March is shaping up to be a busy month! Here are some key dates:

• Friday 4th March at 2 p.m. is the Women’s World Day of Prayer at Sacred Heart Church on Lockwood Road in Goldthorpe. Come along to pray in particular for Cuba, a land under Communist rule for many years. Join with women from other local churches and around the world in praying on the theme ‘Receive Children, Receive Me’
• Sunday 6th March at 6 p.m. will be our family service, but we’ll also be celebrating Mothers’ Day.
• Sunday 13th March will be the service at Cherry Tree Court in the morning and a dedication service in the evening at 6 p.m. at Market Street. Please bring refreshments to the evening service as we’ll have a fellowship meal after the dedication of baby Tatijana.
• Sunday 20th March (Palm Sunday) will be the procession at Phoenix Park in the morning, followed by a service at Market Street in the evening. We will leave church at 10 a.m. in the morning, go on to pray at Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe and then start the community spring event with the procession at 10.50 a.m.
• Friday 25th March is Good Friday and we’ll be holding a service at 6 p.m.
• Saturday 26th March is the ‘Churches Together’ March of Hope around Goldthorpe, leaving our church at 10.15 a.m. After the march, we’ll be returning to church for a light lunch.
• Sunday 27th March is Easter Sunday, with services to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

In the second of the alphabet series ‘The A-Z of Christian Faith’, we looked at ‘B is for Believe’. To believe, the dictionary says, is ‘to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so.’  Heb 11:1 reminds us that ‘faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,’ ‘the fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.’

Believing is a personal response to what God says to us. Abraham, our father in faith, trusted God even when God’s promises to Him seemed incredible, even when he had no idea where God was sending him (see Rom 4:1-18). We need to grow in faith and keep on believing God, otherwise we are warned that we may end our days in futility, as those who failed to believe during the wilderness wanderings discovered (see Ps 78:32-33, Heb 3:19). Believing will always involve fear and risk, for God chooses not to give us the total assurance we often desire in order to stretch our faith, but victory comes to those who believe. It takes courage to believe. ‘Only the brave will go where You go/ Into the fire, but never alone.’ (Tim Hughes, ‘Only The Brave’)

We need to believe for many things, including:

1. salvation (see Acts 16:25-34, where God’s intervention opened the door – literally! – for Paul and Silas to witness to the Philippian jailer, giving him the message of salvation: ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.’ We need to believe that God is working in the lives of individuals to bring them to the place of response and that He will use us to witness to them. We also need to believe for those family members who are not yet saved.
2. healing (see Matt 8:5-15, where the centurion’s faith is praised by Jesus: he did not need Jesus to go to his house to believe that his servant would be healed! Healing is not only for us, but for all, a witness to God’s power, a testimony which brings people to faith. Jesus often asked people ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ (Matt 9:28) when they came for healing; faith is clearly an important ingredient in healing.)
3. deliverance (see Mark 9:14-29, where a boy’s father comes to Jesus for the deliverance of his son, saying,  ‘if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.’ (Mark 9:21) Jesus says, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for one who believes.” (Mark 9:23) This challenge to faith causes the response: ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’ (Mark 9:24) We need to be firmly convinced that nothing is too hard for God (Jer 32:17), that ‘with God all things are possible’ (Matt 19:26) and ‘what is impossible with man is possible with God.’ (Luke 18:27) So often, we limit God because we cannot really imagine or believe that He is able to do the impossible, but here, Jesus shows us a key to the miraculous: our faith.)
4. the infilling of the Holy Spirit (see Eph 5:18, Luke 11:13, where we not only see God’s ability to give us the gift of His Spirit but His willingness. So often, we don’t have things because we don’t actually ask God for them! (see James 4:2) We need to see the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit and the power of the Spirit in our lives, for we are leaky vessels and need that spring of living water to refresh us and fill us anew. God’s Spirit gives us power to witness, power to live the life Christ wants us to live, power to be the people God wants us to be. We can’t live the Christian life in our own strength, but need God’s Holy Spirit daily.)
5. guidance (see Neh 9:19, Is 58:11, Is 35:21. God has good plans for us, but we need His guidance into right paths and all truth – see Ps 23:3, Jn 16:13. We need His guidance if we are to enter the abundant life He has for us rather than being content simply to ‘get by’!)
6. answers to prayer (see Matt 21:22, Mark 11:24. The disciples were surprised when they saw that the fig tree Jesus had cursed withered so quickly. Jesus reminded them ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matt 21:21-22) We need to understand that believing will often mean acting in faith before we see the fulfilment in order to see the fulfilment! Faith involves us believing that God exists AND that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (Heb 11:6) – in other words, that He answers prayer, that He is not a fickle, malicious, capricious God, but a loving heavenly Father who delights to give us the desires of our hearts. (Ps 37:4) Heb 11:6 also reminds us that without faith it is impossible to please God. If we want to please God, we have to believe. Believing is the number one way we please God. As we learn to bring all our petitions, supplications, requests and desires to God in prayer, we have to believe He is both willing and able to answer those prayers.)

Dave continued his series on the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) today, looking at the subject of kindness. Kindness is ‘the quality of being warm-hearted, sympathetic, humane’ and although it can be quite difficult to define the word, acts of kindness are always remembered and are a powerful tool in convincing others of the truth of God’s love.

Many acts of kindness are found in the Bible. In the Old Testament, David’s kindness to the crippled Mephibosheth (2 Sam 9:1-13) was in stark contrast to the usual practice of kings who would eliminate all possible rival claims to the throne on their ascension. David wanted to show kindness to Jonathan’s family because of his great love for Jonathan and so he treated Mephibosheth as a son. Jesus showed many acts of kindness: turning water into wine at a wedding, welcoming tax collectors and showing mercy to the woman taken in adultery. When he began writing in the dust, it may have been to take the attention off this woman and give her time to collect herself; His mercy to her is an example of how He did not crush bruised reeds (see John 8:1-11, Matt 12:20). Kindness touches people’s hearts and there are so many creative and powerful ways in which we can be kind. Dorcas, for example, demonstrated kindness in helping the poor (Acts 9:36); as the 2007 film Evan Almighty points out, we can change the world by doing one act of random kindness at a time.

God’s kindness to us means we are brought into a relationship with God Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus (Eph 2:7) and we are urged to get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander and malice and to be kind and compassionate and forgiving (Eph 4:31-32, see also Col 3:12). Kindness is important because it draws people to God’s heart; it reflects what God is like. (William Faber said, ‘Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning.’)

Kindness reminds us of the grace and mercy shown to us by God. Our willingness to be kind has to be cultivated (it’s not an instinctive trait!), but as we determine to let go of grudges and seek to bless others, we will find that kindness is contagious and God is able to grow this fruit in our lives.

Gender issues remain a talking point within today’s society, and the blurring of gender roles can be of great concern to Christians today. As we reflect on the Creation account, we may want to ponder what it means to be made in God’s image, ‘male and female’ (see Gen 1:27-28, Gen 2:20-25, 1 Cor 11:8-12). How is this reflected nowadays? Lis Goddard says of 1 Cor 11:2-16, ‘The key thing to take from this passage is the importance of gender differences and how we honour one another within the kingdom of God.’ (Lis Goddard, ‘The Gender Agenda’) We cannot deny the differences between male and female. We need to acknowledge that whilst both male and female are made in the image of God and are equal in terms of worth and value, ‘equal’ does not necessarily mean ‘the same’: ‘We can see that in the different ways in which they are created: Adam from the dust and Eve from Adam, and they are given different names and roles.’ (Clare Hendry, ‘The Gender Agenda’) Gender equality is ‘the view that all genders should receive equal treatment and not be discriminated against based on their gender,’ but it is necessary also to understand the different functions God has given to both male and female; ‘While women and men are clearly created equal in worth, they are created to be distinct in function.’ (Clare Hendry, ‘The Gender Agenda’)

Paul, in this passage from 1 Cor 11:2-16, echoes the Creation account: ‘man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man’ (1 Cor 11:8), going on to stress the interdependence of the genders:  ^‘Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.’ (1 Cor 11:11-12) So often, women have been seen as subservient to (less important than) men and it has to be admitted that Biblical texts have been used to propagate male domination. Nonetheless, in today’s society, some feel that the pendulum has swung the other way and, with a blurring of roles, that we forget sometimes to celebrate the unique differences of the sexes. We do well to reflect on the wonder of being created in God’s image, male and female, and to seek to serve each other in love, for just as the Son is co-equal with the Father but chose to submit Himself to the Father’s will (Heb 10:6-10, John 6:38, Luke 22:42), so we are called to understand that submission does not imply superiority or inferiority or greater or lesser worth, but is part of a divine order which shows us we must seek to love God and others with all our heart, to serve and not be served. (Mark 10:42-45)

1 Corinthians was written to address various problems within the Corinthian church which gave rise to disputes. Paul deals with both theological and practical problems, addressing serious doctrinal disputes and moral sins as well as problems in Christian living, including (in 1 Cor 11-14 in particular) ‘disorderly conduct in worship.’

In the previous section (1 Cor 8-10), Paul has been trying to help the Corinthians understand what gospel freedom means and has given us key principles:

• Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. (1 Cor 8:9)
• No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. (1 Cor 10:24)
• Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God—even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. (1 Cor 10:32-33)

‘It is this mutuality and self-giving love which sums up the dynamic within the Trinity and which is to be the bedrock of relationships in the church.’ (Lis Goddard, ‘The Gender Agenda’)

In Corinth, it appears that the exercise of freedom was leading people to behave in ways that were both culturally unacceptable and inconsiderate. The Dionysiac celebrations in Corinth meant that men and women would exchange their clothes as a ritual act; female prostitutes would shave their heads and male prostitutes would wear their hair much longer, flouting the conventional rules to which Paul refers in this passage. Nowadays, when hairstyles are seen as a matter of personal taste, it’s hard to understand these cultural references, but ‘for a Christian woman in the church to appear in public without that covering, let alone to pray or to share the Word in worship, was both culturally offensive and from Paul’s perspective, confusing to nonbelievers who were trying to understand what this new community of faith stood for in terms of values and relationships.” (Keith Krell, bible.org)

“It seems that some of the women in the church were discarding their veils, something that only pagan temple prostitutes or other rebellious women would do. For a woman to come to church without her veil would be dishonouring to her husband, as well as culturally confusing. By the same token, for a man to wear a veil or to somehow have his head covered during worship was not culturally acceptable in Corinth.” (GotQuestions.org)

Thus, for a woman not to wear a veil at this time was ‘a mark of a woman with loose morals. It outraged the proprieties. It is no part of the life of the Christian needlessly to flout the conventions.’ (Leon Morris, P 151) Wearing a veil may not have the same connotations today, hence many churches no longer require this practice. The fundamental principle behind Paul’s words is that of consideration of others: the principle behind Paul’s words is that “the Christian should always act in a seemly manner.” (Leon Morris, P 156) He goes on to say, “The principle is of permanent validity, but we may well feel that the application of it to the contemporary scene need not yield the same result…In other words, in the light of totally different social customs, we may well hold that the fullest acceptance of the principle underlying Paul’s words does not require that in Western lands women must always wear hats when they pray.” (ibid.)

Moving on from discussions about meat sacrificed to idols, Paul goes on to tackle the subject of ‘propriety in worship services’ in the next chapters of 1 Corinthians (11-14), with 1 Cor 11:2-16 looking at the subject of head coverings, a passage which has proved remarkably contentious over the years since it looks at the age-old debate of gender issues as well as propriety in worship. For centuries, this passage has provided the basis for how men and women dress in church meetings, with women encouraged to cover their heads (with veils, shawls or hats) and men encouraged not to wear anything on their heads. Movements such as ‘The Head Covering Movement’  continue to support this reading of the text, believing that a literal understanding of this passage is the best way forward. Yet in many Western churches, it is unlikely that women will be found wearing head coverings anymore and we have to dig deeper as to why this should be. Is it just because wearing hats is no longer fashionable in our society? Have our biblical views of women gradually been eroded by the modern feminist movement that has infiltrated the Church, as R. C. Sproul believes? What is this passage really talking about?

Polarised views on this passage abound, as they do on so many other passages of Scripture. Paul makes it clear to Timothy that ‘all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work’ (2 Tim 3:16-17), so we cannot simply dismiss portions of Scripture that are hard to fathom on the grounds that they’re difficult, nor should we necessarily apply a literalist view to everything we read unless we’re prepared to be totally consistent in that interpretation (and I’ve not met anyone who’s literally gouged their eye out or chopped off their hand, despite Jesus’s words in Matt 5:29-30.)

In the past fortnight, I’ve read countless commentaries on this passage, written by Christians from a variety of denominations, some of whom are absolutely convinced of the rightness of their interpretation and some of whom are unyielding in their denunciation of anyone who does not agree with them. In these, I’ve been condemned for having short hair and made to feel utterly inadequate for praying with my head uncovered on the one hand, and made uncomfortable by some commentators’ simplistic dismissal of Paul’s arguments as ‘obviously merely culturally relevant to Corinth’ on the other. I’ve wrestled with the notion that I am rebellious and unfeminine on the one hand and squirmed when people are adamant that we can ignore chunks of Scripture solely on the grounds that these don’t square with our current notion of gender issues on the other. As always, both extremes of interpretation leave me uncomfortable. Surely the truth cannot lie in either extreme?

John Stott reminds us that ‘there are two hermeneutical principles which are important when seeking to understand a biblical passage and to apply it to today’s situations.’ (see 1 Timothy and Titus in The Bible Speaks Today series (IVP, 1996), pp 74-81). These are ‘the principle of harmony’ (whereby when interpreting a passage, it is important that we view it in the light of the whole of the Bible, not taking it in isolation) and ‘the principle of history’ (seeking to understand the cultural context and times for which it was written, since the Bible ‘contains eternal truth which is universal and normative’, but which also has a cultural presentation which is ‘local and changeable.’) He writes, ‘The challenge is to be able to distinguish between the two and decide what teaching is universal, normative and applicable to today, and what is cultural and so not relevant to our day.’ This is not as easy as it may sound, as the extremes mentioned above make clear. We all bring our own world view to everything we read; as Clare Hendry points out, ‘The challenge is to keep an open mind and not let one’s own agenda overly influence one’s reading of the passage.’ (‘The Gender Agenda’, Lis Goddard & Clare Hendry)

In previous chapters of 1 Corinthians, especially 1 Cor 8-10, we have been looking at the whole question of how to exercise Christian freedom without leading others into sin and have been searching for Christian principles which can shift cultures and time frames without being unfaithful to the Biblical text. Paul’s mantra has been the need to use our freedom to serve others (1 Cor 8:9, 1 Cor 10:24, 1 Cor 10:31-33); his emphasis is that although we may be free in Christ, ‘we have significant responsibilities towards one another.’ (Lis Goddard, ibid.) In many ways, I believe this is the key to understanding this passage. How we behave towards one another, in this instance in circumstances which reflect gender issues (again, highly topical in today’s society), is fundamental to our gospel message. ‘When our relationship with God is restored, it inevitably affects relationships within the body of Christ.’ (Lis Goddard, ibid.) Men and women bring diversity to the body of Christ and have differing gifts and roles, but the overarching message of the Gospel is ‘so in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’ (Gal 3:26-29)