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February 2001
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Littleborough Methodist Circuit
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From the Minister’s Study Dear
Friends ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit
within me’ (Psalm 51). It
is 3000 years since people first prayed this prayer - I wonder if you feel
the need to pray the prayer again today? What kind of spirit do you
normally live in? Some
live in a spirit of bitterness and envy (someone else always has something
more or better than they have). Some live in a spirit of fear or anger
(because someone has let them down badly). Some live in a spirit of hopelessness
and helplessness (what can they do but just accept their fate and drift into
a rut they have made for themselves?). Some live in a spirit of sheer
satisfaction (because they couldn’t care less about others). What kind of
spirit do you live in . . . is it a right spirit . . . or do you look for a new
spirit in which to approach life? If you look for a right spirit, your
prayers will be answered. To
live in God’s Spirit, dealing with the bitterness and envy, the fear and
anger, hopelessness and helplessness, the misery and ‘couldn’t care less’; a
new set of principles and standards: a living of life in a New and Right
Spirit at last. This
is the spirit to live in, so I offer another prayer to add to the ancient
one: Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me; Please pray this prayer with me - and mean what you say -
that together we may live in a new and right spirit. Love,
Joy and Peace to you in the Lord
Jack Leach
Holy Holy Holy! And I saw the Lord high and lifted up . . . and the Seraphim cried out
‘Holy Holy Holy is the Lord!’ ’ (Isaiah 6) How
do you describe God? Do you ever find that language seems to run out and you
simply don’t have the right words? If so, then you’re not alone. The writers
of the Hebrew Bible had exactly the same problem. And
it’s an important question, because the way we describe God says a lot
about the way we follow Him: if we can describe God with small words,
then He tends to be a small God - one we tend to disobey; but a God who is
too big to describe is a God worth following, and loving according to the
standards of the first commandment in Deuteronomy 6:8. The
ancient Hebrew language used repetition to express a superlative or totality.
In terms of superlatives, we sometimes use the same method in English: some
people, having eaten a good meal of cheese, would say that it was ‘a very
cheesy cheese’; similarly, the ‘pure gold’ taken from the Temple at the exile
(2 Kings 25:15) is expressed in Hebrew as ‘gold gold’. Repetition
was also used to mean totality, so when Abram came to the land of Siddim,
which contained nothing but pits (Gen 14:10), the Hebrew describes it as a
land of ‘pits pits’. Again, we sometimes use the same method in English, and
might say the land was nothing but ‘pit after pit’. This form of emphasis is
far more common in Hebrew than in English. The
only exception to the simple repetition rule in the Hebrew Bible is in Isaiah
6, where the prophet relates the experience of seeing Almighty God in
Majesty. There, the Seraphim describe God as being (in Hebrew) ‘Holy Holy
Holy’. By this three-fold use of the word ‘Holy’, we see that the
divine holiness of God is so far above anything that the human mind can grasp
that a ‘super-superlative’ has had to be invented to express it. Furthermore,
the construction of the Hebrew here shows that this holiness is to be taken
as the total truth about God: He is nothing but holy . . . .
. . And here’s the exciting bit: God tells us that we are also to be holy
(Leviticus 19:2). I’m in Heaven Jesus said, ‘Heavenly Father, you are true Holiness: May Your Kingdom
be here on earth just as it is in Heaven’ (Matthew 6) A
large number of people -possibly including a few Christians - think that
Heaven is a place you go to when you die, but this interpretation of
Heaven in the Bible is only intended to be figurative. Rather, we hear that
Heaven is where Jesus is (hence the line from the Lord’s prayer, above). The
prayer is asking that God’s will might be unopposed here on earth, as it is
in Heaven. Heaven is where God’s will is paramount. So
Heaven is not a place but an attitude, and all of us can live this
way, with God in Heaven. All we have to do is be a Christian in the sense
that we strive to live for Him, and only listen to Him: God is our King;
Heaven is His kingdom. Similarly, Jesus said in his trial before Pontius
Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world (Jn 18:36), so following Jesus
means a different way of looking at things, a different set of values,
following a different agenda to that of the world. And the Greek word for
‘different’ in this context is Holy. To enter Heaven, we must be Holy. But
because the Kingdom of Heaven is an attitude, we can have it now and not just
when we die. Entry into Heaven is a reward for present obedience rather than
‘tomorrow’s reward’. Jesus said, ‘No one can see the Kingdom of Heaven unless
they are born again’ (John 3:3). In other words, we can see Heaven from the
moment we are first converted. To enter Heaven, we can therefore be holy
today. But
the King of Heaven demands that we follow His Son, not just pay lip
service. There is no way that we can seriously say we are His followers if we
do not. Jesus said, ‘Everyone who loves me is seen by the way they do what I
command them to’ (John 14:15). In similar vein, the Old Testament tells us
how to love God: we must love him with all our heart, all our strength, and
with all our mind and with all our soul. In fact, if we wish to enter Heaven,
we must be Holy as God is Holy.
So
run the race and win the prize of Heaven! Did You Know? King
Herod was a cunning politician, who stopped at nothing to maintain his own
power. The only people to whom he even paid lip service were the high priests
of the Temple. The priests’ duties required them to wear the beautiful,
ornate robes stipulated in the laws of Moses so, to curb their power, Herod
kept the priest’s robes locked away in his own palace. Herod only released
them - under armed guard - for the principal religious festivals. That way,
the priests could not preach against Herod without his knowing
beforehand. When
Jesus was being stripped prior to crucifixion, it was found that his
undergarment was ‘a seamless robe, woven in one piece’ (Jn. 19:23). The law
of Moses stipulated that all priests should wear such a garment, to indicate
inner purity. Although Jesus could not have been a Priest - he was not a Levite,
but came from the tribe of Judah (Hebrews 7:14) - it shows that Jesus
considered himself to be a priest, an amazing thing for any non-Levite to
think. But he was a different kind of priest, as described in the epistle to
the Hebrews (e.g. chapter 5). Sheila Dearden Sheila
Dearden died on New Year’s Day in Springhill Hospice. She had been seriously
ill with cancer for almost a year, an illness that she bore with
characteristic humour and admirable courage. Sheila
had been a steward at Smallbridge Chapel for several years, but latterly
worshipped at Dearnley, where the funeral was held on Thursday 11 January. At
the funeral, the Circuit Superintendent Minister, Daniel Mwailu, paid a warm
tribute to Sheila, by quoting from her letters, and sharing stories of her
compassionate and caring nature. Sheila
is survived by her beloved three sons, and will also be greatly missed by all
who knew her. We all remember her with great fondness. What is ‘Christian Tolerance’ ? Tolerance
has become a buzzword in our modern Western world. Some people say that you
can believe anything, so long as you don’t claim it to be the absolute truth.
Some say you can practise any religion, so long as you don’t claim it is a
better way. Some say you can hold to anything, so long as you don’t bring
Jesus into it. Some say the propagation of one’s faith is wrong, and
conversion should be banned. Some say we all come through different routes
but all end up in the same place, in Heaven. Our
Western society now believes it is wrong to judge others, and that it is
unloving and bigoted to say you are right and others are wrong. After, all
‘We must be tolerant’. A belief in sin, guilt, impurity, judgement, or a
belief that there is only one way to God is therefore regarded as intolerant. But
it is not true to say that all religions lead to God. We have recently
celebrated Christmas. For example, while to some Christmas is an excuse for
greed and self indulgence, for us who believe in God, we believe that God
stooped as low as to be born as a man, to identify with sinners. Sin is so
serious a problem that it required a desperate solution. How’s
this an illustration of Christians being too tolerant: When Jesus was
asked to judge the case of the adulterous woman (John 8:1), he pronounced a
sentence of, ‘Go free, but sin no more!’ yet in a recent service
broadcast from an American Cathedral, this passage was read with the final
four words omitted. It’s as though the woman was let off the punishment (she
was) but allowed to return to her previous way of life (which she wasn’t).
Jesus was never tolerant of sin, and to say otherwise is to suggest that
there was no need for the cross. And
another simple example: When Jesus cleared the money changers out of the
Temple (John 2:12), it is sometimes said that he did it merely to fulfil a
previous prophecy (e.g. Malachi 3:1), yet with no mention that Jesus is
clearly furious with the traders for doing wrong. Let’s learn the meaning of
God’s demand, ‘Be holy as I am holy!’ (Lev. 19:2) and Jesus’ re-defining of
the same phrase, ‘Be perfect as God is perfect!’ (Matt. 5:48). Adapted from People International, December 2000 Newsletter Faith, hope and clarity? Hebrews
11 tells us that, ‘Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of
what we do not see’. One
person explained it this way: ‘Hope is hearing the music of the future. Faith
is having the courage to dance to the music of the present’. At
its most fundamental level, being a Christian is an act of faith, of
announcing the truth about a world full of justice and peace when the media
tells us that this idea is just a fantasy. MARC Newsletter August 2000 February Book Review
He Chose the Nails, Max
Lucado (Word Publishing, 2000) A wine-soaked sponge - A sign -Two crosses beside Christ Much
has been said about the gift of the cross itself, but what of the other
gifts? What of the nails, the crown of thorns? What about the garment taken?
What about the garments given? Have you taken the time to open these gifts? Let’s
examine them, shall we? Let’s unwrap these gifts of grace as if -or perhaps,
indeed -for the first time. And as you touch them - as you feel the timber of
the cross and trace the braid of the crown and finger the point of the spike
-pause and listen. Perchance you will hear him whisper: I did it just for
you" . . . .
. . So begins the back cover of the latest book by Max Lucado, and as the
title suggests, it is about the cross. Do not be put off - it is in no way
‘stuffy’. the author writes in a gentle, yet powerful way to explore, in
detail, every aspect of what Jesus did for us on the cross. He uses stories
from everyday life, making his points clearly and vividly. It is a very
moving book, which leaves one in no doubt as to the extent of God’s love for
us all. It also contains a study guide at the back for use in fellowships, or
for anyone who wishes to go even deeper. If you feel you already know God,
this book is still for you - and if you feel you don’t know God, then read it
- you soon will! This
book is an easy read, yet is both profound and meaningful. Everyone who reads
it will undoubtedly profit from its rich insights. Lynn Priestley A small boy, seeing the red glow of a
sanctuary lamp during a long and boring service, asked his mother, ‘Can we go
when it turns red? Which book of the Old
Testament is named . . . ? The young son of a preacher asked his mother, "Why does Daddy
always pray to God before he preaches?’ His mother replied: ‘He asks God to
help him’. Which book of the Old Testament ? Answers 2.
The principal event in the history of the Jews was the exodus from Egypt; and
the books of Exodus centres on this event. 3.
The name of the prophet Jonah means ‘dove’. 4.
The first words of the book of Genesis are, ‘In the beginning’. In the Greek
version of the Old Testament that Jesus knew, these words are translated as Genesis. 5.
The name of the prophet Malachi means ‘messenger’. 6.
The book of Numbers contains a large number of lists concerning the
tribes of Israel. 7.
The law of Moses is contained in the first fives books of the Bible, often
called the ‘Pentateuch’. Much of the contents of the first four are summarised
in the fifth, which the Jews sometimes called the second law (i.e. a
‘recap’). When combined, the Greek words for ‘second’ and ‘law’ are Deuteronomy. A Yorkshireman wanted an inscription on
his wife’s gravestone to read, ‘She was Thine’. The mason mistakenly put,
‘She was thin’. The man wrote to the mason, saying that he had missed out the
‘E’. The mason returned, and soon the tombstone read, ‘E she was Thin’ |
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