Jabs

This summer, I am travelling to South East Asia. I'm going with WEC. WEC is a missionary organisation and I'm going on one of their WEC Trek missions.

I'm excited to go. I have not, however, enjoyed all the preparation I've had to do: particularly the jabs. My body hates them. I don't think it's me; I can watch them go in and everything. It's just that afterwards my body decides it needs to shut down and reboot, like those annoying automatic updates in Windows.

The first set I got done (Hep B/Typhoid combo and Hep C) didn't go well. I was happily chatting to the nurse and suddenly my eyes started twitching. That's when I knew my body was ready to shut down. I tried to tell the nurse I was feeling unwell, but instead uttered some gibberish and went completely rigid in my chair. The next thing I knew I was lying, drenched in sweat, on the floor of the doctors.

Feeling unable to walk home, I phoned the Bemroses and James gave me a lift back. What a hero. He did tease me for it though.

I'm glad to say that the last two jabs were far more successful. I feel less like a little girl and more like a mature adult male as a result.

I'm hopefully going to be posting more updates about my Trek and my thoughts and questions I have about mission, specifically short-term trips.

Quick Questions
How well do you cope with jabs?
Have you been on any mission trips?
What tips for travelling to you have?

A Meal with Jesus

I have just finished reading 'A Meal with Jesus' by Tim Chester. If you like cooking for others and you love Jesus, then this is a good book to read.

This meant that I really enjoyed reading it. A few years ago, when I was choosing what I wanted to do next in life, my mum said to me, "I know exactly what you want in the future." Thinking that this was impossible and she'd get it completely wrong I asked to tell me what it is. She said, "you want a house where you'll have people over all the time and you'll share it with other people." As always, mums know best and she got it completely right. She knew how much hospitality meant to me.

Tim Chester discusses how a dinner table can be a way to show God's love, plan for salvation and hope. It shows an interesting picture of Jesus as a man who came eating and drinking. He points to various meals in the Bible: those that Jesus shared with others and the Messianic banquet that we are to expect after we die. By sharing our table with others, we are enacting these meals. Moreover, the way Jesus tells us to remember what he did for us is not through the recitation of liturgy or the singing of a certain song; it's through the sharing of food and drink. This act of communion is a way that followers of Jesus can join with one another to express and remember their love of Jesus and their salvation.

I loved some of the stories and anecdotes. I'm always encouraged and moved by what other Christians have experienced and how they have seen God at work.

The book, however, can get a tiny bit repetitive. Chester works through many different and subtle ways of viewing the table as an expression of God's mission and plan, but the nuances can sometimes get lost and it often feels like you've read that bit before. However, it does bring home how important the simple act of eating with someone else can be.

That's probably why, when Paul lists the attributes of a church leader, it's not a Theology degree or extensive experience in business management he looks for but a person of good character that shows hospitality to others (for the full list, see here). Inviting someone to your table is inviting someone to see a snapshot of God's kingdom.

A Meal with Jesus from Tim Chester on Vimeo.

John 4: The Testimony of the Broken Woman

In John 4 we see Jesus travelling through the country of Samaria. The discussion between Jesus and the woman he meets there is an interesting one for a lot of reasons.

• Think of some countries, ethnicities or groups that are known for their dislike of each other.
• Who are then people that are looked down on in our society?
• What is your story? Do you believe in Jesus? How did that come to be?

John 4:4 says that Jesus had to go through Samaria to Galilee. We often read it like someone saying, "I had to go on the M25 to get into London." There was no way that Jesus could have got to Galilee without setting foot there. This was not the case, and most Jews would avoid it. They would cross the Jordan River and go a longer route just so they didn't have to bump into any Samaritans. The Jews believed that Samaritans made them ceremonially dirty, just like eating pork would. They really hated each other. So it says that he had to do it, it wasn't because that's what GoogleMaps told him to do. There must have  been another reason. 

Jesus meets a woman, on her own, drawing water out of a well. This woman, it turns out, is on her own because she is an adulteress. She hasn't got much going for her. The Jews would already hate her because she is a Samaritan, then the Samaritans don't seem to be too keen on her because she has too many husbands. Yet, Jesus asks her for a drink. This is surprising because first, she's a lady. First century jewish men don't really speak to woman (see verse 27); Rabbis didn't even talk to their wives in public. Second, he's about to take a drink from a Samaritan, which will make him unclean. Yet he has a very interesting exchange with her. He tells her how she has sinned, and unfazed she asks him various questions. In verse 25 and 26 things take a very interesting turn. Although, Jesus gives very strong hints about who he is, and we're helpfully told in John 1, in the whole of the book of John, Jesus only says he is the Messiah twice. That's it; only twice does he admit who he is. One is at his trial, the other time is now.

Of all the people to admit you're the Messiah to, you'd have thought Jesus would have chosen someone else. Perhaps he should have told Nicodemus in chapter 3. He was an important chap. But instead he chose to tell a woman, from Samaria, who was shunned by her neighbours. She had nothing going for her, until she was told that Jesus was the Christ and she believed.

This woman then went to tell the rest of her village who Jesus was. Because of the testimony of a broken, unwanted woman many believed. If you're feeling broken, unwanted or unimportant your testimony is still amazing. Tell it and many people may believe.

No one wants to be stuck with the new guy

In the last few weeks I have been in some situations where I was the new kid. Being the new guy is always an odd experience and most people will avoid those types of situations. For the most part I find them really funny. Being the outsider gives you a unique opportunity to observe the strangeness of humanity.

On Thursday, I went to a martial arts class at my local community centre. I saw it advertised on the internet and thought I'd give it a go. When I arrived there were no sign posts to say which room it was in, so I could only assume it was in the main hall. Fortunately it was and inside the hall was a group of men, mostly 30s to middle aged, although there was one teenager. I spoke to the instructor, we shook hands, and then I spent the next 5 minutes not being spoken to and being ignored except for some sideways glances. There's being on your own and then there's being on your own in a room full of people. The former is easy to deal with, the latter is just awkward. Fortunately, awkward situations amuse me, and it was hard not to burst out laughing as I watched people intently stretch and practice their positions. I had a feeling that they were all the more intent to avoid catching my gaze, and any conversations that happened between the group were more forced in order to pretend I wasn't actually there. Also, when people are concentrating they often look like they're constipated, have been lobotomised or someone just deeply offended them. I managed to control myself and avoid hurting anyone's feelings.

Then we began practicing positions and techniques. We did it in a bit of a circle and I was told to just copy the person opposite me. The training position felt a lot like I was squatting over the edge of a bridge in order to defecate into the river below (and some people's concentration faces just added to the humour of this). That ended and then we got into pairs. The guy to my right was happy to partner with me and teach me a few things, so I enjoyed this part of the session. Then the instructor told us to change partners. There was a panicked look on everyone else's face as it dawned on them that they could be stuck with the new kid. One guy turned away from me and walked around the room attempting to keep his back to me at all times. Alas, he was too slow and by that point everyone had paired up. He was a nice guy but he still keep gazing around the room in the hope that he could quickly abandon me and join someone else. I then ended up with another guy, when an opportunity arose for my partner to ditch me, who gave me the distinct impression that he'd rather be doing something else.

These types of situations I'm usually okay with. I can accept that when a new person comes into a group it's often difficult for the established group to relate to them and it makes people feel uneasy. There is one context when I do find it frustrating, really frustrating, because it should not be happening. This is within a church or a christian organisation. I have been to enough churches, CUs and Christian Events to see the welcoming done really well or really badly.

My pastor said the other day that most churches think they're far more welcoming than they actually are. They did surveys where they asked usual congregation members how welcoming they thought their church was and then they also surveyed first time visitors. The results from the two groups were rarely the same. This should not be the case. We should always be showing the all-welcoming love of our Lord and Saviour. We are told in Hebrews 13:2, "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." It's too easy to focus on our friends and the people we know but Jesus tells us we shouldn't:

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-14)

When the opportunity to show hospitality to strangers and welcome people is dropped in our laps, we should jump on it (on the opportunity, not the visitors).

Quick Questions

1. When have you felt really welcomed?
2. What awkward situations have you been in?
3. Do you think hospitality is important?

Other links
Rachel's post on What does it mean to be hospitable?
What does the Bible say about hospitality? 

Philippians 3

This is a Bible Study on the third part of Philippians. I hope you're starting to love this book as much as I do.

Philippians 3

• v 1 Rejoice! In the Lord: not in any human efforts
• v 1-6 Where have we misplaced our confidence? Do we put too much in store in our own abilities, or when we do "nice things" for others?
• v 7-10 Knowing Jesus is where we should put our confidence! Everything else is "rubbish".
• Our righteousness comes from knowing the power of Jesus' resurrection and sharing in his sufferings.
• v 12. We're not perfect. This is quite liberating, but doesn't give us an excuse to rest on our laurels. Paul tells us to press on towards the goal.
• v 13. We can't be stuck in the past! Forget about it. Focus on what is ahead.
• v 14 Our goal is heaven! Verse 20 tells us that we're already citizens of heaven.
• v 18 Paul is deeply distressed about those who reject Jesus and live for their own desires.

Implications for Mosaic

• Put all our confidence and reasons to rejoice in Jesus.
• We need a "heaven-focused" view on life.
• We need to live in a way that reflects we are citizens of heaven

 Quick Questions

• What things are you rejoicing about at the moment?
• Where do you sometimes misplace your confidence?
• Are you a past/present/future focused person? 

Comfortable Christianity

Petworth House

As of about a month ago, I was a member of The National Trust. Then something happened that meant I vowed never to become a member ever again. So I cancelled my direct debit and threw my membership card in the bin (I tried to tear it into pieces but it was too well laminated). This was all because of a day trip to Petworth House.

I used to be a fan of stately homes, so when my parents suggested we visit the country house I agreed. We got there and the weather was terrible, so we couldn't explore the extensive gardens. So we went to the house, picked up these interactive audio devices and set off around the house. My first issue was boredom. In each of these rooms you had the choice of listening to a general overview, and then there were more specific choices about particular items. I just wanted to listen to the overviews and get a jist of what the room was, and maybe if something grabbed my interest I'd listen about that. My parents wanted to listen to everything. This made it slightly tedious.

This is quite commonplace (boredom and parents are often found together), so this wasn't my reason to reject my affiliation with the other 3.5 million people who have joined the National Trust. It was an epiphany I had. Somewhere between the North Gallery and the Staircase I realised that I didn't belong here. Or rather, I did too well but it wasn't something that I wanted. I looked around and saw middle class couples with their middle class children; middle class middle-aged couples enjoying time together now their middle class children have left home; and middle class pensioners, sometimes with their middle class children and middle class grandchildren. There were middle class wellies and middleclass coats and middle class voices coming from under middle class hats. What I saw was my whole life spread out in front of me. It was a life of National Trust picnic blankets, holiday cottages in Cornwall, Laura Ashley scatter cushions, watercolour print birthday cards and faux-antique pine furniture. I would become a middle class father with my middle class children, then a middle aged middle class man with a middle class moustache and a middle class retired man with my middle class moaning.

Suddenly I felt trapped. I felt caught in a prison of home comforts. I realised that I wasn't called live the life of Kirsty's Handmade Britain. It seemed too...nice. I realised I didn't want nice. On my death bed, I don't want people saying, "Well, at least he had a nice life."

Mother Teresa was attributed to saying, 'If I ever become a Saint — I surely be one of "darkness". I will continually be absent from Heaven — to light the light of those in darkness on earth.' I don't want to belong in the nice. I realised I wanted I life where the rubber hits the road. I want it to be messy. I want my heart to be broken by the brokenness of this world. I want to pour out everything.

Quick Questions

• Is it wrong to have comforts as a Christian?
• What are you called to?

The Heavenly Man

I was leant The Heavenly Man by a fellow Mosaic member. This was ages ago and I hadn't got round to reading it but while I had a few hours free I decided that I would. It tells the story of Brother Yun who faced persecution from the Chinese authorities.

I liked it, although it wasn't the most well written piece of literature. It sometimes seemed too focused on the minutiae of what happened and lacked emotional colour. However, the horrific nature of the Yun's torture at the hands of prison guards and the police was harrowing. I cannot believe that I would be as faithful to God's will in the face of torture as these men were. Despite the threats of arrest and possible execution Yun continued to proclaim God's word.

The miracles that they witnessed were also amazing. The book really shows what amazing things God can do. God enabled healing, unbelievable escapes from prison, gave people gifts of knowledge that saved them from arrest, and protected them from the authorities. Their faith was inspiring, relying on God to provide for everything.

I loved Yun's passion for the word of God. He prayed and fasted relentlessly until he was given a Bible. He memorised whole chapters and books and was able to pull out verses to give him strength in any situation. I would love to begin learning verses for different occasions and store them in my heart as he did. It showed how life-giving the word of God actually is.

The thing, perhaps, that impacted me the most was Yun's criticisms of the Western church.

"In the West many Christians have an abundance of material possessions, yet they live in a backslidden state. They have silver and gold, but they don't rise up  and walk in Jesus' name. In China we have no possessions to hold us down, so there's nothing preventing us from moving out for the Lord."

He also notes that the Western Church's worst enemy is itself. He notes how "in China, Christians are persecuted with beatings and imprisonment. In the West, Christians are persecuted by the words of other Christians." It's scary, but sadly true.

It's worth reading but quite long and can be pretty repetitive. There are many moments that will inspire you and strengthen your faith.

Quick Questions

1. Have you memorised and Bible passages or verses off by heart? Which ones?
2. What books do you recommend?

October Round Up

It sometimes seems that Richard Dawkins says things just to be contentious. In this interview, however, he comes across quite well. Dawkins seems to hold Jesus in high regard, and says that if he was born in this day and age he'd probably be an atheist. Not sure about that one myself, with him claming to be the Light of the World and the Son of Man and all that. I'm also glad I'm not Anglican, as I would have taken complete objection to being called "harmless". Dawkins also had a few words to say about William Lane Craig in this article. This was definitely Dawkins being typical Dawkins, beginning with the sentence, "Don't feel embarrassed if you've never heard of William Lane Craig." I get the idea that he doesn't like him very much.

The area around St Paul's Cathedral has been occupied by demonstrators who oppose the country's current financial system. This has caused the first closure of the Cathedral since the Second World War and one canon chancellor to resign. The Guardian has some interesting articles on the subject:

• Giles Fraser explains why he decided to leave;
• Marina Hyde doesn't like St Paul or the church that took it's name;
• Another Marina doesn't like St Paul's Cathedral, and goes into some strange tirade about cults of Mary;
• Riazat Butt talks about how the likes of Williams and Sentamu are silent on the subject, but probably support the cause of the protesters;
• A lot of Christian groups, however, are voicing their support.

We can't do an October Round Up without mentioning the significance of the last day of this month: Reformation Day! What, not what you were expecting? In 1517, on October 31st, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of a church in Wittenburg. I think my favourites are numbers 62,  "The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God", and 94, "Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hell". You can read them in oldy-worldy English here, or a more modern version here.

Okay, so you expected me to talk about Halloween, didn't you? As I am but a slave to my readers, I will. The Resurgence website thought about whether we should receive, reject or redeem halloween. I'm going to go with redeem. We shouldn't forget that the contagious nature of Christ's holiness is far more powerful than then contagious nature of pagan frivolity. Jesus sat with tax-collectors and touched the ritually unclean. These were outrageously "irreligious" acts in his day. It was this sort of thing Jesus should have been rejecting. He, instead, redeemed them. I think we can be forgiven for giving sweets to kids dressed up as vampires or fairies. The Verge network posted some ideas on how to be missional during this holiday.

I can't have a monthly round up without a mention of my friends at the Church Sofa blog. This post reminded me of the Tea and Toast efforts of my Christian Union. It makes me wonder how many more drunk converts we could have made if we had this (Answer: none).

Quick Questions

1. What tough decisions have you made due to your faith/morals?
2. What did you do this Halloween?

The Barbarian Way

I've really wanted to read this book for a while. I was sent this excerpt and it captured my imagination. As a result I had really high hopes for this books.

It's a highly charged book and promotes a life of reckless abandon. One reviewer commented that "This book is dangerous. Erwin Raphael McManus is dangerous. And if you read this book you, with your domesticated, tamed faith will be in danger. Worst case scenario: you'll become dangerous, perhaps even dead." And that was from someone who liked the book.

A negative review of the book dislikes the use of the word "barbarian": that the word describes the pagan state that Jesus saved us from. The reviewer takes particular umbrage at one anecdote about a naked tug-of-war game, as it encourages carnality. The reason this anecdote was told was to show how dignity should not be a concern, as it wasn't for King David.

I agree that sometimes McManus' anecdotes sometimes seem to miss the mark, but you will still get the point he was trying to make. The idea that the word barbarian was misused was definitely a case of missing the mark. McManus takes the word barbarian, with all it's negative, carnal and selfish connotations, and then subverts it to mean someone who is madly passionate for following God. McManus' barbarians are strong against oppressors, ruthless against injustice, loving and selfless. It reminded me of how Martin Luther King took the word "extremist" and used it to encourage a passionate engagement with love, justice and the gospel.

I really love it's passionate call to a less domesticated faith. One where comfort and safety is not a priority. It isn't even an option. I want to be a believer that acts when God tells me to, to not consider the consequences and know that God's purpose is my priority.

It speaks a lot about the uniqueness of each believer. This is something that I really believe in; God has given each of us an individual character, mandate and plan. Despite this, however, the book only presents a sort of reckless, adrenaline-junkie, accident-prone barbarian and excludes, perhaps, other types of ebullient and effective Jesus-followers. Ones that show wisdom, intelligence and consideration but also share the gospel, pursue equality and mercy are ignored.

It is definitely a book to get your heart pumping and to push people out from the safety of the walls of the church. It is a call to a drastic, radical way of living and reminds us that the gospel is anything but safe.

Your house is God's house

This is really challenging stuff.
Jeff Vanderstelt // Hospitality & the Church in America from Newfrontiers USA on Vimeo.

This is Discipling

Kenny Borthwick showed a really awesome video in one of his morning sermons at New Wine. After some searching using the phenomenon that is twitter, I found it.

Quick Question

1. Don't you just love the bit with the catapult?

New Wine

Last week I was camping at New Wine. It was a bit strange because I usually go to that site for Soul Survivor, and I had to get used to the different feel with there being more families and old people.

Morning Celebration at Venue 1

The teaching was, for the most part, excellent (and even when it wasn't excellent it was still good). I really liked hearing from Kenny Borthwick, who spoke at the morning celebrations in Venue 1. He looked at John 17 and what Jesus' prayer taught us about community and mission.

I managed to make it to one of Simon Ponsonby's Rise sessions (at 7:15am!), as well as his Gospel Wins seminar. When Simon Ponsonby was speaking at Venue 2 it was ridiculously packed out and I had to sit outside in the rain. Gospel Wins seminar was really helpful, as it reminded us the importance of the Gospel within the church. It's not just an export good, it's to be used to strengthen, inspire and unite believers within the church.

Pete Hughes also spoke at the evening celebration in Venue 2. Again, it was really good. I also went to his Leadership Crisis seminar, which was about the lack of 20 and 30 somethings in our church. This is something I've blogged about before, but it was really inspiring and confirmed my passions and reasons in being both a youth leader and member of Mosaic.

There were lots of other good talks and speakers. However, I left with the feeling I'd done the Christian conference thing, and would only go if I was on team or I would leave it a couple of years at the very least.

I'll finish with this anecdote.

I was wanting to go to a seminar on running one-to-one sessions with teens. As we had been sharing programmes I wrote down all the seminar times and venues on my phone. Half an hour before going to my seminar I had a quick look at my phone and found the location of the venue on a map. I walked into the venue and sat down. Then a lady comes up to me, presumably the speaker and said, "You're very welcome here, but you may feel a bit uncomfortable. This is the Agony Aunt women's seminar."

Quick Questions

1. Have you ever been to a Christian conference? What did you think?
2. Have you had embarrassing church or conference moments?

Resource Wednesday

Recently I've been posting quite a few videos and they're all coming from one particular site.

It's the Verge Network site. It has really good resources on being a missional community, giving us the why, how and who of proclaiming God's glory on Earth.

There's some really challenging posts, especially in my role as a youth worker. How can I remind the teens that they're meant to be trying to give people the opportunity to know about Jesus? How do I try and x:cell from being a holy huddle? How does Exilio disciple the teens to be counter-cultural but whilst also engaging with those around them?

This site may not provide all the answers, but does definitely prod and poke and encourage reflection and prayer.

The RSS feed of the site appears in my "Elsewhere on the web" side bar (when it hasn't been updated recently, click the "show all"). So if you want to know the latest, then click there.

Quick Questions

1. What resources do you use?
2. What type of resources would you like me to hunt out for you?

Mosaic and Morris Dancers

Recently Mosaic has been getting to know it's neighbours. By that, I mean James and Steph's neighbours. First was through the Big Lunch, then last Sunday we washed their cars. Both seemed to involve water, mostly in the form of rain. The picture above was stolen from James' blog, who wrote about the Big Lunch in more detail (the photo was taken by me, so I have some right to nab it). It was good to see how these two things meant that neighbours who hardly spoke to each other had an opportunity to share their lives with one another.

Yesterday I went to The Guide Dog, a small country-pub-on-the-city place with my dad. When we got there we were confronted by stick weilding, bell jangling Morris Dancers. What was interesting is how the strange (and, in my opinion, slightly disturbing) sight bought people out their houses. So maybe James could consider that as Mosaic's next thing. It has a ring to it, the Mosaic Morris Dancers, doesn't it?

Quick Questions

1. Do Morris Dancers scare you too?
2. What things bring your community together?

GO!

Today was the start of a new series in x:cell. Over the next few weeks we're going to be looking at Matthew 28:19-20.

Before we started I asked the group what the purpose of x:cell was. I was trying to them to understand that just being a holy huddle was just like use being a ship in a harbour. It's safe but it isn't the point.

A ship in a harbour is safe, but this is not what ships are built for.

(John A. Shedd, Salt from My Attic)

When then looked at the idea of "Go". We have to leave the harbour and fulfil our purpose. We often have this idea that the going is just for missionaries. They leave the comfort of the walls of the church and do bold, exciting things for the sake of the Gospel. Whereas, we normal types just do boring things confines to the walls of our church building. However, we are also called places. This may just be our street, or our school or our place of work. But we're called to bring God's glory to where we are.

Then I handed out some stickers, to remind them that we are called to bring God's glory to the world.

1. Have you ever been or wanted to be a missionary?
2. Where are you called?
3. Do you find the idea of being a missionary wherever you are exciting, scary or just daft?

The DNA of Gospel Movements

This is an awesome video, and the start of a whole series that focuses on the different aspects he talks about about.

This gives a hint of what (at least I believe) Mosaic, x:cell and Exilio as a whole are about:

• Living as if Jesus is Lord
• Making disciples who make disciples (D²)
• Being a sent people
• Being radical

For the whole series click here.

Youth group or Missional Community?

Today I have decided that I no longer run a youth group called x:cell. I'm there to equip a missional community made of teenagers (incidentally, called x:cell).

A youth group is often just a small group of people at secondary school and, too me, "small group" is just a euphemism for "holy huddle". Small groups are apparently there to develop people, but develop to what? Do the small groups change, grow, get out there and fulfil the Great Commission? Generally, no, they do not.

So what is different about a missional community? I'll let Jeff Vanderstelt and Caesar Kalinowski explain.

I do not want x:cell to be a holy huddle. I do not want them to be inward looking and ineffectual. I want them to be bold. I want them to proclaim God's glory where ever they go. I want the good news of the Gospel to be on their hearts and on their lips. I want them to be a missional community.

Quick Questions

1. Are you fed up of holy huddles?
2. Do you think the church has become ineffectual?