Evidence of faith

Welcome to a number of new readers.  I hope that you all have had a good Christmas as we remember again God's gift that is too wonderful for words.

On New Year’s Day Bible Gateway made their text for the day 2Corinthians 5:17. "If anyone is in Christ the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here".  I was suddenly struck by the phrase, "the old has gone".  I wondered for a moment or two whether Paul, writing this letter to Christians at Corinth was being overly optimistic.  After all he was a man with a great vision for what the Christian life is supposed to be like. In what way did he mean that the old had gone?

I'm sure you will have heard the question, "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" Being a Christian is not about making someone 'holier than thou', or even a slightly better person; it is about fundamental change. 

A few years ago a row of Council houses in a village in Warwickshire were radically changed.  They had looked perfectly good to me before, and I wondered why they had started demolishing them. Roofs were stripped, walls knocked down, until what was left could hardly be called a shell. Then what looked like identical houses were built in their place.  Apparently some metal rods in the original buildings had started to corrode and the old buildings would have rapidly become dangerous.  While the new houses looked identical to the natural eye, they were essentially different.  A radical change had taken place. What happens when someone welcomes Jesus Christ into their lives is that a construction firm moves in and starts to make essential changes.  The old, that stood condemned goes and a new situation has taken its place in which transforming work is being undertaken.  The 'new' me is not yet complete and perfect.  The difference to the old me is that now transformation is taking place.  I am a construction site!

The question I need to ask is whether there is evidence of my faith because I am being changed.

Thinking about this radical change also linked with other thoughts I had over Christmas regarding our attitudes to others. I have been personally challenged by Philippi 2:3/4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”  

How might that look if we applied it to our relationship with other churches that are different from ourselves?  One of the most common areas of concern I hear about from churches in rural areas is poor ecumenical relationships.  Where there is a strong and active evangelical non-conformist church in a village, neighbouring Anglican sometimes feel they are treated with disdain.  On the other hand many non-conformist churches feel that they are treated as a kind of supporting act to the ‘main thing’ by the Parish Church.

Is there evidence of our faith in the way churches or Christian organisations relate to one another?  You probably know the joke where the question is, “What is the height of frustration?” and the answer is, “Two Christians wanting to pass through a doorway at the same time!” (i.e. each saying to the other, “After you”.).  John the Baptist set the standard when some of his disciples left him to follow Jesus.  He said of Jesus, “He must increase and I must decrease”.  What might it look and work like if we considered one another better in 2015?

From the Diary

January looks like being very busy which means not only lots of meetings but also a lot of preparation and follow up activity.  Here are some immediate diary entries:

Sunday 4th – Yelvertoft Congregational Church (Covenant Service)

Monday 5th – School Assembly Planning Meeting

Tuesday 6th – HMP Gartree. (Please pray, as we have had an influx of men wanting to join the choir and this has brought some behavioural problems.  Please pray for wisdom and grace.)

Thursday 8th – Inter-Church Bible Discussion Meeting

Friday 9th to Sunday 11th I will be attending a Congregational Federation Training Weekend on behalf of the Pastoral Care Board with a view to discussing vocational issues with students

The weekend activity will mean that the next Praise & Prayer News will come after the weekend.

Among other activities this week will be scheduling and promoting the next on-line seminar, preparing a Prayer Outreach Mission for 18-25 January, and arranging a local Rural Mission Support meeting for the East Midlands.

Thank you for your prayers.  Doreen and I are grateful for the many cards and messages over Christmas.  Please keep in touch.

Barry