Back to basics – lent 2023

It’s been a long day. A long, cold day. The place I work is windy at the best of times. At the moment, that wind has a cold bite to it. And today, my work included sitting outside for an hour talking to visitors. OK, I was sitting in a tent, but it still wasn’t exactly warm.

Now, I’m not a big fan of being cold. I’d rather be too hot than too cold. But it was worth it today to talk to the visitors who had come up. We had a bit of a joke about how cold it was and one told me I should have brought a hot water bottle. ‘Tis a good idea I shall remember for the next time my work day includes sitting in the cold!

It triggered a memory for me, something I may have written about before. Back when I was a wavering Christian, someone who had grown up going to church but didn’t necessarily have a faith, I was going through a tough time with my job and my living situation. It wasn’t great, and I used to escape to my church. I’d get the key and spend some time in the building with the door locked just as a safe place to sit. One evening it was quite cold and quite late. As I said, I didn’t have much of a faith at the point, but there I was sitting in a church. I’d heard about God all my life, I knew what others said he was. But that wasn’t enough for me.

So in this cold church in the dark, I prayed. I said, “God, if you are real, if you are who they say you are, I need you now. I could really use some help.” I rambled on for a bit longer and then I realised I wasn’t cold anymore. No, I hadn’t got hypothermia. I felt warm from the inside out, a heat that spread from my heart. I guess, not unlike a water bottle on the inside!

It was that moment that I started to believe. The warmth was comforting. It was a feeling of love and belonging and reassurance. I don’t know what I expected when I prayed that prayer, I think part of me didn’t expect anything. But God showed up for me. I’ve done my best to describe it, but words don’t really do it justice. It’s a feeling I can still remember nearly 10 years later.

Sometimes we need to stop. We need to remember. God has revealed himself to us at some point, probably multiple times. Go back to that point and remember who God is, how he showed up for you. When Christians first come to faith, especially if they are an adult, they are full of energy and determination. As time goes by, they can become complacent or just worn down. Remember who God is to renew you passion and restore your soul. What story would you tell to share God with someone? What story do you tell yourself when the voice of doubt comes calling? What memory do you draw on when the going gets tough?

Go back to basics when faith was simpler. Go back to God himself.

Let us pray – lent 2023

“Let us pray” is a phrase I’ve grown up hearing. It’s the cue to close our eyes and boe our heads, and possibly put our hands together. I heard it a little at school and I’ve heard it growing up in church.

In the last few years, I have had the privilege to walk alongside Christians of many denominations and backgrounds. I have seen how they do prayer. Some bow their heads others look up. Some use lots if words, others not many. Some pray about big things, others pray about everything. Some stand, some kneel, some place hands together, some hold them in the air. Some pray inside, others go for walks. Some sing or pray in tongues, some quote scripture and soke speak from the heart. Some throw out a quick prayer when the situation needs it, others promise to pray later at their normal time.

None of these are wrong ways to pray. The only wrong way to pray is to pray for the sake of the people watching to make yourself look good. Prayer is first and foremost for God. Words, emotions, pictures – God hears them all.

I found myself thinking about this today. I reached the end of the day and was looking back and I hadn’t really set aside time to pray. I’d sat in silence for a bit but wasn’t consciously praying. I’d had coffee with some friends and daydreamer, but not specifically talking to God. I’d baked and said, “please, God, let the cake be cooked” but more as a habit than with any real feeling.

That’s unusual for me. And yet… while I was sitting in silence I was thinking about people I love. While I was drinking tea with friends, I was part listening to their conversation and part looking at the people walking by outside. And while I was baking I was thinking specifically of the people I was baking for and the circumstances that meant I wanted to bake for them.

There weren’t focused times of quiet, there weren’t words or scriptures. There were just my feelings, my compassion, my concern. And for God, that’s enough.

How do you pray? Do you set aside time? Do you ‘pray-as-you-go’? Do you speak? Do you cry? Do you kneel? Do you walk? It doesn’t matter what you do, what matters is that you do something.

Be strong, take heart – lent 2023

I have written a little about healthy introspection, seeing ourselves as we really both the good and the bad. The point of this is to help us move forwards. We can identify places where we need to grow, or areas we have a weakness we need to be careful of as well as indetifying gifts we have to offer and skills we have to use.

This isn’t easy. I have emphasised this is also a time to get to know God and find out what he says about you. When you start acknowledging your bad points, sometimes that can lead to viewing yourself badly or it can lead to burying your head in the sand and ignoring it.

God doesn’t want either of those. God wants you to keep moving forward, to keep growing. God loves all of you and will support you on your journey. And God doesn’t want you to do it alone. He wants to uncover things when you are in a place to deal with then and in circumstances where you know you are loved.

It takes courage to keep going, to love yourself even as you take ownerships of the areas you still need to grow, to keep going back to a place of pain in order to work through for healing, to wake up each day and turn your eyes forward not back and decide to make a change. It also takes courage to work through things with patience and not push through to get to the other side as quickly as possible.

To whoever needs to hear it, here is a verse from psalm 27:

Wait for the Lord, Be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord

A tree has many branches… – lent 2023

Last year I was out walking and I found a cedar tree. I didn’t know it was a cedar tree, it just caught my eye because it was an interesting shape. It had a lot of branches (yes, I am aware that all trees have a lot of branches!) and these branches were all strong, well defined and separate rather than clustered together. What struck Mr as I was looking at it was how many different branches there were and yet it was a single tree.

It struck me because sometimes in life we are told we need to specialise, to focus our energies on one thing. Education makes is do it, choosing options at each stage to narrow down and focus our expertise. “Jack of all trades, master of none” – the implication being that we need to focus one or two trades in order to be successful. And as we get older, chances to learn new things become harder to find. “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks.”

And yet, here was a tree, standing proudly with loads of branches spread all the way up the trunk. There weren’t only one or two strong branches and lots of weedy ones. The branches didn’t stop when the trunk reached a certain height. Given everything it needs, a tree has no limits.

Imagine you were a tree and each branch is a new skill – what would your tree look like? If you had all the space, sunlight, water and nutrients (or human equivalents) how many branches would you have?

We would all probably have a couple of large branches near the bottom. We learn to walk and talk at a young age. Then we learn to read, write and count. As we progress, some of us learn sport, arts, sciences and/or languages. Some will develop their writing or counting skills further. Some will combine skills.

But imagine if you never had to specialise. How different would you life-tree be? Would there be more branches? Imagine if there was no one telling you to be realistic and discouraging you from certain subjects or skills. Would your tree look different? Imagine you could learn a new skill whenever you wanted. Would the branches on your tree spread all the way to the top?

In the bible, it is written in the letter to the Corinthians that God gives many gifts – different combinations to different people. There is no limit – God doesn’t only give 2 gifts to each, nor does God stop giving new gifts past a certain age.

Just imagine what it would be like to learn and develop new gifts/skills at every stage of life depending on what you want/need at the time. Imagine there are no limits. Imagine you are free to dream. What ‘branches’ would you like to grow?

It’s lent, a time to learn about ourselves. We can start growing new branches in areas we have always wanted to. We can pray for more gifts. We can strengthen branches that have started to grow in the past. We can become flourishing trees with many interesting branches.

Have I taken the analogy too far? Maybe. But I find the visual helpful, maybe you will too.

Walk by faith – lent 2023

There is a phrase in the bible: we walk by faith, not by sight. It’s a phrase that comes to me from time to time – when it’s dark and I’m finding my way to a specific room in the house, walking a route I’ve walked most of my life, or when I’m carrying too much and can’t really see where I’m putting my feet. There I go again, walking by faith not by sight. I took it very literally, interpreting it to mean that I knew the way so well I didn’t need my eyes. In the faith setting, knowing what to do and not letting myself get distracted by what my eyes could see.

Recently though, I’ve found myself pondering on a deeper level. Walk by faith and not by sight doesn’t really mean knowing the way. In fact, it’s almost the complete opposite. Knowing the way without light is walking by memory. Walking by faith is not knowing the way but going anyway.

Maybe it’s quite simply that, not knowing where we are going but choosing to trust God to open the right doors, knowing that eventually we will be where we are meant to be, with him in heaven. That is a fair interpretation that covers most of our life. But it can also be used in specific circumstances. Maybe something you are going through is painful and actually looking ahead it looks bleak, like a never ending tunnel, not even a glimpse of light ahead. But you’ve been told it gets better. You’ve been told it will help in the long run. So you keep going, you keep pushing through without needing to see the light. You choose to believe the light is there, you choose to believe it will get better.

Walking by faith is choosing to keep going even when you can’t see what’s ahead. It’s choosing to trust that the path you are on is God’s path, or at least that God will direct you back onto his path if you’ve wandered away. It’s choosing to hope that whatever hardship, whatever struggle, whatever pain you are experiencing now, it won’t last forever and there’s something better waiting.

I wonder if Jesus ever felt like that? When he was being tempted in the desert and he could have made things easier for himself, taken away the trial but he chose to trust God. Walking by faith?

Or as he journeyed to Jerusalem for the final time knowing he had to die. Walking by faith?

Or as he sat in the garden praying then let himself be arrested and put on trial without fighting back, without speaking up for himself. Walking by faith?

God has a plan that is bigger than what we are walking through. Jesus suffered. Then he rose triumphant. Whatever you are walking through, however dark it might seem to your eyes, remember your God rolled the stone away and rose from the grave. Walk on, keep believing.

Walk by faith.

He cares about the ‘why’ – lent 2023

Have you ever done something ‘unforgiveable’? Have you ever been in a situation where you felt you didn’t deserve forgiveness? Have you acted in a way you’re not proud of?

I was talking with a friend recently who was explaining a situation and said they felt they didn’t deserve forgiveness but was sure they would be given it so didn’t want to ask. (To clarify, my friend hadn’t done anything terrible, but sometimes our view is skewed by our own perception). It got me thinking. If I look back on my own story, there are things I’ve not proud of. I have said in the past “they shouldn’t have forgiven me”. I have felt like I didn’t deserve forgiveness.

That’s the funny thing about grace. It’s not about what we deserve. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. Grace is undeserved. God does care when we do something wrong, of course he does. But he doesn’t care about the action per say. He cares about what led to that action. What scar or hurt has led you to that point? On the Christian course I did, DNA, they had a saying: a legitimate need met in an illegitimate way.

What they mean is that how we feel is very real. Maybe we need to be loved, maybe we need a bit of an escape, maybe we need to let off steam – whatever the need, there are multiple ways to meet that need. But not all of them are helpful and healthy. But dealing with the behaviour, the ‘sin’ if you like, is just dealing with the fruit. God cares about the root, the thing inside that means you feel like you need to behave in that way.

Grace has already dealt with the action, Jesus was crucified for all our sins and we are forgiven. We can move past the beating ourselves up part, past the part where we feel like we’re unforgivable. God’s grace doesn’t care about the action, it cares about the person. You will always be forgiven if you say sorry (and mean it). God wants to acknowledge that legitimate need inside, to heal the hurt caused or to give the break you need. He cares about the what, but he cares more about the why.

Is there an area you feel unforgivable? Are there things you do/have done that cause you shame? Take them to God, receive his grace and forgiveness and let him uncover the root, let him begin to mend the ‘why’.

He gives more than we ask for – lent 2023

A couple of days ago, a friend and I were driving to a church where parking was limited. There was a lay-by opposite and as we were driving through the rain, my friend prayed for a parking space. I told her I didn’t think it worked like that. I think God was trying to teach me something…

As we approached, someone got in their car and left. It was the spot furthest from the church, but it was somewhere to park and unload. While we were parking, someone else got in their car further down, much closer to the church. So we hopped a long and parked there instead. We didn’t just get one parking space, we got two! God gave us more than we asked for.

This was a lesson to me. It’s something silly really, a parking space. It seems sort of flippant to ask for something so unimportant in the grand scheme of things when there is so much pain in the world. I know I have prayed for things and not seen results. I know I am still waiting to see answers to some of my prayers. So why did a prayer for a parking space lead to a choice of two places to park?

Jesus teaches that we should have faith like that of a child. Jesus also says we should ask for anything and it is the Father’s pleasure to give it to us.

I’m not trying to make light of it, quite the opposite. It is easy to think some of the things we want are not important and so censor our prayers. It’s easy to take a look at the world and think it would be selfish to pray for ourselves. It is easy to get discouraged when we don’t see results from our prayers. But it’s not about us.

The point of prayer is to leave things in the hands of the Father. Its an act of faith, and symbol of trust. When the bible says to pray for everything, it means everything. Big things and small things, parking spaces and peace. Then we have to trust in the one we have prayed to to act out what is best for us. Sometimes we won’t understand, sometimes we may get frustrated at the answer (or seeming lack of answer) but that is when faith is most important.

I found this an encouragement to me, and maybe a light reproach – I shouldn’t limit God, I shouldn’t censor my prayers. I can pray about everything, I can ask for anything. The real question is do I trust God? Will I leave things in his hands and trust his answer is the right one for that situation without needing to understand straight away? Will I trust God with the big things and the little things, the good things and the bad things, the happy and the painful? Or will I make decisions on his behalf about what he wants to hear about?

It’s not always easy to be persistent in prayer, but God is good and sometimes we just have to have faith in that as we look around at the world and our hearts break at the pain or our anger burns at the injustice. And we have to keep praying for results. But we also need to remember it’s also OK to pray for parking spaces.

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

Why should this Saturday be different to every other Saturday? – lent 2023

My favourite ever film is called ‘The Frisco Kid’. It’s the story of a Polish rabbi and a cowboy travelling together and their hilarious adventures. At one stage the cowboy robs a bank, and the duo have to run away from a posse who are out the capture them. The problem is that they need to run away on a Saturday, and according to the rabbi, Jews don’t ride on Saturday. The cowboy says, “What do you mean you won’t ride today?” The rabbi says, “Why should this Saturday be any different to any other Saturday?”

The resulting journey mellows the rabbi, and he moves from religious legalism to a genuine faith, but the underlying principal remains. If something is specifically for God, our foolishness shouldn’t get in the way.

In the bible, Jesus and his followers are walking on the sabbath and his disciples pick wheat and eat it – working on the sabbath. The religious leaders picked up on it and started interrogating them. Jesus replies, “the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.”

The idea of a sabbath, or a day specifically for God, is for the benefit of mankind. We weren’t made wired for a sabbath, it wasn’t written into our DNA that a sabbath was essential to us. We weren’t meant to worship the sabbath – keeping the sabbath should not be like a law. The sabbath was created because we need rest. The sabbath is a time to realign ourselves with God. At times, its tempting to skip a sabbath, or a day of rest. There’s so much work to be done and deadlines are looming, or there are things we don’t want to miss out on. Those are exactly the time that we need a sabbath. As tempting as skipping it would be, making sure to take a day to recover has longer term benefits.

It’s not a legalistic stick to beat yourself with, if you miss one you don’t need to feel guilty for ages. But a sabbath is meant for your good, trust in the Father that created it because he knows what you need.

Why do I write this today? In addition ti my normal working week, I have had 2 amazing days of hard work and immense satisfaction. I’ve got another one tomorrow. Lots of fun has led to extreme tiredness and I’ve not finished yet. But I do have a day off to recover. I know that with that day off, my work will be better when I go back.

Why is this Saturday different from any other Saturday? Because I’m busy – I still need rest, I still need God and I still need space. How about you? Are you good at making space for a sabbath? Or do you let life convince you that this time is different and you don’t need the rest?