Sandy

The wheels on the bus

Here at Liberton we have adopted an annual rhythm comprising three seasons – upwards, inwards and outwards. These are reflected in our Sunday themes, as well as in our daily Celtic Devotions. Our first season, with its focus on drawing closer to God, ended with Easter, and now we are beginning our second season where we ask the question – “What does it mean to be part of the church family?”

Recently I’ve discovered that one of the blessings of turning 60 is that I now am fully equipped with my own bus pass, and this has encouraged me to rediscover the joys of public transport. In the course of the last few months I’ve spent a fair amount of time on busses, and as a result I have been able to observe bus culture first hand.

I’ve been struck by the huge variety of people that travel by bus, and by the huge variety of mannerisms and habits they display. These range from the open and welcoming folk, who like being with people and are quick to smile and include, to the closed, who spend most of their time looking at their phones. Then there are the considerate folks, who are sensitive to those around them and ready to help when help is needed, in sharp contrast to the thoughtless, who take up more than their fair share of room and won’t move unless asked to.

These next few months will give us the opportunity to ask ourselves one or two challenging questions about our own church’s culture. If the Christian faith is about being on a spiritual journey, then the Christian church is like travelling together by bus, where at every stop, there is the opportunity for new passengers to get on board. When they do, what will they find? Will they find a culture that is open or closed, considerate or thoughtless? Will they want to stay on board until the journey’s end, or get off at the next stop?

Our final season – that of looking outward, will begin in the Autumn, when we will be inviting others to join us in our travels. So, before they climb on board, let’s take the time to make sure their experience will be a good one.

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13.14)

Much love

John

A mother’s love

Easter is going to be early this year, coming as it does on the last Sunday in March, and this means everything else will be early too, including Mothers’ Day. I remember listening to programme about Mothers’ Day on the radio a number of years back, where listeners were asked to phone in with examples of the things their mother always used to say to them when they were growing up. The winning entry was –

“You don’t have to brush all of your teeth – just the ones you want to keep!”

My personal memories of sayings which issued regularly from the mouth of my own mum are –

“I’ve still got a hundred and one things to do!”

“I was bitterly disappointed!” and, of course, “Isn’t this just great!”

Our celebrations of Mothers’ Day originated with Mothering Sunday – the day when we celebrated our Mother Church. People who had grown up and moved away from home would make a point of going back on that particular Sunday, to renew their relationship with the Church family of their childhood.
The relationship a child has with his or her mother can be a very special one, as is captured in these words from Psalm 131 –

My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty;I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.

The psalmist here is using the image of a mother to speak of his relationship with God. A weaned child no longer has to be with its mother, rather it is there by choice, because it still has complete confidence in her love.

“A mother’s love is constant!” is a lovely old saying, but, sadly, we live in an age when this is not always true. Yet we know that the love God made known to us in Jesus, and demonstrated fully in the events of Holy Week and Easter, is one in which we can have complete confidence, because it will never fail.

If you are someone who has drifted away from your mother church, and are wondering if God’s love for you has changed, why not risk returning sometime this month. Whether it’s Mothers’ Day, or Passion Sunday, or Palm Sunday, or Easter. You will find that yesterday, today and forever, his love for you will always remain the same.

Much love,
John

What would Jesus say to David Bowie?

Lindsay and I are both early morning people, and we usually set our radio alarm for 6.30am, so that we can spend half an hour listening to the news before getting on with our day. Last Monday morning, therefore, made for interesting listening.

The 6.30 headlines were, firstly, about plans to close the Calais refugee camp, and secondly, the meeting of heads of the worldwide Anglican Communion. At 6.45am, however, there was a newsflash to announce the death on Sunday of David Bowie, following his eighteen month battle with cancer.

Next up was an interview with the Justin Wellbye, the Archbishop of Canterbury, about the future of the Anglican Communion. “Before we begin,” said the presenter, “what are your thoughts on David Bowie?” By 7.00am, the headlines had changed, with David Bowie top of the list. These headlines were followed by a report from Calais, which had to be cut short. The reporter had clearly put in a lot of work and was expecting to be given a longer slot. “Sorry we have to stop you,” said the presenter. “You may not have heard, but David Bowie has died.”

At the time, we couldn’t help but wonder – if this is how Radio 4’s flagship news programme is dealing with this, what is the mainstream media going to be like? Sure enough, for the rest of the day David Bowie’s life and achievements were given wall to wall coverage.

Don’t get me wrong. The vinyl collection in my attic includes four of Bowie’s first five albums, and over the years I have both enjoyed and admired his musical genius and artistic creativity. But, at the same time, I know that there were sides to Bowie’s character that I didn’t admire, and I would not have recommended him to anyone as a role model.

All this has caused me to reflect on what this says about our society today, and its relentless capacity to idolise.

The biblical definition of an idol is that it is something ‘man-made’ and attractive, but ultimately false, and which draws us away from God. If you’ve been one of the millions of people who have viewed Bowie’s final album, ‘Dark Star’, which was released two days before his death, you may well have been given even more reason to wonder about the motives behind it. Although already acclaimed as a masterpiece, it is hardly reassuring on the theme of dying. It does, however, appear to be a deliberate attempt by him to lay a claim to the notion of ‘Bowie the god’ – someone who, even in death, would welcome our worship.

By now David Bowie will have met with his maker, and will have had to look back on his life in the clear light of God’s truth. But what about us? Who and what do we worship, and where does God come on our list?

Much love, John

Doubt and Faith

A couple of months ago I wrote about how our generation is more open to exploring the ‘spiritual’ side of life than the generation before us, while at the same time we are not slow in asking questions and voicing doubts. I also said that doubt is not a bad thing. It forces us to go focus on why we believe something, and why it is important to us. It forces us to keep an open mind, and not get too set in our ways. It keeps us on our toes and keeps our faith alive.

For the past six weeks, with the help of Tim Keller’s book – ‘The reason for God’, we have been giving people the chance to explore some of their doubts at our SIX30 service on Sunday evenings. What has been on offer has been a safe place where, within the context of Christian worship, people can still voice their concerns and discuss things that puzzle them. These occasions seem to have hit the right note, as they have been well attended by Christians and non-Christians alike, and, as the weeks have passed, I think there has been a shared recognition that, whatever our doubts are, belief in God is still not an unreasonable thing to hold to.

But once someone is open to the possibility of spiritual belief, where do they start? How do they find their way through the myriad possibilities and worldviews that are out there? As a Christian, my response would be that the best place to start is with Jesus. Being a Christian is like being on a journey, where you may not know all that lies ahead, but you’ve found a guide you can trust.

For the next six weeks we plan to flip things round. Instead of exploring faith and doubt at our SIX30 service, we will now be exploring the second half of Tim Keller’s book, which is about doubt and faith. Having spent some time exploring barriers to belief, we are now going to be looking at the stepping stones which might help us on our way.

For example…

• What clues are there that help us to believe?
• Is it possible to truly know God?
• Why is sin such a problem anyway?
• How does ‘religion’ compare with the Gospel?
• Why do Jesus’ death and resurrection matter?
• What is the ‘dance of God’?

Once again, you can aim for 6.30pm, or you can come early. Everyone is welcome, and there will be plenty of time for discussion. The series begins on Sunday 8th November.

Hope to see you soon.

Much love
John

What are the makings of a good leader?

Jesus death and resurrection offers us all the hope of a new beginning. Herein lies both the joy and the power of Easter. Jesus’ death has dealt with the sins of our past, and his resurrection and his Holy Spirit’s presence offers us the hope of a much better future.

It’s very timely that someone who will be having the opportunity of experiencing beginning again this Easter is our very own Malcolm Jefferson, as he is welcomed as the new leader of St Andrew’s Leckie Church in Peebles. As you know, Malcolm has been serving with us here for the last 15 months, but the time has now come for him to move on.

I well remember what it felt like at the beginning of my own ministry here at Liberton. I’ve often described it as feeling as if I’d jumped aboard a stagecoach which was hurtling down the road, and someone had just handed me the reins. Looking back, I’m so thankful that I wasn’t alone. I soon discovered that God was still around to give me directions, and that there were lots of fellow passengers who were happy to offer encouragement and support.

One question which I have been pondering recently, however, has been, “If I were to begin again at Liberton, what would I have done differently?” The answer I would now give is, “Focus much more of my time and energy on training up leaders from within the church.” Over the last fifteen years I have found out the hard way that the main thing which stops us being the church God wants us to be is not a lack of money, or a lack of people (he always seems willing to provide them both). It is a lack of leaders – of people who are confident enough in their faith and in their ability to lead others.

This is a problem which Jesus too had to face, and when we look at what he did about it we discover some interesting things. None of his disciples, for example, were from ‘religious’ occupations, nor were they well known or prominent citizens. In fact, Jesus didn’t seem to choose them because of their background at all, or their knowledge for that matter, or their experience. He seems to have chosen them because of their character. He saw in them the potential to be leaders and that was good enough for him.*

Later on, in his letter to Timothy, Paul gives some good advice about choosing leaders. He suggests that they be “…temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.” (1 Timothy 3.2b) As I sit writing this, what strikes me most is that the description Paul is giving here is one that, in my mind, seems to fit Malcolm to a tee. The Folks at St Andrew’s Leckie have certainly chosen well, and, as the fellow passengers on his stage coach, we wish them God’s blessing as they set off on this new stretch of their journey together.

Much love

John

*For a good book on the subject, see “Twelve Ordinary Men”, by John MacArthur

What would you say to the folks of Downton Abbey?

A lot can happen in a hundred years.

For Christmas, Lindsay and I treated ourselves to the box set of the first seven episodes of ‘Downton Abbey’ – the television series based on the fictional lives of those who lived and worked in a stately home in the early twentieth century. We took it with us on a short post-Christmas break escaping for a couple of days into culture, and engaging with the daily lives and loves of characters of 100 years ago.

It was also quite striking to see how much things have changed since then. Many of these changes have been for the good. Women now have the vote, and house-ownership is common-place. Electricity is taken for granted, whereas then it was a luxury, as was the owning of a car. Communication is now instant, and people can travel to the other end of the world for a two week holiday and still be back in time to start work on Monday morning. Our lives are a lot more secure. Health care and medicines are freely available and far more effective, and the keyhole surgery of today is very different from the hit and miss of the old operating theatres.

Not all the changes have been for the good, however. The last 100 years have seen two world wars, the nuclear bomb, the great depression, totalitarianism, genocide, and 9/11. Advances in science have made the world a smaller place, but for every problem solved, another seems to have been created. People are still dying of hunger and disease, and are still managing to come up with more efficient ways of killing one another as well as new reasons to justify it happening.

The gift of hindsight is a wonderful thing. If you were given the chance, what advice would you give to our forefathers who lived in the time of ‘Downton Abbey’? Which roads would you encourage them to go down, and which would you tell them to avoid?

A similar question, and one I often ponder, is what advice people might want to give our own generation in 100 years time? Would they warn us about getting ourselves trapped in a debt-based economy? Would they plead with us to take better care of our family life? Would they ask us what on earth we were doing to the environment?

A better question for us all might be ‘What advice might God want to give us?’ My feeling is that it would be best summed up in Jesus words in Matthew:
Do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?… But seek first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well’.(Matthew 6.31,33)

The Kingdom of God is how Jesus describes his presence by our side, guiding our paths, protecting us, and enabling us to make a difference. In a world of constant change, here are some words of promise to hold on to:

The steadfast love of the Lord will never fail. His mercies will never come to an end, for they are new every morning.(Lamentations 3.22,23)

Much love,
John