Learning to Walk

preaching practice

The motto of the city of Glasgow is "Lord, let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of Thy word and the praising of Thy name."  It is attributed to St Mungo who is patron of the Archdiocese of Glasgow and whose tomb you can visit (the whole building is well worth seeing) at Glasgow Cathedral.

Last night I attended a group of St Silas preachers who speak at the 9 am services.  You are expected to present a short outline of your preach and it will then be critiqued by the other members.  It was a fun evening and great to spend time with some folk who I have not spent much time with previously.  I was expecting the critiquing part to be slightly harder than it was but maybe we just all had good plans yesterday!

There are a number of things that I try and focus on as I prepare to preach.

• Firstly, and most importantly, I try to seek God's voice as I prepare.  For me this is isn't about any booming voices from the heavens, I simply try to approach the passage prayerfully and then often just write without allowing myself to think too much.
• I seek to remain faithful to the text - not bringing something from it that is completely not there.  I feel that there are times when we misuse scripture and with the responsibility that comes with preaching do not want to become a model for this.
• I also think it is important to try and understand why the passage is in the bible, why it was written, by whom and for whom - as all of this will help when seeking to understand and apply the passage to the real life situations we all encounter now. 
• I try and give examples as to where what I am saying fits into my life.  I really feel that a preacher must show that there is a need for them to hear the message also - that they are not standing over the congregation telling them things that they them self haven't heard.
• I then try to pose questions that will allow the congregation to figure out for themselves where the passage applies to their own lives.  I also try and bring encouragements from the passage.
• I try and make it enjoyable.  I love hearing stories and anecdotes which tie a talk together when someone preaches, so I try to use them when I do.

I'm sure there are many more things that I do that I haven't written here.  Of course the most important thing is to remain faithful to God's Word - many of the other things are about style and presentation, but I do feel that they are also important.  As I wrote about here, on Sunday I attended a service where I felt that the sermon wasn't very good.  I was asked last night whether that was because I disagreed with what he said.  Just to clear this up - no, I do not disagree with this and I apologise if in anyway the post made it seem as if I thought there could be any way that someone who didn't know Jesus ultimately wasn't living a "deluded life" or didn't need "bringing to their senses."  What I found hard was the presentation.  The message was true but was it really the right way to deliver it with so many unbelievers in the congregation? 

I am sure there are many opinions on this and it would be great to hear them.  Me personally - I believe that God can work in every situation and he may have used a message like that to touch someones heart and bring them to Him.  But I believe that the overall presentation, as well as the harshness of the message may have been off putting.  What, I believe, was missed was an opportunity to show God's love at the same time as what would happen to those who don't believe.  The consequences - hell, death etc - which are all real and true, could have been presented as part of the same message that also preached love and forgiveness, second chance and life.

I hope that one day I will be tested in terms of how to deliver a sermon where the material is especially hard for some people to hear.  My prayer is that I will continue to seek God in prayer, remain faithful to the text, and consider how it may be received by the listeners as I attempt to bring a faithful to the gospel, relevant and listenable to message.  My prayer is also that this great city that I love will flourish on the preaching of God's word and that many more will come and praise His name.

porky pies and through God's eyes

I am sure that at many times in my life I have and do lie but generally speaking it is something that I have found very hard to do.  I remember as an 18 year old going to a bar in Birmingham - I played for England under 18's at the time.  My friend however embellished the facts saying that we both played for England under 21's so that we would get into the bar for free.  To say that I felt uneasy was a major understatement.  Earlier this summer my rugby coach gave me a week off due to an injury but told me to go to the gym each day.  I ended up going to CLAN gathering and went nowhere near a gym!  Upon my return he asked me what I had done in the gym.  Many players would have felt the need and ability to lie but I couldn't.  "Nothing" I said - as he prepared to run me into the ground that night!

Someone who I am often in a working environment with does not share my inability to tell porky pies.  I find this incredibly hard.  Nothing can be told exactly as it is - it always has to be embellished and added to.  The problem is that this severely affects my ability to trust anything that he says.  I must admit that this, along with various other character traits, also makes it very difficult for me to like him.

I am finding this hard.  There are times when I want to scream at him.  To let him know that it doesn't matter if he doesn't know best about everything.  To let him know that I will still talk to him if "so and so can't do such and such better than..."  To let him know that the way to build relationship is to be constructive in criticism rather than flat out unkind!

However much I try I am finding it hard to love, to even like him, as God does.  I am struggling to see him through God's eyes - as a person with feelings and needs which may not be being met thus creating his need to lie and be generally harsh.  I guess that we all have times and people like this - although the circumstances will be different.  My prayer is that even if we can't that someone else will be able to draw alongside, put up with the problems, and see them as their heavenly father does - as a much loved child.  For now that is all that I can keep on trying to do.

turn or burn

Last night we went to a friends baptism.  It was lovely to be able to share in his public profession of his new found faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.  A number of non Christian friends were there.  Many of them young men from a professional sporting background for whom one got the feeling that it was a minor miracle to see them in church at all.  As we sat there waiting for the service to start we commented on what an amazing opportunity this was for people who didn't know Jesus personally to see, hear and maybe even begin to understand his life changing power.  We were to be greatly disappointed...

The preacher spoke for just under an hour.  He used two short stories in that time the rest of it was spent elaborating on the text from Acts and giving extremely unhelpful and insensitive anecdotes.  They included...

"If you don't know Jesus you are living a deluded life...you will be damned for eternity...we are suffering from the eternal illness of sin...we are all going to die...the sleep of the sinner is a sleep of death...are you committing suicide tonight...what will it take for God to bring you to your senses tonight...if you are leaving here without Jesus Christ then you are going on your way to hell."

Just a brief collection of some of what he said.  I am sure you get the picture.  We were literally moved to tears last night as we thought about the potential damage that this could have done.  Here was a God given opportunity for people to hear about the life changing work of Christ in the lives of the 4 people who were being baptised.  The only words they spoke all night were "I do" when they were asked if they followed Christ.  What a waste.  I was truly shocked.  I was hurting inside throughout the whole talk.

Yesterday morning I spoke about how Jesus saw the need of the 5000, fed them, and left the preaching for later.  I said that we should do the same - trusting that the opportunities to share the gospel, the benefits of life in Christ and the pit falls of not following Him, would come later as a result of this. 

Last night as I watched some of those young men leaving that church I saw confirmed first hand that that is the way that we should be attempting to operate.

sin bins

My girlfriend is slowly but surely learning the rules of rugby.  She's got backward passing and 15 players per team and she has now learnt about the sin bin.  For those of you who don't know what the sin bin is it is a 10 minute 'cooling off' period for a player who the referee deems has given away a penalty that is punishable with more than a penalty against him but less than a red card.  It is also where I found myself after 25 minutes of yesterday afternoons match.

We lost yesterday after leading well.  I was off for 10 minutes and another player was sent off with twenty minutes to go.  We conceded a lot of points during that half an hour that we played with one player down.  It shows just how important every part of the team is.  I am finding myself greatly challenged as to how to handle the refereeing up here which is often little short of appalling and which can lead to me getting very frustrated. 

I am indeed a work in progress.  At times yesterday there was a lot more progress needed than at others.

actions or words?

This afternoon is our first league match of the season.  We are playing in Edinburgh against a team that finished 8th last year (we finished 1st) but who beat us well over there.  It will be tough I am sure.  My parents are up for the weekend so I am hoping that we play well as they rarely see me play these days, having traveled the globe (literally) to see me play in years gone by.

Then tomorrow morning it is All Age at St Silas.  I think that these services have been going well and people are actually getting quite excited about them.  I am glad that Mum and Dad will get to see what I feel are good, non-cheesy (will you all think that after tomorrows ice breaker?!?!) services with something for all ages and not just the children present.

I am speaking at the service and have been thinking a bit about 2 of the events in my weekend - playing and preaching.  I have been thinking about whether in one I will be more likely to fail to glorify God than in the other.  I have been considering whether my words tomorrow morning, which I pray God will use to speak to us as a community of believers trying to follow him, will actually have the same potential impact if my actions on the pitch this afternoon fail to carry the message that I am a Christian, as a human flawed, yet still trying to live for Christ.  As we drove back from the airport last night the old saying "actions speak louder than words" came to mind.  I think that the two come hand in hand.  Like faith and works one is not complete without the other.  Actions without an explanation may seem incomplete yet words without actions will likewise seem half baked. 

So; actions speak louder than words?  I reckon they speak together.  I pray that I will be able to speak through both this weekend, not for my glory, but for God's.

personality types

In the second term at college we took the Myers Briggs Type Indicator test.  I must admit that I was a cynic - "how can a few multiple choice questions tell me anything about me?!"  I came out as an EFSP but it was only on the Extrovert/Introvert scale that my score (you get points which tell you which letter you are - the closer the score the more comfortable you will be on either side) had more than a 3 point difference.  An 'E' will find that they recharge with people, it won't be an effort whereas an 'I' will recharge better alone.  At the end of a busy day an 'I' is likely to prefer some time and space alone whilst an 'E' would be more happy to spend time with people.  This knowledge has been revolutionary in my life.  I used to like to see myself as someone who could spend lots of time alone - as some sort of mysterious secret agent figure - but I have come to realise that it is this being alone that can often get me down and that the test may in fact have been to a great extent correct!

I have been thinking about this a bit since Sunday evenings service at church.  At the service we were challenged to think and pray about the areas in which we are gifted so as to be able to play our role as part of the body of Christ - the Church.  Something like the Myers Briggs may help (some) people to gain a better grasp of their gifts and how to use them better.  For example; in my case it would be silly of me to suggest that I take on a role within the community that involves me spending a lot of time alone.  Not only would I not enjoy this but my productivity in that role would be affected.

Please recognise that this test is not exhaustive.  Whatever you come out as you can operate in all the other areas (and I am sure that to some extent mood/circumstance at the time of the test may play some part on the result) but it is about recognising and finding areas where you will be most comfortable working thus allowing your talents and gifts to best be utilised.  So from one cynic won over; if at all possible give it a try!

warmed up

We have now finished our warm up for the new season and face a tough away trip to play Heriots in Edinburgh next Saturday.  I was again privileged to captain the Hawks yesterday.  It was my first 80 minutes in 12 months so I am feeling pretty sore today but I enjoyed the game and even managed a try late on!  If you want you can read a match report here.

Church this morning was great.  I love being able to spend time with people who had I not become a Christian I simply wouldn't.  One of the highlights of the last couple of Sundays has been sitting next to and chatting with one of the older members of our congregation.  She is 80 but has been telling me about the home visits that she makes to the "old folk!"  As she says she is so busy doing things that she doesn't have time to feel old.  I can but pray that when I am her age I will have the same passion for God and sparkle in my eyes that she does.

published

One of my good friends had his first book published this week.  This means that I am now the friend of a published author and as such will receive the fame which is associated with being one of his hanger ons!  I am expecting this fame to include benefits such as a cut of the takings, invites to film launches, celebrity parties and being able to flog signed first editions to my pals!

For anyone into history this is a must read and you can buy and read a review of it here!  If not then may I strongly recommend that should you ever be passing through the town of Kenilworth on a Sunday and see his name on the preaching rota at Knights Meadow that you stop in for a listen.

everywhere you turn...

Radio One have been doing a survey which they claim is the biggest youth sex survey ever carried out.  The results make for interesting, uncomfortable and thought provoking reading.  They can be seen here.  They have also sent reporters to some of Europe's holiday resorts and today interviewed a 20 year old girl who less than a week into her holiday had already slept with 3 men.  They also revealed that the average young person on a lads/girls holiday sleeps with 4 people.

I have blogged before about how sex seems to be everywhere we turn but these results and what I heard today propelled the issue to the forefront of my thinking again.  The thing that concerns me most is how the church can make itself seem in anyway relevant to the young people for whom a good time involves going out, getting drunk, and having sex with complete strangers.

I draw two conclusions.  Firstly; that we probably can't always expect be relevant and that we must, in some areas, be prepared to stand in complete opposition and with no seeming relevance to some people - trusting that the Holy Spirit will work in their lives and preparing ourselves to help them when they respond to this work.  To help them put their lives back together, find ways of overcoming temptation to slide back into their old ways and to mature in their new found faith.  Secondly; that we need to pray much more about this aspect of life that seems to be affecting so many young people - that God will indeed break through and do a mighty work in many lives through which people will come to know Him and His name will be glorified.

big business

My car was broken into on Friday night.  I called a national windscreen/window fixing company to see if they could fix it for me.  They could; price £99.80 - which they told me included 2 discounts I wasn't eligible for but which they would give me anyway out of sheer goodness!  I said that I wasn't able to afford that - even with the discount - so would look elsewhere.  I phoned an independent local company who did the repair for me; price £45. 

I was told by the repair man that the reason for the high cost at the national company was that they didn't need my business so didn't care if I said "no" whereas the local company did.  That got me thinking.  What if the church was like that.  Not caring about the 'normal' people and only focusing on the big fish - the big contracts in the case of this business.

Fortunately, for us Christians, our role model was not like this.  He went to the one, he talked with prostitutes and went for dinner with tax collectors.  He saw people as individuals and called them into community.  As a church I am totally convinced that this is the way we should be going.  Showing interest in the one.  Caring about the individuals.  And then welcoming them into the only community, the body of Christ, that has the potential to change their lives forever.