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Dream to Go
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Prayers, Reflections and challenges ... our 'Thought for the Week' in the e-Dream newsletter. Subscribe (above) to receive updates.
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Extract from Brennan Manning's book 'The Ragamuffin Gospel'
"Here is revelation bright as the evening star: Jesus comes for the [selfish], for those as outcast as tax collectors and for those caught up in squalid choices and failed dreams. He comes for corporate executives, street people, superstars, farmers, hookers, addicts, HMRC agents, AIDS victims, and even used car salesmen. Jesus not only talks with these people but dines with them – fully aware that his table fellowship with the [selfish] will raise the eyebrows of religious bureaucrats who hold up robes and insignia of their authority to justify their condemnation of the truth and their rejection of the gospel of grace…
"In effect, Jesus says the Kingdom of his Father is not a subdivision for the self-righteous not for those who feel they possess the state secret of their salvation. The Kingdom is not an exclusive, well-trimmed suburb with snobbish rules about who can live there. No, it is for a larger, homlier, less self-conscious cast of people who understand they are [selfish] because the have experiences the yaw and pitch of moral struggle…
"Whatever our failings may be, we need not lower our eyes in the presence of Jesus. Unlike Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame, we need not hide all that is ugly and repulsive in us. Jesus comes not for the super-spiritual but for the wobbly and the weak-kneed who are not too proud to accept the handout of amazin’ grace. As we glance up, we are astonished to find the eyes of Jesus open with wonder, deep understanding and gentle with compassion."
Manning. B. (1990). The Ragamuffin Gospel. Milton Keynes: Authentic
By Andy Wain
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Probably the best way to love ourselves is through forgiveness; asking God for forgiveness, asking others for forgiveness, and probably most difficult, receiving forgiveness.
When we are forgiven or extend forgiveness relationship is restored with those we forgive and with those who forgive us; most importantly with God. Restoring our relationship with God is the best way we could ever love ourselves.
I recently came across some thoughts on forgiveness which I have copied below:-
Recognition of selfishness (wrong doing)
1. Perhaps the hardest part – admit that we have wronged
2. As long as we fail to see our selfishness – we will not repent
3. We must be aware of selfishness and its eternal consequence
Remorse – Grieving over our wrong
1. There must be sorrow, regret
Resolve to make a change
1. Repent: from Greek word meaning "to change one's mind"
2. Determine a new course of action; a change of direction
3. Repentance begins with a decision, a choice
Reformation – Doing things different from the past
1. One can not repent and keep living the same lifestyle
3. Isaiah 55:7 – Let the wicked abandon the old ways of life Restitution where possible
1. To fully repent we must restore as much as we can
2. Some wrong may not be "undoable"
3. Where we can we must restore, replace
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In loving ourselves do we invest in earthly things or do we invest in the Kingdom of God?
There are times when it is totally right to go aboard for a holiday, buy the latest gadget or have an evening relaxing in the bath, each of us have a list well deserved treats we can indulge in to love ourselves.
However this list can be limited to earthly things.
I know of a family who, instead of going on a holiday this summer, sense God telling them to help lead a two week mission. Their natural instinct was to assume a relaxing holiday on the beach was the best was of loving themselves. However when they heard and obeyed God two things happened
1. They had the fullness of who God is working with them, protecting them and providing for them.
2. They were investing in their eternal bank account. When we pursue the God's will we store treasures in heaven where they will be kept for eternity.
For the family forgoing their holiday it was a sacrifice, it was tiring, stressful and very hard work; yet through their obedience lives were touched by God and they were more fulfilled than any beach holiday would have made them.
As you consider ways of loving yourself this summer don't just consider the obvious things, ask God how you should love yourself, you may be surprised with the answer
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I recently came across these images of key biblical events ... recreated "Google Earth" style using satellite photography.
Click to view larger images
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One of the two greatest commandments according to Jesus is to love others like you love yourself. Often when i think of this passage, its the 'loving others' bit that seems the most naturally challenging at times. After all, loving yourself... well thats easy isn't? Its not like i'm going to be fighting myself anytime soon, or slagging myself off behind my own back (i'd probably give myself a rather nasty neck injury trying that!).
But do we *really* love ourselves? What does it even mean to love yourself?
Maybe it's chasing after whatever we think makes us happy. Usually this means fulfilling our own desires.
But what if that desire is ultimately bad for us? For instance, if someone does something to satisfy an addiction they have, is that an example of love?
Desires are feelings, and love is more than just a feeling. To quote a song by Massive Attack, ''love is a verb, love is a doing word''; its a commitment to stand by someone, to care for them, to do right by them.
Are you loving yourself? Are you doing right by yourself?
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The mother of Anthony Walker drew deeply on her Christian faith yesterday to find forgiveness for the racist killers of her son, who face up to 30 years in jail.
Gee Walker, 49, had listened to every harrowing detail of the ambush by white racist thugs that left her son, a gifted black A-level student, with an ice axe embedded in his skull.
She was composed and dignified in her seat at Liverpool Crown Court, at the end of an emotionally charged two-week trial, to hear the jury find Michael Barton, 17, the brother of Joey Barton, the Premiership footballer, guilty of murder.
As the jury delivered its unanimous verdict after a day and a half’s deliberation, Barton slumped in the dock, burying his head in his hands and gulping for air. Later he wept silently.
Within minutes Mrs Walker, a mother of six, emerged from the court arm in arm with two of her four daughters to offer words of compassion to Taylor and Barton: “Do I forgive them? At the point of death Jesus said, ‘I forgive them because they do not know what they do’. I have got to forgive them. I still forgive them."
Taken from Times Online website
By Andy
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This week I am not going to write anything about the passage in Lectio, except to provide some background.
I would like to invite you to share how the passage speaks to you about difficult situations.
The background is that God let Israel be taken into exile because of the wrong they did; whilst they were in exile Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. Some have already retuned to Jerusalem and started to rebuild the temple and here we find Nehemiah - who is in exile - receiving news about the condition of Jerusalem...
By Andy
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My phone has an application (Google Goggles) where I look at the screen and it shows me what the camera can see; like video camera. Except the phone knows where I am (through sat nav) and which way I am looking (through a compass inside the phone), the application then puts extra information on screen i.e. the direction of the nearest pub or information about the building I am looking at.
I read the story from this week's Lectio and wonder what my response would have been. There is no way I would put my needs before those of a widow and her son, especially if it means taking their last meal from them.
Except that is not how Elijah saw the situation, he did not see himself putting his needs before anyone because he was seeing the scene with some extra information added; God information (God Goggles) - how He was going to supply for all of them.
In the second situation from this story the widow's son dies and she lays the blame firmly at the door of Elijah; everything in me would have wanted to turn and run away...
Elijah didn't, rather he went to God in desperate prayer asking a very deep question "Why have you killed her son?" This is full of difficult things to get our heads around i.e. did God kill the son and if so what does that say about God?
This passage does not give us any answers except that God listened to Elijah's plea for the boy's life and he came alive again.
The challenge is how to see life through "God Goggles" even when things seem contrary to His character.
By Andy
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In continuing our theme of difficult situations we will have a look at the effect they can have on us.
When lying in bed with yesterday’s stressful phone call; the argument with a friend; work deadlines or what ever stress you have wizzing through your mind, it can be easy to be consumed by it.
Have you noticed how things can become increasingly overwhelming the later in the night it is?
But what to do…Here are some suggestions, from Paul who wrote a letter to some folks in a place called Philippi and me.
Paul: Pray!
Paul & Andy: Don’t hold onto what can be comfortable feelings of stress and anxiety; make yourself focus on God, let God settle you down; acknowledge that being awake at 3am full of stress is not going to change a thing! (If you keep hold of your stress Jesus cannot displace it, it becomes your god)
Paul & Andy: A lot of my stress is caused by anticipating the worst; don’t think of the worst, think of the best
It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life
By Andy
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A friend had a one night stand at university; from that moment on she had AIDS and died in her late 20s at her prime in her work and in her faith. A tragedy beyond words.
In this series about what to do in difficult situations it would be very easy to look at times when it all works out; but what about when it ends in tragedy?
Psalm 23 speaks of those moments and the place of God besides us in the middle of them.
It can be so difficult believing God is walking beside us at those moment; if He is how could He let them happen? Why does He not stop the pain? Why did He...?
Difficult questions for which there is no easy answer, or no answer at all.
My friend did not find answers to many of the questions about her suffering, but she did find the strength of God in the middle of it.
Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I'm not afraid
when you walk at my side.
By Andy
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When a beggar approaches you for money do you ignore them, give them money, buy them a drink,...?
Does it leave you feeling awkward, uncomfortable, indifferent,...?
Peter and John were off to a prayer meeting and found themselves face to face with a cripple begging on the temple steps.
What would you have done? I have walked by more times than I can count.
Peter and John put the man's needs before the prayer meeting, in fact they brought the prayer meeting outside as they prayed for his healing.
The cycle of begging was broken, the man was healed and Peter was then able to preach to the awestruck crowd.
This series is looking at difficult situations. For most, including me, this is not normally a difficult situation I just walk straight past; the thought of praying for the beggar (or the poor, the asylum seeker, Big Issue seller,…) is not even considered.
May be it should be.
By Andy
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This weeks “lectio” reading is pretty weird!
Angels, trances and visions. It’s a great reminder that this “eastern religion” called Christianity is meant to be very different to the neat, predictable, logical and polite set of rules and routines it is often seen as.
Following Jesus means following the person who healed people, did miracles, confronted demons and rose from the dead. Within a rational Western culture some of that stuff can seem as unpalatable as the sheet of “unclean” animals offered to Peter the well behaved Jew to eat. The temptation is to ignore it and limit our “gospel” to the teachings of Jesus. But we don’t have to read many of his words to realise that the two can’t be divided. The gospel without the power of God isn’t good news. It becomes just a load of unfulfilled promises, impossible rules and insipid expectations.
This Sunday is Pentecost.
The day we focus on God’s gift of his Spirit.
There are two Dream events that will focus on Pentecost this weekend.
Breathe, our retreat day on Saturday will give space to “breathe in”, receiving renewed life and hope from God, and to “breathe out”, being sent by the Spirit with power to change the world around us.
Then on Sunday evening, the Dream service at the cathedral is called “wild goose chase”. The wild goose was a powerful symbol of God’s spirit in early Celtic Christianity, and we’ll be creating space to encounter God’s power and allow him to take us on a whole new journey into the unknown.
Both events are going to be wonderful opportunities to reconnect with the presence and power of God.
If you can’t make it, perhaps because you are one of the people who receive e-dream but live on the other side of the world, we pray for you and for ourselves, “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your people. Kindle in us the power of your love”
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Here’s a little spiritual exercise.
Notice the very next person you see.
Are they familiar to you or a stranger?
What impression do they give?
You are looking at an image of God.
Jesus became an ordinary person, one of us. There was nothing in his appearance that made him stand out.
What if instead of a Jewish man 2000 years ago, God had decided to come as that person?
What if God does want to meet with you in that person.
What if God wants to meet them in you?
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations… There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. (C S Lewis)
Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realising it! (Hebrews 13:1 NLT)
Try it again, looking in the mirror this time.
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I’m starting to write this while sitting in a court waiting room. In a little while I’ll be going in to give evidence on behalf of a family who have “converted” to following Jesus and are seeking asylum. There’s plenty about the system that stinks and it will be a miracle if they are allowed to stay, but that’s not what this “dream to go” is about. Do pray for them though…
Today has brought back memories of how years ago one of the “in” phrases people liked to use was “if it was illegal to be a Christian and you were arrested, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
Today gives me a different angle on that.
If I wanted to prove that I am a follower of Jesus, how would I do it? I could say that I go to church a lot, but then in my experience there are lots of people who do that for all sorts of reasons other than following Jesus. And lots of Jesus’ followers sadly don’t connect with the church.
Jesus said that there would be one primary form of evidence.
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35 NLT, italics mine)
“Not guilty”, your honour.
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I’m sick of ianity.
All those times we leave Christ out of this religion we find ourselves in.
Without Jesus we soon become
Do-good’er frowning hypocrites,
Back-biting, in-fighting cliques,
Or ‘spiritual’ shopaholics searching out the latest fad.
Jesus is the point.
The centre of gravity.
The lens.
The filter.
The subject and the object.
Our life, our hope, our master, brother, friend and bridegroom.
I’m sick of ianity.
Give me Christ.
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Stop for a moment.
…well OK read this first, then stop…
This is it you know.
This is life.
It’s not a rehearsal or a role play.
It’s not a virtual reality training course for the real thing.
This is it. We get each moment once.
Only once!
I often seem to procrastinate life.
I’ll pray tomorrow.
I’ll love later.
I’ll be more generous next year.
I’ll grow up and start my real life one day
God’s listening . Pray now.
Who’s in front of you? Love them.
Be generous till it takes your breath away. You might find you start breathing properly.
Live now.
Really living can be scary, but Easter tells us that following Jesus is all about life that overcomes death. Real life, full life, and this is it.
(p.s. any connection between this post and the mid-life crisis brought on by Richard turning forty is purely in your imagination!)
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I need you.
I’ve tried this stuff on my own.
I like my own company.
Sometimes other people are a pain.
They’re awkward, different and slow things down.
So I’ve tried this stuff on my own.
Tried to be a private follower of my own “personal Jesus” (great name for a song)
It didn’t work.
It doesn’t.
It turns out that right near the beginning of the story God said it wasn’t good for human beings to be alone.
So I need you.
Encourage me.
Disagree with me.
Challenge me.
Be with me.
Listen to me.
Talk to me.
Pray with me.
Pray for me.
Work with me.
I need you. And you need me.
Actually I don’t just need you.
I want you.
Stick with me.
I’ll stick with you.
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