Fire Alarm Fitting
This week, we are having a fire alarm fitted. S & G Electrical arrived early this morning:
They perused the building, deciding which was the best way to proceed:
Then they set to work, installing new emergency lighting in the children’s room and stage area:
Getting ready to fit the control panel:
Working on emergency lighting and smoke alarms:
Fitting conduit:
Working in the worship room:
Tidying up after the work:
Day 2 tomorrow!
February Birthdays
We had two birthdays to celebrate this week:
Transgender Issues
Garry continued his ‘Talking Point’ series tonight, looking at transgender issues. Gender is generally understood as ‘the state of being male or female’, and transgender is defined as ‘denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex.’ This is very much an issue in the news at the moment, with examples given including a 10 year old girl who declared that because she did not like ‘girls’ toys’, she was not a girl and deserved surgery to make her a boy (a view which the Times columnist, Janice Turner, said indicated the BBC was allowing a ‘pernicious ideology’ to enter the mainstream media unquestioned.) It is easy to believe that this issue affects very many people, although the statistics indicate that only 0.6% of the UK population would consider themselves transgender. Nonetheless, as Christians we must consider our response to such issues.
Transgender is not the same as intersex, which refers to people who are born without genitalia or with damaged genitalia or those affected by Klinefelter syndrome (XXY chromosome in men). Intersex people have a physical problem, but trans-sexual people feel as though they have been born into the ‘wrong body.’ According to GLAAD (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), ‘transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate.‘ Their problem is largely a question of what they believe; under the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, an adult who has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and lived for 2 years as a person of the opposite sex can apply for a gender recognition certificate.
Transgender issues are high profile (which toilets and changing rooms should a transgender person use, for example), but we have to acknowledge there is a significant minority of people who have had operations to ‘change gender’ and later express regret about this (see here for further details.) A Home Office report from April 2000 said, ‘Many people revert to their biological sex after living for some time in the opposite sex.’ Clearly, the issue is not as clear-cut as some in the media would like us to believe.
It appears that underlying the transsexual movement is a radical form of self-determination, where the assumption is that a person’s subjective feeling overrides objective, biological reality. God made us male and female (Gen 1:27); this is the reality of our world. As the Church of England’s 2003 discussion document comments, ‘we are not simply people who inhabit bodies, rather our bodies are part of who we are.’ Christianity deals with truth (Jn 1:17, Jn 8:31-32, Jn 14:6). Paul declares that the truth is crucial (‘if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.’ 1 Cor 15:4) We must hold on to the truths of the Christian faith whilst showing love and kindness to all, for truth is liberational. It’s not surgery which transforms people’s bodies that is needed, but the truth of the Gospel which transforms people’s hearts and minds which is required. Christ alone can transform people and give them liberty, since those whom the Son sets free are really free. (Jn 8:36)
Relationships Matter!
I love children’s films. They capture essential truths in simple form and I greatly enjoyed the new Lego Batman movie, released this week, despite not being a great fan of Batman myself (perhaps I identify too readily with this angst-filled vigilante and don’t need to be reminded of his inner turmoil!) There is something rather cute about seeing these characters in typical Lego mode…
The Lego version not only has great action featuring a host of characters from children’s fiction and the infamous villain, the Joker, but looks at an essentially serious theme: how life really is about relationships and how we should not live in isolation for fear of being hurt when people die or let us down. Batman has to learn to care about and work with others again if he is to emerge from his solitary, rather lonely life.
God’s love for us is not something to be kept selfishly to ourselves; it is something to be shared with others, as Mark reminded us this morning. ‘Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.’ (1 Jn 4:7) Only when we are truly connected to God and other people can we really understand the meaning of life.
Love In Action
Last week we looked at the subject of ‘first love‘, and this week at Cherry Tree Court, Mark looked at the subject of love in action. With Valentine’s Day coming up on Tuesday, he commented on how love is very much the focus of shop displays and how getting and sending cards on Valentine’s Day can be a big part of showing love. More important than gifts or cards, however, is the everyday expression of love shown in actions and words on a consistent basis.
God is motivated by love, and that love prompts His giving. (Jn 3:16) Jesus is the greatest love gift of all, enabling us to have a restored relationship with God because He took our sin upon Himself when He died on the cross. 1 Jn 4:7 reminds us that love is from God, but must then be demonstrated in our love for others. 1 Cor 13:4-8 gives us God’s definition of love and we see from Jn 15:12-17 that love is commanded by God. We need to love not only the people we like, but to love everyone with God’s love as God has loved us. Love in action is God’s command to us not only on Valentine’s Day, but on every day.
Pain Relief
Pain relief is a wonderful thing. When we are hurting, the cessation of pain helps us enormously and the advances in modern medicine are embraced by all who can see the benefits pain relief brings.
But there are things we must also consider about pain which are not so universally liked or accepted. Pain is God’s warning system (His ‘megaphone’, as C. S. Lewis puts it) to us. It alerts us to actual or possible damage to the body. Those who suffer from leprosy, for example, feel no pain, but the result can be loss of limbs, for they can be burned without feeling it. Nerve damage which prevents us feeling pain may lead to all kinds of actual tissue damage which goes unnoticed until damage is irrevocable.
Pain can, therefore, have benefits, even though it is not pleasant. It is a warning system which alerts us to problems. Our attention is then focussed on solving (healing) the problem, not simply removing the pain.
Pain relief can, at times, simply mask the problem. It’s much easier at times to pop a pill than to solve a complex physical problem, and there are, of course, complex physical problems (like late-stage cancers) which cannot be cured, and pain relief and palliative care are needed then.
But so often, pain relief is our first response to all problems, because we are averse to pain. No right thinking person embraces pain as a friend. Sometimes, however, we need to be prepared to look for the cause and not simply treat the symptom.
Life has many problems, including things that cause enormous emotional pain. The breakdown of relationships, guilt over sin, abuse, bereavement and so on are things which bring heartache and pain into our lives. When we love, we are vulnerable to pain and to loss.
Our instinct is to deny the pain or to suppress it. Doctors give us tranquillisers to numb the pain. Such things may well have short-term benefits in helping us to survive those waves of excruciating pain which rob us of breath and leave us gasping for air, unable to function at all. But as long-term solutions, they are not really helpful, because they leave us with untreated causes.
God does not offer pain relief per se. He offers healing. That healing may not always instantaneous. The pain may not go away immediately, for God works to sort out the root problems in our lives. He is not anywhere near as concerned with short-term solutions as we are. This can be extremely hard to bear. The psalmists frequently cry ‘How long?’ because they know all about pain and anguish and suffering and sorrow.
Emotional heartache is every bit as painful as physical pain and tends to last much longer too. Grief, whilst natural, is extremely painful. But for our long-term mental health, we need to face the pain and find God’s healing rather than expecting a pill (or platitude) to cure all our ills. God’s solution is to walk with us through the pain, bringng the healing balm of His presence and His sufficiency to our ‘light and momentary’ troubles (which to us are far from light or momentary.) There are no quick fixes to the pain of the heart. There are no words which can be plastered over gaping holes, no simple solutions to heartache and grief. But God’s presence breathes life and health and healing into us and we are revived and strengthened for the ongoing journey – wounded, scarred, broken, but somehow also made strong in the broken places (see Heb 11:34).