Some Thoughts

I've been thinking a fair bit recently-occasionally I do that, it helps to pass the time. In a rather confused way, I've been thinking about several things, but mainly three; family/God, creation, and (spiritual) gifts. In various ways. So here is where my thoughts have got to so far-recently, anyway.

To start with, a Bible verse-often a good place to start. Matthew 5:48 says "be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect", which sounds impossible. However, reading around a bit revealed that the word translated 'perfect' would be better translated 'complete', which gives a slightly different slant on things. Clearly, if we are incomplete, then we cannot make ourselves complete; we can get there one of two ways-either we find what is missing and replace it, or (as is much more likely and doable) we grow into it. And with all the mentions of seeds and plants in the Gospels, we can be pretty sure that Jesus is fond of encouraging growth as well. So, how do we grow?

Well, here are two glimpses of families to give a hint, both true. The first is of someone who adopted a son, as a baby. His friends said that over time the boy grew to look more like his adopted dad, and this was because he was picking up some of his mannerisms, and his accent, and the like. The boy was no biological relation, yet he became more like him, because he spent time with him-a lifetime, in fact. And the second is similar. Someone knew a couple at his gym, who were avid weightlifters, and when he met their children, he was unsurprised to see that they were quite well built too. Seems straightforward enough, until you remember that muscle mass is not an inherited characteristic. The only way the children would have got well built, as it were, is to do the same sort of exercise that their parents were doing. So, in both cases, we have children becoming more like their parents by spending time with them, copying them, and doing what they are doing. Therefore, if we want to be more like God, our heavenly Father, we need to spend time with Him, copying Him, and doing what He is doing. The good thing to remember is that to a certain extent this will happen without our conscious effort; but not all. Some of it will require effort on our part, but it will be rewarded.
So, what does God do? Well, the first thing we see God doing in the Bible is creating, and because we are made in His image, we know we can do the same. Not just build, not just shape (which it tells us He does too), but actually create something new; something that didn't exist before. We also see His love of variety, and just, well, revelling in it. And we also know that He created us to be relational beings, saying it was not good for the man to be alone. So, a good place to start being more like Him is probably to try to create, as well as to revel in what has already been created-by Him or by us. And then share what we create, and what we see, hear, experience. Another thing is that we see Him spend time with Adam and Eve, walking with them in the cool of the afternoon, every afternoon by the sound of it. so, we can be sure that if we want to spend time with Him, He will be more than happy to spend time with us.

More than that, He took the initiative. He said that He came to give life, and life to the full, so He is not only wanting us to be complete, but ready and willing to help us all the way. That's why He came. No matter how bad at it, or reluctant we are.

'Christianity' - for the masses

A couple of years ago, when I was unemployed, I went to Spring Harvest as a steward for the first time in years-maybe 6 or 7. Which was great fun, and I would definitely recommend it. I've done it every year since, and will do it again. However, this time, it seemed different-I don't know how much because it has changed, and how much because I have. Which is certainly the case.

I have been to New Wine more often than Spring Harvest, and I think of them as being much the same, except in the way they're put together structurally-until this time. I remember a while back flicking through a list of Christian events with descriptions, and it described NW as a worship event, and SH as 'broad church', which puzzled me. In my experience, they were basically the same; but this time, I could see quite a difference in SH. Both have changed over time, they both have become more outward focussed; but SH seems to be interested in more of life than NW-possibly just because it has a physically bigger site, so it can have more seminars. This would mean that could have many seminars that are similar to those at NW, but also more than that. but the main difference is probably in attitude. That year the theme of SH was 'Different Eyes', and one thing I can remember is that there was a presentation about sexuality by a Christian woman in a relationship with a woman-I can't imagine that ever being done at NW.

Anyway, at SH, we were giving out copies of Christianity magazine with a subscription offer-see here for a free sample if you want to know more. And I took one. God wanted me to subscribe to it, so I did. And I have to say I thoroughly enjoy it-which is one reason why I still subscribe 2 years on. In a way, it could be described as 'broad church' in the same way that SH is, in that they have articles on all sorts of things from all sorts of people from many different perspectives. It seems as if the idea is that they want to appeal to as many people as possible in order to introduce them to something new-which definitely works with me. There's stuff to make me think, to make me feel, and just to inform me about stuff that's going on-in Christianity, and 'outside', as it were. I find it very interesting because there's always something unexpected, and it definitely covers things that I know little about. Every time I read it, I am reminded how little I know about what is going on, and how much more there is that I can't even imagine. How much God is doing that I can't even imagine. Which isn't really surprising, as He said He can and would do that. So Him doing it is just backing up what He said. And finding out about it is fantastic. Why don't you have a look at some of the things He is doing?

DESTRUCTION!!! Part 2:More than Destruction

And so I got to the meeting about 20 mins late, which you might have thought would be a bad thing. Not really the case, in this case. As any Christian knows, a meeting which is due to start at on the hour, can in reality start any time from quarter past. This one actually started at about 7:50, which meant I had plenty of time to get myself settled, have a cup of tea (of course), and chat to a few people before anything important happened. Loudly. Let me be absolutely clear that two guitars in a small space (one electric) will, without doubt, demand your attention. They used the same set-up for the church service on the Sunday, and the main difference between the two was that more happened in the church.

After starting by worshipping (loudly), we moved on to the main business of the evening-praying for people. It was originally supposed to be praying about what people are getting involved with back home where they are, but apparently God had other ideas. People came up to ask for prayer about what was going on in them, which was both powerful and moving-to know that they trusted people with what was going on with them, and that people obviously cared. I don't really want to go into any more detail, as I don't feel it would exactly be appropriate. It's not my things to share. And then more people arrived shortly before the end of the meeting, but to be fair, they had come from Chesterfield. A rapid tidy-up followed, and then we decamped to a pub-the one where the gig would be held the next evening. And then another. And much merriment followed.

The next day was very busy, but thankfully didn't start too early. I got up at about 9:30, which was actually a fair bit later than I would normally get up on a Saturday, so that was good, and I had a relatively leisurely journey to Islington where I was meeting a friend-and on the way discovered that my phone battery was almost dead. Which would make things tricky to keep in touch over the weekend if we separated. Oh well. The event we were attending during the day was a celebration of 30 years of  Workshop. It was an interesting and fun day, but although for my friend it felt like coming home, I had a distinct feeling of not quite fitting. So, for that reason, I don't feel that I should really say more; as I definitely wouldn't do it justice. I enjoyed it, it was fun and interesting, and it was good to spend the day with him; we shall leave it at that. Apart from to say it gave both of us plenty to talk about later, and we are both fully agreed that Universalism is not true Biblically. And then we came to the evening, where we had a bit of a problem-there were two gigs to go to, D-Fest and a gig connected to the Workshop 30 day, and we both wanted to go to both. We decided to do a bit of travelling between venues, and see what we could see. So we missed the first bit of D-Fest and saw the first guy on, and I for one wished we hadn't. I fell asleep during his set. Let's say he was brilliant at what he does, it's just not for me. Or it could have been that I was really tired. Or maybe something else. Anyway, we got to D-Fest, and I was quite happy to stay where I was from that point, so I did. And definitely feel I made the right choice, if only for Seventh Angel-their first UK gig for 20 years. I thought they were brilliant; something I wasn't alone in thinking, I'm certain. I look forward to hearing more from them here....

And so, after finally getting to bed at some ridiculous hour (our hostel had a bar that stayed open until 3a.m.-though we weren't there quite that long), we had to be up and about in time to check out at 10. I'd discovered that didn't mean we actually had to leave the building, just hand over the keys, so I went to have a shower after that. And I felt so much better after that-almost awake, in fact. Anyway, we left and grabbed breakfast in a nearby pub, and then went to check out the British Library, cos we're cultured, like-and it was basically just across the road. I definitely recommend it-it's a striking maze of a building, and you never know what you might see around the corner. Or who. In this case, it was a fellow D-fest attendee, who we both knew. Which was nice. And we saw some very old Bibles. Which was interesting. And then it was time for us to leave and go back into the real world, as my friend had to catch a coach back to his life. I still had 1 1/2 hours before the D-Fest closing service, and once again, I managed to be late. Which appears to be a real skill I have. Anyway, I got there and celebrated with all. It was a very informal (and, obviously, loud) church service with people wandering in and out, and then people drifted around and chatted for a while-apparently a more or less typical Glorious Undead service, by all accounts. Which was generally just really relaxing and really nice, as well as worshipful-I will definitely remember it and the people for a long time to come (definitely the people, as I'm keeping in touch with several, so I won't be able to, even if I wanted to). And then I had to make my way home. I had thought that a 5:30 coach would be fine to catch, but as I didn't leave Camden Town until almost 4:50, the journey to Victoria was a bit fraught. Especially as I realised that my return ticket was on my phone, and I didn't know what the battery situation was like. Well, you'll be pleased to know that for basically the first time that weekend, I managed to get somewhere on time...

And so I caught the coach, and got home. And just generally relaxed after an absolutely stupendous weekend. I won't forget the people I met, and I look forward to meeting up with them again at some point. maybe the next D-Fest, whenever that may be, but hopefully sooner. Who knows what might happen..?