No, not the sci-fi movie or any strange theology, just odd-looking happenings in the children’s room…!

Fear not: this was only Ray and Garry working on the plumbing for the new sink unit which is going in this room!

The saga of the sink unit will be continued when the joiner comes later in September to fit the sink, unit surface and complete this job. Here are Garry and Stephen making the base unit up (the joys of flat pack furniture):

And now, complete with alien…!

Following on from my musings inspired by the new gym at Dearneside, I have also been meditating on Jeremiah’s calling. God called Jeremiah to be a prophet and confirmed His calling through two visions which, on first sight, do not appear particularly inspiring. The first vision is of an almond tree; the second, a tilting boiling pot. (Jer 1:11-13) I am quite sure such visions would not have meant very much to me!

The almond tree vision speaks of the coming of spring, for it is one of the earliest trees to bloom in Palestine, putting forth blossom before it produces fruit, almost as a ‘guarantee’ of what is to come. The word for almond tree (shaqed) is also very similar to the Hebrew word for ‘watching’ (shoqed), so the vision is supplemented by aural word play (God watching to see that His word is fulfilled). Eugene Peterson says ‘every spring for the rest of his life, the sight of the almond blessing, shaqed, would trigger the sound shoqed in his memory’ (‘Run With The Horses’, P 53-54), reminding him of the life-enhancing, energy-releasing associations of spring and of the faithfulness of God to fulfil all His promises.

The boiling pot is identified as enemy armies poised for an invasion (Jer 1:14-16), reminding Jeremiah of the cleansing power of judgment and also reminding him that evil has an origin and a finish: ‘not a wild, uncontrollable evil… a carefully commanded judgment, with God as the commander.’ (ibid. P 55) Such visions, therefore, created in Jeremiah both a keen sense of hope in God and an awareness that he need not be overpowered or intimidated by evil. He was given a vision of God’s authority and strength and character which could shape his whole life.

We need such visions of God if we are to remain strong and faithful to the end. Dave spoke on Sunday evening about Isaiah’s vision of the holiness of God which shook him and acted as the motivating call in his life. (Is 6:1-8) The Bible lists many other such revelations of God which help us to see life through God’s eyes, changing the way we look at things and thereby allowing us, and the situations in which we find ourselves, to be changed.

The leisure centre in Goldthorpe has been undergoing transformation over the past few weeks, with the main reception area out of bounds and users having to access the gym or swimming pool via a variety of other doors. It is always interesting to see a work in progress (especially when you’re not actually involved in the work…), even if it’s mildly inconvenient!

On Sunday, the new gym was opened in a different studio that is much more spacious and has a much wider range of equipment. I remember doing assemblies in that room when it was the school gym and the main hall was booked up, and the transformation is incredible. On the walls are a number of imperatives designed to keep us working hard (‘Be energetic! Be inspired! Be motivated!), but more interestingly, two statements adorn each end wall.

The first says ‘The body can endure almost anything. You just have to convince the mind.’ As someone who came reluctantly to exercise late in life, I can testify to the truth of that statement. As with all aspects of life, the mind controls what we do and exercise is as much a mental activity as it is physical. Often, we want to give up; we don’t want to push ourselves; we settle for the comfortable and the mediocre rather than pressing on. Paul remains our guide in this: ‘Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.‘ (Phil 3:12-14) He reminds us of the need for self-discipline: ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.‘ (1 Cor 9:24-27) If determination and a good mental attitude are critical to physical exercise, how much more so do we need these in our spiritual lives!

The second statement says ‘If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.’ Again, I find this statement profoundly true. Our attitudes are crucial to how we view life. Paul urges us ‘Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.‘ (Col 3:2-4) Often, we have negative attitudes and low vision and as a result see only the ‘downside’ of everything and the faults in other people. If we train ourselves to think biblically, we find that visions penetrate appearances. Not only do we see things and people differently, the fact that we are learning to put on Christ means He is able to use us to change situations in ways we could never before have imagined.

The next phase of refurbishing the children’s room happened today, with the old carpet (apparently fitted in March 1990) removed and new floor coverings put down.

The old carpet:

Back to bare floorboards:

Putting down underlay:

The new paint/ messy area:

The new carpet area:

Putting stuff back in the room:

Further tidying and cleaning will be done tomorrow and the new sink unit should be fitted on Saturday. Thanks once again to all who have helped!

Facts. Our lives are influenced by them. We absorb them from childhood, from the trivial facts that make up quiz shows to the historical facts which shape our world to the scientific facts which inform our thinking. They are there: solid, verifiable, reassuring, terrifying.

The word ‘fact’ comes from the Latin ‘factum’, which means ‘a thing done or performed’. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is, whether it can be demonstrated to correspond to experience. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific  facts are verified by repeatable experiments. As people, we tend to like facts. They are solid, dependable, reliable (even when they are telling us things we’d rather not know…)

Facts rely on the visible and tell us part of a story. They tell us the easy part, actually: the things that have already happened. They are not, however, the whole story.

Facts tell us we have £x in our bank account. They do not tell us what God can do with £x compared to what we can do with it. Facts tell us things about what is happening in our bodies. They do not tell us how God can work miracles in our bodies. Facts tell us our achievement (or lack of it) in a certain test on a given date. They do not tell us what we can achieve later on if we persevere or how God can help us. Facts are usually extremely persuasive because they are true and we like to think we live by the truth, but they cannot be allowed to determine our response to God.

Eugene Peterson, when talking about the excuses we often give God when called and challenged by Him, says ‘the excuses we make are plausible, often they are statements of fact, but they are excuses all the same and are disallowed by our Lord.’ (‘Run With the Horses’, P 51) Just because something is a statement of fact does not, ironically, make it true as far as God is concerned.

When Moses sent the twelve spies into the Promised Land, he received differing reports. The facts of the report were indisputable: a land flowing with milk and honey, inhabited by powerful people, with fortified cities. (Numbers 13:28) However, the difference between the ten spies who were afraid and whose report sowed fear into people’s hearts and the two spies who urged action because of God’s presence was how faith informed the facts. Hebrews 4:2 tells us ‘we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.‘ Some versions say ‘those who heard the message did not combine it with faith.’ Faith is the key element in interpreting facts. The ten spies who were fearful saw only the giants and their interpretation focussed on their inadequacy: ‘we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them.’ (Num 13:32-33) Caleb, on the other hand, acknowledged God’s help could make all the difference. (Num 13:31) Who of us remembers the names of the ten spies? Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi and Geuel are now forgotten, though they were all leaders of their tribes. They never entered the Promised Land. Caleb and Joshua, on the other hand, are heroes of faith who went in and possessed the land.

If we want to please God, we have to live by faith. (Heb 11:6) The truth of facts is not enough for us to live by. Instead, ‘it doesn’t matter what I see.’ (Aaron Shust, ‘Deliver Me’) We have to listen to what God says and obey Him. All His promises are true. What He has promised, He is faithful to fulfil. We need to hear the message and combine it with faith so that we do not miss out on all God has for us.

Mark asked the question on Sunday ‘Why did God choose Joseph?’ All of us have probably asked a similar question at some stage in our lives, usually substituting our own name for Joseph’s. Why did God choose us? Sometimes we ask in astonishment, feeling incredibly privileged to know that we are hand-picked by God. At other times, we ask almost with bewildered resentment, rather like Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring: “‘I am not made for perilous quests,’ cried Frodo. ‘I wish I had never seen the Ring!Why did it come to this? Why was I chosen?'” (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Tolkien goes on to suggest that the question ‘Why was I chosen?’ can never be adequately answered. Gandalf, to whom the question is asked, says ‘You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess, not for power or wisdom at any rate.’ Being chosen can cause differing reactions, but often, it can elicit pride in us. We are chosen… special… hand-picked. Our arrogance can then rise up and assume that being chosen makes us superior and better. Moses warns against this tendency in Deut 6:10-12, reminding the Israelites that the gifts of the Promised Land were just that: gifts. They were given cities they had not built, wells they had not dug, vineyards and olive groves they had not planted simply because of God’s abundant grace. They were reminded that ‘the Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were numerous than other people… But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery.’ (Deut 7:7-8) He went on to remind the people ‘it is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land.’ (Deut 9:5) There is no place for smug superiority or arrogance when dealing with mercy and grace. We don’t get grace because we are good enough. We get grace because God is good enough.

The second reaction to being chosen is more like Frodo’s. We feel inadequate to the task. Jeremiah experienced this reaction when called by God to be a prophet. “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” (Jer 1:6) We gulp at the task God lays out before us, at the dreams He drops into our hearts. Such things are too much for us to take in. Far from filling us with delight, being chosen fills us with trepidation. The responsibilities are too great. We know the weaknesses of our hearts, the frailties of our wills and the inconstancy of our lives too well.

Pleading inadequacy is not a good enough excuse to ignore God’s calling, however. Gandalf goes on to say ‘But you have been chosen and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.’ Eph 1:4 says ‘he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.‘ That calling seems way too much for us, and in our own strength, it is. But inadequacy will not be an adequate excuse before God, because we are not required to live in our own strength or adequacy; we are chosen and called to live by faith and not by sight. We cannot answer the question ‘Why did God choose me?’; we cannot respond either with self-sufficient satisfaction or self-abnegating humiliation. We can only respond with faith: ‘Let it be to me as You have said.’ (Luke 1:38)