New creation

We had a text message first thing this morning saying a new grandchild
was on its way. At 8am I had a Communion service in Offchurch; it struck
me that my daughter-in-law's pain and subsequent joy (we trust) is a
picture of our Lord's suffering and joy - the joy of a new life
anticipates the joy of the new creation which Christ's crucifixion and
resurrection brought to birth. An obvious parallel, but I'm not sure I'd
seen it so vividly before.

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Faith in darkness, joy in despair

I am one of those seasons when everything seems to be happening at once
- lots of preparation, lots of services, events, meetings, visits, some
good news, lots of people with very bad news. And it's raining!

How do we cope spiritually when there's too much to cope with?
Sometimes we can't. But we can't throw in the towel either - 'orderly
retreat' is the best option: accepting that we're going to fail, yet
doing what we can and trying not to beat ourselves up over what we can't
do. We're not letting God down - he foresaw this and planned for it.
What we may call 'failure' he may call 'reality check', and he's not
disappointed, for he is still at work in us and in our failures though
we can't see or feel it. At such times faith feels more like
helplessness, despair even. God knows. His arms are underneath, but
maybe they are not actually touching, and we're still falling.

Sometimes we can cope spiritually. Often not by any sense of his
presence or any enjoyment in spiritual activity, but by a sheer
bloody-mindedness that refuses to believe that God is not around and
loving us, despite all the evidence to the contrary. We've no assurance
that the rope we're hanging on to is fixed anywhere useful, but we're
going to hang on anyway.

Sometimes we can more than cope, by that same bloody-mindedness: we do the counter-intuitve, irrational thing by praising God for the light
even when we can't see any, praising him for his goodness even when we
feel we're only experiencing wrath or, worse, indifference. We can
rejoice in the Lord by faith as well as by sight.

That bloody-mindedness which takes God at his word when all the evidence
is against it, that is true faith, and that is worth more to God than
the most exalted praise when all is going swimmingly.

'Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.' (Job 13:15)

'The God we serve is able to save us from your hand, O king. But even if
he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your
gods.' (Daniel 3:18)

Hang on in there! Resurrection day is coming!

Good News

What exactly is the good news Christians have to tell? I've been given a
very simple way to remember it, based on the hand. (The following order
could be changed.)

(Point to the palm of the hand - as if to a nail print from the
crucifixion) The good news above all is about Jesus Christ, who though
Divine left the glory of heaven to become one of us, was crucified for
us, rose to new life, and is now reigning in heaven. Through faith in
him we become his people, benefitting from all that Jesus has achieved.
This is good news for us because:

(Point to the little finger) It is good news of Adoption: through Jesus
Christ God has adopted us as his own children. We are not just citizens
of his kingdom, we are royal family! Each of us is special!

(Point to the ring finger) It is good news of Relationship: through
Jesus Christ we have the most intimate relationship with the most
important, the most lovely and the most loving Being there is: God, who
is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a three-in-one community whose love for
us is as far beyond our understanding as their nature is beyond our
understanding.

(Point to the big finger) It is good news of Deliverance, through Jesus
Christ, from all the evil and negative forces that bind us and are too
strong for us: we are freed from the power and consequences of sin,
freed from condemnation, freed from any harmful history, freed from
bondage to the ways of the world, freed from all that might hinder our
relationship with God and our ability to serve him.

(Point to the index finger) It is good news of a glorious Future,
through Jesus Christ. He is bringing history to a just and fair
conclusion, and will make all things new in a perfect creation that will
last for ever. We his people are his agents in this process, and are
already part of that new creation, with a guaranteed place in his
everlasting kingdom - he gives us the Holy Spirit to make sure of that.

(Thumbs up) It is good news that needs to be received! We receive it not
just by accepting this good news is true, but by accepting Jesus into
our lives as Saviour and Lord. We are free to reject it (thumbs down)
and to reject adoption by God, a loving relationship with him,
deliverance from evil, and everlasting fulfilment. These good things
come with Jesus; and if Jesus is ours and we are his, all these things
are ours as well.

What could be better news than that? The Christian life from now on
consists in learning how to live with it!

Happiness is grand-child shaped

What a joy grandchildren can be! Over the last few days France and I have spent time with both our two small grandchildren. I was surprised by an immense sense of privilege in looking after them, and joy in seeing how they are growing. That wasn't due to any specially warm response to my presence - it was pure enjoyment of who they were. (Nappies etc. were more Frances' department, I admit.)

It struck me at the time that such a sense of privilege and joy might not only be God-given, but also a reflection of his image: he too enjoys his creation and new creation, and takes pleasure in our development. Even mine!

Tolerance

Is there a limit to what we should tolerate? Obviously, yes - but what
should those limits be and who decides? That's a debate that affects us
all, whether we're bringing up teenagers or teaching in schools about
relationships or deciding whether women should be bishops or gay
marriages be encouraged. The limits of toleration have moved over the
years, and I find that as life goes on my own limits change, and I am
probably more tolerant in some ways and more intolerant in others than I
used to be.

My position is that God decides what I should or should not put up with.
There are many things in life that I can do nothing about and have to
put up with. However, there are many things that I should do something
about. The first priority must be in my own life. This was strongly
impressed upon me in my reading of Pauls letter to the Romans. In the
second half of chapter 1 he tells how God's judgement has been revealed
against all godlessness and wickedness, and lists such evil activities
as homosexual activity, envy, gossiping, and disobeying parents - all of
which deserve death, he says. But then he goes on to say, 'You,
therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else,
for... you are doing the same things.' (Romans 2:1.) The list of wicked
things he's been making was not designed to help us condemn others, but
to make all of us realise our own sinfulness! (The rest of the letter
explains how in fact God is seeking to reconcile us to himself, and to
renew his creation, through Jesus Christ.) And the way Paul tells us to
deal with the rubbish in our own lives is not by trying to live up to a
set of rules or ideals but by trusting Jesus for reconciliation and
trusting the Holy Spirit to lead us into good and acceptable ways of
life - and doing what he tells us.

How can I know what God wants me to tolerate or not? I may have a sense
of what is right and wrong, but ultimately I have to check it out with
what God has said in the Bible - and this is where I find I am changing
my position, as I get more and more into what the Bible is saying, taken
as a whole. The life and teaching of Jesus has to colour my view of
everything else in the Bible, for Jesus reveals what God is like most
fully - he and the Father are one. As I wrestle with different issues, I
sometimes feel I am still in the dark, and I cannot predict what my
limits of toleration will be in the future.

In all this, I know I am called to love my neighbour as myself,
whatever he or she does, whether I approve of it or not.

Love and wrath

Can a loving God be a God of wrath? Can love punish? As parents we know that we have to punish sometimes, even though we hate doing so. Sometimes we have to let a beloved son or daughter go their own way and take the consequences. 'If I never loved I never would have cried.' But when God punishes or lets evil happen, it is all too easy to cry 'Foul!'

In Exodus 34:6-7 God reveals himself to Moses as a God of tremendous love and a God who punishes. (A similar passage occurs in the ten commandments.) The description of his love is very strong: he is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands (or even to thousands of generations), and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. What could be better than that? But then comes the next part: 'Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.' How unfair is that? We don't mind the guilty being punished; but why the children and their descendants? Surely that is wrong! And so we forget all the first part because we stumble at the second. At least, that is my tendency.

I need to keep reminding myself to give due weight to the whole of Scripture, and not to let the difficult bits overshadow those I understand. These verses are a case in point. In the 'nice' first part God tells us that he is a forgiving God. Only then does he talk about punishing the guilty. And when he talks about punishing the children, I need to remember Ezekiel's diatribe against those who wanted children to be punished for their fathers' sins - his message from God was that if a sinner repented they would be forgiven, whatever their father had done or not done. But if that is the case, how should I understand the last verse of the Exodus passage?

Two principles may apply here. The first is that of connectedness: no-one is an island, each persons actions have consequences not only for themselves but also for those around them. If a person leaves Britain and becomes a citizen of France any children born there will automatically be French, not British, whether they like it or not. Likewise if we are citizens of God's kingdom and choose to emigrate, our actions will have consequences for our family - they  will be brought up outside the kingdom of God. We cannot turn to God and say, 'I am the one who sinned, my family should not suffer.' We are connected. But, according to these verses, after a few generations my family will not be suffering for my sin, only for their own - unless they repent. Which brings me to the second principle.

The second principle is that of forgiveness. No-one who turns to God will be turned away, however seriously their parents or grandparents sinned. And those who do turn to God and sin need not feel they've blown it: God is 'slow to anger', and gives us every chance to come back and be forgiven. It is only if we refuse to repent that we can expect the full force of God's justice.

God will never do anything unfair - except in mercy and love. He longs to forgive, if only we accept his forgiveness and return to him. Yet forgiveness is always costly. God can only forgive because he has already paid the cost; love and justice have met on the cross. He does indeed abound in love and faithfulness.