should be treated with a pinch of salt… no, a bucket of salt!

By cycling to Aber station I saved a couple of quid in petrol. I was thinking how different the Aber Valley would be today if the railway had not been closed.
By cycling along the track, then down Mill Road to just past the railway bridge, along a footpath cutting across to Nantgarw Road, I more-or-less followed the path of the old line anyway.

Sunday 15th May 2011 - Everyone has a part to play

My third Sunday away from Bethel, and I now have a communion score of four out of six! I followed the pattern of the last two weeks, going to one Caerphilly church and one a bit further afield. In the morning I went to Ararat Baptist Church in Whitchurch, who were celebrating their anniversary. The service was led by the pastor, Dave Hibbin, and the preacher was Andy Baker from near Salisbury. The sermon was on Romans 12 and also 1 Cor. 12, looking at how everyone has a role to play in the Body of Christ. A phrase was quoted today which might be well-known to some, but I only read it for the first time yesterday, and today I heard it in the service: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” which I suppose could apply to many areas of life, but it is especially helpful in reminding the church to focus on that which matters!
In the evening I went to Bethel, Bedwas. The service was led by Pastor Mike Edwards, and the preacher was Chris Wood from Newport, whom I have heard before. He also touched on the point from this morning that ‘God has called us not to be spectators’, although he also covered quite a lot of other ground… he certainly had plenty of time to preach on most of the Bible!

The aim of these visits to other churches is partly selfish, in that I am hoping to receive personally in my Christian walk, and partly church-orientated in that I am hoping to pick up some ideas! So far both of these aims have generally been successful to varying degrees. Of course, I have stuck entirely to churches which are within the same kind of  theology and style as Bethel.

Out and About

One of the aims of my sabbatical is to go cycling a bit more – partly to improve my general fitness and partly because I enjoy cycling and have had little chance to do much over the last 21 years or so. Also it is easier to read a book out of the house than in it where there are so many distractions. Not that I read while cycling… that would be daft. But I find a place to stop and get a book out of my rucksack.
I have always enjoyed exploring – seeing a path and wondering where it goes. As a child I used to do this, and as a teenager and student with more time available to ride down unknown paths. So my trips this week haven’t been great distances, but they have been opportunities to say, “Ooh, where does that go?” (and find out), as well as sitting on a bench with a book and some lunch. I’ve been surprised by the large number of cycle paths around here.
On Tuesday I put the bike on the back of the car and drove to Bedwas, from where I rode along part of Track 8 of the National Cycle Network, alongside the River Rhymney to Trethomas then over the road and up the hill and along what must have been an old railway alongside Graig-y-Rhacca, to Machen. Then back down to the river and along the Machen Forge Trail back towards Bedwas.

On Thursday I foolishly believed the BBC website weather forecast, and set off on the Aber Valley Heritage Trail. I think it’s supposed to be a walk, but I took the bike to Eglwysilan, and up the lane opposite. But by the top of that lane I was soaked through from heavy persistent rain, and had had enough, so turned round and went home.

I wonder where the 440 miners killed in the Senghenydd explosion are buried. I saw about four gravestones at Eglwysilan, and I’ve seen about ten in Penyrheol. So where are the rest?

Today (Friday) I drove to Castell Coch, and rode up the hill for a while to Fforest Fawr before going down through Tongwynlais along the Taff Trail to Forest Farm. A short but interesting trip, and much better weather!

Monday 9th May 2011 – There are non-evangelical Christians??

One of the things that passed through my mind at King’s yesterday is how different Christians choose different styles of worship and different emphases in theology, and it’s all OK. I suppose I should have been prepared for today’s attack of the liberals!
I went to the first session of the CACEC four-part course on the book of Acts, at City URC in Windsor Place, Cardiff. The last one I went to was on Mark’s gospel, taught by Simon Woodman, and packed with between 20 and 30 Baptists. This one is taught by a venerable retired Anglican clergyman (venerable is his title, as well as a description of the man!), and sprinkled with about 10 non-Baptists. I was, on the whole impressed with the teaching, and enjoyed it and picked up some interesting points about the book.
Nearly all of the rest of the class consists of elderly ladies who mainly have a liberal view of scripture and salvation. Some more liberal than others.
Here are some quotes:
“Why should we have to evangelise?”
“Acts 4:12 [salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved] is a bit dodgy in today’s multi-faith world. People don’t still believe that, do they?”
“The people on Songs of Praise singing with their hands raised are obviously very enthusiastic, and taken with the person of Jesus, but I worry whether there is any depth of teaching in these evangelical churches.”
Before my sabbatical I was told that I should go and hear different points of view to my own, and I think I am fulfilling that part on this course… it will be an interesting four weeks! :)

By the way (with reference to a comment last week), twice today when I was asked where I had come from, and said ‘Caerphilly’ I was met with surprise that anyone would travel such a vast distance for a lecture on Acts. All the way from Caerphilly!!! Yes, a whole 17 mins on the train from Caerphilly to Cardiff Queen Street.

Sunday 8th May 2011 – Covenant, grace and prayer

If Christians in Penyrheol choose to travel some distance to a big, lively church, it will often be King’s in Newport. So today I paid my first visit there myself. I can see why people are drawn to King’s: The music is lively with an impressive band on stage right from the beginning; Ray Bevan is a charismatic, exciting preacher; it is quite possible to be completely anonymous. I’m sure that when people get involved in the mid-week activities and events they can become ‘part’ of the church family, but anyone who chooses to attend on Sundays only, in the dimly-lit auditorium, can (if they wish) get away without ever getting to know anyone else, or ever being known by others. It suited me for a one-off visit while on sabbatical, but it made me aware of the strength of love and family at Bethel, and similar smaller churches, such as ACC.

The sermon was about covenant and grace – and Ray Bevan managed to link God’s covenant with Abram in Gen. 15 with David and Jonathan’s covenant in 1 Sam. 18, then how Mephibosheth benefited from that covenant in 2 Sam. 9, and how we in the same way benefit from the covenant between God and Abram through Christ, as shown in Gal. 3: 29 and it all came back to Heb. 4: 16 where we approach the throne of grace boldly, just as Mephibosheth was able to do in approaching David because of covenant! Clever! He had to exaggerate some of the story of David and Jonathan to make some of his comparisons work, but even without that it was a well plotted trail through the Bible showing the grace of God in his covenant relationship with us, and it linked with the Terry Virgo book on grace that I still haven’t read very much of.

Gateway is a church we have close links with, but until today I had never been to one of their Sunday services. So it was good to be there in the evening today. A nice crowd and a good service. David Ollerton was the preacher, on the subject of prayer, from the end of Eph. 6.

So far, in four services away from Bethel, I’ve had communion three times. Now, which churches are likely to be having communion next week…?

Friday 6th May 2011 - Are genocide and slavery good?

Aren’t there a lot of moral objections to the Old Testament? That was the question addressed at a lecture I went to today at Highfields Church in Cardiff. There was a free lunch, which is always a good incentive! A large crowd there, and a well-presented interesting talk. The speaker was Dr Peter Williams of Tyndale House, Cambridge, who reminded me of Marcus Brigstocke in voice and appearance!

He looked at the kind of comments that atheists (mainly) make against the Old Testament, namely that it is full of violence, that God condones genocide and that slavery is regarded as perfectly acceptable in the Old Testament.

On the question of violence he pointed out that there was no violence at creation, nor will there be at the end, in the ‘lion lies down with the lamb’ passage of Isaiah 11:6. God does not choose violence, and the message of the Old Testament is not that violence is good.

As for the genocide, the Canaanites practiced child sacrifices and did other appalling things. God judged nations according to their evil and rebellion, including judging Israel. And we see a God who is slow to anger and gives people many chances to repent. Clearly I’m summarising a long lecture into a few sentences, but the important thing is (as we were reminded at SH) to look at the Old Testament through the Jesus window. The God of love we know and who is revealed in Christ is where we start. We struggle with the Old Testament at times because of some of the stories in it, but we should realise that the Bible’s opponents are usually mis-telling the story and taking parts completely out of context.

As for slavery – God imposed regulations on the practice, which doesn’t mean he though it was a good thing. Old Testament law made it harder for people to abuse slaves. If Israel obeyed the laws about slaves in the Torah, they would be the kindest nation in the Middle East! Two other points which I had not thought of before: the use of the word ‘slave’ has increased with every new Bible translation. And the ideas that come into our heads when we hear the word ‘slave’ have a lot to do with Roman slave markets, or (for those of us of a certain age) Kunta Kinteh in chains on the TV adaptation of Roots. Neither of those forms of slavery had been invented in Old Testament times. Chains for slaves were outlawed in the Old Testament, as was kidnapping.

Of course, there is a risk in these kinds of argument that it sounds like the speaker is saying, ‘slavery isn’t really that bad!’ which clearly isn’t what is meant!

My own view is that the God of the Old Testament is in no way contradicted by the image of God we see in Christ, but it is fulfilled. There are aspects of the nationhood of Israel as God’s people in the Old Testament which simply no longer apply, therefore we must be aware that the way they were used to apply God’s judgement to the Canaanites can no longer happen.

This is why the arguments of today’s so-called Christian Zionists can be so frustrating. They fail to look at the Old Testament through the Jesus Window. Zionism didn’t actually come up in today’s lecture, so I’d better not get started on it!

I was surprised, initially, that I didn’t know a single person there. Then I spotted Dave Llewellyn from Lisvane. But I have noticed before that there are evangelical events in Cardiff attended by all the SWBA crowd, (and presumably not the Highfields and Heath people) and others attended by just one or two of us (or none of us) and lots of them. I wonder why.

It would have been interesting to stand up and ask for a show of hands if there was anyone there today who was at John Griffiths’s funeral yesterday. Of course there is another problem which is that Caerphilly and Pontypridd are many hundreds of miles from Cardiff (whereas the journey the other way is only about 10 miles!)

Another thought process that began while I was at Highfields today concerned big churches – how they become big, matters of finance, and so on. But I’d better save that for another day….. :)

Thursday 5th May 2011 - Standing in the Gap

I find it curious how a thread seems to form between things I read, sermons I listen to, and so on. Last week I was followed around by 1 Kings 18 in two books and a sermon. Today I listened to a CD I bought at Spring Harvest last month concerning the gap between God and injustice. The talk was actually from New Wine 2008 (the CD was cheap!), and the speaker referred to Ezekiel 22:30: “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”

Then I went to John Griffiths’ funeral – a man who was always willing to stand in the gap – and that was the theme of the sermon. There’s something about Christian funerals which is so refreshing. People laugh, for one thing. In fact I sometimes wonder whether we forget that the next of kin might actually be feeling sad. But the story of John’s life is amazing, and we have a tendency to get very excited and encouraged when we see how God turns someone’s life round so completely and utterly. It proves that the whole thing is real! John was a 20^th century Paul both in the way his life changed so totally and in the way he served as an evangelist, preacher and church-planter.

I remember doing door-to-door with John in Penyrheol, and being astounded at his boldness and that nothing ever stopped him from talking about Jesus.

I started reading Terry Virgo’s Enjoying God’s Grace today, and found in interesting biblical fact for the day: At the announcement of the old covenant in Exodus 32: 28, 3000 people died. At the announcement of the new covenant in Acts 2: 41, 3000 people were saved. The law brings death, whereas God’s grace brings life. John Griffiths was a man who proved more than most the reality of the grace of God.

Tuesday 3rd May 2011 - Eggs

Jen, Gethin and Owen back to school today. Nat and Mike had an inset day. We did some shopping and dyed some eggs. I thought I had fixed the leak from the bathroom, but now I’m not so sure.

Sunday 1st May 2011 - Other churches

A strange feeling to be sending my family off to Bethel while I go elsewhere! I decided to start local, and in the morning I went to Abertridwr Community Church, where I was greeted like a long-lost son! I commented to someone that it was the first time for a long time (possibly ever) that I had been there for a service without having a coffin in the room at the same time!

The sermon was on Four Mighty Banners: The Word of God, the Throne of God, the Grace of God and the Name of God.

During this sabbatical I am supposed to receive from God for myself, and I did during the service. But inevitably I also looked out for interesting ideas to try in Bethel. During communion the bread was brought round to people, but then we were encouraged to go forward for the wine, and any who wished to be prayed for could also take that opportunity. Ever since we went to Malmesbury Abbey last summer I have been thinking about how we could get people to come forward during communion, and this idea from ACC might be worth trying!

In the evening I went to Tabernacle, Penarth – the largest church in our Baptist Association. Lots of young-ish people (younger than me, anyway!). A sermon on Romans 8 as part of a long series through the whole book. An interesting comment from verse 30 that God glorifies us! Communion again, and another new idea – two people came into membership, and they were asked to serve.

I wonder how things went at Bethel.

Tuesday 26th April 2011 - Heaven on earth

I read two interesting things today which I feel are worth repeating here. The first one was in Word Live (Scripture Union’s online bible notes): “The realm where God is, which we call heaven, touches earth. One day when heaven and earth are made new there will be no division.” This fits with something Gerard Kelly said at Spring Harvest last week concerning God coming down to us, rather than us going up to heaven. The standard Christian view is about ‘going to heaven when we die’, which the world imagines to be sitting on a cloud playing a harp. But the teaching in Revelation is that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and “God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.” (Rev. 21: 3) God restores all things, starting right here and right now.

Secondly, in a book of imagined dialogues between Jesus and Peter, Peter asks Jesus these questions concerning his well-known answer to the Pharisees about paying taxes to Caesar: “What if Caesar wants what belongs to God? … And what if God wants what Caesar thinks is his?” The oft-quoted ‘render unto Caesar’ thing is not about paying taxes, but it is about what we give to God.

Monday 25th April 2011 - Jobs

The first day of my sabbatical! Jen and I drove to Severn View Services to collect the children from Granny. I cut the grass and I inspected the leak in the kitchen ceiling where water occasionally comes through from the bathroom. I consider that to be a good start, especially on a Bank Holiday!

What it's about...

I'm on sabbatical from 25th April 2011 for three months (followed by a family holiday).
This sabbatical is a chance to change the ratio of giving to receiving for a short time. It is for rest and study. It is a pause from sowing and reaping, and a chance to receive from God without having to worry about sermon preparation, writing agendas, pastoral visiting, etc.
My family commitments make it impossible for me to travel a long way or go away for a long time, so my aim is to read, listen to teaching CDs, visit other churches, go cycling and try and hear what God is saying.