Boxing the blog...

I know that this will disappoint vast swaths of the proletariat of the blogosphere, but I decided to box this blog (the BSG fans out there know what I'm talking about). Boxing is sort of putting things permanently on hold, effectively "dead" but able to be resurrected at any time of my choosing.
My reasons are simple: being involved in the leadership of Hill Street Fellowship, the toil of a full-time job, the blessings associated with three kids (all going to different places every night of the week - my car does 27k miles p.a... and I'm not a sales rep - come to think of it, when I was a sales rep covering most of Northern Ireland I did less miles than that!!), the need to sleep, etc. - they have all taken their toll on my free time. Free time - that's a laugh in itself, time has become my most prized possession.


What have a learned about this "journey" (if you know me, you'll know that I seriously dislike that word, but I digress - leave a comment if you want to know why) - blogging is difficult unless you "are minded" (local Northern Ireland political joke) to post regularly and to do that you need to have a lot of material (e.g. do a lot of teaching and can re-use it), have a lot going on in and a lot of stories relating to your "ministry" (ala the cool Brian Heasley), are interested in the minutiae of daily life (discussions about nasal hair, observations about social trivia), are intensely geo-, theo-, socio-, or some other-o political, have a lot of free time to read stuff such as news feeds on the hinternet and post commentary, or you're an author / journalist / paid church worker and it is indeed part of your job or livelihood. I'm none of those. Ahh!


So, Sayonara for now, although this blog might come out of cold storage at some point and if it does I'm sure that the four regular readers will notice.... On the other hand, I'm going to keep the Hill Street Fellowship blog alive and concentrate on that. Well, more than one post every six months might do... For now, here's a picture of my favourite cylon, number six.

Being missional is all about what?

Good conversation going down over at Brian Heasley's blog about the great work that those guys do on Ibiza. On top of the real practical and spiritual difference that he's making on the island, Brian is an absolute star blogger, entertaining, honest and at times controversial (especially when I wade in!). You guys know that I like to stir the pot now and again to see what surfaces... Anyway, one recent post concerned a report on their activities on the streets as they go and share Jesus in a real tangible way. Brian raises the issue of seeing the good in people and, as usual, I just couldn't miss the opportunity to respond as most people that I know are real sh1*s (gosh, even Christians). Yes there is good in us all, good in the flowers and trees, etc. etc. I too cry when I hear of selfless acts of compassion and think about my own thoughts and deeds when I watch a good movie such as Crash (Spiderman 3 excepted - the godless moralising and presentation of a false gospel actually made me a little upset).

Hold on a minute! - we are all capable of good deeds, selfless behaviour, love, passion, kindness, etc. Pagans, Christians, Scientologists, (not) journalists [sorry, UK joke regarding recent panorama programme], but IT IS NOT ENOUGH. It misses the mark. It cannot bring us closer to our creator God and Father. It is all cr*p - said the apostle Paul. No-one is good - said Jesus
Bringing out the best and the good in people is great stuff - but what they really need is to be changed through an encounter with the cross of Christ.
Consider yourself missional? Well then, do the good practical stuff, keep praying and interceeding but don't forget the good news - we can all be changed, healed saved and delivered - being born again through the blood of Jesus. Thank God!!! Praise Him.

Give those that you meet the benefit of knowing what you already have - the pearl of good price. Don't worry about offending them or putting them off just love them, warts and all by letting them into the big secret. Spread it around a little today. God is good. So that we don't have to be. Amen!

But why me? Understanding God's nature (as revealed by Jesus)

This is a sort-of re-post of some comments that I've made elsewhere about "unanswered prayer" in relation to Pete Greig's book God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer. This is an extremely important topic that has wider repercussions in terms of our relationship with God, the nature of faith, and the nature, rules and practical outworking of the Kingdom of God.

According to Scot McKnight, the book list 16 reasons for unanswered prayer, that is when the answer was not the one you were looking for! I'll list them here without comment. At the end (and please read down, as the point of the post is here!), I present a 17th reason. Let me know what you think

Pete Greig's 16 reasons for unanswered prayer (as told by Scot McKnight):
1. Common sense: Am I asking God to do something stupid, meaningless, or illogical?
2. Contradiction: Are my prayers likely to be conflicting with those of someone else?
3. Laws of nature: Are my prayers potentially detrimental to the natural order or to the lives of others?
4. Life is tough: Am I expecting God to spare me from stuff that’s just common human experience because of the Fall?
5. Doctrine: Does my prayer reflect God’s character and His promises in the Bible? Might it be out of line with his His will for my life?
6. Second best: Although my desire in prayer is for something good, is it possible that God has something even better in store for me?
7. Motive: Are my prayers essentially just selfish?
8. Relationship: Is there an opportunity here for going deeper in my relationship with God?
9. Free will: Am I expecting God to override someone’s free will?
10. Influence: Am I trying to exercise ungodly power over a person’s life in prayer?
11. Satanic opposition: Is my prayer in line with God’s will but experiencing specific demonic resistance?
12. Faith: Do I really believe that God can do this? Am I out of my league?
13. Perseverance: Do I want it enough to keep praying?
14. Sin: Honesty time: Is there some secret sin you need to confess?
15. Justice: Am I actively seeking to express God’s love for the poor?
16. None of the first 15: Am I trying to find answers where I need instead to trust?


While there is merit in many of these 16 reasons, I think that there is one further reason that, although it could be classified under #5 (Doctrine), is sooo important that it needs to explicitly teased out. Here it is:

Reason 17. Entirely wrong view of God.

It is hard to pray with the faith that will really move a mountain when you are crippled with the entirely wrong view of God. So many of us are angry with God for letting such and such happen. Why me? Why my son?

Many people that I minister to are, when you dig a little, actually angry with God for a) doing the bad deed, or b) not doing the good deed. In the end we cannot have real faith if we deny the true nature of God - regardless of what we think, do and experience, God is Good. Jesus said it. Do you really believe it? Even Job had the wrong view of God - he believed that God was secretly waiting to bash him the moment he set a foot out of line (Job 10v13-14). How sick is that? In John 10, Jesus explains to us who comes to kill, steal and destroy and he points out that he is the good shepherd.

When we are in agreement with God’s will (and we are when we are praying for healing) we should expect an “answer” to prayer. However, God’s will isn’t always done on earth. That’s why Jesus told us to pray that it would be done here!

God is good.
The problem is at our end.
Let's recognise that first and foremost.

Beginnings

We are launching a new fellowship in inner Belfast on 22nd April 2007 - find out more at www.hillstreet.org.uk. We pray that God will use Hill Street to pour out His salvation, healing and deliverance for Belfast.

Belief and the emerging church

I'm part of a group about to plant a new church in inner city Belfast (UK) and because of that I've been thinking and reading a lot about the Emerging Church Movement / Conversation. Like most things, except I guess for God's Word as revealed in the Bible, there are some good aspects, some bad aspects and some really odd aspects to the po-mo "journey"! I'll have more to say in future posts, but for now I just wanted to say that I enjoyed this post about emerging from David Fairchild in San Diego. Let me know what you think...

Bringing peace not a sword...

There was (as always) a lot of singing about "peace" this Christmas. My youngest daughter had taken to the Christmas music CD in our car's CD changer so much that for half of November, all of December and the first few days of January we were blessed with mixed secular and religious Christmas hits such as "I saw three ships", "Jingle bells" etc. Likewise, she demanded the nativity story each night at bedtime from her children's bible. Lot's of "peace on earth" stuff there. Ahh, I feel all gooey inside... (if you know me, you know that's not true!). As Borat would say, [long pause] "Naaht". It's clear to me that Jesus came not to unite mankind in "peace" but to allow us as individuals to have peace with the living God despite the sin that divided us from him! Even worse than that, if we are followers of Christ then that in itself will divide us from family, friends, religious neighbours, after all when discussing this Jesus said "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Oh dear - I seemed to get that title wrong....

Belated Blogging

Blogging has been temporarily suspended for the last while as this is the busiest period of the year for me in work and I can barely keep up. It happens every year at this time and it is one of the reasons why Christmas is my favourite holiday! The other reasons are: 1) the wife and kids are off work/school too, 2) my employer effectively shuts down completely and so no-one is hassling me for stuff, 3) Santa comes (probably the most controversial thing I've ever said!).

I'm clearly not very good at this blogging stuff (c.f. Tim Challies), but I'm going to struggle on. Again, sorry for the lack of posts. I just know that you guys in the blogosphere are just waiting for the next block o'blog to inspire you! (sarcastic laugh).

Building clay animals? Creativity gone crazy...

I was once on a training course for cell leaders and the discussion got around to worship in the cell setting and the usual "not just singing songs" argument. [Minor aside - I agree that "just singing songs" is a very poor strategy for cell group worship! Let's have some real worship where we open our hearts in unison to adore and praise God.] However, during the discussion someone commented on an actual "worship" session in a cell group where the participants built clay animals, using their "creativity" to mirror God's "creativity" and reflect his glory. Of course, there is a fine line between a clay rabbit and a golden calf. I can almost hear some of you in the blogsphere muttering about the rabbit not being the object of the worship, but I think that there is a wider issue about what is acceptable in terms of corporate worship - that is, in our worship of God when we meet together whether in homes or portacabins or cathedrals. What do you think? This post was sparked off when I came across an old bookmark of mine:
http://www.gfcto.com/articles/theology/article-worship.htm - check it out. It is a fine article that talks some sense that goes in the face of much "creativity" that is creeping into the church. Let's instead focus on the Creator - at the end of the day it's our hearts that He wants not our paintings, poems or percussion. All of that "stuff" is about us not about Him. Think about it!
Peace and love, William.

Bad Words in a Good Song

How important are the words in a Christian worship song? What about when the words are straight from the bible - is that a sufficient caveat for God's approval? Not only are the charismatic choruses of the early 80's criticised for their lyrics, but there are a few hymns of old that I've come across that convey or perpetuate an untruth about the living God and his relationship with those of us under the new covenant.

I've said before that music itself is a spiritual "opener" and in Christian worship there is a balance to be struck between becoming too obsessed with the strict doctrinal interpretation of every line of a worship song and the "it doesn't matter what the words are if your heart is right" attitude. I guess that the degree of balance depends on the group of worshippers. And, in my opinion, in the spirit of the song (small 's').

Now, as John4v24 is my official "motto" I contend that the overall message must conform to the truth about God Almighty and the worshippers must be "true" or in today's lingo "real" in the attitude that they have. Not only that, but I have a particularly convincing case study for you guys to consider (well, all 2 of you, but you've got to start small....).

One of the most popular contemporary worship songs in recent years has been a significant blessing to many churches that I know of. But I, and some of the other worship leaders I know, struggle with just 1 line of 5 words in the whole piece. The rest of it motors along and by and large is right on the mark in terms of the truth about God. Not only that, but the five words in question are a direct bible quote!

The first time I heard the song (and I'm trying not to reveal it too soon for literary effect...) I knew it was a winner but I immediately felt uncomfortable with those five words. They just flew in the face of what I knew about the nature and heart of God the Father. And, when I checked it out in the bible (in the book of Job) I realised that the songwriter had, probably inadvertently, told a subtle lie about the nature of God himself. Now, those of you who are still awake have probably guessed that those words are "You give and take away." Now just because Job said it and its in the 'book' doesn't make it true. In fact, I'd rather go with Jesus who said in John 10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." And in Mark 10 - "No one is good—except God alone." God is good!!!

Job himself had the wrong view of God in his heart - in Job 10 he talks about God waiting to pounce at the first sign of sin, that God concealed this in his heart and was waiting for Job to fail. How untrue is that! Job had a 'fear' of God but he was not operating in the grace of God enjoyed by men of faith such as David and Abraham who were friends of God. Job's understanding of the nature of God was 'religious' (in the negative sense) and legalistic.

I invite you to look across the whole canon of scripture and let the Holy Spirit guide you. What is the true nature of God? Is it ok to ascribe evil to him? If God's will is always done in this temporal earthly domain then why did Jesus instruct us to pray for God's will to be done here, as it is in heaven.

Finally, I cannot sing those five words - I just don't mean them. But hey, I used the song last Friday night in a worship set and just left out the refrain in question. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water, "hold fast to what is good and reject all kinds of evil".

Peace and blessings,

William

Boot-up the blog

I started this blog on the theme of worship because I found myself regularly commenting on other sites. Hopefully, I will get around to actually composing a real post soon. But in the meantime, I invite you to check out some of the comments that I've recently made on other blogs.

• For a not-so-controversial-but-often-heated start you can go here (I didn't comment to this particular post but sent John a private e-mail that I might share later!) and then follow the fallout here (where I did comment)!
  
• That then led to a good discussion on another blog about the role of music in our spiritual life - not only that but good 'ole Graham Kendrick even got a mention - see here.
  
• I've even been impressed with what others write on their blogs. It's a little off-topic for this blog but see here for an example where a Christian leader from an extremely well-known local church here in Northern Ireland actually stands up for the gospel.
  
• Finally, I found a very interesting post concerning "new-age" practices in Christian worship here. However, Andy (the blogger) replied to my comment and made his position much clearer.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy those discussions and I trust that I'll hear from you soon. That is, if there is anyone else reading this apart from me.

Peace and love, William.