The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity - Engaging

A New Earth?

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:56:43 +0100

by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 26-08-08)

Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land shall bless by the God of faithfulness, because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my sight. For I am about to create a new heavens and a new earth… Be glad and rejoice for ever in what I am creating. Isaiah 65:16-18

‘I believe in the resurrection of the body.’ However many millions have repeated those words in every continent and time, in thousands of languages, we still have a tendency to believe that heaven is somewhere above the bright blue sky and that’s where our disembodied souls go leaving their bodies and the earth behind.

Well-being and calamity

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:36:58 +0100

by Sally Orwin (Word for the Week 11-08-08)

I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name… I form light and create darkness, I make well being and create calamity, I am the Lord who does all these things. Isaiah 45:2,3,7

Living hope

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:02:44 +0100

by Helen Parry (Word for the Week 04-08-08)

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15

Just over 100 years ago, looking forward to the 20th century, Thomas Hardy heard the song of a frail thrush on a bleak mid-winter evening. He wrote:

    So little cause for carolings
            Of such ecstatic sound
    Was written on terrestrial things
            Afar or nigh around,
    That I could think there trembled through
            His happy good-night air
    Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
            And I was unaware.

Hope. Surely we, too, have few grounds for hope. In spite of the vast technological progress of the past century, in spite of unprecedented prosperity, people are more depressed, the inequalities of the world are as great, resentment and envy breed hatred and potentially apocalyptic terrorism, and a new economic crisis threatens our comfortable lives. Most people, particularly in the West, seem to be deeply pessimistic about the future, often hidden behind a mask of cynicism.

And yet it is hope that Peter describes here as the distinctive mark of the Christian, a mark so distinctive that it will arouse curiosity and elicit questions. Always, he writes, be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

So what is Christian hope? Peter is clear about its origin: we are born again, he declares, into a living hope, into a heavenly inheritance (1:3-4). This is not just pie in the sky when I die: it is based on the historical fact of Jesus’ resurrection, and on the merciful character of God. But it is far more than the individual assurance of salvation. It embraces the whole world. It is a hope that God can change individuals and that through them he can change societies; that God has good purposes for people and nations; and that eventually he will make all things new.

What is it that makes you different? That’s a question that we shall never hear while we affect the cynicism of those who, being without God, are also without hope. Perhaps being prepared to give an answer doesn’t involve a prepared formula for presenting the gospel, but a spontaneous response from a heart overflowing with hope.

Paul: Carrots or sticks?

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:11:50 +0100

by Helen Parry (Word for the Week 28-07-08)

To me, to live is Christ, Phil.1:21. The love of Christ compels us, 2 Cor.5:14

What motivates us? Do we have ideals, goals or ambitions that keep us going? Or do we have to be pushed, by others, by sanctions or by necessity?

And what motivation do we find, specifically, in the good news of Jesus Christ? The promise of heaven or the fear of hell? A carrot or a stick?

Being a bride…

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:09:45 +0100

by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 14-07-08)

Arise, shine… as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice in you. Isaiah 60:1, 62:5

LICC’s emphasis on whole-life discipleship reminds us of one aspect of our relationship with the Lord – we are disciples, who learn by listening and by ‘disciplined’ application. But, of course, the Bible overflows with a variety of metaphors to explain our relationship to God – shepherd and sheep, king and subjects, saviour and rescued. There are two that draw particularly on the universal experience of everyday intimate relationships – Father and child, husband and wife.

In this verse the marriage imagery fits with the ‘now and not yet’ theme of Isaiah’s last seven chapters. This relationship can start for us now, as we turn in love and commitment to the Lord. And John takes up this imagery in the final chapters of the Bible when we, as the bride of Christ, sit down at the final wedding feast, when the heavens open for us and all the promises of our betrothal are fulfilled. You will be called by a new name (Isaiah 62:2) – Hephzibah (My delight is in her), Beulah (married).

There is, though, a dark side to this metaphor. Jeremiah (2:31-3:1) and Ezekiel (ch.16), as well as Hosea (2:8-20), use the words adultery and prostitution to describe the rebellion of the people of God, their rejection of his love as they seek other gods. Ezekiel’s picture is particularly raw and shocking, some commentators reacting negatively to the development of the metaphor, women reacting to the emphasis on the wife as adulterer and prostitute, and men feeling a little silly as a bride!

Isaiah speaks of God’s relationship to his people as the deep, passionate, committed love of a husband. Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of the intense love in this picture of our relationship to the Lord. We major on orthodoxy, on doctrine, on assessing the theology of others. It is as if we were getting out our marriage certificate each morning before going to work, to prove the relationship is orthodox, instead of just kissing each other.

This morning and for ever, the Lord is our lover and we can look forward with total certainty to all the rich fulfilment of that promise when the day of the Lord comes.

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?

Monday Blues

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:54:51 +0100

by Helen Parry (Word for the Week 23-06-08)

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. 1 Peter 2:9

It’s Monday morning. How do you feel? Like Mark (Thank God it’s Monday) Greene? Or like Bob (I don’t like Mondays) Geldof? Excited, challenged, fulfilled, raring to go? Or burdened, stressed, overworked, unappreciated, ‘wanting out’? Or perhaps a bit of both?

Bringing good news

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:29:48 +0100

by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 09-06-2008)

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to release the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1

Isaiah’s final chapters ring with the certainty that the Lord will come, bringing the vindication of his sovereignty before all nations, and blessing and salvation for his people. However bad the present oppression, whether by Assyria or Rome, Israel longed for the day when they would be acknowledged as ‘a people whom the Lord has blessed’ (61:9). The Lord would sweep in and put all things right.

We can perhaps imagine the shock in the synagogue at Nazareth when Jesus read these verses and then said, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’ (Luke 4:18-21). Isaiah’s words had rung with the promise of spectacular events – not just liberty for captives, but ruined cities rebuilt, and Israel enjoying the wealth of nations. On this ordinary day in the synagogue, a young man, whom they had known from childhood, read from the scroll, as was the custom. Suddenly the mood changed to a shocking moment of outrage at his effrontery. Jesus did not fit their understanding of the powerful rescuer who would defeat their enemies and bring them blessing.

As we look round the world this morning, we may well long to see good news brought to the oppressed, the broken-hearted bound up, the prisoners freed. And for ourselves, healing for those we love, damage we have done forgiven and put right. But we would like someone else to sweep in and do it - politicians, world leaders, economists, or on a more homely level, the pastor, the counsellor, a friend. Or, better still, as Isaiah prophesied, the Lord to come again in glory and bring all things under his reign.

Did anyone in that synagogue look at him as Jesus claimed this role of carer, rescuer and saviour, and remember Isaiah’s words in chapter 53? Was there, perhaps, another kind of rescue? The Lord would lay on him the iniquity of us all, and through that self-giving anyone was welcome into the glory of the new earth and new heaven. Meanwhile, we are the ones who do his work, proclaiming the good news, binding up the broken-hearted, proclaiming liberty...

Unfading beauty

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:34:53 +0100

by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 02-06-2008)

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:3,4

Most of us live with a certain amount of dissatisfaction about the way we look. We are bombarded with images of clothes, cosmetics, style and fashion, makeovers and surgery that just might give us the look we long for. Peter was talking to women, but today cosmetics and fashion are no longer just a female issue, as sales of make-up, grooming products and cosmetic surgery for men continue to increase.

He was also, I imagine, talking about jewellery and clothes that spoke of wealth and status, and braided hair that suggested a personal maid’s attention. But how should we read these verses? Christians over the centuries have had very different views of outward adornment, from Roundheads and Cavaliers, hermits and cardinals, Quakers and Anglicans. If we enjoy fully participating in the fun of fashion and colour coordination, then we have to face the reproach of the drab slightly out-of-date ‘avoiders of the world’. Philip Larkin described a middle way in his moving poem, Born Yesterday. Don’t wish beauty for the baby, ‘May you be ordinary… not ugly, not good-looking… nothing uncustomary to pull you off your balance.’

So our outward adornment should not display wealth, nor excessive engagement with our appearance, but a workable normality, with occasional bursts of fun and exuberance. Yet it is difficult not to feel our self-confidence being sapped by our perception that we don’t look quite attractive enough, for our audience, our customers, or our colleagues. First impressions matter far too much in our fast moving, over-busy western world.

Working at the gentle and quiet spirit of our inner self may take a lot more time and effort than getting a better hairdresser. A habit of prayer where we bring to the Lord the anxieties, fears and disappointments that disturb our spirit; a conscious ever-present quiet joy in his undeserved love; and a recognition of the unfading beauty of gentle and quiet spirits in those around us, may make us less reliant on how we look.

Paul: when friends fall out

Tue, 20 May 2008 11:04:30 +0100

by Helen Parry (Word for the Week 19-05-2008)

Barnabas wanted to take…Mark with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. Acts 15:37-38

Two men set up a business together. They start small, but they have identified a niche in the market, and make good use of the resources they have. They do well. They like and respect one another, and have complementary gifts.

After some time, one suggests taking on a junior partner: he has a particular young man in mind. The other objects – there’s a question mark hanging over the young man’s character. Either his commitment or his stickabilty is suspect. Both are essential qualities in their rather risky endeavour.

This story is, of course, about Paul and Barnabas. Sadly, ‘they had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company’. Each had a point. Paul wanted to be sure that they could rely on their fellow-workers; Barnabas – ever the encourager – wanted to give Mark a second chance. Always a lateral thinker, he probably thought not only that Mark showed promise but also that if the work was going to grow they would need help.

When a small team is working well together, the comfortable thing to do is not to rock the boat – not to enlarge the team by bringing in people of different personalities, different levels of ability. But that is how enterprises stagnate. The visionary founder becomes the obstacle to creative growth.

It would be unjust to apply this to Paul, but it is all too common in our own enterprises. In the case of Paul and Barnabas, regrettable though the discord was, God overruled it. The result was two evangelistic teams rather than one, Barnabas taking Mark to start a new work in Cyprus, and Paul teaming up with Silas.

This story is about training and apprenticeship. It applies both to the workplace and to the church. In the church, it is the essence of disciple-making. Can we seek to reintroduce the idea of apprenticeship, so that young Christians and potential leaders are not only mentored but allowed to learn on the job alongside those with greater knowledge and experience? And am I prepared to take on this responsibility?

Oscars for the Academy

Wed, 14 May 2008 21:08:25 +0100

Mark Greene finds Hollywood calling us to make a stand.

Last week, a friend of mine resigned from their job. They’d been there over four years.

They didn’t have another job to go to, they don’t have a lot of money in the bank and they aren’t prone to self-destructive, melodramatic gestures. However, the organisation was putting them in a position where they couldn’t do the work in a way that appropriately protected the people they were there to serve. Warnings had been given about falling standards. The warnings had been ignored. So, regretfully, painfully, the resignation letter was written – short, gracious, clear, legally careful.

Hope, Hope, Hurray?

Wed, 14 May 2008 21:02:22 +0100

Despite the data, Mark Greene finds reasons to be cheerful

“Woe, woe, three times, woe”, so beat the drums of doom on almost any measure of the social, emotional, physical or mental health of contemporary Britain… overworked, overtired, overspent, overweight, overdrugged … Is there hope for our muddled education system, careening from new initiative to new initiative, desperately trying to claw its way up the EU league tables? Is there hope for our children, the most miserable in the ‘developed’ world? Is there hope for our slave new world of work where the rich do indeed get richer and the rest of us get wearier? Is there hope for our community relations as the mounting fear of Islam builds an ever higher wall, razor-wired with suspicion and resentment on both sides? Is there hope when terrible events like the Bridgend teenage suicides no longer seem to be ghastly anomalies but harbingers of deepening darkness?

Good deeds, good lives

Wed, 14 May 2008 15:18:21 +0100

by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 12-05-2008)

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us…. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 1 Peter 2:12,15

A prophet’s diet

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:20:58 +0100

by Antony Billington (Word for the Week 06-05-2008)

‘Then he said to me, “Son of Man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.’ Ezekiel 3:1-2

It was a crucial lesson for a prophet to learn: his words would not be his own, but God’s. He would not have to fabricate his message, or concoct it out of thin air. He’s assured that what he spoke would be nothing less than God’s word.

And yet it has to become his own before he can present it to others. He must absorb it into his own personality. And in that process of digestion, the words of God would also be nothing less than Ezekiel’s own words.

He will sound like he has always sounded; his mannerisms will be recognisably his; his interest in all things to do with holiness and the temple will be readily apparent; and he will still have a curious penchant for going into more detail about those matters than many of us care for... Even so, God will embody his own words in the words of a human being, such that Ezekiel’s message will be fully God’s message.

In Revelation 10:8-10, John undergoes a similar experience. There too we have a dramatic picture of a prophet of God internalising the word of God. It’s a powerful demonstration of what we’re called to in our own engagement with God’s word. Not that we will become merely more technically competent in handling Scripture, nor even that we just learn more about God and his word; but that his word will become so much more a part of us. It’s an encouragement to read the Bible and to be read by the Bible; to read not merely to be informed about God, but to be transformed by God. It’s a challenge to make sure we do not stand over Scripture seeking to make sense of it, without first making sure we stand under it, allowing it to make sense of us, to work on us from the inside out.

It’s a great image to keep before us as a directing principle for the ethos of our whole lives; as we live for Christ in the face of the contemporary world, we seek do so in line with Scripture: eat this scroll.

Songs of love and spring

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:54:42 +0100

by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 28-04-2008)

My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away’.
The Song of Songs 2:10-13

Today we walked on the hills high about the Swale estuary in north Kent, where a number of woods curve round the northwest of Canterbury. We were walking on farmland now reclaimed by the Woodland Trust and planted with tens of thousands of native trees to link together two areas of ancient semi-natural woodland, forming an area of woodland second only in size to the New Forest. There was sun and rain, kestrels and skylarks, bluebells and primroses. The hedgerows were a vibrant brilliant new green, May was in blossom and the trees in the apple orchards were faintly tipped with pink.

The winter is past and some of the songs of spring I sung at school came back to mind. ‘Spring, the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king. Then blooms each thing and maids dance in a ring.’ Or perhaps, more powerfully, Gerard Manley Hopkins –

Nothing is so beautiful as spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens…

What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden.

Why does spring have such a powerful attraction? This may, of course, be mainly a feature of seasons in the earth’s temperate zones. Yet it does speak of resurrection, new life, regeneration and renewal, of the dormant brought out into exuberant life. And our delight in spring is a delight in a new earth washed clean, a promise of a new heaven and a new earth that will be both glorious and familiar. And also, I hope, a delight in love! Praise him!