Photo competition

The church I am part of is running a photo competition in conjunction with a local paper to find the best photo of our local area. If you are local and would like to enter then click here for more info.

No copying and pasting from Google images now...

;-)

Latest Preach

Audio from a sermon I preached this Sunday at my church:



Here are the notes to accompany it:

Colossians 1:24-2:5

During the open worship time in our Sunday meeting, Kat brought Isaiah 61 to our attention. It prophesies about the life work of Jesus, a work which would be continued by his people after he had returned to heaven, but continued by you and me at what cost? What level of inconvenience or suffering are we prepared to tolerate as we walk with Jesus?

Paul gives us a window into the lengths he is prepared to go to see this prophecy fulfilled in the lives of his Gentile hearers in Colossians 1:24-2:5. In short, nothing will stop him, even incredible suffering and persecution. But there is more to it than Paul just being a “well-’ard” missionary. The unjust suffering he is living is a modern day presentation of the sufferings of Jesus. His life, as well as his words, embodied the message of the gospel. He is not talking about the suffering that comes from being punished for breaking the law, nor the suffering that is part and parcel of this fallen universe like disease, disability or death. He is talking about unjust suffering that come purely from the fact that he is a Christian. A suffering that, if he would only shut up and stop talking about Jesus, would stop immediately.

Jesus said that we would suffer for being his people, just like he did. (Matt 5:10-12, John 15:18-25.) If he, the Lord of all things, wasn’t above suffering, then who are we to say that we should be exempt from this? But the suffering is not meaningless, it is like the labour pains of a mother, (Gal. 4:19). Pain will soon give way to overwhelming joy, and the hope of that joy sustained Paul as it did Jesus, (Heb 12:1-12) and as it can us (1 Peter 4:12-16).

And what is that joy which sustains Paul, even through intense suffering? It is the anticipation of meeting Jesus AND presenting ALL the people he has shared the gospel with and pastored after their conversion mature and complete to Christ on the Day of Judgement. This hope points to his confidence in the gospel (N.B. The word mystery in this passage can be substituted with the word gospel.) that there is power in it, whoever you are, wherever you are from, whatever your background and allegiances, to save you from sin and present you faultless and radiant before Jesus.

The gospel is not moral philosophy. Society doesn’t need a dose of the 10 commandments to help it stay on the straight and narrow. It needs Jesus. People need Jesus. Life is not about what you know, but who you know. If you can answer a question about any moral choice, or the meaning of life the universe without quickly relating to the person of Jesus Christ, chances are you are barking up the wrong tree. However, fine the argument may sound, if Jesus is not nearby, it ain’t the right answer!

Questions
How have you suffered for being a Christian, if at all?
How is your life embodying the gospel, including suffering?
What’s your biggest fear when it comes to telling people about Jesus? What would Jesus say to us about overcoming fear?
What does praying for boldness look like for you?
How have you helped prepare the people in your life this week for meeting Jesus after death? What can you do in the week to come?
When was the last time a non-Christian asked you a question to which you gave the answer “Jesus?”

Trinity is not a New Testament U Turn

Most Christians I meet have an essentially unitarian view of the Old Testament (OT) and that it's only in the New Testament (NT) that we really get the trinitarian party started. Or to put it in simple terms, they would say we meet the Father (as creator) in the Old Testament and he then introduces us to the Son (as redeemer) and the Holy Spirit (as helper) in the New. This song I stumbled across recently, whether intentionally or not, exemplifies this perfectly.

Here are three starter-for-10 objections I have with this interpretation of the OT:

1. The Father doesn't rock up at the beginning of the Gospels and hold a press conference to apologise for misleading everyone and then announce that God is not actually one but ...err (cough) three in one. Moreover, the gospel writers seem to be at no pains to explain or elucidate this apparently new teaching to their hearers. The reason they aren't is because it is not new. They are simply continuing the NT on in the OT trinitarian vein in which it was started.

2. Paul himself, another NT writer, says that God's trinitarian nature has been on display for all to see since the dawn of creation. In fact, he goes further and says that if we don't see it in creation, we have no excuse! This is important, because if trinity is clearly on display in creation, then to say that it is obscured or not on display in the OT is to admit or even claim that creation is a better revelation of God than the bible is. What card-carrying, fish-sporting, WWJD-wearing Christian would seriously want to claim that?

3. John 1:18 states that no one has ever seen the Father. So the question has to be answered, who were they seeing when they saw the LORD in the Old Testament? Who did Isaiah see? (Answer here.)

The New Testament is neither U-turn nor new turn in the revelation of the nature and character of the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Those Israelites who were true believers in the time of the OT consciously worshipped the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

For those who have eyes to see, the Bible is a trinitarian revelation... from "the Beginning."

PXR: East Africa 2009 - The Linguistic Highlights

Well, I'm back from a wonderful time in East Africa. My stomach is still having a little difficulty readjusting to the gut-abusing unhealthy rich western meat heavy diet, but I'm sure I'll get over it! Moreover, I have quickly got back into the habit of staring through people when walking around town rather than greeting them/making friendly eye contact! Not sure I like that though - I feel like an alien in my own hometown.

Anyway... highlights by category! Starting with some Swahili phrases I found fun/useful:

Salama

Hello

Mimi ni mzungu chizi.

I am a crazy white man.

Kenyatta Avenue iko wapi?

How do I get to Kenyatta Avenue? (Every town seems to have one in Kenya!)

Hapana, si jawahi koopatana na Cece Fabregas.

No, I have never met Cece Fabregas.

Wakenya hoopata ngovu kwa kula ugali.

Kenyans are powered by ugali.

Si jui kufukuza kuku!

I'm not very good at catching chickens.

Una kula kitu ee-yo??!!

Do you really eat that bit??!!

Mzungu si mti ya mpesa.

White man is not a money tree. (Said with a smile to small children who would randomly - and boldly walk up to me and ask me for money)

Mimi ni nu africa mwenye eme yungwa kwa mwili ya mubeberu.

I am an African trapped inside a White man's body.

For those (like me) who are interested, here is the etymology of the word mzungu (taken from Wikipedia)

Mzungu stems from a contraction of words meaning "one who moves around,"(possibly zunguluka, zungusha-meaning to go round and round) and was coined to describe European traders who traveled through East African countries in the 18th century. The word became synonymous with "white person" because of the traders' complexion. Many rural villages in Tanzania and Kenya are rarely visited by "bazungus" , making Caucasian passers-through an odd sight for young people. Also the mzungu was probably preferred to words linked to color because in central and east Africa people do not link Europeans to white color as most Europeans were trying to translate the name of their race in African languages. They instead see them as reddish or pinkish. For instance in Kinyarwanda and Kirundi white people are also known as rutuku which means red. However it is not used formally because its prefix ru- makes it sounds a little bit derogative.

Mmmm... Pongezi Walker!!

A Tale of Two Cities

The Hebrew word for Jerusalem is a fascinating one. It is "Yerushalayim." - City of Peace.

So what?

Well the ending is curious. it's a dual. So literally translated it means "Two Cities of Peace." A strange name for one city to have isn't it?

Unless of course you're like Abraham and remember that the earthly Jerusalem was always to be a symbol of the heavenly one.

Holiday Reading

Am packing for Kenya and Uganda and the usual problem of which books to take perplexes me. Along with my pocket-sized dagger, aka Bible, I always take far more than I end up reading, which on a normal holiday isn't a problem, but on this holiday, everything I want to take, I have to hike up the mountains on my back so... hmmm...

Here's the shortlist:

The Hour

Africa (the paperback version)

The Story of God

The R Factor

Perfecting ourselves to Death

How the News Makes Us Dumb

Boy Meets Girl (for pastoral reasons, of course ;-)

The Jewish Trinity (To my personal annoyance, I still haven't read this yet)

TdF 2009

It all starts tomorrow in Monaco. I wonder who'll win.



ll be somewhere up a mountain, so won't have a clue until long after.