Forgive me for hating statistics. I know they are useful at times, but as someone who struggles with numbers and who faces a week of staring at these numbers representing the sum total of people’s work over at least two years (GCSE results come out on Thursday), I am particularly averse to them at the moment. One mark separates one grade boundary from another (and sometimes this represents ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in terms of what a pupil can do next.) Numbers are coldly clinical. They do not tell an employer if a pupil has worked or shirked; they do not indicate the struggles behind a particular subject or even the joy a pupil has found in a subject. They are translated into charts: line graphs plotting where you are in relation to someone else, bar charts which can be coloured to show where the school stands in comparison to other schools, pie charts which indicate percentages of A* grades and so on. But these charts, beautiful in their visual representation of numbers, do not capture joy or heartache, nor do they actually explain the numbers. They simply sit there, capable of multiple interpretations, depending on one’s perspective.

Some love the coldly clinical fact of numbers. Statistics don’t lie, they say. 2 plus 2 will always be 4. You know where you are with numbers. They don’t lie.

I beg to differ. Oh, not from the mathematical point of view. I agree that 2 + 2 =4 and I even acknowledge that there is something rather reassuring about maths. But not when it comes to defining people or measuring worth.

That’s not what maths, what numbers, are designed to do. But in our society, that’s what we want them to do.

Teachers are judged on the numbers. This year, schools will be ‘measured’ by the Government by a complex formula known as ‘Attainment 8’ and ‘Progress 8’, adding up points and using algorithms and formulae to decide who has made sufficient ‘progress’ to determine a school’s funding. Pupils will be judged according to their grades (which are about to be re-jigged in examination reform, leaving next year’s pupils to wonder what their numbers rather than letters mean!) Young people will experience elation or despair (some even believing that suicide is preferable to failure) based on statistics which measure a particular written response on particular days.

I think this is a sad misuse of numbers. And I long for young people, teachers, managers, employers and Government officials to realise that people are not quantifiable in the same way that a machine can be measured. We are more than the sum total of our exam results.

People cannot be measured by such things. We cannot be identified by numbers, no matter how many of these things we are assigned (National insurance numbers, NHS numbers, pension numbers, bank account numbers and so on.) We can only be identified by our humanity in relation to God: ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Ps 139:14), made in God’s image (Gen 1:27), chosen and loved before the foundation of the world. (Eph 1:4-5)

Your exam days may well be long behind you. But whatever your age or status, numbers will be there to try to identify you. Blood test results. Hospital test results. Bank balance figures. The number on the bottom of your wage slip. When the numbers look good, we are tempted to believe life is good because of our health, our wealth or our business acumen. When the numbers don’t look so good, we are tempted to believe we are worthless, because that’s what the numbers say.

Let’s refuse to be identified by the numbers and let’s choose to step into our identity as God’s children: loved, chosen, special, equipped, valued and precious because God says so. No matter what the numbers say. Let’s measure success or failure in a different way and know that neither success nor failure can separate us from God’s love.

1 Cor 12 and Romans 12 remind us that the body of Christ is made up of different members, each individual forming an important part of the whole. People come, as they say, in all shapes and sizes.

So do parsnips!

This was Stephen’s first attempt at growing parsnips, and certainly did not look like the conventionally sized, uniformly shaped parsnips supermarkets churn out. But I can confirm that it tasted like a parsnip and was perfectly edible!

It’s good to remember that God values us all as individuals and doesn’t make us conform to a particular mould. J. B. Phillips paraphrases Rom 12:2 in this way: ‘Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.‘

There is room in God’s kingdom for all kinds of people, all different personalities, shapes, sizes and giftings. We may look askance at some people because they look ‘different’ or because they act in ways we personally don’t understand, but God has put each part of the body where He wants it (1 Cor 12:18). Let’s be welcoming to all and considerate of all.

We had another August birthday to celebrate last night!

Mark spoke tonight on ‘TETIC’ – ‘taking every thought into captivity’, based on 2 Cor 10:5. This way of thinking can transform how we live and needs to be applied to every area of our lives (friendships, marriage, work life, home life, spiritual life.) It’s easy for us to be distracted in our thoughts (even during church services!) and our thoughts often reveal our hearts. We need to accept that God knows all our thoughts, but our part is to exercise control over our thought life, for it is out of this that all actions spring.

God’s Word has to be the guide as to what we should think (see Phil 4:8). We have to train ourselves to think according to God’s Word, refusing to entertain thoughts which are contrary to this. Doubt and disobedience must be reined in; we have to take these thoughts captive before they can develop into stubborn disobedience and wilful rejection of God’s Word. Rom 12:1-2 reminds us that our thinking must be transformed; we must not be conformed to the world, thinking in the way that it says is acceptable. We must get rid of the old way of thinking and adapt to a new way of thinking.

Thinking is not just something theoretical that has no effect on our everyday lives. Thinking dictates how we live, what we say, what we do. It’s worthwhile to take every thought captive to Christ!

Dave spoke this morning on gentleness and self-control, two of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). The word translated ‘gentleness’ is from the same root as that translated ‘meek’ in Matt 5:5; meekness and gentleness are synonymous and are qualities often overlooked in a world where over-achievers and loudness tend to be noticed more.

Jesus’ words that the meek will inherit the earth often seem incongruous, because meekness is, for so many, equated with weakness: it’s seen as being spineless, gutless, ‘as meek as a mouse.’ Meekness is, however, ‘strength under control’, and we need to see the connection beteween gentleness and self-control if we are to cultivate these fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

1. Be understanding and not demanding to those who serve us. (Phil 2:4-5) So often, we can be rude and demanding to those we meet in our daily lives (waitresses, receptionists, shop assistants, cashiers etc.) Gentleness helps us to deal with people as individuals, forcing our egos out of the way.
2. Be gentle, not judgmental, with people when they let us down. (Rom 14:1) Some of Jesus’s harshest words were for those who were self-righteous and judgmental. Forgiveness and kindness are qualities we need to show others, for there will be many occasions when we need these qualities to be shown to us!
3. Be tender without surrender with those who disagree with us. How we handle those who irritate us and rub us up matters enormously. We can either retreat in fear, attack in anger or respond in love. Prov 15:1 reminds us that a gentle answer turns away wrather; Js 3:16-17 reminds us of the importance of our speech in dealing with people. We have to learn to walk hand in hand with people even when we don’t see eye to eye. 2 Tim 2:24-25 reminds us that spiritual leaders must not be quarrelsome but must learn to gently instruct those who disagree, giving God room to work in these situations. This is good advice for us all!
4. Be teachable, not unteachable, when we are corrected. Meek people aren’t know-it-alls; they are quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. (Js 1:19) We need to be willing to learn from everyone, valuing and appreciating our differences.
5. Be someone who ‘acts’ rather than ‘reacts’ when you are hurt. Rom 12:12 reminds us that retaliation is not God’s way. Prov 16:32 reminds us that a man who controls his temper is better than one who takes a city. So often, we talk about people ‘making’ us do things, but we have to learn that we have the power to choose how we act rather than always reacting to others. God has given us a spirit of power, love and self-discipline (2 Tim 1:7); the patterns of reacitng in the same old way we always have can be broken by God’s Spirit, so that we have the power to react in love. Jesus shows us this example by praying for forgiveness for those whose actions had led to His crucifixion; He was not flustered by the situation but showed gentleness and self-control even in the midst of great suffering.

The recent Olympics in Rio have shown us great sporting highs and lows: the ecstacy of winning medals, when years of training, hard work, dedication and discipline seem to melt away in joy and the lows of missing medals, when it feels like nothing makes sense and all that hard work and dedication count for nothing.

‘Team GB’ has done exceptionally well in Rio, with veterans like Mo Farah retaining his gold-medal status in the 5000m and 10,000m and the Yorkshire Brownlee brothers claiming gold and silver in the triathlon.

‘Newcomers’ Jack Laugher and Chris Mears won GB’s first ever diving gold medal in the 3 metre synchronised springboard event. But for every triumph, there is disappointment for other competitors: Tom Daley failing to qualify for the 10m diving final, Jessica Ennis-Hill ‘only’ winning a silver medal in the heptathlon, for example. Sport highlights these ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ because of its focus on winners, which inevitably means there are also losers.

At the same time as the Olympics have been going on, ‘A’ level results came out this past week, with GCSE results due next Thursday. Thousands of teenagers feel that these results have the power to determine their immediate futures: which university they will go to, which course they will study, which job they will be able to pursue. For some, there is the ‘high’ of success; for others, there is the disappointment of ‘failure’ (though again, it is alarming to see how success and failure can be determined or defined.)

Maintaining perspective in the midst of all the highs and lows of life can be extremely difficult. We are conditioned to believe that hard work and determination will be rewarded by success: how, then, do we cope when we have given it our all and still not received the prize? How do we retain a sense of self-worth when we have not lived up to the standards we have set ourselves? How do we avoid arrogance and pride when we do achieve success?

1. We have to know that our identity is in Christ, not in our achievements, successes or failures. Rom 8:35-39 reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ. If Christ was willing to die for us while we were still sinners (i.e. still ‘failures’), we can be sure that no failure can ultimately destroy our identity. A healthy dependence on God also prevents us from arrogantly ascribing all success to our own intelligence, strength or determination.
2. Setbacks are able to refine and mature us. (James 1:2-4) Through the bitterness of disappointment, the pain of failure, the hurt of rejection and the confusion of loss, we can learn many lessons that success can’t teach us. Despair tells us that this is all there is, but it’s important to remember that God is the God of hope. (Rom 15:13) There are many avenues which would never have been even considered were it not for that initial failure. God is able to use every situation of life for our good. (Rom 8:28)
3. Our lives are in God’s hands. Life inevitably has mountain top experiences and valleys of despair. Keeping the long view is essential. Athletes have to do this all the time to persevere through the harsh realities of training, and keeping the long view is essential to running the race of life. (2 Cor 4:16-18) We may not receive the ‘prize’ we long for on earth, but God is preparing rewards for His children, an eternal glory which far outweighs the troubles of this life.

Wherever we are in life’s journey, we can rest secure in the fact that God loves us and is in control. (Ps 62:11-12) He is greater than our highs and lows!