The Here and Now.

I've recently been blogging on PebblePad - a wonderful system but I fear I'll lose my account when I leave Strathclyde. Therefor I have opted to blog here instead. I thought I'd do the old 'copy and paste' of some of my previous blogs to fill the space between where I was and where I am so that future blogs have some sort of context and make (I hope) some sort of progression and sense.

05 November 2007

Mark 2:23 - 28 : This would be yet another occasion where the Pharisees are trying to trip up Jesus, to take a snatch at his integrity and find a loophole in his teachings. I've recently been challenged with church quite a lot. I find myself to be challenging my priorities and reviewing the purpose of all my activities on a Sunday and for the church throughout the week. My Sundays... busy, hectic, from one place to another, frequently running or rehearsing for an event. Day of rest? I don't think so! Since being a young child I could count the number of Sundays where I have not been to church on two hands - literally. I grew up in the sort of mind set that to miss church was unchristian and showed lack of commitment. Yet recently I have begun to challenge that. The thinking started by reading the blog of my former minister Stuart Blythe. His post, 'Easy like Sunday morning' flags up the issue of what we do with our Sundays and the role that church plays in that. Having prayed and thought further I came across the passage above. One sentence in particular struck a chord with me,

'Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, "The Sabbath day was made to help people; they were not made to be ruled by the Sabbath Day." '

I wonder how often the Sabbath day rules me. I think that in the context of the passage, the Pharisees were questioning Jesus working on the Sabbath (and not for the first time - see the passage of Jesus healing on the Sabbath.) and breaking Jewish law. It was a day of rest where absolutly nothing classed as work was to be done - perhaps to an absurd degree.

However, what is a Sunday for? For rest? For spending time with family? In church are we simply there for community or duty? Should I in fact spend all my Sunday working for the church - especially when I do so every other day of the week? Yes I want to contribute to the life of my church, to engage with my friends and be part of the fellowship but to what extent should I make every aspect of being in church a working one? I believe that when we come to church we should be prepared to work - worship and participating in the ministry there should not be passive, but perhaps I have in fact deprived myself of a 'day of rest' entirely since I work for uni every day and work 9-5 on a satuday. Perhaps as the bible commands I should find a day of rest. It doesn't necessarily have to be a Sunday... but it would be nice if it was. It would seem that my priorities need shifting.




Following on from the previous entry...

12 November 2007

As previously mentioned, I've felt challenged recently about my lifestyle and my priorities, especially where people are concerned. More and more I'm getting the feeling I spend so long working in and for the church that I'm missing out on witnessing to the 'outside' world.
(Is this ironic since I'm going in to ministry? Hopefully not as I hope to be engaged in mission and evangelism throughout.)
In both the services I was at today the speakers talked about witnessing, seeking the lost and saving lives - not by waiting in church for them to come to us but by going out and reaching them. I cannot spend time socialising with non-church people because I am always working in, around and for the church. I see it as noble and a good witness that I do so but then... if I'm so wrapped up in a church-based-bubble what kind of witness is that?

The pastor at KBC this morning told us of a lifeguard who asked his trainee guards, "If was drowning would you come and save me?". Their reply was an enthusiastic, "Of course!"

The pastor then asked us, 'If I am lost will you come and find me?'. He compared this to the story of Zaccheous in Luke 19 where we are told that Jesus came to find 'what is lost'. We are told that God is a seeking God and so we ought to be a seeking people. Am I really seeking? Or am I simply working with whoever will come along to my church, my territory, my comfort-zone? Zaccheous himself was seeking Jesus, despite being the epitomy of someone with a focus on self-gain and loose morality. How his life was changed because Jesus responded to his search; not by inviting the man to church, but inviting himself to the house of Zaccheous. Jesus went to the seeker, he did not just say 'come and find me'. Just as we should be seeking the lost, so we should not just wait for and overlook the lost who are seeking. We need to put down the invitation to church and pick up the invitation to 'their place.'

In the evening Gary talked about How To Save a Life based on the song by the Fray and linked to Romans 10:14-16. We are told in this passage that people are saved when they believe, they believe when they hear, they hear when they are told, and they will only be told if someone is sent. Therefor we are to go out to save lives and seek what is lost. Jesus has sent us out. As I have said before, I feel I am not seeking, I am waiting.

My priorities need to actively change.