Outmanoeuvred. Outplayed. Out.

Germany 4 – England 1

I’m not going to offer a match report as there are plenty of these knocking around.  Neither am I going to provide an inquest as there are many a talented and knowledgeable football commentators more capable of this than myself.  I should also make clear that I think the Germans fully deserved their victory regardless of any decisions that went against England.  Given England’s own decision making during the match, I think there’s only so much that you can question the match officials.  However the game has left me with a long list of questions, which I would like to share.  If anyone can offer answers, then you’ve probably got a good chance of being the next England coach …

In no particular order …

- Why did no one want John Terry’s shirt at the end of the match?

- Was it an act of prophecy that the match was followed by “Antiques Roadshow” on BBC1?

- Who had a worse game – the England defense or the referee and linesman? (I suspect the England defence for conceding 4 goals they shouldn’t have while the referee failed to give 1 goal he should have given)

- Who has kidnapped the real Wayne Rooney?

- Why did Steven Gerrard think he was Roberto Carlos and kept wanting to smash the ball in with a 30 yard screamer?

- How come England only did marginally better than Australia against Germany? (They lost 4-0, we lost 4-1 … they only had 10 men for most of the game)

- Why didn’t the linesman go to Specsavers?

- Why couldn’t we have scored another goal against Slovenia thus topped the group and had a much easier route to the semi-finals? (where we would have been trounced by Brazil or Netherlands!)

- Was it deja vu or did we concede the same goal 4 times?

- Where did John Terry go?

- Why was Matthew Upson (West Ham, nearly relegated) our next choice central defender ahead of Michael Dawson (Tottenham, qualified for Champions League)?

- Given the above, why was Upson the only player who could score yesterday? (Excusing Mr Lampard, of course)

- Given the above why was Upson (West Ham, nearly relegated) so much better than John Terry (Chelsea, Champions)?

- How come the worst players at this World Cup are supposedly some of the best (Terry, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Barry)?

- How come the goalkeeper (who we were all worried about before the World Cup began) turned out to be our best player?

- Did we even have a marking tactic?

- Why oh why oh why could we not have beaten USA or Algeria?

- How many of these players will (thankfully) have retired by 2014?

- Is there any chance we could kidnap the following German players and pass them off as the following England players?
Ozil (Lampard)
Mueller (Gerrard)
Schweinsteiger (Beckham)
Lahm (Phil Neville)
Klose (Peter Crouch – he might need some stilts)

Easter and the Christ

“Penal substitutionary atonement” … There’s a phrase to get a party started, if ever there was one! In all seriousness, though it is an idea that’s causing a lot of controversy and debate in theological circles at the moment. Without wanting to patronise anyone, I thought I’d better explain. Penal substitutionary atonement (as I understand it) is the idea that Christ died on the cross, taking the place and punishment earned by sinful mankind. As Jesus hung on the cross, God the Father poured out on Jesus all his wrath and anger at man’s sinful rebellion – Jesus, being perfect and sinless was able to take the punishment on himself, thus meaning that God could still be just (because sin has still been punished) and yet graciously forgive those in rebellion against him.

For many, this whole idea of God being angry, of punishing his beloved son, of pouring out his wrath – it all paints an uncomfortable and disturbing picture of God – often being compared to an angry and vengeful tyrant with no hint of compassion or love. One writer has even called this understanding of the cross as being equal to an act of cosmic child abuse and not consistent with the Bible’s clear teaching that God is love. (1 John 4:8)

But how did the Christ himself understand the meaning and significance of his death?

It’s hard to read the accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry without realising that the crucifixion did not come as a surprise to him. Jesus is well aware that this is where he is heading, and while the prospect of a gruesome death is not one he looks forward to, nevertheless he goes to it willingly. In Gethsemane we see the torment and anguish he goes through in anticipation of what he is to face (Matt 26:36-46). He pleads with God that if there is any other way, that he might be spared. And yet he goes, he does not resist arrest (Matt 26:47-56), he does not speak up in his own defence during the farce of his trial (Matt 26:57-66), he does not plead mercy from Pilate (Matt 27:11-14), he does not give an impassioned plea to the crowds to choose him ahead of Barabbas the criminal. (Matt 27:15-26) The Christ is not a passive agent, he goes to his death willingly. But why? What did Jesus understand that it was going to achieve?

I think we get a massive clue from two things: The Meal and The Cry.

The Meal

The night before he was crucified, Jesus sits down to dinner with his friends. Given that he knew what was going to happen, it would be far too easy to view this just as a poignant goodbye to those who had been closest to him for the last few years. But the occasion itself and Jesus’ actions through the course of the meal make this an almost impossible situation.

The meal itself was the Passover Meal, the occasion celebrated by the Jews ever since the first Passover in Egypt several thousand years earlier. In the first few chapters of Exodus, we find that God’s people were in brutal slavery under a tyrannical Pharaoh in Egypt (Exodus 1-3). Pharaoh had set himself up against God and refused to let the Israelites go, instead seeking to make their lives worse and worse. God in turn had clearly demonstrated himself to be the true living God through a series of devastating plagues on Pharaoh and the Egyptian people. (Exodus 5-10) After Pharaoh’s constant refusal to heed God’s warnings and submit to his Lord and Creator, God brings a final plague on Egypt. God would pass in judgement through Egypt and all the first-born sons would die. (Exodus 11)

However God makes special provision for the people of Israel – they are to take a perfect unblemished Lamb, kill it and paint the blood on their doorposts. This was because, if left to themselves, the sinful people of Israel would be just as much deserving of God’s judgement as the Egyptians. So, a perfect lamb dies in their place and they are marked out by the blood. When God comes in judgement on Egypt, he passes over the houses marked with blood and those inside are mercifully saved. (Exodus 12)

The Passover was a massively significant event in Israel’s history and a major celebration on the Jewish calendar. Exodus 12:13 explains quite explicitly what’s going on – what was to be remembered  “The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”  It was the blood of the lamb that rescued the Israelites from destruction at the hands of an awesome and holy God – because that destruction has already fallen on the lamb.  So when Jesus takes the bread and breaks it, and takes the cup of wine – he is taking ordinary parts of the Passover meal.

And yet the words he says as he does these things, shows that Jesus is not just wanting his disciples to remember the Passover in Egypt but to look to a new Passover that is imminent.  “This is my body broken for you”, “this is my blood shed for you”. (Matt 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20)  Coming the day before his death on the cross, can this be anything other than Jesus telling his disciples that he is the Passover Lamb? He is the perfect sinless Lamb who is killed and his blood shed so that God’s people can be rescued and spared from his right judgement.  This seems to be the understanding of the apostles and the early church – Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:7 “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” 

As Jesus prepares to go to the cross, he is demonstrating that he is about to lay down his life.  Christ is to bear God’s judgement, the Lord’s just punishment for sin, that his people might be rescued and be brought back into right relationship with their God and creator.

In fact, the Passover was just one of many reminders to God’s people of their need for a substitute.  In Leviticus 16 we get the description of the Day of Atonement, an annual event for Israel in which sacrifices were made in place of a sinful people.  One goat was killed in place of the people because of their sin (Lev 16:16) and the blood sprinkled around the Mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant (The symbolic dwelling place of God among his people)  The sins of the people would then be confessed over another goat before it was sent out of the camp to die in the wilderness.  This was to symbolise the two-fold nature of the sacrifice – one goat suffered the death that sinful humans deserve for their rebellion against the living God – the goat takes the punishment instead.  The other goat removes the sin of the people, removing the barrier that cuts them off from a holy and awesome God.

The Christ knows that this is God’s will “Yet your will be done!” (Matt 26:42), he knows that through the evil, treachery and injustice committed by the authorities around him, that behind the whole thing lies a greater sovereign authority whose will is the most gloriously amazing plan of rescue and salvation. 

Jesus is no passive victim – he knows this is the good and loving will of his Father and so in obedience and humility, he willingly submits himself to a gruesome death on a Roman cross (see Philippians 2:5-11) … he offers himself as the perfect Passover Lamb, the one who turns away God’s right anger at sinful humanity.  As Jesus’ body is broken, the relationship between rebellious mankind and God is healed.  As Jesus’ blood is spilled, God showers his people with his undeserved love and mercy, his grace.  This is a plan conceived and brought about by the loving Father God and the gloriously willing and obedient Son, so that the people he lovingly created might be restored to a right relationship with him.  As Jesus celebrates the Passover Meal, he points his disciples and us to the fact that He is in fact the Passover Lamb – that they are about the witness the Ultimate Passover, where a perfect and Holy God will come in judgement and yet pass over his people because a lamb without blemish has taken their place.  The Meal shows us that Jesus was a willing, humble and obedient sacrifice, who lovingly and self-sacrificially takes God’s wrath on himself, so that we might approach God and call him our loving Heavenly Father.

The Cry 

“From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” “  (Matt 27:45-46)

It’s midday on the Day of Preparation for the Sabbath and an execution is taking place outside of the city walls, just a few days after the Passover festival.  Crucifixions usually drew a crowd, but they weren’t exactly an uncommon sight in Roman-occupied Judea.  This one, however had aroused a lot of interest.  Not so much for the criminals but for the man on the middle cross.  Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter turned itinerant preacher and miracle worker, who had made some pretty bold claims, rubbed the religious authorities up the wrong way and was often seen associating with the dregs of society. 

An eerie darkness had descended and the few remaining of the Nazarene’s followers huddled together weeping desperately.  The soldiers called back and forth and the crowd hurled abuse at the criminals, and even at the carpenter.  Cruel taunts and insults spewed forth and yet the man on the middle cross remained quiet.  It seemed an eternity had passed and the crowd was beginning to tire, when Jesus called out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

He wasn’t the only one there asking that question.  His followers no doubt were stunned that a man of such peace and love, a man who spoke with such great authority, who performed miracles and who forgave sins, who welcomed children, tax collectors and prostitutes and who challenged the self-righteous, pious and religious … that God could be allowing this to happen to him.  The religious authorities must have been quite satisfied – the man who they had condemned as a blasphemer, an impostor and a heretic just hours before – was now admitting defeat, he was now resigned to the fact that God had abandoned him – surely a glorious confirmation of their unpopular verdict.

However, it was only the man on the cross who fully understood these words.  Yes God had forsaken him – the darkness was a clear sign of God’s judgement. The cry of anguish is one not borne out of pain or physical torment, but out of the fact that Jesus was cut off from God.  God the Father and God the Son who have related to one another with perfect love and harmony in all eternity, are now cut off.  God turns his face from his dear beloved Son, and for the first time in history Jesus, the perfect man, knows what it is to be at odds with the almighty Lord God.

As a Father does not delight in punishing and rebuking a disobedient child, God the Father takes no sadistic pleasure in pouring out his wrath – especially because this is the dear Son who he loves.  And yet, rather than punish the children who have rebelled against their Creator and Heavenly Father, God the Son who never rebelled offers himself in our place.  He submits to receiving the punishment that we were due, even though he was perfect.  He is willing to be forsaken for us even though he had never forsaken God himself.

The cry that goes up from the cross is one of wrenching emotional torment – a dearly beloved Son separated from his loving Father.  Jesus understood that he was being forsaken by God as he hung on the cross … He understood he was the perfect and ultimate Passover Lamb.  He went to the cross sacrificially, willingly and obediently.  But why?

The questions about penal substitutionary atonement and comments about “cosmic child abuse” do raise the genuine question – How can a loving God act like this?  People are absolutely right to assert that God islove.  That’s how he describes himself in his Word.  But does that negate what else the Bible tells us about the nature and character of God?  God is also good, he is just, he loves right and hates evil.  People are right to assert that a lot of things are achieved in Jesus’ death on the cross – victory over evil, God’s salvation act of gathering a new covenant people for himself, Jesus’ ultimate act of self-sacrifice, humility and servant-hood – after all it’s the single most important event of the Bible.

Many participants of the debate seem to want the different understandings of God’s character and purposes to be mutually exclusive.  If the Bible tells us that God is love, and tells us that God punished sin in Jesus on the cross, then it’s mischievous to try and play the two ideas off against each other.  Often I think it’s because we can’t really be bothered to work hard, to pray for wisdom and understanding on how these things work together.  We get lazy and it becomes easier to discredit and ignore Biblical teachings we don’t understand or don’t find particularly comfortable.

What seems hardest to comprehend in this particular controversy, is this.  The very idea that God is love is followed by a clear explanation of how God shows his love;  1 John 4:8 tells us clearly that God is love – it is in his very being, it defines him. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Therefore, if God is love then whatever God does must always be loving.  But 1 John 4 doesn’t stop there – in verses 9-11 John explains exactly what the love of God looks like

“9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.“

So far from being contradictory doctrines, “God is love” and “God punishes Jesus on the cross” actually support one another – God the Father and God the Son clearly demonstrate their love of sinful mankind in sending Jesus as an atoning sacrifice.  Penal substitutionary atonement does not undermine but rather it massively underlines the fact that God is love.

As a doctrine, it’s always likely to make us feel uncomfortable as it makes us realise the impact, the seriousness, the offensiveness of our sin against God.  It reminds us that because of our horrific rebellion against the one who created, blessed and sustains us, the perfectly innocent Jesus had to suffer an appalling and excruciating death, and to be cut off from God so we could be rescued and redeemed.  It’s not the most flattering thing for our inflated human egos, but then we like to think we’re not that bad really. 

But is it not encouraging to know that God is so incredibly loving, that the extent of his love is so great that even though we spurned him and turned our backs, that he should give of himself so graciously and generously?  That while we were his enemies, that Jesus should come and willingly die in our place so we could not just be called friends of God, but be welcomed into his family?  That God the Father should be willing to do this even though it meant the pain and anguish of punishing his innocent and dearly beloved Son on the cross?  That God the Son should be willing to do this even though it meant being cut off and forsaken by his Father and beaten, broken, nailed, pierced and crucified?  Is that not love of the greatest kind?  And if God loves us enough to do that, can we not have complete confidence that he will keep us, that he will love us and remain faithful to his promises for all eternity?

The authors of “Pierced for our Transgressions”, a recent work on this very subject (very highly recommended) have given their book the sub-title Re-discovering the Glory of Penal Substitution.  I think this is absolutely right – this should be a teaching that causes us to rejoice and give thanks to God, not to argue and fall out about it.  It’s an amazing thing that God has done on the cross, and something that should be a source of praise and thanksgiving.

However, in the reality of our churches and theological circles, it seems to be an idea under great attack.  To my mind, it is the clear understanding of Jesus Christ himself and the overt teaching of the Scriptures, that a loving God punishes his willing Son in place of us, that we might be a rescued and redeemed people who recognise God as Lord and King and seek to honour him in everything.  As John says in 1 John 4:

 7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”  

Progress Report

Hello avid blog readers!!!  (That’s if you haven’t all completely given up and stopped bothering to check back for new posts!)

Anyway, this is just to say that the first installment of my article(s!) on Easter and my long ago promised reflections … well, I’ve started writing it – more than started, but not yet finished.  I hope to have it posted up sometime this week!  Mmm … specific!  Seriously, though – it should be soon but I wouldn’t hold your breath (cos it won’t be in the next few minutes!)

Anyway, more generally in my world … Recovery from the hernia op is still taking much longer than I hoped.  I returned to work for a few 1/2 days last week – which was quite tiring but a good thing to do … a small but significant amount of progress!  Everyone at work was very friendly, welcoming and concerned … and I’m hoping by the end of this week I’ll be back to working full days, but we’ll just have to see!

Watch this space …

Herniatic!

So, after just over a 6 month wait I finally had my hernia operation on Tuesday.  I walked in feeling fit and well and shuffled out feeling a bit like an frail elderly man making his way, almost tortoise like over to the taxi rank.  I am reliably informed that if I hadn’t have had the operation, something very nasty and unpleasant could have happened to me.

Anyway, I am now on a 2-3 week break from work as I recover from the surgery.  At the moment it’s not the most pleasant time as I’m in some pain or discomfort (especially when moving about) and still quite lethargic from the general anaesthetic.  However, I am getting to see lots of Gail (which is amazing!) and sit around watching TV and playing video games.  I have yet to attempt a musical instrument since the op, but I’m definitely yearning for it.  It’s also dawning on me that I have several things to be getting on with, which I probably could conceivably work on during my long lay-off.  I have a seminar to prepare on “Relating to God” for the Kids camp in Sibford as well as preparing several Bible studies as well.  I’m speaking at church at the end of July on Matthew 5:13-16, and I’m wanting to do some work on several songs.

Several weeks ago I met up with an established and published Christian songwriter to get some feedback on some of my songs.  It was very positive in all, with lots of fair and objective constructive criticism – now I just need to go back to the drawing board with a few songs and try to make them as good as they can be.  In general, he seemed to think they had some potential, so watch this space!  I’m also hoping to get some songs recorded over the summer – I have a number of friends at church who do that sort of thing as part of their studies and are amply (!) equipped.

Almost 2 weeks ago I had my belated birthday party (due to extreme busyness around the time of my actual birthday).  My brother and sister-in-law came and brought Grace, my now 2 month old niece.  She had grown quite a lot and was also considerably more awake than the last time I’d seen her.  They seem to be adjusting to family life very well – and I’m pretty excited (still) about being an uncle.  Lots of people came later on and the weather even managed to hold off long enough for a viable BBQ!  In my bid to not be stressed and do too much organising, I’d kind of vaguely asked people to bring meat and stuff – in the end we had way too much food and I spent a very cheap week eating up burgers and sausages in abundance.  Not that I’m complaining … 

It was a really good party with lots of good friends just enjoying spending time together and relaxing.  It was a shame I couldn’t have had my family and all my friends from Manchester, Colchester and Cheadle to celebrate being 25, but these things happen … Plus I think it could have been a little bit squashed!  I hope to get down to Cheadle in the next few weeks – recovery permitting … and maybe even swinging down Colchester way for a bit of a hello to all the people who still can’t seem to escape the clutches of North Essex!

The same weekend, on the Sunday night myself and Tom (my housemate) went to see the Manic Street Preachers at the Apollo in Manchester.  Despite being a bit disappointed with the new album “Send Away the Tigers” on the first hearing, it has been growing on me a lot – and hearing a number of the songs live was incredible.  The Manics appear to be back to creating epic anthems with lush soaring choruses – and James Dean Bradfield really gets to sing his socks off, which is always good!  The gig itself was phenomenal – for a band edging towards their 40s there was so much energy and excitement – the best rapport with the fans that I think I’ve ever seen from them, and just a really high quality and tight set with a good mix of new material and the stunning back catalogue that have made the Manics by far and away my favourite band.  They seemed to be enjoying themselves and I certainly did.   They even played “Sleepflower”, the first track from their second album that has one of the best ever guitar riffs – but not a song usually part of their live set.  It was an incredible gig from an unbelievably good band … and apparently there are some more dates being announced for the end of the year!

All in all, an eventful few weeks and while I may not be incredibly active for the next fortnight, this may allow me some time to blog a bit more – and even post some of my Easter reflections eventually!

Muchly muchly busy!!!

So, a little while ago I promised a series of reflections on Easter and the Cross.  I obviously need to be a little more careful what I promise in the future!  I am still planning to do a series and the first article is in progress – please be patient with me!

I have had an incredibly busy few weeks including organising and playing for the wedding of some good friends from church, becoming an uncle for the very first time, a training weekend for our Summer Kids Camp, an upcoming weekend in the Peak District, a 25th birthday and much excessive busyness at work!

My birthday last week was very nice (Thursday 26th – belated cards and presents are still welcome ), even if I was working.  I brought in lots of cake which I enjoyed with all my lovely colleagues – some of them then treated me to a free Subway lunch … which was nice!  And they say there’s no such thing!  I then went out for dinner with Gail, and having abandoned the plan to try and find a good Italian in Manchester (there are some but they are very expensive!) we found ourselves (!) in the Sangam – the finest Curry establishment on Rusholme’s Curry Mile.  We had a very nice meal and a really nice evening in all.  As a bonus I was off work on Friday so I didn’t need to hurry home to bed which was good …  I even managed a lie-in till 11am the next day – the first time in months!!!

Anyway, please hold tight – I promise that my reflections on Easter and the cross are on the way … That’s if you care at all!

Easter Reflections

Last week I had some unexpected holiday sprung on me, which was really nice – I had nothing planned and nowhere in particular to go … this meant lots of lie-ins (in theory), some PS2 games, lots of music, lots of quality time spent with a certain person and lots of time to think.

On Good Friday I went to ”An Hour at the cross” service at Holy Trinity Platt, the big evangelical C of E church round the corner from my house and it really got me thinking (!) about how much there is to the Cross of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection.  Christians so often casually throw out “Jesus died on the cross for our sins” or a similar line, which makes it sound like a perfectly normal and every day event. 

It’s also a subject at the centre of a fierce theological debate at the moment.  Steve Chalke and Jeffrey John have quite publicly rejected the idea of “penal substitionary atonement” that is, that Jesus was punished by God on the cross for humanity’s sin.  Chalke even compares such an idea to being “cosmic child abuse” in his book The Lost Message of Jesus.  Responses have come thick and fast from Ben Cooper’s  Just Love which argues that a loving and just God must punish sin and a new book Pierced for our Transgressions by Steve Jeffery, Mike Ovey and Andrew Sach (not Manuel from Fawlty Towers).

To my mind, the Chalke/John position is thoroughly untenable and inconsistent with Biblical teaching.  John has even gone as far as to question the mental stability of the Psalmist in some of his writings.  But more on this later …

This, incidentally is why I have been boycotting Spring Harvest over the last few years.  That the Leadership of Spring Harvest has comprehensively failed to admonish and hold Chalke to account for his teaching error and instead shown their approval for his teaching by allowing him to remain on the leadership of the event, this is neither loving to Chalke (not encouraging him to see and correct his error) nor to those who will be taught falsehood as a result of his position in Spring Harvest.

The break away of UCCF, Keswick and the Word Alive week, is therefore sadly inevitable and necessary.  It will be seen, and no doubt spun by some that it’s the cranky conservative evangelicals getting a bit too up themselves about nothing – but if we don’t see the importance and relevance of what Christ achieved at the cross as central to the Christian message, then it really shows how lost we are. 

 I hope in the next few days to post a series of reflections on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which I hope will prove helpful, interesting and encourage some more thinking and careful Bible study on the subject!
 

Ah, ah, ah, ah, staying alive, staying alive!

Regular followers of my blog will know that it’s not uncommon for weeks (and even months) to go by without me posting anything. This is partially because I lack commitment, partially because I don’t always feel I have something worth saying here and partially cos I can be really really really quite busy. Anyway, just in case anyone was worried, I am still alive. However, I’ve learned that I quite possibly need to wake up a bit more in the mornings as there have been a few days when I have almost sleepily walked out in front of a moving car … not a good idea – especially given how people in Manchester drive!

Last week we had our Church Weekend Away which was superb. Justin Mote spoke on Genesis 4-11 and we were reminded about the enduring consistency and faithfulness of God’s character, that he is completely justified and right to judge human sin and yet he is incredibly merciful in delaying his final judgement and rescuing a people for himself. It was also great to spend time with people from across the 3 Plant congregations, meet new people, catch up with old friends … and play lots of guitar! We had an informal “Praise Jam” session on the Saturday evening (that’s jamming with Christian songs – and loads of people came to play or just sing along). That was great fun and something I want to repeat if possible – quite regularly!!! We also had an extended time of singing on Sunday morning which was really good – it’s not something we do that much at The Plant, and it was fun to get a bunch of really talented musicians together and have a really good go at some quality songs. In true Simon-esque style, I will give you a run-down of our play list. The basic idea was to go through the Gospel message in song …

You are holy – Marc Imboden & Tammi Rhoton
Two sins have we committed – Sam Chaplin
Consider Christ – Bryson Smith & Philip Percival
Be Thou My Vision – Mary E. Byrne & Eleanor H. Hull.
You are the Lord of creaton – The alternative words Matthew Dawkins and I wrote for “These are the days of Elijah”

It seemed to work really well, and always good to have a bit of fun musically with really good songs … so we did!

At the moment at work we are in what must be the busiest week of the year for the Coursework Receipting Office. This week alone we are expecting to take in 3,600 pieces of work. 1,746 of those are due today. This is not helped by our Database crashing and the extra demands to get the work ready for tutors to mark it …

My Favourite Day (Ahem!!!)

So it’s that time of year again … Tomorrow is Valentines Day or as I think it should be re-named “Bring-me-a-bucket-I’m going-to-be-sick” Day. The cynic will say that my hatred of this day has more to do with my perpetual singleness than my objection to cutesy -wutesy commercialism. That may well be true. But it’s still no excuse for the awful display stands of complete tripe in most shops at the moment – Cuddly bears and all …

As a society we seem to be happy to channel our spending into these carefully marketed festivals of consumerism. And woe to anyone who dares question it – if you do it at Christmas then you’re a Scrooge (completely missing the point of Scrooge if you ask me) , if you do it at Valentines Day then you have no sense of romance, if you do it at Halloween then you’re a puritanical fundamentalist, if you do it at Easter then maybe you’re a bunny hater – I don’t really know. Each time we fall for the lie that our love for our friends/ family/”special person” will be most clearly demonstrated with something expensive. I couldn’t believe it when a major UK Supermarket was encouraging a £300 games console as a normal Christmas present for a young child – do they not realise the pressure this puts on parents? Of course they realise – that’s why they do it! But how irresponsible in a country whose citizens are more and more being encouraged to live way beyond their means – the figures of personal debt for a wealthy developed Western nation are staggering and some seem to be suggesting that this situation will plunge us into the kinds of back-breaking debts suffered by many people in developing nations.

When will we learn that happiness does not come from what we own? The National Lottery, the cult of celebrity, the driving ambitiousness, the entire world of business seems to be based on the idea that everything is about making money, spending it on things and then we will have a great life. The trouble is, for many people, this aspiration is but a dream and yet there is never a shortage of Financial institutions ready to “help”. The sheer number of Personal Loan adverts on TV seem to show the number of people who are in desperate trouble financially – and yet the solution is always another loan, another debt to be paid. (That said there are a number of excellent Debt Solution organisations who help to provide a real way out of personal debt.)

Yet our society is hooked on this idea that to show love, it means digging into your pocket around certain times of the year and getting something special (and expensive). Should our kindness/generosity be limited to those times of the year? Should the corporate powers dictate when and how we show our love for those around us? I’m no expert, but surely a surprise expression of love that has maybe taken more personal effort than money is far better than a cuddly giraffe with the words “I wuv you” on them …

Anyway, other than dreading February 14th (and I realise my last few posts haven’t really had any news in them!) I have had an interesting few weeks. I got offered the temporary job I’ve been doing at Man Met Uni – it means much better pay and benefits. However, I’ve now been moved to another part of the Uni to cover another vacant position which is more senior and more responsible – and so I may end up applying for that as well!

I spent a week and a half realising what life must be like for Bob (cough) Fleming (cough) of (cough cough) Badger (cough) Watch (cough cough cough) with a nasty bout of viral flu – I can tell you – you don’t want any part of it! It meant a pretty miserable week off work and very little sleep. Not the most fun week of my life! (By the way, Bob Fleming is a character from the BBC’s Fast Show!)

I’ve done some song-writing too, only making minimal progress on my half-finished “Mighty God” – I seem to have hit a creative brick wall at the end of the verse and nothing else is happening at the moment! However, I’ve written an alternative tune for “And Can It Be” which is quite different to the classic one. I absolutely love the original tune – this is not meant to be a replacement, just trying to do something different with it, try taking the song in a different direction. On Sunday, a friend from church who is studying Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, he came round and helped me get it written down and start working on a Bridge section. He also helped me look a bit more critically at some of my other songs and make some changes – some excellent improvements!

I’ve still not managed to meet up with my contact at Jubilate Hymns to get some more feedback and maybe even look at the possibility of getting some songs published – but I’m sure to post if and when there is any progress there.

Finally, I have completely lost track of who I have told about this and who I haven’t – I’ve been expecting to have an operation to repair a hernia for a few months now and after various appointments with various people, today I had my pre-operation check-up to make sure I’m ok for the surgery. I still don’t have a date for the operation itself but I’m expecting it to be mid-late March. I will post here when I have a definite date for it and I’d appreciate prayers. It’s a reasonably simple & straight-forward proceedure with a minimal risk of serious complications, but please pray for safety and swift recovery anyway!

Peace out y’all

Why don’t conservative evangelicals sing?

Ok, so this is a massive generalisation … As a conservative evangelical myself, I love singing and I know many others who do.  But it seems to be my experience that in general, in conservative evangelical churches, when people do sing they don’t seem particularly engaged with what they are singing about.  I was once leading music at a firm reformed evangelical Bible-teaching church full of great gospel-hearted people.  The song in question went “I am a new creation, no more in condemnation, here in the grace of God I stand” – words straight out of Romans chapter 8.  Yet, as I looked around the congregation, I saw glum expression after glum expression.  Lips hardly moved, people stood with hands in pockets looking down at the floor.  A very depressing experience for me as no-one seemed to care at all what they were singing.

However, I’ve also been in groups of Christians singing a chorus that went “La la la la la la la la la la la” (or something like that) as though it were the most “worshipful” thing glorifying God when it wasn’t saying much of anything at all.  (Side-note:  That’s not to say that everything has to have meaningful Biblical words to be glorifying to God – but the nature of a song, is that it does have words and music and so it seems strange given someone has chosen this medium, not to make the most of both components to glorify God using both.)

It strikes me that in both instances, the people singing have turned their brains off and stopped thinking about the words they are singing.  The first group are so pre-occupied with the fact that they’ve had a bad week or they hate singing or they don’t like the way a song is being played (something I know I’m often guilty of), this means they’re not thinking about the words they’re singing, the great truth of the gospel that because of Christ we no longer stand facing God’s right judgement at our sin.  “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)  Regardless of how we might feel on a Sunday morning, the truth remains that God is good, he is worthy of our praise and if we are trusting in Christ then we have a great hope.  This is the message of Matt Redman’s excellent “Blessed be your name”.  If a song with such a clear message of the joy and hope of the gospel cannot lift your head and voice to declare God’s praise then it’s a worrying situation.

It seems as though many conservative evangelical churches actually downgrade the importance and significance of singing in church meetings.  I’ve even been to conferences run by evangelical organisations where we don’t sing at all in a meeting so instead we can have a 2 hour talk.  In many churches the opposite seems true, music is given such a high place that it almost defines the church.  Many Uni CUs limit their speakers time to 15 minutes so they can have plenty of singing time.  The “worship leader” (ugh!!!) becomes more famous and important than the pastor.  The drive for professional standard music in churches means that many gifted musicians never have an opportunity to serve and use their gifts.  While I think a lot of this is not healthy and marginalising the teaching of God’s Word, I can’t help feeling that in general the conservative evangelical movement has gone too far the other way.  Singing is almost something to be put up with, time is not given to practise, there is little to no effort to train musicians and invariably the musical style fails to be culturally relevant.  And congregations regularly seem bored when they’re singing.

This seems worlds away from the Psalms, where time after time the people of God are commanded to sing joyfully to God because of who he is and all that he has done for them.  And often this is David writing in the midst of great times or trouble – pursued by his enemies and worried for his life and well being.  Yet he lifts up his eyes and sees the truth of who God is and what he has done.  Of course, we see the scenes of the happy clappy church of 1970s middle class, woolly jumper Christians with inane (almost false) grins singing terribly cheesy songs with rainbow strap guitars and tambourines that would send the average enquirer racing out of the door. 

Surely there can be a middle ground?  Singing is a brilliant thing to do … the Psalms say so, Paul says so (Ephesians 5, Colossians 3) – God must also think so.  And it does have an important and valuable place to play in our church meetings – Colossians 3:16 particularly highlights that singing songs is part of our teaching one another truths about God (hence why the words are so important!)  But also, the power and emotional aspect of music allows us, as God’s gathered people in a local church allows us to respond emotionally to great truths about God.  We start from the words, the truths about God (which is why it is so good to use the Bible as inspiration for writing hymns and songs) but the music helps to convey the meaning of the words by reflecting them musically, helping the congregation to fully engage with the song on both an intellectual and emotional level.  This is the nature of the medium and if either component is lacking, then surely the exercise becomes pointless.  Meaningless words sung with great emotion is meaningless.  Meaningful words sung with no emotion is meaningless.

Both we and our churches should perhaps be more discerning about the songs we choose, the people we get to play them and the way we sing them.  Just imagine if a visitor came to your church and saw a bunch of miserable people singing about Jesus and all that he’s done?  What would they conclude about the hope of the gospel?

Worship & other “short” stories

Having been given the task of speaking on the subject of Worship at church, I’ve spent the last few months thinking about the whole subject – what it is, what the Bible says about it, what the church thinks it is and what it means for us.

There is a lot that is said about the subject of Worship – some helpful, some not. And as I’ve looked more at what the Bible says about the topic. the more convinced I am that a lot of our use of the term “worship” is not only unhelpful but seriously wrong, contrary to the Bible’s teaching and very dangerous.

First of all, the term “Worship”. This is often used to describe a time of singing in church (“We’re going to have a time of worship”)- or even church itself (“Worship Service”) I understand the Hebrew and Greek words usually translated as “Worship” are best described as the action of bowing down, or prostrating yourself before God. So, on the surface “Worship” seems like an explicit action of honouring God for who he is – an obvious act that clearly proclaims God’s greatness and that he is deserving of worship. However, all the way through the Old Testament God makes it clear that occasional explicit actions of worship are not enough. In the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20) Israel are called on to worship no one but the Lord God. later in the Law the extent of this worship is clear – it is to be with everything. As the Bible story progresses through Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings, it becomes clear that the people of God are not giving God the worship he deserves. In the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and many of the other prophets we see the people of Israel actively involved in idol worship and yet maintaining the pretense of worshipping the Lord God. (See Isaiah 44 & 46) In Isaiah 29:13, God levels the charge that his people worship him with their lips and yet their hearts are a very long way off!

In Romans 12:1-2, Paul calls on the Roman church to give God the worship he deserves – by giving themselves as a living sacrifice – this is their spiritual worship. it’s clear that like for the people of Israel, that worship is supposed to be a whole of life thing – not something we just do in church. In fact, what we do in church when we sing & meet together should be the outpouring, the symptom of what is going on the rest of the time – a life that glorifies and honours God as he deserves – all the time. Not just a token couple of hours on a Sunday morning or evening.

And so I find the phrase “A time of worship” is extremely unhelpful because there shouldn’t be a time when we don’t worship. Using worship just to describe our singing is to capture what is actually just a very small part of our worship. But even more than that, I can’t help thinking that by using the term “worship” in such a limited way to mean just our singing or our church meeting, aren’t we in danger of our words starting to reflect the reality? Will our worship become just our time of singing and the rest of the week we just fit in with the world around us? Will we fall into the same trap as Israel in Isaiah’s time where our lips give praise to God and yet our hearts are somewhere else completely different?

Secondly the term “Worship Leader”. This is often used to describe the person who leads a band in church, who usually leads the singing of praises to God in a church meeting and will often link songs together with prayers, thoughts, reading from Scripture. This is a valuable role and if done well and sensitively, it can be a great use of music and reflection to help people worship God through those songs. However, it seems to be a common belief that the role of the “Worship leader” or the “Worship band” is to create an atmosphere where people can draw close to God and worship him. In fact the very term “Worship Leader” carries the assumption that it is their job to lead people to worship God – or even to make Worship of God possible.

Aside from the problems of the assumption that Worship=Music and that someone claiming to be a Worship Leader should really be someone who leads people to worship God all the time – not just for half an hour on a Sunday. The problem is that no human being can make it possible for others to worship God. Of course we can all be encouraging one another to worship God in our day-to-day lives – but there is only one person who makes worship of God possible, who can draw us into God’s presence to worship him. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 1:18-25, Paul describes the heart of sin as a failure to worship God as he deserves and worshipping idols instead. As a result we face his wrath and judgement, we are cut off from God, in Ephesians 2 we are dead, enslaved to sin and so completely unable to worship God. Throughout the book of Hebrews, the writer is at pains to explain how Jesus fulfils the Old Testament – the role of prophet, of priest, of King and of the ultimate perfect sacrifice. In particular Hebrews 9 & 10 makes it clear that Jesus in his role as perfect Great High Priest and perfect once-for-all sacrifice is the one who draws people into God’s presence. Before this, our sinfulness, our uncleanness cuts us off from God – it means we cannot worship God. Christ, by paying the price for our sin, removes this barrier and enables us to come into God’s presence and worship him. Without the death of Jesus we cannot worship God. Jesus (and Jesus alone ) is the one who makes worship possible – he is the one true “Worship Leader.”

When the language of “Worship Leader” is used or the idea of being drawn into God’s presence by our worship or by the music – that is effectively saying that we can do the job that the Bible says only Jesus can do. Which is a pretty outrageous thing to claim … We are not drawn into God’s presence by our worship, we are drawn into God’s presence through Christ. We are drawn into God’s presence through Christ so that we can worship God as he deserves. I think the trouble is that the tremendous feeling – the buzz that we can get from great live music, that can be confused for thinking “I am close to God now.” We are close to God already if we are trusting in God through Christ. And that same buzz can equally be felt when at a concert by a band singing about how they hate the whole idea of God (as I experienced while watching Muse live in concert!) Hardly the most worshipful thing ever …

Having said this, music does have tremendous emotional power and so a good song with words focussed on who God is and what he has done, when it is played well, that can help to bring my feelings in line with the truth of the gospel, of who God is and what he has done. It would be a shame to be singing “Amazing Grace”, “In Christ alone”, “Blessed be your name” etc in a completely emotionless state. Often the problem with our worship is that we forget what good news it is to be a Child of God, what a joyful thing to be saved by Christ and able to call the Lord God our Creator “Father!”. We need to be reminded, when we’re down, when we’re feeling a bit depressed or things aren’t going right, that God is still worthy of our praise and worship … and music can help to lift us emotionally, to reflect the truth of the words of the song and others around us singing these great truths can encourage us that God is great and worthy of everything.

There’s been a lot in this post (and believe me, I could have said a lot more!!!). I’d be interested to get people’s comments on what I’ve said and maybe to think through some of the implications for our churches, for our music and for our worship all the time …

Let me have your comments!