Christmas

It's just 1 week to Christmas, which we're spending with my family this year.  I'm almost finished Christmas shopping, I did almost all of it online!  I'm waiting for one delivery, and I'm collecting a gift tomorrow.  After that I just need to get something for my partner, and I'm trying to work out what he would like.  What do you get someone who isn't overly materialistic?  He already has everything he wants, and we already have too much "stuff"!


All of this got me thinking about how we went about getting gifts sorted.  We set a budget, and divided it up.  And we noticed a pattern - office "secret Santa" got £5.  Nephews and nieces got £20-£30.  Parents got £40-£50.  My partner... don't know yet!


There seems to be a scale of significance in how much we spent.  The more significant the person, the more we spend.  The Secret Santa is one of those annual "must do" things, so the budget is minimal.  Parents get more, nephews and nieces are in between, because they're growing up (and whatever we buy will be out of fashion in six months anyway!).


But Christmas is not really about materialism - or it shouldn't be!  It's about another gift.  2,000 years ago God gave us himself.  What does that tell us about how significant we are to him?  


So, what can give in return?  Romans 12:1 in The Message sums it up:

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 

And if you'd like a good Christmas song, here's one of my favourites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2McgKkUChA


This will be my last post of the year, so Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Image: Google Images

World AIDS Day

Jesus,


You know each person affected by HIV/AIDS.  You love each one, whether someone with a diagnosis or their friends and loved ones.  Jesus you are the great healer, please bring your healing and love to these people.  


In many places people with HIV are treated like lepers, but you reached out to lepers, you embraced them.  May each one know your love.  


Please be with the scientists and doctors trying to find a cure.  May those who control medication allow it to get where it is needed, not just to where people can pay.


Jesus we look forward to your new world, where sickness and suffering will be no more.  That is our greatest hope.


Amen

Update!

I've updated a few things on my blog.  I've been asked about being gay and Christian, so I created a new page with my thoughts on this.   I added a few things to my story, and clarified a few sentences which I think needed it.  I also moved links to a new page tab and added a contact option.


As always, suggestions and constructive comments are welcome.


Image: Google Images

Masks

Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.

-2 John 1:3

Today is Halloween, when people dress up and put on masks and get to pretend to be someone they are not!  But this is not just something that people do at Halloween.  We do it every day.

How many times have you said "I'm fine" when someone asks - when really you are anything but fine!  

People have a habit of thinking about how they want others to see them, and we act this out.  We become so good at it, and we work hard to keep up the pretence   Just like someone wearing a mask, we present our carefully crafted image to friends and families.

There is a word for this - hypocrite.  The word refers to someone with multiple faces.  In ancient times actors wore masks with with different expressions, and the term is linked with that.

I believe Jesus calls us to live in radical honesty, authentic living, and to drop our masks.

Rev. Troy Perry, the founder of Metropolitan Community Churches once said, "my closet burned down a long time ago.  I set it on fire - Amen!"  We all have our closets.  They contain lots of secrets - sexual, alcohol, drugs, porn, anger, pain, abuse or anything else you can think of.  Jesus calls us to set our closets on fire!  It's not easy, but it is worth it!

Our closets trap us.  While we hide our real selves in our closets, we live a double life.  Burning down our closets liberates us.  No more secrets, no more pretending, no more lies, just authentic living in truth and love!  When someone has no secrets, what "dirt" could someone dig up on them?  When you are yourself, people can accept you as you are - just as God does. 

There's a great song by Casting Crowns called "Stained Glass Masquerade".  The lyrics include the following amazing words:

...I tuck it all away, like everything's okay.  

If I make them all believe it, maybe I'll believe it too.

So with a painted grin, I play the part again, 

so everyone will see me the way that I see them.

Is there anyone who's been there, are there any hands to raise?
Am I the only one who's traded in the altar for a stage?

The performance is convincing, and we know every line by heart.
Only when no one is watching can we really fall apart.

But would it set me free if I dared to let you see,
The truth behind the person that you imagine me to be?
Would your arms be open, or would you walk away?
Would the love of Jesus be enough to make you stay?

I think that says so much.

Image: Google Images

Give to God what belongs to God

Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”  (Matthew 22:21)

Jesus' famous statement was in response to a question - a question religious leaders were using to trap him.  Was it right to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?  If Jesus said "yes", he'd alienate many (most?) of his followers.  If he said "no" then Rome had grounds to arrest him.


Instead, Jesus - as quick as ever - asked for a coin.  Then he asked a question. Whose image was on the coin?  Caesar's they replied.  And Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”  We are reminded that material things are ultimately futile.  But the idea of "image" goes way beyond coins!


If a coin bears Caesar's image, what bears God's image?  The answer is of course you and me.  Way back in Genesis 1 the Bible tells us God made us in His image.  Unlike a coin which is manufactured uniformly, we are diverse beings.  Yet all of us are made in the image of God.


So, we should all give to God what is God's.  As one worship song says, "so I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the one who gave it all.  I'll stand, my soul Lord to you surrendered, all I am is yours".  Amen!


Image: Google Images

New Online Group

In previous posts I have said I think it's important to read the Bible.  But it also helps to be able to discuss it too.


Ideally you should try and join a Bible Study group at your Church.  But if that's not possible for you right now, I've created a new group on youversion.com 


I'm still learning how to use this site, but the fact that it combines groups with being able to read the Bible in a variety of translations seems appealing to me!  If anyone is interested in joining it's at http://youversion.com/groups/lgbchristians 


Image from Google Images

The Hope Of The Gospel - Alasdair Black

Paul in Colossians exhorts us not to give up on the hope of the gospel. It is easy to give up hope especially when we feel everything is going against us. I remember as a child singing 'Jesus bids us shine' with the words:

Like a little candle
Burning in the night.
In this world of darkness
So let us shine-
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.

The image has always stayed with me - of a child with a candle in a corner surrounded by darkness, hoping Jesus comes back before the darkness gets him or her! But is this really what the hope of the gospel looks like?  Celtic missionaries used to have a very different way of looking at the world. The unseen world that surrounded us was full, not of darkness or foreboding spirits, but the light and glory of God. We were enveloped by the presence and power of the angelic and the saints. In the midst of whatever we were going through the all encompassing light of God surrounded us and dispelled the reality of the darkness.

It is a similar vision that governs Paul's words in Colossians. Paul is affirming a truth that is often forgotten today. The gospel is not dependent on whether I believe in it or not; or whether our society thinks it's true. No, the gospel is a declaration of what has already occurred. It proclaims the difference that the coming of Christ has made to the whole of the created order. It is a declaration of events that have occurred in time and space that have changed the nature of all things. Often in our pluralistic and relativistic age we think all religious truth is simply a matter of what I choose to believe, but Paul wants us to know the gospel is a declaration of how God has transformed the world through the coming of Christ. It is about something that has happened that affects us all whether we choose to believe in it or not.

The first part of the passage is probably a creedal statement used by the early church. It shows us that from the inception of Christianity Jesus is affirmed, not as 'a god', but as the creator God - 'by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ' (16-17). Paul wants us to be in no doubt that when Jesus the Creator became part of creation, 'the invisible God' became visible. He uses a phrase 'the first born of all creation' to describe this state of affairs. The phrase is not saying that Jesus is created, but that he is the head of all creation - its author and sustainer. In the same way, Christ is the head of the church.  

But Paul also wants to affirm that the coming of Christ has tangibly changed everything. The gospel is not some ethereal timeless spiritual truth that some people might find helpful; it is declaring an event that has ramifications for us all. God's relationship to the world and to each one of us has changed through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Death is no longer the end and the world is no longer a place full of darkness and alienation. Christ has brought reconciliation, healing and forgiveness. Although it may seem the darkness is winning and power of Christ is waning, Paul exhorts us: 'don't give up the hope of the gospel'. The Christ event has changed everything. The reality of that transformation does not depend on how we feel or how we are doing or even whether we believe in it. It rests on what Christ has done - his birth, death and resurrection. This reality impacts everyone. Let's not lose sight of what Jesus has done, but let others know of the transforming power of God that is at work in the world.

Source: The Hope Of The Gospel - Alasdair Black Senior Pastor, Stirling Baptist Church