Another Seismic Shift

We have all watched with horror the events that have unfolded in Japan. The sheer scale of the devastation, the power of nature and the incalculable suffering as a result, is beyond our experience. Watching ships, carrying people, just being turned into matchwood in a few seconds and watching a dark tide engulf whole areas, is something that we have never seen before, since 2004 when the word tsunami first entered the common language. The power of nature seems wholly indiscriminate and unstoppable. The phrase 'seismic shift' takes on a whole new meaning when we see its outworking so dramatically and tragically.

But it occurred to me a few moments before beginning to write this blog, that there is another seismic shift taking place: One that will have dire consequences in the days to come. We are seeing a shift away from Christian values and, like that invidious wall of water that invaded, so ruthlessly, large areas of the east coast of Japan, its steady progress will see the erosion of many of the values that have anchored Western civilization. In the courts and in the media we are seeing a growing number of cases of Christians being vilified, prosecuted and disciplined, in a way that only a few years ago would have seemed unthinkable. There is a different kind of earthquake taking place in the West. It is extending over a longer period of time; there is no Richter scale to measure its force; yet it will bring about the fall of Western civilization as we know it.

Recently I watched the historian David Starkey speaking on television. I disagree with a lot of what he says, but I defend his right to have an opinion. He said this: "We are seeing the appearance of a new form of tyranny. An intolerance every bit as powerful as that which it seeks to replace." He is right. So-called tolerance has an invidious and prejudiced flipside and what we have been told would be the benefits of multiculturalism, has turned people who hold Christian beliefs into intolerant criminals. Moral and social confusion is following in its wake and the 1984 Orwellian thought police are on the trail of anyone who holds beliefs contrary to what society in general holds. It is a new form of inquisition and the tsunami is growing taller and more powerful. We have been warned, in God's Word, by Jesus Himself, that these days would come.

Everyone Needs a Break (Brake?)

I can always remember the first and thankfully, only time it happened. Coming down a hill and putting my foot on the brake, only to find that the pedal went straight down on the floor. A quick change down the gears avoided disaster and, thankfully, the car in front was way in front! Then it was a case of nursing the car slowly home, anxiously pumping the pedal from time to time to get pressure. A car without brakes is a lethal machine. Apparently it was air bubbles in the fluid; the car had been serviced, but not well enough, it seems.

I thought of it rather as a metaphor for what we are trying to do in the Company: Getting people to put the brakes on, before they head for eternal disaster. Putting the brakes on the direction of their lives and heading in another direction. I suppose if I had the time and inclination, it would be an interesting study to see how many times I applied the brakes on a journey to central London. We do it instinctively of course - brake, I mean. It becomes second nature. We drive with the security of knowing that our brakes will work - until they don't, and then our whole mind set changes.

This weekend we spent time presenting the 'Yeshua Messiah!' musical, urging people to 'put the brakes on.' Anyone living without Christ is living in a state of false security. They will only find out when the brakes don't work!

This blog was inspired, if that is the right word, by the experience of Ian, who heads up the technical team: Brake failure on a hired van carrying equipment back. It brought back memories! Perhaps that's one way of looking at the Gospel: Make sure your brakes are working!

Lesson 12: 'How to Land Your Plane'

Recently I flew from San Fransisco airport, over the Golden Gate Bridge and the old prison of Alcatraz and, after 20 minutes, returned to the airport. If I said that I never left the ground, you would understand that I was flying a simulator. My family indulge me from time to time, with birthday and Christmas presents that are air related. Consequently, I have found myself in a helicopter over London, a microlight over the Thames estuary, in the open cockpit of a Tiger Moth and a memorable flight in a glider, having been air-towed to 2000 feet over the South Downs. The only thing I've never done is a balloon flight, which doesn't really appeal to me - too slow.

I love the whole experience of flying and, to add to the aforementioned experiences, I have also found myself on the flight deck of a RAF VC10, watching 12 jets refuelling: It was like watching an aerial ballet. I also had the privilege of flying in the cockpit of a 737 twice, to Dublin and the following week flying down to Pisa. I particularly remember the sight of the full moon on the Alps. Add to this my various excursions into Vulcan, Hercules, Shackelton and Buccaneer cockpits and you can see I am a real air 'saddo'. Which brings me to the point of this blog.

Apparently, it is possible to learn to fly by correspondence course. However, the story is told of one company involved in this who sent out, stage by stage, the course manuals. But they failed to send the final manual entitled: 'How to Land Your Plane'. Just think of the consequences! I used that story as part of the programme notes for a musical called 'Heaven'which we presented some 11 years ago. I based the musical on an airport where there were only two destinations, Heaven and Hell. There were no incoming flights!

Recently I listened to a tremendously inspiring sermon by my preacher hero, Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones, entitled 'How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?' So how many people are there out there flying the plane of their life, unable to land? I hope I haven't stretched the metaphor too far.

We are looking forward to preaching the Gospel again this Spring, through the 'Yeshua Messiah!' musical, telling people the right place to land!

The Old Year Turns

One of my favourite poems is called: 'The Old Familiar Faces'. It speaks of those who have gone - those who we see now in our mind's eye, whose memories are kindled by our remembered affection. I write this as the old year turns and again we stand on the edge of a new year. The distance from our past increases; the space widens and we are ever moving on.

That is what is so inspiring about the Gospel, the Gospel that the Company will seek to share in the New Year. It never changes. Its claims upon us remain the same; the rewards do not deteriorate with the waiting. Hope is the fuel of our endeavours, an unchanging, fully redeeming and renewing hope that claims to take humanity from death to life, from darkness to light. This incorruptible prize of eternal life is the most magnificent gift we can offer to anyone.

The Company is called, commissioned and sent by the One who says: “I Am the Resurrection and the Life”. What an amazing statement! The month of January was named after the Roman god Janus who had two faces, one looking back and one looking forward. There is work to be done, work for the Kingdom. And when we have finished we long to hear those words: “Well done, good and faithful servants”.

So as the year turns and the new unfolds, we seek in the strength He gives us, to carry out the commission we have been given. As a Company, “we are not ashamed of the Gospel, it is the power of God unto salvation”. Let us work while there is still light.

Carols in the Greenhouse

We never thought we would find ourselves singing as a choir in a departmental store. But that's exactly what we did on the 9th and 11th of December, in Beales department store in Tonbridge. We were confined to what I called 'the greenhouse' - a structure which marks the entrance to the store. Mostly glass, we shared the space with a manequin and a few beds! But it was wonderful to be able to read the Gospel accounts of the Nativity and sing, not only well known Christmas music such as Mary's Boy Child and When a Child is born, but also a selection from our musical Stargifts, which we will be presenting next year around the Christmas period. The music was broadcast all over the store and the readings could clearly be heard as they linked together the songs. We also included two songs: 'Behold Zion' and 'Shekhinah', which we had last sung in Israel, in particular on one evening, when we sang over the city of Jerusalem facing the Golden Gate.

We were really encouraged by the response, as people seemed to pass through a tunnel of music as they entered the store. No one stopped us, no one objected to the Bible readings. Where is all this so called opposition to Christian things? I think we are being conned by the PC brigade! The choir sang their hearts out. We were subjected to both warm and cold air as the store heaters gave way to the icy blast of the car park, as the outer doors opened and closed. We had been invited by the Rotary Club of Tonbridge to help them raise money for two worthy causes: the Scott's project and the Kent Air Ambulance. Their target was £1000; in the end they raised over £2000.

So now we look forward to negotiations to see if we can sing the same programme in Bluewater next year. And the New year beckons with new projects: the setting up of a Bible School in Tonbridge; more performances of Yeshua Messiah; the celebrating again of the Seven Feasts of the Lord; and an evening celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Authorised Version of the Bible. At the end of the year we look to present Stargifts as the Company's contribution to celebrating Christmas.

As we look back on 2010, we give thanks that the Lord has been good to us and we look forward to further adventures as we seek to proclaim the Gospel and inspire the Body of Christ. It was in Bethlehem, in 2009, that the choir was prophesied over by the pastor of the church where we sang. He said we were like Jehoshaphat's singers, sent ahead of the king's army to inspire the troops in the battle. I don't think the people in Beales would have understood what that meant, but we know!

Open wide...

I read a remark by a small child the other day. Whilst speaking to a children's evangelist, he picked up a Bible and said: "It's easy for you. It's all in here, all you have to do is read it out!" Simple - but he had a point. I like the story of the little girl who was praying at the end of the day. Her mother overheard the following comment as the child came to the end of her prayers: "Dear God, please look after Yourself, 'cause if anything happens to You we are all in big trouble."

I've always been a collector of remarks that make you think. They are very helpful to spread amongst the anecdotes when speaking in public. How about this one: "Most of the problems in this world are either caused by people who are trying to be important, or by those who think they are important." One of my favourites is a line from Arthur Miller's play All my Sons, in which one of the characters says: "There are some people who would rather see the whole world hang than admit that they were wrong." And George Bernard Shaw authored a few good put-downs, too. Commenting on foxhunters, he referred to "the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable".

It seems from the Gospels that Jesus, too, had the ability to use the one-liner to prick the bubble of pomposity or underline a truth. My favourite is His reply to the fault-finding Pharisee, when he said: "You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel". I think Jesus had a great sense of humour. Mark Twain once pompously said: "It is my intention to one day explore the place where Moses was given the Ten Commandments." He received the reply: "Why don't you stay in America and try and keep a few of them?".

With pomposity often comes a sense of superiority and power. I find the words of Jesus to Pilate most telling: "You would have no power over Me unless it were given to you". The late President Kennedy was once quoted as saying. "We all inhabit the same Earth, we breath the same air and we are all mortal".

A rich man died. A friend inquired: "How much did he leave?". "Everything" was the reply.

Of Dreams and Caravans

Recently a friend's wife had a dream, which she passed on to me. It went something like this:

She saw me riding in a traveller's caravan, heading out into the desert, away from a large town. The message of the dream was:

'Turn back to the safety and security of the city.'

I was grateful for this dream and went on holiday! - to Port Isaac, a pretty, slumbering fishing village in North Cornwall, where every piece of land is used and the houses are shuffled together and tumble towards the sea. The scenery, of course, is wonderfully inspiring and ideal for coastal walks.

One bright morning we decided to walk to Pine Haven, a rock strewn inlet on the Cornish Coastal Path. At this place we decided to have some time with the Lord. Having finished our prayer time, I said the word 'Shalom'. At that moment, a great squadron of seagulls, some 100 birds, began gliding into the inlet. Silently and without effort, they rode on the wind and one by one landed in the sea forming, over a few minutes, a bobbing island of white. I then threw a large stone and a couple of seconds later I heard the dull plop above the sound of the waves. Looking down some minutes later, we saw that a cloud of foam had formed on the surface of the sea, riding the waves in a gentle rhythm. Suddenly, Jenny noticed what she thought was a person swimming near the foam. In turned out to be a seal who, having broken the surface, seemed to be clapping his flippers in joy.

In the afternoon we travelled to Tintagel, the fabled home of King Arthur. Regardless of whether it is true, it's certainly a good story! High on the cliffs, we looked down from the precarious wooden steps that cling to the side of the rock face. The mist thrown up by the waves refracted the bright sunlight. It was a glorious view; the hazy sun threw a great area of liquid gold onto the sea: A photographer's dream! The warm wind blew strongly in our faces as we made for the top of the promontory. It seemed such a wild place. Far, far below we could hear the waves echoing as they crashed against the unforgiving rocks. Now, here on the top, there were only the remains of a walled garden, a well and some foundations which made slight grey patterns amidst the grass. What a vantage point though! Out across the water the sea continued to reflect the racing clouds and the golden sunlight.

Then came the finale of what had been a wonderful day. Turning at a T-junction on to the Port Isaac road there, on the verge, was a traveller with his two horses. Parked behind them was a beautiful caravan, decorated with bright colours. I hadn't seen one in years and years. In that one moment the dream became reality!