Covenant prayer

from the Methodist WatchNight Service, usually said on New Years Eve...

Wesleyan form of the Covenant Prayer.

COVENANT PRAYER

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low by thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Thou art mine and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

Christmas messages...

These excerpts from the respective Christmas messages, struck a chord with me...

Queen's Speech

For Christians this festival of Christmas is the time to remember the birth of the one we call the 'prince of peace' and our source of 'light and life' in both good times and bad. It is not always easy to accept his teaching, but I have no doubt that the new year will be all the better if we do but try.

Archbishop of Canterbury

Celebrating Christmas was important, he continued, because it marked the anniversary of the moment when human history changed. "Because of the difference Jesus makes, a world in which the sanctity of life as an alien concept has given way to one in which the landscape has changed," he said. "You may or may not believe what Christian doctrine says about the child in the manger but you will, consciously or not, be looking at the human world in a framework that Jesus Christ made possible."
He also warned of the need for vigilance against the loss of what Christianity brought. "If we ever do come to forget not just the Christmas story but what it made possible ... the arrival of a different humanity, there is enough, sadly, in our idle and self-obsessed hearts to let the ancient world begin to creep back a little more."

Walls ruin community spirit, says archbishop

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent and Miles Salter
(Filed: 22/12/2005)

The new Archbishop of York has compared houses and estates surrounded by walls and large gates to "prisons" that undermine the spirit of neighbourliness. Dr John Sentamu, the Church of England's second most senior cleric, said that people who built high fences to protect their properties had cut themselves off from their communities.

"High fences never make good neighbours," he said. He said he was determined that Bishopthorpe Palace, his imposing medieval home on the banks of the River Ouse, near York, would be "a place of welcome for all", especially the young. The building, which is set in nine acres of grounds and dates from 1241, is reached through an elaborate gatehouse built in 1765. His comments, made to local media this week, will reinforce his reputation as an outspoken cleric who is keen for the Church to recapture its missionary vision.

Dr Sentamu, the Church's first black archbishop, said he regretted that some of the Christian principles that had inspired him as a young man in Uganda appeared to have been eroded in this country. "I grew up with a sense of discipline and an awareness to care for your neighbour and your friend," he said. "The people who taught me about that were missionaries from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The tragedy has been that, with the passage of time, all those things have been forgotten as we have pursued consumerism. We have become rich as a nation; we have built our own houses, built our fences. Some people are living in houses where boundaries are so safe, with big gates - that is a prison. How can they be anything but barriers to community?"

The archbishop said he had grown up as part of a supportive, extended family and when he worked in London he had encouraged Church members to become surrogate uncles and aunts to children who lacked relatives. "That dramatically changed the way in which people related to one another," he said. "So it is possible that we should be neighbourly to one another and to provide the kind of support which, had you been in the kind of culture that I come from, you would have had. We are each other's keeper and we should be able to care. If you know people who are disabled, people who are not well, people who live alone, why not knock on their door and, when the weather is getting very cold, say, 'Hello, how are you? How are you keeping? Can we do some shopping for you? Can we help you?' I want to create a culture in which I am not alone. But at the moment in this country there is a great loneliness."

Dr Sentamu also spoke of what he called BSE - not mad cow disease but Blame Someone Else. "A lot of us have a desire to clamour for human rights," he said. "For me, as a Christian, that means that I have the duty to do that which I ought to be doing, not simply getting what I want. This is a great nation and people should not simply say that 'things are terrible' but should say, 'This is our duty, our responsibility; we can make a difference.' "

LICC - connecting with culture

fact and fantasy

This Christmas, the big fantasy treats are The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. With the rest of the Narnia books, possibly two more Harry Potters, and Philip Pullman’s works, there are plenty more Christmases catered for.

But what are the rapt readers and enthralled watchers of fantasy absorbing? Is fantasy simply an escape, an avoidance of reality and fact? Does it encourage the view that anything not plain, ordinary and factual is a fairy story?

We know, as we read and watch, that fantasy is a creation of the imagination. Do we then dismiss other ‘spiritual’ truths that are difficult to understand as mere fantasy? This is an important question since adults are reading more fantasy these days and, what is more, they are reading the same stories as the children.

Books and films about the ‘real’ world often fall into two categories. They are either too uncomplicated, with problems too easily resolved, a kind of ‘Mills & Boon’ view of life. Or they are too dark, too ‘realistic’, giving too much substance to genuine fears, like, for example, the BBC series ‘Messiah’.

But fantasy, on the other hand, can help us handle the big issues, the nightmares and the glories, because we know we are looking into a different universe. We love Superman, not because we believe in him, because we do want there to be a rescuer, a power who can deal with evil. We love to walk with Frodo and Sam because we do want to be challenged, to do good even if it is very hard.

As Christians, we should not simply be looking for the growth and development of rational, orderly, logical minds that think they know a fact when they see one, and are suspicious of ‘story’. If we wish to encourage the maturing of wise adults, then we should look for imaginative lateral thinking that knows there are half understood other worlds; that there is a battle of good against evil, that justice is built into the universe, that there is a place, through some crack in the fabric of creation, where the glory of a redeemed and renewed world fulfils all our dreams and hopes.

Fantasy is very good for us and, although we may not realise it at the time, it can help to prepare our hearts for the enormity and riches of God’s truth.

Margaret Killingray

For more, do please click here

Evangelistic Radio Talk...

I wonder if you heard the news recently of the couple, who in order to evade paying £120 for two speeding fines, decided another course of action. They told police it was a colleague who was driving the car at the time of the speeding incidents, and that this "other" man had returned to his native country of Bulgaria. When they realised that the police were probably not taking their story seriously, the wife then flew to Bulgaria and sent back to England a postcard, from this fictitious colleague, supporting their story. To cut the story short, the police became suspicious, the couple went to court and were found guilty, and subsequently fined £11,000. In summing up the case, a police constable said "The reality is that they could have told the truth from the outset, paid their £120 fines and had their licences endorsed with three penalty points each." The truth won out.

Or take our esteemed Prime Minister Tony Blair, who despite his friend and colleague, David Blunkett resigning from the Cabinet after breaking ministerial rules, proclaimed Mr Blunkett left with "no stain of impropriety whatsoever". In this case, Mr Blair is seemingly oblivious to the truth of the matter. Where is the integrity?

When we are shopping and we notice that the cashier gave us the wrong change, we advise them of their mistake. We check the receipt and what is in our hand, and the cashier gives us the correct change. So mathematically there is truth. Scientifically there is truth. Gravity prevents us from floating off into the atmosphere, regardless of our wanting to flap our arms and fly like a bird.

Think of the worst thing in the world for you - something that is totally abhorrent to you. That shows you have some sense of values and what is right and wrong. It is intrinscally wrong for events such as 9/11 in New York and 7/7 in London to occur. Is that too far away for you to be bothered by? How about when you are coming home late at night, and are mugged and your handbag or wallet are stolen. Do you not feel a sense of anger towards those who committed that crime against you? When I was mugged 12 years ago in London, those were the feelings I had. It is natural to be indignant and angry at those who perpetrate crimes against your personal values. Ergo there is such a thing as truth - both personal and universal, and both raise our hackles up when they are impeded or broken.

Now, if there is truth mathematically, scientifically, personal and universal, what more can we say? Can you imagine a world, where none of those exist? Where there is no mathematical, scientific, personal or universal truth? I can. We are starting to reap the results of "relative truth". The schoolgirl stabbed repeatedly in the face with scissors by somebody else whilst queuing up at the school canteen bears this out. If everything is relative, then chaos is the end result of relative truth. Can you, in the words of John Lennon, "Imagine there's no heaven, its easy if you try..." I can. Want to imagine a place without heaven? Just look to the former Soviet Union, particularly under Stalin, where millions were slain in the name of atheism. Or look to China under Mao, where at least seventy million were slain in the name of atheism. Look at the nation of North Korea if you want a more modern representation of an atheist state. Atheism and agnosticism have no answer, despite the silky lyrics of John Lennon. At least here in England, we have a heritage of Christianity to be inordinately thankful for. Without it, there wouldn't be the freedoms we enjoy, the scientific discoveries proclaimed, nor the rich vein of history that covers this land. And yet, so many still ask "Is there any hope?"

Well I believe there is, and at Christmas time, it is a time for both joy and hope. Two thousand years ago, God visited this planet in the form of the baby Jesus. But he didnt remain in the cradle, but rather grew into a man, full of grace and humility, only to die at the hands of the religious people. If that was all, we would never have heard any more about him. Jesus defied all, and came back from the dead, a fact attested to both by individiuals and groups. This man Jesus, was born so that we might have the joy and hope of a brighter future. In my own experience, the man Jesus has given me that. Not only was he human, but he was also God at the same time. That is amazingly mind blowing when you think of it. Why not check the facts out objectively for yourself this Christmas, and find Jesus for yourself so you too can share in the joy and hope He offers. He wont let you down just as He hasnt me. He never has and never will do - that is His promise to me and also to you if you acquiesce to His will.

Change - Part 5

Moving from vision to change.

• People change slowly and so do leaders. Most congregations are static.
• Tradition inhibits change. We’ve never done that before! The more tradition prevents the church keeping with the times, when the time for change arrives, and it will, it becomes harder and harder.
• Weariness. Change requires energy, and when faced with it, many find it difficult physically and psychologically.
• Fear of stepping out of line. Perhaps more to do with leadership as it is difficult to do something new in the area.
• Loss of confidence. Knocked from all angles and from other leaders.
• Complacency. Some people are quite happy without change. It will be a nice idea, but only once they have left this earth for glory.
• Instant solutions. Planning and strategising are out the window! Results must be immediate!
• Recognising too many restraints. Cries of “Its too difficult” is easier to say than “OK. Lets try it at least this once”

There is always risk with vision. Don’t say “I don’t do change”. Where would we be if the risk takers in the bible and church history said “I don’t do…”

Change - Part 4

Correlation between vision and change?

A vision will generate the need for change without necessarily helping it to happen - Peter Brierley

Formula for change - C = (D + V + B + F) > £

C=Change
D=Dissatisfaction - Israel were comfortable in the land of Egypt. Then the order to kill male babies came through and then the people became discontented and only then, was Moses able to call them out of Egypt to go to the promised land
V=Vision - Without vision or an indication of what is going to happen, change is hard to effect. The Israelites were told of the promised land as ‘a land of milk and honey’. Moses didn’t mention problems such as crossing the Red Sea; travelling the desert; Sinai thundering; forty years wandering etc.
B=Belief - Is there somebody who can be trusted to see the change through? All the miracles were enough to make the Israelites trust Moses, and bind them to their leader.
F=First Step - This obviously needs to be taken. For the Israelites, it was killing a young lamb and painting their door frames with the resultant blood.. When they did that, the Egyptians begged them to go whilst giving them gold and silver!

Dissatisfaction, Vision, Belief and First Steps are the four inherent parts of change.
However….

£=Cost & Disadvantages - Change wont take place unless the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. The Israelites saw the weeping Egyptians and decided not to stay, so they took their possessions, the Egyptian gold and silver and fled! We need to allow the Holy Spirit to make things happen more radically and quickly than we can anticipate or imagine. It only took 14 days for the Israelites’ final call.

Saying You Don't Do Change is not an option.

Change - Part 3

How do we treat and handle change as leaders?

As Leaders we need top :

• Identify motives
• Be humble
• Be prayerful
• Assess importance
• Seek opinions
• Be wise with words
• Be persuasive
• Be understanding
• Be specific
• Be persistent
• Be submissive

The Bible and change

• Jesus challenged existing society and thinking. The idea that the Messiah would suffer and serve and live in poverty and humility, was unthinkable to the Jewish people prior to His coming.
• We have a God who makes all things new! (Rev.21:5)
• All changes throughout history have been innovative on the part of God - the flood; call of Abraham; the Mosaic covenant; the Incarnation - all reflect God’s creation and innovative change.
• Jesus takes broken lives and changes them into new creations!! (2 Corinthians5:14-21)

Acts 10 to Acts 11:18 - Change in the embryonic church

• The church had to change to incorporate the Gentiles (Acts 10)
• God started where Peter was (vv9-16)
• God allowed Peter to challenge the idea (vv14-15)
• God gave Peter time to work through his resistance (vv16-17)
• God permitted Peter to observe change on a limited basis
• The change proposal was well prepared (vv1-7, 19-23, 30-33) and God anticipated Peter’s questions and provided the answers
• God didn’t ask Peter to change, but rather invited him to participate in improving what Peter already loved and the advantage of the new over the old (v34)
• God convinced a key leader and allowed that leader to champion the change to others (Acts 11:1-18). God recognized that it is easier to work with an individual, rather than an entire group of people. This principle is also seen in his dealing wit the nation of Israel in the Old Testament.

Change - Part 2

What hinders change in a local church

In order for a church to change, it needs to be able to cooperate.

• Firstly with the Holy Spirit, and with what God has planned.
• Secondly leadership and congregation need to cooperate and understand what is going on, and how to initiate the change.
• Lastly with newcomers as the change is taking place.

Blessings and peace,

Change - Part 1

Quote - Unquote

• Change is not an optional extra. It is necessary for survival - Peter Brierly
• At a time of substantial change, the Church Of England needs to learn from the Spirit to be more an anticipation of God’s future than a society for the preservation of the past. - Church House Publishing
• People facing change will either curl up like a hedgehog with its prickles outward or fight back with all the ferocity of instinct opposed to logic - Donald Bridge
• Change is important. But its also important to cling to core values. - Kenneth Boa
• A vision will generate the need for change without necessarily helping it to happen - Peter Brierley

Vision and change...

For a great article on the correlation of vision and change please do visit Christian Leadership World. Don't be put off by the word "leader", as all christians are leaders to some extent and purpose.

Remember: God works with individuals rather than groups, because individuals are easier to work with! Easily seen in the Old Testament and His dealings with Israel, In the New Testament with Peter and the acceptance of Gentiles into the church. Also in the New Testament with Paul and the spreading of the Gospel to the known world.

Blessing and peace

What

does a human consist of poll...

Body, Soul and Spirit

Should not be thought of as 3 distinct, separable parts of man. Scripture allows a separation between the body and the spirit, but body, spirit and soul are all necessary to make the ‘real’ you - they are the different aspects of a person.

Body Soma Gk.)

1. Essential part of the ‘real You’.
2. Created good (Genesis 1:31)
3. Body of death and decay because of sin (Romans 7:24)
4. God intends to give us a new immortal, spiritual body like Christ’s glorious body (Phil. 3:21)
5. Temple of the Holy Spirit
6. Used as a means whereby moral values in the soul may be expressed.

Soul (nep hesh, physce) Wind, breath, blowing - the manifestation of the immaterial part of man towards the earth.
Spirit (Ruach, pneuma). The manifestation of the immaterial part of man towards God.
Separate in thought but often used interchangeably within the Bible (Acts 2:27: 7:59) Soul & Spirit are like two sides of a coin.

Origin of the Soul - Spirit

1. Pre-existence (Plato, Origen) - no scriptural support.
2. Creation (most popular) - the soul is created be God and joined to the body at conception, or sometimes prior to birth - (Ecc 12:7; Is. 57:16; Zech. 12:1)

HOWEVER - Other Scriptures refer to God forming the body (Ps. 139:13-15), and this theory doesn’t explain why the human spirit is inherently sinful.

3. Traducian theory - The human race was created in Adam, and is propagated from him by natural regeneration - body and spirit. This helps us explain why we inherit a sinful nature.

So for this poll, you have three options of which to choose...

Is man body only;

body and soul/spirit where soul and spirit are the same thing;

or body, soul and spirit whereby each are separate essences of humanity...


This is for a paper I am writing on the Imago Dei (man as the image of God), and will help in my research...

Blessings and peace...

I Don't Do

I Don't Do by Leonard Sweet

One of our students received an appointment from a bishop, and the student did not feel the placement exactly suited his abilities. I overheard him complaining about it to another student, and then the other student said, "You know, the world's a better place because Michelangelo did not say, 'I don't do ceilings.' "

Her comment stopped me dead in my tracks. I had to admit she was right. If you and I are going to be faithful to the ministry God is calling us to, then we had better understand that. I reflected on the attitudes of key people throughout the Scriptures and the history of the church.

The world's a better place because a German monk named Martin Luther did not say, "I don't do doors."
The world's a better place because an Oxford don named John Wesley didn't say "I don't do preaching in fields."
The world's a better place because Moses didn't say, "I don't do Pharaohs or mass migrations."
The world's a better place because Noah didn't say, "I don't do arks and animals."
The world's a better place because Rahab didn't say, "I don't do enemy spies."

The world's a better place because Ruth didn't say, "I don't do Mothers-in-law."
The world's a better place because Samuel didn't say, "I don't do mornings."
The world's a better place because David didn't say, "I don't do giants."
The world's a better place because Peter didn't say "I don't do Gentiles."
The world's a better place because John didn't say, "I don't do deserts."

The world's a better place because Mary didn't say, "I don't do virgin births."
The world's a better Place because Paul didn't say "I don't do correspondence."
The world's a better place because Mary Magdalene didn't say, "I don't do feet."
The world's a better place because Jesus didn't sayl "I don't do crosses."
And the world will be a better place only if you and I don't Say, "I don't do ..."

Jesus Balloon

I have absolutely no idea the origin of this picture, but it is quite simply the work of a balloon-meister!!

wow....

Kyle Lake, the pastor of University Baptist Church of Waco, TX, died during Sunday morning services at his church. The following is the conclusion of the sermon that he wrote but wasn't able to give.

Live. And Live Well.
BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now.
On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.
If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE.
Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time.
If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well.
Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed.
If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own.
If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well.
At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.

Copied from this blog. and a Link to a memorial for Kyle Lake

Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson

I fled Him down the nights and down the days
I fled Him down the arches of the years
I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind, and in the midst of tears
I hid from him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped and shot precipitated
Adown titanic glooms of chasmed years
From those strong feet that followed, followed after
But with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat, and a Voice beat,
More instant than the feet:
All things betray thee who betrayest me.

Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save me, save only me?
All which I took from thee, I did'st but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might'st seek it in my arms.
All which thy childs mistake fancies as lost,
I have stored for thee at Home.
Rise, clasp my hand, and come.
Halts by me that Footfall.
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
Ah, Fondest, Blindest, Weakest,
I am He whom thou seekest.
Thou dravest Love from thee who dravest Me.

For the full poem, please do click here

This last week...

has seen the reinstatement of my broadband connection - after 8 weeks! hurrah!!

Ergo, I have finally put some more pics of our Australian sojourn at flickr for you to see. Just click the picture below to go to that set of pics...

This last week at college, at one of the lectures/seminars we were asked about preparing our own funeral. I will post what I proposed later on this week. You might be surprised!!

2 more sites for your audio consideration. Both have great audio for both cogitation and enaction.

Be Thinking - UCCF Apologetics

Christ Church St Ives (Connected to Moore Theological College, Sydney Australia)

Blessings and peace...

Dave

My King - SR Lockridge...

You can download this powerful sermon/prayer by clicking here. A new window will open up, whereby please do proceed to the bottom of the page. Once you hear it spoken, it will change your perception of Jesus...

My King was born King.
The Bible says He’s a Seven Way King.
He’s the King of the Jews – that’s a racial King.
He’s the King of Israel – that’s a National King.
He’s the King of righteousness.
He’s the King of the ages.
He’s the King of Heaven.
He’s the King of glory.
He’s the King of kings and He is the Lord of lords.
Now that’s my King. Well I wonder if you know Him.
Do you know Him? Don’t try to mislead me. Do you know my King?
David said the Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament show His handiwork.
My King is the only one whom there are no means of measure can define His limitless love.
No far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shore of supplies.
No barriers can hinder Him from pouring out His blessing.
Well, well, He’s enduringly strong.
He’s entirely sincere.
He’s eternally steadfast.
He’s immortally graceful.
He’s imperially powerful.
He’s impartially merciful.
That’s my King.
He’s God’s Son.
He’s the sinner’s saviour.
He’s the centrepiece of civilization.
He stands alone in Himself.
He’s honest.
He’s unique.
He’s unparalleled.
He’s unprecedented.
He’s supreme.
He’s pre-eminent.
Well, He’s the grandest idea in literature.
He’s the highest personality in philosophy.
He’s the supreme problem in high criticism.
He’s the fundamental doctrine of proved theology.
He’s the carnal necessity of spiritual religion.
That’s my King.
He’s the miracle of the age.
He’s the superlative of everything good that you choose to call Him.
Well, He’s the only one able to supply all of our needs simultaneously.
He supplies strength for the weak.
He’s available for the tempted and the tried.
He sympathizes and He saves.
He’s strong God and He guides.
He heals the sick.
He cleanses the lepers.
He forgives sinners.
He discharged debtors.
He delivers the captives.
He defends the feeble.
He blesses the young.
He serves the unfortunate.
He regards the aged.
He rewards the diligent and He beautifies the meek.
Do you know Him? Well, my King is a King of knowledge.
He’s the wellspring of wisdom.
He’s the doorway of deliverance.
He’s the pathway of peace.
He’s the roadway of righteousness.
He’s the highway of holiness.
He’s the gateway of glory.
He’s the master of the mighty.
He’s the captain of the conquerors.
He’s the head of the heroes.
He’s the leader of the legislatures.
He’s the overseer of the overcomers.
He’s the governor of governors.
He’s the prince of princes.
He’s the King of kings and He’s the Lord of lords.
That’s my King.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That’s my King.
My King, yeah.
His office is manifold.
His promise is sure.
His light is matchless.
His goodness is limitless.
His mercy is everlasting.
His love never changes.
His Word is enough.
His grace is sufficient.
His reign is righteous.
His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
Well.
I wish I could describe Him to you, but He’s indescribable.
He’s indescribable.
Yes.
He’s incomprehensible.
He’s invincible.
He’s irresistible.
I’m coming to tell you, the heavens of heavens cannot contain Him, let alone a man explaining Him.
You can’t get Him out of your mind.
You can’t get Him off of your hands.
You can’t outlive Him and you can’t live without Him.
Well, Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found out they couldn’t stop Him.
Pilot couldn’t find any fault in Him.
The witnesses couldn’t get their testimonies to agree.
Herod couldn’t kill Him.
Death couldn’t handle Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him.
That’s my King.
Yeah.
He always has been and He always will be.
I’m talking about He had no predecessor and He’ll have no successor.
There’s nobody before Him and there’ll be nobody after Him.
You can’t impeach Him and He’s not going to resign.
That’s my King! That’s my King! Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.
Well, all the power belongs to my King.
We’re around here talking about black power and white power and green power, but it’s God’s power.
Thine is the power.
Yeah.
And the glory.
We try to get prestige and honour and glory for ourselves, but the glory is all His.
Yes.
Thine is the Kingdom and the power and glory, forever and ever and ever and ever.
How long is that? And ever and ever and ever and ever.
And when you get through with all of the evers, then,

Amen.

LICC - Word for the Week - God in History

Look at the nations, and see! Be astonished! Be astounded! For a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told. For I am rousing the Chaldeans. Habakkuk 1:5

Habakkuk’s prayer that God should do something about Israel’s violence and injustice was answered. But not in the way he expected. The revelation that God was working out his purposes in history by rousing the Chaldeans, brutal and ruthless conquerors, astonished and shocked him. As far as Habakkuk was concerned, God was not supposed to work with the unrighteous. ‘Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, so why are you silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?’ (1:13)

We may believe very strongly that God is actively involved in our world, both in the larger histories of peoples and cultures, as well as in the little local difficulties of our individual lives. But however strong that belief, it is often difficult to see just where and how God is at work. Like Habakkuk, we have to acknowledge that God is indeed active, but not as we expect and not as we, in our heart of hearts, would always wish.

Is a calm sea for the evacuation of troops from the beaches an act of God? Then why not a more decisive intervention at an earlier point? An individual sees God in action when he misses the plane that crashed. But what about the others who were killed?

We need the humility to say that we cannot always see where God is at work. Looking back in faith, we may see his purposes accomplished in surprising ways, in our own lives as well as in the bigger movements of history. But we know that he is patient, not necessarily intervening to prevent the uncomfortable consequences of the fallen nature of our world, because those consequences may bring people to their knees in repentance.

When we cannot see where or how he is at work, we trust that he does indeed know what is best. In the midst of a very mixed bag of life experiences, we are required, in the words of another prophet, ‘to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God’. One day we will see the whole picture and understand his perfect dealings with humanity.

Margaret Killingray

LICC - Word for the Week - Surprised by joy

Monday, October 24, 2005 11:16 AM

The fruit of the Spirit is joy, Gal.5:22. You welcomed the message with the
joy given by the Holy Spirit, 1 Thes.1:6

How would we define the experience of becoming a Christian? "Surprised by
joy" is how C.S.Lewis described it. The Thessalonians, who welcomed the
message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit, experienced it as deliverance
from fear and bondage. They "turned to God from idols, to serve the living
and true God" (v.9). What an exchange - the dead and false for the living
and true! Along with conviction of the futility of their past life, the Holy
Spirit gave these new believers joy.

This joy was no ephemeral thing, no frothy emotionalism. It sustained the
Thessalonians through the persecution that followed their acknowledgment of
Christ. And it issued in an extraordinary change of behaviour. Their lives
were characterised by practical love. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul
commended the churches of Macedonia (of which the Thessalonian church was
one) that "out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and extreme
poverty welled up in rich generosity", and they gave, far beyond their
means, to help the famine-stricken Christians in Jerusalem. I wonder whether
joy is a missing element in our churches, or in our individual lives, today.
Perhaps our culture is to blame. Comfortable agnostics may not find
conversion such a radical change as the exchange of the dead and false for
the living and true. Or maybe we have so many other support systems that
putting our faith in Christ is simply adding one more to our portfolio.

But Christian faith and life are still as radically different from that of
the surrounding culture. We have been transferred from darkness to light,
from the emptiness of seeking our fulfilment in material things and the
opinions of others to fullness of purpose, security and identity as children
of our heavenly Father. Some cause for joy! This joy, which is the fruit of
the Spirit, then enables us, as those who have found a priceless treasure,
to stand up and be counted, in our daily life and work, in spite of
opposition and ridicule. And it spills over in energy, love and an almost
reckless generosity.

Helen Parry

http://www.licc.org.uk

LICC - Connecting With Culture - Wishful Thinking

28 October 2005 10:37

My wife and I drove past a rather nasty local pub recently. "I wish they'd
bulldoze it," she sighed. "It's horrible." Three hours later, it had burned
to the ground. No one was hurt - and, thankfully, my wife had an alibi.

This week, Alex McKie made the headlines (in the Independent, at least) by
inviting us all to make three wishes. She set up the 'Three Wishes Project'
in memory of her late sister, and has been travelling the country to
discover what's on our hearts. Her only instructions are: (1) Wish for
yourself (even if you also wish well for others), (2) follow your heart's
desire (your head may mislead you) and (3) be specific and definite (you're
more likely to notice when your wish has come true - or if, indeed, it
already has). Many people use their first wish to give them limitless
powers (we've all done it), but McKie is hoping to generate more realistic
dreams which, she believes, we'll begin to fulfil once we verbalise them.

Many replies have been moving and revealing.'To find a man who makes me
laugh and start a family with him; to do my job the best I can always; to be
happy' says a lady, 29, from the south-west. 'A
house in Glastonbury; a gentle death; a clear, incremental decrease in
materialism' suggests a man, 48, from the south-east. Another woman sums up
how many of us perhaps feel: 'to be in a romantic, loving relationship; to
be fulfilled in my job; to identify the skills that I really have and
develop them to their full potential'.

There's a fine line, surely, between wishing and praying. And not all our
wishes or prayers are necessarily well motivated. The Bible warns us
frequently to flee our 'evil desires' (2 Timothy 2.22; Colossians 3.5). Yet
Psalm 37 declares: 'Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the
desires of your heart.' God is no genie, thankfully. But if we seek what he
wants first, we'll have a better idea, surely, of what we should wish for
ourselves and for others. McKie's question remains a good one, nevertheless.
If you did have three wishes, what would they be? You can't do much about
them until you know...

In the meantime, however, a gentle word from my wife: be careful what you
wish for.

Brian Draper

Tell us your wishes here!!

NOOMA

Have seen a Home Group teaching DVD from NOOMA. Was pretty good, so pay
their site a visit and have a look around. Biblical teaching using 21st
century methods.

Click here for NOOMA

Blessings and peace

Your Call (Conceivably by JRW Stott)

Your call is clear, cold centuries across;
You bid me follow You, and take my cross,
and daily lose myself, myself deny,
and stern against myself shout `Crucify'

My stubborn nature rises to rebel
against You call. proud choruses of hell
unite to magnify my restless hate
of servitude, lest I capitulate

The world, to see my cross, would pause and jeer
I have no choice, but to persevere
to save myself - and follow You from far
more slow than Magi - for I have no star

And yet You call me still. Your cross
eclipses mine, transforms the bitter loss
I thought that I would suffer if I came
to You - into immeasurable gain

I kneel before You, Jesus, crucified
my cross is shouldered and my self denied
I'll follow daily, closely, not refurse
for love of You and man myself to lose

Poem by Ephraem of Syria, 4th century

Child of Bethlehem
What contrasts You embrace
No one has ever been so humble
No one has ever wielded such power
We stand in awe of Your holiness
And yet we are bathed in Your love.

And where shall we look for You
You were in high heaven In the glory of the godhead
Yet those who search for You on earth
Found You in a tiny baby at Mary's breast
We came in hushed reverance to find You as God
and You welcome us as man.

We come unthinkingly to find You as man
and are blinded by the light of Your Godhead
You are the heir to David's throne
But You renounced all of his royal splendour.
Of all his luxurious bedrooms,
you chose a stable.

Of all his magnificent beds,
you chose a feeding trough.
Of all his golden chariots, you chose an ass.
Never was there a king like you!
Instead of royal isolation,
you made yourself available to everyone who needed you.

Instead of high security,
you made yourself vulnerable to those who hated you.
It is we who need you, above anything in the world.
You give yourself to us with such total generosity,
that it might almost seem that you need us.
There was never a king like this before!

LICC - Connecting with Culture - The science of aliens

Have you ever seen a skywhale? It's a rather beautiful animal, over five metres long and weighing 600kg, which glides slowly on thermals above pagoda forests. How about a gulphog? That's more frightening - a 500kg predatorthat lives in stinger-fan forests and can run at 60kph.

If the answer is no - and it will be - it'll be because they (probably) don't exist. That, however, has not stopped the Science Museum from exploring what they, and other alien life forms, might look like, in its exhibition the Science of Aliens, which opened in London last week. Alien life has long been an established feature of our fears and fictions. But the exhibition goes further by inventing two planets, Aurelia and Blue Moon, and imagining what life on them might look like. Alongside skywhales and gulphogs, we see six-legged mudpods, microscopic hysterias and thousand-metre pagoda trees. If some of these wonderfully strange aliens also seem strangely familiar, it's for a reason. Wherever it might evolve, life will face similar problems and invariably converge on similar solutions. There are, after all, only so manyways of (for instance) seeing and flying.

Despite the breathtaking variety of life on Earth - and the exhibition reminds us that our planet is home to creatures at least as strange as those on Aurelia - there is order within the apparent chaos, a balance between freedom and necessity so exquisite that you can almost hear the morning stars singing together in celebration of it. The Science of Aliens is, of course, a work of imagination. Yet, as is so often the case, it is our imagination that inspires us and orients us towards our Creator. Perhaps it is that which underlies those inspiring, frustrating chapters at the end of the book of Job. When God speaks, we want an answer to Job's questions. We want logic, reasoning, analysis. Instead, we get questions and we get wonder. Who do you think you are? Who do you think I am? Where were you whenI laid Aurelia's foundations? Can you make a pet of the skywhale?

Nick Spencer

LICC - Word for the Week - Wrestling with God

LICC - word for the week - wrestling with God

How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to
you, 'Violence!' but you do not save? There is strife and conflict abounds.
Therefore the law is paralysed, and justice never prevails. Habakkuk 1:1-4

Habakkuk was inspired to write a psalm. (Not all the psalms in the Old Testament are in the book of psalms.) His praise psalm of deep faith and trust in the Lord God forms the third and final chapter of the 'oracle' he received. But chapters one and two show us how he came to write it through an honest dialogue with God, asking the questions he wanted sorted before hecommitted himself to true and trusting worship.

His psalm, his prayer, came from an active, on-going debate in which he tried to come to terms with what he knew of God's character and sovereignty - and the state of the world around him. He faced the enormity of disintegrating societies, caused, perhaps in part by natural calamities, drought, famine, hurricane and earthquake, but also made worse by human failure and wickedness, inefficiency and apathy. Habakkuk echoed the personal despair felt by some of the psalmists - 'Will you forget me for ever?' (Psalm 13:1) - and the outrage of the prophets at the injustice and discrimination meted out to the poor by the rich and powerful within thecovenant people of God.

Some of us are tempted to retreat into a spiritual comfort zone and to turn our backs on unpleasant realities, so that 'the things of earth grow strangely dim'. When questioned, we are sometimes driven to produce glib responses about God's timing, God's love and God's judgment instead of facing up to what can happen to faith and trust in the midst of suffering and gross injustice. But Habakkuk shows us that a passionate debate - a cry
of protest and complaint - is also part of a legitimate life of prayer. We should not be 'otherworldly' when we pray, for we are deeply embedded in this world and need to carry the indignation and confusion of that involvement to the Lord. How could it be otherwise? Jesus, in the midst of bloody and noisy injustice, also cried out 'Must I call for help, but you do not listen?'- but in the words of another psalm.

Margaret Killingray

LICC - Connecting with Culture - National Giving Week

I used to cross the road to avoid beggars. These days, however, with 'charity muggers' (those hardy folk with clipboards and a permanent smile who ask, "Sir, do you have a moment to help starving children?") clogging our streets, I'd rather risk having to buy a cup of tea for a tramp. All of which persuades me that I've still some way to go to live up to the immortal words of Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Here's a question for the next charity fund-raising quiz night: Which Gospel recordsJesus saying this? A: None. Paul cites the words in Acts 20.35.)

Jesus' dictum implies that there is blessing in both giving and receiving, and some of us, perhaps, need to learn the art of receiving graciously, as well as giving abundantly. But giving remains the priority in a world of such obvious need. The Bible exhorts us at almost every turn to be generous to the poor, and reminds us that if we give to those who need our help, then we're giving to the Lord. How generous are we - really - towards the God who gave us so much in the first place, and forgave us the greatest of debts? Charitable giving has, perhaps surprisingly in our buoyant economy, fallen over the last 10 years by a staggering 25 per cent. That's why, presumably, the Charities Aid Foundation has declared next week 'National Giving Week' - to encourage us to give more, to plan our giving more carefully and to makeit more tax-efficient.

Giving to charity can be like trying to heal cancer with a sticking plaster. We still have to fight the systems that perpetuate the gap between rich and poor. But if we're not careful, we can end up neither giving nor fighting, leaving it all instead to the few who, through their generosity of spirit, can truly be bothered. Next week is a chance to re-consider how much we give, to whom and how regularly. We might also think about what else we can offer - such as our time or our talent. But as we seek, daily, to turn our faith into action, we cannot let the charity mugger be our sole inspiration for crossing to the other side of the road. God loves a cheerful giver. Freely we have received; freely, then, we should give it a try.

Brian Draper

LICC - Word for the Week - Love is...

LICC - Word for the Week - Love is...

The fruit of the Spirit is love. Galatians 5:22

Everybody, it seems, is searching for love - longing to be loved, longing to find someone to love. But what a muddle we get into when we try to pin down what we mean by love. It all springs out of our human need for relationship - for acceptance, for affection, for companionship, as well as for that most elusive thing, the experience of being "in love".

C.S.Lewis, in his useful book The Four Loves, distinguishes affection, friendship and eros (romantic sexual love) from the love that is the essence of the character of God (1 John 4:8). This is the love that Paul describes as patient and kind, not envious, boastful, proud, rude or self-seeking, not easily angered and keeping no record of wrongs (1 Cor.13: 4-5).

Sadly, in our increasingly fragmented society, there are many Christians who miss out on eros - the love that will ideally lead to marriage. It is deeply unhelpful to tell single members of our churches that all they need is Jesus. The whole Bible speaks of the importance of living, human community, and, for those who cannot find, or cannot fulfil, eros, the need for affection and friendship is crucial. In fact, we all yearn for the helping hand, the friendly hug, the eye to eye communication, the shared joke, the sociable meal.

But somehow we just don't have it in us to love everyone equally, either in our churches or in our workplaces. We have such different personalities, backgrounds and ways of doing things. The love that is the fruit of the Spirit, however, transcends our human likes and dislikes, and also transcends the affection and friendship we have for particular people: it both embraces these and goes far beyond them. For, Jesus said, this love can extend even to our enemies
So in the church there is no excuse for some people feeling excluded and unloved. We must plead with the Holy Spirit who lives in us to give us Jesus' love for everyone. And this includes our colleagues at work and everyone else we meet in our everyday lives. Some people may seem to us unlovely, but nobody is unlovable.

Helen Parry

LICC - Word for the Week - Love is forgiveness

'The fruit of the Spirit is love', Galatians 5:22.

'Love covers over a multitude of sins', 1 Peter 4:8

We all know that love is to be the distinctive mark of the Christian living. But how can we bring ourselves to love people who have deeply hurt or abused us? Or, indeed, people who continue to hurt or abuse us? Perhaps this is the hardest thing that God ever asks us to do.

Jesus' teaching is clear - that we should love our enemies, bless those who curse us and pray for those who ill-treat us (Luke 6:27-28). But before we consider how we can do this, we should perhaps ask Why? Why should I, the one who has been wronged, who has been damaged or diminished, love the person who has done this to me?

Well, first, because Jesus, whom we humans wronged and spurned, loved us first. So we cannot grow close to him while resentment and bitterness stops up in us the spring of love for others. And second, because resentment and bitterness eats us up. It haunts our waking, disturbs our sleeping, and lurks round corners jumping out on us suddenly when we least expect it. It distorts our judgment, hinders our spontaneity and impregnates us with those most unattractive twins - self-righteousness and self-pity.

But how can we bridge the chasm between bitterness and love? The first step is forgiveness. Martin Luther King wrote: "We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. Whoever is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love". Part of forgiveness is the will to forgive - the resolve to banish the sense of injured innocence that we may secretly cherish. Even to articulate the words "I forgive her" through clenched teeth is a start. But the forgiveness that truly liberates, and makes way for love, is only the fruit of the Spirit.

Whether the person who has wronged me belongs to my distant past, or daily sits beside me in the office or opposite me at the breakfast table, please,Holy Spirit, nurture in my life that love that covers a multitude of sins.

Helen Parry

LICC - Connecting with Culture- Movements and moments

Just before Paul McCartney sang Live 8’s memorable opening line – “It was 20 years ago today…” - the BBC’s Andrew Marr struck a different, subtle, pertinent chord. He was talking about the huge crowd, and their motivation for being there. Most of us today, he explained, don’t want to join a movement but a moment.

Live 8 was certainly a moment to be proud of, as were the Make Poverty History marches which brought so much hope before the bombs went off; but the challenge to us all, surely, is not to let such ‘moments’ be superseded by other, more fearsome events; nor simply to bide our time until the next big, hopeful thing rolls around for us to feel collectively part of.

Rather, the challenge is to learn how to live more fully within every moment we face; to try the sacred art of cultivating presence. We may not feel like we can change the world, but each of us can change the world around us through the choices we make and the lives we choose to lead.

The author Mike Riddell talks about the potential for us to choose between good or bad in the decisions we make day to day. They all happen, he says, within the present, on what he calls ‘the sharp blade of the moment’:

‘Here,’ he explains, ‘lie opportunities to create and to love. Equally present are the possibilities of abuse and cruelty. In the capsule of experience which is given to us each instant, we determine who we are and what is significant to us…’

It’s not always easy to know how to act within every situation we face. But if we keep in mind Jesus’ command – to love God, and to love our neighbour as ourselves – then we have a powerful compass with which to navigate through some of the trickier twists and turns along the road.

It may not mean that we join the movement. That’s our choice. And we may still find ourselves getting caught up and carried away in the big moments that punctuate our collective story. But if we choose to live on the sharp blade that dissects the past and the future, then our lives can surely gain a cutting edge as we help to bring God’s kingdom flickering into life - in the ‘now’, as well as the ‘not yet’.

Brian Draper

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER LINKS AND RESOURCES

LICC - Word for the Week - The blessing of forgiveness

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. Ephesians 1:7

Jesus tells us to forgive: easier said than done. We all assume that we understand forgiveness, but in practice it is sometimes very hard to know where it begins and ends. To forgive may involve battling with powerful emotions – resentment, deep hurt, a longing for justice and retribution.

Yet the desire for a fresh start with the slate wiped clean is very strong, and without forgiveness that is not possible. How do we live with the memory of some of the things we have done? How can we bear the burden of words we cannot withdraw, or change actions we have bitterly regretted for years? How do we deal with difficult ongoing relationships at work or in the family where everything that’s said is misunderstood?

Forgiveness between human beings is complicated because it involves pride, humility, and even sometimes humiliation and unbearable indebtedness. But forgiveness, Paul reminds us, begins as a blessing from God. We are free from all penalties and punishments, because he has redeemed us through the cross of Jesus. The Almighty God, supreme, perfectly holy, with all authority, is willing to forgive anyone for anything. So we are all in the place of guilt, all humbled by our need for forgiveness. When we know this, it is easier to forgive and be forgiven for our lesser debts and trespasses against each other.

But forgiveness is costly. When we understand, even in part, the cost to the Creator and the Saviour of the world, then the cost to pride and confidence as we face our own need to seek forgiveness from others seems a small price. Our acceptance of the cost of dealing with the consequences of what we have done, as well as that of forgiving those who have hurt and damaged us, begins the process that leads us into the full, joyous and blessed freedom of the children of God. Forgiveness offered and accepted is also an essential part of extending the Kingdom of God into a troubled world.

Margaret Killingray

The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity

LICC - Word for the week - Blessing God for blessing us

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Ephesians 1:3

Bless you! It’s easy to say – an automatic response to a sneeze, although I haven’t the faintest idea why, or a slightly cheesy way of saying thanks. Some react with an even briefer exclamation - just ‘Bless!’ – when touched by ‘sweetness’.

The first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is a breathless outpouring of praise and prayer about being blessed. It has very few full stops and to get the full flavour you need to read it out loud very fast. It must have tested the abilities of the scribe taking down Paul’s passionate paragraphs.

Are you blessed? If so what do you count as your blessings? Health, wealth, family, a partner who loves you, children? A job you love, the opportunity to travel, a warm sunny day in summer? The freedom of technology – instant communication, instant music, instant film? And then, of course, there is food and wine, books and conversation…. Are you blessed?

Apart from the opportunity to travel, Paul would not, by these measures, be called blessed. He was in prison, having travelled hundreds of miles on foot, sometimes hungry, thrown out of villages with a mob howling at him, beaten up. Writing to small groups of believers, some of whom were slaves and most poor, he doesn’t begin this letter with the hard things, with an attempt to bring consolation and sympathy from one unfortunate to some others. He begins with praise, not just praise because God is God, but grateful passionate praise for all the blessings God has showered on him and on all Christians.

Absorbed with work, home, money, weather, anxieties about relationships, shopping, we forget that we are shining examples of the wholly blessed. We are chosen, adopted, loved, redeemed, forgiven, destined for heaven, marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit. Ten times in the first fourteen verses Paul uses the phrase, ‘in Christ’, or ‘in him’. In Christ, we are blessed beyond all human blessing, and blessed forever.

Margaret Killingray

The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity

LICC - connecting with culture - war of the worlds

Shortly after Jeff Wayne released his musical version of War of the Worlds (selling over 13 million copies), Steven Spielberg introduced us to the initially awe-inspiring but ultimately cuddly aliens of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. They lit up the skies with Christmas lights, and used a five-note serenade to convey messages of peace, not war, to planet Earth.

Then came ET – Spielberg’s alien messiah who healed the sick before dying and being raised back to life; ET not only welcomed the little children, he chose to live among them. Spielberg’s science fiction, critics have often remarked, invites us to see the universe with awe and wonder through the eyes of a child – even if it’s a robot child, as in AI.

So, it’s unusual that Spielberg, through this adaptation of War of the Worlds, is now suggesting that there’s something out there to be feared rather than revered. The Christmas lights have been replaced with death rays, the alien serenade with a doom-laden, fog-horn blast issuing from the tripod machines of the invaders.

H G Wells’s original 1898 story attacked the ‘gun-boat diplomacy’ of the European empires which cowed less developed nations into submission through their superior technology. Spielberg echoes this theme in his film: “foreign occupations always fail,” declares Ogilvy (Tim Robbins), leaving commentators to deliberate about the parallels with Iraq and the so-called ‘war on terror’.

‘The point here,’ writes the Guardian’s John Patterson, ‘is that if Bush has lost Spielberg, who for all his shortcomings remains the presiding cinematic visionary of Middle America, he suddenly looks a lot like Lyndon Johnson in 1968, when CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, the reassuring uncle of the nation, turned publicly against the war in Vietnam.’

This is certainly a film against war, terrorism and violence of any kind. The depiction of the relentless onslaught of the Martians and the innocent victims caught in a struggle for survival serves to remind us of the kind of disregard for life we witnessed in London last week, and which is happening every day in Iraq and elsewhere.

The film ends, as it begins, by zooming in on the microbes that bring about the invaders’ downfall; Spielberg is still trying to invoke the awe and wonder of old, but this time it’s not just for the universe we live in - but for the miracle of life itself.

Jason Gardner

CLICK HERE FOR MORE LINKS AND TO HAVE YOUR SAY

LICC - word for the week - Overcoming Evil

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord.’ On the contrary: ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21

Born in London before the Second World War, I remember, as a small child, staring down into the crater made by a bomb that fell 300 yards from my home. Then, in the early 1980s, I remember standing with hundreds of others outside Charing Cross Station while it was searched for explosives, after a bomb had gone off at Victoria. At home last Thursday, I waited to find out whether my husband had arrived safely at Senate House, just off Russell Square. As an elderly man said on his way to a Second World War reunion, ‘We’ve been here before’.

That is the blueprint for Christians who live in troubled and anxious times, however dire the circumstances, whatever the depths of evil, in the 1st or 21st century.

Of course, there is a place for righteous anger at the random destruction of life, and, of course, it is important that wrongdoers are brought to justice, by the proper authorities through due process of law, on the basis of adequate and attested evidence. But we are all challenged to live by a radical principle of love that forbids the use of evil to overcome evil and that will sometimes demand from us the highest levels of integrity, self-knowledge and sacrifice.

‘Overcome evil with good’ is a strong, proactive command. Looking back over 60 years we need to assess just how the struggles against different forms of evil have been fought and to recognise where we have compromised too much the law of love.

Margaret Killingray

Why Suffering???????

In the aftermath of the London Terrorist attacks, I came across this link to a talk given by Jon Eareckson Tada and it gave me new insights. So, if you are struggling with this event, please do listen to her...

Click here to play the talk in RealPlayer.... and the page is located here if the link is giving you trouble for some reason.

LICC - connecting with culture - God of all

Instead of a comment this week, a prayer. We hope you will spend a few moments praying with us.

God of all,

So much has happened this week that it's hard to take it all in. Our hearts have leaped for joy and ached with pain. Amid the turmoil, help us to know your peace – which surpasses all understanding.

Thank you for Bob Geldof, and for Live 8. Please don't let the passion and creativity of such a beautiful event be lost, but let its chords of hope continue to reverberate throughout the world.

Thank you for the 220,000 souls who took part in the biggest peaceful demonstration ever seen before a G8 summit. We pray that their presence on Saturday in Edinburgh will help to persuade the leaders of the G8 that we all want to Make Poverty History.

Thank you, too, for the privilege this country has in leading the G8 at this time, and for the conviction of the Prime Minister and Chancellor to put climate change and poverty at the top of the agenda. We pray that all the planning, diplomacy and effort will not go to waste, despite the events in London. May good, yet, come out of evil.

Thank you for the joy and surprise of London's Olympic victory. So much effort, again, which has the potential to change so many lives, especially in the east end. Thank you for the power of sport - to unite, to uplift, and simply to help us smile through harder times. It's a gift from you.

And thank you that you do not leave us when the world seems to come crashing down around us. We pray, within the sadness, confusion and horror of yesterday's bombings, that your spirit will comfort those who mourn, heal those who are hurt, and strengthen those who feel weak.

Help us, somehow, to love our enemies, and in so doing, to bring heaven a little closer to our broken earth.

And as Bono, who has helped to challenge and encourage the G8 this week, sang in London recently:

Take this city -
A city should be shining on a hill.
Take this city,
If it be your will.
What no man can own, no man can take.
Take this heart -
London's heart –
Take this city, and keep it safe.

Amen.

London Institute for Contemporary Christianity

Reaction to London bombings...

In the light of today's horrific attacks in London, we wanted to send a series of prayer points for you to use throughout this evening and the coming days. Please pass this on to as many people as you can!

Please Pray:

	For Healing--physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual--for those injured in the attacks
	Churches in London--that they may effectively minister to their communities providing solace, retreat and a listening ear to those in need. Pray also that churches reach out to those who will be searching and asking questions in light of these events.
	God's grace to be evident in the midst of this tragedy and that Christians may be a light of faith, hope and love in a world that often doesn't make sense.
	Safety and Peace in London and the rest of the UK and that this event would be isolated.
	That ethnic and/or religious groups do not become scapegoats for these attacks.
	That the Holy Spirit would give us the grace to forgive

If you or anyone you know needs prayer, please click http://www.premier.org.uk/engine.cfm?i=75 or copy and paste the link into your browser.

To hear interviews with Christian leaders, to gain information for your churches prayer intercessions and for audio from today's coverage click http://www.premier.org.uk/engine.cfm?i=369#a or copy and paste the link into your browser.

I know you will join with me in prayer and mourning as we remember those who have been affected.

In the name of our loving Father,

Peter Kerridge