One Life

So here we are at the generally sunny Lincolnshire showground at the Christian celebration Grapevine 2010. Fond memories - I was at the first one which was held in what is now the canteen area. Great to see how it's grown.

As always, broad range of speakers and worship leaders plus a great prayer tent, creatively laid out to allow for quiet reflection and less quiet corporate prayer.

To date there's been a definitely Celtic feel to proceedings. Roy Todd is an Irish evangelist who did what he does best on the first evening - inspire our faith ins God who ivolves ordinary people in some extraordinary exploits, and followed that up with a powerful seminar in which we saw some amazing healings. And a good response to his Gospel invitation.

This morning's speaker, Anderew Owens is a Welshman based in Glasgow. He has seen some fantastic answers to pray and shares about encounters with God in a very down to earth, hype-free way. He has a good relationship with local politicians and businessmen to whom he describes himself as a 'social entrepreur.' His job is to improve the lives of individuals and society, the starting point to share about how his faith motives him in all this. His message was about 'the reinvention intervention' how God reinvents people throughout life, sometimes very late in life, to make an impact for the kingdom. Great to hear him say to people in their 50's "Have you thought about what you will do with the next 30 years of your life?" A great affirmation for people our society so often rights off.

Took some this afternoon to join a prayer meeting where about 40 of us met to pray about a range of issues and break bread together. Had some fun at the end with words for a couple of people which they encouragingly described, respectively, as "Spot on" and "Amazing". The best part about sharing revelation with people at event like this is that they will remember the word and have no idea about who shared it. Glory to God alone (!).

Also met some interesting people in the exheibition area. I was particularly impressed with the Street Pastors who serve people coming out of pubs and clubs late on weekend evenings. In Lincoln they've just been given rent-free access to premises by a local business and enjoy funding from the County Council's crime reduction fund. They were interested in our treasure hunting adventures and we'll swap some web references when I get access to my computer again.

And a joy to have me three friends from Mosaic. The trick now is to pace ourselves for the next few days (!).

Tell the Jubilee Centre - where to read the best Christian blogs

The Christian think tank, the Jubilee Centre, are running a competition to find top notch Christian blogs. In their own words : '...for the next two months we invite your nominations for blogs that demonstrate the continued relevance of the bible to the world today or otherwise give a Christian perspective on social and political concerns. In September, we will then let you vote on the most popular ones. Awards may go to blogs by individuals, churches, and organisations.'

Follow the link to see nominations as they come in, and do have a look through them to see if there are any you would find particular value in following.

A new blogging project, and How to read the parables

This is a bit of winding-up entry. First, tidying up a loose end. A while back I wrote a post on 'How to read the parables' based on a talk I gave. I've not published it on this blog, so here it is. Hope it's of some use.

And next. I mentioned in my last post about the Intrepid mission group and our developing and ongoing experiences with treasure hunting. I'm helping edit a blog which captures our story. As well as sharing about some of the exciting stuff we've been getting up to in Leeds and elsewhere, we also want to share what we're learning (good stuff and things we maybe wouldn't do again) and invite you to share our journey by dropping us a line with your own experiences. That will take up most of my blogging time for the foreseeable future, so if you have an RSS feed for this blog, why not set one up for Intrepid as well?

OK - here's some stuff on parables.

One of the main media Jesus used to talk about the Kingdom of God (or as Matthew’s Gospel refers to it, the Kingdom of heaven) is parables. How should we read parables? Why did Jesus use them? What did Jesus teach through them about the kingdom?

Tips on reading the parables

Here’s three. First, most parables make a variety of points. In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus tells us a parable about two sons. There’s a message for us in both the prodigal son, who blows his inheritance and is amazingly received back into his father’s household, and the second son who resented his brother’s homecoming and acceptance.

Second, parables draw you into their story and challenge your worldview. In Matthew 21:33-45 Jesus tells a parable to the religious leaders of his day. He uses many familiar images. The vineyard was a common symbol for Israel, and the owner for God. The twist comes when considering the identity of the wicked tenants and the owner’s servants. The religious leaders would probably have seen the tenants as the occupying Romans, and the servants as them - God’s true representatives. As Jesus bring the story to a climax he asks how the owner will react to the behaviour of the tenants. Thoroughly drawn into the story, Jesus’s hearers declare that the wicked tenants will be thrown out, and the vineyard given to people who will use it for the owner’s purposes rather than their own. Jesus turns their own words back on them by declaring that they - the religious rulers of the day - are the tenants, and that the time of their tenure is coming to an end. He’s sucked them into the story and challenged their view of the world.

Third, parables are rich in symbols which we need to understand to make sense of the parable. In Matthew 13:1-9 the path, rock, weeds, and good soil all stand for different kinds of people and their response to Jesus’ message. Happily for us, we have explanations of enough of the parables to see how Jesus uses these symbols.

Why did Jesus teach in parables?

The disciples asked this very question in Matthew 13:10-17. The key to understanding Jesus’s reply is in verse 11: "To you the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given." Psalm 25:14 tells us that the secret of the Lord is shared with those who fear/revere him. People came to Jesus for many reasons. He was a great story teller, fun to listen to, iconoclastic and not afraid to criticise the self-righteous religious leaders of his day. He worked miracles, and met physical needs. Many came to hear him to see what they could get from the experience. But there were other people Jesus described as having a "..noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and persevering produce a crop." (Luke 8:15). We find a number of these people in the Gospels in addition to the twelve disciples. For them, the parables reveal the secrets of the kingdom. For others, they reinforce the hardness of the hearer’s hearts and drive them further from the truth. You might say that Jesus used parables to distinguish seekers (those wanting to discover the secret of the Lord) from spectators.

Church can be a bit like this. There’s a lot goes on that is very entertaining on the surface - good music, friendship, some excellent cakes (!). What God is looking for are hearts eager to hear and retain the word, and to do something with it - persevere in it - in order to bear a crop for him.

Some things that parables tell us about the kingdom

As I said in the previous post, the parables tell us what the kingdom is ‘like’. Whilst we can gain insights into the kingdom, we will never fully grasp its power, and potential. It’s dynamic, transforming, transcending, expanding, unending and absolutely amazing!

Three words to help us remember some of this:

Place Matt 13:24-30 and Jesus’ explanation in vv 36-43. Here the seed isn’t the word, but people - Jesus’ people. We are sown in the world, and alongside us grow up other people who don’t share God’s ambition to fill the earth with those wanting to establish his kingdom (Gen 1:28; Rev 11:15). Until the end of time, tension will exist between these two groups. The rest of the New Testament has a lot to say about how practically to approach this. Most of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels is about how we live in relation to unbelieving people. 1 Peter in particular tells us how to respond to outright opposition, and Acts show how the kingdom is established through church planting. Strengthen God’s people, and grow the church numerically.

Power Matthew 13:31-33. Two parables relating to two favourite past-times : gardening and cooking. Both describe the kingdom’s ability to transform an environment in the same way a mustard tree transforms the shape and focus of a garden, and yeast leavens bread. Kingdom power often appears small, but as the growth of the church and impact of revivals show us, its transforming potential is vast.

Price Matthew 13:44-46. Two parables about people who find treasure. One’s going about his normal business and finds it buried in a field, another spends his life looking for valuable objects and then finds something more valuable than he could possibly imagine. The reaction of both is the same. Having found this treasure, everything else must come second to having it. The kingdom is priceless. Compared to it everything else we consider valuable is, as Paul says, ‘rubbish’. (Philippians 3:7).

I recommend you spend sometime over the next month reading a Gospel (even the longest one should only take two hours in total) and ask the Holy Spirit to help you in three areas:

a) to show you how to live in that part of the world Jesus has planted you, so that when people meet you, they taste the flavour of the kingdom;

b) to increase your faith and expectation in the power of the kingdom to transform people, communities and societies;

c) to show you how priceless this kingdom is, and what it will cost you.

And if you get any insights into the other parables, do let me know.

Out of the swimming pool

This particular journey started last Autumn at a conference in the Czech republic. It was the first time I'd come across Terl Bryant, a man with considerable creative flair, both as a drummer and one who can use his words to skillfully and vividly paint a picture. Speaking to a conference with a broad mix of believers he asked us what our Christian lives were more like - being in a swimming pool or out on the oceon. Swimming pools are generally safe places - predictable, confined, and if you want to pursue the image, places where the chemicals in the water destroy life. The oceons, by contrast, are as magnificent as they are dangerous, full of potential adventues, mysteries, and journeys of discovery. I very much had this is mind when I joined Intrepid - our treasure hunting mission group. I'm reasonably comfortable operating in prophetic ministry in a church context. But how about taking that out into the world beyond Christian family event? Once a fortnight we get out of the pool. We meet and ask the Holy Spirit for clues as to where to go and something about the people we will meet - appearance, name, and something for prayer. We're never sure who we might find or how people will react to being approached with the suggestion that they might be God's treasure.

It's been a fast learning curve. I've learned not to worry about not having many clues to work with. Sometimes I'll just turn up and see whom the Spirit of God leads me to when out on the street. I've learned to make the most of the team dynamic. Often it's the combination of your clues with someone else's that makes the biggest impact. And I've learned to relax. Sometimes we just have a friendly conversation with people. Sometimes we leave people intrigued. And sometimes we see powerful and amazing answers to prayer - healing, sometimes partial and sometimes total - and incredibly detailed descriptions of people's life histories. And I've learned to look out for God's agenda. One evening we got into conversation with a guy for whom we had a fairly detailed description of significant events is his lfe history. He was from a Christian family, involved with a vibrant church. But his walk with Jesus had been something of a rollercoaster and there were still issues he was working through. But by virtue of him missing a train, and us being around at the same time, he had half an hour to remember God's faithfulness and interventions throughout his life. Our faith is growing. Every time we go out it's with the nervous excitement of wondering where the Spirit will take us. For me the next step is to get sharper at hearing what God wants to say to people once we find them, for the encounter to be even more profound, and to leave them with the unmistakeable sense that the universe is bigger than they are and that there is a God in it who is looking to meet them.

So I'm starting to ask more questions. What's the social setting in which we'll find people. Will they be on their own, one of a couple or in a group? Is there something significant in their history to draw attention to? And what will we talk about? Is there something on their mind? Is there a question they're looking for an answer to? Do they need some wisdom to tackle a life situation? Jesus declared that no one could come to him unless drawn by the Father. Week by week we continue to find the people whom he is drawing to himself. In the oceon there be beasties. But it's also full of treasure chests waiting to be cracked open (!).

Falling asleep

Whilst life is a multi-faceted experience, one certainty it carries is that it will end. What hope do Christians have in the face of the finality of death?

The Old and New Testaments tell us the story of how mankind has wrestled with the reaity and meaning of death. Genesis (3:19) tells us that death is a consequence of our rebellion against God. Ecclesiastes repeatedly asks whether the fact that all die - rich, poor, successful, failures, righteous and unrighteous - makes all human activity ultimately meaningless.

The Old Testament writers knew that mankind has a physical and spiritual dimension. They talked about a place called Sheol (Hades in the New Testament) to describe what happens to human beings in death. One one level, Sheol was the ground in which dead bodies were buried, on another the place where departed spirits went. Sometimes they saw it as a gloomy, shadowy place (Ps 88 12), at others a place where God could be found. And if God was there, and you had lived in a right way before him, that couldn’t be a totally bad place (Psalm 139:1-8). Daniel saw a time - at the end of time - when Sheol would give up its guests to a final, bodily, resurrection at which a final reckoning - a judgement - would occur (Daniel 12:1-2).

With the New Testament, much of the mystery and uncertainty of death disappearerd. Jesus didn’t just visit Hades, he went and got the keys to it (Revelation 1:18). The final destination of all people now rests on his decision. Happily for Christinans, once we are united with him through faith, nothing - not even death - can sever that connection. Those who die in Christ go to be with him (Philippians 1:21-24), whilst some even get to visit heaven in this life, and come back to tell about it (Revelation 4 onwards).

When we see Christians die, the New Testament encourages us to see them as ‘falling asleep’ - even when death is brought on violently and suddenly (Acts 7:60). From our point of view, as people left alive, we will all wake up in eternity. From their point of view, death takes them from one conscious experience of Christ, to an even more glorious, clearer, and uninhibited experience of him.

So whilst death brings sadness in this world, its finality and mystery is destroyed by Jesus’s resurrection. Good Friday assures us that death takes us into Paradise (Luke 23:43). Easter Sunday shows us, through Jesus’s resurrected body, that we are not destined to become some kind of disembodied spooks, but will always have bodies fit for wherever we are - earth, heaven, or a new heaven and earth (Luke 24). And whilst today we bid farewell to friends, we look forward to a time when all sadness, pain, and even death itself will become nothing more than a distant memory - forever.  

Forgive me

I recently heard a good message on forgiveness - wise, challenging, and immensely practical. Main points.

Forgiveness is not forgetting. Some people are toxic, divisive, and dangerous. You can forgive and still set boundaries to protect yourself from repeated abuse. You can forgive and get a restraining order.

Forgiveness is not reconciliation. You can forgive, but the relationship may not be restored. Restoration is the objective and the ideal, but realistically it won't always happen.

Forgiveness is not necessarily protecting someone from the consequences of their actions. Reaping the consequences may be what's needed for them to change their ways.

Forgiveness is personal. You can't forgive an institution. You can only be free from the hurt and anger of your own experience by naming and forgiving the person and act that caused you the problem in the first place.

Forgiveness is a process. You may have years of patterns and habits to forgive. If today you stop plotting someone's mutilation and torture, that's progress. If tomorrow you fantasize less about their demise, that's a further step in the right direction. You sometime have to work through layers of pain, and phases of forgiveness.

Forgiveness, then, is dropping the desire for revenge. If you read the story of Samson in Judges 15 you see the effects of the desire for revenge. Samson reckons that because he's been badly treated himself (or feels he has) then that gives him the license to get his own back. Except in his case, he gets his own back with plenty of interest. The result is escalation. 

Revenge always inflames. It creates an inflated ego which says "..now I have the right to do to them what they did to me." Revenge is, you might say, relational 'Pong' (the electronic game cavemen played). "They called into question my integrity? I'll tell you stuff about them." Or "I'll teach you not to mess with me." There is also a passive revenge which celebrates when our enemies suffer. When we are unable to pray for our persecutors, we are essentially just waiting for them to be punished.

Forgiveness begins when you drop the jawbone.

From 1Peter 2:23  we see that Jesus so trusted in God's justice that he was able to give up a desire for revenge. Revenge, then, is a failure to trust yourself to God's justice. You want matters to be 'put right' in your way and your time. Paul's advice is to take a longer-term view, based on faith - do not repay evil for evil, leave room for God's proper ordering of the world in God's time. So forgiveness often starts with surrendering the right to revenge and trusting fundamentally in God's justice.

Finally, forgiveness is setting someone free.

Luke 23:34. On the cross, one of the last things Jesus does is think about forgiveness. To follow that example, I make this decision. The pain caused by injustice done to me, stops right here with me. Christ absorbed the pain so that it wouldn't stay in circulation. It dies here. Forgiveness is refusing to make 'them' pay for what they did. Not lashing out at someone when that's all you want to do is agony. It's a form of suffering. But by doing this you are absorbing the debt, taking its cost on yourself, rather than taking it out on the other person. It hurts terribly. Many would say that it feels like a kind of death.

But it's a death that leads to resurrection!

If I accept the pain, absorb it, end it here, this is Christ's pattern of forgiveness, and one that leads to resurrection.

The cross transforms pain from a destructive impulse to a transforming power. In accepting the cross Jesus not only absorbed the pain of unjust suffering, he opened a channel for the flow of God's redeeming love.

The Joshua and Caleb generation

I’ve been reading Rob McAlpine’s excellent little book ‘Post charismatic? ’ In his perceptive survey of some of the themes that have characterised the modern charismatic movement, I was struck by his references to the ‘Joshua and Caleb’ generation. The story of the Conquest in Joshua and Judges is a rich source of inspirational material for many speakers and teachers. But it’s a particular ‘prophetic’ application of these accounts that arrested me.  

The liberated tribes of Israel conquered Canaan somewhere between 1250 and 1500 BC. Of the generation of people liberated from Egypt only two – Joshua and Caleb – entered the promised land. The book of Hebrews uses these stories as an encouragement to faith and perseverance. Various prophetic figures in the charismatic church have used these passages to speak of literal generations – those that fail to fulfill the purposes of God in their generation and are, effectively, written off by God, and a new younger generation that will bring revival. In its most recent expression you can read about this with reference to the Baby Boomer generation (born 1945 – 1965) who are charged with failing to bring revival, and the destiny of generation X (their children) who will succeed. Somewhat curiously, the same application was given in the 1940s (by the Latter Rain movement) to the Baby Boomer generation who themselves were apparently destined to ring the revival that their own fathers failed to establish. 

Whilst superficially there is a certain logic to all this, it has a number of difficulties and serious dangers. The most obvious point to make is that Christianity is currently experiencing an explosion of growth in many parts of the world. It's worth repeating the figures from my post of January 15th. There are now about 600 million Christians in Africa. Protestant Christianity grew 600 percent in Vietnam in the last decade. In China, where a 50,000-member megachurch was raided in Shanxi province a few weeks ago, there are now an estimated 130 million churchgoers.

Astounding church growth has occurred in Guatemala, Brazil, India and Ethiopia. In Nepal, which had no Christians in 1960, there are now a half-million believers. The Christian population of Indonesia has mushroomed from 1.3 million to 11 million in 40 years. And even if the experience of the African, South American, and Asian church is not being replicated in Europe, and in only some parts of the US, many Europeans and Americans are supporting this revival through finance, teaching, time, and other resources. It's still revival in our generation.

The second point is that this teaching is not universally held. Some churches and missionary organisations invest heavily in training and equipping older people, drawing on their time, experience, and accumulated expertise. The issue isn’t that we shouldn’t invest in youth – far from it – but that there should not be any artificial barrier to investing in people to achieve their full potential in Christ - as leaders or in other areas - due to their age. I have been mightily encouraged by people in their 50’s saying that only now are they are coming into the fulfillment of all that God called them to do.

Bill Johnson and colleagues at Bethel Ministries use this analogy. Speaking of intergenerational relationships like putting up a building, they talk about the ‘ceiling’ of the experience of the older generation, being the ‘floor’ of the experience of the next generation. God is no longer in the business of wiping out one generation and raising up another to take its place. Rather he is bringing generations together for even more powerful impact on their shared moment of history.

Moses and Joshua, didn’t just work in successive time slots, they worked powerfully together. Mordecai was Esther’s inspiration and exhortation, and Paul and Timothy were part of the same ministry team. I’m also reminded that the clearest and most profound vision of heaven in the New Testament was given to John - someone who, by the standards of his day, was a very old man indeed. And in our day and age we are increasingly having to redefine when one generation ends and another begins. As Lord Turner rightly said this week ’70 is the new 50’.

When I hear people in their 20’s suggesting that people in their 30’s need to ‘make room’ for the next generation, I wonder what on earth they think we will all be doing for the other 50 years of life that is routinely becoming the norm.  Heaven help us if we don’t carry on investing in new leaders and ministries in people’s later years. Caleb didn’t come into the fulfillment of his promises until he was in his 80’s. Let us never assume, for example, that because someone isn’t a leader by the time they’re 50 that they’re somehow past it. As recent UK research shows (where over half of respondents agreed that people are ‘written off as old at 50’)  that’s the spirit of the age. We need a church characterised by the Age of the Spirit – poured out on ‘all mankind’ regardless of gender, ethnicity, locations and time on the planet. I’m mightily encouraged by people in their 50’s still pioneering and planting churches, and of churches which are growing steadily through the salvation of people we would describe as ‘middle aged’.  

If we want to unleash the untapped potential of the twenty-first century church let's make sure that we see the person – not the age.          

 

 

 

What do the Tories think about our ageing society?

This week I was reading a piece from the Times Chief Leader writer Daniel Finkelstein, reviewing  a new book by David Willetts, shadow minister for university and skills. The book, The Pinch, is described by Finkelstein as '..the best book I have read in the past year and the most important book for Conservatives in a lot longer than that' . He explains that a key feature in the book is the idea that a successful society must be built on co-operation and reciprocity. A particular angle is the exchanges needed between different generations. The UK median age is 42.5 which makes it a more 'mature' society than younger, and poorer nations. He describes the characteristics of the 'boomer' generation (post-war generation born between 1945 and 1965) and asks what legacy it will leave. The Pinch concludes that '..the Conservatives should make climate change, marriage, inheritance, school choice and debt reduction their focus.'  

As you can imagine, I have a professional interest in what the various parties think about my current policy area. Any potential incoming Conservative administration, for example, may be interested, for example, in EHRC research that suggests that married people have better later life outcomes than those who are not, evidence from the Pru that home owners 65+ in England and Wales have £611 billion of equity in their property (to be passed on to children, saved for social care, or used to adapt homes in later life?) and that the proposition that a debt culture may turn out to be an undermining counter-trend to pensions savings.

An important discussion that will emerge in the lifetime of the next Parliament is the relationship between older and younger generations in the UK. There are now more pensioners in the UK than children, a trend that is accellerating, and one that will raise questions about the distribution of national and local resources, and the extent to which the outcomes we experience in later life are the responsibility of the state, or the citizen.

And it's an issue the church needs a view on. As I'll explain in my next post there are some outdated, but deepseated views on the relationships between generations that quickly need ditching if we are to respond to the changes in our world. And happily, there are some powerful and respected voices in the church that, if we listen to them, will position us much better to influence our futures in a more Kingdom-focused way.

Did you know....

As you're probably aware by now, I'm always keen on the odd fascinating fact. So ...

When is national divorce day?

According to the Daily Mirror, the first working day back from the Christmas holidays is dubbed by lawyers, National Divorce Day. Divorce lawyers are always busy straight after the Christmas holidays, but this year has seen a rise in marriage breakdown fueled, some suggest, by the added financial pressures of the credit crunch.With families the bedrock of any society it's serious news. I noted on a happier theme, the number of people at Mosaic who got engaged over the same period. May the Lord bless and prosper their relationships!

What made the ice melt?

Some striking news on one of the other big issues of the day - global warming. Foreign Policy magazine reported that for the first time, the Northwest Passage between Russia and the Arctic became navigable by sea. "There was virtually no ice on most of the route," Capt. Valeriy Durov told the BBC. "Twenty years ago, when I worked in the eastern part of the Arctic, I couldn't even imagine something like this." But the story wasn't about climate change - this was secondary to the potential commercial, political, and even military impacts of  this former impasse being opened up.

How fast has the church been growing?

But my favourite facts came via virtual Facebook friend, Keith Hazell. Among other bits of encouraging information, Keith refers to evidence of the growth of Third-World Christianity in the last decade. There are now about 600 million Christians in Africa. Protestant Christianity grew 600 percent in Vietnam in the last decade. In China, where a 50,000-member megachurch was raided in Shanxi province a few weeks ago, there are now an estimated 130 million churchgoers.

Astounding church growth has occurred in Guatemala, Brazil, India and Ethiopia. In Nepal, which had no Christians in 1960, there are now a half-million believers. The Christian population of Indonesia has mushroomed from 1.3 million to 11 million in 40 years.

A thought

I like the idea that warmer seas open up navigation between formerly disconnected places. Time to pray that as our own winter thaws the collective heart of our own nation is similarly opened to a new movement of love and truth - not from one side of the world to another, but from one end of eternity to our humble temporality.

What's new in 2010?

Change is a normal part of life. Just as well I'm used to it. 2010 will see plenty of changes for us. This is the year that both my lads will have completed their secondary education, and by the end of the year both could be at Uni. We'll probably move later this year (or at least be well into the process) looking to head up North to join King's Church in Darlington. Our visits to, and fellowship with the people up there have been refreshing and restoring, and it seems like a place that we can add value and make some good friends.

General Election year will mean further change at work. Whoever gets into power will want to reduce the size of the civil service and streamline the machinery of Government. There will doubtless be some reprioritising and some work will likely get dropped. The election itself will be the most interesting for years with a number of potential permutations. It's not just a question of who will get a majority this time around. Apart from the possibility of a hung Parliament, a party with a small majority is likely to find Governing quite difficult after the initial honeymoon period. The ideological and practical gap between Labour and Conservatives is so small that cross party alignments between particular groups of MPs on specific issues could create interesting new dynamics. Look out for talk of 'new alignments'. 

I've signed up for a writing course to explore how to write articles for publication. All very interesting so far, and I've already started to look at newspapers and magazines in a new light, looking at the length of articles, writing style, factual content, and that indeterminate factor of what makes something worth reading. Always handy to have a sideline.

Convinced that the greatest teacher in the universe is Jesus Christ, we are keen to learn some new skills from him this year as well. Hilary and I are keen to learn more about how we can hear what he has to say to people who don't know him yet. Hilary's much further on this than I am. At a recent baptism at our church, Mosaic, she shared a description of someone visiting who later approached one of the leaders, Steve, to say, with some amazement, that she was talking about him. "That's what prophecy's for" was Steve's advice.

I'm very grateful to be living in a warm house in an area with good local amenities and excellent public transport links. The continuing snow is beautiful but starting to get a little wearing. Snow I can live with - ice is the real chore. It' remarkable how much the world slows down in the snow. Perhaps we don't really need to live such hectic lives after all.

Hope the New Year is a good one for you. Keep warm, keep in work, and stay connected.