Ramblings along the narrow way

Prayer is a curious thing. In and of itself, it has no power. It is not some form of mental or emotional exercise which will make us feel better. It is communicating with the creator of all things, that by that communication the omnipotent God he might intervene. Not that we can manipulate God into carrying out our every wish, like a genie in a bottle. How he answers our prayers is up to him and his will. He won’t necessarily grant us what we want, but may tell us “no” or “wait” or even nothing at all. He knows what is best for us, even if we ourselves might not and so his answers might confuse and perplex us, but then we should trust him.
Yet at the same time, God knows what we will pray for already before we even pray, whilst he still asks us to pray. This, I think, is the crux of prayer. God delights to hear the prayers of his people. Those who have put their faith in his Son and approach him through the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who can approach him as their heavenly Father.

Whilst I was wandering back from the opticians to my workplace during my lunch break, I was accosted by a proponent of the Hare Krishna movement. I must admit it’s been a while since I’ve bumped into one of these guys. This chap wasn’t wearing a bright orange gown, nor was he chanting with little cymbals. He was dressed in everyday unassuming attire. He stopped me with a greeting and asked me if considered myself to be “spiritual”. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it initially as the question seems rather ambiguous, but a quick glance at the Hare Krishna books he was holding gave him away.

A brief discussion arose, with his main argument apparently being that all religions are aspects of the truth, be it Christianity, Islam, Hinduism etc. and through our own efforts we can meet with God and be right with him. I proposed that this wasn’t the case and that there were certainly significant differences between Biblical Christianity and the other big religions, especially in the nature of God and the nature of man. Only the Bible puts forward that man is inherently sinful and so is abhorrent before a holy God. This sin is so great that we cannot make ourselves right with God by our own efforts. Only the Son of God was willing and able to put us right with this holy God by taking on the sin of all who believe in him, thereby making them right with God.

The discussion meandered, yet always returned to this key proposition. After a while it became clear he was wanting to move on, so we shook hands, he said I was “an interesting person”, I wished him a happy Christmas and was on my way.

I wonder if somehow he caught a glimpse of “The Way, the Truth and the Life”, or if my rambling made him think Christians were all nutters? I certainly hope the former rather than the latter.

This morning’s sermon was another look at Ecclesiastes. In chapter 5, Solomon considers those who go to the house of God.
Some go out of ritual, they are ignorant of the word of God, and of God himself, and think their rituals will somehow make them right with God. They have their own idea who God is. In effect they have made their own image of God rather than pay any attention to God as he really is through what he says in his word.
Others go with an indifference. They put on a show every time they visit God’s house, yet in every day life they carry on as if their visit never happened. Outwardly they agree with what is being said, but inwardly it makes no differnce to them.
Both these types of people have missed the point and their visit to the house of God is of no benefit to them. Indeed, it is possible that their visit is detrimental to them as will have no excuse for their ignorance and indifference.
If we are to visit God’s house, we should go with the right attitude. We should know we are going to worship God. We should seek to know God, understanding who he is, listening to what he says to us. If we know God and listen to him, it should have an impact on our lives and affect our lives in everything we do.

Finally got to play with my new camera this afternoon with a wander around the locality. Fortunately, the weather was bright, dry and clear. London is particularly blessed with lots of parks, populated with various forms of flora and fauna, interspersed with lakes and stately homes. Before you ask, yes, I now have lots of pictures of ducks and geese.
In the evening a few of us joined up with a large group of other Christian young people from all over London for an evening of food, games and socialising. It was good to meet up with some old friends as well as make some new ones. A great evening of fun and fellowship, and something for which I am grateful.

Just had a go at “What Christmas Carol are you?“, and I came up as:

You are ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’. You take Christmas very seriously. For you, it is a religious festival, celebrating the birth of the Saviour, and its current secularisation really irritates you. You enjoy the period of Advent leading up to Christmas, and attend any local carol services you can find, as well as the more contemplative Advent church services each Sunday. You may be involved in Christmas food collections or similar charity work. The midnight service at your church, with candles and carols, is one you look forward to all year, and you also look forward to the family get together on Christmas Day.

What Christmas Carol are you?
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It’s pretty much got me down to a tee. 🙂

Went to play snooker with Robin this evening, although I think our lack of practice is showing itself up. Whilst the rate of play was acceptable, I very rarely got a long pot. I guess this just shows that regular practice is a good thing if I’m to maintain any level of proficiency. Still managed to win by 2-1 frames though. 🙂

Was invited to a Christmas dinner for the charity LIFE this evening. It was a full three course meal consisting of soup, followed by turkey and pork with all the trimmings, finished off with a wide ranging selection of desserts.
The meal was followed by a short address on the very important work of LIFE in the locality, providing help and support to pregnant women. Some statistics on abortion were also shared.
I cannot help thinking there is something wrong with a society which sees nothing wrong with the killing of over 100,000 unborn babies every year, for the past ten years, and yet spends vast resources debating the rights and wrongs of fox hunting.
It is tragic when a person dies, regardless of their age. Surely?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Phew! Another busy Saturday. Just after lunch went up to Hayes Town to join with some folks from Hayes Town Chapel as they sang Christmas Carols in the high street and shared the gospel with those to stopped to listen. Whilst there were a good number of singers, most of the men didn’t sing either bass or tenor parts, so it was a good job I had gone along as there were only two of us singing parts, me on bass and another chap on tenor.
Later that afternoon was the baptisms of Ali, Ally, David A, David H, Jarwad and Mim. It was encouraging to hear these young people declaring their faith in Jesus Christ both to us as a church and to their peers whom they had invited to witness the event.

“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21

Finally, the usual suspects, and then some, celebrated Christine’s birthday. First we went bowling, allowing me to finally beat Karen and come top of the table! We then moved on to Sarah’s place to finish off the evening with some pizza, cake and games.
Time for bed I think.

Well, I appear to be ill again. Fortunately not as serious as last time, but bad enough to induce sneezing, coughing, a headache and generally make me more sleepy than usual. Went to work this morning, but didn’t feel so good so went home for the afternoon. Didn’t even feel well enough to go wandering around the locality to play with my new camera. What I have managed to do is watch up to series six of Friends and sleep. Fortunately I don’t find those two things (I was about to put “activities”, but they aren’t particularly active) too unpleasant, so it isn’t all bad. Hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow.

The past couple of evenings have been fairly routine, yet good. Yesterday evening played five-a-side football with work colleagues and, even though I haven’t played for a couple of weeks, I managed to run around for longer than I had anticipated and I even scored a few goals! Then I went bowling with the usual suspects, eventually coming just behind Karen and drawing with Dave.
This evening was spent at Sarah’s house playing Scattergories, whilst eating a rather large pizza between us. A very pleasant evening, and unusually for a word game, I beat Nigel…although Sarah came out on top. 🙁
A very pleasant couple of evenings.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Attended the funeral of a good friend’s mum today.

What is God that he could be constrained? When Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, he acknowledged that God could not be contained within the Temple. Even the whole earth and the highest heavens could not contain God. God is beyond containment.
Yet, on the first Sunday of Advent, we are reminded that around 2000 years ago, God took on flesh and became a man. Jesus Christ is God incarnate. The infinite within the finite, the immortal within the mortal. What people make of this varies considerably.

A lot of people would say this is impossible, because they believe God does not exist. Looking around, it would seem to take more faith to believe God does not exist than to believe he does exist. From the precise arrangement of the solar system, with the third planet from the sun being so carefully aligned that life could exist on it, to life itself. Life, that is so intricately designed from the smallest organisms, to the largest mammals, and so intricately interweaved into a complex and marvellous ecosystem. To believe this universe happened by chance, rather than to believe the universe was created by a creator, would seem a large leap of faith.

Some people may accept that God exists, but believe that the incarnation is beyond credibility. They refuse to accept that Jesus Christ is God. Yet looking at what he does and says in four separate accounts by the Gospel writers doesn’t leave much room for another explanation. C.S.Lewis titled it the Lord, Lunatic or Liar argument. If we cannot accept him as Lord, we can only come to the conclusion he is either a lunatic, on the same level as a man who claims to be a poached egg, or a liar from the pit of hell itself. (To paraphrase Lewis) But from what Jesus says and does, he is neither a lunatic nor is he a liar.

Ultimately, the incarnation was inevitable, as God loved us. Whilst it seems amazing that God would even consider us, given our insignificance before him. It is even more amazing given that we are rebellious sinners before a holy God. Yet, through faith in the incarnate Son of God, we can be made acceptable before him and he will make his dwelling in our heart.

A nice lazy Saturday, after the rather hectic Saturdays of late. Woke up nice and late, had a nice long shower, cooked some breakfast and then lounged around in front of the computer for a couple of hours, played the piano for a while then went and played snooker against Pete. I must admit, Pete isn’t that bad at it, although very, very, very, slow… In the time it would take to play around six frames, we’d only played three! There’s lazy and then there’s lazy…
In the evening I went to see The Incredibles, by Pixar, with some of the usual suspects. In true tradition, the main feature was preceded by short film, although this particular short was slightly bizarre!
The main film itself was very good though. Can Pixar do no wrong? It was fast paced, yet had a good underlying message. In a way, it is rather ironic that Prince Charles’ comments of the past days have surfaced, as both the film and the prince say similar things. Whilst everyone is special, everyone’s gifts and talents are different. Additionally some people’s talents will far exceed the talents of others. As such, we should be able to recognise those talents we have and work hard at them, developing them to the full, whilst not gloating about these talents before others. These gifts and talents are precious and should be used for good. We should also be able to recognise when we do not have a talent for some things and accept it.
On top of this message were great animation and a superb storyline, with characters who were incredible, yet had very human issues. Well worth seeing.

Q: How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
A: Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.

(Question XXVI from the Westminster Shorter Catechism)