Momentum Blog

Last Summer I had the privilege and terror of taking my two kids on the London Eye. Billed as one of the top 10 things you have to do in London, I promised the boys that if we had the time we’d do our best to visit this great attraction on our summer day trip. I wish I’d never promised! As we stood in the queue that seemed to stretch for miles I kept looking up at how high the carriages would go on this gigantic wheel. I also noted how slowly the wheel seemed to turn. The nearer we got to the entrance the stronger I could feel the palpitations in my chest. Of course the boys were excited.  They had seen London before but not like this! As we moved to the front of the queue I tried to convince the boys that going to MacDonald’s would be a better idea but before I knew it we were ushered in to the open carriage.

The door shut and we were off.  The glass carriage was designed so that you could see London from many different angles and vantage points. James, my youngest was immediately lying on the glass floor as we started to climb several hundred feet.  ‘Look down here dad’ he said, lying with his face pressed against the glass floor looking down at the ground, which increasingly looked smaller and smaller. ‘No thanks, son’ I said. ‘I don’t want to spoil your view’. As I looked at my white knuckles, which were holding the rail as tightly as possible we continued to climb.

Up and up we went and the higher we went the more we could see and the more my legs seemed to get wobbly.  ‘Look, there is Wembley way in the distance’ said John-Mark my oldest. ‘Can you see a hospital anywhere?’ I said, half-jokingly. Soon we were at the height of the rotation and here the carriage seemed to stay for an age.  Having got the better of panic I decided that trying to enjoy the experience was a better strategy to adopt than fear and probably the best way to pass the time. So I stood beside my boys looking out at the view of London and as I surveyed the city on this clear blue-sky day, I must confess…it was an awesome sight.  John Mark spoke to me words that were fairly profound words for an 11 year old. ‘Hey dad we’ve seen London today, but though the city is the same up here as it is down there how you look at it can make such a difference.’

I think we all know in life that looking at something from a different angle or perspective, or location or vantage point can help us see things we did not previously see. What changes is our ability to see the same things in new ways. Rosabeth Moss Kanter said,

“Creativity is a lot like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You look at a set of elements, the same ones everyone else sees, but then reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new possibility.

Today the church faces great challenges in an ever-increasing secular, consumerist, post Christian and postmodern world.  We can wish that things were like the past, we can hide our heads in the sand and hope it goes away, or we can work hard to find creative ways and methods to engage and transform the world we live in. Churches that embrace and search for creativity reflect the great Creator God Who continues to recreate through His Spirit. Problems and difficulties are all around us, and there is no denying these are challenging times for the church and for sharing the good news of Christ. But perhaps an 11-year-old boy captured a word of wisdom that might help us face these challenges with optimism, courage and faith, ‘How you look at it can make such a difference.’   

I confess to having a deathly hobby…

Well what is it? I enjoy discovering famous epitaphs! Well I did say it was a deathly hobby! For as long as I can remember I have always been fascinated by the tributes given to famous people on their tombs.

“A master of comedy his genius in the art of humour brought gladness to the world he loved (Stan Laurel)

“Workers of all lands unite. The philosophers only interpreted the world in various ways: the points to change it” (Karl Marx.)

“The entertainer” He did it all. (Sammy Davis, jnr)

“That’s all folks” (Mel Blanc- voice of Bugs Bunny!)

“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God Almighty I’m free at last.” (Martin Luther King)

And so it was in reading Acts 13 that I was caught by an epitaph that had God’s approval written all over it. In v 36 it says concerning King David, “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he died.” What an outstanding epitaph!

DAVID SERVED THE PURPOSES OF GOD

Ultimately we all serve one Master (Jesus taught this in the Gospels) and so the question for us is this: What is our master? What is the thing that drives and determines how everything else in our life fits in? What is the one chief motivational thing that drives us to be what we are, to do what we do, to say what we say, to go where we go, to invest in what we invest in? The answers to these questions reveal thing we serve most. For David there were many things that he served but there was one thing that he served most…..and that was the purposes of God.

The main point was that David lived his life focusing on God’s purposes. Though he had serious lapses, which should not be ignored, nonetheless the totality of his life revealed a life well lived for the purposes of God. No wonder he is recorded as a “man after God’s own heart.”

IN HIS OWN GENERATION

David served God’s purposes in his own generation. The main idea behind this statement was that David was a man for his times; he was God’s king for his time. The main point in the text is the issue of relevancy.

“Serving must always be done in the context of the current generation as it really is. Whether we like it or not we must minister to people in the culture as it really is- not in some past form that we may have idolised in our minds. Just as David served God in his own generation so we must learn to serve God in a way that is orthodox yet contemporary, in a way that embraces the timeless purposes of God but in a timely way in our own day. As David served the timeless in a timely way so must we or we become irrelevant. If we always do what we’ve always done we’ll always be where we’ve always been.” (Rick Warren)

Christian principles remain constant but methods change from one generation to another. The ways to evangelise today are not the same as they were 20 years ago…but the need to evangelise is the same….the point at stake is how to serve in a relevant way. Sadly there are too many in churches who are stuck in a mentality of yester- a year- and fail to see that worked yesterday will not always work today and they fail to connect with the generation they are called to serve. But David was a man who was relevant for his time.

So what about us? When we have lived our life I wonder what God will write on our epitaph?

I was only picking up a prescription…….

The other day I went to pick up a prescription from the local chemist.  As I waited for ten minutes to receive the monthly prescription I tried to do two things.  First, I tried to pass the ten minutes through browsing over the accessories available to buy (haven’t you noticed there are some very odd items in chemists!) and secondly I tired to spy why some lady in a white coat kept taking some of the queuing customers into a special “curtained booth” (looked like a confession box) for a few minutes.  “Medication for Mr. Hutton”, said the pharmacist. “Ah, finally!” I thought.  My thoughts were interrupted by a kind middle aged lady wearing a white coat, and before I knew it I was seated in her confession box answering a customer survey.  “So this is what was going on behind the curtain!” I thought to myself.

I think I knew that my survey was not going particularly well.  “Do you put salt on your food after it is cooked?” “Um, I do but..?” “Have you had your BP taken in the last 3 months?” “Well, No but…” “Have you had a cholesterol test in the last 6 months?”  “I was going to but…” “Have you been tested for diabetes?” “No but my brother has!” “Have you weighed yourself recently?” That was it…this was getting personal! After seemingly saying “No” to several questions from this interrogation she said “Mr. Hutton, I would suggest you should book yourself in for a routine health check.” I won’t tell you what I thought she should do!

Health checking…now there is something that Christians and churches need to take seriously.  Indeed the whole idea of finding “health”, “well being”, “wholeness” and “holiness” of course is a thorough Biblical theme from beginning to end.  Some of the very terms for salvation itself carry the major connotation of “health”.  God is working His plan out so that the entire cosmos can be brought back to “shalom” (restored back to balance, harmony and well being again). And consequently this is God’s purpose for His church too…that it too may be a body, saved from illness and disease (we call that sin) and be brought into the healing grace of Jesus Christ.  It is no wonder Paul this when speaking about God’s purpose for the church,

“He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (Ephesians 4 v 16 NLT)

 In our churches we focus on many things, and in my tradition the focus has largely been on the need to grow the church.  God does want His church to grow. But surely the call of the church is first and foremost to find her health (salvation), which is the basis for all other things.  In all our busyness, programmes, meetings, committees, activities and everything else, I wonder how the spiritual health of the church is. Maybe on our way to our next engagement maybe we need to book in our health check.  We may be busy, but are we effective? We may be cutting edge, but are we balanced? We may be dynamic but are we done in and need rest?

…………Anyone seen my pills?

One of the best training videos I have recently watched is the DVD made by Willow Creek, Just Walk Across the Room.  It is a fresh and timely approach to personal evangelism and centres on a main theme: the importance and power of telling your story.  Indeed with hilarity it illustrates through exaggerated drama, “How NOT  to tell your story” and it would be completely hilarious except it bears an uncanny resemblance to the way in which many personal testimonies can hinder the Gospel rather than help, even if motivations are pure. However an underlying point shines out: evangelism works at its best when genuine friendships are created authentically and in that friendship context stories are shared mutually between friends.  The Christian will naturally and inevitably at some point, if he or she is to be a true friend, share their faith story.

As we approach Christmas I have been thinking much about the importance and power of sharing our personal faith stories and in one Christmas story involving the shepherds and the miraculous appearance of the angles announcing the gospel news to them, we find here the irresistible compulsion for those that have seen and met Christ to share the wonder and amazement of the good news. Indeed Luke records for us the response of the shepherds to what they have seen and heard,

When the shepherds had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” (Luke 2 v 17-18)

Today there is a tendency in some Christian circles to shy away from, apologise for, and even downplay the absolute necessity of sharing verbally the Gospel message.  And yet evangelism at its heart is essentially communicating a message about Christ.  Virtually every form of the word “euangelion” has at its heart the idea of announcing, heralding, and telling.  Evangelism at its heart is sharing the news of Christ.  Ah yes, but isn’t it vital to show others love through actions, to take up issues of justice, to be incarnational in deeds, and to demonstrate witness and presence.  Well of course! There is no denying this (though there is a real issue as to whether these can properly be called evangelism) Is “presence evangelism” an oxymoron? When St. Frances was allegedly quoted as saying “Preach the Gospel and if necessary use words”, he may have given a profound understanding of social action and presence, but he gave a poor definition of evangelism.  There is no evangelism without the communicating verbally of the good news.  The Christological paradigm of course is “Word made flesh” and if we keep to this paradigm in our work and ministries we will remain balanced in our missional understanding of God.  God wants words and bodies, feet and lips, presence and proclamation…. but let us not be fooled into thinking that evangelism is everything else but proclamation. No! Telling the story, telling your story of faith is both the natural response to an encounter with Jesus Christ, and is the primary foundation for understanding what evangelism truly is.  And the amazing thing is that when we authentically share the gospel story and how the gospel story has touched our lives, then like the shepherds, others too will be amazed at what we have said to them.” May God be praised!

Undoubtedly the ALPHA Course has been a source of help and inspiration for countless people, churches and denominations for the last 20 years or so. The Alpha Course has had phenomenal success in this country and in many other countries around the world, with its emphasis on a faith journey, free questioning, presentation of various “issues facing people today” (including an exploration of key faith issues) set in the context of a meal to develop community. Undoubtedly Alpha has been the number one journey based evangelism/discipleship course in the UK and many other journey courses have been wise enough to copy key successful components of the “format” of the Alpha course. Over 2 million people in the UK and 10 million worldwide have now attended an Alpha course, and tens of thousands of churches of all denominations across the world have run the course. There is no doubt that despite its criticism in various quarters for various reasons Alpha has served many people well as a tool that has both led people to faith and led people in faith. However for me (having pastored in a church that has run several courses), and others, a more fundamental question is now beginning to be asked as to whether Alpha will continue to be as successful in the next generation as a successful means of reaching people in our Western “post-modern” and “post Christian” contexts. Why the concern?

The concern goes beyond the continual arguments about whether Alpha adequately covers all essential Christian doctrine, or whether there is an over-emphasis on the Holy Spirit, or whether it is comprised by its openness of approach on topics such as worship and sacraments, or whether it is too prescriptive and so on. These are not unimportant issues but something far more fundamental is being asked about the very “soul” of Alpha. The fundamental question is this: Is Alpha still asking the right opening questions and dealing with the right approach to fundamental issues in its presentation? A second question is also important as a consequence: Does Alpha start too far ahead in the journey of faith for an ever-increasing secular society?

There is no easy way to answer these questions and no doubt there is a strong case to be made that the relevancy of Alpha is not in doubt. However even within Alpha circles doubts are beginning to be vocalised and raised. The issue is not so much about format: the presentations, discussion, food and community, a journey-based enquiry, but what is the appropriate starting point and starting questions of the faith journey? Developments of new courses such as Start, Y-Course and several others are all described as “pre-Alpha” because they have identified that Alpha is perhaps a step too far along the way for an increasingly secular population. Of particular concern for those who embrace the need for a pre-Alpha is that Alpha fails to tackle seriously the two consistent big questions that non professing Christians consistency ask: What about other religions and why is there so much suffering? The Y-course to its credit has at least these two questions as up front topics. And yet perhaps even for “pre-Alpha” courses there are prior questions that need addressing: Who or what is God? What is spirituality? What is faith? What is religion? What does it mean to be human? And not only are faith-based questions perhaps more basic and fundamental but the questions of life need addressing may not be the same in the next generation as this generation. What does the Gospel say to issues about safety and security, identify and belonging, meaning and significance, sexuality, hope for the future, family issues and societal and global issues, ecological and environmental concerns, questions over values and ethos. The question we need to answer reflectively and critically is: Does the Alpha course still answer the basic fundamental questions that people are asking today? Has Alpha had its day?