As we are praying this month for the unity of believers, I keep coming back to Jesus’s prayer for unity in John 17, in particular the verses ‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.’ (John 17:20-23 TNIV)

The fundamental foundation for unity is the nature of God. God is Three in One, so there is unity within the Godhead. Confidence, submission, trust and respect are actually seen in the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit and this becomes our model for unity. It’s not a question of ‘adding on’ the desire for unity to our list of ‘things we’d like to see’ in church life; rather, this is a fundamental part of who God is and therefore needs to be absolutely fundamental and foundational to how our churches think and act. Charlie Cleverly says that this unity is something to aspire to: ‘a unity between a town’s churches where competition or rivalry is unheard of, where each one is complementing the other’s work, just as in the Trinity. If Jesus prayed for this, we should believe it is possible.’ (Charlie Cleverly, ‘Epiphanies of the Ordinary’, P 178)

This is not always easy, largely because of the fact that churches are made up of sinful people who are being transformed over a lifetime into the image of Christ. We are imperfect and our sinful tendencies – to selfishness, to pride, to arrogance, to unrighteous ambition – often get in the way of unity. Churches are likened to a family, and in families, all too often, we see sibling rivalries! We only have to read about Cain and Abel, Joseph and his brothers, David and his brothers, David’s sons or even Jesus’s human brothers to see that! Yet often the Bible shows us stories of reconciliation and hope (the story of Joseph is surely one of the most powerful we have as we see the jealousy, competition and misguided enthusiasm of these brothers and see how disunity rips the family apart but ultimately how God works things out so that there is reconciliation and forgiveness.)

Charlie Cleverly goes on to say ‘I believe there is a prophetic mantle on those looking for unity.’ (ibid.) As we pray for, work towards and strive to keep the bond of peace through the unity of the Spirit, always looking to God as our example for unity, wholeness and integration, let’s understand that in doing so, we are definitely living withing God’s good, perfect and pleasing will.

A paradox is “a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a truth.” There is always the element of contradiction in a paradox, something that just doesn’t seem to make sense. I’ve always been fascinated by paradox. That is possibly because of the linguistic teasing involved in it. Yesterday’s song on love (‘What Matters Most’ by Wes King) was full of paradox and my favourite song on the theme is ‘God’s Own Fool’ by Michael Card, as you’re all doubtless aware, given the number of times I mention it!
’God’s Own Fool’, Michael Card

When I was at university, I studied the writings of Blaise Pascal, a 16th century mathematician and Christian philosopher. He was a Christian who wrote a work intended to be a sustained and coherent examination and defence of the Christian faith, but this work (known as ‘Pensées’, ‘Thoughts’) was never completed in his lifetime. Much of the work is like the book of Proverbs: short, pithy sayings containing truth, often expressed in paradoxical forms that tease meaning out of brief thoughts. He discusses with great wonder and beauty the human condition, the incarnation, God, the meaning of life, revelation, and the paradoxes of Christianity. He passionately argues for the Christian faith, using both argumentation and his famous “Wager”. His ideas and arguments are sometimes developed and intricate, at other times, abrupt and mysterious. My very favourite ‘thought’ said ‘The heart has its reasons which reason does not know.’

I enjoyed studying Pascal because what he wrote about fitted so well with what I was reading in the Bible: how the first would be last, how the least would be the greatest, how life comes through surrender and death, how God’s foolishness is wiser than man’s wisdom and His weakness stronger than man’s strength (see Matt 19:30 TNIV, Mark 8:35 TNIV, 1 Cor 1:25 TNIV) I also enjoyed being at a place where learning was so admired and venerated and yet I saw clearly that that was not the sum total of what life was all about: it felt like life at Oxford was living my own paradox! (I have to say that Pascal also made a lot more sense than the despairing nihilism of 19th century philosophers like Nietzsche or 20th century existentialists such as Sartre, which formed part of the rest of my studies!)

Paradox, I think, is at the heart of Christianity because we live in a topsy-turvy world. Sin has messed things up so that we are not living in the world the right way up. We think we are seeing clearly, when in fact, we need God to open our eyes (see 2 Kings 6:8-23 TNIV).

C. S. Lewis wrote, ‘The Christian way is simply (I say simply because though the idea is easy, it is very difficult indeed) to continually get out of the way so that we can be a conduit of God’s power and love and glory. The same applies for growth as a Christian. The harder we try to grow, the less we are growing. We need to allow growth to happen to us.’ I think paradox is at the heart of our daily walk with God. Every time we think we’ve got it all sussed out, God opens our eyes afresh and we realise it’s not quite how we thought it was going to be. Paradox actually paves the way to perception, for us to perceive reality as it really is, not as it looks without God.

I have a tendency to make lists. In fact, I love making lists. That’s a part of my personality, I suppose: the part that likes order and control and making sense of the chaotic! It’s quite easy to know what should be at the top of our lists in life, because God has made it abundantly clear: “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31 TNIV)

Paul obviously took that to heart, for in 1 Corinthians 13 TNIV, he reiterates the supreme, total, overriding importance of love.

Now I’ve spent the past thirty years trying to understand the love of God and trying to unpack that simple English word and invest in it all the meaning that the numerous Hebrew and Greek words translated by ‘love’ contain. It’s a long struggle to strip the word of its mushy 21st century connotations and all the other wrong meanings that have become attached to it over the years, but at the heart of Christian discipleship, we can’t escape from the fact that loving God and loving people is what it’s all about. A long list of other achievements might look good on a C.V. or read well in the obituary column of a newspaper, but when we stand before God in eternity, I suspect what He really wants to see is a life of love. We’ll soon be starting a Bible study on the epistles of John, and the importance of love is one of the key things we find in 1 John. Love really does matter the most.

“Inhabit the trembling, yet be brave.
Embrace your weakness, yet be strong.
Say what you have to say
But always admit when you’re wrong.
Accept what you are, yet keep striving
To become that which you’ve been declared.
Be strong, yet bend with the wind.
Mourn, yet never despair.

Dwell in the moment, yet keep moving,
Knowing you’re just passing through.
Give all that you are, yet receive
All that is worthy and true.
Be at peace but never run from the battle,
For the battle is where peace is found.
And remember if you don’t have love,
You have nothing, no matter how profound.” (‘What Matters Most’, Wes King)
‘What Matters Most’, Wes King

In a recent blog post, I summarised all I’ve learned in 30 years of being a Christian via a song by Ishmael, and this idea is key! Many people think there is something esoteric about being a Christian, some grandiose rare knowledge that only a special few can possess. Cliques and cults have grown up over the years telling us that there is a secret pathway to God that only the initiated, the ones with special knowledge (the ‘gnostics’), can truly know Him.

I’ve found – sometimes with regret, sometimes with relief – that it’s really not that hard to be a Christian. There are some absolutely essential basics we need to survive, but the Pharisaical laws (by the time Christ came, the Pharisees had developed 613 laws, 365 negative commands and 248 positive laws), you’ll be glad to know, aren’t for us anymore! It’s not a question of secret codes and clever words, but the basic requirements are a believing heart for God, a willingness to listen and a readiness to obey.

We develop these things by spending time with God. Prayer – that posh word for the ongoing communication and conversation between God and people – is our lifeline to God. I was advised early on in my Christian life to begin and end each day with prayer and I’ve found that to be a useful thing to do. But I’ve also discovered that prayer doesn’t just happen at set times in set places. It’s an ongoing dialogue of the heart that can take place at any time, in any place, in a whole plethora of different formats. For me, song has always been one of the most useful forms of prayer I’ve known. Song gets to my spirit faster than words alone!

Next, I was taught to read the Bible every day and I’ve also found this to be absolutely basic to growth. I read through the Bible using the Cover to Cover reading scheme within the first year of being a Christian and have used a variety of other reading schemes over the years to ensure that I read the whole range of Scripture. ‘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 TNIV) I reckoned that if this were true, the best way for me to be equipped to live as God wanted me to live was to make sure I knew the Bible. There are many different ways of reading and studying Scripture, a whole host of versions of the Bible, devotional notes galore to help. But in the end, there is simply no substitute for asking God to speak as we read and allowing His Word to shape our lives.

The third thing on Ishmael’s song list of essential basics is to ‘get some fellowship.’ I don’t quite know how this happened, but I knew instantly on becoming a Christian that church was part of the package. Some people have argued that you can be a Christian without going to church, that it’s all about one’s personal relationship with the Lord. All I can say to that is the church is God’s idea and therefore there is no question as to its importance as far as I’m concerned. I have seen the faults in a variety of churches over the years; no one church could ever be perfect, for it’s made up of imperfect people. But I believe God is doing something special with people that involves working and worshipping together. He has great plans for the church: ‘His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord…’ (Eph 3:10-11 TNIV)

Infuriating though we may find the church, God wants us to be committed to people and the best way I know how to do this is through a local church.

Lastly on my list of ‘basics’ is being willing to testify to what God has done for us and in us. We are to be witnesses. Acts 1:8 TNIV (‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’) is a staple verse of all Pentecostal churches, but we need to be as aware of the purpose of the power of the Holy Spirit as to its presence. Peter says, ‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.’ (1 Peter 3:15 TNIV) It’s not always easy to do this and we often feel inadequate to the task. But God has done so much for us that there should be an ‘overflow’.

‘Overflow’, Chris Tomlin & Daniel Carson

Tonight’s prayer meeting started like any other. We worshipped God through songs and prayed for October’s prayer topic of the unity of believers, thinking about the verses from Galatians 3:26-29 TNIV: ‘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.’

After the meeting, however, there were some unusual tasks to be completed, namely the inflation of more Space Hoppers for the children who attend the youth meetings:

Once inflated, they had to be tested!

‘Speak to me, Word of God, speak to me.
I come alive, I’m alive, when You speak to me.’ (‘Awake, my soul’, Chris Tomlin & Lecrae)
‘Awake, my soul’, Chris Tomlin & Lecrae

God’s Word contains all we need for living. Proverbs 1:1-5 in the Message version says,
“These are the wise sayings of Solomon,
David’s son, Israel’s king—
Written down so we’ll know how to live well and right,
to understand what life means and where it’s going;
A manual for living,
for learning what’s right and just and fair;
To teach the inexperienced the ropes
and give our young people a grasp on reality.
There’s something here also for seasoned men and women,
still a thing or two for the experienced to learn—
Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate,
the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women.”

In the Bible, I have found ‘a manual for living’: how to live, what God requires from us, what He is like, what we are like. It’s a timeless book with ageless truths to light our paths and guide our steps. As Casting Crowns say,
“The Bible was inscribed over a period of 2000 years
In times of war and in days of peace
By kings, physicians, tax collectors, farmers, fishermen, singers and shepherds.
The marvel is that a library so perfectly cohesive
Could have been produced by such a diverse crowd
Over a period of time which staggers the imagination.
Jesus is its grand subject, our good is designed and the Glory of God is its end.” (‘The Word is Alive’, Casting Crowns)
‘The Word is Alive’, Casting Crowns

Hebrews 4:12 TNIV says ‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’ I have found this living word to be the single most important gift God has given me and my ongoing desire is to know it more and live by its truths.