“For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9: 24-28)

Most of my life is spent doing the same things over and over again. Every day I have to get washed, brush my teeth, brush my hair, get dressed, cook, eat, wash up, and so on. There may be some rare exceptions to these routines, but life generally seems to be made up of the same things most days. There are one-off events in our lives, of course, which are highly significant, but for many of us, even these somehow get subsumed in the ordinariness of the mundane routines.

That is not the case with Christ’s sacrifice for sin, which was a once-and-for-all event!

“Once and for all, the Father’s love
He is the light in the darkness
He took on flesh and took our place
The weight of the world on His shoulders
The weight of the world on His shoulders

Jesus, Jesus, God from God, Light from light, You are our Salvation
Jesus, Jesus, God from God, Light from light, Your kingdom is forever.” (‘Once And For All’, Chris Tomlin)
‘Once And For All’, Chris Tomlin

Yesterday I ventured into CLC (Christian bookshop in Sheffield) to buy some cards and presents. It’s always a treat for me to go there. Shops that sell books, cards, posters and CDs are probably my favourite type of shop and I invariably come out of them weighed down with presents and inspired by something I’ve seen, read or heard!

Yesterday was no exception. Being someone who loves words and tends to have quotations and Scriptures scattered around the house on laminated notes (because I so easily forget what I have read and need constant reminders of truth), I was captivated by the artwork of Hannah Dunnett. This was not simply because I liked the pictures (though I did), but because interwoven with every line of the artwork were verses of Scripture. This is one step further than the laminated words I have around my house: now I can have the Word of God as well as a beautiful picture, all in one! The pictures below don’t do justice to the real thing, because it’s so hard to read all the words on this size of photo, but if you want to see more, the website has more for you to look at.

‘Alpha and Omega’, containing many verses on this theme and on the theme of Jesus overcoming death:


‘Wisdom’, containing verses on God’s wisdom

I was so captivated by the images and words I saw (some of which I bought – these are available as cards or as posters) that I went to find out more and on the website discovered that Hannah’s husband, Ben, is an accomplished musician who has produced several CDs. This range of creativity has left me beaming with pleasure. It’s always a magical moment when you connect with something new and find a new expression of creativity that enriches your spirit. It never ceases to amaze me that there are still stories to be told, songs to be sung, pictures to be drawn, photos to be taken which capture something new or help us to see old truth in a new way. I am profoundly grateful for all those who take the time to be creative and to enrich our lives in this way.

Last night’s service was led by Jeannette, giving us an opportunity to see new ministries emerging and to do things a little bit differently!

We focussed on the power of words, looking at the powerful word of God. We read 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and John 1:1-14.

We also looked at the power of our words, sending encouraging text messages to people to remind us how our words can either build up or tear down (see Matt 15:11, 18). We also investigated prayer by writing to God and by praying for Jenson, who will travel to Oxford this week for a major operation.

Some things didn’t change, however! We had a birthday to celebrate, which we did in the usual fashion:

Dave began a mini-series on Ephesians 2:1-7 last night, looking at the depths of our situation without God and the heights to which He has called us.

This passage teaches us that man without God is dead in transgressions and sins. This spiritual death means that there is no personal relationship with God and mankind is trapped in a cycle of depravity and disobedience. The doctrine of original sin teaches us that man has a bias or propensity towards evil. Sin leads to separation from God and condemnation from Him.

Death Valley is the lowest point in the United States of America. It is 280 feet below sea level and can be terrifyingly hot (43 degrees celsius in summer). Figuratively speaking, this is representative of our position before we came to know Christ:

It is hard for us sometimes to take in the full measure of God’s deliverance. The highest point in the United States is Mount Whitney. This is 14,505 feet above sea level and temperatures are usually below freezing at that height:

The enormity of what God has done for us in Christ is outlined in this passage. Just as Jesus died, rose again and ascended to His Father’s side, so the Christian, who was dead in sin, has been raised to new life and is now seated in heavenly places with God in Christ.

The Christian is no longer dead and no longer imprisoned in sin. “Only He who fashioned the world could create a new nature,” C. H. Spurgeon has said and not only are we freed from sin so that we no longer have to be slaves to sin but are now under grace (see Rom 7:1-4, Rom 6:1-2), but there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). We are alive to God, having:

* a new life
* a new attitude to God
* a new mind (see Rom 12:1-2), with a new perspective
* a new purpose (where we can share in God’s exaltation and glory, being raised for the purpose of demonstrating to others the surpassing riches of His grace)
* a new nature (we are now new creations in Christ – 2 Cor 5:17)

The same power which raised Christ from the dead now lives in us (Eph 1:17-18). We are set free from sin and raised to new life. What heights of glory!

Mark continued his series from Hebrews 12:1-2 this morning, looking at the verse which reminds us to throw off or lay aside every weight that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles or ensnares us so that we can run with perseverance the race God has mapped out for us.

Life is rather like a race route which has been mapped out by God. It’s more of an obstacle course than a straight sprint and we need to prepare for the race diligently, not wearing a parka and snow boots for an Olympic race! Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 9:24 that there is only one winner in a race and tells Timothy that he has finished the race and kept the faith (2 Tim 4:7-8). We have to be prepared to throw off or lay aside everything that would hinder us in this race.

Sometimes, things which are not sinful in themselves can hinder or distract us. These will vary according to each person, but we have to be prepared to be ruthless about the things that weigh us down and lay them aside.

Sin so easily trips us up on this race of life. Again, the sins will be different for each individual, but no one is without sin (Rom 3:23) and we need to be vigilant in identifying the hindrances and sins which cause us to stumble. We also have to be carful not to pick these things back up once we have discarded them!

In order to be aware of the distractions and sin in our own lives, we need to fix our eyes on Jesus and look back at ourselves, for He will surely identify the stumbling-blocks for us and will also give us the means to overcome these. There is, however, an onus on us to be involved: we are the ones urged to do the discarding!

On Friday I went with a group of friends to see the new Star Trek film, ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’.

We are lifelong aficionados of Star Trek and were introducing two of our friends to the joys of this science-fiction series. In order to do this, we have been reliving previous Star Trek films, not only from the current ‘prequels’ but from the original series. As I watched Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country again (the last film featuring the cast of the original TV series), I was struck by the number of literary allusions in that film, including, of course, the title.

The title is a quote from a very famous speech in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, the famous ‘To be or not to be’ speech which goes on to say:
“But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will…” (Shakespeare, ‘Hamlet’, Act III, Sc i)

In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet is talking about death; in the Star Trek film, this phrase is used to represent the future and all that lies ahead (including a future where Klingons and humans can co-exist in peace.) But the phrase itself, ‘the undiscovered country’, struck a chord with me because of my musings about Abraham, who was called by God to set forth on a journey ‘to the land I will show you’ (Gen 12:1). Hebrews 11:8 says ‘By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.’ There is a sense of adventure and uncertainty involved in this kind of journey, which Star Trek perhaps best captures through its oft-repeated mantra (including the hotly debated split infinitive!):
‘Space: The final frontier
These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise.
Its 5 year mission
To explore strange new worlds
To seek out new life and new civilisations
To boldly go where no man has gone before.’ (quoted at the start of each TV episode of Star Trek)

As we continue our own journey of faith, let’s step forth boldly in the confidence that God is with us. We have no reason to fear and dread this journey (even the ‘undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns’, for Jesus has, by His death, navigated that journey too and is able to free all those who have been held in slavery because of their fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). We have plenty of new discoveries to make in God!