The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity - Word for the Week

Communicable light

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:49:36 +0100

by Helen Parry (Word for the Week 30-06-08)

You are a chosen people.., that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9.

A chosen people, God calls us, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. We, 2000 years on, inherit this legacy, bestowed on the people of Israel as they travelled to the promised land (Exodus 19:5-6).

Living in a secular society, in which nothing higher is offered or promised than material prosperity or transient celebrity, we can bask in the glory of our position in Christ – in our election, in our access to God through him, in our calling to be holy before the Lord, and in the enduring fact of God’s love. But is basking actually what we are called to do? The purpose of all this, Peter says, is that we ‘may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light’. Because, of course, God chose Israel, so that they might be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 41:8-9; 42:6). Jesus came because God so loved the world. He chose his disciples so that they would go and bear fruit (John 15:16).

In a generation that sets such store by personal fulfilment, and feeling good about oneself, Christians need to be reminded of this inescapable biblical fact: we are saved in order to serve, in order to declare the Lord’s praises.

But Peter makes it clear that what we have to declare is not a series of theological propositions. It is a personal testimony of what the Lord has done for us. It starts with darkness – the darkness of ignorance and lostness, of separation from the one who is the light. Then comes the sovereign call, which we each recognise as personal to ourselves. And as we respond to that call we move from darkness into his marvellous light – a light to transform our understanding, to guide our steps in the present and into the future. If we have really grasped this, we must surely desire to share it.

Can we not, in a society in which people so freely recommend their personal trainers and their herbalists, find ways of commending the one who meets all our deepest needs – our Lord Jesus Christ?

Born Again

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:48:48 +0100

by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 21-04-2008)

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field’. 1 Peter 1:23

There are moments in life when we are told that something has happened that changes our status and our future forever. You are now a citizen of the United Kingdom… I pronounce you man and wife…You have a baby boy… You have been born again.

You have been born again. We can appreciate the emotional impact of getting married or having a baby, but we can too easily lose sight of the depth and power of this picture of what being a Christian means – made new as a child of the living God, transferred from the perishable, where all human glory fades, to the imperishable. John speaks in the same way of being born not of natural descent, but born of God. (John 1:13) Now we are clothed in immortality and the power that takes us and makes us new is the living and enduring word of God – the word that spoke and a universe was born out of nothing, the word that will endure forever.

It’s unfortunate that the phrase ‘born again’ is used popularly as a mainly derogatory term for Christian, as is ‘fundamentalist’, ‘bible-bashing’ or ‘tub-thumping’. I asked a group of Christians what their answer would be to the question, ‘Are you a born-again Christian?’ They would be tempted to reply, ‘What other kind is there?’ But they agreed that they would probably change the terminology and describe themselves as committed Christians to avoid the negative overtones of ‘born again’.

Maybe we need to reclaim the title and status and tell ourselves this morning that we have been born again. We have a fresh start, forgiven and reinstated, with an inheritance that will last forever. That should put a spring in our steps. Especially if we are more than usually aware this morning that ‘our days are like grass, the wind passes over it and it is gone’ (Psalm 103:15,16).

Born again

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:40:01 +0100

by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 21-04-08)

Commanded to love

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:26:21 +0100

by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 07-04-08)

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere mutual affection, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Peter 1:22

Peter repeats this command to love several times in this letter: Love the brothers and sisters (2:17), love one another (3:8), love each other deeply (4:8). We are not advised to wait for love to overwhelm us, like a Disney fairy touch with a sparkling wand. We are told to love from the heart, deeply, now – to go beyond ‘sincere mutual affection’ and to love at full stretch.

It is clear that Peter is talking about love within Christian fellowships – not just compatible friends, nor beloved family members, but the arbitrary mixed bag of humans who worship together. That is demanding enough, but Jesus told us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves and explained that he meant anyone. Moreover we may find ourselves the love target of those we dislike, as the man on the road to Jericho did.

How do we obey this command to love? First, we have to make a decision of the will to ‘love’ someone, however we feel about them. We cannot wait for feelings of love to arrive, nor for dislike to evaporate. Secondly, we need to work out what actions love will require. So I see a colleague coming and I ignore my deep desire to avoid him. I recognise that he has a hard lonely time and needs to talk. So I ask him out for lunch, and listen. I look at my overworked line manager and I curb my desire to talk to him about the minor issues I want him to sort out, at least for a day or two.

But sometimes being loved also presents problems. So, once again, the will has to conquer reluctance and I will allow myself to be encouraged, rather too loudly for my delicate sensibilities, by a neighbour on the train to town. And I will be happy to be prayed over by a very loving member of my church.