- Jun 3, 2016
With June upon us, we are well into the church wedding season. When we are asked to attend a church wedding, the invitation generally comes to us in one of three forms. These variations are like old-fashioned railway tickets! First class is when we are invited to attend the wedding ceremony, the reception meal and the ‘do’ in the evening. Second class is when we are welcomed to the wedding ceremony and the evening party. Third class is when more casual acquaintances are invited to attend the church service, should they feel inclined, but no RSVP is necessary.
I want to challenge such a way of thinking. To be invited to attend a church wedding ceremony is a great privilege. When we are ushered to our seat in the church, we are not there simply as an impartial observer, nor an interested spectator and certainly not to justify our place at the reception meal. No, we are there as a participant. We are present to bear witness to the life-long covenant being entered into between a man and a woman by means of verbal promises. We are also witnesses to the fact that these promises have been declared not only publicly, but also in the presence of God. Lastly, we are there to worship God for who he is, to praise and thank him for the institution of marriage and to ask for his blessing upon the couple’s life together.
I imagine that some people attending church weddings cannot help asking themselves, ‘In today’s culture, is the content of the Christian church wedding ceremony realistic?’ After all, a recent report suggests that of children being born today 50% will have experienced family breakdown by the time they are 16 years old.
The Christian wedding ceremony is formulated in such a way as to assume that there will be three in the marriage, husband, wife and God himself . Marriage is God’s idea. I am convinced that he wants to help us in our marriages. In the Bible, God enters into covenant relationship (we may legitimately read that term as marriage-like relationship) with his people. ‘I will be your God and you will be my people’ he says. The Christian gospel is that Jesus is issuing wedding invitations, calling us to become one of God’s own people, and he marks it RSVP. This should not seem foreign to us as much of it is referred to in the Christian marriage service.
Using the illustration of wedding and marriage, Jesus is urging us to go the whole hog and get hitched to God (Matthew 11v28). If we do, he then makes available to us his power to live in a way that pleases God, which includes help in fulfilling our own marriage vows.
- May 6, 2016
Europe: should we believe and trust what the ‘stay in’ campaigners tell us, or the advocates of ‘leave’? The former are using fear as one of their artillery pieces and more recently President Obama has weighed in with threats. The ‘leave’ party are at pains to talk down the risk factors and talk up the benefits of leaving the EU. I would like to know whether either side can speak authoritatively about how leaving would pan out in practice. I suggest that no-one really knows.
For some, there is a similar type of dilemma when it comes to the existence of God. On the one hand we have groups such as the humanists and new atheists who tell us that we must leave God out of our world view and, in so doing, things will be better. Then there are the religious, of various persuasions, who are convinced that God is essential to our understanding of the world and our lives in it. Most people probably feel ill-equipped to understand the complex arguments encompassing the ‘leave God in’ or ‘leave God out’ debate. As with the EU issue what is needed is an authoritative voice.
Now, imagine a politician of impeccable character, utterly trustworthy and who has a complete grasp of all the facts; one who is equally aware of past present and future. Wouldn’t the guidance of such a person make our choice in the polling booth on 23rd June so much easier? There is, of course, no such person to help us with the EU dilemma. However, in the ‘existence of God’ debate, Christians say that there is such a person of authority. His name is Jesus Christ and he has much to say and demonstrate on the subject of God.
Jesus says that what he tells us is true. He says that his way is the right one; that believing his truth and paying heed to his way will give us life of an eternal quality. He sums all this up by saying ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’.
With statements such as this we may well ask what credentials does Jesus have for claiming such authority? This is precisely what the religious leaders were asking of Jesus 2000 years ago. God himself provides the credentials by raising Jesus from the dead. We may be sceptical of our politicians; are we going to be sceptical of Jesus also?
- Apr 4, 2016
In his resignation letter, former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has publicly questioned the sincerity of the government’s claim that in regard to austerity measures ‘We are all in it together’. For those struggling to make ends meet, even a small drop in income can have a profound effect, especially upon those receiving welfare benefits and in particular the disabled. Trying to assist disabled people find jobs is not a simple thing and to reduce financial support in the meantime only adds to their burden. It would appear that Iain Duncan Smith feels this keenly.
Many disabled people of working age would love to be engaged in fulfilling employment. To work hard and so be rewarded is all part of God’s creative plan for us. If we sow hard work we should expect to reap the satisfaction of being able to provide for our needs and, yes to some extent, the needs of others. Indeed, earning enough money to pay taxes is one way of providing for the needs of others.
Now, let me throw in a grenade to explode a misconception. Because hard work ought to be rewarded with fair wages, some people think that if we work reasonably hard in the moral and religious realm then, come the heavenly pay day (Judgement Day), God will credit us with a place in heaven. Jesus tells a controversial parable to turn this thinking upside down...
A landowner went to the labour exchange at the start of the day and, having agreed to pay them a denarius for 12 hours work, he sent men into his field. He took on further workers three hours later saying he would pay them what was right. The landowner did the same at midday, three o’clock and five o’clock. At sunset, he proceeded to pay them starting with those who had spent 11 hours at the labour exchange and one hour in the field. They received a denarius. Seeing this, those who had laboured all day in the field assumed that they were in line for a bigger pay packet. But no, all were paid one denarius. Those that had done the bulk of the work were angry with the landowner, but he proceeded to point out that they had agreed the payment rate and so were not being treated unjustly. He then said rather pointedly, ‘Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what is mine, or are you envious that I choose to be generous to these others?’
So what was Jesus driving at? Simply this, that God is willing and pleased to treat us according to our need and not according to what we assume we deserve. Jesus wants us to ponder how this generosity of God applies to our thinking when it comes to securing our eternal destiny. Are we looking to what we reckon we deserve from God or to his undeserved generosity? This generosity is what Christians call ‘Amazing Grace’.