An ABC of Faith

Diversity

Today we look at the context of Diversity within the Kingdom of God.

In our world the old rules we used to take for granted have been shaken. Cherished convictions are challenged. Diversity has led to division: political, racial, gender, cultural and economic division. There has always been some of this, but now it seems to be more prevalent.

But God has something to say about all of this. The church is what God has to say. The Church is called to be a Christ-centered community of diversity. Its very life proclaims the power of God to overcome the divisions that set people against each other. In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul announced, “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28). The church is to live as a people touched by Gods grace and no longer defined by the divisions that plague the world.

Analysts and commentators always divide people into different categories and groups. It is easy - and sometimes attractive - to think of oneself as part of a particular sector. Paul reminds is that such divisions may limit our view of God's action. We should consider what it is like to let go of distinctions, remembering what it means to be 'one in Christ.'

Sometimes we can become our own disciplinarian, living by rules and limits that we have set down. Let us pray that we may receive and live in the freedom that Jesus wishes for us.

Maya Angelou said, “We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their colour.” and “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty, and there is strength.”

Practically speaking, this is challenging; easy to write, hard to live out. 

Almighty God, through your Holy Spirit you created unity in the midst of diversity; We acknowledge that human diversity is an expression of your manifold love for your creation; We confess that in our brokenness as human beings we turn diversity into a source of alienation, injustice, oppression, and wounding.  Empower us to recognise and celebrate differences as your great gift to the human family.  Enable us to be the architects of understanding, of respect and love;  Through the Lord, the ground of all unity, we pray. Amen

An ABC of Faith

Doubt

Whether your faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving. So wrote Frederick Buechner pastor and theologian in 1973. 

Eight years earlier, Leslie Weatherhead wrote a book called the Christian Agnostic. On the subject of doubt, Weatherhead quotes a fellow Methodist Rev Dr Frederick Greeves, one time president of the Methodist Conference who said, “Many a humble agnostic, worshipping an unknown God, is nearer to the kingdom of God than a theologian confident in his theology …. Many an ‘atheist’ is rejecting false conceptions of God which he assumes to be Christian beliefs about Him. Many an agnostic has a reverence for the unknown God which puts to shame the pride of the superficial dogmatist.”

Weatherhead later states that “Doubt is not the enemy of faith. It is the growing edge of faith and we do not need Tennyson to assure us that, “There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds.”

Another Pastor wrote, “A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it. People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenceless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. A person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts, which should only be discarded after long reflection.”

In Mark 9:24-28 we hear the poor father’s cry, ‘I believe, help my unbelief’ is one of the best-loved human statements in the gospels. Does it express the reality of your own struggle to believe? It has been said humorously that most of us are atheists before breakfast, but perhaps we are half-atheists for most of the day? It is also said that most people live lives of quiet desperation. When you experience things getting beyond you, do as the father did and bring your problems to Jesus. Be honest with him; beg his help. You will, he promises, find rest for your aching heart.

Doubt can be an important part of belief in God. It is honest. If there are no moments of doubt the space for us to grow in trust and faith is reduced.

O blessed Lord, Sometimes I'm not sure if the decisions I make are right. I doubt and worry. Show me, O Lord, the way. Let me understand that it's okay to be unsure, that it's normal and human. Reveal to me again where I can be certain. Show me the place where my doubts disappear. In the Resurrection may I find truth and security. In knowing God exists and knowing he loves me. Make my trust in you unshakable. Even though it may be hard and my decisions might be wrong, let my heart and soul know you will never leave me. May I seek you in prayer to receive the answers you want me to hear. May I find peace in the answers Christ gives me in his wounds. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

An ABC of Faith

Devotion

The word devotion conjures up many a picture of human interaction. Devotion is defined as loyalty, love or practicing and believing in a specific religion. An example of devotion is what a dog feels for his kind master. Another is an  example of devotion is belief in the faith and living as a practicing Christian. The fact, quality, or state of being devoted.

Nothing that is valuable is achieved without effort. Fritz Kreisler, the famous violinist, testified to this point when he said, "Narrow is the road that leads to the life of a violinist. Hour after hour, day after day and week after week, for years, I lived with my violin. There were so many things that I wanted to do that I had to leave undone; there were so many places I wanted to go that I had to miss if I was to master the violin. The road that I traveled was a narrow road and the way was hard."

Matthew 6:24 speaks of devotion in these terms, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

These words seems easy for Jesus to say! But the nature of true devotion is for us to think of how we might receive this insight in trust, believing that Jesus seeks only my good. There are so many messages all around me telling me about what I should wear, what I should eat. Jesus reminds me that I am more than a consumer. My identity lies in my relationship with God who loves me and caused me to trust.

God trusts us, having given us life and called us into relationship. Knowing that God loves and trusts us by giving us the freedom to make choices, is important. After all, it is natural to grow in trust of someone who trusts us. We do need food and clothing, but excessive worry about such things makes them ends, rather than means to an end.

The core of Jesus’ message is the Kingdom, but not a kingdom of power and control. It was one of love and justice that are to colour all relationships. When we look back at life, we see that God has provided and guided us through challenging times. Most of what we worried about never happened. Where am I being called to trust more now? Where does my devotion lie?

A Prayer

Able God, please give me the grace to serve you with fear and humility. Help me to follow your instructions and yield to your corrections. Guide me through your Holy Spirit so that my decisions can satisfy you always. Let me remain qualify for your blessing. For in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

An ABC of Faith

Discernment 

In its simplest definition, discernment is nothing more than the ability to decide between truth and error, right and wrong. Discernment is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth. In other words, the ability to think with discernment is synonymous with an ability to think biblically.

Thessalonians 5:21-22 teaches that it is the responsibility of every Christian to be discerning: "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil."

It was Oswald Chambers who said, “If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbour, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbour into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself— begin to have spiritual discernment. Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been.”

For us discernment has to be discovering and articulating how God is moving in our lives. We listen deeply together to identify how the spirit is guiding us in our daily steps and major life moves. It is the sorting/sifting through all our desires, voices, wants, and needs bombarding our soul and choosing what is best draws us towards God.

We all want to make the best decisions whether they are significant life changing ones or discerning how to best live in everyday life. Discernment is more than decision making. To discern in Latin means to discernere  - dis = apart and cernere = to separate. We make a choice but as believers we take in all the meanings, consequences, and God’s will into the decision.

We often think of discernment in the major, life-changing decision in life and rightfully so. But should we be a more discerning people in the everyday circumstances too.

My Prayer

Heavenly Father instil in me a desire to know You more and to study Your word diligently and prayerfully, so that I may be approved unto God. Help me to examine all things carefully and to hold fast to all that is good, genuine and true -a

An ABC of Faith

Discipleship

What picture comes to mind when you think of the word disciple and when you read the Gospels, do you identify with those first called by Jesus to follow him.

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” John 8:31–38

But discipleship as we know it in the church today is impacted by other forces, near and far. The terms discipleship and disciple-making are related expressions, referring respectively to the process of growing as a disciple of Jesus and the process of helping others to grow as Jesus' disciple. Each of us carries around various conceptions of discipleship and disciple-making that are influenced by our past experiences.

However, Discipleship means living a fully human life in this world in union with Jesus Christ, growing in conformity to His image as the Spirit transforms us from the inside-out, being nurtured within a community of disciples who are engaged in that lifelong process, and helping others to know and become like Jesus. How is your lifelong discipleship developing?

A Prayer:

God of love, source of mercy and compassion, weave your dream for the world into the fabric of our lives.  Remove the scales from our eyes and lift the indifference from our hearts, so that we may see your vision – a new reign of justice and compassion that will renew the earth.

Transform our lives, so that we may accomplish your purpose. Anoint us with your spirit of love that we might bring good news to the oppressed, bind up the brokenhearted, and proclaim release to the captive.

Give us a new urgency and a new commitment to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and visit those who live in isolation. Help us to reach out to those whom no one else will touch, to accept the unacceptable, and to embrace the enemy.

Surround us with your love, fill us with your grace, and strengthen us for your service. Empower us to respond to the call of Jesus – to deny ourselves, to take up our crosses, and to follow.

Make us your disciples. Amen

An ABC of Faith

Compassion

A favourite hymn of mine written by Albert Orsborn and based on 1 John 3:17  “But if someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need, and won’t help him—how can God’s love be within him?” - it has the the words:-

The Saviour of men came to seek and to save

The souls who were lost to the good;

His Spirit was moved for the world which He loved

With the boundless compassion of God.

And still there are fields where the labourers are few,

And still there are souls without bread,

And still eyes that weep where the darkness is deep,

And still straying sheep to be led.

Chorus:
Except I am moved with compassion,
How dwelleth Thy Spirit in me?
In word and in deed
Burning love is my need;
I now know I can find it in Thee.

The Latin root for the word compassion is pati, which means to suffer, and the prefix com- means with. Compassion, originating from compati, literally means to suffer with. The connection of suffering with another person brings compassion beyond sympathy into the realm of empathy.

I see compassion as a holy, Godly word for it epitomises Christ as the suffering Saviour. The one who “himself endured a cross and thought nothing of its shame because of the joy he knew would follow his suffering; and he is now seated at the right hand of God’s throne. Think constantly of him enduring all that sinful men could say against him and you will not lose your purpose or your courage. (Hebrews 12:2 - J B Philips)

Now it follows that we too should emulate the compassion of Christ if we are to be his true disciples. It was Henri J.M. Nouwen who said, “Prayer for others, therefore, cannot be seen as an extraordinary exercise that must be practiced from time to time. Rather, it is the very beat of the compassionate heart. Action with and for those who suffer is the concrete expression of the compassionate life and the final criterion of being a Christian.” 

A Prayer

Heavenly Father, You are the God of all compassion. You have shown me kindness my whole life, and Your word teaches me that I should respond to others with this same kindness. My life experiences have taught me to stay at arm’s length from others, so I need Your help. Please give me the compassion I need to reach those around me. Amen.

An ABC of Faith

Confession

Confession within the context of the Christian life can have two distinct meanings: 1. a formal statement admitting that one is guilty of a wrongdoing. 2. a statement setting out essential religious doctrine.

The first often forms part of our opening prayers in the context of Christian worship. It is said that confession is good for the soul, but how and why? Psychologist would say that when you do something wrong, there are two typical reactions that pull in opposite directions. On the one hand, you might want to hide what you have done. If nobody finds out, then it may feel like you didn’t do it at all. On the other hand, you might just want to confess what you have done wrong. That gets the problem out into the open and helps people to move forward. So it is in the spiritual context.

However, closely allied to confession is the action of repentance; for example Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”

If we are serious about our confession of faith then we too must be just as serious about our confession of sin and confession of sin can also mean that we should be serious about our need to repent. Repentance in Christianity means a sincere turning away, in both the mind and heart, from self to God. It involves a change of mind that leads to action—the radical turning away from a sinful course to God. A person who is truly repentant recognises God the Father as the most important factor of his or her existence.

It was John Wesley who prayed, “O merciful Father, do not consider what we have done against you but what our blessed Saviour has done for us. Do not consider what we have made of ourselves, but what He is making of us for you our God. O that Christ may be “wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption” to every one of our souls. May His precious blood may cleanse us from all our sins, and your Holy Spirit renew and sanctify our souls. May He crucify our flesh with its passion and lusts, and cleanse all our brothers and sisters in Christ across the earth. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.”