Still the man in the manse
Thought it was about time we updated the image
February 2010
“All you need is love da da da da da all you need is love da da da da da”.... and so on. I thought it apt this month to concentrate of what makes February sort of special-ish. St Valentine's Day is great for some and for others quite onerous. The time when we pledge our love for our nearest and dearest with gifts, cards and a little romance. We may buy into the profit-making onslaught or genuinely use the day to say “I love you” but I don’t agree with the sentiments of the Beatles classic alluded to above. “Foul” I hear you cry. How can a minister say such a thing and a minister of a faith who’s cornerstone is the demonstration of the greatest act of love shown to all men, that of Jesus Christ.
Well that’s exactly the point, the “demonstration” and the “act” of love. Christianity is not all about love in a commercial, wishy-washy and vacuous way. If love does not reveal itself in actions it means nothing. In the bible there are many references to the love God has for us being rooted in what He has done for us and what He is still doing. There are also many references to the love God expects us to exhibit. That we should not just wish others well but, in love, we should provide them with what they lack so that they will be well. For the widows and orphans real love expresses itself in action.
True love also means a distaste of all that is wrong (1 Corinthians 13:6). In our relationships there may be things we find annoying and tedious (how hard is it to put the tops on things properly!!!) but that is not the root problem that real love is there to change. NO! We can fall foul of thinking that to love someone is to accept what they do. Who they are is not the problem, what they do is. God truly accepts who we are but does not love what we do sometimes. To change our actions and reveal the true price of love God sent Jesus Christ to DEMONSTRATE what love can do in ACTIONS. Actions which were not wishy-washy and vacuous but were both demanding and life changing. That kind of love is all you need.
Love
Jason
The Man in the Manse
December 2009
During the lead up to Christmas we may get a chance to experience quite a few traditional events. May be we will be shouting “he’s behind you” or indulge in much booing and hissing. I am sure many proud parents and grandparents will be telling little Johnny that his performance as the third Shepherd was as good, if not better, than Olivier’s Hamlet. Advent is celebrated as a journey of opening ourselves up to welcoming “God with us” and part of this we get to tell the story of Mary and Joseph, angels, shepherds, wise men and assorted animals.
But in telling the Christmas story and watching the many nativity plays, we very rarely talk about the revolutionary aspect of the whole event. For example all through Jesus’ life we find Him defending the weak, uplifting the poor, blessing the disenfranchised and setting the prisoner free. Jesus identified with those that were without, those that society looked down upon and those that were deemed unacceptable by the powerful and wealthy.
What has this got to do with the Christmas story then? Well I have very rarely seen or heard much about Mary’s song in the telling of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. The song she found herself singing to God after she met Elizabeth. A song of praise that endorses a God of mercy, justice and hope. A God who casts a very large shadow across the lives of the powerful and rich, across those who do not recognise that they have a duty to act justly with all that He has given them. In Luke 1:v46-55 we have a song that signals that at that first Christmas and every Christmas since, revolution is upon us. The status quo is no longer acceptable. God is about to change things. I guess not quite the twee story we were expecting?
Love
Jason
The Man in the Manse
October 2009
Did you know that I am an integral part of your year. Every year I am there staring out at you from your calendar. You can never escape me because my presence is always there. Now you are wandering two things. One that I am obviously barking mad and you have no idea what I am talking about or you may now be intrigued to find out what on earth I might mean. Either way you will not be able to resist reading on. However I have to warn you that you may be disappointed by what you are about to read but most, I hope, will at least go hmmm!
You see if you look at the first letters of the months from July to November it may start to dawn on you. Ahhh! There you have it, the penny has dropped. It doesn’t really mean a great deal to you but to me it is very important. And that’s the thing, there are always issues that are more important to some than to others. For example I only care about the result of a Man Utd match if they lose, if they win I couldn’t care less (I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to all Man Utd fans, not for belittling their team but because I feel great sympathy for them – HE! HE!).
The ecological and economic times we live in vex and cause anxiety for many. The current fear of the Swine Flu pandemic will cause others to feel worried and confused. The fear of terrorism and the many lives lost in the fight against it, makes many feel helpless and stressed. But that is not what many of us really feel is important. Just like my strange fact above, it concerns me, and I have to be honest I like things about me and will worry about things that effect me, directly.
This is all very much part of life as a human being, but the bible says something quite different about being happy and contented. Yes it says that God values the individual and is still interested in our lives and bringing us into a relationship with him, but more than that it tells us about how we can find peace and life at its fullest. Not through worry and anxiety about ourselves and what directly effects us, that way comes more stress and more fear. No, it says that if we rely on a God who can provide all we need, no matter what happens to us, then we can start to relax and think about others instead, that way there really is peace and life at its fullest. (Matthew 6:25-34 is a well known verse but it is not the only one – so keep looking!)
Love
Jason
The Man in the Manse
August 2009
We are going to have to give in to the Great British obsession and talk a little about the weather. The bi-monthly edition of Chipperfield news does two things. First we are to be twice as interesting (HMMM!). Second we are at a double disadvantage in being unable to predict the weather we have had or talk about it. To date we have been promised a glorious summer. But I’m not going anywhere near promises because I have a sneaky feeling where it will end. We have been told that this summer will not be like last years, a complete wash out. However we are not told details. When and how glorious has not been told or promised. May ended and June began in wonderful and uplifting sunshine but what will we make of July and August?
One other Great British obsession used to be God. I don’t remember that time because I am not as old as I look, but it was true that Britain led the way in living for God. I am not talking about self righteousness, ritual, church-crusades and empire. What I am talking about is help for the helpless, philanthropy and hope. We led the way in the care for those less fortunate and reaching out a hand to the hurt, the broken and the lost. Britain believed in the sanctity of all life and importance of the human condition. That all were created in the image of God and how amazing that was. There was a very real belief in the ability of us all to give of ourselves for the service of others. Not to live solely for our own individual needs and desires, to grab and fight for our right to have what we want. We were a people that saw that what we had was more than we would ever need and we would forever strive to reach out to those in our society that had far less than we ever needed.
This desire was fuelled by the fact God had done so much for us in Jesus Christ and we just couldn’t help ourselves. Funny! I hear us talking a lot about the former but not much about the latter. Maybe next time?
Love
Jason
The Man in the Manse
May 2009
May the 25th is designated by some as “Towel Day”. If you are thinking “what?” at this moment I don’t blame you. Let me explain, it is the day many commemorate the death of the author Douglas Adams. The penny may have dropped now because in his best loved tome “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” the towel was very important. One quote is “A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have” and also any man “who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with”.
Along with the towel another memory from the book, on occasions when things are not going quite as you would want them to, is the quote “don’t panic”. Now having a towel at all times is not a problem. To be in possession of a towel, be it 100% Egyptian cotton or a bog standard run of the mill beach towel, doesn’t seem that hard to do. But when faced with impossible odds, not panicking is slightly harder.
Now since last month’s Chipperfield news we have had the G20 meeting in London, where we hope that the leaders of the top 20 industrial countries could come to an agreement about saving the world from financial disaster. I am not going to suggest who was to blame in the first place, you can make your own minds up, but we would however want to know that those in leadership would “ngusot panic” and be able to sort it out. We cannot guarantee this and we may still not see the benefits of what has been agreed for a long time. I myself would not know where to start. Whether we agree with the politics of this party or the policy of that government we have nowhere to go but to them at a time like this.
I don’t think so. This maybe a bold statement but we want someone who knows what they are doing. We need someone who against impossible odds is able to stare all the problems we struggle with square in the face and will never “panic”. We have to have someone who is deeply interested and involved with our personnel difficulties as well as those of nations and the whole world. Someone who desires to see justice, truth and is able to change everything for the better if only we would ask. Knowing that someone enables me to “not panic”. I will leave you to decide who that someone is.
Love
Jason
The Man in the Manse
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