- Steve Richards
- Jul 7, 2017
Picture the scene; it is mid-June and it has been a warm summer evening at Eastnor Castle. Cliff Richard has just finished his outdoor concert. The crowds are walking back to their cars in a nearby field. The chatter is happy and relaxed; it has been an enjoyable evening.
Amongst the crowd are my wife and daughter. They know just where the car is because, when they parked, they took note of its position relative to a couple of trees and a floodlight. As they join the slow-moving queue to exit the field, they hear snippets of conversation from other people trying to locate their own vehicle.
‘Where is my car, where did we put it?’
‘It was behind a motorhome.’ But the motorhome was no longer there.
‘We were near the middle of the sixth row….’ With many cars having vacated their parking slot, it was impossible to tell where the rows had been!
Some people were looking lost and went to the marshals to see if they could help. The best these could offer was, ‘Wait until the end and see what’s left!’ Others, not so readily phased, were saying ‘Let’s do it systematically.’ This brought the response, ‘Okay, but should we split up or stick together?’ As time went on, a few people were becoming quite frantic, one lady waving her key fob and clicking it hoping to activate her car’s lights from a distance.
I imagine a number of people, intent and excited about getting to their seat in order to see Cliff, never gave a thought as to how they would find their way back to their car. Others did better and noted roughly where in the field they were positioned or what distinctive vehicles were adjacent. This latter group, however, failed to consider that they were looking to transient things for their orientation. Thankfully my wife and daughter made the two trees and a floodlight their reference point - things that weren’t about to move.
In the account above, the worst that could have happened would have been a departure delayed by a couple of hours or so. Of more lasting significance is how we each orientate our lives. What are our reference points, how strong and stable are they or can they move like shifting sand?
Money, sex, power, political and philosophical ideologies, government, friendships and relationships - as much as we may wish it were different - do disappoint us. They cannot ultimately deliver that for which our hearts yearn.
God presents Jesus to us, calling him The Rock. He urges us to receive him as our life’s foundation stone. While he isn’t, we are in danger of putting our life’s weight on shifting sand.
- Steve Richards
- Jun 2, 2017
This Sunday is what some mark as Whit Sunday. Whitsuntide is when we are reminded of the birth of the Christian Church, looking back to when God’s Holy Spirit was first poured out upon the followers of Jesus.
In recent decades, this country has been caught up in a tide of secularism. One of the minor casualties has been the sidelining of Whitsun which in former days, like Christmas and Easter, warranted a bank holiday (It has been supplanted by the Spring Bank Holiday). More importantly, in our schools there has been a dumbing-down of Christianity and, in general, bland acts of corporate worship/assemblies. This has resulted in an ignorance of Christian basics. It seems to me that this ignorance is greater now than at any time since this country was first deemed to be Christian.
In the Old Testament, we can read of times when the people of Israel were similarly ignorant of God’s ways and, indeed, of God himself. God’s own spokesmen, the prophets, declared that there was a famine in the land; a famine not of food but of the Word of God.
This concept of ‘the Word of God’ may sound a bit lofty to us. Look at it this way: we get an indication of what a person is like by the things they say with words. This, however, does not give us a thoroughgoing idea of who they are, because their words may be inarticulate, insincere, misleading or downright lies.
Now God is truth with a capital ‘T’. What he says, he is. So to know God’s word is to know God. The New Testament makes an amazing statement. The gospel of John opens with the words, ‘in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.’ Get it? Both God and the Word are God. Just a few verses on things become plainer. We are told that the Word took on human form and lived temporarily among us. You may know of him - Jesus.
I am excited by this because if you ask me, ‘What is God like?’, I can tell you ‘He is just like Jesus’. We can read about Jesus in the Spirit-inspired Bible. Even better, if we entrust ourselves to him, he has promised to give us his Spirit who will enable us to feed our hearts on the Word of God contained within that Bible. I suppose we could say that the Spirit is the one who lets us have a heart to heart with God. That’s a good reason for celebrating Whitsun.
- Steve Richards
- May 5, 2017
Elections are coming thick and fast. I doubt that my one vote will make a difference to the final outcome of any of them. Of course, if a number of us acted upon such a thought and failed to vote, it would be detrimental to our democracy. However, what about the choices I make when it comes to being governed by the God of the heavens and the earth? Do I choose to be a loyal and willing subject, or do I serve alternative gods which, in biblical language, are called idols?
In the Bible, God tells us to cast our vote, ‘choose life or death, blessings or curses’ and then says, ‘choose life’. He lays it on the line like this because he is the rightful Ruler over each of our lives but he knows how vulnerable we are to giving our spiritual vote to alternative rulers. These rulers (or idols), which come in all forms, will vary for each one of us. From a Christian perspective, I believe it is legitimate to say that we can identify an idol as that thing or attitude which holds us back from submitting our hearts and minds to the one true God.
We may sum up God’s election manifesto by saying that it is him putting forward Jesus Christ as his plan and ultimate purpose for the world. Look at the impeccable character of Jesus, his great power and authority, his credentials in passing sound judgement on all matters both moral and religious. He shows himself to be impartial, unmoved by the opinions of people, but deeply moved by their spiritual and physical needs.
We have already heard plenty of appeals from politicians and they will persist for the next few weeks. Meanwhile, Jesus continually makes his supreme appeal to all of us: working-class, white-collar, male or female, old or young, of whatever race. All need to know his forgiveness. With forgiveness comes reconciliation to God and with reconciliation a new dimension to our lives begins; a dimension which Jesus promises will not be snuffed out with our last breath.
We may be sceptical of promises made by the politicians even though we still give them our vote. Perhaps we will be less sceptical when we hear the appeal of Jesus when he says, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.