The beginning of Acts gives us a clue as to what happened in the 40 days between Jesus’s resurrection and ascension into heaven: ‘After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.’ (Acts 1:3)

Christianity is based on historical fact: God’s intervention in history in the person of His Son, Jesus, whose life, death and resurrection form the foundation stone of our faith. (1 Cor 3:11) Christians need to be able to defend their faith and Luke’s purpose in his gospel and the book of Acts is to give them solid facts to help them do this.

The death and resurrection of Jesus are pivotal to our faith, being the fulfilment of prophecy and the vindication of all Jesus said and taught. As such, many have attempted to come up with alternative explanations:

1. that Jesus didn’t really die; he merely fainted from exhaustion and loss of blood. Everyone thought him dead, but later he was resuscitated and the disciples thought it to be a resurrection. The sceptic David Friedrich Strauss – himself no believer in the resurrection – gave the deathblow to any thought that Jesus merely revived from a swoon: ‘It is impossible that a being who had stolen half-dead out of the sepulchre, who crept about weak and ill, wanting medical treatment, who required bandaging, strengthening and indulgence, and who still at last yielded to his sufferings, could have given the disciples the impression that he was a Conqueror over death and the grave, the Prince of Life, an impression which lay at the bottom of their future ministry. Such a resuscitation could only have weakened the impression which He had made upon them in life and in death, at the most could only have given it an elegiac voice, but could by no possibility have changed their sorrow into enthusiasm, have elevated their reverence into worship.’ [David Frederick Strauss. The Life of Jesus for the People (London: Williams and Norgate, 1879, 2nd ed.), Vol. 1, p. 412.]

2. that the body was stolen by the disciples while the guards slept (Matthew 28:1–15). The depression and cowardice of the disciples provide a hard-hitting argument against their suddenly becoming so brave and daring as to face a detachment of soldiers at the tomb and steal the body. They were in no mood to attempt anything like that!

The authorities would have loved to produce a body to refute the claims of the disciples that Jesus was risen, but the fact that they never did so is compelling evidence that there was no body to produce. The Bible gives an account of several post-resurrection appearances (see Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, 1 Cor 15), not only to one or two people but to five hundred at one time (1 Cor 15:6). We need to have the confidence to proclaim our risen Saviour as those early followers did. Peter proclaimed, ‘God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.’ (Acts 2:32) May this be our proclamation also and may we be equipped to share the gospel with confidence in its truth and historical veracity.

Are you the type of person who likes to be well-prepared or do you prefer last-minute spontaneity?! It’s interesting to me that when it comes to travel and holidays, both types are catered for. If you want to travel long distances by train, it pays to be well prepared; ‘Advance’ tickets are usually much cheaper than if you buy tickets on the day. On the other hand, holiday websites like www.lastminute.com can offer incredibly good value holidays at the last minute for those who just want to decide and go!

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lent is the period in the Christian calendar which leads up to Easter when Christians traditionally prepare to remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, those events which are at the heart of our Christian faith. Traditionally, this 40-day period (40 fasting days and 6 Sundays) has been a time for fasting or giving something up, but it’s actually about much more than trying to lose weight or earning God’s favour through good works. In our busy schedules, God is so often squeezed out, and Lent reminds us – as Advent does before Christmas – that God deserves our attention all the time, not just on ‘feast days’.

The challenge of Lent is to stop… pause… remember… learn… act. There are many ways to do this, especially in this digital age! Below are some websites offering devotionals and other ideas to make this period of time meaningful and reflective, but truly, all that is required is a heart willing to pause and invite God in to the everyday a little more.

Lent resources

• The 40 Acts Challenge looks at simple ways of being generous and living out our fait

• Compassion (the charity we support which helps Bedline in Haiti) offers 40 free devotionals through Lent
• Church denominations often offer free devotionals (e.g. the Church of England or the Evangelical Alliance)

Moods – that temporary state of mind or feeling which determines so much of our day – are notoriously fickle. They come and go. Some days we’re in a good mood, feeling on top of the world, smiling radiantly and exuding optimism. Other days we’re morose and grumpy, irritated and easily antagonised. In between, we feel bored, anxious, fed-up, miserable, jealous, angry, stressed and even-tempered.

Moods very often determine our actions, whereas David in the Bible looks at life the other way round and decides that his actions will direct his moods – or at the very least his actions will not be influenced by them or by his circumstances. Psalm 34 was written at a difficult time when he had to pretend to be insane before Abimelek in order to save his own life. Yet David’s determination was to bless the Lord at all times and to speak out His praise. (Ps 34:1)

Praise and worship are not chance. We choose to bless God at all times. Praise does not always spontaneously happen; we don’t have to be in the right mood in order to praise God. Sometimes – more often than not, in my experience – praise is the result of a steadfast choice, not an ebullient mood.

We choose what we say and need to choose to speak objective truth and not be led by subjective feelings. Truth is truth whether we feel good or not. (‘What’s true in the light is still true in the dark,’ as Rend Collective sing in their achingly honest song, ‘Weep With Me’, a lyric which is pretty much my life motto.) It’s not hypocritical to speak truth when our hearts are breaking and our experience is presently dull and tarnished. It’s actually a sign that we are growing away from the influence of moods and are learning to bless God no matter what. It’s a sign that we’ve grown up enough to realise moods are not the barometer of our faith. Obedience is.

The first of our March birthdays was celebrated today.

We are profoundly grateful for all those who have gone before us in this journey of faith. Hebrews 11 talks about the heroes of faith who have gone before us and who continue to inspire us through their faith, and there are many in our church’s individual history who remind us of God’s greatness, mercy and love. As Sir Isaac Newton once said, if we see further, it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants.

We are called to build on the past, to learn from the past and to be grateful for the foundation of faith we have received. I am profoundly grateful for my paternal grandparents, even though my grandfather died when I was only three months old and my grandmother died when I was only young, for I know that their faith and prayers had a great influence on my life; I am in effect reaping now what they sowed and am keen to sow into my grandchildren’s lives the seeds of faith and love which have greatly blessed my own life.

We are indeed called to build on all that is good in the past and to honour those who have gone before us in faith, but we are not called to live in the past. God calls us to be ambassadors for our generation, to be people who will serve His purposes now (see Acts 13:36). Now, He does a new thing (Is 43:19). In Is 48:6, we read, ‘I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.’  This is our heart’s cry for our church at this time, that we are attentive to God for the new things He has planned for us, for the hidden things that may be unknown to us as yet, but which He will reveal so that we can live for His purpose and His glory.

We can only live in the present (today is God’s gift to us), but we can build for eternity. We can look to the future in all we do now and seek to build with things that will last (see 1 Cor 3:10-15). Living in the light of eternity helps us through present sufferings and trials (see 2 Cor 4:1-18). We serve a God who lives outside of time and who has set eternity in the human heart (Eccl 3:11).

We build on the past, but we don’t live in the past. We live in the now, but we’re not living for now. We’re building for eternity.

In one sense, people are the very building blocks of the church, the ‘living stones’ Peter describes as being built into a spiritual house in which God dwells. (1 Pet 2:4-5) But there are also ‘building blocks’ we need to use in our lives if we are to be built up and if we are to see the church built up. It’s not only the number of ‘stones’ or ‘bricks’ which matter, but the strength of the material.

Paul tells us to encourage each other and build each other up. (1 Thess 5:11) We do this as we each individually attend to our personal relationship with God and help each other to follow God more closely. Our ‘interior life’, as Mother Teresa called it, is all important, for it is out of this intimacy with God that all our work flows. To build ourselves up, we must develop:

1. our prayer life (both individually, spending time with God, listening for His voice and pouring out our hearts to Him, and collectively, understanding that there is power in corporate prayer.)
2. our knowledge of God’s word (reading the Bible daily and taking every opportunity to take in God’s word and build our lives upon it, using the opportunities we have collectively to learn from Bible study and sermons so that God’s word is constantly shaping our lives and directing all we do.)
3. our care and concern for each other (fellowship or ‘koinonia’ is so important to the life of the church – see Acts 2:42, Acts 4:32-35. As the saying goes, ‘united we stand, divided we fall’. Think of the acronym ‘TEAM’ – ‘together everyone achieves more’. We need each other and we need the encouragement of meeting together to pray, study the word, take part in Holy Communion and worship to keep us actively pursuing God in every area of our lives. (Heb 10:24-25))
4. our outreach to others (we are a royal priesthood, called to be ambassadors for Christ, bringing His message of reconciliation to everyone. (2 Cor 5:19-21) Personal witness is vitally important; we all have a story to tell. (Ps 107:2) But we can also do more together than we can do individually, which is why corporate outreach is so important. There are many ways we can be involved in witness (e.g. helping at the church youth club, Parent & Toddler group, coffee morning or holiday fun days), but however we reach out to others, we have to be aware that our lives must match our words and there must be consistency, honesty and integrity in how we live.)