Getting involved.! Radio Shropshire pause for thought- Dec 4th 2011

It was the evening of May 14th and early morning of May 15th 2006

A British Mountain Climber David Sharp perhaps ill equipped, and certainly climbing alone - had run out of Oxygen, and lay helpless and dying on a freezing night on the North east route of Mount Everest

What exactly happened that day is controversial but it is probable that many other climbers passed the dying man as they went up and came down Everest that day

It appears no one stopped and helped David - They were all too busy pursuing their own ambition trying to achieve their own goal
They would not surrender their dream to help a human being in need
They left David to die a cold and lonely Death on the mountain

In Advent we begin to turn our thoughts towards Christmas and the great message of Christmas is that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us In the person of Jesus Immortal God became a vulnerable baby .

I am so pleased that Jesus didn’t pass by on the other side he didn’t ignore us in our trouble and in our pain but he came down and as the Bible puts it he humbled himself and became obedient to death –even death on a cross!

Jesus didn’t wash his hands of humanity he got his hands dirty helping us
He call us to love people too He calls us to get involved



On Tuesday night I was at a great evening held at a local church building hearing about all the churches in Shrewsbury are doing to help our community
 It was inspirational to see so many churches living out the call of Jesus to love our neighbour as we love ourselves
There are churches in Shrewsbury, and indeed all over Shropshire, doing amazing things such as running debt advice centres ,food banks ,teaching NVQ skills ,helping the homeless ,the lonely ,the bereaved and the disturbed ,caring for their fellow human beings- getting involved

But of course it is not just Christians doing that thousands and thousands of others are as well

This is something we can all do -we can all get involve-d We can all engage with our fellow human beings

It really is all about relationships!

You may simply come across somebody as you walk or shop or go cycling today - They may need your help
Giving that help might be costly or time consuming ,its conceivable it could take all day

You could walk by on the other side as the people did in the parable  Jesus once told  or like the good Samaritan  you could stop and get involved

But even if you don’t come across someone by chance there are still people out there who need your help why not volunteer to help in a local hospice ,or charity shop with meals on wheels or collecting for cancer research

Its not just mountaineers who can be too focused on achieving their own goals and ambitions we all can

But if we help those in need then not only will we bless them and build community we may also prove

that Jesus words are really true -It is more blessed to give than to receive!

care quality commission

Following on from the Care Quality Commission's damning report on NHS elderly care   Joan Bakewellasks the key question where do we learn to care? and then says that she learned it in church
you can hear the whole interview here
press here

Radio shropshire Pause for thought -10th anniversary 911

9-11

Just numbers -but numbers that no longer primarily signify a date in the calendar, but a day in history- numbers that immediately bring to mind one of the most catastrophic events of recent times

- 911 happened 10 years ago today

I guess that as with the death of Princess Diana, or if we are old enough, the assassination of President Kennedy, we can all remember where we were when we heard the news that at 846 am New York time an aircraft had hit one of the twin towers at 903am the 2nd tower was hit by 1028 both towers had collapsed.

Nearly 3000 people died that day in the towers and on the aircraft

There have been greater tragedies with a larger loss of human life but I suppose 911 lives in our minds because it happened in one the most technologically advanced cities in the world, and( in a day of 24 hour news) images were beamed into the living rooms of millions

• we watched in disbelief as airplanes flew into the buildings

• we wept as we saw people leaping to their deaths trying to escape the flames

• we watched in horror as the towers collapsed

• and we cried again as we heard phone calls of passengers on the hijacked planes tell their families for the last time just how much they loved them

This was an evil day, but a day punctuated by good deeds and acts of love and heroism

Moira Smith 38 years old had been in the New York police department 13 years & had a 2 year old daughter yet she went in and out of the world trade centre after it was hit she had the chance to leave- but she chose to stay and help- Moira paid for that decision with her life

Welles Crowther was an equities trader
When the planes hit the tower he too had the opportunity to leave but instead with calm authority he helped the injured and organised the distressed and disorientated , and is credited with saving at least 19 lives that day -Welles body was found with those of the fire fighters

In their final moments these and many others chose to serve and save others

10 years on- how will we choose to mark the events of that terrible day?

It is vital not to respond with hatred and hearts that seek revenge

 Some will reflect quietly on the ,lives lost that day and lives lost in Iraq Afghanistan and London since that day

Others of us will perhaps listen to a memorial service on the radio or the TV and perhaps weep again at the sadness of it all


Perhaps the best way though is to follow in less dramatic and final ways the example of Moira and Welles and others

We should deliberately choose as they did to love, to bless and to serve others.

Jesus told us there are 2 great commandments ,to love God and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves, and in parables and elsewhere, Jesus made it clear that our neighbour is not simply the person who lives next door ,but anyone from whatever background who is in need.

Many people on 911 looked around them saw the need and did what they could -They paid a high price

It is unlikely we will be called to pay the same price but we can all look around our community ,and see the lonely, the distressed ,the vulnerable -they are neighbours too

Jesus calls us to bless and love them as we love ourselves !

The woman at the well

We have a service of believers baptism tonight & and I am speaking on the woman at the well.
I think I am right in saying it is one of the longest conversations Jesus had with an individual recorded in the gospels. The fact that the conversation took place between Jesus and a Samaritan woman, shows how radical and counter cultural the Christian faith is.
I loved this  video (that I found on youtube) which sums up the womans feelings so well

All one in Christ Jesus

On Sunday we continued our series in the book of Acts .We looked at Chapter 16 which describes Paul's second missionary journey ,this time accompanied by Silas.The thing that struck me was that on the journey there must have been many converts, but in Phillipi we are told about only three. The businesswoman Lydia ,the demon possessed girl ,(most commentators assume she was converted), and the jailer.

Three different people who as Stott points out are racially,socially,intellectually and psychologically worlds apart, and yet  are united in Jesus Christ  & become founder members of the Phillippian church.
The gospel  unites in one family those who believe
We also shared communion together.In communion we don't just remember that Christ died for me(though thank God He did!) but that Christ died for all and to create a new community from every tongue and tribe and race and indeed (if we think about the church triumphant ) from every age

I felt a very heavy heart as I watched the news this weekend which focused on the terrible massacre in Norway and the unbearably sad consequences for the victims families that will endure long after the TV cameras and other journalists have moved on somewhere else. Although the murderers motives are not yet fully clear,it seems his purpose was to divide and destroy.
The hope of the gospel is that  ultimately good will triumph over evil ,light over darkness and hope over despair
It is a message that Christians should not only share but demonstrate as well
In the words of a popular song when I was a young Christian- They will know we are Christians by our love

Faith in action

Thanks to Phil -The Simple Pastor for drawing my attention to this from The Guardian.It really is well worth watching for an example of Christian love in action.

If you want to see the size of the gap between what this church (and many others do) and how the church is perceived by many other people, read the comments section below the video

press here




What do you think?

Love God- love people

Like everyone I spoke to, who saw the latest episode of  Panorama on TV ,I was shocked and horrified by the abuse of vulnerable young people by carers who were supposed to look after and protect them Panorama

In the light of the programme I thought this article from the Christian Medical Fellowship's magazine for medics "Triple Helix" The vulnerable their quality of care set on an excellent biblical case for caring for vulnerable people..

 I am biased but I think that belief in Christian ethics will not long survive, if we cease to believe in a Christian gospel

Love that will not let me go!

Like many churches we sing a mixture of old and new songs and hymns. I work on the theory that it is not the age that is important but the quality



I don’t play an instrument and apart from a devotion to the music and poetry of Leonard Cohen ( not found in many hymn books!) I have a rather eclectic, but not very informed, taste in music


When it come to music for worship I love a lot of the new stuff and a lot of the older stuff .I think it is important to ask not whether a song is old or new, but whether it is good or bad. This is about the tune but it is, in my view, more about the words, and especially the theology behind those words. So I love a lot of Townend and Wesley, How and Kendrick because in the main they teach great theology .It pains me to say it, but I suspect many Christians learn more about theology from hymns and songs than from preachers.


Yesterday we sung the blind preacher George Matheson's hymn ” O love that wilt not let me go” which some describe as sentimental, but is a favourite of mine, as it speaks so eloquently of the presence of God with His people in suffering .


Matheson himself wrote this about the hymn

it was composed on the evening of the 6th of June, 1882, when I was 40 years of age. I was alone in the manse at that time. It was the night of my sister’s marriage, and the rest of the family were staying overnight in Glasgow. Something happened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression of having it dictated to me by some inward voice rather than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a day spring from on high

.


The whole story behind the hymn is told here

It is  not often I put in a good word for committees but it is interesting that the Church of Scotland Hymn committee made one change to the original;
 In the line "I climbed the rainbow in the rain" Matheson  had to substitute the word "Traced" for "Climbed"! In my mind a vast improvement.

It may be emotional but it is probably true to say that something is wrong if we cant get emotional about Gods love which hold onto us in the good times and the bad.We are called to love God with everything including our emotions