40 day challenge day 28: Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again

Another musical one! I enjoy watching older films. I used to watch them al lot with my grandparents. I love ‘Singin in the Rain’, but I have a soft spot for anything starring Fred Astaire. The films are simple, feel good films, the music is catchy and the dancing is just so effortless.

There’s one particular song from one particular film that has stuck with me. In the film ‘Swing Time’, Fred Astaire plays a character who can dance, and who is trying to get to know a lady (played by Ginger Rogers) who teaches at a dance school. So Astaire’s character enrolls in the school pretending that he wants to learn to dance, and wants this lady to teach him. (There’s a lot more to it than that, I’m just getting to the point quickly)

He is a very clumsy student who falls over so much that his teacher declares that she can’t teach him anything. So he turns on the charm and sings a song about what to do when you fall. It’s called ‘Pick yourself up’ and uses the repeated phrase, ‘pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again’. Its a song about being teachable and keeping trying.

This does have a biblical link (at least, it does in my head). Jesus travels around with 12 young men (and lots of others, but he particularly chooses the 12). They follow him and watch him and learn from him. As a teacher, I know that Jesus would never give up on them, but at times you can almost read the frustration on what Jesus says. You find him saying, “do you still not understand?” And many times has to explain himself more than once. But in particular, there’s Peter.

Peter often says the right thing, there’s no doubting his courage for speaking his mind, or his heart for trying to get it right. But equally as often, he says the wrong thing. He declares that Jesus won’t die, despite that being written in the old testament prophesies, and being Jesus’ reason for coming. He suggests building tents for Moses, Elijah and Jesus on the mountaon during the transfigura – as if heavenly beings need a permanent residence on earth. He impulsively cuts off a soldiers ear in the garden when Jesus is arrested (probably, there is some conflict about whether it was Peter or not…). He denies Jesus three times around the fire while Jesus is being tried…

And yet, each time he accepts the knock, accepts he’s got it wrong (again) and keeps going. Although he does often speak without necessarily thinking, he doesn’t make the same mistake twice – he learns. And at the end, he is one of the most influential people in the spread of the early church. Whe he got rebuked or knocked down, he didn’t stay down but tried again and eventually became a teacher in his own right.

So God is a patient teacher (not quite like Ginger in the film…) and we need to be good students. Not perfect students who never make mistakes (that’s not what being a studenteans!) But students who, when we do make mistakes and get knocked down, are able to get up, brush off the mistake and try again.

40 day challenge day 27: A job well done

I painted a labyrinth this week… We are setting up some interactive prayer stations, and one of those stations is a labyrinth. For those who are interested, a labyrinth is different from a maze because there is only one path that takes you to the centre, no dead ends. Its an inevitable journey with only one destination although lots of twists and turns. So I decided it would be a good idea to make one.

I bought a dust sheet that would be big enough and looked up online how to draw one. Then I got a paint can to mark the middle and drew 6 circles in crayon. Then I marked the extra ‘vertical’ lines that would mark out the path. And after that took me a couple of hours and much frustration, I got out the fabric paint. I started to paint over the crayon lines so that it would be permanent.

Did you know, dust sheets aren’t paint proof? I lifted the sheet to find paint on the floor underneath (fortunately, a hard cleanable surface…) So I had to put some waterproof sheets underneath before I could continue. Needless to say, this relatively simple task of following instructions became a rather frustrating task with lots of lateral thinking needed. And the end result isn’t perfect. But I am satisfied with it. I know there are mistakes, but it will serve the purpose, and looking at it I feel a sense of achievement. It’s not bad for 1 person, some fabric paint/pens and a dust sheet.

The point? It reminded me of two things I heard a couple of years ago about God and us. One was using the imagery of a child drawing a house with a garden and trees. And it’s not a work of art. It’s a little messy, and that might be a dog in the picture, or it might be an alien… But the point is that a loving parent may stick that to the fridge. And that’s like God. When we proudly present him with our work of art, out masterpiece, which to him is like a child’s crayon drawing of a house, you can bet he will smile broadly and stick it to his fridge. Well, I’m sure he would if he had a fridge… The point is, he doesn’t look at it critically and point out all the flaws. He doesn’t say its not good enough, rip it up and throw it away. He takes pride in what you do and loves to celebrate achievements and creations.

The second thing I heard was a story of someone painting a room. And their small child helped them. In their own way, with not tidy strokes, they enjoyed ‘helping’ paint the room. And when they were finished, both parent and child stepped back and looked at the room. And the child said, “Look at what’s we’ve done, isn’t it great!”

Now the child only contributed a little, and it was probably painted over by the parent when the child wasn’t looking, but the parent didn’t contradict the child. Instead they celebrated together about a job well done. Together.

God is like that too. We work together. What we contribute as we love people and pray for people and serve people is like what that child contributed when painting the room: it’s a little messy, but it’s our best and done with good intentions. And God is like the parent. He will celebrate what we have done and enjoy working with us, even though he doesn’t need us.

Because he is about relationship. He’s about growth and creativity. He is a proud parent who loves us. He sticks our drawings on the fridge with fondness and he looks at the painted room and smiles down at our helpful contribution. Because that was always the intention, right back in Genesis. We would walk together and work together.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is give yourself a break if things aren’t perfect. Have you tried your best? Could you have done better? God loves you because you are you, not because of your work. And don’t be afraid to try things out. Don’t be afraid to offer help to God. He doesn’t need it, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want it. And at the end of the day, he will look down at you and your small contribution to his kingdom, and say, “that’s a job well done.”

40 day challenge day 26: Reunion of the heart

During the 2020 lockdown, the place where I worked had a Zoom social with the theme of wearing something from our favourite band/artist. I didn’t have a lot of those. Strike that, I had one I could wear. And so it became a bit of a running joke that I, the youngest in the office, was a mega fan of an artist who is getting on a bit. He started in the 60’s and has hits in every decade since, the only person to have done that. And to be fair, I do enjoy listening to his music and have some of his CD’s. But when I was at Uni studying music, I was advised not to shout too loudly that I liked this guy. So obviously I’m not going to reference him in a public blog, right?

Except, there is a song that he performs which is perfect for pointing to God. So, here we are. I am unashamedly a fan of Cliff Richard (although not his biggest fan…) I grew up listening to his music and can sing along to a good number of them.

The one I want to focus on, and the reason I am publicly declaring my fondness for Cliff, is called ‘Reunion of the Heart’

It tells a story, and could almost be the Israelites story. “You picked me up when I was living down Iin Egypt” – sounds like what God did back in Exodus. The song is about being shown how important you are, but still you wander away. And even though you wonder away, you are called back by someone calling your name. You are hesitant to return, you mucked it up last time and you don’t want to make the same mistake again, but the voice doesn’t stop calling…

OK, now I’ve butchered the lyrics! But that gives a sense of what the song is about. And how true is that of us and God? If Egypt is metaphorical for us, a place where we are trapped or at the mercy of another, God meets us and offered freedom. How often do people get that offer and walk away? Look at the parable of the prodigal son. He has love and security, but he walks away thinking there was something better, more exciting. But he realises his mistake and turns back to his father, not as a son because he knows he doesn’t deserve that and he messed up, but he comes back looking to work as a servant in the household. The father has other ideas.

In this song, the voice calls out a personal invite to return. You think the owner of that voice doesn’t know what a mess we’ve made? But the voice calls anyway. God calls anyway. He can handle the mess and the mistakes, he just wants us to hear that invite and come back – not as unworthy servants, but as family, fresh with a new start. Sometimes traditional hymns are a bit old and dirge-like, and sometimes contemporary worship songs just don’t hit the mark. But there is a whole world of music out there, and God doesn’t see it as ‘church music” and “secular music”, he just hears “music”. So I don’t mind saying that this particular song really points me to God. (And if you like this one check out “You’ll be in my heart” by Phil Collins…)

40 day challenge day 25: True humility

What comes to mind when you think of humility? It’s the opposite of pride, right? Except its also the opposite of self doubt. Humility is acknowledgement of our weaknesses and our strengths. It is holding the balance between leading and serving. It is being only human and wonderfully human at the same time. It is holding in tension confidence and modesty.

Which is another way of saying I can’t really define humility…

I once spoke in church about humility and how Jesus shows us that. Using a passage in Philippians where Jesus is described as both human and divine, where it is described how he left divinity to become human and walk among us, I talked about how Jesus modelled what it would look like to be humble.

Jesus, The Word, The Creator, Omnipresent. He was born to Mary and had to learn to talk. He had to be spoon fed. He had to be shown how to nail two pieces of wood together. He had to walk around Galilee.

He gave up divine power to be obedient and to save us. (To clarify, he never stopped being divine, just like we can never stop being children of God – its who he was). And coming to earth, he isn’t born into wealth, power or priviledge, but to a young girl and a carpenter, in a back room at an inn where there wasn’t enough room. He was a refugee by the time he was 2. When he goes to be baptised, he waits in line just like everyone else.

God tears apart the heavens to claim Jesus as his son, and Jesus ‘celebrates’ by spending 40 days in the desert being tempted to use his identity as Son of God to make life easier. But he chooses not to. He chooses to trust God. He waits and doesn’t try to claim the power offered to him, or take the food to ease his pain, or test God to prove that he’s real. He chooses patience, faith and trust. He chooses to be human. He chooses to use his human voice to declare God’s words from the Old Testament, divine words. Because God is never silent, sometimes we have to choose to trust him like Jesus did.

And yet this man also answered the Pharisees questions with authority. He taught and people listened. He commanded respect. And he still knelt and washed his disciples feet. Leading and serving. Secure in who he was, comfortable to be himself without apology. Reaching out and healing with a touch or a word. Kneeling in the garden and crying out to God for respite and help. Strength and weakness. He served but never bowed down. He wasn’t better than the least of us, neither was he worse than the best of us.

I thought this level of humility was unattainable. Looking at the people around me, I see people modelling an extraordinary amount of love, or living with almost unbelievable amounts of faith and trust, but I didn’t think I’d ever meet someone who showed me that level of humility. Not someone perfect, but someone so secure of who they are in Christ that they take responsibility of mistakes. Someone who will take the credit where it is due and still point to God. Someone confident and yet modest.

And maybe to reach that level of reliance on God, that level of self-assurance and God-assurance, you need to be broken and put back together. Maybe you need to experience God’s grace in such a way that you only ever want to be grateful for what you have and point others to the person who gave it to you.

I’m doing a bad job of describing it. But I do know a person who has a level of humility I didn’t think was possible, and that I want to emulate. It’s not out of reach. Its not something only for Jesus.

True humility can acknowledge when it has done well without arrogance and when it hasn’t without beating itself up. True humility can build others up without fear of knocking self down. True humility gives credit and doesn’t seek attention.

Jesus is truly, wonderfully, humbly human, and if we choose it, we can be too.

40 day challenge day 24: Jesus on the outside

I love discovering new angles when reading the bible. I was reading John 9 earlier. Its a widely recognised passage. There is a man who has been blind from birth. The disciples ask why the man is blind, whether it was because he had sinned or his parents had sinned. Jesus answers that neither has sinned, but this was an opportunity to show the works of God. He then proceeds to spit in the dirt and create mud, then put that on the man’s eyes. The man goes to wash in a specific pool and he is miraculously healed.

That’s the bit of the story often told. But it was the bit after that I read today. The Pharisees have let it be known that if anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. The man’s parents back off and let the man himself take responsibility. When the Pharisees question the man he answers honestly about what Jesus has done for him and refuses to call him a sinner. He doesn’t back down and the tries to explain to them how Jesus couldn’t be a sinner because God listens to him (and the thinking at the time was that God didn’t listen to sinners). The Pharisees take umbridge at him trying to teach them and threw him out.

This is the bit that caught my attention today. Jesus heard that he had been cast out and came to find him and revealed himself as the Son of Man (old testament name for the Messiah…)

Stop for a second. Jesus had already given this man his sight. But when he heard that the man had been thrown out of the synagogue, Jesus takes the time to search him out and speak to him. The man could have denied Jesus, he could have given in to the Pharisees, but he chose to believe in Jesus. And Jesus meets him there. Jesus blessed the man with his sight, it was the choice of the Pharisees to kick him out. Jesus didn’t leave him there, he invited him to be one of his followers.

I wonder if there are people around who have been made not welcome in our places of worship or at our meetings? I wonder if you are one of those people? Take heart from this passage. Jesus searches for those on the outside. He meets them. He won’t let them be abandoned, no matter what mistakes the leaders have made. The Jesus worshipped inside churches is just as present to those outside, those who for whatever reason don’t feel comfortable or welcome inside. Jesus makes the invite to them to be a part of his family. Jesus is on the outside.

40 day challenge day 23: Prayer is like…

Yesterday I was witness to some amazing teaching. A very good friend was encouraging another person to pray.

Sometimes when we pray we can think it all rests on us. If things don’t change, it’s our fault. Maybe we used the wrong words or weren’t holy enough. And that fear can sometimes stop us from making that step to pray.

So this friend used the best analogy I have heard in a long time. She said that when we pray it’s like asking for a McDonalds. You place the order but you don’t make the burger! Prayer is you placing the request, while God fulfills the order. God is the one who has the responsibility, God is the one who gets the credit, God is the one with the plan.

OK, slightly simplified, but for teaching and encouraging someone to pray, I think it’s pretty good. I’m going to be borrowing that one for my teaching!

40 day challenge day 22: You do you

Picking up on yesterday’s theme, I found some inspiration from another children’s film. Ferdinand is a film about a bull who starts life in a school for teaching bulls to fight (there’s probably a proper term, can’t think of it off the top of my head). He sees his Dad get taken to a matador fight, and the trailer return empty. He runs away and ends up on a farm with a young girl (and her father). He grows up being loved and with no one telling him who he should be. He discovers he loves to dance and roll around in the flowers.

Now, Ferdinand is a very fine specimen of a bull. He is huge and strong. When he goes to the local flower festival, chaos ensues and he gets sent away to a bull school. The same one he ran away from. The other bulls recognise and remember him, and aren’t impressed. Both them and the trainers try and make him into a fighter. Ferdinand refuses to trade in who he is in order to please the trainers or the other bulls, and in doing so is a positive influence on the bulls around him. One particular bull, the alpha bull, says at one point, “So I should dance around and care for flowers?” (Or something like that anyway…) and Ferdinand replies, “No, that’s me. You do you.” (or words to that effect).

It is a great film and teaches about the importance of being who you were made to be, and not who others want you to be (basically, yesterday’s post) but it also shows the effect that can have on the people around us. If we have the courage to be who God made us to be and not give in to the pressure to conform, maybe, just maybe, that courage can be contagious. And just imagine how varied and interesting life would be if we had the courage to be ourselves, if we had the courage to ‘do us’ instead of fitting the mould! How much fun would it be to show off our individual styles instead of being told they were wrong! What would you do if you weren’t afraid of what others thought? What would happen if we celebrated what makes each of us unique instead of criticising it? What does ‘you do you’ mean to you?

And while you ponder on that, check out what ‘you do you’ meant to the bus Ferdinand met…

40 day challenge day 21: The Master Baker

On Sunday I shared 2 songs. On Tuesday I explored the meaning behind the first one. On Wednesday I wrote about how to move on from that place. So today, I’ll look a little at the second song.

As a reminder, it’s called ‘Tryin” and is about not trying to be who others want you to be, not trying to fit in, and learning to love who you are, exactly as you are.

The world around us has loads of images that tell us what passes as beautiful/handsome. That doesn’t always match what we see in the mirror. The world is wrong, not the mirror. You are uniquely beautiful/handsome and the world doesn’t get to make you believe otherwise. God made you, you are beautiful.

The people around us can tell us who/what we are. Or what we’re not! Sometimes they might be right. But before you believe what they say, no matter how well meaning, judge it against what God says.

I can give an example. I shared with a friend a specific gift I feel I have, a characteristic trait that I am comfortable with about myself. That person told me I didn’t have that gift, that character trait, because if I did I would be more like someone else (a mutual friend of ours).

Well, let me tell you, I believed them. I counted myself out. Because I wasn’t like that other person, clearly I didn’t have that trait. Let me also tell you, my friend was absolutely wrong. It took me a little while to realise it, but that gift, that trait, is just as evident in me as it is in that other person, even if it looks different.

Just to clarify, my friend wasn’t trying to put me down or belittle me. In fact, she was trying to help me. But in this instance, listening to her was not the right move on my part.

Think of a cake. Different ratios of ingredients show themselves differently in each cake. Doesn’t mean the ingredient isn’t there! So God is like the master baker, carefully measuring out the ingredients for each of his creations in the ratios he intends, and the combinations that are just right. OK, that’s not technically theologically accurate, I made that one up. You won’t find that analogy in the bible. But it’s a good image!

So linking this back to the song, we don’t need to change to be the person other people think we are. We don’t need to measure up to pictures in magazines. The person we are, the person God made? That person is enough. The same God that took care to create the delicate butterfly, patiently crafted you (and me…)

So maybe instead of wishing to be different we should try loving the person we are. I’m not saying never change. Growth is good! But change because its right for you, because God is directing that, and not because the people around you want you to be different.

You are enough. You have been hand-made with love by the Master Baker himself. You are amazing.

40 day challenge day 20: It’s not fair!

Yesterday I wrote about shame and how it can cause us to hide. I wrote how shame isn’t from God and basically isn’t a good thing (understatement…)

I’m aware that not everyone will have a problem with shame, but I also think it is something that can creep in without us realising it. Maybe it creeps in for a period in our lives: as a new parent, as a newly wed, in a new job… Or maybe its been a companion for years and we just didnt know the name of it. It can steal away exciting new opportunities and keep us trapped in a metaphorical pit.

Shame is something that can isolate us. It can cause us to hide away, or lash out and be defensive. It can lead us to feel like imposters, like we have to pretend to be someone we’re not. Society doesn’t help. We are constantly fed images of how we should look and instructions on how to act or think, and if we don’t fit that then we’re wrong. And that’s the key of shame. It tells us we are wrong. Maybe it makes us feel like we’re not worthy of things – success, happiness, love…

God says otherwise. If shame makes us compare ourselves unfavorably, God says don’t bother. Romans 3: 23-24 says ‘all have fallen short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus’.

Let’s unpack that a moment. All have fallen short. Everyone. No one gets it right all the time. We all miss the mark. So give yourself a break.

All are justified freely by his grace. All. Everyone. No exception. Jesus dies for everyone. If you think you’re not worthy, grace says you are. Because of Jesus.

So what is grace? I did a Bible study a couple of weeks back where we attempted to answer that question in an hour. Needless to say we didn’t exactly succeed. But we did have some interesting thoughts. Here’s some of my favourites:

Grace is the vessel through which we receive everything else: love, peace, joy… all received because of God’s grace. Grace is something undeserved, but given anyway. We can’t always feel it, but it is always there. It’s like a cosmic trapeze – we have to let go and trust that the next one will be there (and the bible says it always will!) Grace is forgiveness, it’s not getting the punishment we deserve.

Here’s another thought: Grace isn’t fair. No matter how hard we work, how often we go to church, how many good deeds we do, or indeed how few or infrequently, the level of grace is the same. At our lowest, we can be glad of that. At our most productive, maybe we’re not so glad to hear that. Brene Brown talks about grace using one of Jesus’ parables (video below, warning for some mild swearing)

So, with that brief look at grace, knowing we don’t deserve it but it is freely given anyway, the things that make us hide in shame, or push people away in defense don’t need to be hidden. That’s what shame says. You’re not good enough, they won’t accept you if they know that about you, you’re not worth it. But grace says you are enough, you are accepted, you are most definitely worth it. Jesus gave everything out of love, not because he owed you anything. So if that is you, if there is something you think you need to keep hidden, don’t. Bring it into the light (good Christian phrase…) If it’s in the open, there’s no where for shame to work.

And no, grace isn’t fair. But isn’t that the point?