Freedom

O.K. so being horribly behind the times I didn't hear the world cup theme tune 'waving flag' until after the world cup had actually finished. However, having heard it I couldn't help but be intrigued. As a song it has a very upbeat and hopeful feel and is easy to memorise (I was struck by this when a kid in our church knew all the words). However, what I couldn't help thinking while I was listening was what a big part the hope of freedom played in the song. So it starts off talking about freedom and each chorus it says 'they'll call me freedom. Just like a waving flag'. I can't help but wonder why this idea of freedom plays such a big part in upbeat, aspirational songs.

Many of us would consider ourselves to be free and yet we still long for greater freedom. Why is this? I think it's because we all still feel like we cannot be the people we long to be. We may be free in many ways but when we look at our lives it seems like we still feel trapped by circumstances or natural constraints.

So I feel trapped by my inability to be the person I want to be.

I feel trapped by circumstances which require me to do certain things.

I feel trapped by my need of money and other resources.

I feel trapped by all my limitations.

We therefore all have this desire to be free. Jesus describes all people as slaves to sin and death this would seem to be supported by the fact we all do bad things, we all day and we all have this desire to be more free. However, Jesus also says that he is the person who can set us free.

It's easy to think that we are free and that Jesus wants to enslave us. However, this is to forget the sense of limitation and constraint we all feel in everyday life. The truth is that we are not free and that it is actually by finding forgiveness, a new heart and a new way of life that we can begin to see just how free Jesus makes us. As we recognise this we look forward to a new life of complete freedom, with Jesus either when we die or he returns.

I guess many people hope that throughout their life they will become more free but actually time and age are just as incapable of freeing us as we are ourselves. If like me you hope to become more free then you need to find someone with the power and inclination to free you from the limitations of our sin, a sinful world and death. Look at Jesus' life and you'll see that he not only has the power but also the will to do just this!

Unity and Secondary Issues

During the past couple of weeks we have been blessed by having a team of students from some northern universities come to serve in our church. It would be fair to say that although this has been busy it has been an incredible experience for me personally and, I hope, for the church as a whole. To see God working and people in Hartlepool engaging with truths they previously weren't engaging with has been fantastic.

However, through the process of looking through the book of Ephesians as Christians from different churches and different backgrounds the issue of being united despite theological or ecclesiastical differences became not simply an academic issue but a practical one.

Is it possible for Christians to hold different positions on secondary (non gospel) issues and still be united? I guess most Christians would say yes and this fortnight has certainly demonstrated that to be true.

However I guess a better question is 'Is it possible for one Christian to say that another Christian is wrong and still be united?' Following a long discussion last night I think that this must be possible. If not then I don't see how we can ensure that we are sitting under the Bible's authority. We want to be being moulded and changed by the Bible and so for a fellow Christian to say to me 'I think your wrong about this issue and this is biblically why I think it' shouldn't threaten me or cause disunity but should rather serve to help me to sit under the Bible's authority better whether I am convinced by his argument or not.

So how do Christians unite? Well I think the temptation is to boil Christianity down to the bare minimum (the deity and humanity of Christ, his death for our sins, the resurrection followed by a response of faith and repentance) and then say anything goes with the rest. But the Bible has more to say than that and we should have more to say too. Just saying that I believe the Bible says that this is a right approach to a secondary issue does not mean I have divided myself from people who hold a different position.

In my church there are a number of people who are Christians but have not been baptised. I think that these people are wrong because I think the Bible repeatedly calls on Christians to be baptised. So what do I do with this? Well I hold that position, I am not scared to voice it but as a church there is no lack of unity because of it because unity comes through Christ's work in us.

It is the job of both the person disagreeing and the person being disagreed with to not allow this to cause division because you both belong to Christ and so are united.

I could have taken ecstasy but I didn't

Meadow Soprano throws the mother of all parties at her grandmother's abandoned house. 100s of people turn up. The house get's trashed, she ends up drunk and the police have to get called to break it all up. All in all I think it's fair to say that it's the kind of thing most parents would consider to be somewhat out of order.

However, on being confronted about this she comes out with the following line 'I could have taken ecstasy but I didn't'. It strikes me what a weak defence this is. Just because you could have done something arguably worse that doesn't mean that what you did was o.k. In some ways that is irrelevant to the seriousness of what she has done.

Yet how often we use the same defence. So when I think an unkind thought about someone I say to myself 'What's your problem? I could have said something unkind to them but I didn't'. Or when I say something horrible to my wife I say to myself 'What's your problem? I could have physically attacked her but I didn't'. Or maybe when I lie a bit on my tax return I say to myself 'What's your problem I could have lied about loads of things but I didn't'. The problem with this defence is that much like Meadow's it is weak. It's true that I could have done those things which I didn't but that in no ways excuses the unkind thought, the horrible speech or the lie on my tax return. The truth is that I shouldn't have been thinking unkind thoughts, speaking horribly or lying/stealing at all!

We wouldn't expect a burglar to get away with it if his defence was simply that he could have killed the guy he was burgling but he didn't. The fact you didn't do something worse is irrelevant. How can a non-action make up for an action. We may not be as bad as we could be but that is no defence for how bad we are. When we realise this we have no option but to turn to Jesus for forgiveness!

The spy who came in from the cold

For book club this month we read 'The Spy who came in from the cold' by le Carre. It is a book set in the cold war which deals with a main character, who seems to believe in nothing, attempting to infiltrate and arrange the death of a member of East Germany's security force. In the story you seem to have the main guys pragmatism contrasted with the misplaced ideology of those who believe passionately in either communism or western capitalism.

It struck me as I was reading that what seems to occur in this book is not that people change their ideologies but rather that other things (a romance, a friendship, money, power, success) become more important to them than their ideology. So although on paper they would still have the same ideology the determining factor in their life is no longer primarily their ideological belief but rather something else. This process also seems to be at the heart of the film 'The lives of others'.

Now it seems to me that although ideological shifts do occur this process goes on a lot in churches. So whilst some people who once believed the Christian message of Jesus come to a point where they no longer believe that, many more don't reject it but rather find that through their life other things become more important than their Christianity to them. So they pursue a relationship which they find becomes more important to them and then they get a bit of money and find that the acquisition of money becomes more important to them and then they find a cause and find that this becomes more important to them than their faith. What then occurs is that they actually are no longer living according to their ideology despite the fact that they would still say that they hold to that ideology.

I think as Christians we must be careful that we allow our ideology to dictate our actions and values rather than drifting through life and finding that it is our actions and circumstances which have determined our ideology.

It is not what Jesus does...

.. it's what he says that I have a problem with. That's what Mrs Soprano says to her Priest. When she said it I couldn't help but feel just how accurately this summed up many people's views of Jesus today. They like the idea of a guy who goes around feeding people and healing people and all of that. It's just when Jesus opens his mouth to talk that we have a problem.

We don't like it when Jesus talks about the fact that none of us are perfect and as such none of us are good enough for God. We don't like it when Jesus bangs on about being the only way to God and heaven. We don't like it when Jesus keeps insisting that his death is the thing which really matters and we don't liken it when Jesus talks about the judgment we will have to face if we reject his offer of forgiveness!

It strikes me that many people blandly say that Jesus was a decent enough person without really knowing what he said. If you actually listen to what Jesus said then he was not just a nice guy who did a few nice things but doesn't have anything to say to you. No he is a man who says extreme things which you have to do something with. At least Carmella is trying to engage with the stuff Jesus said unlike most people who assume it's just nice soundbites which it's fine to ignore.

Why not read something Jesus said (you could start with this?) and start thinking about if he was mad, bad or the God in human form he claimed to be!

Pride

As I was driving around Hartlepool the other day I saw this advert. Now whilst understanding the premise and generally being a fan of doing your own cooking I couldn't help but think of another advert which says 'Time - You won't find it in home baking'

However, I have found it a strangely thought provoking advert. You see it works on the premise that we all want to believe that we have achieved something. We want to feel that we have worked hard and that we have done something which we can be proud of. I can't help but wonder if this is why biblical Christianity is so unpopular. Biblical Christianity says that actually you can't do anything to make yourself good enough for God. You can't work hard, do the right stuff and achieve some level where you'll be good enough for God. No Biblical Christianity says that you are not good enough for God and that even your best attempts are rubbish. Biblical Christianity says that what we need is someone else to do the work for us. It's the ready meal approach. Biblical Christianity shows us that even though we're well off the mark we can be forgiven and made good enough not through our own efforts but through Jesus dying to take the punishment we deserve and giving us a new heart which means that one day, in heaven, we will be perfect.

Like this advert acknowledges people like pride. You can find pride in being a good person and feeling that you've managed to become a pretty nice person. You can find pride in your intellect and believing that you're cleverer than others. You can find pride in the way you care for people. You can find pride in your religious activities, your praying, church attendance, giving to charity, bead work etc. However you can't find it in Christianity. I wonder if this is why hedonism, moralism and religion are so popular but genuine Christianity is not. The problem with pride is that if you're not feeling proud, if you've had a bad day or realised your not as good as you thought you were, then you so easily slump into despair. So we have this weird mix in our society of pride and low self esteem as people battle to feel superior but when they fail end up feeling rubbish. Christianity should leave no place for either.

Pride - You won't find it in Christianity but you will find forgiveness, relationship with God and a future based not on you making an impossible grade but on grace!

Counselling does not deal with the soul

Or so Carmela Soprano says. On hearing that her husband is going to therapy she says that is doesn't deal with the soul, that's something else, but it's a start.

I found this a fascinating comment on the way our society thinks of the soul and of religion. People seem to think of religion as basically counselling with a spiritual edge. So Carmela thinks that ordinary counselling is good but religion is better. It strikes me that many religious people think like this and that most people think of religion as sort of some weird form of counselling! People who are struggling in life can find help in counselling but religion might prove a cheaper option!

However, despite all the depressing assumptions she seems to be making about Christianity what she says is ultimately right. Counselling may be good but ultimately it cannot deal with the soul. She speaks better than she knows. Lots of people, Christians included, have things which they need to get out and talk through with someone, this is a good thing and it worries me that so many Christians are so insular. However, talking through issues is not really what Christianity is about. Church is not a place for people simply to talk about the different life pressures they have. No Christianity is a place which offers you a way to sort out our soul.

Humanity's problem is not something that can be solved merely by counselling (helpful though it may be). No our problem is that we have a propensity to do bad things and to not do good things. What we need is to find forgiveness and some hope that this can change. Counselling and self help cannot do this so Jesus dies to make it possible. He pays the price for our sin so that we can be forgiven and he offers salvation to our soul so we can look forward to being perfect in his new perfect world. Christianity is not and must not be simply a spiritual version of counselling because ultimately it offers forgiveness and salvation for our soul which no counsellor can grant us!