There is a gentleman who left me a message on my answerphone yesterday afternoon. His letterbox has a clear notice not to post leaflets or junk mail. However, for the Jubilee, as well as last Christmas, he still got a leaflet. In fact, at Christmas, I wrote him a note of apology, which I posted. He made it clear our reputation is very low in his books.

You build a good reputation – it has to be true to your character. And to maintain it you have to live up to it. But honestly, not for the sake of it.

It is always a sobering thought to ponder the fact that Jesus entrusted his reputation to us. And he manages it, just like he did with the first plan, the Jewish project. His name is always honoured, whether it’s because we are seen to be changed, distinct people, or whether we are seen to be falling short of who we are called to be. No one is fooled.

It is our duty not to be ashamed, but to live lives of reckless grace, that they may point to Him. To adventurously obey his commands. And it is our duty to minister God’s authority and power, the presence of the kingdom, whether we feel like it or not. He will prove faithful.

Our Father, hallowed be your name.

First impressions, though, are about what it does NOT do! It doesn’t really store stuff, or at least not in the usual way. It’s a bit like you’ve moved in, but you can’t bring your normal computer luggage in, unless you get the removals company (iTunes) to uncensor it. You have to get used to the new furniture, learn what it does, and get comfortable with it.

Am I frustrated? Not really! There’s a whole new world to explore here, lots and lots to learn, a whole new approach to take on board, and entry into a world that is second nature to many many folks. Excited. Glad there are people whose insights I can tap into – not least the kids!

In some ways I will discover that it is more like an oversized phone than a computer, and I’ve not really learned to ride one of these modern smart phones. It is designed to be used connected to the internet – that’s where you store the info and get the info in the internet info way.

This general experience is not an unusual one – I think it is a regular re-occurence in our Christian lives. Or it should be.

Our lives are connected to God by the Holy Spirit. We are designed to draw our life from God, store our lives in God, and to pass on that life to others that don’t have the connection. Sometimes we need to be detached from ways of living where we have got used to the things of God, and not God himself. We re-discover him in the new places we find ourselves in.

Win win.

It’s the last line of a song. I always thought it was profound, but actually I don’t really know what it means. It might be all envelope, and no contents.

I clock on another year tomorrow, so perhaps that is why the line has surfaced – and I do sea the boundary of the Irish Sea most days. It may not be an ocean, but you can’t tell that from the shore.

However, having had the on-going experience of fellowship with God, time, if you address it, is endless. On earth it is definitely finite – and always grief-inducing – but even in death, for people whose faith has no particular shape or catalogued history, it is hard to imagine that a life has ended when the body’s existence has finished.

The song the line comes from is ‘Oh Sister’ from the album Desire by Bob Dylan. It is really a song asking for someone to recognise their relationship and value it. It is thought it was written for Joan Baez, who wasn’t too impressed with it’s sentiment, and wrote a clever and scathing reply, titled, as you might have guessed, ‘Oh Brother.’

The key to eternity is relationship, it is knowing God. Jesus said so. John 17.

I remember one time when the horror of the possibility of eternity in hell struck me quite emotionally and hard. I had trusted God by that time, so it wasn’t an intellectual game, but asking the ‘what if…’ question, having some personal insight into reality from a God perspective. I was, quite unexpectedly, counter-struck by the realisation that, if Jesus was with me, hell, or wherever else I ended up, was not going to be a problem. Hell dealt with.

In some ways it was a very simplistic thought. But it wasn’t manufactured, and the realisation of God’s love, and the shape of his salvation, conveyed in that revelation, still holds true.

After the walk (well, run really) she knows it’s time to head back to the car, though she can drag her paws, pretend there’s just a final little task to attend to somewhere on the beach, before she obliges. If anyone nearby, though, opens a car door, she takes it as an invitation, and before you know it she has hopped in.

That coincidence doesn’t happen very often, but it is usually amusing for everyone when it does.

However, like with every other dog, she seems to sense when people are nervous about her presence. Her response is to become noisy. For that reason, I don’t think she would hop into a car if she felt uncomfortable with whoever’s car it was.

So, particularly when her coat is longish and curly, as it is at the moment, I think she is rather sheepish. (Catty is also in her repertoire.) She is trusting and wants to please, though has an independent streak, and is aware of how secure she is when we are with her. She is cautious of strangers, and recognises not to follow them, though her nature is to trust.

I’m drawing on John 10, Jesus talking about the Good Shepherd, and teaching that he himself is the gate through which we enter into the pasture to graze and be kept safe. The shepherd, I am reliably informed, would sleep in the gap in the fence, and indeed be the gate to protect the sheep.

Enjoy your grazing tomorrow. There is rich pasture in John 10, for example.

In many ways Mike was like the lecturer that taught us thermodynamics at Leicester University. Unlike the other lecturers, he called himself Mr., not Dr., and always looked and behaved more like he was the departmental caretaker. In my memory his lectures took the following pattern: He would explain why something was impossible to measure (e.g. pressure of a gas), and then start on a series of assumptions about atoms and things, all of which were very reasonable, and which he always pointed out the limitations of, then stuck to. While he was doing this, he was recording this in symbols with chalk on the board. Eventually he would get to a point where he would say something like ‘if this, which is very small, we now make tend to zero, then this becomes this, this becomes negligible, and here is the expression for the relationship we can use to measure the gas pressure. Smiled, and walked out.

What Mike was able to do was to explain the different way people in different cultures  (Buddhist, French Jewish, Hindu…)  and with wacky intellects (Hauerwas is one I remember) and show us how, as they explored their reasoning ever more honestly and reflectively, it ended up Christian, whether they realised it or not.

If you seek the fundamental rules by which to make ethical decisions that genuinely reflects who we are as people, you end up agreeing with Jesus’ perspective. I am the way, the truth and the life.

And, like Jess said yesterday, ethics is about keeping company with God, and making decisions from there.

I suspect in this blog I may be just talking to myself after a Nexus session on medical ethics where everybody pitched in. It was great company. Thanks to all of you!

Though I grew up in Leigh, Rugby League land, football was still the main sport religion, with Man Utd and City fans. Stories from The Stretford End and Maine Road were part of the diet on Monday mornings at school.

There is definitely a Man City supporter typical profile. Cheerful underdog, you might say, with an undying faith in the greatness of the club, coupled with an expectation that something always will stop them living up to their destiny. I think it makes Man City fans very endearing and approachable.

Man Utd fans, in my own humble experience, expect to be the best, and are a little lost when they are not. They only believe in their greatness while they are achieving it, and seem afraid to lose it. Ironically, though they support a mightily victorious club, the fans seem to invoke sympathy!

The clubs really have so little that separates them, and yet there has to be that sporting chasm of rivalry.

I was taken by a brief flashback to 1968 on the news, showing footage of the gracious way that the managers of the two clubs accepted defeat and triumph in that year. Mancini does seem to be engagingly under-stated, and Ferguson does seem mellow these days. I hope, in 45 mins from now, there is a result that the whole city can delight in.

It is good to share in the joys of others. It is good to share the burden of others. It is good to have the necessary permission to do both. By this will everyone know that you are my disciples, said Jesus.

They are usually found on church buildings, because they are the tallest in the area. Lightning (electricity) on its way down from the clouds to the earth will take the shortest route, and likes to focus on a point, hence their shape.

However, once it strikes the point, it then needs to get to the ground, so lightning conductors need a very high quality electrical connection to the ground – or they will choose the building instead! This is why the high quality copper connection is usually armoured – to stop it being stolen.

Not many of you will have stood in a pulpit, or at a lectern, to preach. It is like being a lightning conductor.

No, not a target for thunderbolts, but as a channel for God to speak to those gathered to listen. It is a place, with experience, you become familiar with, and get used to the Holy Spirit flowing. Sometimes fluently, sometimes haltingly, many times unbeknown to you. You, the congregation, are the ground that is receptive to God, not the preacher, and that is so vital for the preacher to be effective. God did use a donkey once, you know!

When people are given a chance to lead prayer, or share, or even read, you sometimes get a undeniable prompt that says ‘there is an effective connection here.’ We, as a congregation, have a history of placing people at the lectern to let God ‘conduct’ through them to prove them and enable them to ‘feel’ and grow in their ministry. Hannah and Karen have been proven, and are about to complete their training as lay readers, which affirms their ministry, and gives them a license to minister.

There are more in the pipeline, who won’t necessarily follow the same route, but will discover the gifts God wants them to share. Some of them I am aware of, others not yet. This isn’t the only ministry to grow into in church, far from it. But this is one of the few where everyone has a chance to effect the lightning by being the receptive ground.

Don’t quench the spirit, said Paul. Encourage, not discourage, in other words. We do have power to do both. Let’s choose to receive.

Takes place on Sunday 3rd June from 10:30am – 1:30pm
Includes an Act of Celebration, food (all provided), musical entertainment, bouncy castle, face painting, games and crafts.
The party is open to everyone, suitable for all the family and it’s completely free of charge!
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It was #57 on the roster. We have prayed through this Psalm a number of times now. It has become an old friend popping in, seeding a variety of prayers, a different crop from last time, like new plants from New Cheshire seed potatoes.

David thanked God that he had a steadfast heart. It struck me (ouch!) that wayward David had come to realise that God never let him stray too far. It was like he had planted his life firmly on rails, so even though he leaned left and right, his path remained firm. Wow, what a discovery! And this simply re-doubled his rejoicing, to have that God-given freedom and security at the same time! This is how God shares and manifests his faithfulness, by trusting the people of his church with his reputation… and proving HIS faithfulness through the project.

At 7.30 our eyes can be a little bleary, and some verses can come out a little blurred. We had a an absolute classic example at the beginning of the week, from #19.

“May the words of my wife, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer”

I have absolutely no comment to add to that…

It has no correct answer, can’t really tell whether the assumptions on which the question is based hold any water, but goodness knows how much time and hot air has been wasted addressing it.

But some questions, if taken on board and addressed, are like applying a laser to a coconut – they penetrate what seems like a lifeless husk, to let flow sweet milk, and so much to chew on.

On Sunday mornings we are going to be looking at questions that Jesus was asked, and in the summer have a look at ones that he asked. It’s no surprise those moments were remembered and recorded. And I suspect that Jesus questions and answers were pondered by those who heard, because he always spoke with authority, and didn’t say the obvious. The truth is not always the obvious!

Sandra and Lillian didn’t let me down in their response to my question yesterday. In asking it, I was really (no pun intended) pointing you to the amazing grace of God’s answer to our human dilemma.

Any questions?