Well Played

I think this isn't out at home for a while. So I walked (yes, a very unpatriotic act here) to the local cinema this afternoon and enjoyed State of Play. The short review - excellent. Both male leads (and really it's a double header between Russell Crowe & Ben Affleck, with the female leads being supporting roles) are very good. It's a good political thriller with nice twists, requisite corporate baddies and a suitable last-minute re-think. I confess to liking BA as an actor more than RC, but don't hold that against me! And do go see this when you can - it's thoroughly enjoyable.

Now, it's back to sitting by the pool in the sunshine. Derek, I'm trying to work out that challenge...

Tuvok Obama

If my last post had a reference that left you confused, I hope this helps. Tuvok, incidentally, is the Vulcan Star Trek officer wearing the tie. The other guy is President of the United States. You should hear them both speak, which only adds to the confusion...

LOL

This made me laugh out loud. Plus, I've been watching some old Star Trek in anticipation of the new movie. Anyone think Obama & Tuvok from Star Trek Voyager might be related? The face, the voice, the everything...
And thanks to Chris & Kurt here who have been teaching me to pronounce the President's name properly. Apparently it's "Baroque" Obama.

Deadly

So Gill & Ben & I went to church on Sunday. It was good to go together. And the band was great - I mean very good indeed. Plus when you are faced with that kind of technology in a church you have to be impressed - it makes our screen look decidedly tame, as they have videos running, live feed behind the words, all kinds of graphics, lighting rig etc. And I must have been greeted 37 times before I took my seat. Scarlette & Chuck & family seem to have settled really well into the church now, which is great.

But Gill hasn't, and I do get why not. I kind of hated the sermon.

A huge part of this is cultural. Church is always cultural - because it is about people and God, and though God is God is God, the people bit is the stuff that changes, and we worship and relate to God from within our own culture. Of course, if you are lucky to be British, then that culture is pretty godly and so we are the lucky ones, but for everyone else there are real issues they just don't see... (!!!)

The sermon was number two in a series on "the Bible's Se7en (sic) deadly sins". The front of church looked like this:
Not quite this, as I can't find the picture on the net, but pretty much this. Their art dept is good, and does a good job. But did somebody ever stop and go - "do we really want people to come for church for two months and face 'lust, pride, greed etc as the focus of their worship?" Seems not. So there are no Scriptures to look at, no Jesus, just Se7en deadly sins. Hmm. I found that hard as a worship focus. There is a cross over in a corner, but it really is over in a corner, and it is dark and not lit over there.

A cultural issue? Well, it might not matter as much to them as it does to me what they are looking at. They might not notice.

As for that sermon. Let's start with the concept of "the Bible's se7en deadly sins". They don't exist. It's an idea from Roman Catholic dogma, which has become vernacular, and finds its origins in the 6th Century Pope Gregory the Great. Trying to tie Proverbs 6.16 with this list, as the preacher did on Sunday, is pretty poor. Yep, there are seven sins listed, but they really are not the same. Saying that a heart that devises wickedness is lust "right there" really won't do. The Bible calls lust "lust" when it wants to.

After that, it was a "good advice" sermon. When the Devil gets you, this is what you should do to resist. Now - fine. But. BUT - this is where the cultural stuff really kicks in. In Britain, a church with good fellowship, a Biblical priority (not that there was much Bible in this service or sermon - we never had a Bible reading, for example), decent worship etc - such a church would not necessarily be so very conservative. Women - that men lust after you is your fault for dressing so provocatively. You are flaunting yourselves. Stop it - or do it at home only for your husbands. (There was no issue of men preening themselves in any way.) I am not making this up - this what we were told.

And ultimately - the main way to avoid lust is to make sure you are having regular sex with your spouse. I did wonder if Gill & I were the only non-married people in the building. I guess it was possible. Though there were teenagers present, maybe they didn't count. Being adult & single clearly was unthinkable. This again is what I mean by cultural differences. In the UK, there is such a rise in single adults that such a line is tantamount to pastoral neglect. Is that not true here? Or is serial marriage honestly seen as better than responsible singleness?

But more than this: Jesus wasn't mentioned. I said this was an advice sermon. So it was. Self help. The pastor's tips. Occasional proof texts thrown in. But no Jesus. No grace. And no cross. Which means - no recognition that people fail and hurt and need help to get up & try again with forgiveness and a clean start. If you are preaching on sin, how can you do it without ever mentioning the cross? This guy did it.

Gill & I had a good chat afterwards. And I saw lovely things there - good people, a great set up, a super band, an amazing technical awareness, real growth - but I do understand why Gill has stopped going. She says every now & then he preached in a way that really spoke to her, but too often it was like this. The first time I heard him I thought he was great. This time - really, and trying to be aware of the cultural stuff that does make a huge difference, I'm struggling to give more than a 1 out of 10.

So here are some pictures to cheer me up. Gill & the cats, George & Martha - George is the white one, Martha the grey. George climbs up from this cat nest up on top of the TV unit up to a high shelf where Gill has some pottery...

And here are some birds that wandered down the road. Herons, I think, which apparently mate for life, and which clearly have social outings. They also sound like velociraptors when they get distressed...

Levite Camp

No, I didn't spy any fried chicken on my trip to Kentucky.

Yes, I had a great time.

JD Walt has a great community of men and women who are training at Asbury Seminary and who care passionately about the theology and practice of worship. It was a pleasure to spend time with him (as always) and them, and to pass on some of the scriptural insights that have shaped my walk with Jesus.

I missed the old banners that used to be around the campus - "Where head and heart go hand in hand" they said. Apparently it's still the seminary motto, but it's not on the banners now. The Wesleyan holiness tradition of producing ministers trained in academia and formed in spiritual life has perhaps emphasised the former most strongly more recently, but Asbury is a special place, and it is a special treat to be invited to speak there.

JD's Levite camp is an optional day for any interested in grappling with theological issues surrounding worship and working on how they affect those who would oversee the practice of the same. I think this kind of day is a wonderful initiative.

I was delighted by the questions that came my way. And by my inability to answer some of them. One wanted me to work an answer on idolatry in the systems of the world - how we allow things like democracy or capitalism to become an idol, and how we address that. I could only agree that what I was saying allowed this, but then glad as I was that this question arose, I felt that it was not my job to have all the answers. Brighter folk will work with the tools they are given and the better questions they find in order to reach more helpful solutions. Tom - go for it.

Silverio (who was hard working and kind and my JD-appointed taxi driver!) said something profound as he drove me back to the airport today. He felt that many of them had gotten used to the deeper level of understanding worship as lifestyle and not just as the "worship service", but that I was pushing it even deeper - worship as relationship. He found that moving, and inspiring, and it made a deep biblical sense of things for him.

I guess I'd never thought of things in precisely those comparative terms, but I liked what he said. Worship as not just the service, and not even just the lifestyle - but as the essential relationship for which we are created.

Four Dreams

Four dreams.

An orchestra rehearsal, pre=Easter. It's hard work. I am the conductor, and I go over details of the score with the orchestra before we start to play. Just a few details - things I think important. Then as we start to play - it isn't good. The strings sound weedy. I ask the violins to play with more confidence, and I'm feeling stressed and pushed for time. One of them, a girl who played violin for me 20 years ago, replies under her breath that "an orchestra plays better if it feels good & knows what it's doing".

I take it personally & want to say that I know what I am doing - but it occurs to me that I have so focussed on the little details that I have forgotten to communicate the big picture, the sense of the music, and no-one gets it, no-one has a feel for it.

"Shall we forget it?" I ask, not petulantly, but trying to be kind. "No," she replies; the concert will be for a charity, to help others, and we will raise lots of cash. They just want to understand in order to play better. And I need to do my job better for that to happen.

Number 2.

I am with Cheryl, one of the pros on "Dancing With The Stars", the US version of "Strictly Come Dancing". We are in the back streets of Paris. Now I am the learner, she is the teacher. We are enjoying every minute - and it is obvious: it feels right, I can follow her lead, she teaches well. I understand the dance, the sense of it. Learning one to one is good. This is not one person at the front of a crowd failing to communicate perfectly, this is a whole different ball game.

She does something unexpected. "What happens next?" she asks. "I do a cross step?" I reply, doing it. "Perfect!" she smiles.

Learning is so natural.

Number 3.

I go down a corridor, and there are the Byron Jones Big Band in a classroom. (The picture is Byron Jenkins & crew - but there are some of the same guys!) Members of the band look over at me and smile & wave as I enter. They've already started playing. There are more of them than usual.

As I look, in addition to the students Byron always has, there are young kids sitting alongside the experienced players. They are playing the same music - and because they are playing alongside experienced musicians, they are both understanding it and doing it, though it is hard for them. And then they play something simple and fun to break up the pace a bit.

A different style of learning again. And again, one that is working. A community growing in understanding and practice.

Number 4.

A Party, in a big swanky room (this picture is our church hall, but there you go). Everyone is together around round tables. A fabulous meal is being served. The theme is "18th Century" but there is still a jazz band playing the music. I complain when they play "All of Me" (I say - "that wasn't written till 1953!" failing of course to get the point. The lyrics of the song - "Why not take all of me?"

In the community of faith, commitment comes in many ways.

It's a party. Clare MacInnes, long standing friend and doyenne of party throwing, is in charge. I am simply there, observing the dynamic of celebration & everyone joining in. One course seemlessly becomes another as what appears to be left-over and unwanted is transformed into something remarkable and new before our eyes. She calls people out - they are notable for various reasons; some are leaving us. One or two say a few words. We celebrate all of them and give thanks. We are a community of joy.

We should have more parties.

"But Lord," I say, "parties are hard work."
"Yes," he replies, "but worth it."

* * *

Now - I get what all this is about. I get how we learn and worship in different ways. I get how I need to keep the vision of the work of our community alive, and not just the detail, or the detail can become oppressive and lifeless without the vision to drive it. I get how celebration and thanksgiving and being a family together with joy - both in our worship and at play - needs to be reclaimed at times. We need more parties.

I don't record this for people to analyse (though feel free - I may even publish the comments that really help!) but to remind myself of this night. Four times have I woken up thinking - Oh, I see, right. That matters. I must hold on to that. And here is a place and a way to remember and to make it hard to forget. And to come back to so that I can continue to think and pray.

Heading up to FarmStrong

Well, having made it to the Sunshine State (which lives up to its name, gloriously), I now travel on to the Bluegrass State. To spend a couple of days with JD Walt of FarmStrong, who has asked me to teach a little at his seminary... though what I have to offer I have no idea, when what is below was posted on his Easter blog!

True Meaning

Thanks to Ben Sternke for this uplifting and theologically helpful take on the meaning of Easter. Well, at least it has more spiritual content than the BBC this year.

Though Radio Wales rang up, asking me to condemn football matches being played on Easter Sunday, and seemed non-plussed when I replied that as every Sunday was a "little Easter", either I had to condemn Sunday football per se or come off all hypocritical and throw away my Sky Sports subscription. Added to which I wasn't happy that Christians should be presented as killjoys in a season of Celebration.

And, given the state of religious broadcasting this Easter, the fans of Aston Villa really don't want to be denied the only miracle on offer on TV on Sunday, do they?

Till We Have Faces

"Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love."

With these words John begins his account of the night before Jesus died. He tells a tale of the washing of the disciples' feet by Jesus, and a long series of challenges and commands and encouragements before they leave and pray and events unfold.

Last night, as I spoke on this, a thought occurred to me. About the foot-washing. About Jesus assuming that role.

How many times have you been for a pizza or pasta & the waiter has come after serving the food with an vastly oversized grinder, and stood there offering, "Pepper?" How many times have we all been amused by the absurdity of the situation (do we really need that much pepper?), just quietly refused or embarrassedly accepted as the enormous grinder comes over our shoulder?

How many times have you noticed the face of the waiter offering the pepper?

In Jesus' culture, the servant who washed the feet of the guests was the waiter with the pepper grinder. Always there at the restaurant. Never noticed. The task needed doing in a place where the dust of the day covered you and you were all but barefoot. But nobody saw who took care of it.

Except on this occasion, Jesus showed them the full extent of his love by giving that person a face. They most certainly saw who the pepper guy was that night. And in that action Jesus showed them that he saw who it was every time. No person was beneath his notice, beyond his sight. His love sees all, reaches all, embraces all, dies for all, and raises all.

"I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." I have given you faces. Each of you. Every last one of you. Now do the same: treat every person with this love and dignity, for every person is worth loving - to death. Don't fail to see what I see; receive my love and share it.

Love

We had a wedding in church today. There was a classic example of something our building does brilliantly - and something I've never seen before, which really moved me.

This was a couple who knew what they wanted. No organist - they brought a (fantastic) string quartet in to play everything. They wrote out their orders of service without consulting me and we had to do a bit of re-writing. They even got tiny tots to walk up the aisle unaided (frankly, a task unheard of in human history). The bride wanted bridesmaids to walk in ahead of her, and I don't usually allow this - because of the thing the building does - but she had chosen a piece of music which made sense, and so I had the bridesmaids enter through a different door, and then...

You see, we have a south entrance for weddings. Liturgical west, actually, opposite the altar, but geographical south. Unlike most Anglican churches (which are built on an east-west axis) we are built north-south. And that means, that when we open that South door as the bride arrives, she is bathed in sunlight, the whole entrace frames her in silhouette, and the effect is quite magical. You don't want to waste that on bridesmaids.

So the bride came in through that door after the others had used the usual congregational entrance, and the sun came out on cue and the moment was stunning.

But still more stunning was the moment when, as she walked up the aisle on her father's arm and approached her husband-to-be, this remarkably organised and efficient and everything-in-place young woman mouthed to her still-just-about-fiance, "I love you". The spontaneity of the moment, the depth of her feeling, the truth of their love hit me full force. I loved it, and will not forget it.

Obviously I have no photo of this for you. I'm the kind of vicar who doesn't let cameras in to church, so that memories are memories, not photos taken that replace memories of these moments.

But I do have a photo of a different kind of love for you. This was taken yesterday, and has its own sweetness. Forgive my indulgence, and enjoy!

And there's more!

Oh yes, much more! Here's Jesus We Enthrone You. A gentle jazz waltz, and a meandering tenor solo from Joe Northwood. Good old Tom on bass prefers his electric, and though I normally make him use the upright, he clearly enjoys himself on his preferred instrument all night long.

Here is Lord Reign in Me. Brenton Brown's classic British Vineyard track, given a slightly Basie twist. You know, lots of these songs worked really well this last Saturday - really well. In ways that I had only had them work in my head. Part of it is clearly getting rehearsal time, and I am so grateful to all the guys in the band for giving up an evening to get together in advance of the show to pull this together. Yep, just the one rehearsal & then a top-and-tailing for arrangements most of them had never seen. Not bad, eh?

And May My Heart, my own little prayer of a song, easing its way through the late night air, a subtle jazz compline of a prayer. Joe Webb does a nice job with the piano obligato. And my soul soars.

Happy Days

Here we are then. First video from Big Band Praise.

I've been wanting to do a full band arrangement of Tim Hughes' Happy Day for ages. Time, and opportunity, have conspired against me... until this last week. It's not perfect, and I think it's not finished, but it was great fun, and a great first attempt!

One of the very first arrangements we ever tried was Tim's Whole World song. That and Shout to the Lord formed the very first CD trial we ever did, before we'd ever played jazz worship 'live'. But 'Whole World' only started to work 'live' back in October this last year! Actually, I even thought it didn't quite work on the CD we released... which means, it didn't sound there like it did in my head. Now it's sounding like it does in my head.

And finally (for now) a Big Band Praise favourite: Yes Indeed! (Which is why that phrase keeps coming up in comments, for those of you who have never been). Usually this features plenty of trombone solos, but this time I switched it around a bit & had Fraser & Joe battle away on saxes instead.

This is just for the fun of it! Smiling should be an inherent part of worship.

Thanks to Malcolm Jenkins for filming this. I'll probably post a couple more clips before we're done!

Worship Weekend 2009

Hello! Yes, I'm still here... Looking back, I haven't been this inactive on the blog for 18 months. But life has been pretty full.

We have just had our worship weekend. Lots of good things - and one unfortunate one; the timing was of course an issue. When we organised it, we failed to note the clash with the last day of the Six Nations Rugby. That affected our Saturday evening crowd.

But we did have a great time - as people have been commenting on the previous post! So here's some stuff. Frankly, I am still too exhausted to review everything, so I'm going to just give you a few photos, a few random comments, and a bit of video.

First: Big Band Praise. This was the event that the rugby hit. So we had a small crowd. But, we had a great time, and with almost a different band to last time, we had a fantastic sound. The guys were amazing, and I remain completely committed to doing this. I think that for this to work at its best, someone like Kenn Hughes as a guest is ideal - an outside draw to add to the attraction of the evening - but we had a blast. Some items went far better than last time. One or two not quite as well. And there were some new pieces: notably at last I have got round to doing a big band version of Tim Hughes' Happy Day. Evan Clegg on trumpet was especially brilliant, and deserves a particular mention for a couple of solos that even outshone the amazing Andy Greenwood on the CD. But the whole band were a delight; Tim Phipps & his crew were great, Val provided a storming meal for all, and though someone said to me afterwards that I gave the same as if there had been a thousand there, of course the answer to that is simple.

In worship, the audience always consists of One. I give Him my best, or it's not worth showing up.

So photos - the whole band from different angles. A couple of closer shots. I hope you get the feel of fun and passion and joy and intimacy and real worship thorugh these pics. It was a delight. There will be video, possibly. And also, possibly, audio.

Already I have posted two YouTube clips from Sunday.

Matty gave a brief cameo performance in the morning service, as he helped teach on Colossians 3. No photo of that. But I think the kids will remeber him, and the adults the point! (I was just petrified he would leave his mark on the carpet; he has a history of doing this in church... But I'd explained everything the night before, and the dog did well and did no doo-doo!)

Those YouTube clips.

OK - in the afternoon we were privileged to host a concert by husband and wife guitarists John Mills and Cobie Smit. John studied with Segovia and John Williams, and heads up the guitar department at the RWCMD as well as being a professor at the Royal Academy. They were fantastic, and part of their programme included a world premiere performance of a sonatina for two guitars by Welsh composer Mervyn Burtch. Here is a clip of part of that.

In the evening we had Cafe Church. Matthew Truelove sang three of his own songs - great songs, sung really well. He is great. This is a clip of him last night during the service.
Not great quality I am afraid on either of these clips, they were shot with my little camera, but at least they provide mementos of the day.

We raised around £850 for the Anthony Nolan Trust over the weekend through all the events we put on - which was another fantastic achievement. Thanks to all the musicians for giving their time for free, and for everyone for helping us to do something great for a a great cause as we worshipped. Love God, love your neighbour; that's what we are about.

And today - a little time to breathe. Then it's full tilt into making sure we have applications for grants on the Church Hall plans sorted for the end of the month...

Still praying

RCT again are voting this week on the application to turn the old careers office next to our hall into a drugs centre. Again we want to affirm the work of the CRI but protect our children. This week we have the Children's Commissioner for Wales, the UN Charter for Children, and a risk assessment on the site working in our favour. Against us a report from the planning department that refuses to accept Child Protection matters, and which is so silly at times as to be scandalous.

Examples of this are so petty that I won't waste your time. But I really would value your prayers: that the Lord does a great thing, that our kids are protected, that all that should happen does, and that our rather precarious relationship with the planning authority here is not damaged as we prepare to face them with our own application soon to work on the church hall and make it a better site.

Please pray. We need help. God is good.

the next day

The applicant withdrew. After a series of emails which really did neither the planning department nor myself much good, the proposal was withdrawn. There was no meeting. No vote. It will not come back. It is over.

Thank you for praying. Thank you Lord for answering. I feel exhausted, relieved. I need a day off.

Coming Soon!

Just thought you'd like to know.

Ken

I wrote in my previous posting these words:

Elijah was taken from Elisha, those who have blessed us on our journey vanish from our sight, but the Son remains, and his hand holds ours for ever.

Another who has blessed us has gone. Ken Hayward, a member of this church all his life, a man who personnified kindness and a gentle unassuming faith and trust in his Lord, is now with his Lord. Brought by his grandmother within weeks of his birth to this church, he missed just last Sunday. I think that really means he was here all his life. He failed four medicals and so didn't even leave during the war years.

For his humour, his gentleness, his helpfulness, his kindness, his whole life and faith there are more people than he knows that are left behind giving thanks for him.

He often spoke of those days before the war when boys who wanted to get into the choir had to sit at the front for six months, waiting their probationary turn. I wonder if he likes the choir where he is now? And if, with voice renewed, he is sitting in the front pews hopefully awaiting selection?

Rest in peace, dear Ken, and rise in glory.

Journey

We began our preparation on Sunday with a trek through 2 Kings 2.1-12, and deepened that journey in our Wednesday Bible Study yesterday. It was such a great journey I thought I'd mark it here.

Elijah is about to be taken up to heaven; he is preparing Elisha finally to assume his mantle (literally) as the Lord had first instructed would happen in 1 Kings 19. And in order to make sure he is ready, they embark on a spiritual journey.

It begins at Gilgal. Gilgal? Joshua 5 is the reference. The people have wandered in the wilderness for forty years and finally crossed the Jordan. None of the men who have been born in those wanderings have been circumcised, and Joshua puts this right as they enter the promised land at Gibeath Haaraloth (Hill of Foreskins - I'm guessing the estate agents worked on changing that name). Then the Lord said to Joshua (verse 9): "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." So the place was called Gilgal - which sounds like the Hebrew for rolled away.

We all have a past, and voices whispering from it, that bring accusations and reproach. We all need a Gilgal, and a journey there to remind us that the Lord has wiped away that reproach. As Elijah prepares Elisha for a life of service with one final day's worth of reminders, he begins with a place that says that God wipes the slate clean. You'll need to remember this. To start here time and time again. But this place exists. Treasure it.

They go to Bethel. (I'm going - you stay here says Elijah, to see if his protege has the will power to last the course; but Elisha wants the full measure of what his master will show him, he wants to miss nothing, and he refuses to stay behind.) Bethel?

Genesis 28. Jacob has stolen the blessing from Esau. Esau is furious, and Jacob decides to run for it; Rebekah, his mother, tells him to run to family in Haran (way East - Iraq?) & passes it off with father Isaac as a wife getting trip. Jacob runs. At the end of the first day he falls asleep and has a dream - a dream of angels and ladders and God telling him that it's OK if he runs, but he has made a promise & will keep that promise. He will give the land where he is lying to his descendants, like and on the shore, like stars in the sky, and however far Jacob runs, God will stay with him and wait & keep his promise.

Jacob wakes up and says - this is the gate of heaven, the house of God. Beth (house) El (God). Bethel.

Ever run away from anything? Ever been afraid? Then you need to know God's promises and a place where they are made and where they come true. He is with you always. Always. And he will never let you go. Elijah once ran; but God did not abandon him; he passes this on to Elisha for he knows that in life, everyone who would serve needs this one. God keeps his promises, no matter where we run. He is with us. Bethel.

They go to Jericho. Jericho! Walls, trumpets, Joshua fit de battle. But first, before the battle: in Joshua 5.13-16, Joshua sees a man before him with a drawn sword, and he askes him, Are you on our side or theirs? The man replies: Neither. Strange way of putting things. I'm not on your side; you're on mine - I'm commander of this army, you know. Joshua worships him, calls himself his Lord's servant, and in his equivalent of the burning bush moment is told to take off his sandals for he is on holy ground.

We often want God to jump at our command, to sing our tune. But he is God and we are the servants. He isn't on our side. We are on his. That's some difference. If we would serve him truthfully and powerfully and really see victory, we need to learn that. Elijah takes Elisha to Jericho to spell it out. He has had his own victories; they were won when he he raised the cry, Who is on the Lord's side?

They go on to the Jordan. (Elijah: I'm going alone. Elisha: Not blooming likely!) Where the people of God entered the promised land. But the language isn't about that... on that occasion, though they crossed the river, the way it is described bears no resemblance to the way Elijah and Elisha cross. Here, the water parts and forms a wall to the right and the left, and though physically they stand at the Jordan, in fact they are taken to Exodus 14.21-22, to the Red Sea, to Moses, to a place where there is an Egyptian army behind them and an impassable ocean before them - but God provides a way.

An army behind, a sea before; how often do we face defeat at the hands of life? We need a deliverer, a rescuer, a redeemer. And we have one. Elijah shows Elisha that there will be days when it is impossible to carry on; but God will provide a way. 2 Kings 6 sees Elisha surrounded by the army of Aram - and having learnt the lesson of the Jordan on this day.

Elisha walks with his master, takes in the places and their lessons. We too have a past and places and lessons to remember. And Elijahs to learn from - people who have gone before us and passed on their faith to us. Elisha asks for a "double portion" of Elijah's spirit, not asking to be twice the man Elijah has been, not being greedy or overreaching, but following Deuteronomy 21.17, asking to inherit the first born's right - the full inheritance. From whom have we inherited such a double portion? Whose faith has birthed and blessed and taught and nurtured our own?

But Lent is not simply a time to look back and be thankful. We look forwards. We grow on in our lives with Jesus, ever aiming at the cross and resurrection and the life of the Spirit that they guarantee. And standing with Elijah on a mountain top, Peter, James & John saw the greatest prophet of Isreal fade and the Father's voice remind them: "This is my Son; listen to him." And the Son never fades. Elijah was taken from Elisha, those who have blessed us on our journey vanish from our sight, but the Son remains, and his hand holds ours for ever.

If we would serve him, we would do well to learn the lessons of Elijah and Elisha's journey; Gilgal - reproach rolled away, Bethel - promises made & kept by the always with us God, Jericho - we are on the Lord's side and not the other way (which truth brings victory), Jordan - facing defeat we find a deliverer who will rescue us and provide a way out. But we take those steps holding Jesus' hand, which will never let us go.

Piratical

A gentle doffing of my captain's hat to chief pirate Jones for the Landlubbers children's club which has run throughout this week. You can see her here, with daughter Flo, our youngest recruit, right at the end of everything. We saw 40-50 kids every day come to the club - an amazing achievement - and they had a great time, playing, making stuff, singing & learning about Jesus.

For a church of our size to put on a club like this, I am so delighted. Kirsty is an absolute star. Her volunteers worked like Trojans too, and evertime I popped my head around the door there was a palpable buzz of joy in the hall.

Thanks to all for helping. And hats off to the pirate chief: blessing families around here with great fun, a purpose to the holiday mornings, and above all that, sharing the good news of Jesus, Kirsty - you do a wonderful job. Thank you!

Very Refined

The other day, Sam sent me an email which does the rounds from time to time, a reflection on Malachi 3.3. It is quite lovely, and in case you haven't read it, I'll print it here.

Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'

He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire , remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.
Pass this on right now. This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them.

It's a lovely story, but I wanted to know if it was true. So I emailed Rauni Higson, a silversmith in North Wales, who has made some beautiful silver articles for us here at St Catherine's. The chalice and paten in the picture at the top are hers. I asked her if the story rang true.

This was her reply.

The story works quite well. The details are basically accurate, but of course it glosses over some technical aspects that might get in the way of the flow! It's talking about melting silver in a crucible, I think, which does get rid of impurities for sure, but it's not quite refining in a metallurgical sense... The bits about the hottest part are quite right. You also need bellows to get the fire hot enough, another reason why it requires constant attention and tending. The fire will burn away plenty of impurities alright, but not every one. I think the reflection of the image, is referring to when the silver becomes liquid; at first it has a kind of crinkled crust, then it suddenly becomes mercurial, and the surface is totally reflective, flashing and rolling in the heat. It's very beautiful.

So - the Malachi image may or may not be referring to this kind of refining; but this picture of careful purifying rings true, and the beauty of the reflection of the refiner being made clear at the point of purity is a wonderful and striking image.

You may not have needed the detail; but when I use this illustration, I shall do so now knowing that it is more than a pretty story.

Understanding Finance

US President Obama has signed his economic stimulus plan in Denver, after the American Congress approved the $787bn package last week. Read the BBC account here.

$787billion. Wow. That's a lot of money. But how much, exactly? Let me help you understand.

If you had started spending $1,000,000 a day the day Jesus was born, (that's right - a million dollars a day, every day, working on a 4BC birthdate) you would still have another 143 years to go before you had finished spending $787billion. That's how much money it is.