Poo Arrows

Oct 29, 2023

My 6-year-old granddaughter wrote a story in the summer holidays which won a competition at Wigfield Farm (proud Grandma moment!) “The Smelly Adventures of Splat” tells the story of a rather malicious guinea pig named Splat who seeks to gain popularity by taking out the rabbits (whom he perceives as being more popular) with poo arrows.

It’s a typical children’s sotry full of toilet humour and graphic details (the poo arrows are orange, yellow and green because the guinea pig eats carrots, hay and lettuce…) which children find hugely amusing and which cause me to roll my eyes in despair. Splat gets his comeuppance when the meerkats tackle him and he ends up frozen as a statue, an ending which reminds us that kindness is better than notoriety or fame…
When Esther wrote this story, I felt a little despairing, since the constant ‘poo poo poo poo’ conversation of small children doesn’t really do much for me anymore. But I am reminded that Eugene Peterson speaks of God’s word being like a javelin, piercing our hearts with truth (see http://www.gpcchurch.co.uk/the-javelin-of-truth), and it struck me that ‘poo arrows’ are a pretty good description of the devil’s tactics.
The enemy of our souls targets us daily with arrows (‘flaming arrows’, Paul calls them in Ephesians 6:16), hoping to deflect us, distract us and deter us from wholehearted discipleship. Often, these feel like they are tipped with poo. Troubles and difficulties leave us feeling soiled, besmirched, defiled. Shame, guilt, fear and anxiety hem us in, leaving us helpless and discouraged.
God’s word is not like that. His word (described in Hebrews 4:12 as a double-edged sword), may well leave us wounded, but there is nothing dirty or defiling about it. It’s like a surgeon’s scalpel; it ‘hurts good.‘ It puts us back together; it restores our souls. There is healing and restoration, forgiveness and strengthening found in God’s word.

So don’t settle for the poo arrows of the devil! Instead, let God’s javelin word touch and transform you,

Excellence & Detail

Oct 25, 2023

I’m always challenged and inspired by the work of Michelangelo, the great Renaissance painter and sculptor. He spent years painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel while working on a hanging scaffold. The work was difficult (ceilings are harder to paint than walls because of the difficulties of working at heights and essentially painting upside down), but he continued to paint more than 400 figures which feature in the work. When asked why he was working so hard on a dark corner of the chapel that no one would ever be able to see, his reply was, ‘God will see.’
Paul tells us ‘whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through him.’ (Col 3:17) Most of what we do in life is ephemeral: few of us will create lasting works of art like Michelangelo that will stand the test of time! Instead, we cook meals that are eaten and then gone; we clean and tidy houses that our children and grandchildren dirty and untidy seconds after we finish; we work on things that soon disappear. Our words rarely last in the way that famous writers’ do. It can feel very dispiriting to do your best in the mundane, knowing our hard work will soon disappear.
But the Christian way of excellence in all things looks at life as Michelangelo did: ‘God will see.‘ Our labour for God is not in vain. He sees what we do, including the things that no one else sees, and He is pleased by faithfulness and excellence, by attention to detail. He Himself works that way!
At the moment I’m involved in preparations for events at church, and the amount of work that goes on in those preparations far exceeds the amount of attention anyone can give to what I do. It’s easy to wonder, ‘What’s the point?’ It’s easy to feel frustrated or that what we are doing is a waste of time that could be spent more profitably elsewhere. It’s just another event, after all. It will soon be forgotten.
But God’s way is one where attention to detail matters and our labour for Him is never in vain. Like Michelangelo, we seek to serve God in the dark places where no one will see. We serve in our homes (where we may feel unappreciated, taken for granted); we serve in our communities (where we may feel unknown and unwanted); we serve in the world where we are just one of X billion. We can be tempted to slack off, to cut corners, to ‘make do.’ No one will see. No one will know.
But God sees and God knows. He wants us to do all things well. As we serve Him faithfully, the little things really do matter, as anyone who has ever visited the Sistine Chapel can testify.

The Miracle of Conversion

Oct 22, 2023

Tonight in our series ‘The Miraculous & The Mundane’, we looked at the miracle of the conversion of Saul (Acts 9:1-19). Saul was the least likely person to become a Christian; he was a Pharisee, a religious Jew who believed that Christians were totally wrong and worthy of persecution and who had approved of the stoning of Stephen as the first Christian martyr. (Phil 3:5-6, Acts 8:1-3) Yet God stepped into his life miraculously as he was travelling to Damascus to find yet more believers he could persecute, arresting him en route with a bright light and a voice from heaven and leaving him temporarily blinded by this experience.

God is able to step into the lives of ordinary people and completely turn them around; to be born again or converted means a radical U-turn on the way we used to live. Yet at the same time, he graciously involves us, ordinary believers, in this process of salvation which is all of Him (there is nothing we can do to save ourselves as Romans 3:23, Eph 2:8-9, Rev 7:10 testify.) Ananias was the one chosen by God to go and welcome Saul into the family of God and send him forth with a mission to testify to the Gentiles. Not surprisingly, he was not initially keen to follow these instructions, since Paul’s reputation had preceded him! But in humble obedience, he went and prayed for Saul, and from this moment, the scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. God used his faith and obedience to do something miraculous for Saul, to restore his sight and to confirm him in his faith. Again, God could have just restored his sight without any human intervention, but he chose to work with and through another person. He has good works for us to do to bring about the miraculous in the lives of those who need God! (Eph 2:10)

God’s purposes cannot be thwarted. (Job 42:2) When facing the threat of persecution and extinction, the church did not reckon with God’s plan to turn around the worst persecutor to become a follower of Jesus! We can say confidently that God pursues people, longing for them to know the truth. He does not want anyone to perish but wants everyone to come to repentance. (2 Pet 3:9) His heart is for us; He wants people everywhere to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:4) We can be sure that every time someone accepts Christ as their Saviour, it is as a result of the miraculous intervention of God and we can also ask God to involve us in the wonderful work of evangelism which results in conversions as we accept our role as co-workers with Him.

One Day At A Time

Oct 22, 2023

Mark Burgin spoke this morning from Matt 6:25-34 about the need to live ‘one day at a time, sweet Jesus’ (in the words of the old song.) We can often spend much time making plans, but in this passage, Jesus tells us ‘do not worry about tomorrow.’ Each day has enough trouble of its own, and we do well not to take on additional worries from other days.We can easily get distracted about tomorrow and can even be obsessed with what will happen, to the detriment of enjoying today! The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that we ask God for our daily bread, what we need for today. God provides for our daily needs.

Todays society seems very selfish, with everyone thinking about themselves (‘you’ve got to look after number 1′.) We spend time saving and storing for tomorrow, but tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone. Luke 12:16-21 reminds us of this truth, for the fool in that parable kept on building bigger barns and was not prepared to meet his Maker. Money is not able to buy us a guaranteed future; Ps 118;24 reminds us that we should rejoice in today, for the present is God’s gift to us. Life can seem a battle, but we are required to work in the today that God has given us and then we can be amazed at what can be achieved with God.

A Life of Service

Oct 20, 2023

When we were looking at 1 Samuel 16:14-23 last night, we saw how David moved from being the youngest in his family looking after sheep to being in the service of Saul the king. Service is a vital part of the life of faith. Jesus said, ‘Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ (Matt 20:26-28, see also Mark 10:43-44) Philippians 2:5-11 chronicles Jesus’s own servant lifestyle and how this was crucial to God’s blessing of His life and ministry. We cannot hope to be great or greatly used by God if we are not willing to be a servant. This will always involve things that we may not necessarily enjoy or want to do, but reflect a heart that is wholly committed to God. It seems David was willing to get on and do whatever was necessary; he was a biddable, teachable person.

Living as a servant means that we can make a difference – David certainly made a difference in Saul’s life! People in whom the Spirit of God lives can make a difference to others. We can make a difference. ‘For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?’ (2 Cor 2:15-16) The aroma ‘redolent of life’ brings relief, hope, comfort and encouragement to people. We really can help others by serving!

The Power of Music

Oct 20, 2023

In our Bible study, we looked at 1 Samuel 16:14-23, a passage that shows us David entering Saul’s service after his anointing by Samuel. Saul at this point is a troubled man; the Spirit of the Lord had left him because of his disobedience and rebellion and he was tormented by an evil spirit. HIs servants recommended music therapy to him, and David was singled out as being someone who was not only musically skilled but was also blessed by God.

The power of music to soothe the spirit and help with both physical and mental illness was known even then, it seems, and modern scientific studies have confirmed these truthsListening to (or making) music increases blood flow to brain regions that generate and control emotions.[1] The limbic system, which is involved in processing emotions and controlling memory, “lights” up when our ears perceive music.[2] The chills you feel when you hear a particularly moving piece of music may be the result of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that triggers sensations of pleasure and well-being. As your brain becomes familiar with a particular song, your body may release dopamine upon hearing just the first few notes of the song. Just as Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate food with a ringing bell – and eventually began drooling at the sound of a bell, even when no food was in sight – our bodies actively anticipate pleasure upon hearing familiar notes. Interestingly, music can affect our mood even if we can’t recognise or replicate the notes and rhythm. Science has documented numerous instances of people who suffered brain injuries and lost their ability to distinguish melodies but retained the ability to recognise the emotion conveyed by music. Researchers noted that these patients had sustained damage to the temporal lobes of the brain, a region involved in comprehending melody; their frontal lobes, which play a role in emotional regulation, were unaffected.

Singing is also recognised as a valuable means not only of enhancing lung capacity but also of improving mental alertness, memory and concentration, as it involves focusing on multiple things at once, engaging many areas of the brain in the process.

David’s musical ability, probably honed whilst he was tending the sheep, was of great benefit to Saul at this time, and we are indebted to it as he was the author of many of the Psalms. We know much about David’s inner life with God from these prayers set to music, and the Psalms continue to inspire songwriters today. One of the most famous (Psalm 23) reflects his experience as a shepherd and his knowledge of God as the ultimate shepherd. Many psalms urge us to sing and make music to God (see Ps 33:1, Ps 13:6, Ps 96:2) Worship of God is at the heart of a life well lived; David is our example in this.

 

[1] Singing My Dad Back to Me. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/well/family/singing-my-dad-back-to-me.html?fbclid=IwAR1sMO0jS1lb7Knnzw9o6tf1YP1ldnhkZ7kuYzBD3EQK-rxvgsMWaPzg-6Y

[2] Jäncke, L. (2008). Music, memory and emotion. Journal Of Biology, 7(6), 21. doi: 10.1186/jbiol82. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2776393/