Can one day really be any more important than another?  Well, maybe the answer is yes when something truly significant happened on that day in the distant past. 

Yesterday was St George’s Day. He is thought to have lived up to 1,800 years ago. Shakespeare died on 23^rd April in 1616.  It is also the feast of St Adalbert of Prague, martyred by the Prussians in 997AD. Let no one say that this blog isn’t educational!!

This is a busy season in more modern history, too. This week in 1968 saw the first appearance of decimal coinage, leading to lots of head-scratching as people who were used to counting their money in twelves and twenties had to get used to thinking now in tens. 

A little further back in time, in 1962, the first US rocket landed on the moon – not yet with people on board but a vital step in the moon race nonetheless.

And 52 years ago yesterday, Mrs King gave birth to her first child, a fine baby boy. Me. So, I’m rather positive about the significance of special days, especially ones that involve chocolate cake and the love of family and friends.

Is there one day in human history that is truly significant for you?  In the Bible, a servant of God called Paul writes “now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation.”  It means that whatever is happening around us God is there, reaching out to us. On special days - and ordinary days too. The way to Him is open once again through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The day I first believed that for myself was truly the most significant day of my life.  May it be so for you too.

The following was written by someone called Jon Swanson.  I saw it and wanted to re-post it here.

Ivan

Lots of people are wondering what God is calling them to do. And that is a good question. But on the way to the answer, we fill in many answers. So let me suggest some of the things that God did not call you to.

You are not called to be me.
You are not called to be your mother or father.
You are not called to be your pastor.
You are not called to be happy all the time.
You are not called to be rich.
You are not called to be as organized as the neighbour on the right.
You are not called to be as disorganized as the neighbour on the left.
You are not called to be as ___ as your uncle Dave.
You are not called to be your sister.
You are not called to be the guy in all the ads.
You are not called to be the perfect family.
You are not called to smile every moment.
You are not called to have every answer.
You are not called to say ‘yes’ to every request.
You are not called to work 24/7.
You are not called to read the Bible through every year.
You are not called to measure up.
You are not called to do it all.
You are not called to remember every detail.
You are not called to run their lives.
You are not called to do everything right the first time.
You are not called to stop everything.
You are not called to save the world.
That was covered.
That’s why we’re called to follow Him.
A step at a time.
And that feeling of relief?
You are called to that.

[Written for www.beyond400.net]

I'm thinking about some very different cufuffles (sp?) where change is imaginable and hoped for and almost invariably doesn't happen. I'll concede there may be a small adaptation of the existing, but that's about it - it just seems to be the way the world works, sociologically speaking. There's no conspiracy, none is needed, it's just something about the culture of well-established orders and denominations that they are superb at resisting change.

Those very different cufuffles? Now forgetting the rights or wrongs of them: the recent MP's expense scandal, phone hacking, various protests against capitalism - they all seem(ed) to produce far smaller changes than might have been expected from the size of the storm - and these examples had the added momentum of moral outrage. Now I'm not trying to link our BUGB financial crisis or Beyond 400 to those apart from to make the connection that even at those intensities of desire for change, often not much happens. An established order/culture is usually very adept at weathering the storm and co-opting or domesticating the dissenters even though it often does it at the subconscious level.
Now I'm wondering about my own family, the baptists, who I am very fond of - as I see it the only paradigmatic change our order seems unable to resist is a slow and relentless death over many decades, not something we often talk about. I also see that a change of paradigm magnitude is needed and it makes sense for this to happen whilst we still have substantial resources to invest in the outcome, so we can get on with joining in with Jesus' mission in this country. I'm thinking of other denominations ahead of us in decline who are now panicked into change but they have scarce resources left to invest - too late!

Perhaps an answer is for us to continue to give away/leak resources so the new church streams and post-denominational emerging church can develop, or perhaps we need to wait until a lot more dying has happened on the basis that you can't have a resurrection without a death and we're not willing to let go of the old life as yet.

One problem and also a pleasing thing about baptist conversations and Beyond 400 is that I suspect it will be a diversity of voices. I'm not talking about 40 voices here but all those who join the conversations. Now, I'd have a punt that such a broad spread of voices are unlikely to collectively imagine a cohesive vision for others to gather around, that is unless some in the conversation here and beyond emerge as leaders. I don't mean, they get an office or position in a structure, though nothing wrong in that if you are really strong enough to resist co-option by the prevalent culture, but simply that they lead by who they are through internal authority and in organic ways.

Very occasionally there is a group action in an institution that is good, contagious and timely enough to bring deep cultural change. As the baptist story unfolds over the next 2-3 years I hope we can find ways to form a new, cohesive and radical view, a virus to inject into the baptist host to re-found her. Heaven forbid that we just end up with re-structuring

[My contribution to www.beyond400.net  - a conversation we've helped initiate where Baptists are re-imagining life after the first 400 years.]

A one million pound black hole is projected for the Baptist Union of Great Britain end of year accounts, we can’t continue as we are and it has got people talking. The talk is of change and cuts.

The financial predicament is painful, it will hurt when posts are almost inevitably cut and people tragically lose their jobs. As well as being painful it is bad in other ways: are you worried that difficult discussions about allocation of finite resources may deflect us from more important questions? I am.

But these cuts can also be good news. Let's get real, it’s very difficult for an organisation that spans many centuries, churches, associations, and colleges to undergo deep change unless sufficient destabilising pressures are present. The finances are providing one such push-factor, numerical decline in most churches over many decades another, and there are others. I’m not shouting ‘tipping-point’ but ordeal loosens us up for change. This is painfully good!

In the coming weeks forty people will offer their thoughts to kick-start imaginative hope filled conversations. They include voices of those in the middle and on the edge of our institutions, those from differing contexts and a breadth of experiences. Only they know what they will say. I know they bravely said ‘yes’ to our approaches without knowing who else will speak; as each post is published their identity will be known.

Eight suggestions for ways to help us into the hope filled conversation:

1. Grieve what is wrong
   Blessed are those who mourn, those who are softhearted. Don’t hold back from grieving over things that just aren’t right, things that are dead and things that need to die. I grieve our deep lack of mission.
2. Imagine what is not yet
   Grieving on it’s own sounds like whining. Prophets can have a knack of hopefully imagining and pointing to things that are not yet. This is dissent, a way of offering alternatives to what already is. This might be done playfully or seriously.
3. Baptist poets and artists, this is your moment
   I’m not one but are you? We need your help to recover our imagination. We have given ground to overly pragmatic solutions and the uncritical importing of models. At this point is our imagination more important than our knowledge? Can artists and poets help us with this?
   (Hint: you can upload images as well as words when you comment on this website.)
4. Avoid romanticising our 400 year history
   There was no golden-era. We can learn from the 400 years and rediscover lost ways, but we need to go right back and learn from Jesus. But we won’t find all we need in those two histories, we need to imagine new ways that harmonise with our historic faith, ways that have not been practiced before. This is incarnation.
5. It takes time for right ideas to be adopted – keep speaking
   Prophets are wired to challenge the status quo and organisations rightly focus on maintaining and administering the existing – can you spot the tension! You prophets may be mistaken for a threat but without them you we will congeal and start to die. Be thick skinned when needed and keep speaking.
6. A new idea does not mean a right idea
   Caution: just because it is alternative thinking doesn’t mean it’s right. It may be time to stop speaking!
7. Where are we looking?
   Most of current baptist life at all levels is configured expecting God to speak in the middle but history suggests that God’s renewing often starts on the margins. Where are our margins? Can you share what you see?
8. It’s OK to hit the pause button
   These are tricky matters that need suspended judgment and open minds. Yes we will need to innovate but not too fast. First we need to be creative, dream new ideas, interact with them, and reflect. Big decisions need to be slept on.

A humble suggestion:
Beyond 400 is fairly unique with its openness, degree of meritocracy, collaboration and informality. At this stage it is very much half-baked  but is it in some way embodying something of the future that we are fumbling towards? And if so what?

Peter Dominey, January 2012

This coming Sunday is Advent Sunday - it's the first of four Sundays before Christmas Day. Advent means coming or arrival and the excitement about Christmas - Jesus being born into this world - builds durng those four weeks.

Here's something I love, which helps me to focus on the meaning of Advent and Christmas. Maybe it will help you too...

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where he worked in a carpenter's shop until he was thirty. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never travelled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born.

He did none of the things usually associated with greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only thirty three. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies. And went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves and, while dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing: the only property he had on earth.

When he was dead He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today Jesus is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress.

All the armies that have ever marched; all the navies that have ever sailed; all the parliaments that have ever sat; all the kings that ever reigned - put together - have not affected the life of mankind on earth as powerfully as that one solitary life...

Churches don't see it...

1452: Gutenberg invents the printing press, opening the way for the age of the mass printed book. Bibles become widely available and enter the home. The way is paved for the Reformation and the church is caught on the hop.

2011: facebook and Twitter have become common. Truth is reached through collaboration. And the era of truth being the monopoly of the expert, and broadcast from one to many by long talks is looking rather antiquated.  
Why do we train church leaders almost exclusively for a passing era?

Here's a talk I gave at West Leigh Baptist Church recently for you to listen to.  I would welcome any thoughts or comments and, of course, everything I say here is open to challenge! Press the 'Play' button to listen.

{audio}mediafiles/whereisgodwhenbadthingshappen.mp3{/audio}

When I was a lad, at about this time of year we got some old clothes, stuffed them full of other old rags, put them in a wheelbarrow and either went door to door or stood outside the shops. If you are over 40, you will have no difficulty recollecting what this process was called: “Penny for the Guy”.

The 5^th of November wasn’t simply Fireworks Night or Bonfire Night, it was Guy Fawkes’ Night. “Remember, remember the 5^th of November, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.” It had been held ever since the gunpowder plot when people tried to blow up parliament with King James inside it. Not a very nice thing to do, although they regarded James as a tyrant. Guy Fawkes and his friends were planning something rather nasty but they met a rather sticky end themselves. For those with delicate digestions I wont go into all the details but they were longer, thinner and in more pieces at the end of it than they started out. Somehow, in the many years since I went collecting “penny for the Guy”, we’ve stopped doing it and something else has taken its place.

Have you been into Sainsbury’s, Co-op or Tesco’s in the last two weeks? Have you noticed the way in which they each have displays about Halloween which falls on 31st October You can’t avoid it. Supermarket masks and pictures of ghostly faces stare at you from the aisles. You can't turn on the television without these images appearing. Pictures of spooks and ghouls are glaring at you everywhere you go as we approach "Halloween." But its not just in shops. It’s in schools too; it’s in the pubs and clubs and we now have the annual event of “trick or treating”.

I want to think about two things today. The first is to touch base with what the bible says about such things. The second is to think about how we will be light when all around are celebrating darkness.

There is much evil at large in this world. Some of it is human evil – the selfishness that we show in our dealings with one another and with God. Some of it is ‘directed’ evil. Evil with a purpose and that purpose is to distract us from the truth. The Bible says quite a bit about this type of evil. One of the reasons to be concerned about Halloween is that evil is at work here among ordinary human beings. Jesus Christ encountered evil many times during His ministry on earth. The disciples reported that evil retreated before them when they spoke in Christ’s name and the Apostle Paul tells of "the messenger of Satan" sent to "buffet" him, to torment him (II Corinthians 12:7). The Apostle Paul spoke of this kind of evil when he said, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world" (Ephesians 6:12). Every Christian "wrestles" against evil. That's why it's so important to pray for God to protect you and guide you through "the darkness of this world."

Halloween focuses on evil: dressed up for popular consumption. Costumes of witches and demons will be worn in abundance, paper cut-out bats and ghosts decorate restaurants and businesses, and sneering "jack-o-lantern" pumpkins will be found alight in many a window all in the name of fun. Thousands of people - many of them professing Christians - will engage in a hearty embracing of the evening with little thought as to the underlying significance of what they are doing. Few can deny awareness of Halloween's dark, even frightening, overtones but fewer seem to even care. So why do we – people of the Light of the world – delight in dark things?

Christians should not be celebrating the darkness! But how can we, as people of the light, help correct this? On Halloween night – what can we do?

In our families - instead of focusing on the negative aspects of Halloween, you can turn the holiday into a positive, relationship-building tradition for your family. For Trick-or-Treaters who will call at your home, instead of ignoring them or turning them away, put out a bowl of Satsumas (soft fruit doesn’t break windows!) or some sweets but decorate the bowl with something that tells visitors that God loves them. If they knock, admire the effort that has gone into the costumes and say to each “God bless you!”

In all this, let us look forward to the time when, at a word, Christ shall sweep away the darkness with His glorious light. And then let us pray that prayer that countless Christians have prayed and continue to pray when darkness comes:

“Bring light to our darkness we ask you O God, and by your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night, for the sake of your only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.”

Toad baked some cookies.

 

"These cookies smell very good," said Toad. He ate one. "And they taste even better," he said. 

 

Toad ran to Frog's house. "Frog, Frog," cried Toad, "taste these cookies that I have made."

 

Frog ate one of the cookies, "These are the best cookies I have ever eaten!" said Frog.

 

Frog and Toad ate many cookies, one after another. "You know, Toad," said Frog, with his mouth full, "I think we should stop eating. We will soon be sick."

 

"You are right," said Toad. "Let us eat one last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one last cookie. 

 

There were many cookies left in the bowl.

 

"Frog," said Toad, "let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie.

 

"We must stop eating!" cried Toad as he ate another.

 

"Yes," said Frog, reaching for a cookie, "we need willpower."

 

"What is willpower?" asked Toad.

 

"Willpower is the power not to do something you really want to do," said Frog.

 

"You mean like trying hard not to eat all these cookies?" asked Toad.

 

"Right," said Frog.

 

Frog put the cookies in a box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."

 

"But we can open the box," said Toad.

 

"That is true," said Grog.

 

Frog tied some string around the box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."

 

"But we can cut the string and open the box." said Toad.

 

"That is true," said Frog. Frog got a ladder. He put the box up on a high shelf.

 

"There," said Frog. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."

 

"But we can climb the ladder and take the box down from the shelf and cut the string and open the box," said Toad.

 

"That is true," said Frog.

 

Frog climbed the ladder and took the box down from the shelf. He cut the string and opened the box. Frog took the box outside. He shouted in a loud voice. "Hey, birds, here are cookies!" Birds came from everywhere. They picked up all the cookies in their beaks and flew away.

 

"Now we have no more cookies to eat," said Toad sadly.

 

"Not even one."

 

"Yes," said Frog, "but we have lots and lots of willpower."

 

"You may keep it all, Frog," said Toad. "I am going home now to bake a cake."

Hi. In the autumn in CFS, we are going to be thinking about relationships. If you can remember any examples of really good or unhappy relationship 'issues' from your favourite TV soaps (eg Corrie? Emmerdale? Eastenders?) can you check n see if they are on Youtube and then message me the link?   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Could be the perfect love match; or conflict; family fallout; whatever. Cheers, Ivan