St Emillion

I'm at the New Wine National Leaders Conference in Harrogate.

Whenever I come to these things, I have this sneaky hope I will find someone to teach me the Bible better than I can teach it to others. And three times so far I have found this. Fantastic!

First: John Coles, in his introduction, had an amazing power point slide about the opening sections of Mark's Gopsel. Using NIV headings, he found truths about God's Kingdom which the world and the devil try to confound, and it is hard to explain - but I caught him and he has promised to email me his powerpoint files because it was brilliant Bible exposition, and only tangential to his talk but it will be a major talk of mine soon!

Second: Ellie Mumford did a stunningly good exposition of 2 Chronicles 9, the Queen of Sheba this morning. With good humour and self-deprecation (and in context a wonderful mis-use of the word 'caravan' which anyone who knows the New Wine conferences will appreciate) she told us the the QoS came to the right place (Jerusalem, v1), came with the right attitude (to ask questions, v1), and came to the right conclusion (that Solomon was ruling for God, v8). But then she concluded by taking us to Luke 11.31 - now one greater than Solomon is here. If 2 Chronicles 9 shows us God's kingdom in the Old Covenant at its height, his people at peace and happy, then now there is more: for us who are his people living under the reign of King Jesus in the New Covenant. Wonderful.

Third: my old friend Crispin Fletcher-Louis took a seminar on Theological training, and spoke of how good education had to be matched by integrating the academic insights with practical outworkings... for example: he gave us a class on Jesus and ritual purity laws in Mark's Gospel. Sound exciting? It was the best theology I have ever heard for the laying on of hands.

Jesus heals the leper, the menstruating woman and the dead girl by touch. Numbers 5.1 forbids such touch. Does Jesus therefore (a) keep the law, (b) break the law, or (c) ignore the law? A few raised their hands for (a) and none for the others, with most people keeping their hands down. As he continued I raised mine.
"The girl wasn't dead when he touched her," I said.
"The text says she was dead," replied Crispin, looking a bit perturbed.
"No - when Jesus touched her she was alive again. And the leper was healed. And the woman stopped bleeding. Therefore he wasn't breaking the law."
Cripin took what I was saying and tried to twist it a bit, and I wouldn't let him.
"No," I said, suddenly seeing that he was trying to stop me, but it was too late for that, "the reason you can't touch people with contagious dideases is that you catch the disease; but Jesus health is more contagious than their diease, therefore it goes the other way."

Which, it turns out, was his argument.
But what he then did with it was brilliant. Taking stuff from the Levitical code he showed how the priests' garments made things they touched holy just by touching them. And how objects in the temple made stuff holy by touching them because they were from the temple. Priests and temple convey holiness by touch: like a contagion. In a weak sort of way. But with Jesus this is amplified - for he is our great High Priest, and the living embodiment of the temple.

And we who believe in him are made into a royal priesthood, and become a living temple in his Spirit. We carry his contagious holiness. By touch. That's why we lay on hands when we pray.

Brilliant.

Quite enough input for the day.

So I spent the earl part of the evening watching Paul Scholes put Man Utd through the Champions League final. Glory. And then Harry Latham texted me when it was time for prayer in the main meeting and I went back in.


A chap named Ben prayed for my knee. It's been playing up for ages. And genuinely it feels better - though the test will be when I have to sit still with it somewhere. And he prayed for my stomach/rib/bowels etc as well. Which have been really sore today. No joy there. Harry spotted us and came and joined in, and at the end of the meeting urged me not to give in but to find a member of the team at the front and ask again.

So I did. Why not? What's the alternative? Months of pain and discomfort. It was time to ask; there was nothing to lose.

As they prayed, I could sense the presence of God, I could feel an amazing heat in their hands, but I could also feel my physical pain and felt that nothing was happening. I knew God would be with me through it, but thought we might not see anything.

Then one of the people praying with me asked if I had any bitterness; and the other if I needed to forgive anyone. And in my mind had been the person who was the subject of the dream I wrote about here on Febraury 13th. So I said yes - I was struggling with this, but really did want to finally forgive this person, though it was hard. They insisted I confessed my unforgiveness, and did it there and then, and actually I knew they were right.

And I knew I finally had forgiven somebody who rarely meant to hurt me. But who often did. Very much. And it really is all right. I really do forgive. I really do pray the Lord will bless them. I really bless them.

And I felt better. Not totally physically well; but a whole lot better. Straight away. Something lifted off me.

We'll see how all this works out. But as I sit here in my hotel room now, I can read the words in my profile at the top of this page: "Heaven is... a great bottle of St Emillion". There's a certain amount of very deep theology there you know. And I want you to realise that I am not just using word play when I say that New Wine has given me more than a taste of heaven today.

(The day after)

Physically, today has been much like yesterday. So was the healing prayer a failure?

No. The forgiveness has taken. And, as the one or two people who know how much this has hurt realise, this is a deep wound suddenly and amazingly cured. I am genuinely surprised and grateful.