HOW SERIOUSLY DO YOU TAKE THE CHURCH?

From the Calvin blog:

How is the work of Christ on behalf of the elect appropriated? Answer: by faith in the gospel. But, since we are ignorant and slothful (Calvin's words), "we need outward helps to beget and increase faith within us". These "helps" are to be found in the church. Citing Cyprian, Calvin makes (what to 21st century individualists sounds Romanesque) the statements: "for those to whom he is Father the church may also be Mother" and "there is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and lastly unless she keep us under her care and guidance until, putting off mortal flesh, we become like the angels".

"I believe in the holy, catholic church," we affirm as we recite the Apostles' Creed, but do we really mean it? And we do so in the Creed before affirming our belief in personal salvation ("the forgiveness of sins"). Calvin's words above strike the modern evangelical as obscure at best and sacramental at worst. Twenty-first century evangelicalism knows the language of personal faith and personal quiet-times but balks at the corporate dimension of salvation and the means of grace.

And in this 21st century evangelicalism is wrong! Choosing a church is not just like choosing your favorite flavor of ice-cream; and leaving a church should not be done as lightly as switching from shopping at one supermarket to another.

So, how seriously do you take the church?

BOOK REVIEW: MOVING IN THE PROPHETIC

Moving in the Prophetic by Greg Haslam

In the interests of full-disclosure I need to acknowledge that Greg is someone I know, like and admire – he is a colleague and friend. I officiated at the marriage of his eldest son, who is also someone I like and admire very much. I have preached at Greg’s church.

Reviewing a book written by a friend is different from reviewing one by a stranger.

This is a helpful book. If I have a criticism, it would be that Greg has probably written two (or even three) books here. At nearly 400 pages long this is a fairly hefty volume, and the sections on finding vision for your life and how local churches should function (chapters 9 to 13, comprising over 100 pages) could profitably have been published separately – the content of these chapters is good, but doesn’t seem to me to be tied clearly enough to the title and main thrust of the book.

OK, that quibble aside, what is good about Moving in the Prophetic?

It is thorough! Greg is well known for working through subjects methodically, and here he gives us a comprehensive survey of what the prophetic gift is and how it should function. Even if you were not to read the whole thing cover to cover, every believer would benefit from picking out the chapters and sections relevant to them.

Greg is very open – passionately open – to the Spirit of God moving among his people to release prophetic gifts, but he is also crystal clear about how prophecy needs to be properly used in the church, and how we are to avoid charismania. I would love to get this book into the hands of some of the people I’ve had dealings with over the years who have pursued prophetic cul-de-sacs and in their desire for the spectacular have failed to develop any kind of real spiritual maturity.

I also like the way Greg describes the variety of ways in which prophecy can come – through preaching, through song, through wordplay, and so on. Through it all he emphasises again and again the importance of being soaked in the Scriptures. Genuine prophecy must be firmly grounded on the infallible word of God.

Greg illustrates Moving in the Prophetic with many stories from his own experience. Some of these stories are very powerful, while many of them are very funny. They serve both to stir up a hunger to experience more of the presence of God and to warn against abuses of the prophetic gift. Greg’s own breadth of reading and cultural interests are revealed in his encouragement to those wanting to grow in the prophetic to allow their emotions to be stirred by reading authors ranging from John Donne to John Steinbeck.

This book would be invaluable for the pastor leading a church which has never experienced prophecy. It provides a theological rationale and framework for the gift, and answers many of the objections of those who claim that spiritual gifts do not operate in our day. It would also be invaluable for the individual wanting to grow in their prophetic gift – it is packed with practical insight and wisdom. The three chapters on Learning to Prophesy, Delivering a Prophetic Word and Testing a Prophetic Word are particularly good. These chapters should be required reading for anyone wanting to prophesy, and it would be very helpful if they could be published in a separate pamphlet which could be given out at church membership classes!

Greg has served the Church well with this book. Read it, and stir up the gift!

RAISING WOMEN

As previously promised, Grace and I have put our heads together and come up with some thoughts about raising daughters. This article is too long to be posted here in one go, and I don't want to break it down into a series of posts, so instead the whole thing is available as a pdf here.

WONDER & WORSHIP

In my role as a church elder, I sometimes get into conversations with sincere believers who have themselves tied up in knots over some aspect of theology, in a way that is ultimately unfruitful and unhelpful. These conversations tend to turn on subjects such as predestination, creation and eschatology - subjects which are too large and grand for our finite minds to fully compute. They are the things that seem to me to come under the Deuteronomy 29:29 directive that "the secret things belong to Yahweh", and there comes a point where I have to say, "I just don't know - but I choose to trust."

Calvin puts it well:

Thou seekest reason? I tremble at the depth. Reason, thou; I will marvel. Dispute, thou; I will believe. I see the depth; I do not reach the bottom.

We are meant to be led to wonder and worship, not dogmatism or doubt.

NEWDAY VID

The Gateway young people loved Newday.

Here's a video they put together about it:

SCREECH ON THE BEACH

Yesterdays world record firework display in Bournemouth didn't meet with universal acclaim. This from the Independent:

An explosive world record attempt came under fire today as a barge carrying fireworks appeared to blow up and burst into flames.

Around 175,000 people turned up for Roar on the Shore to see 110,000 fireworks set off in under 60 seconds from the barge between Bournemouth and Boscombe piers in Dorset last night.

But instead of rockets shooting to the skies, the event was over in about six seconds as the metal barge appeared to explode, with flames spreading across the deck.

Visitors also complained about delays of up to three hours to leave the town as the roads became gridlocked.

Oh well - I enjoyed it!

Standing at Branksome Dene (at the more civilized Poole end of things) it was fun to watch the fireworks, and then almost more entertaining to see the scores of boats head from Bournemouth across to Sandbanks for the weekly Poole fireworks - it looked like the sea was alight.

As we so often do, Grace and I went home saying, "What a fantastic place to live!"

MUSICAL INTERLUDE

If you haven't yet heard it, you really must listen to the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's performance at the Proms before it disappears from iPlayer. Very unusual. Very clever. Very funny.

A SHIRT OR A STATEMENT?

I bought a new shirt the other day.

On the shirt hung a tag. On the tag was some text. The text said this,

In 2003 Original Penguin was recreated by a group of people who love great style and smart clothing. You, today’s style makers have evolved this legend and made it your very own. Thank you. We are proud to design collections for people with such great intellect, style and humor.

I don’t think I’ve ever been called a style maker before. Its not really my style. And how do they know that I am a style maker anyway? Purely by dint of me buying one of their shirts it would seem. But I bought it because it was cheap (the wonders of TK Maxx – “Designer labels, always up to 60% less”), and not because I thought it was a stylish thing to do. So does that mean I have style without even realizing how stylish I am? or just that I buy cheap shirts?

I’m also not sure how I have contributed to the evolution of a legend. Or made it my own. King Arthur I’ve heard of, and Robin Hood. The Loch Ness Monster, yes. And Bigfoot. I’ve never come across the legend of the penguin before though. It might be my own, but I’m not sure I feel inclined to conspiratorially pull people into the corner of my local pub, whispering, “Have you heard about the penguin?”

Its very nice to be described as having great intellect, style and humor, but in all honesty that’s probably only something my wife would say about me, and then only on very special occasions. I wonder how wearing a particular shirt demonstrates great intellect? I don’t think there is a copy of Aristotle or the Critique of Pure Reason sewn into the fabric – the “slim shoulder and lean through waist” design doesn’t allow much space for weighty works of philosophy anyway.

Perhaps they know it takes a sense of humor to be able to buy a shirt with just such a tag hung on it. Ha! A knowing, ironic joke – “Isn’t it funny that we write this drivel – it shows how funny (knowing, ironic) you are to understand what we are doing!” But somehow, while they are being funny, I don’t think they mean to be.

In a grown up world all such spiel would be considered a criminal offence.

I quite like the shirt though.

BOOK REVIEW: UNDERSTANDING THE BOOK OF MORMON

Understanding the Book of Mormon by Ross Anderson

First a gripe. This book is subtitled “A quick Christian guide to the Mormon holy book” which indicates that it is going to be fairly short, but when I part with £10 ($14.99 for American readers) I rather expect Amazon to deliver something of reasonable thickness. This is tiny! More of a booklet than a book really. The content is good, but the price is steep.

So, what of the content?

Anderson was raised a Mormon, before converting to historic Christianity, and since 1983 has been pastor of a church in Utah. There are quotes from Anderson’s family members who are still Later-day Saints, and he states that he got LDS readers to check some of the chapters before publication. His aim throughout is to be non-confrontational, so if you are looking for polemic this is not the place to come.

A few months back I had a couple of LDS missionaries on the doorstep and found my conversation with them to be stimulating, frustrating and confusing in equal measure. I’m afraid I was not at all points as irenic as Anderson, partly because at the time I was preaching through 1 John, with its rather curt warnings against those who separate from true faith in Christ. It was a difficult discussion to pursue because it felt like my interlocutors tried to appropriate any claim I made for the unique claims of Christianity, saying, “We believe that too.” It was also difficult simply because I did not know enough about the Book of Mormon.

Although it is short, this book does a good job of explaining the history and significance of the Mormon scriptures. And while Anderson works hard to remain respectful, it is difficult not to read this without a growing sense that the beliefs of the LDS are simply ridiculous. Joseph Smith and his writings are so clearly the product of the cultural milieu of America in the 19th century that any claims for divine inspiration are risible. An imaginative young man with a family history of folk magic came up with a story that made Native Americans the lost tribes of Israel and the USA the true Promised Land. Many Americans (of many creeds) have, in their search for identity, tried to capture links to the past that their young nation can actually never claim (at least not in a way that doesn’t feel faintly embarrassing to a European). In this vein Smith created an ideology that gave Mormons historical integrity. He told a story that connected the New World with the Old, and actually demonstrated its superiority. He told a story of how a disparate people could become one people with a common culture. He gave birth to one of the great sects of Christianity – close enough to the truth to make it difficult to debate with the new religions missionaries, but far, far distant from the real thing.

Anderson gently unpicks inconsistencies in Smith’s story and translation. He demonstrates the contradictions between the Book of Mormon and other LDS scriptures. And he shows the lack of archaeological evidence for Mormon claims that the ancient civilizations of Mexico owe their origin to wandering Israelites.

Next time some Mormon’s come calling I will be better prepared to dialogue with them, and must thank Anderson for that. That probably makes his book worth the money; but as the LDS don’t come by that often it’s a close run thing…

PATRIOT OR TRAITOR?

The top story on the BBC website at the moment is this one titled, NHS attack by MEP 'unpatriotic'

The fact that the NHS has become part of the political argument in the USA about health care has created a furore, and it is the hottest of hot political potatoes on this side of the pond. I personally feel there are good arguments to be made both for the NHS as it currently stands and against how it currently stands. I think there should be space for this debate, and not the immediate terror that strikes British politicians when one of them dares to break ranks and question health care orthodoxy.

Above all, it strikes me as bizarre when an MEP is described as being 'unpatriotic' for criticizing the NHS in another country. Someone who is unpatriotic is unconcerned about their nations well being and reputation, which is clearly (whatever you think of him) not the case with Daniel Hannan MEP. It could be described as unpatriotic to undermine a key institution of government, such as the House of Commons - oh whoops, quite a few MPs who have been doing that...! But unpatriotic to criticize a health care system? I don't think so.

I tend to stick by the old adage, that sacred cows should be slaughtered, and talking about the NHS has become one of those cows. There seems to be the same kind of entrenched defensiveness of the NHS that there once was of the Established Church. And I do not think that is patriotic, but undemocratic and blinkered. Let's have the debate. At the least, it would make politics more interesting if the main parties actually disagreed on something important.

BOOK REVIEW: THE FIVE POINTS OF CALVINISM

The Five Points of Calvinism Defined, Defended and Documented by D.N. Steele and others

Last Sunday I had a fascinating conversation with two Muslims who came to church. Very quickly we got to the nub of the matter – how can you be confident of salvation? For my new friends it was a matter of works righteousness, seeking to obey the Koran and hadith as closely as possible. “How then,” I asked them, “can you ever be sure that you have obeyed sufficiently for a righteous God to accept you?” They seemed to agree that I had a point.

In the end, the distinction between all true and false religion is this – How can you be accepted by God? True religion answers, “In Christ and his righteousness alone! It is not my works that save me, but his.” The sad thing is how often what would label itself as “Christian” in reality holds no better promise than the claims of Islam. Too often the answer given to the question, How can you be accepted by God? is, “By being good.”

The point is, you can never be good enough. Only Jesus is.

The Five Points of Calvinism is a classic. First published in 1963 it was updated in 2004 and sets out the true gospel of salvation by the grace of God alone. For those who think of Calvinism as a narrow, disputatious, and unpleasant creed, this book describes a kinder, gentler Calvinism. It explains how Calvinism predates John Calvin himself, and how it represents the good news of Jesus Christ – a gospel that means we can be accepted by God despite our failings, and never by our efforts, but only by the saving work of Christ.

The first section of the book sets out to define what Calvinism is, and how it differs from the great competing theology of Arminianism.

The second section moves from definition to defence, explaining the ‘five points of Calvinism’. The explanation given for each point is very brief, but accompanied by copious examples from scripture.

The third section is a wonderful annotated biography of recommended reading on the subject of Calvinism.

These three sections are very helpful as reference material. The first two are worth reading word for word (which won’t take long) and the third is a great starting point if you want to investigate these truths more thoroughly.

In many ways the Appendices at the back of the book are its most useful feature. These set out some of the practical implications of Calvinism, and would all repay study. One of the appendices is an excerpt from Spurgeons biography, which displays good Calvinist humour:

I recollect an Arminian brother telling me that that he had read the Scriptures through a score or more times, and could never find the doctrine of election in them. He added that he was sure he would have done so had it been there, for he read the word on his knees. I said to him, “I think you read the Bible in a very uncomfortable posture, and if you had read it in your easy chair, you would have been more likely to understand it.”

If you have never read anything about Calvin or Calvinism, in this year, the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth, you could do a lot worse than start with this book. And if you already convinced of the doctrines of grace, The Five Points is an essential reference tool for your shelves.

MORE ART

Here is a report in our local paper about the none too enthusiastic response to Poole's latest piece of civic art, which I posted about the other day.

I am thinking about organizing a "Poole Plinth Party" when we get people to stand on it, Trafalgar Square style and get the local media along to report. Anyone up for some performance art?

INFLUENTIAL BOOKS

Two videos for you (via the Euangelion blog) about influential authors from New Testament theologian Michael Bird.

This one is a spoof



And this one is for real

ART?

I am not a reactionary critic of contemporary art, and am actually quite a fan of street art, but I'm not at all sure what Poole Council are up to installing this 'sculpture' on the corner of my road.



It just looks a bit of an ambiguous mess to me. And it is only a matter of time till a child scooting to school splits their head open on one of those sharp granite corners. But perhaps we could turn it into Poole's answer to the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square and have members of the public taking turns to stand on it.

More effort required I think.

MANLINESS, PART 18

I thought I’d finished this series of posts on manliness, but then remembered that it just needed some wrapping up from the book of Ecclesiastes.

The recent death of Harry Patch, the last veteran of the First World War, as well as reading about D-Day and driving through Normandy has got me thinking about the brevity of life. When I was born, it was only 25 years since the end of the Second World War, but to me it has always felt like the distant past. Now that distance is only the same as the mid-1980s are from today, which to me feels like yesterday, but to those being born today will always feel ancient history.

Life passes fast, and Ecclesiastes helps us to measure its passing.

Ecclesiastes stands unique in the canon of scripture; there is nothing else quite like it. There is a lot of dispute about when it was written, and who wrote it, but I take it at face value, as the memoirs of Solomon at the end of his life. Reading and applying Ecclesiastes will help us to be men.

At the beginning of chapter 2 Solomon lists all the things he set out to do and enjoy – the things that appeal to the heart of a man. He set about great construction works, he grew beautiful gardens, he accumulated tremendous possessions, he had constant entertainment, and he had a huge harem.

Not many men get to do things to the extreme extent that Solomon did, but the things he did are the things that appeal to men still. Building a career and prestige, working on the house, collecting stuff to put in the house, seeking out entertainment, having lots of sex. Not all these things are bad in themselves, and certainly not bad when pursued in the right way and in the right context, but at the end of it all Solomon looked back and said, “Its all been vanity, just spitting in the wind.”

Turning to the end of the book, we can see what Solomon concluded, after all his triumphs and failures, his joys and sorrows,

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them"; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut – when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low – they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets – before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

Or, in other words, grow up!

Get your eyes fixed on the Creator. Live your life for him – not for your house, your car, your career, your body – and live well, because its all coming to an end soon.

Be a man.

MANLINESS, PART 17

Now I'm back from holiday I will wrap this series of posts up.

When I spoke on this theme at the Together on a Mission conference I ended by referring to an article by Randy Stinson in the Southern Seminary Magazine, titled "Show yourself a man". As well as this article there are some other excellent pieces on being a Christian man in this magazine, so rather than me regurgitating it I recommend you download the whole thing, here.

It has been interesting coming back to the UK with Harriet Harman's comments about women in politics hitting the headlines. I think what she says only goes to further demonstrate what I have been arguing in terms of the differences between men and women; although I don't think I would agree with all her suggestions as to how this should be 'solved'.

Also, while away on holiday I have been musing about Grace and myself writing something down about raising girls. With all the focus there is in many quarters on men and raising sons it might help redress the balance to do something specifically for parents with daughters.

Watch this space...

BIG FISH

Carp fishermen are a strange lot (and it is, note, fishermen - not sure why, that's just how it is).

Benson, the 64lb fish, has been found dead. They're blaming it on dodgy nuts, but having been caught 63 times during his years in the Bluebell Lakes fishery it is hardly surprising if he was feeling a bit green about the gills.

Check out the man who spent 1,000 nights trying to catch Benson, and now will never achieve his dream. A good example of the extreme male brain...

HOLIDAY READING

Back from a wonderful two weeks in France - they have sun over there you know.

I didn't get as much read while away as I had planned. For some reason my children seemed to think I should entertain them, and four hours of live Tour de France coverage each afternoon was somewhat distracting. Unlike my 11-year-old daughter who can get through a 400 page book in the space of three hours my page turning happens at a more leisurely rate. So just three volumes to report on...

Up Till Now by William Shatner

If you think the Americans have no sense of irony you should read this; and you will discover that Shatner is a Canadian.

While he will forever be Captain James T. Kirk of the star ship Enterprise, Shatner has performed an extraordinary number of roles, and this memoir is really the story of always waiting for the next phone call and always taking whatever job it offered. The son of Jewish immigrants in Montreal, the theatre was an unlikely career choice for Shatner, and one which for many years only just kept the wolf from his door. It was not until many years after Star Trek had been made that Shatner started to reap the financial and other rewards of starring in the series, as the world wide trekkie phenomenon developed.

This story of always aiming simply to have “more than eighteen-hundred dollars in the bank” is told with considerable panache and a great deal of humour. There are some real laugh out loud moments here. There is also poignancy and sorrow. Shatner does not do well in his relationships, and the most tragic part of the story is when he finds his alcoholic wife Nerine dead at the bottom of their swimming pool; an incident related on the track What Have You Done from the surprisingly brilliant Has Been album. If you haven’t got this album, you really must. Available from all the normal outlets, and also, along with a vast array of Shatnerbilia, from williamshatner.com

To get a sense of Shatner at his perplexing, ironic best, his classic rendition of Rocketman has to be seen...



D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor

Beevor, our premier recorder of the history of war, achieves an equivalent success to his earlier accounts of the battles for Stalingrad and Berlin in this epic account of the fight for France.

Somehow Beevor manages to cram every page with detail but keep the narrative storming on. It is difficult to keep all the geography and characters and timing together in ones mind, but this doesn’t seem to matter – the writing is so compelling. Ten years since reading Stalingrad the thing that sticks in my memory is the sheer bloody horror of the Soviet and German armies grinding themselves into the dirt in the rubble of that ruined city. From Berlin it is the horrific use of rape as a weapon of war by the Soviet army advancing into Germany. And from D-Day I think it will be the shocking destruction of Normandy by the Allies as they forced their way through dogged German resistance. The Allies killed 70,000 French civilians during the course of the war, more than the total number of British who died as a result of German bombing.

On the way to our holiday we crossed from Poole to Cherbourg, and drove past some of the Allied cemeteries in Normandy. The human cost of this war was unimaginable, and Normandy became the sacrificial lamb that the rest of France might be spared. Accounts of soldiers falling to pieces mentally under the terror of artillery bombardment is sobering, as is the brutality on both sides, with prisoners of war being killed in cold blood. There were also moments of incredible chivalry though, when enemies treated each other with unusual respect.

War brings out both the best and the worst in men. No other area of human experience allows men to act with such selfless courage and boldness, and with such hideous brutality. Both the best and worst were on full display in Normandy. Beevor brilliantly captures the terrifying chaos of the first airborne landings behind enemy lines and the bloodbath of the assault on Omaha beech. This is Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers in full detail.

And of course, running through one’s head is the question, “Would I have fought bravely, or been one of those cowering in terror in a foxhole crying for my mother?”

The logistics behind the landings and subsequent advance beggar belief. A quartermaster in the 3rd Armoured Division calculated that it took 125,000 gallons of fuel for the whole division to move just 100 yards. In this the incredible resources of America are evident. The British had bankrupted themselves fighting the war, but the US was able to keep pouring in more and more resources, and it was this apparently limitless supply that really did for the German forces, whose own supplies became increasingly sparse. The Allies achieved almost complete air supremacy and were able to bomb German supply chains into oblivion. America became ever stronger, Britain weaker, and thus was set the path of Western politics up to the present day.

One other aspect of the conflict that stands out is the incredible ego of the commanders involved. Fighting a war is hardly the domain for shrinking violets, but it is striking how the Allied Generals competed amongst themselves. As Field Marshall Sir Alan Brooke put it, “It is astonishing how petty and small men can be in connection with questions of command.” One of the challenges of preaching the gospel in contemporary culture is trying to explain the concept of ‘glory’. It is largely a foreign notion to us – glimpsed only fleetingly and meanly in major sporting events – but it is the end towards which all Christians are directed, as we will share with Christ in his glory. But the pursuit of glory is what drives the Generals. As General Patton recorded when he was waiting to be sent to France, “It is Hell to be on the side lines and all the glory eluding me.”

It is the desire for glory that enables the greatest deeds to be done, but it is also the root of man’s self-destruction. It was Satan’s seeking of his own glory that led to his downfall, and all the sin of the world since has been a seeking after a glory other than that of God’s. Too many of the commanders fell prey to this intoxicating desire. De Gaulle was insufferably arrogant (in a uniquely French way). Montgomery was too – to such an extent that Eisenhower described him as ‘a psychopath’, unable to ever admit a mistake. Patton, the most driven and most successful of the Generals wrote at the end of the campaign, “I am convinced that the best end for an officer is the last bullet of the war.” After commanding the fates of thousands of men, indeed of whole nations, what could compare? Where would the glory be? And of course, at the centre of it all was Hitler, whose lust for glory was unsurpassed.

Therein lies the lesson – and the warning – of the battle for Normandy.

Jeeves Omnibus, No. 4 by PG Wodehouse

For me. Wodehouse is quintessential holiday reading - nothing is more relaxing. This omnibus contains three stories about Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. All are basically the same story, with the characters and plot somewhat rearranged. But the continuity of these characters and stories adds to their charm. Reading Wodehouse you know that, as Jeeves would say, the lark is on the wing, the snail on the thorn and God in his heaven.

MANLINESS, PART 16

My last Michael Bywater quote, and one that tells a painful story,

Birth rates in the UK have been falling for years. Is this a surprise? We are so well entrenched in our infantilised self-obsession that we surely have no room for real babies, little ones, nasty little ones with demands and requirements who can keep us from finding out who we really want to be and buying it?

When our erotic lives become ends, not means, the consequence becomes too easily irksome; and we run away. I did it myself, abandoning a two-year-old daughter because I thought that by doing so I was ‘fulfilling’ myself and ‘being honest’ and all the rest of the blather for which, in a sane and adult society, I would have had my face slapped, but which, in the world of Big Babies, meant that I was able to wallow in a sort of terribly smug self-pity, demanding that others feel my pain instead of behaving like a grown-up and not causing pain to anyone, including myself, but particularly the child for whom I was responsible. It was, naturally, for erotic enthralment. Like a teenager wriggling under the Question – ‘Where were you last night?’ – I made all sorts of excuses to myself, but in the end I was a grown man of thirty-two behaving like a thirteen-year-old. It was, of course, unforgivable.

Enough of this childishness. It is time to man up.

We live in a society where we are talked to like children (‘now wash your hands’, ‘this beverage may be hot’, ‘swimming is dangerous’). We are observed and spied on and seem to be grateful for it (oh the idiocy of CCTV!). We sit at computers, responding to the ping of emails, like Pavlov’s dogs (the triviality of so much employment). We stare at our TV screens (like babies, or the Roman mob! “Entertain me, entertain me!”). We eat on the go, rather than at a civilized table (“I’m lovin’ it!” Not likely). We are babies!

And while on the subject of food, let me share a few moderate thoughts about food faddism. Now, I have some very dear friends who are somewhat fussy about what they eat. I would not wish to cause them offence, but let me say this: Food faddism is babyish.

Babies are fussy eaters! Children whine, “I want an ice-cream” and “I can’t eat vegetables.” Adults eat what is put before them, with gratitude. And if they really cannot stomach an item on the menu they simply leave it on the plate, without saying a word.

This isn’t only my particular angst – it also has a solid missional logic. A key part of being a witness to Christ is that we sit down and eat with people. When we do this, we need to eat what we are given, with gratitude to God, and gratitude to our host. Sometimes we will be given things to eat that we do not like. Eat it. With gratitude.

If you were to go to a township in South Africa you might be given sheep brains to eat. You should eat them, and be grateful. If you go to Arabia you might be given sheep eyes to eat. You should swallow them down, praising Jesus. If you go to Mongolia you will be given sheep balls to eat. Savour the flavour and get them down your neck.

If you don’t, your hosts will think you are a baby. And why would they abandon their gods for the God of a baby?

MANLINESS, PART 15

Another sign of infantilism is the inability to get through the day without the constant sound of music. I love music. I believe it is God’s gift to us. But something has gone wrong when, baby like, we need its constant presence to soothe and pacify (drug) us.

Michael Bywater puts it like this,

Wandering from room to room is someone with an iPod; music no longer requires going out, being with other people, or even sitting in a room on your own, listening. Now it is a permanent distraction, a matter of right, a way of affirming your identity without having to be identified by other members of your chosen tribe; even when we interact with the outside world, reluctantly, our ears are plugged with the iPod buds, trickling music into our minds. Our grandparents would have thought it an appalling rudeness; after all, what does it say but, 'I do not acknowledge your existence. You are superfluous to me. I may be moving in the same physical space as you, but don't expect me to acknowledge it.'

Nuff said.