Saturday 31 December 2016

An Uncertain Journey?

Let me start by wishing you a Happy New Year.  Happiness is an interesting word as it contains “hap” which has its root in the context of chance rather than certainty.  We find it in perhaps.  In some parts of the UK people use the word happen to mean maybe.  Of course, words mean what we want them to mean, according to Humpty Dumpty, and when we wish someone a Happy New Year, we probably mean something like may your year be blessed or pleasant.

The fact is that life is unpredictable.  Good and bad experiences come to us all at different times, and often undeserved.  As the Bible puts it,

“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant, or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11)

You have probably heard it said that we can make our own luck.  Of course, that can only be partly true, but it does have something to say to those who go through life hoping that they will get lucky.  Or as Mr Micawber puts it in Charles Dickins book David Copperfield “Something will turn up”. Each week millions of pounds are spent on the lottery.  Some follow strange rituals in order to seek good luck. Or put their trust in four leaf clovers and rabbits foot.  Then, when good or bad things happen, people restart to saying things such as “It was meant to be”, or,” wasn’t meant to be”.

As Christians, we are encouraged to place our trust in God and offer our lives to his service.  But there is no promise of an easy ride.  The time and chance factor will affect us much the same.  In addition, God’s plan for our lives sometimes includes disappointment or suffering.  When the apostle Peter was re-commissioned (see John 21), Jesus warned him of difficult times ahead.  A similar thing happened to the apostle Pau who was warned by God that he would have to suffer (See Acts 9:15,16).

So, how should we face this new year of 2017?  The best that I could hope for would be that you might seek God’s will in your life and gladly actively surrender to it.  There will be no guarantee that bad things will not happen.  If they do, hold onto the Lord, knowing that he will never loosen his grip on you.  You may need to trust God when you cannot trace him.  On the other hand, 2017 might be filled with joy and peace.

When I started to write, it was my intention to reflect on the incident in Philip’s life as recorded in Acts 8:26-40.  When Philip went to Samaria it was apparently to escape persecution in Jerusalem.  Making Samaria his destination appears to be a random decision.  But here is a man who has yielded his life to the Lord, and who is ready to grasp the opportunities that came his way.  So, he uses this new situation to proclaim the gospel to any who would hear him.  God blesses his ministry and grants signs and wonders.  Luke, the author of Acts, tells us that many believed and that there was great joy in the city.  It sounds like revival. 

Then in the midst of all that is happening, God calls him away from the revival to go back to Jerusalem and wait on the road that went to Gaza. It appears illogical.  There were still Christians and Christian leaders living in Jerusalem.  Why not use them?  We are not told the reason.  It might be that Philip had some experience of cross-cultural evangelism. Perhaps it was his notable readiness to share the story of Jesus with others.  Whatever the reason, God uses him to bring an Ethiopian civic official to faith in Jesus.   In God’s economy, reaching this one man was more important than the crowd in Samaria at that time.

But the extraordinary experiences in Philip’s life do not end with the Ethiopian being baptised.  God takes him off to yet another place where he once more engages in sharing the good news about Jesus.  Philip’s life seems, on one hand, to be a series of random happenings.  It is his response to these situations that turn chance into blessing, and through which God works out his purposes.  Similarly, the missionary activities of Paul and his team are not always clearly directed by God, yet he uses each situation to share the good news and discover what God wants to do wherever he is.  Even in prison, Paul sees this as an opportunity gained to lead his captors to the Lord (See Philippian 1: 12-14).

My prayer for you, as a tick of a clock moves us from one year to another, is that you will start this year by offering this time to God.  You will start it with who you are and where you are.  Seek to find God’s purposes at this moment.  Use the opportunities it brings to share the good news and do good works. In the process, you will be changed.   Then be ready for whatever comes your way.  May you find peace from God, whatever the circumstances, and prosper in his service.  Now that’s a happy new year.

“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, just as you are progressing spiritually. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it.” (3John 2-3)

Barry
21 December 2016









Wednesday 21 December 2016

Exchanging Greetings

Unusual circumstances this year have led to two problems with Christmas cards in our house, both caused by restricted time.  The first of these is that we only started sending out cards two days ago.  With several hundred to go out, it’s has been a hard job.  A few have had to go first class and we still have some in a pile waiting for addresses to be checked.  The second problem is finding somewhere to put all the cards we have received (great to get letters with some too).  So, they are still in an untidy pile.

One thing that annoys me is the habit some people have of feeling they must send a card back to everyone who has sent them one.  Last Christmas Eve I dropped a few off by hand quite late.  I was amazed to get a couple back the next morning!  I fear that I am unlikely to have reciprocated for every card received this year.  But while some find the whole practise of sending and receiving cards a chore, I do value the cards we receive.  A few have been hand-made.  I wonder at the amount of time this will have taken.  Others include cards that clearly have been carefully chosen, such as one from a sister in law and one from our former foster son (well, at 47 it no longer seems right to call him our foster son, but he’s still our boy!).

My late colleague, Monica, was more gregarious than me and attracted an amazing number of good friends.  Often there was no room to display all the Christmas cards she received.  I think that she also sometimes packed them up and took them with her if she was away over Christmas.  She did something wonderful with Christmas cards she received.  Monica was single, and during the holiday period, had some times on her own.  During these times, she systematically went through the cards received, pausing over each one to say a prayer, or to give thanks for the person or people who had sent them.  I think that is an amazing expression of love and appreciation for the greetings exchanged.

Maybe I’ll try to make some time when I can do that this year – or as they come down (once I get them up!).  How about you?

When I moved into the East Midlands eleven years ago, I was amazed to find that in a town of around 20,000 people, folk greeted strangers that they passed.  It seemed more friendly than down south.  But I was slightly disturbed by the greeting “Are you alright?” as it made me wonder if I looked ill.  I’ve got used to it now.  In case you do not know the standard reply, is “I’m good, how are you?”.  I guess it’s not much different from the traditional, “How do you do?” which does not expect and answer to the question, but does expect a “How do you do” in return.

When I first entered Christian ministry, I was trained by a first-class mission secretary to begin letters with the words “Greetings in the precious name of Jesus!”  I still do that occasionally.  I also love the greeting at church, “God is good” to which the congregation should respond with “All the time”, and then the process is reversed by the service leader.  I am informed that early Christians greeted one another with the word “Maranatha”, which is Aramaic for “Come, O Lord”.  This was especially precious during times of persecution within the Roam Empire.

One American Conference speaker told of a situation during a conference in the States where he had spoken about the second coming, and informed his congregation of the Maranatha greeting.  Early the following morning he went out for a run and saw two women (he described them as blue rinse ladies) jogging towards him.  As they recognised who was approaching them they quickly engaged in conversation together.  Then, as the passed, they greeted him with “Marijuana, brother” (pronounced marawana).  Well it was nearly right!

In the prison choir I lead on Tuesday afternoons (it’s like my day off with some added value), I have a North Korean prisoner and was glad that I had been taught how to greet him properly in his language, including the bow.  More recently, we have had the addition of a Chinese Christian.  Not content with the basic “Nee How” greeting in Mandarin Chinese, I have been learning how to greet him, and the folk at our local Chinese Takeaway with more sophisticated expressions.  I love getting the appropriate response, which I presume signals that the smile is not just one of bemusement at some mispronunciation or something worse!

I believe that Charles Finney, the 19th Century revivalist, used to sometimes greet people with the words, “Do I meet you in revival?”.  Another Christian leader would ask, “Do I meet you praying?”  Both greetings carry a challenge.

By contrast, the Hebrew greeting, “Shalom” is a word of peace.  But it carries deep meanings, also implying that there is nothing of a negative nature between those exchanging this greeting.  It is essentially a form of blessing.

At the opposite end of a meeting, there are similar words of blessing in various languages.  For example, “Goodbye” is a simplification of “God be with you”.  “Adios” in Spanish is basically meaning “Go with God”.  I hear many Christians say, “Goodbye, and God bless you”, but not always to non-Christian contacts.  Why not?

I don’t want to fret over whether it should be happy Christmas or merry Christmas. Usually, whoever is using either expression means the same.  Merry is probably better as it does not contain the implication of chance, whereas the word happy does. It is possible to merry (a pleasant state of mind) without alcohol!

So, I pray that you will have a merry Christmas, brought about by the conscious enjoyment of God’s super abundant blessing.  I hope we will all greet the New Year prayerfully and seek to pass its days in revival.

No prayer requests this time (even though I could give you quite a few). Instead, why not take some time out over the next few days to return thanks and praise to God, not just for the occasional blessings that have come our way, but for whom God has been revealed to be through scripture and our experience?  After all…., God is good

(Did you respond?)


Barry

Monday 12 December 2016

No More Shadows

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a hymn that had meant a great deal to me.  I was delighted to receive more than the usual responses as various people wrote about how the same hymn had also meant much to them. Others wrote about old hymns and new songs that brought blessing into their lives.  Such was the response that it seemed to me that there might be a series about hymns.  Certainly, I have a number that have meant much to me over the years.  But the one I will write about here is one that I composed at a moment of extraordinary inspiration (they do not come that often!).

The Mission Team was working in the east End of London.  It was an extraordinary location for a team of rural evangelists.  There was a friendly link with the curate, the Rev’d Felix Dias Abeysinghe, whose daughter was at Bible college with one of the team.  But the Vicar of St Mark’s, Dalston was also keen that the mission programme should reach into the parish and not pull in people from other parts of the city.  Parish missions was our strength, and we had a very special time over those days.

I cannot remember much about the accommodation other than the small cloakroom in the church tower where I had to wash and shave each day.  My back was towards the only window, which meant that, since there was no electric light on the facing wall, I shaved each day in shadow.  That is until one particular morning.  That day the sun was especially bright.  As its rays hit the frosted glass of the window, the light was so dispersed around the room that the whole of it was bathed in brilliant light.  There was not one shadow.

Almost immediately, words began to form in my head.  Within a matter of minutes the words of the hymn that became known as the Dalston Mission hymn were written.  The first two lines are

When shadows fade before the morning bright,
And faith, at last, gives way to glorious sight.

It is essentially an Advent hymn, looking for that moment when Jesus comes again.  There’s an old Sankey hymn written by Fanny Crosby with similar thoughts that goes, “On that bright and golden morning, when the Son of Man shall come, And the radiance of His glory we shall see, When from ev’ry clime and nation He shall call His people home, What a gath’ring of the ransomed that will be!”.  Another hymn about the second coming is “When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound…”.  The second verse goes, “On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise, and the glory of His resurrection share; When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.”.

In our life on earth there are many things that cast shadows including the loss of a loved one, times of chronic illness, the loss of friendships, hurtful and abusive words and actions.  But just as the shadows in that cloakroom vanished before the scattered brightness of the morning sun in Dalston, so it will be when we see Jesus.

Here are the words that came to me that morning:
When shadows fade before the morning bright;
And faith, at last, gives way to glorious sight;
And earth’s embrace no longer holds me tight,
I shall see Jesus, I shall see Jesus

Shall sad remorse begin to fill my mind?
Or, do you think, like Peter I will find
Tears of regret are stopped by words so kind?
When I see Jesus, when I see Jesus.

While myriad voices with new rapture sing,
And cause the heavens with their praise to ring;
And there with them my grateful thanks I’ll bring
To praise my Jesus; to praise my Jesus.

I wonder what my heart will find to say;
I think ‘twill all be praise; no prayer to pray!
I shall be satisfied when on that day
I see my Jesus, I see my Jesus!

Copyright ©Barry Osborne 1974

I do sometimes wonder about the many times I have let the Lord down.  It has caused me to wonder whether a sense of shame might cloud that moment when I see Jesus.  However, the gracious way in which the risen Lord reacted to Peter by the lake (see John 21), has given me hope.  Incidentally, if you would like to sing this hymn, it goes very well to Sine Nomine, which we usually sing to “For all the saints who from their labour rest…”

As a new Christian in my teens, I used to attend Advent Testimony Preparation Meetings which focused on biblical prophecy concerning the second coming.  Of course, there are various views on what will happen and in which order.  I have a very special friend, called Alfred Lavender, who was a colleague in my early mission years.  On rather particular Christian quizzed him once as to which school of interpretation he inclined to, whether he was a pre-millenialist. post-millenialist or an amillennialist. He wittily retorted that he subscribed to the Peter School of Prophetic Interpretation.  His bemused inquisitor asked what that meant, to which Alfred replied, “I’ll wait until its fulfilment and declare this is what was prophesied”!  As Peter did on the Day of Pentecost.

While I am far less certain, these days, of the order of events when Jesus will come again (and please do not try to enlighten me), I miss the sense of anticipation that fired us up in those Advent Testimony Preparation Meetings.  Advent is a season when we need to be reminded of our call to be Christians living ready in the expectation of that coming which will take most people by surprise. I conclude with some lines from one of those meetings.  “Are you ready? Ready for the trump and shout of voice?  Will his coming make you tremble, or cause you to rejoice? Are you walking with him daily, making him your care?  Do you live so close to heaven, that a breath could waft you there?”

From the Diary
You may be aware that not long ago, Doreen, my wife, suffered a fall and had to go to hospital for 24 hours.  Since coming home I have taken on the role of carer, and now (temporarily) plan work around my caring duties.  Please give thanks for the help given and offered from local Christian friends.  Please pray that she will get regular physiotherapy.

I am afraid that these circumstances mean that Christmas letters and cards have not yet been written, and may not get written.

Planning 2017 is a priority.  There are a host of meetings and on-line seminars to be scheduled.  Please pray for wisdom.

Much of what I do has a team-ministry dimension, and right now I am dependent upon my colleagues more than ever.  Give thanks as various good women and men step up to the mark, for the things that my current restrictions make difficult.

I hope to get another Praise & Prayer News written before Christmas.  But, just in case, I pray that you will have a very blessed Christmas as we celebrate the greatest gift of all time.


Barry
11/12/2016