New Life in Christ..

Good morning God,

Thank you for your constant reminders this year that I am YOUR child, and that you call me by name.

I know that I am part of your new creation for you have taught me that I am more than the sum of my DNA, more than the thoughts of my mind or the desires of my heart. I am made in your image and am destined for perfection.

This is not just a 'theological statement' it is my core identity, the ground of my being, and hence the framework for the way I chose to live my life.

This is what Christ has won for me - the freedom to be all that you created me to be - and, in spite of how much it offends or upsets others - I refuse to give it up for what society in its ignorance considers I should be.

In its ignorance, society saw in the incarnation a bastard child of an unmarried mother, a refugee from political oppression who grew to be an unemployed wandering troublemaker with a whip and a loud mouth and precious little respect for authority (religious or otherwise) A common rabble rousing criminal who (for all his supposed popularity) couldn't muster enough support to plead for a stay of execution when he was finally brought before the rulers of the day.

Society has always lacked the vision and coherence to see you God - even when you were nailed up high as a sign for all to see...

But to those who do see.. to those who believe your promise that like Christ they are destined to be more than they seem to be - you give that same power to become your children - children born, not of flesh, but of your will.

And they become a new creation when they claim and take up their God given identity.
They receive from you that fullness of life which cannot be crammed into a 9 to 5 existence or measured by the number of years to live on this earth. And best of all, you do not wait until we die to give to us the knowledge of your gift to us of our new life in Christ - eternal life.
All this I know to be true.

But sadly so few of my friends and family do.
So, on the eve of this new year, and knowing a little of what lies ahead, please God,  hear my prayer for those who mistakenly grieve for me or pity me; for my family and friends and all who unwittingly think that the most important thing to know about me at the moment is how my disease or treatment is progressing..

Gracious God,

Enable those who love me

and those who know me and care for me,

to do so without pity or sorrow,

rejoicing in the fullness of life

that you have given to us all.

Grant them the ability to see all of me,
the life and the heart of me
not just the disease in me,
and help them to know that what matters most
is not how many years we have to live,
but how, with you,
we are able live the years we have
growing in grace and holiness.
Help me to live,
so that my whole life
proclaims the good news
that whoever believes in you,
will not perish,
but have everlasting life.

Shhhh... the Baby's sleeping

Good Morning God

Just wanted to say thanks.

It's been an amazing few days.
Thank you for all the hugs and smiles, for gifts and grins.
Thanks too, for these few days of rest when all you ask of me is that I help rock the cradle...
and get used to the fact that you really are in my world in such an amazingly dependent, grace-filled way.

Creator God,
The waiting time is over
The fullness of time has come,
Tonight all of creation sings your praise
Tonight the heavenly host proclaims again
what Angels sang so long ago
Have no fear
For unto you a child is given

A Saviour who is Christ the Lord
And this shall be the sign for you.
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Risk taking God,
The waiting time is over
Life is given this night.
We who were lost in darkness
have seen a great light.
For you sent your son, the Word, made flesh
as the light that shines in the darkness
which the darkness can never extinguish.

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Emptying himself of all but your love
He was born of Mary
and shared our human nature.
Heralded by angels,
Visited by wise and ordinary folk alike

Jesus your son,
Immanuel, God with us
grew in grace and truth
to proclaim your kingdom of Justice and Peace
For which he was put to death upon the cross.

You raised him from the dead
You refused to allow the light of hope and love to die
And by that light
You empower your people
Sending them your Holy Spirit
And calling them to be a Holy people
A Christmas people
to join the choir of your heavenly host
and sing:
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Glory to God in the Highest Heaven
And on earth Peace.

Holy Holy Holy Lord
God of power and might
Heaven and Earth are full of your glory
Hosanna in the Highest
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord
Hosanna in the Highest

Gracious, Holy, Redeeming God,
We praise you for Jesus
Your Word of Love
who, on the night in which he was betrayed
took bread, and gave you thanks.
He broke the bread and shared it amongst the disciples saying
'Take this and eat it
This is my body given for you
Do this to remember me'
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'Keep my commandments,'
'Love one another as I have loved you.'

After supper, he took the cup of wine, gave thanks
And then gave it to them saying
'This is my blood of the new covenant
It will be poured out for you and for all people
For the forgiveness of sins
Do this, whenever you drink it
In remembrance of me.'
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Christ is born
The Word is spoken
God is With us

And so God of love
we remember the life that you gave to us
and all that Christ has done for us
Send down your Holy Spirit
that these gifts of bread and wine
may be for us
the Body and Blood of Christ,
the Myrrh and Gold that our Hearts and souls
need to transform the frankinsense of our praise
that we may be Holy as Christ is Holy.


This we ask through the same Lord Jesus Christ
Your ever living light and Word

Through him, with him and in him
In the unity of the Holy Spirit
all glory and honour be given to you
Almighty father
Throughout all ages
Amen.

Christ is the Light of the World
Christ is the bread of life

The Word has spoken
The Word is Love
God be with us as light and life.

Dispersed Church

Good morning God,
A great three days in store worshipping with your dispersed people and being reminded of the truth of your words about the blind who see and the lame who walk..
You repeatedly show me how easy it is to perform such miracles - all it seems to take is the determination to not allow your Children to be forgotten or made outcasts in the first place!

So I'm off to buy baskets of Christmas Chrysanthemums and luxury shortbread to take with me as I visit your favourite sons and daughters.. A small gift  to work miracles with. It will help us all to see that those we visit  really are loved and blessed by you and me, and by the wider Church family. We will walk down memory lane together, share news of the Church, laugh at the past, talk gently but joyously of those we love but see no longer, and look forward to the future.
It's no wonder I love this time.. its full of your grace and love,  and your miraculous ability to weave prayer out of presence and bread  and wine out of mince pies and tea.

Bless you God..

An invitation..

Good morning God,
I've been caught out again by how little quality time I seem to be spending with you at the moment.
I have had to remind myself several times this week to take time out to just talk to you about the things that I am seeing, doing or preparing. Sorry, being 'too busy'  is just another way of taking you for granted, and I promised myself I wouldn't do that. I don't want to forget it is YOU that I am so busy dressing up in tinsel, pushing into oranges, or delivering with Christmas Chrysanthemums.

It's so easy to get sucked in and allow the religious bits and the business of Christmas substitute for our personal time together. But this means that I could miss the sound of your voice as you laugh with me, and run the risk of not even recognising that it is your hand that has touched my heart, lifted it and filled me with joy... and that's not good enough - you would never do that to me.

So thank you for the prompting, and allow me to issue you with a personal invitation to a very special early morning communion tomorrow morning. Before the crowds arrive for all age worship, and before the stewards bustle about the place sorting out the sound system, hymn boards, advent candles, Christmas trees and whatever else.. I have prepared a quiet place and time to be still and know that You are GOD.

It's selfish of me I know, (given everything else that is going on) but I really do need you to come, you see, it would mean nothing if you were not there.

I hope to use the time to remember those who  need at-one-ment; those who need to shed tears before they can face the other members of their family over Christmas dinner; those who need strength and consolation and who need to hear your heavenly host saying 'do not fear'. Those who need to remember who you are in the midst of Christmas, and what you invite us to do...

Thank you God,
For your prevenient grace,

As you know there wont be many of us,
just a small gathering..
two or three maybe..

but - I'm so glad you have invited me to spend time with you
To come and feast at your table, before setting my own

And for somehow making sure that I would not be too busy to cry -  come Lord Jesus.

Love you God.

Pleasing, pandering and placating

Ok God,

I admit it,

I like to be liked, and I don't like it when what I say or do upsets people. I hate the sense of failure, the endless rehearsals of conversations that have already happened and the echoes of words that weren't said going round and round in my head. I hate the sense of needing to put right what I didn't think I had done wrong in the first place, the restless pacing and the troubled sleep..

There is absolutely nothing to like about being at the root of some one's irritation.. there is nothing pleasing or satisfying about causing frustration, distress, anguish, or anger - either deliberately or inadvertently.

Even if it is sometimes gospel work.

When you sent me to minister you didn't give me an excuse to do all that I can to please, pander to or placate someone by holding silence or worse - by not telling the truth or by lying. You sent me to find a way to speak the truth in love - and demanded that I love the truth enough to be prepared to speak it regardless of the cost.

But its hard to love a truth that few seem to value and even fewer are prepared to commit to.

Who wants truth at Christmas? All we want is snow, Santa, mince-pies, carols, candles and plenty of peace on earth..

We don't want to know about people dying because of our greed, expenditure and thoughtlessness. We don't want to know that most families will throw away more food in three days over Christmas than some families have to eat all month... leave alone the truth that we could change all that - if we really wanted to..

But just imagine what a gift it could be to the world if every Christian chose to give life instead of aftershave or bubble-bath for Christmas. If everyone of us gave the money we had intended to spend on presents to someone who would spend it on staying alive, realising their potential, growing in grace, and building a world fit for life...

What could happen if instead of pandering to the consumerist god, instead of trying to please everyone by getting family and friends what THEY want and placating our sense of unease by giving a token sum to charity over Christmas, every Christian did what YOU expect of us.. just once?

The truth is - at Christmas we celebrate the fact that You, who could have had everything, chose instead to empty yourself of everything - so that we might have life...

And you call us to do the same..

Its not popular, and doing it will upset many a soul expecting an ipod, or a computer, or a bike or a digi-box or a sat-nav or a box of chocolates.. especially if we have the courage to tell them why.. but just once maybe...

It might make this Christmas more of a celebration of what YOU want!

And there's more..

Good Morning God,

There's a peculiar form of religious linguistic schizophrenia in a significant number of your ministers these days, including me - and it's all to do with holding the tension between making the gospel accessible for all, and challenging people to accept the challenge of discipleship.

Starting where people are often seems to entail 'dumbing down' the language of faith - but the reason that there is a language of faith is precisely because some things need to be said differently to even stand a chance of being understood: the great mystery at the heart of the Eucharist for example, needs the proclamation

'Holy Holy Holy Lord', God of power and might..

'God you are bloody Amazing!' - doesn't always manage to communicate the awe, wonder and otherness of that moment.

Likewise, 'my mate Jesus' , the guy we talk about in the pub, or at mother and toddlers group etc, can sometimes seem a little too nice to make powerful, life-changing, world shaping demands of us..

Liturgy has its place - especially at Christmas. Its important that we do somehow communicate the challenge of faith, not just the choice of faith, because to do less is to strip the gospel of any real import. Being a Christian ends up being reduced to something similar to being a supporter of a particular football team, or pop idol, or strictly come dancing contestant without the challenge of discipleship.

There's more - so much more to being a Christian than knowing ABOUT you God. Christ didn't come just to give us a religious holiday or a feel good factor. Our Christmas language can remind us that Christ came to give us so much more..

In Christ you invite us to encounter the truth of what we are not yet - but are invited to become, and to know that there is an 'other' who is 'holy' and different from us who, even in our wildest imaginings we could not consider ourselves to be the equal of.. but who nonetheless draws us close.

So we religious language schizophrenics spend our Christmases telling our stories with knitted nativities, or similar props, all the while we are really waiting and praying for the moment of grace when your Spirit can break in and speak. We conduct our candlelit carol services, and hold our breath in anticipation of the Holy speaking through words and music..

Finally, when we know our words are too simplistic and chatty, you nudge us to reach for the religious liturgical silence which speaks most powerfully albeit religiously into the timeless spark of grace, when - as Wesley put it - you were 'contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man'

When that silence has spoken, stilled the chaos and birthed possibility; and whilst the echo of it still lingers in the memory, you give us a moment to make the invitation: -

there's more...