The Big picture of Scripture…

Sometimes we can be guilty of reading the Bible too forensically…we focus on word meanings, passages and contexts, commentaries and daily devotions…and sometimes, as a result of this, we draw conclusions that can be at odds with the bigger picture of scripture.

Some excellent books have been published down through the years to help us do this, but I’ve recently stumbled upon a really useful resource that can be found online and through a handy, ‘through-the-Bible-in-a-year’ app.

It’s all the work of an American organisation called ‘The Bible Project’, a small team of theologians and artists who create the most amazing animated Bible overviews.

They say:

The Bible Project is a non-profit animation studio that produces short-form, fully animated Bible videos and other Bible resources to make the biblical story accessible to everyone, everywhere. We create 100% free Bible videos, podcasts, and Bible resources to help people experience the story of the Bible. From page one to the final word, we believe the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus. This diverse collection of ancient books overflows with wisdom for our modern world. As we let the biblical story speak for itself, we believe the message of Jesus will transform individuals and entire communities. Many people have misunderstood the Bible as a collection of inspirational quotes or a divine instruction manual dropped from heaven. Most of us gravitate toward sections we enjoy while avoiding parts that are confusing or even disturbing.

from their website

As well as videos and charts giving overviews of every Bible book, and videos introducing Bible words and themes, they have developed a devotional app that takes you through the big themes of the Bible in a year.

The introductory video, downloadable HERE gives an overview of their approach.

Then there are two ways to access the devotional: you can sign up for a daily email HERE, or download the ReadScripture app from Apple’s app store for iPhone or iPad, or from Google Play for the Android version.

I have been using the Bible book overview charts for some time when preparing talks, but have recently started using the ReadScripture app as part of my daily devotions.

A really useful resource.

A brief review…”To the Island of Tides”

I have always enjoyed the slightly eccentric writings of Alsitair Moffat, so I always greet the publication of a new book with some anticipation. A kind relative gave the latest, “To the Island of Tides – a journey to Lindisfarne” to me as a gift at Christmas, and I was very glad when it came to the top of my reading pile.

I am no Christian, but sainthood and how it was achieved interests me very much…while walking in the shadow of Cuthbert and trying to understand his faith and the extreme lengths he went to in pursuit of piety and purity of thought and deed, I would also think about my own life. The contrast between his asceticism and beliefs and my lack of either could not have been more stark, but I hoped very much that I might learn something from Cuthbert.

from the Author’s note

The subject matter of the book, Lindisfarne and the Life of St Cuthbert was of instant interest…having worked on the island for a number of years, and spent time on retreat there more than a few times it is a place I know and love. I had not realised until I started to read that the book was also closely linked to the life and geography of St Cuthbert; I’ve also led a few pilgrimages along St Cuthbert’s Way for the Northumbria Community, as well as walking sections for my own enjoyment, and read widely from the sources and beyond about Cuthbert’s life, not to mention a few visits to Durham cathedral.

This is not, however, simply a historical travelogue. It is the pilgrim journey of someone with no religious faith searching for some answers and peace of mind as his 70th birthday rapidly approaches (I can identify with that!)…the unresolved conflicts, the joy and pain of a life lived is something I guess we all think more about as we age.

In his normal style, Moffat speculates and investigates places Cuthbert might have visited…some of them not the sites traditionally associated with the saint, but Moffat, with his interest in place names and the geography of the past, makes a convincing case. The climax of the walk is a few days spent in ‘retreat’ on Holy Island itself, with all its tensions of sacred space and living community, place of solitude and tourist trap, which, as someone who worked on the island for a number of years I truly identify with (and I can endorse his recommendation of ‘Pilgrim’s’ coffee shop…best coffee in this area!)

For me, it was a book to be read with a map open at my side, and I have already traced some of Moffat’s steps myself.

Did the pilgrim journey bring the peace and resolution Moffat desired? You need to read the book!

God is my friend, not a hobby…

There’s a danger of us turning God into a hobby…

Cris Rogers, Making Disciples The Podcast

I was listening to the latest episode of Cris Rogers excellent “Making Disciples – The Podcast” and that quote made me think.

Over-familiarity and taking God for granted are all too easy…we need to pay attention to maintaining and growing the relationship as we would with any others. Cris’s podcast is about 10 ways we can get our New Year off to a good start…give it a listen.

I may have previously mentioned in my Blog that I like to change the tools I use for prayer and Bible study on a fairly frequent basis, to keep them fresh. I am currently using the weekly Podcast as part of my relationship building habit, along with a prayer App, and am hoping to also be using a new commentary to help me read the Bible (once I have a copy!). I thought I’d share them here for you to check out if you want to.

Firstly, the Podcast. There’s a new episode every Monday, it’s intended to make faith accessible and practical, and although targeting new followers of Jesus it’s a great refresher and motivator for people who’ve been followers for some time too. You can listen to it on your favourite Podcast app…details are here.

The App is Lectio 365, from 24/7 Prayer and CWR. As the title suggests, it helps to engage in a brief, prayerful reading of scripture each day of the year. It is available for both Apple and Android platforms…more info here.

Nicky Gumble has for a number of years been publishing a helpful daily commentary to accompany the NIV Bible in One year. Available as an app, a daily email or a recently published book this is a great way of getting more from the Bible passages for the day from one of the people behind the Alpha Course.

Details can be found here.

Hope you’ve found this helpful…please don’t hesitate to share your current ways to keep your relationship with God fresh…

The life of the pilgrim…

The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. The next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of God acting in the desert of the present moment. The reality of naked trust is the life of the pilgrim who leaves what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee the future. Why? Because God has signalled the movement and offered it his presence and his promise.

(Brennan Manning in “Ruthless Trust”)

From a place of weakness…

“ This is what happened to me. I came to a full stop. One day I was in my bishop’s study, as if in some eerily calm nightmare, hearing myself say these words: I cant do this anymore.”

Paul Swann

In a church where often so much emphasis is placed on success and strength, imagine being a church leader who is suddenly struck down by the raw experience of failure and debilitating illness, causing him to question the very foundations of his life, faith and ministry as he goes through a time in a wilderness of fatigue…

In 2016 the Francis Schaeffer Institute published the findings of a survey on clergy health and stress. They do not make for encouraging reading.

At least 90% of ministers feel honoured and satisfied to be in this role, and work hard at it because they genuinely care for people.

Unfortunately, it seems that such commitment comes at a cost, indeed that very commitment often makes it impossible to even notice, and therefore respond to, the results of stress and pressure in our ministry before we are close to breaking point.

A 2016 survey of pastors in the USA by the Francis Schaeffer Institute has some grim statistics:

• 54% of pastors work over 55 hours a week
• 57% can’t pay their bills without a second income 
• 54% are overworked and 43% are overstressed
• 53% feel their training had not properly prepared them for the task.
• 35% battle depression
• 26% are overly fatigued
• 28% are spiritually undernourished and 9% are burnt-out
• 23% are distant to their families
• 18% work more than 70 hours a week and face unreasonable challenges
• 12% are belittled.
• 3% have had an affair

This does not paint a healthy picture of those who are called to model a healthy Christian life…

The church leader referred to in the opening paragraph was Paul Swann. After a number of years working hard in two growing parishes in the Diocese of Worcester he was forced to retire early due to  chronic fatigue syndrome (ME). An enforced period of reflection helped him to put together the circumstances that had led him to this place, and to identify the many warning signs that had been ignored along the way.

He now serves as an adviser on spirituality, offers spiritual direction and leads retreats, from a place of weakness. His book, “Sustaining Leadership – you are more important than your ministry” is both a helpful preventative and ongoing resource for a life and ministry characterised by a balance of self-care with healthy ministry.

The book begins by telling Paul’s story of disintegration and  reintegration, using this as a model for much sound and helpful advice. The chapter entitled “A question of balance” was very helpful and challenging, especially its advice on the keeping of a “Sabbath lifestyle”, and the “Soul Food” chapter amply repays the purchase price of the book and more.

The book finishes with a section on “Holding on to hope”, which invites the reader to move forward, not sustained by ‘false strength’, but rather from hope in a place of vulnerability. Faith and hope are often major casualties in this burnout process…the whole thrust of the book relates to keeping those essentials alive.

Guiltless challenge…

I read lots of books about prayer. One of my most recent reads is “Prayer in the Making” by Lyndall Bywater. Readers of this blog may remember that I found her previous book, “Faith in the Making” challenging and inspiring, so I thought I’d take a look.

I am not a great prayer, but I do take pains to keep my relationship with God fresh and two-way, so I like to get ideas and be inspired by others who are perhaps more accomplished pray-ers than me.

Books on prayer can be ‘deep’, otherworldly and guilt inducing. “Prayer in the Making” is not one of those; it is thoroughly practical and encouraging, as one would expect from someone who has travelled the path of discovering prayer herself. Challenging…yes, guilt-inducing…definitely not!

The sub-title of the book, “Trying it, talking it, sustaining it’ gives away something of the authors approach, as she invites us to investigate 12 different ways of praying to find those that suit both our personalities and our lifestyles…it is about an open door to prayer rather than a narrow gate opened to the chosen few.

Using a scriptural theme and lots of practical examples we are taken on a journey through the themes Encounter, Worship, Listening, Stillness, Action, Intercession, Strategy, Restorations, Voice and body, Scripture, Warfare and Resilience. Each section finishes with exercises to help us try it, talk it and sustain it.

When I read a new book, I like to use coloured post-it tabs to mark pages of interest, and there is a veritable forest of tabs in my copy of this book. The section about ‘grief and gratitude’ in worship is a firm favourite, as are the sections on ‘Stillness’, ‘Strategy’ and ‘Scripture’. The section under ‘Resilience’ that talks about building a rhythm of prayer, and uses the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ as a template is excellent (I’ve read lots of books about the Lord’s Prayer, and the section in “Prayer in the Making” is one of the most helpful and accessible I have found.

This book makes for a great personal read, but would also provide excellent material for Home Groups, Reading Groups and so on, and would even provide a useful framework for a teaching series on prayer.

But don’t take my word for it…read it for yourself!

Love…fear…change…

Something has happened in the nations that make up the UK. It crept up on us silently and unannounced. It took most of us completely by surprise, and is causing many of us to lose sleep.

I see it in the news, I hear it on the streets and I read it on social media. It seems as if everything is changing, and many of the things we have taken for granted are being shaken.

It must have been bubbling away just beneath the surface for many years, occasionally breaking through into plain view before diving again.

Then, it seems that the events of 23^rd June 2016 allowed it to burst to the surface and slowly take over our whole society.

Fear, especially of those who are different to us, now seems to dominate so much of our time. It seems that no one is immune – politicians, workers, bosses, educationalists, pensioners, students have all succumbed to it.

Our nation is deeply and dangerously divided.

At the same time, something more hopeful is also stirring.

Long ago, Jesus prayed a prayer that has largely gone unanswered…perhaps until now.

“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.”

John 17:20-23, New Testament

As I talk to Christian people all over the UK, as I travel around and catch up with friends who are also believers through social media, I am aware that God is at work in our land.

Churches in many places are coming together, working together in ways I have not seen in my lifetime. Denominations far apart on the theological spectrum are laying down their differences of interpretation, preference and practice and coming together out of their love for Jesus and each other and from their shared desire to see his Kingdom come “on earth as it is in heaven”.

What has prevented Christians from coming together in the past, indeed, why is our history littered with splits and divisions?

 “Perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment”

I John 4: 18, New Testament

Could it be fear that has kept us apart, the same fears we see expressed in the world round us. Why do we fear others?

• Fear of difference
• Fear of the unknown
• Fear of being criticised
• Fear of being “polluted” – “will God be angry with us if we mix with them?”

Many of us spend a lot of time working out who to exclude, based on our fears. We need to remind ourselves that Jesus always hung around with the excluded…maybe we should too if we want to know him better.

“You cannot love those you fear”

Robert Benson, “The Body Broken”

Some of us find it hard enough to love people in our own church who are different from us. How will we be able to be obedient to Jesus and love those in other parts of the church that are different to our own? Paul and the other letter writers in the NT were well aware of this tendency among us, hence the frequent warnings against gossip, criticism and sowing division.

Part of the good news, the Gospel, is that Jesus death heals divisions between people as well as healing the division between us and God. John goes as far as to say that if we can’t love our brothers and sisters who are right there in front of us, it calls our love for God into question too…if Jesus has really changed us it affects the way we love everyone.

It’s important that we ask ourselves, “Why is God bringing Christians together in new ways today?”

I believe that a more united church is demonstrating a prophetic and counter-cultural contrast, as a sign of hope to the increasingly fractured and broken culture in which we live.

I guess the question is: do we want to be part of what God is doing, or will we continue to allow old fears and prejudices keep us apart?

(Adapted from a talk given by me at Tweedmouth Parish church on 20th January 2019, at the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity)