Preach it, Oswald…

Posted by David Ward on 09/05/2016
Posted in: Books/Articles, Personal thoughts, Theology. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Been thinking a lot lately about the difference between trusting our beliefs about God rather than trusting God. Our beliefs about God are based on a whole lot of factors which may actually obscure God and prevent us from trusting, from having faith, in him.

In his book “The Sin of Certainty”, Peter Enns identifies some of these factors:

No one just “follows” the Bible. We interpret it as people with a past and present, and in community with others, within certain traditions, none of which is absolute. Many factors influence how we “follow” the Bible. None of us rises above our place in the human drama and grasps God with pure clarity, without our own baggage coming along for the ride. We all bring our broken and limited selves into how we think of God

Peter Enns, “The Sin of Certainty” p 17

On the My Utmost for His Highest site, Oswald Chambers is quoted in a post entitled Gracious Uncertainty:

“When we become simply a promoter or a defender of a particular belief, something within us dies. That is not believing God–it is only believing our belief about Him. . . . If our certainty is only in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self-righteousness, become overly critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and settled.”

Oswald Chambers

It is reassuring to find that even as the nineteenth century moved into the twentieth, believers like Chambers were thinking about the difference between a ‘who’ and a ‘what’ focus for faith.

Being a follower of Jesus is not focussed on what we believe…it centres on who we believe in. If we say we believe in Jesus but the set of beliefs by which we run our lives don’t resemble his way of living, something must be wrong…

Perspectives on worship songs…

Posted by David Ward on 28/04/2016
Posted in: humour, Music, Personal thoughts. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

I came across this piece when I was clearing out some old files. It’s neither original nor new, but I think it’s worthwhile getting it out there again…

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.cows_in_the_corn

‘Well,’ said the farmer, ‘it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.’

‘Praise choruses?’ said his wife. ‘What are those?’

‘Oh, they’re OK. They are sort of like hymns, only different.’ said the farmer.

‘Well, what’s the difference?’ asked his wife.

The farmer said, ‘Well, it’s like this – If I were to say to you “Martha, the cows are in the corn” – well, that would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:

Martha, Martha, Martha,
Oh Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA,
the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows
the white cows,
the black and white cows,
the COWS, COWS, COWS
are in the corn,
are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,
the CORN, CORN, CORN.

Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well,
that would be a praise chorus.’

It so happened that on the exact same Sunday a young, new Christian from the city church attended the small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the young man, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.”

“Hymns?” asked the wife. “What are those?”

“They’re okay. They’re sort of like regular songs, only different,” said the young man.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked the wife.

The young man said, “Well it’s like this … If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a regular song. If on the other hand, I were to say to you,

Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, glorious truth.

For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or his rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.

Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn chewed.

So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn,

Then, if I were to do only verses one, three and four, and change keys on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.”

Making a good impression…

Posted by David Ward on 29/03/2016
Posted in: Bible, Events, Personal thoughts, Theology. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Today I was able to visit the National Museum of Scotland and spend some very happy time looking around a new, temporary exhibition.

File 29-03-2016, 20 08 23The exhibition has brought together a collection of exquisite treasures from all over the ‘Celtic’ world. Accompanied by interesting short films and commentaries visitors are guided around the exhibition in such a way that the development of Celtic art is traced from its origins into modern times, giving not just a fascinating glimpse of the way that art and culture evolves, but also the opportunity to view artefacts found all over Europe and the near East, from Ireland to Iran, from Spain to Slovenia.

Among the many beautiful things on display, one small thing in particular caught my gaze.

It was a tiny coin die, along with a part finished coin blank stamped by the die. The story

coin die (Greek)

Greek coin die

goes that the ruling Emperor wanted his subjects to have a good idea what he looked like, so he employed a skilled engraver to carve his exact likeness into a hard metal die. This die could then be used to stamp out coins onto soft metal blanks…each blank would carry an identical image of the Emperor, so no-one could get confused about who he was.

The reason for my interest in this small object among many wonderful things was that just this morning I started to re-read the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, where I read the words:

[3] The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Hebrews 1:3 (NIV)

or in The Message:

[3] This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!

Hebrews 1:3 (MSG)

The Greek words translated “exact representation” in the NIV could be translated “exact impression” or “identical character”…even “stamped from the same die”. God wanted us to know what he was like so he sent Jesus who gives us the best picture of what God is like that it’s possible to have, a “chip off the old block” to invoke another metaphor.

So when something we read in scripture doesn’t seem quite ‘right’ (or maybe it’s the interpretation of scripture through the lens of some of the Protestant reformers or nineteenth century revivalists, which many of us have absorbed) , and causes us to ask, “Is God really like that?” we need to look at Jesus and see if he is like that.We may have got the idea that God spends his time being angry with us, wanting to punish us and unable to have anything to do with us because of our sin. But, then we look at Jesus, who scripture explicitly reveals as the one who came to seek and save the lost, the friend of sinners and the one sent into the world because God loved it a lot. Maybe what we understood or even were taught about God doesn’t measure up to Jesus who is…the exact likeness of God. Maybe our image of God is wrong. Perhaps we’ve even imagined that God is more than a little bit like us (angry, wanting to punish bad people, not wanting to mix with such people)…

Maybe we have some re-thinking to do? We could begin by reading scripture through the lens of Jesus, because he’s the only exact likeness of God we’ve got…