Feeling Christmassy??

Today was the first time that Ive felt remotely Christmassy or festive even though Ive been eating mince pies for a few days now and I even wrapped up a few presents yesterday!  The boys have mentioned putting up the tree ( they usually start nagging me about that as soon as the advent calendars come out and I resist for as long as possible )  I have watched a couple of Christmas films, the turkey is in the freezer .... but none of that has made me feel in the slightest bit festive.  What did it for me today was having an afternoon of silly fun .

Rita was 75 years young today .  She is one of those indomitable pensioners who puts you to shame with her attitude and level of busyness.  She plays bridge, goes dancing, is a granny and great granny

and hugely involved in her family.  She knows everyone - you cant keep her down.  And today she decided to have a fundraising birthday party for a very good cause and gathered all her friends together for a Christmas singalong and high tea.  About 80 pensioners ( mostly) gathered in her daughters house and we spent the best part of an hour singing Carols and Christmas songs interspersed with Seasonal poems and banter.  All the guests had been issued with bells so there was a good amount of jingling to jingle bells and some standing up and sitting down for ' FIVE GOLD RINGS'.   Everyone joined in with gusto and it was such good fun!

There is something contagious about enjoyment.  Children know all about it - they will find the most mundane things funny and can be entertained for hours by things which adults have long since ceased to find amusing.   Laughter, they say, is the best medicine..... and we all know how good it is to really let go and have a good old belly laugh.  So why dont we do it more often?  There was something so refreshing today about seeing a room full of mostly elderly people letting go of their inhibitions and singing their hearts out and laughing and chatting and having a great time.  For the first time this year it made me feel festive and looking forward to Christmas.
If it cant be fun, then what's the point!

So my challenge for today, should you choose to accept it, is to have some fun.  And I mean proper fun.   I mean do something silly.  Laugh out loud.  Do something which makes you feel really good and then share that good feeling with the people round about you.
Cos it's contagious.

watch this.  I dare you!

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=FFE2JMNU

A sense of humour is a God given gift and I have the feeling that its something we have to exercise or we lose it over time.  So I hope the clip above got you smiling and that you will continue to smile throughout the rest of today and in the lead up to Christmas.

Lord, today I ask for a gift of laughter.  I thank you that when Jesus came to earth He was found in pubs and clubs spending time with people, providing more wine at weddings and telling funny stories to his friends.  You are a God who knows how to have fun.  In this lead up to Christmas when everything can get a bit frantic and stressful please show us the light side.  May we bring smiles to those we meet today. Thank you for all the things that make us laugh. You have given us so many things to enjoy, but most of all let us enjoy You !  Amen

Dec 6th Family

Family.   Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em  !!

Christmas is traditionally a time for family isnt it?  A time when most people get a day off work and make the effort to be with their relations, often across the generations and spend time with people they perhaps don't see much at other times in the year.   It's a time when students come home from college,  grandparents join the grandchildren, cousins spend time together and aunts and uncles are invited for Christmas dinner.  Or at least that's what Disney and Coca Cola and the supermarket adverts would have us believe

It might have been the case many years ago - and undoubtably its still the case for some people today.  But quite probably for the majority of those reading this, Christmas won't be a time of unadulterated family bliss.   People are scattered from their families more today than at any time in history.  You are as likely to have a sibling on the other side of the world as you are to have one in the next town or village.   You are as likely to be living in a single parent family, or have a blended family or even be completely alone than conform to the ' traditional' norms.   Relationships are probably more complicated and families more fractured than they have ever been.   Which can make occasions like Christmas really difficult.

I have friends who are single ( in fact one is a Monk!) who have nowhere to go on Christmas day.  They don't want to impinge on anyone elses family day - it makes them feel awkward.  But they don't want to be alone at Christmas either.  Its tricky.  Then there are the separated families trying to negotiate who has the children for which part of the day.  And then there are those of us like me who are separated from their parents by huge distances and rarely if ever get the chance to see them at Christmas because flights are so stupidly expensive and it just isn't practical.   I know people who have been bereaved this year and who will find Christmas incredibly painful because someone special will be missing - and Christmas as it has always been, will never be that way again.  And what about the families who just don't get on and  find Christmas is a time which exacerbates all the difficulties and is a cause of arguments and stress?

As a church we are a family.  God says so.  We are a body , all related to each other because we are related to Jesus the head.  He is our brother - the firstborn.  Our DNA is spiritual and we should have all things in common, be living in unity and rejoicing / weeping when each other rejoices/weeps.   Of course we all know that in practice its every bit as hard to be a church family as it is to be a natural one.  But Christmas is a time for families.  So let's take this time of advent, of preparing, to see if there is anything we need to be doing to build stronger families.  Let's resolve to repair any damage we have caused.  Apologise to people we may have neglected all year.  Invite those we know to be lonely.  Help those we know are struggling in the run up to Christmas.  Let's reach out to those who don't know what Christmas is all about and welcome them into our carol services and nativity plays and Christmas day celebrations.  Let us be sensitive to the agony of the bereaved and the pain of those separated from their loved ones.  And if we can comfort or help let's do it.

Lord, thank you for families, for my family, for my church family.  Bless every one of them this Christmas time and bring the fullness of who You are to each person .  For many Christmas can be a stressful and difficult or lonely time.  But you are the God who sets the lonely in families, defends widows and cares for orphans.  I'm so glad you are that kind of God.  Please provide for those who are in need this Christmas - especially those who need restoration of relationships, freedom from stress and comfort in grief.  Help me to see the needs of those around me and understand the needs of the people You have chosen to give me as my family.  May I appreciate them more.  Amen

Its the little things

Was really inspired this morning when I opened my Facebook page to see this

Lots of special things going on here.  A lady in distress not having enough money for the meter.  Some kind anonymous soul giving her what she needed in the moment.  And that leading to a critical happening in her life.   Im sure the man with the 20p had no idea.   And he probably will never get to see her thank you.  But like the one leper who was healed she wanted to say thanks anyway.   Isn't that just a lovely story?

Sometimes it is the smallest most insignificant ( to us) things which can have the biggest impact.   A friend of mine was homeless for a while when he was a teenager.  I was asking him about what it was like being on the streets and what was the most helpful thing anyone did for him.   He said that sometimes people gave him food which was nice, but the thing he appreciated most was when someone stopped to talk to him.   Because being on the street is an incredibly lonely and isolating experience.    I'd never thought about that before.   I will quite often throw some money into a pot if someone is sitting in a doorway begging - but Ive never really considered stopping to spend the time of day with that person.  Im sure many elderly people would say the same -  I'd rather have half an hour of your time than your money,   And we can all spare half an hour every now and again cant we?

The story of the good samaritan - we are all SO familiar with it we could recite it in our sleep.  But it's not only the grand gestures God is asking of us.  Loving our neighbour as ourselves means putting yourself in someone elses shoes and doing what you would want someone to do for you.   Do you

walk past the person struggling with the buggy the toddler and the five bags of shopping?  Or do you offer to give them a hand?    I was on the ferry to England last year and there was a woman on her own with very tiny twin babies.  She was in the cafe trying to get her lunch whilst also trying to rock the babies to sleep.   I watched her for a while and remembered how exhausting it was to have two small children and then I went up to her and asked if I could take the babies for a stroll round the boat so she could have her lunch in peace.   She looked a bit surprised but very thankful.  Obviously on a ferry in the middle of the Irish sea I wasnt about to disappear with her babies.!!   So off I went for a walk round with a double buggy and she sat and had an uniterrupted lunch in peace and quiet.   Afterwards we got talking and it broke up the monotony of the journey,  Nothing profound.  Just what I would have liked someone to have done for me back in the day.

Every day we walk past a hundred people in the street.  We go into shops, the canteen, the bank, the garage.  Every person we meet is an opportunity to bless and be a blessing.  Even just a smile can make a difference to someone's day.   Those checkout people sitting day after day beeping through your shopping.   When was the last time you looked at their name badge and said '  Hi John, How are you today?'   Or told the cafe manager that their staff were doing a great job.   Or even better asked God if He had anything to say  to the girl behind the counter?     A friend of mine went into a bank one day to pay in a cheque.  When she looked at the lady teller she suddenly 'saw' the name of a person written in the air above her head.  My friend was so shocked that she finished her transaction and left the bank in a flap wondering what on earth was going on.   After a few minutes of reflection she realised the God was showing her something for that lady and that she should go back and speak to her.  So she did.   She just went up to her and said '  I know this might sound crazy but when I looked at you I saw the name X - does that mean anything to you?'   The woman immediately burst into tears and proceeded to tell a story of a recently broken relationship.  My friend was able to talk to her and tell her that God knew all about it, that He cared and wanted to be involved.  She then prayed for the lady.    You just never know what might happen if you are open to God in the small things  

Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are concerned with every last little thing in our lives.  From the parking meter to the relationships.  You know and You care.    As I ponder the truth of Christmas, that You came to earth to make Your dwelling with me,.... IN me, help me to see the needs You see, be kind and generous as You are, be as thoughtful and caring as You .  Help me to be a blessing to everyone everywhere.  Kick me when I am selfish and lazy.  Direct my steps and let me do the things you are doing.   Amen

Dec 4th People we don't know

Phillip Hughes funeral was yesterday.   A 25 year old cricketer Id never heard of until his death a few days ago.  The news has been full of it and overnight Facebook filled with photographs of people holding cricket bats and gloves as a tribute to him.   His funeral was attended by thousands and watched by millions - especially in Australia where he lived.   Am I the only one who finds it very strange that one very sad accident which takes one young life can be so trumpeted around the world when every day thousands of 25 year olds are killed or die, most of them never even making the comment section of their local newspapers?

Why the outpouring of grief for Phillip Hughes this week?  Yes he was a talented young sportsman and his death was a horrible freak accident which happened in public and was shockingly caught on camera.   But......   well, to me the reaction has seemed disproportionate...

So I've been thinking about this and wondering why it is that people react so strongly to the death of certain individuals and not to others... and why it bothers me...and should it bother me..?

Then I remembered the story of someone else who recently died suddenly and tragically.  But this time someone not famous or well known.  A schoolgirl called Keane Wallis-Bennet who at 12 years old was killed when a wall in her school changing rooms fell on her in April last year.
A friend of mine who is a minister in Edinburgh with pastoral responsibility for the school has helped Keanes friends write and record a song in her memory in order to raise funds for a memorial.  The song was released on itunes on Monday and is already at the top of the download charts.  How amazing!   Thanks to Facebook and Twitter the death of a little girl in Edinburgh is causing ripples across the country - and maybe across the world.

Thinking about these two people who I didn't know and with whom I have no connection at all has brought something into focus for me today.  And it is this.   People need to believe that they matter.

I think the reason people ' grieve' for those they have never met, is that they see their own lives reflected in the lives of those who have died.   They think ' that could have been me'  or  they put themselves in the shoes of the mother/wife/brother/ son who has suffered the tragic loss and are thankful its not them.   And they perceive an injustice that a life has been lost so young.   Somehow dying at 12 or at 25 doesn't seem fair does it?   Dying at 96 is fine because at 96 you have had your chance to live a full life.  But to be ' cut off in your prime' ....... well that is unjust.
I dont think God sees it that way.  To God, dying at 96 if you don't know Him is every bit as tragic as dying at 12.   And to God dying at 12 if you DO know Him is no tragedy at all.  Because the message of Christmas is that whenever you die Jesus offers you the chance to be with Him for eternity - from the youngest to the oldest.  A free gift.  For everyone.

 God knows and loves everyone.  Every single person on the planet.  Nobody is more special than anyone else.  Be you a world famous sports person , a household name with a glittering career, or a schoolkid in a city school you are worth celebrating.   The Ebola victim in Liberia deserves just as much attention as the cricketer in Australia.  Because their life has been worth just as much.

Lord I thank you that I matter to you.  Remind me on the days when I don't even matter to myself.  Remind me on the days I feel overlooked and unimportant.  Thank you Jesus that you know everything about me and You came to make sure that there was a way for me to spend eternity with You.  Because You want to spend eternity with me.  I pray for the family of Phillip Hughes and Keane Wallis Bennet.  I pray for everyone who is grieving in the run up to Christmas.  Its a very difficult time for so many people.  Please be their comfort and strength, be their light and their hope.
And where I can be your voice and hands let me not be lacking.   Amen

3rd Dec. Teamwork.

If you get the chance to listen to the Reith lectures on Radio 4 you really should.  This year they are being given by a doctor Atul Gawande and they are all about the medical world - but with a wider application.  Today he told the amazing story of a little girl who had drowned and been underwater for thirty minutes and how a huge team of medical staff using many different interventions together managed to orchestrate her complete recovery.  They literally brought her back to life.  And they did it by using a system

He talked about how hospitals have managed to cut down their operating errors by using simple checklists.  And how one emergency team gave the most power in the system to the telephone operator as she was the person who had the job of calling in all the members of the team in an emergency  - and was therefore critical to the whole thing working smoothly and quickly.

So much to think about.  Try to listen to the talk,.   You can find it here and its only about 40 minutes long.    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04sv1s5

One of the things which struck me the most about what Gawande had to say was about humility.
Everyone makes mistakes - even the most seasoned surgeons and world experts in their fields. Nobody is perfect.  But when you have been doing something for a long time, and when you are good at doing it you stop seeing the errors you make. And you become resistant to other people pointing out those errors.  It has been hard to introduce the simple checklist into some operating rooms because some doctors don't see the need.  '' I don't need someone looking over my shoulder.  I'm the expert. I've been doing this for years. I don't make mistakes.''  

But in the places where checklists have been introduced mortality rates have fallen something like 40% .!!   In those places everyone on the team has had to have the humility to realise that someone checking up on them is a good thing.    Have you washed your hands properly?  Do you have everything you need before you start?  Do we know the patients name and are we sure about the procedure?   etc etc etc.   Simple but life saving stuff

Elsewhere I heard that in a children's hospital ( it might have been Gt Ormond Street)  many young lives were being lost in the critical move from ambulance/helicopter to the intensive care unit.  The

physical removal of tubes and wires and the trip down the corridors and then the setting up again of tubes and wires was taking too much time and was costing lives.   So someone had the idea of asking for help - from of all places a Formula 1 driving team !!!    The guys who manage the pit stops came in and applied the same strategy to the medical handover as they do to the tyre changes on racing cars.   They cut the time of transfers massively and thereby also cut down on the lives lost in that process.   Brilliant eh? 

And what has all this got to do with Advent I hear you cry ? 

Well........ there is something to do with teamwork .  The church is called to bring back to life a world which is drowning - has drowned.   Where many would look and say that it is impossible, that there is no hope, that the time has passed and we are too late the church says ' No, There is hope , there is life! '   But in order to bring that life and healing we need to work together and we need a system.  
 It's funny cos Im not a fan of ' programme' church at all..... I balk at the latest bandwagon  ( usually imported from the States)  which demands we buy the book and the T-shirt and do it this way.   But..... but...... I do believe in structure.  I believe in methods.    The church is an interconnected interrelated body.  As such we operate as an integrated system  20 But now indeed there

are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.   1 Cor 12 You and I are members of the team - like it or not!  And we all have a role to play in whatever it is our church ( and The Church) is involved in.  Do you know what your job is??   Are you doing it?  Are you good at it?  Do you have someone checking up on you to make sure you have what you need to do it well , and who can correct you if they see you going off track?  Do you realise just how vital you are in the process?   Take another look at the F1 photo above.  Each person only contributes one small part of a very complex operation but not one part can fail or the car wont get back on the track.  Each person is crucial.  You are needed.

Lord help me to be a team player.  To know my place and my role and to use the gifts and talents You have given me.  Help me to be open to guidance and correction where I need it so that Your kingdom can be advanced.  Thank you for medical teams which work together to bring healing to those in great danger and distress.  Bless every hand which offers care and healing this day and give wisdom to those who have to make difficult decisions under great pressure.  Amen

What God doesn't do.

It is always good to reflect on the story of the first Christmas at this time of year.  However many times we visit the scriptures over however many years and decades, we can always see something different.  Because there is always more to tell about a God who breaks into our world to do the unimaginable.

Today I have been pondering all the things God DIDN'T do!!   He didn't make it safe.  He didn't make it comfortable.  He didn't really seem to make much sense.   But then that's God for you.  Not at all straightforward and certainly not at all like us.  

If you were planning to bring your only Son into the world wouldn't you want to make things as calm and secure and safe and comfortable as possible?   Wouldn't you ensure that there was some medical help available - at the very least a bed!!   Why did God set it all up so that Mary and Joseph had to be from

Nazareth but Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem?  Couldn't He have organised the Old Testament prophecies to be a bit more..... convenient!?    The more you read and think about it the more it seems that God set out to make things as awkward as possible for everyone concerned.  I mean why did the wise men have to traipse so far following the star?  Weren't there any wise men closer by?   Why was there no room at the inn?  Surely it would not be beyond God's ability to ensure there was a bedroom on arrival - He is so good with parking spaces after all !   

The thing is that God is not like us.   “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.  Is 55:8   We cannot even start to comprehend the way He sees things, thinks about things, plans things.  It is like a three year old English child trying to understand a nuclear physicist explaining quantum mechanics in Arabic.  We are a zillion miles away from being able to understand why and how He does what He does.

The upshot of which is that we tend not to understand.   And we don't like the feeling of not understanding.  It makes us feel out of control.  So we try to put our own rationale on what God does.  Or we complain that He is not doing things the way we would have them done - or He is not doing anything at all.

One of the amazing things about Mary and Joseph is that they accept God's ways.   They clearly don't understand .  Obedience involves them in great personal discomfort , puts them in physical danger and makes them a scandal in their community.   But they don't try to re-negotiate what God has said to them, not do they complain about how hard it is..... they accept and obey.  Without

question.  They cant possibly understand the bigger picture - all they know is that they are having an 'illegitimate' baby away from the comforts of home in an occupied country.  But that God has spoken and  told them it is all in His plan.   I'm sure that the nine month pregnant Mary on her three day journey on a donkey wasn't feeling all that great about God's plan.  I'm sure the frantic Joseph trying to find a bed for the night as his wife was in labour wasn't exactly rejoicing at being part of the plan.  God's plan was hard.   It sometimes is.

But they went with it anyway.

On Saturday I was in a coffee shop with a friend and we ended up having a long conversation with a stranger there who told us some of her amazing story about how God was leading her and her family.  He was revealing His plan for her and in the process was stirring up and overturning and dismantling and moving the furniture in her life.  She was scared and a bit overwhelmed but also incredibly excited.  Even the fact that we happened to wander into her coffee shop that morning appeared to be a confirmation to her that the plan was falling into place!   We were immensely privileged to be able to hear the story and cheer her on and pray with her.  It was another reminder to me that if we want to be moving forward with God then we have to be prepared to be uncomfortable.  To not understand.  To just trust Him and step out in obedience.  And if we do...... well then we too can see new birth. New projects, new disciples, new vision, new life.

Lord I don't understand Your ways, I don't fully know the plans You have for me or how I fit into Your plans for this world, but I do know that You are good.   Your plans might not be easy or comfortable but they are good.   They might not always feel good in the short term - but help me not to be dictated to by my feelings.   Thank you that Mary and Joseph chose to obey when they didn't really understand.  Help me to be ready for what You say and willing to do it , trusting that You see the bigger picture and that I have a part to play - however small, in bringing that picture into being.

Hope

The first Sunday in Advent is when traditionally the candle is lit on the advent wreath in church - each candle representing a different aspect of this season of waiting.  The first candle lit represents HOPE.  As Christians we are rooted and grounded in the hope of our eternal salvation

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11.1

Hope not being some wish list or vague desire for things to be different , but a strong certainty of that which we can not yet see but have been promised

Hope is in short supply in this world.

I dont need to tell you why.  You just have to open your eyes and look around you.  And you also need to open your ears and listen to people to hear their hopelessness and despair.  Even Christians.
The Advent blog post which has received by far and away the most reads and shares was the one I wrote on depression a couple of years ago.  I was amazed at the response I got when I shared a bit of my struggle with hopelessness.  Dozens and dozens of people messaged me or commented on my Facebook post saying that they too were struggling and thanking me for sharing.
Everywhere I go I hear the guilt people feel about their hopelessness - especially amongst Christians.  Because we KNOW the hope we are supposed to have.  We understand the Good News, the end result, We know who wins and that we are on the winning side.  And yet...... and yet..... sometimes that is not enough is it?

And when the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say.....

Matt Redman and his wife know about that darkness - they lost a baby.  And they didnt pretend that everything was OK.  They acknowledged that the darkness exists and that sometimes it overwhelms and squishes the life out of you.   But ' Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him  Job 13.15   Blessed be the name of the Lord. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnWKehsOXu8

A couple of weeks ago  I was talking to a young Christian woman who confided in me, ashamed, that she was on anti depressants.  When I told her that so was I, she was so surprised.   This week a guy in his mid twenties told me he would be taking strong anti psychotic medication for life .  And he had never told anyone that before, for fear of being judged.   Despite the fact that the medication makes him better and completely well.  Another friend of mine is clearly depressed but resisting going to the doctor because they have convinced themselves that this is a sign that both they and God have failed.

Dear friends, we are in a battle. Battle is messy and people get wounded. Sometimes the darkness does close in.  Sometimes the hope we have in Jesus gets squashed by what is thrown at us.   But we are a team.  We are family.  We are committed to help each other through.

However battered you may be God is still on your side.  If today you feel that you are merely hanging on by your fingernails then please tell someone - ask for help, go to the doctor, get someone wise to pray for you.  Dont hide and be ashamed - because there is no failure in admitting to it.  Your enemy wants to keep you out of action and off the battlefield.   Dont let him win .
Sometimes Jesus heals us through prayer, through the love and care of friends, through His word speaking to our Spirits.  And sometimes He heals us with medication and counselling.   If you need it - do it ,   One small tablet a day has saved my life.  And I thank Jesus for that. 

Sorry this has all been a bit heavy :)  I promise some laughs and fluffiness soon .  

Lord Jesus,  I thank you for the Hope you bring.  Hope of an eternity with no more tears or suffering, no more death or sorrow.  A Hope of joy in Your presence for ever.   But Lord sometimes that Hope isnt strong enough in us to get us through the days.  Thank you for people and medicines which can help us when we are overwhelmed.  In these last days as the battle intensifies please restore the hope of our salvation and strengthen our faith.  Bring your joy and peace into our sadness and stress.  Help us not to hide in the shadows but to bring our whole selves into the light.  You came to this world to bind up the broken hearted and set the captives free.  The very reason for Your incarnation.  Thank you.   Help me to believe it and receive it,
Amen