The goal of grace

I find myself reflecting on how easily we restrict and narrow our expectation of how the Holy Spirit will act. Sometimes He confirms and sometimes affirms. Sometimes He convicts and sometimes comforts. Sometimes He heals and at times empowers. But whichever manifestation He will undertake as He visits upon us, it is best if our expectancy is for Him to come to do whatever will take us deeper into the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, at the point and in the place that we find ourselves now. Then we will not be disappointed through failed aspirations, but instead discover through His work in our lives more of life in all its fullness.

For however He visits us, it is that we might discover deepened motivation and renewed resolve to live in worship of God as disciples of Jesus Christ. This is the goal of grace.

Simply Succinct

A poem penned by my friend and colleague, New Testament scholar Rollin Grams. Says it all, really!

Communal gates are truly grand,
They ward or welcome by their frame.
For what’s let in will transform;
Or kept out, the same.

A sturdy gate, our faith in God,
A crimson beam, its only latch,
Blessèd hope, the inner quad,
Love, the cobbled path.

Let us never forget it

A friend of mine has just been baptised again in the Holy Spirit, 13 years after first being so. Their joy is palpable. Their eyes are full of life and their joy in the Lord is so full. The sheer excitement of meeting with the infilling glory and presence of the Holy God of Holy love.

And it reminds me that, however much it is right and necessary to stress intentionality and focus in the Christian life, with a consequent emphasis on life-enhancing practices and habits, it all begins with the sheer generosity of the God whose divine identity is made known to us in and through Jesus Christ. The power of His atoning sacrifice and bodily resurrection open the way for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And it is this infilling that is the ‘engine room’ of the Christian life. Let us never forget it.

Stories

People love 'em. TV's full of them. Magazines at checkout tills shout out with them. Stories draw us in, feed us with life (or death), influence and steer us.

At the centre of the Bible is the story of Jesus. Four stories, written from different angles. Books of stories designed to draw us into their puzzles and struggles. To meet with God in a way that changes us. Try reading one of the Gospels this way today. It will make a difference.

Hospitality, Compassion and Meaningful Involvement

We get ourselves into such worries about how to reach people. But the heart of the Gospel witness is so simple! Show hospitality to those outside the church. Express compassion to folk outside the church. And give ordinary folk opportunity to have meaningful involvement in the Christ-like thing of caring for the poor, the oppressed and marginalised. 'Draw a line' of a circle of Kingdom care and activity that can include those not yet Christians, giving fresh  purpose, reason for being and hope to those who become involved.

The place of the third of these aspects was the message today to our baptist pastors' fraternal of Albert Bogle, a parish minister who in earlier days was a rock evangelist and now chairman of an exciting 'Gospel action' charity, the Vine Trust. Many people are not hostile to Christianity: they just don't see the relevance of it to anything in the real world. Enrolling the 'not yet Christian' into activities of caring in Jesus' name can give them the opportunity to understand that Christian faith is a relationship with God that leads to involvement and investment, in the Jesus way, in His world.

Hope Sharing

A quote from a perceptive and generous book by Alan & Ele Kreider, Worship and Mission after Christendom. It really got me thinking and excited. It's so right for today!

"Hope is the most interesting currency a congregation has to spend. Christians in worship are renewed in hope: by the big story, the little stories, and their encounter with God in sacraments, words, and brothers and sisters. The New Testament does not urge Christians to evangelise other people; it commands Christians to 'give an account of the hope that is within them (1 Peter 3.15)'. The Christians' main task is not so much faith sharing as 'hope sharing'." 

(Worship and Mission after Christendom, Paternoster, 2009, p 173)