Silent voices - that still speak

And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. Hebrews 11:4

Last Sunday morning I was brushing my teeth to the accompaniment of BBC Radio 4 when I found myself listening to a tribute to Timothy Dudley-Smith, Anglican clergyman and prolific hymn-writer. He died last August at the age of 97.

His hymns have formed part of the backdrop of my Christian life – I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know some of them. Just two examples: “Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided” (where all five verses are truly meaningful prayers), and “Holy child, how still you lie” (a simple, lilting Christmas carol). The radio programme reminded me how much my life and faith have been enriched by them.

Dudley-Smith’s hymns tend to be fairly traditional in style, and they are rich in biblical truth, always focussed on God first and foremost, genuine poems in their own right, and set to attractive and singable tunes. Though helpful to the individual singer or reader, they are perfectly suited for congregational singing (unlike so many songs which tend to be all about I/me - I must confess a pet dislike of mine!). Sad is any church that doesn’t make good use of his output.

Then, as I put my toothbrush away, I found my mind turning to a more recent death: that of former US President Jimmy Carter, just a week or so earlier, at the age of 100. He too received many tributes, though often they seemed to focus more on his failures as a president than on his stature as a man of God. I suppose that, being known primarily as a politician, that was inevitable; but it was heart-warming and challenging too when people – not necessarily believers - referred to his “devout” and “humble” Chrisian faith.

Of course I never met or knew either of these men – but that doesn’t mean they made no impact on my life. They certainly did, in their different ways, one by writing powerful hymns, the other by setting a challenging example, albeit at a far distance. And so the verse about Abel in Hebrews 11:4 came to mind: “… by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead”.

Go back to Genesis 4, and you find no explanation why God “did not look with favour” on Cain’s offering. But he is certainly portrayed as morose and angry, whereas presumably Abel had a right, good spirit in the eyes of God.

I suggest two practical responses to this ancient story and the comment of the writer to the Hebrews…

First, give thanks to God for people long gone whom we still remember with fondness and appreciation, who, in effect, “still speak”.

Personally, I remember an elderly Sunday-school teacher who, I think, was the first person ever to teach me about Jesus (and who fascinated me with his alarmingly drippy nose). There is no way of estimating the level of his impact on my life – but for all I know I might never have become a Christian at all apart from him. I can only imagine that…

I remember too the young man who was the main influence in leading me to Christ. (Actually, he is still alive, as far as I know, though I have not had any contact with him for probably 50 years, and I think he would be amazed and embarrassed if ever he read this. Hi, Doug!)

I remember too whole battalions of church members I was privileged to pastor, and who taught me far more than I taught them – and pastored me far better than ever I pastored them.

Ordinary people – not by any means Jimmy Carters or Timothy Dudley-Smiths! But people who “still speak” into my life and, I’m sure, into the lives of many others. I hope you too can summon up such a list. If you can, why not take a few minutes to give thanks to God?

Second, take Hebrews 11:4 as a challenge.

The fact is that each of us will leave behind a legacy after we are dead, for good or ill. Of course, we must resist any temptation to try and live a good life and do good things in order to be remembered: God knows the truth about our motives, and we must live good lives and set good examples for no other reason than that it is the right thing to do.

But let’s be encouraged to think that I and you – yes even I and even you! – have the potential to influence generations not yet born. Jesus spoke of seed that bears fruit in God’s good time, and even where we may feel we have failed, the fact is that we will never know how or when some good seed may germinate in blessings we cannot imagine.

Of course, the story also has a dark side, for Cain left a legacy too: falling into jealousy and anger, and becoming the world’s first murderer. And I am sure that we all have memories that fill us with shame and regret, and which may have done real damage in someone’s life: I certainly do. And now it is impossible to offer an apology (though, to be brutally honest, I’m not sure that I would do so even if I had the chance). Can you identify with me in that? The best we can do then is to pray: “Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner”.

But let’s be positive. Even long-silenced voices can still “speak” for good. And that, by God’s grace, includes mine and yours.

Remember, Christian, even some trivial little word or act of Christlikeness done today may make a difference to someone’s life a hundred years from now.

Father, I do thank you for long-gone Christlike people who have enriched my life in ways big and small. Please help me every day to do for others – others I may never know – what they did for me. Amen.

Lord, for ourselves, in living power remake us,/ Self on the cross and Christ upon the throne./ Past put behind us, for the future take us,/ Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone. Amen!

Timothy Dudley-Smith.

 

A woman worth getting to know

Does not wisdom call out?
    Does not understanding raise her voice?
² At the highest point along the way,
    where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
³ beside the gate leading into the city,
    at the entrance, she cries aloud:
⁴ “To you, O people, I call out;
    I raise my voice to all mankind.
⁵ You who are simple, gain prudence;
    you who are foolish, set your hearts on it.
⁶ Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say;
    I open my lips to speak what is right.
⁷ My mouth speaks what is true,
    for my lips detest wickedness.
⁸ All the words of my mouth are just;
    none of them is crooked or perverse.
⁹ To the discerning all of them are right;
    they are upright to those who have found knowledge.
¹⁰ Choose my instruction instead of silver,
    knowledge rather than choice gold,
¹¹ for wisdom is more precious than rubies,
    and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Proverbs 8:1-11

My daily Bible-reading cycle has brought me to Proverbs 8, all about wisdom. Of course the whole book, all thirty-one chapters, is about wisdom, but the focus is particularly intense in this chapter.

Wisdom is pictured as a woman, sometimes called by commentators Lady Wisdom. We are not told she is particularly beautiful (after all, the Bible as a whole takes little interest in any kind of physical attractiveness, female or male), but I for one can’t help seeing her as elegant and dignified. Perhaps surprisingly, she is a wayside preacher, taking her stand at a cross-roads near the city gate, and she seems to have found a natural pulpit – “the highest point along the way” (verse 2). She is gifted with a strong voice, for she “raises her voice to all mankind” (verse 4), so her congregation is, well, anybody and everybody who cares to listen.

Could I invite you to take a few moments to read right through the chapter? – not in order to extract “doctrine” in an intellectual sense (Proverbs is not that kind of book!), but in order to bathe your imagination in a whole variety of hints and impressions. Lady Wisdom is a woman worth getting to know!

Confining ourselves mainly just to the first eleven verses, there is far more to glean than we have space for here, but hopefully we can whet our appetites for more, deeper reading.

First, wisdom is readily available.

She is a public figure, calling out to all and sundry. That means we don’t have to go seeking her out in weird or hidden places like cultic sects or mysterious religions. But it also means that we have no excuse for ignoring her, those of us at least who have been told about Jesus (according to parallel verses in Proverbs 8:22-31 and Colossians 1:15-17 she is supremely to be found in Christ).

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So…You want wisdom? Good! – the message couldn’t be simpler: look to Jesus.

Second, wisdom has many close cousins.

There’s a whole list of synonyms or near-synonyms in just these opening verses: understanding, prudence, trustworthiness, rightness, truth, justice, discernment, knowledge. In other words, if we choose to gain wisdom it won’t just make us “clever”, it will literally change the kind of people we are, transforming our very characters and ways of behaving.

So… You’re weary of being a failure in this bewildering business of life? Be encouraged! And seek wisdom!

Third, wisdom is truly practical.

Perhaps this is where “prudence” (verse 5) is especially important. It’s a slippery word, not easy to pin down, but it conveys the idea of commonsense, an ability to face our troubled world with open and seeing eyes, shrewdness, a “not-to-be-taken-in-ness”. It may mean being cautious, but not over-cautious, discerning but perhaps also adventurous.

So… You feel you lack prudence in a world that’s full of confusion and dishonesty? Well, you know where to look!

Fourth, wisdom is closely allied to holiness.

I nearly wrote “moral excellence” rather than “holiness”. But then I thought, “No, that would sound rather dry, even academic – let’s go for one of the Bible’s most beautiful and important words”. To be holy is, in essence, to be like God himself, and words like “upright”, “true”, “just” make it plain that wisdom means far more than simply being hands on in the business of living.

If we stay for a bit with the metaphor of wisdom as a woman (and why shouldn’t we?), we can imagine that Lady Wisdom has a couple of sisters. One is described in chapter 9 verses 1-5. This woman could of course be the same person in a rather different mode, but I like to think of her as an older and more prosperous sister: she has an impressive house (with “seven pillars”); she is a generous hostess (she has “prepared her meat and mixed her wine”); she has servants at her beck and call; she is compassionate, especially concerned for the “simple” and “those who have no sense”; she is an accomplished teacher (she offers “insight”).

Ah, but what about the third woman – Sister Folly (9:13-18)? Perhaps the less said the better. She is “unruly” and a seductress, not just sexually but also in offering the cheap and tawdry pleasures of life (“stolen water”… “food eaten in secret”). But all that her devotees end up with is… death (“her guests are deep in the realm of the dead”).

Yet Sister Folly could be mistaken for her two holy sisters. She too takes her seat “at the highest point of the city”; she too makes her appeal to anyone who will listen – and who is foolish enough to be taken in.

The challenge of these very poetic verses of Proverbs is clear: am I a disciple of Lady Wisdom or of Lady Folly? Am I heading for life – what Jesus called “life in all its fulness” (John 10:10) – or for death? The choice is ours; there is no coercion with God. His word is right there for us – the living Word of Christ, and the written Word of Scripture.

Lord, help us to choose with our eyes wide open!

Father, our modern world seems to be so often shallow, tawdry and awash with folly, enslaved to sin. God forbid that I should ever be arrogant or self-righteous in judgment – but a true and humble disciple of Lady Wisdom. Amen.

Are you really you?

The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

Jesus said, For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person… Matthew 15:19-20

Everything they [the teachers of the law and the Pharisees] do is done for people to see… Matthew 23:5

Many years ago I worked as a part-time hospital chaplain. This involved interacting with staff as well as patients, and one day I met a young man wheeling a trolley whose face seemed familiar, but which I couldn’t place. I said Hello anyway and apologised for not remembering who he was. “Oh, don’t worry about that!” he replied cheerfully, “I decided to change my image a bit”. Ah! As soon as he said that I understood my confusion – of course! he’d drastically altered his hair-style and various other things.

Thinking about it, I found myself pondering, “What a strange thing to do! Why would anybody feel the need to ‘change their image’! How much time, energy and even money might be wasted in changing one’s image? Why would anyone even feel the need to have an image, never mind change it?”

But then it struck me that in truth many if not all of us (certainly me!), tend to be more or less “image-conscious” – we want to feel confident that we come across to other people in a good way. What we are actually like takes second place to what we want people to think we are like.

The word of God through the prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7 puts the key point with crystal clarity: God is not interested in how we look outwardly, our “image”; but he is very interested in the condition of our hearts, what we are really like inside. Don’t worry, I didn’t launch into an impromptu sermon that day in the hospital corridor; but for those of us who claim to be followers of Christ, this surely is a truth which we need to frequently remind ourselves of.

I can think of various ways this simple saying, taken with proper seriousness, can help us to be better followers of Jesus, to be, in fact more like the human beings God wants us to be.

First, it is a safeguard against anxiety.

Many of our anxieties are just inevitable and, as I wrote in a recent blog, it is our responsibility to bring them under control with the help of the Holy Spirit. But how many are self-inflicted? How much anxiety do we load upon our own shoulders by worrying unnecessarily what other people think of us? How much energy, effort and time do we burn up struggling to “keep up with the Joneses”, bothering about our “image”.

I started to go grey in my early twenties. Various people were kind enough to recommend preparations which would keep the dreaded grey at bay; some did this as a friendly joke, others, I fear, more seriously. But such is my sometimes rebellious spirit that I had no difficulty batting that suggestion aside. (I claim no credit for that, of course: I wish I could say the same of other temptations to “go with the flow”.)

I hit upon what seemed to me a good, practical life-motto: Be like Christ -  and be yourself. As long as we get the order right there, that just about says it all, doesn’t it? What a weight of anxiety might be lifted if we learned to consistently snap our fingers at the world’s pressures!

Second, Samuel’s word is a safeguard against hypocrisy. 

Too much of a focus upon ourselves, then, can be a self-inflicted burden, a folly of our own making. But let’s crank it up a notch: it can also invite the sin of hypocrisy.

This word originally meant “play-acting”, pretending, putting on a show, and the link between it and “religion” is no accident. Jesus often used it to criticise the religious leaders of his day, not least in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and in Matthew 23.

Is there anything hostile unbelievers enjoy more than pointing out areas where we Christians display evidence of hypocrisy? Sometimes, of course, their criticisms are unjust; but, sadly, too often that isn’t the case. And we don’t need to be scribes and Pharisees to fall into it.

This week I’ve been following with interest the many comments in the media on the life of former American president Jimmy Carter. What’s been particularly noticeable is the way people – people of all faiths and no faith - have queued up to pay tribute to his humility, honesty and integrity. Some, also - though not many – have drawn attention to his “simple” and “devout” Christian faith. Oh yes, they have commented too perhaps on what they see as his failures politically; but this almost universal respect for him as a person is very striking.

No doubt Carter was far from perfect; he himself was the first to say so. But if “what you see is what you get” is a good definition of the non-hypocritical Christian, it certainly seems to have fitted him.

To sum up: there are two you’s and two me’s; the outer, public one, and the inner, secret one. The question is: Are they in alignment with one another? That is the key to Spirit-filled, Christlike holiness.

Dear Father, forgive please my often unthinking tendency to put on a show, to worry too much what other people may think of me, especially to hide corrupt thoughts and feelings under a veneer of goodness. Help me day by day not only to appear like Jesus, but truly to be like him. Amen.

For further reflection – Paul’s sobering lists in Galatians 5:19-26

Wrestling with anxiety?

Jesus said to his disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes… Who of you by worrying can add a simple hour to your life. Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Luke 12:22-26

Are you prone to anxiety? I knew somebody once of whom it was said that if she didn’t have something to worry about she would worry about not having anything to worry about.

Ha-very-ha. But of course it isn’t really funny. Anxiety can be a truly crushing weight, dominating a person’s life. And, as we look on, we might be tempted to say, given that person’s circumstances, “and I don’t blame them!” The assurance “Don’t be anxious” or simply “Oh don’t worry!” can come across  terribly glib, and we can all think of people both in our own personal circle and in the wider world to whom it would seem shallow and even cruel, however well-meaning. It’s like cheerfully saying to someone “Be well!” or “Be happy!” when well-being or personal happiness are completely beyond their control.

Yet doesn’t Jesus do exactly that? To his disciples he says “do not worry about your life…”. Given that we know he is anything but shallow or cruel, we can only deduce that he wanted them to reflect upon the reality of anxiety and learn to bring it under some kind of control when it rears its ugly head. Anxiety is a beast; but the question is, Can we, with the help of the Holy Spirit, render it a tame beast?

I hesitate to offer my thoughts, because I tend to err on the happy-go-lucky side myself, like a man I once knew who simply refused to worry about anything, blithely assuming that because God loved him everything would be fine. Well, that was all very well; but you only had to look at his wife’s face to see who did the worrying in that family…

In other words, some degree of “anxiety” is inevitable – the opposite is not necessarily faith or trust but, frankly, irresponsibility. (If you are technically minded you might be interested to know that the word used in Luke12:22 for “worry” (frowny face) is the same as that used by Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:28 for “concern”(smiley face). In a nutshell, there is a right and proper kind of anxiety.)

Having said that, can we say anything else that might be helpful when it comes to wrestling with anxiety? I suggest three things…

First, remember that the only true foundation for freedom from anxiety is childlike trust in the fatherhood of God.

Jesus teaches us to address God as “Our Father in heaven”, and given that his fatherhood is perfect why should we doubt it? Our problem is that that trust often blows hot and cold.

I suggest that every so often we may need to give ourselves a serious talking to, to “take ourselves in hand”. This talking to might run along the lines: “Do I believe that God is my loving heavenly Father?”... “Of course I do!”… “Yes, but do I really believe that God is my loving heavenly Father?”… “Well, yes, certainly…” “Good… but do I really, really believe that God is my loving heavenly Father?”… “Er, yes, I think so…” “Well, start acting like it then!”

Is it about time you took yourself seriously in hand?

Second, remember that God’s time-scale is very different from ours.

Of course, we want freedom from anxiety - and we want it now. That’s natural enough. But it isn’t the way God works: he has many other plates to spin of which we know nothing. So a worry may have to be wrestled with for a lengthy period – even (and how hard is this?) a whole lifetime. It may take that long to learn the art of trust.

If that sounds rather grim, we need to remind ourselves that our Father is in the business of changing us, of re-making us, of making us more like his Son; he’s not, if I can put it so, just messing around. In the context of everyday life this process may seem unbearably long, but in the light of eternity it is next to nothing. In 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 Paul –  a man who knew what he was talking about! – spells it out: “Therefore we do not lose heart… For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all…”. Oh, our troubles may not seem “light and momentary” now, but when we look back from our heavenly home how different it will seem!

Are we learning to be patient with God?

Third, remember that God works with the grain of different personalities.

Putting that another way, some people are naturally less anxious than others. Their temperaments are placid, and it takes a lot to trouble and unsettle them. This may have nothing to do with their spiritual strength – quite possibly they simply had a settled and secure childhood, or have enjoyed good physical health throughout their lives; they may be blessed with a particularly happy marriage, or a particularly satisfying job. Others have had to battle severe storms and have known great sorrows, which has left them ragged and insecure. Men and women are made of very differing raw materials: look at those great friends Barnabas and Paul; look at Simon Peter and his temperamental ups and downs. We shouldn’t make excuses for ourselves; but at the same time let’s not be too quick to “beat ourselves up”!

If these thoughts are correct, what they amount to is this: Jesus gives us the responsibility, by his grace, not to cave in to anxiety; but he is infinitely patient with us if and when we do. Our God is a God of new beginnings. Are you due for a new start?

Father, please teach me by your Spirit to keep a clear distinction between a healthy seriousness about life, a proper concern, and a destructive and debilitating giving in to worry. And so may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep my heart and mind day by day. Amen.

Assisted dying?

 

To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21

Jesus said, Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me… I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am. John 14:1-3

My little world has been rather full of death recently, or the close threat of it: friends and loved ones dying or very ill; well-known figures suddenly taken; even watching the latest episodes of the Thomas Cromwell series; and then, just as if to rub it in, along comes the parliamentary debate on “assisted dying”.

So what’s new there, then? Of course, not much at all; we live in close company with death every minute of every day. But somehow, as we say, “it really comes home to you”, doesn’t it? Suddenly, as you look at yourself, you realise that death is no longer something that only happens to other people…

Whatever our view might be on assisted dying, we who call ourselves Christians need to take positive steps to ensure that we don’t let ourselves get sucked into the gloominess that characterises many of those who, as Paul puts it, “have no hope” (1Thessalonians 4:13).

Reflecting on Paul’s great declaration in Philippians 1:21 is as good a  safeguard against this danger as we are likely to find: “to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” - a mere nine words in his original Greek, while the English NIV translation takes it up to eleven. But what luminous, glowing  words!

Why don’t we know Philippians 1:21 better? Why don’t we put it on a par with John 3:16 or 1 Corinthians 13 as one of the best-known passages in the Bible? If what Paul says is true for himself, why shouldn’t it be true also for us whose hope is in Christ? And if it is indeed true for us, isn’t it something worth celebrating rather than just tucking away at the back of our minds as a distant, even rather theoretical, hope? It chimes in perfectly with the promise Jesus gave to his nervous, “troubled”, disciples in John 14:3.

Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to make light of death - far from it. Death may be defeated in Christ, but according to 1 Corinthians 15:26, it is still an “enemy” (though, let’s note, “the last enemy”). But I am very grateful that Luke, writing Acts, chose to describe honestly the funeral of Stephen in chapter 8 verses 1-3 - those “godly men” who buried him were not ashamed or embarrassed to “mourn deeply for him”. No shallow, false bravado there!

I think of a fine Christian man I once knew who was diagnosed with terminal illness in, I think, his middle twenties. He seemed to be determined to, as it were, not let the side down, so that, even though he had a wife and small children and much else to live for, he seemed to put on a permanent display of unremitting cheerfulness. It came across as  unnatural, and must have been an unhealthy strain on him. One longed to give him permission to relax and be his true self!

Going back to 1 Thessalonians 4:13… the point Paul is making is clear: the fact that we don’t grieve “as those who have no hope” doesn’t mean that we don’t grieve full stop. Of course we do. Grief is the price you pay for love; or, putting it another way, if you don’t love you don’t grieve. Which would we prefer?

So, what should we think about assisted dying?

I imagine that most Christians would accept it only with great hesitation – surely it is for God alone to give and take life, and all sorts of safeguards are needed? That is certainly my instinctive reaction. But as the present debates are demonstrating, perhaps it isn’t totally clear-cut. However strongly we may feel, it is our duty to listen respectfully to those who see things differently, especially if we are reasonably content with our earthly lot; after all, it’s easy enough for us to hold that black-and-white line, isn’t it?

One factor that influences me is very simple – in general, we are living far longer than we used to a hundred or even just fifty years ago, thanks to the wonderful advances in medical science. But sometimes the question arises, May not death be preferable? What’s the point of staying alive if one’s “quality of life” has drained away? The Victorian poet A H Clough wrote, "Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive officiously to keep alive”, and I suspect that many if not the majority of people probably agree with that.

Another poet, John Keats (who died aged 25), wrote of being “half in love with easeful Death”, adding these very powerful words: “Now more than ever seems it rich to die,/ To cease upon the midnight with no pain…”. By this he presumably meant “to die quietly in my sleep” – and, yes, what many of us fear most is the possible suffering we may have to go through, and, of course, the pain and trouble our loved ones also have to go through.

Assisted dying is a serious and delicate topic for debate. But if we belong to the risen Christ we have a wonderful lesson to teach our loved ones and neighbours – better still, in fact, a wonderful example to set, focussing on the resurrection story of Jesus and the promise he gave his disciples.

Christian, learn to echo the apostle Paul: “… to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”.

Father in heaven, just as I attempt to live as a witness for you, please help me too to preach the good news of Jesus by the manner of my dying when that time comes. Amen.

God's messy church

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’²⁸  “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’²⁹  “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn’”…

⁴⁷ “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹ This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:24-30, 47-48

These two little parables of Jesus carry pretty much the same message: when he returns in glory there will be a great and final “sorting out” between “the wicked” and “the righteous”, a division that is not clear at the moment. “The Final Judgment”, it’s often called. The weeds sown among the wheat are likely to be harmful, and so have to be painstakingly separated out; likewise the bad fish among the good.

Jesus’ own explanation is given in verses 36-43. His reply rests upon the idea that the whole human race, and not only the church, has an enemy. The good seed stands for “the people of the kingdom” - all men and women who seek to love and honour God - while the weeds stand for “the people of the evil one”, the devil.

Two practical applications spring immediately to mind…

First: Christian, beware of arrogance!

Some strong Christians aim to build pretty much a perfect church here on earth – thoroughly sound doctrine, the highest standards of behaviour, and deeply committed service in terms of worship, prayer and evangelism. Well, nobody could argue with that kind of idealism. But these parables suggest that it needs to be blended with down-to-earth realism: some of the seed will turn out to be poisonous, some of the catch of fish will likewise turn out bad; it is God’s will that “both should grow together until harvest” (verse 30).

I’m sure such Christians don’t intend it, but they can give the impression that “we’re the only ones who’ve really got it right” – of being arrogant, to put it bluntly. Especially in terms of doctrine they sometimes seem to look down their noses at other Christians who, for example, interpret even minor passages of scripture differently.

I have a friend who, along with his wife, was asked by his church’s leaders to leave. Why? Because he had been guilty of some sort of improper behaviour? No. Because he didn’t pull his weight in the life of the church? Again, no. Apparently it was felt that he “didn’t share the vision of the church”, and would therefore be better off elsewhere. All right, I only have his side of the story, but I had known him for two or three years and knew him to be as fine a Christian – humble and teachable - as you could hope to meet. That’s an extreme example of what comes across as arrogance.

The fact is that over two thousand years there has never been anything like a flawless church or a perfect account of Christian teaching – just read Acts and the New Testament letters to see that! Never, literally never. And there never will be until Jesus returns. So let’s always be determined to be humble, reminding ourselves, “it’s me who could be in the wrong”.

To put it slightly differently: Christian, don’t pass judgment on others.

Those who aspire to build a perfect church may be seen sometimes sadly shaking their heads at the errors of others, in practice virtually writing them off. Certainly, any church should insist on certain basic New Testament truths, focussed of course on Jesus, born to the Virgin Mary, living a perfect human life, crucified for our salvation, but raised to life, and one day returning in glory.

But beyond that – denominational differences, musical preferences, doctrines to do with baptism or the working of the Holy Spirit or the timing of Jesus’ return, issues like alcohol and many others – we can, and should, be a little relaxed with those who may see it differently from us, taking care to treat them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Even perhaps the most acute topic of our time, same-sex relations, calls for at least respectful listening and sensitive understanding.

Second, more positively, Christian, never give anybody up!

We human beings are weak and fickle creatures, and while we may be sad to see a fellow-Christian drifting off or even rebelling against the gospel, we can never be sure how their story may end. Remember the prodigal son; remember Saul of Tarsus; remember John Mark.

It seems to suit my temperament to use lists to prompt my daily prayers, and some non-believers or lapsed believers have been on my list for literally years, and I have seen not so much as a hint of an answer. So what am I to do? Shrug my shoulders and give them up? Well, a day may come when I feel it right indeed to take them off my list; but I sense that until I am absolutely sure of that, perseverance is a far better option, even when my heart seems cold. Who knows what God might do, and when?

I visited a church once and was surprised to see someone there I had known many years earlier. We looked at one another in surprise, and then said almost simultaneously, “What are you doing here!” It was quite comical. I like to think that we might have meetings like that in heaven. Why not? Christian, have faith! God has some surprises in store.

That final day of separation will come. Until it does, let’s be patient and persevering. The words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:5 are wise and applicable in all sorts of situations: “Judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes”.

We’ve got used to the label “messy church” in recent years – a description of what seems a fine Christian initiative. When I first heard it I must admit that I was a little taken aback. “Oh, not another gimmick”, I thought. But I soon learned differently.

Well, Jesus’ parables seem to suggest that there is a sense in which the church should be “messy”. Christian, live with it! Christian, keep praying and hoping!

Father in heaven, please help me to blend together a proper balance of strong, unwavering conviction and deep, teachable humility – and so, on that day when I see Jesus face to face, may I learn with wonder that my prayers were not in vain. Amen.

Religion that is not a waste of time

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:26-27

Over the centuries Christians have sometimes had problems with the Letter of James. Chapter 2 verses 14-26, at face value, seem to contradict Paul’s great emphasis on “justification by faith” (“faith without deeds is dead”! declares James), which makes them uncomfortable, so even such a theological giant as Martin Luther considered this letter “a right strawy epistle” and would have liked it to be removed altogether from the Bible.

If ever we are tempted to think like this, not just about James but about any part of scripture, a good question to put to ourselves is: “Suppose this book really were to disappear from the Bible, would we in fact miss it?” In this case, the answer can only be an emphatic Yes! James is nothing if not practical, and has no patience for any kind of “religion” which is not soundly earthed in everyday life. So we would certainly miss his bracing, no-nonsense approach.

Last time, I wrote about that word religion, and shared my hearty dislike for it – especially when people apply it to me. I mentioned that, perhaps surprisingly, it’s quite rare in the Bible, even in the old King James Version, and it generally has a negative flavour about it. So who better to return to than no-nonsense James in these few verses at the end of chapter 1? It is of course by no means a full-scale account of everything that could be said about religion, but I think it gets to the essence of it. It’s worth picking apart…

“Those who consider themselves religious…”

That doesn’t exactly come across as approving, does it! In my mind’s eye I see James perhaps literally looking down his nose at such people (they “consider themselves religious” invites the follow-on, “Yes, and that is why everyone else dislikes them”). Ouch.

How quick the non-Christian world is to condemn (even if unfairly) anything that smacks of hypocrisy, sanctimony or display! Not that we should go to the opposite extreme and adopt a veneer of over-heartiness and extreme informality, a kind of wilful sloppiness, but… well, we get the point.

“…and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves…”

It’s clear that James has a real thing about the way we talk. In chapter 3 verses 1-12 he launches a full-scale attack on the “deadly poison” of wrong use of the tongue. I take this to cover anything from false teaching to lying, to offensive or unclean language, to gossip, to bursts of anger.

It’s hard not to see a very direct relevance of this in western society to what used to be called “public discourse”, whether through radio and television or social media or whatever. If a lie gets you where you want to be, well, go for it! If it makes you feel better to shout or trample on someone’s face or feelings, well, so be it. If a bit of dirt-dishing is to your advantage, well, why not? (and that applies by the way, even if there’s truth in it).

Are our tongues under firm, Spirit-led control?

“… their religion is worthless…”

The dictionary tells me that the word used here refers to “religion in its external aspect”, implying display and ostentation, and that “worthless” could be translated “a waste of time”. Here, again, there is of course a tightrope to be walked. Jesus tells us, after all, to “let our light shine before others”. So let’s work out for ourselves what that might and might not mean. But let’s not miss the warning: your religion and mine could quite possibly be “worthless” in the eyes of God as well as contemptible in the eyes of others.

Lord, give us grace to avoid any hint of inappropriate display of religiousness, but simply to make Jesus known in all our daily living!

But now we come to the positive, refreshing aspect of all this…

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this…”

Ah, so the word religion need not be a total no-word! People who aim to live humbly, kindly, generously, unostentatiously, bring pleasure to God himself and also, we may hope, the respect of their family, friends neighbours and workmates (though they don’t set out consciously to do this).

“… to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”

In the Old Testament “orphans and widows” symbolise those who, so to speak, are at the bottom of the pile, the epitome of poverty and dependence on the kindness of others. For us, of course, not all such people are literally orphans and widows; they may be the sick and the lonely; or migrants; or prisoners; or the frail and elderly; or the homeless… I think Matthew 25:31-46 gives us the idea!

And, by the way, the “orphans and widows” we come across may not be fellow-Christians. Let’s remember – before he fed the crowds with the loaves and fishes, Jesus didn’t get the disciples to do a head-count to ensure that everyone on the receiving end was a card-carrying fellow-Jew.

Lord, help me to remember that every person I ever meet is a potential neighbour, whoever and whatever they are!

“…and to keep oneself unspotted from the world…”

I’ve run out of space, so I must leave each of us to work out for ourselves out what this might mean in our particular circumstances. But Paul’s great lists in Galatians 5:16-26 and Ephesians 5:1-20 can, I suggest, point us in the right direction…

Having said all this, it occurs to me that there are those who might criticise James for his disapproving tone and even accuse him of “worthless religion”! I’m sure, of course, that would be wrong. But it reminds us that every which way we go there are mine-fields to negotiate. Whatever, I’m sure James, for all his severity, offers us valuable pointers towards “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless”. May it be so!

Father, we live in a sadly tainted, polluted world which loves to rub its uncleanness off onto us. Please help me to hunger and thirst after righteousness only, and to do so in humble and unostentatious ways. Amen.