This comment by Rend Collective, commenting on the theme of their new album ‘The Art of Celebration’, made me smile. This month, we are praying especially that we will all be filled with the Holy Spirit and will know His fruit and His gifts more and more in our lives. Joy is indeed a fruit of the Spirit. So many things we deem important (seriousness, professionalism, competence and so on) are not. These things are not necessarily wrong, but we do need to keep coming back to what God values and considers important and what the character of God looks like. Only by dwelling in Him will we reflect His character.

‘We’re choosing celebration,
Breaking into freedom.
You’re the song,
You’re the song
Of our hearts.

We cast aside our shadows,
Trust You with our sorrows.
You’re the song,
You’re the song
Of our hearts.

We’re dancing to the rhythm of Your heart
We’re rising from the ashes to the stars

You’re the joy, joy, joy lighting my soul;
The joy, joy, joy making me whole;
Though I’m broken, I am running
Into Your arms of love.

The pain will not define us
Joy will reignite us.
You’re the song,
You’re the song
Of our hearts.

The dark is just a canvas
For Your grace and brightness.
You’re the song
You’re the song
Of our hearts

We’re dancing to the rhythm of Your heart
We’re rising from the ashes to the stars

You’re the joy, joy, joy lighting my soul;
The joy, joy, joy making me whole;
Though I’m broken, I am running
Into Your arms of love.

You’re the joy,
The song in my heart,
The hope of my soul.

In the shadows,
In the sorrows,
In the desert,
When the pain hits,
You are constant,
Ever-present
You’re the song of my heart.’ (‘Joy’, Rend Collective)

One of the joys of birthdays in my household is receiving new books and CDs, prized far above all other presents (though these are gratefully received as well, I hasten to add!) I am contentedly exploring a new Eugene Peterson book (‘Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work‘, looking at the Wisdom books in the Bible), enjoying a new mediaeval mystery (‘Treachery’, by S. J. Parris) and finally listening in uninterrupted peace to Kutless’s new album ‘Glory’. In addition, I have also received the new CD from Rend Collective Experiment entitled ‘The Art of Celebration’, the first album I have ever had from this Irish group.

One of the reasons I love listening to different expressions of worship in song is that my mind is focussed on truth in a form which lodges deep within. In our Bible studies, we have been looking at 1 John 2 and verse 14 really struck me: ‘the word of God lives in you.’ For us to flourish and grow in Christ, we have to know His word and allow that word to shape our thinking. These songs do that for me – listen to ‘More Than Conquerors’ whose lyrics remind us of 1 John 4:4:

‘We are more than conquerors, through Christ
You have overcome this world, this life
We will not bow to sin or to shame
We are defiant in Your name
You are the fire that cannot be tamed
You are the power in our veins.’ (‘More Than Conquerors’, Rend Collective Experiment)

or ‘In Jesus’ Name’, where the gospel truths of Acts 4:12 are powerfully captured:

‘In Jesus’ name our sins are washed away,
In Jesus’ name we are rescued, we are saved,
For love has come to make a way for us,
In Jesus’ name there is freedom for the broken,
In Jesus’ name there is healing for the hopeless,
For all our days, we rest in Jesus’ name.’ (‘In Jesus’ Name’, Kutless)

These Biblical truths transform our wrong thinking and enable us to see God afresh.

There are a couple of special events coming up in this next week. The first is on Thursday 27th March, when there is a ‘Come and Meet Your Community’ event from 12 noon until 3 p.m. at the Salvation Army on Straight Lane.  There has been a good response from local service providers and various community groups within the Dearne Neighbourhood Network for this event, so this should be a good opportunity to pick up information about what support there is available to community groups from the local council and also to find out more about local groups working within our area. Come along if you have any time spare on that day; we will be representing the church at the event and looking to tell others about the community work we do in Goldthorpe.

Then on Saturday 29th March at 6 p.m. we are hosting the ‘Churches Together’ meeting. This is a time for fellowship, fun, worship and prayer, so do come along to that event if you are able.

I have spent the past couple of days in Beverley, largely admiring the beautiful church buildings there and in Howden. Both Beverley and Howden have minsters as their parish churches, a minster being a church that was built originally in connection with a monastery.

Beverley Minster

Howden Minster

We also visited St Mary’s Church in Beverley:

This church is famous, among other things, for inspiring Lewis Carroll through this rabbit statue (which became the ‘White Rabbit’ in his ‘Alice in Wonderland’ novel):

What I found so interesting about these inspiring buildings, however, is not just the history or the amazing stories that are attached to them (St John of Beverley, for example, clearly had a healing ministry which is told through some marvellous embroidery by modern art students), but how worship has been going on in these places for hundreds of years. The continuity of the gospel is steadfast and reassuring to me. These buildings remind me not only of God’s splendour and magnificence but how Christians throughout the ages have chosen to worship God, no matter what is going on all around them, and how He remains constant and unchanging. We too can choose to worship like that.

‘When days are gold and life is good,
When the plans we make go as they should,
Or when the sky turns dark and heartache falls,
And a lonely painful season calls.

We will worship with all of our hearts,
We will worship all that You are,
Through the best, through the worst,
Jesus we choose, we will worship You.

The only constant here is change,
But You forever stay the same,
No matter what this life holds in store,
The truth remains, You are Lord.

You are high and lifted up, good in all Your ways,
Glorious and worthy of all praise,
You are high and lifted up, to You our voices raise,
You’re worthy of our praise.’ (‘We Will Worship’, Kutless)

March is clearly a good month for birthdays! We had three to celebrate on Sunday.

Garry continued his series on ‘Looking For Heroes’ last night, studying Matt 5:10 which talks about being blessed when we face persecution. Once more, we saw again how Jesus’s teaching turns the world’s thinking upside down, for usually we shy away from persecution and can see no positive benefits in this.

The fact that persecution will be part of our Christian walk is inescapable (Matt 24:9, Luke 11:49, John 5:16, John 15:20, John 16:1-2, 1 Thess 3:4). It is not a question of ‘if we are persecuted’, but ‘when.’ This persecution is not because of our obnoxiousness or personality flaws, however; there is no merit in being punished for doing wrong! 1 Pet 2:18-23 makes it clear, though, that we need to submit not only to good masters but to those who behave wrongly so that we demonstrate to the world that God is our master and that we are dancing to a different tune.

Why are Christians persecuted?

In our Bible studies on 1 John 2:15-17, we looked at the fact that there are only two systems in place: the world’s or God’s and these are diametrically opposed to each other. Because we are part of the kingdom of light and are seeking to live in the light, there will be a clash with the kingdom of darkness. (John 3:19-21) We need to be sure of what we believe (Michael Card called this ‘bullet theology’, as in ‘What will you take a bullet for?‘) Not all beliefs are core and fundamental, but we need to be prepared to lay down our lives for Christ and for our brothers and sisters in Christ, even as Christ laid down His life for us. This world is developing many anti-Christian laws and we need to guard against the slow slide away from God’s truth.

What are the promises of persecution?

In many countries (such as North Korea, China and the Arab countries) there has been great persecution of Christians over the years and we need to understand the cost of following Christ, which can lead to martyrdom. Our faith needs to have strong roots so that it does not wither when persecution comes. (Matt 13:21) It needs to be an integral part of our lives, not an added clip-on extra that can be detached when the going gets tough.

Nonetheless, Jesus’s teaching is that those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake are blessed. We need to realise that the opposition, although filtered through people, is actually from a spiritual source, as Ephesians 6:12). God has given us many promises in our persecution: that nothing can separate us from His love (Rom 8:35), that we may be persecuted but will never be abandoned by God (2 Cor 4:9) and that there are rewards ahead. (Mark 10:28-30)

What is the point of persecution?

Christians in countries which have suffered much persecution have often grown stronger in faith and offer these insights into the benefits of persecution. They say that persecution ignites revival and helps the church to be strengthened and to grow. The church is purified through persecution and fruitfulness grows in what seem to us to be very unlikely conditions. When missionaries were forced to leave China, they feared for the spiritual health of the church there, but on their return many years later, they found that the church had grown numerically and believers were stronger in faith because they had learned to rely on God rather than on missionaries. Many Christians in these countries say that the church in the west is persecuted for our prosperity for this makes us weak. We need to understand that God is over all and uses all things to strengthen and to purify. We should not fear persecution but realise our God is so much greater than any opposition!