Heaven, Hell and “Love Wins”

Posted on Thursday, April 7, 2011 by rupert

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Rob Bell, a US megachurch pastor, and renowned speaker and author has set the US evangelical world alight with a controversial book, called “Love Wins” – a look at heaven, hell and the scope of salvation.

The UK reaction seems a little more restrained, but none-the-less the book has prompted the Evangelical Alliance to write a response (and a book review).

One sentence from that statement I find interesting:

It is recognised that there may be strong feelings about Bell’s alleged departure from the majority traditional view that heaven is reserved only for those who profess faith in Christ and, perhaps, for infants who die within the church community before being able to make such a profession.

There are lots of different approaches to the scope of salvation, and I find it surprising that the EA determines that there is a “majority traditional view”.  I might have agreed with that a few years ago, but I suspect that isn’t the case any more.  I suspect that there is still a widespread support for the view of salvation they espouse, but I also suspect there is a growing and vocal call for something wider, more hopeful, and some would say, more Biblical.

Part of the Christian faith and creed is that Jesus Christ is our God and Saviour.  The issue here is: what does is mean for Jesus to be our saviour?  Saviour to who?  And how?  And these are questions that Rob Bell is exploring in his book.  But before discussing Rob Bell’s book, it is worth outlining some (general) positions that people have taken on the scope of salvation…

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Celebrating 25 years

Posted on Thursday, September 30, 2010 by rupert

No not our wedding anniversary, but 25 years in our church building, The King’s Hall.

To be strictly accurate, I wasn’t around in 1985 when the church, then called Edinburgh City Fellowship moved into an old Church of Scotland building that was being vacated.  I have heard the stories, rather like a family pass down its folklore from one generation to another, of digging the baptismal tank, tiling the toilets, and night after night being spent in the hall to make it fit for a young and vibrant congregation.

Last Sunday, we had an opportunity to recount those stories, not just of how the building was converted to a modern day worship centre, but also of the people, the worship, the teaching, the lives changed through those years.  Many of the stories were from olden days, but more recent attendees remarked on the sense of community and the space to think about faith for oneself.  The fruit continues.

Over the years, alongside the many wonderful and great things our God has done in the building and more importantly in the people who have come to that building (either for one off events or week by week, day by day to worship, learn or work) there has also been our fair share of pain and disappointment.  But despite the brokenness of human beings, God has brought beauty from ashes, gladness from mourning, and praise from despair.

When the building was bought from the Church of Scotland, they wanted the building to continue as a place of worship and that has been at the heart of what the church has been about the last 25 years.  One contribution last Sunday talked of the church being an oasis, a place where people would come to drink and be refreshed in the midst of journeying through the desert.  Some might only come once, others have made it their home.

I was inspired with a strong sense that this building, although only stones and mortar, is a place that people have come to meet with a God who loves them, and we need to continue that and deepen that, over the next 25 years.

Although we were looking back over the last 25 years, we were also looking forward to the next 25 years.  A new season is dawning, and new era of people are emerging who will continue to tell the story of a God who loves people, in the community of people we call “Community Church Edinburgh”, in Edinburgh and to the nations.

It was good to be reminded of some of what God has done, and great to be inspired of what lies ahead as we find the presence of God among us.

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Mediating Interpersonal Conflict

Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2010 by rupert

wooden bridge In July, I attended a second course with Bridge Builders (the last being in May 2009 at the beginning of my sabbatical last year).  This course was  whole devoted to learning how to mediate a conflict between two people when they have fallen out.

I have been in situations where there has been conflict, and I have hoped to help, but haven’t quite known how to do that effectively.  I have also been in conflict situations, and know the devastating effect that has on those people in conflict and those affected by the conflict, maybe because they are friends or part of the church where the leaders have fallen out. 

There has to be a better way on handling conflict, and helping others in conflict, to avoid conflict escalating and damaging factions and schisms forming.

Underlying this, is a conviction I have that of all people, Christians ought to be the ones who are able to find a way through conflict.  After all, the heart of the good news we believe in is the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation, of new starts, and healed relationships.  Unfortunately, it often seems that churches are riddled with damaging conflicts, unresolved and festering, ending with people slinking off or erupting in mudslinging.

In most conflicts, people fall out over something.  Something happens, something is decided, something is said.  The ‘something’ is the trigger for a souring of relations.  Sometimes, these ‘somethings’ build up over time, layer upon layer, and it isn’t at all obvious what the ‘something’ is, that caused the conflict.

A lot of mediation focuses on identifying these ‘somethings’ – the issues that are causing conflict – and then helping the individuals to find solutions that are mutually acceptable.  To find a better way on handing this ‘something’.

For example, two flatmates may fall out over the washing up.  Mediation focuses on identifying this as a core issue of conflict, and finding a mutually acceptable way of moving forward with the washing up.

As essential and helpful as this is, it doesn’t necessarily help with restoring the relationship.  The two friends may have agreed a way of doing the washing up in the flat, but the bad feeling still exists between them.

A core component of the mediation we were learning to do, was to move between the problem solving element of the conflict and the relationship element:  helping the individuals ‘heal’ the relationship.  At the heart of mediation, I believe, is forgiveness and reconciliation – the restoring of love and compassion for the other person.

In the example I have used, it is not only finding a way of doing the washing up in a way that is mutually acceptable, it is also restoring the friendship between two people who are living together.

Of course many conflicts are with issues that are far deeper, and more ingrained than a dispute about washing up, but the principle remains the same, that with some skilled facilitation, the relationship and the conflict can be transformed. 

Wouldn’t it be great to see the church as the place where conflict can be handled constructively, and we become a place where forgiveness and reconciliation is what we can offer to world around that knows so little of this?

 

© Photograph is copyright Gary Barber and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

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An eighty mile journey to build a bridge

Posted on Monday, November 9, 2009 by rupert

old-wooden-bridge Jesus, when he taught, often told stories that provoked and unsettled the status quo.  He draw images and pictures from the world around him, that were familiar to his hearers.  But he would put a little spin on a story that would be surprising, that would evoke emotion, and move people from the acceptance of the status quo, to see something different about God, themselves or the world in which they live.

Our problem, in reading these stories, is twofold.  Firstly, the images and pictures don’t mean much in our world.  We aren’t farmers, or there isn’t a temple, or our weddings are conducted differently.  They don’t connect with us, in the way they would have done in first century Israel.  Secondly, the stories themselves are so familiar to us, that they lose their impact.  We have heard them so often, listened to explanations, or sometimes they have been incorporated into popular culture (eg. the Good Samaritan), and the surprise is gone, and with it the uncomfortable feelings that might just persuade us to act, to do something, to step out of the status quo.

So when Jesus said…

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.  (Mt 5:23-24)

…his original hearers would have understood exactly what he was saying.  And they would have been shocked, surprised, and possibly annoyed.  But we don’t necessarily ‘get it’ because we don’t have a temple, offer animals as sacrifices, nor know the geography of the land in which they lived.

Jesus was speaking in Galilee, some 80 miles from Jerusalem, where the temple was and gifts were offered.  So, says Jesus, if you people of Galilee are in Jerusalem, about to offer some gift as a freewill offering to God in the temple, and you remember someone who is offended with you, you are angry with, and your relationship is distanced or broken down, then you leave your animal with the priest, and go home.  Go back to Galilee (where almost certainly this offended person would reside).  Walk those 80 miles, to go meet with that person, to try to be reconciled with him.  That would be around 3 days travel, just to get back to Galilee.  Then another 3 days back to Jerusalem to offer you gift.  Oh, and another 3 days travel to return home again.

That is to say nothing about the gift.  Gifts in those days weren’t nice presents wrapped in colourful paper, with a bow on.  No, gifts offered at the altar were mostly animals: birds, lambs etc.  What were they supposed to do with this gift?  What happens if they returned a week later to find the gift had gone?  Walked off?  Flown away?  Been used by someone else?

Why didn’t Jesus just say, if you remember you have a broken relationship, well offer your gift and then rush back to build a bridge with your friend or neighbour who is offended?

I think Jesus didn’t say that because it wouldn’t have communicated how important building bridges in relationships is to Jesus.  I think Jesus didn’t say that because it would have left his hearers nodding wisely in agreement, but not doing anything about their wronged brothers.  I think Jesus didn’t say that because it wouldn’t have motivated his hearers to make that incredibly hard journey to reach out to someone to try to resolve differences.

So Jesus invited his hearers to take an incredibly difficult 80 mile journey home, to build a bridge in a broken relationship, and then another 80 miles back again to offer their gift at the altar.  So really this post should be have the title:  A one hundred and sixty mile journey to build a bridge!

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Be Silent

Posted on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 by rupert

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Be silent.

Be still.

Wait before your God.

Say nothing.

Ask nothing.

Be still.

Let your God look upon you

That is all.

God knows.

God understands

God loves you with an enormous love.

God only wants to look upon you with love.

Quiet.

Still.

Be.

Let your God love you.

A Julian contemplation. Edwina Gateley

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Prayer is Coming to Stillness

Posted on Monday, November 2, 2009 by rupert

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This was part of what was shared at the recent Prayer and Spirituality Evening, looking at stillness.  In a previous post, I looked at some practical ways in which we can nurture a stillness in our minds and bodies.  Andrew Hook talks here about the need for stillness as we come to pray:

Spirituality is embodied prayer, prayer that seeps out into the way we view ourselves, others, God and the life itself. On the Radio 4 program Something Understood the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in his discussion on prayer with Mark Tully, makes a number of important comments (to read a transcript of part of the interview see the “read more” section at the end of the post) . He talks of making room for the welling up of Christ’s life with us but states we have to still our body and mind and let something flower, or put another way, in the words of the poet Mary Oliver, ‘make space for another voice to be heard.

It is impossible to pay profound attention while living out a frenzied life. Williams refers to our absence rather than God’s, that we are not present to the moment – to where we are. We are often in multiple places and ahead of ourselves, disconnected from our inner self and our bodies. He says that we have to wait and stay with it, for this convergence, for this seeping of one with the other, and that there is a habit of listening or letting things happen to be cultivated.

Concentrating on our minds for a moment…
  • Our minds are addicted to thinking, they have to be trained to pay attention (to what is). Our thoughts are preoccupied with the past and the future. There is always only now, which is where God is found. We strategise, plan, forecast. We try to be ahead of the game. We compete and compare and often stay at this level.
  • The mind has been compared a multitude of monkeys jabbering and flitting from branch to branch in a tree and to wild horses running round a paddock. This is where we live most of the time. So what to do with the mind, this fussy, distracted defensive mind?
  • “Thoughts are like rubber balls, the harder we throw them away, the harder they bounce back at us. Gently lay the ball down by focussing it not resisting it.” suggests the writer Simon Small. We notice them, but don’t judge them.
  • A Scripture can act as form of soft focus. Not something to intently chew on like a football manager on the sidelines of a game but a gentle distraction for the mind.

A few words on the body…

It’s not that I have a body but I am a body. Creation, incarnation, resurrection (Jesus’ and then our own) all point to increasing levels of embodiment. Matter matters. The spiritual and the physical are intimately entwined. In Celtic thought the body is the echo or mirror of the soul. The image of God has been woven into the fabric of our being, notes the Celtic writer Philip Newell. The Blessed Trinity dwells deep within our bodies and so we aim to allow this life of Christ to well up is us like a tide.

So, when we pay attention to the present moment, without commentary or judgement to both the inner and outer worlds, the mind begins to still. Space appears around and between thought. A seed is planted and will mature.

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Spirituality and Prayer Evening 1 – Stillness

Posted on Thursday, October 15, 2009 by rupert

margaret-silf-taste-and-see Margaret Silf, one of my favourite authors on prayer, describes stillness as being “10 feet down”, below the surface of the choppy waters of our lives where we mostly live.

The purpose of stilling ourselves is to bring us down to the deeper currents of our hearts, where we can begin to notice what we are really feeling, what is moving us at a deeper level of our being, and where these feelings and movements have their roots.  And it is precisely in those deep currents that God is speaking to our hearts, revealing our innermost desires and fears to us, inviting us to reach out towards the deepest desire of our hearts and to surrender our fears and hurts to his healing…

Margaret Silf.  Taste and See.

glass of muddy water But stilling ourselves is difficult.  One image Silf uses is a glass of muddy water, that is shaken, disturbed, stirred around.  When we stop to pray, while we might be still in our bodies, internally we are still rushing around, swirling like the muddy water.  Our mind racing around to things that have happened, or jobs and tasks that need to be done.  But gradually, as we learn how to still ourselves, we find the mud settles in the glass, the water becomes clearer and our mind and body become present to the moment, rather than dwelling in the past or future.

We can learn how to become still.  In our western culture, that so values speed and productivity, we have lost touch with the value of slowing down, but this is essential, as we come to prayer.  We simply can not expect to find a centred place of stillness if we treat prayer as one more activity to do in our packed days.  Our approach to prayer is as important as the prayer itself.  I try to slow down about half an hour before I come to pray.  A slow shower, enjoying the water drops cleansing me.  A cup of coffee, hot and steaming, and slowly sipped.  Enjoying a piece of toast, slowly savoured.  All of this prepares me to pray.  My body and mind slowing down, as I prepare to meet the God of all creation.

Our environment is also crucial.  Prayer, when we feeling uncomfortable, is nigh impossible.  We become more aware of our aching joints or cold toes, than the Divine Presence.  A comfortable chair, arms supported, back straight.  Not so comfortable that I fall asleep, but a posture of openness and alertness.  As we sit, we become aware of our breathing.  I find deliberately slowing down my breathing helps me to slow down, and with each breath, I breathe out any worries or concerns, things that are on my mind; and breathe in the peace of Christ.

Other things can help us slow down and find that place of stillness.  Some people find images helpful.  Or a candle.  Or stones.  A scripture, not to read, dissect and understand, but a phrase to repeat over again, that focuses my thoughts and heart on the Lord.  My current one is Psalm 18:1 – “I love you, O Lord, my strength.”

And then when we begin to find a place of centeredness and stillness, we can pay attention to what we notice.  What do we notice about our hearts?  Our emotions?  Our hopes and fears?  Our  desires?  And God, where is He?  What do we notice about Him?  His posture?  His “face”?  His movement towards us?

There are many times when I find this kind of stillness elusive.  My mind racing to the next thing of the day, and I can’t reign these thoughts back in.  But perseverance is essential, and those moments of being fully (or even partially) present to God are worth the wait and all the times of not being present and still in prayer.

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Rahab the Do-Nothing

Posted on Thursday, October 8, 2009 by rupert

wall Last Sunday, I spoke from Isa 30:1-14, in the first part of a two talks continuing to look at why we don’t pray – part 2 is this Sunday.  We also built a wall – click on the photo for a larger image, and read on to find out what it was all about…

When Isaiah spoke this oracle, the Assyrian Empire had already destroyed and taken into captivity the northern Kingdom of Israel, and was threatening the southern Kingdom of Judah.  The year is probably 701BC, and Hezekiah is King of Judah, although he isn’t mentioned in this passage.  While he was in general a good king, the leaders of Judah had decided that the only way to stop the superior might of the Assyrian armies was to form an alliance with Egypt who would protect them (vs. 1-5).

This alliance was not a equal partnership as we might think of two nations forming today.  The only way to get Egypt’s help was to buy it – to cart over the Negev desert that separates Judah and Egypt some of the national wealth to secure the military help of Egypt (vs 6).

A reasonable response you might think.  But along comes Isaiah and says that this is not a plan that the Lord is happy with, nor one that they consulted Him about (vs 1&2).  In fact it will only end in their disgrace and shame (vs. 3-5), because Egypt is utterly useless, as the Lord calls them “Rahab the Do-Nothing”.  (vs 7)

[Click on “read rest of entry” to finish article…]

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Learning to Pray

Posted on Thursday, October 8, 2009 by rupert

praying hands This Monday (12th October) I am starting a series of six evenings in church (mainly Monday nights once a month), to help people to learn to pray.  I have mentioned before, but I am constantly amazed at the disciples (who remember were good Jews and therefore steeped in the Jewish tradition of prayer) after living with Jesus for while they asked him to teach them to pray.  There was obviously something about the way Jesus prayed that inspired them to greater depths of prayer.

However experienced or long we have been a praying people, there is always so much to learn.  And we learn to pray by praying.  Insights, understanding, encouragement from others can all help to inspire us to pray.  But we learn to pray, when we actually pray.  So Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question was:  “When you pray…”  (Lk 11:1-2).

So these series of evenings won’t teach us to pray.  But they might help us learn how to pray.  We will be looking at different aspects of prayer during the evening, but the main component will be individual prayer itself – trying out different ways of praying, tools and resources!  And then some time to reflect and learn together on what was helpful and difficult about the prayer.

The topics we will be looking at include: finding stillness in our bodies and minds; rhythm and liturgy & the structures that helps us when life is busy or prayer is difficult; meditation and imaginative contemplation on Scripture; different personalities and prayer – finding what works for us.  All the dates and content each evening can be found here.

If you do wish to come along, please get in contact with me.

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Why don’t we pray? – Part 6

Posted on Thursday, October 1, 2009 by rupert

This Sunday I will be continuing to look at reasons why we don’t pray.  Generally, Christians know the value of prayer, but mostly we still struggle to pray.

It has often been thus.  Even in the days of Israel, keeping God at arms length served their purposes.  Isaiah parodied their response:

Give us no more visions of what is right!
       Tell us pleasant things,
       prophesy illusions.

Leave this way,
       get off this path,
       and stop confronting us
       with the Holy One of Israel!

(Isa 30:10-11)

This almost seems an unbelievable response.  How can it be possible for God’s people to prefer to keep God away?  Is it possible that we, too, don’t want God to come too close?  Could a lack of prayer highlight a far deeper problem about our trust in God?

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