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Testimony of 'Whatnot'

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:22:04 +0000

I’ve just finished reading a booked called Testimony of a ‘Whatnot’ by Elizabeth (Betty) Pritchard. I had a couple of connections to this book which got me reading it. Betty was a missionary in India for 40 years and served in the same part of India that Joy did her medical elective in last year. Betty also retired to Lisburn in the 1970’s with her husband Herbert where they attended Lisburn Friends Meeting. She was also a frequent speaker at Moyallon Camp and inspired many others to follow God’s call to serve Him in other countries.

So that’s what made me pick up the book but I really enjoyed reading it in the end as well. It is really well written and she is very honest about her experiences which was inspiring. There is a full review on the Ireland Yearly Meeting website and also details of how to get hold of a copy of the book but I just wanted to write one story from the book that encouraged me.

Betty talks about how over a number of years she suffered loss of hearing. Much of her work in India up to that point had involved talking to groups of women in villages sharing the Gospel with them and listening to their stories. As she became more affected by deafness she couldn’t hear what they were saying and found it difficult to speak with them properly. At first she could not understand why God had allowed her to be hindered in this way as she felt she was doing what God had called her to do. She prayed many times to be released from her suffering and hear again.

After a few years when her evangelism work with the women was becoming impossible she prayed that God would show her what else she could do to serve Him. Then she lay down and opened the magazine of Evangelical Fellowship of India, in it there was a competition to write a Christian novel with the winning entry to be published in many local languages as well as in English. It was felt that a lot of people in India were not interested in writings of theology or devotional literature but they may be affected by a story in the form of a novel. So Betty duly entered and won and had her book published.

She has subsequently written other books and Sunday School materials and now her autobiography which has touched me even after her death in a way her preaching and evangelism could not have. But Betty would not have thought of writing had it not been for her hearing loss. I was encouraged by how God used her suffering to turn her onto another path from which she has been able to affect many more people.

Trying to know God better

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:27:27 +0000

During my church homegroup the other night I was thinking a lot about my need to know God better. We spend a lot of time worry about “things” but if we worried about the one thing that was important, getting closer to God, then the “things” we worry about would take care of themselves. I guess it was a “consider the lilies” type of moment for me. (Matthew 6:25-34)

I’ve been reflecting since on Rob Bell’s book Velvet Elvis and what he says about binding and loosing which I wrote about on my blog (you can read it here). I talk about the importance of wrestling with God as Jacob did. It prompted me to try to make more of an effort in my prayer and Bible study times, in the words of another member of my homegroup to “expect God to be there”.

I looked again at the whole passage in Matthew 16 where Jesus tells the disciples about binding and loosing. I was struck that before Jesus talked about giving them the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven he asked the disciples “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”. Jesus wanted to know that the disciples knew who He was and what He was all about before he gave them the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s the same with us we must know Jesus, be familiar with who He is, what He has done and what He promises to do in our lives before we can be effective witnesses for him.

Friends in the Philippines

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:41:00 +0100

This is an article I wrote for the Friendly Word, an Irish Quaker magazine about my recent trip to visit Friends in the Philippines…

In September, as part of a wider Asian trip, Joy Haydock (Grange Meeting) and myself spent a week in the Philippines. We visited the Quakers there and saw the work that God is doing through the Filipino Friends.

The first Friends meeting in the Philippines started in 1978 in Pasig City a suburb of the capital Manila. The church at Pasig became very large, with over 700 members, coming from all across the Metro-Manila area. In the 1990’s several meetings were formed in other parts of Manila so members could attend meetings closer to where they lived and Philippines Yearly Meeting was born. The Yearly Meeting is known as the Philippines Evangelical Friends Church (PEFC) and is now made up of 27 churches, all of them programmed and pastoral.

We stayed with Jaime and Lydia Tabingo who have been involved from the start. Jaime was the first pastor of Pasig Friends Church and is also the Executive Pastor of PEFC. His wife Lydia set up a Kindergarten and Pre-School at the church in Pasig. Jaime and Lydia have been recognised since the early 1980s as missionaries in the Phillipines by Evangelical Friends Mission in the USA. PEFC is unusual in that it has been founded and directed from the start by Filipinos and not missionaries from overseas. Staying with Jaime and Lydia gave us a great insight into the life of the Yearly Meeting and we also experienced the great warmth and kindness of the Filipino people through their generosity.

It would be impossible for me to tell you everything we saw and learnt about the Philippines and the Friends there in such a short article, but perhaps I can share two experiences, one a struggle and the other an inspiration.

We spent a lot of time with John and Lois Ocol, both of whom were at the Triennial in Dublin. They are Young Friends and John shared with us a problem for the wider society in the Philippines that had manifested itself in the Friends church too. As you will be no doubt aware many Filipinos are working abroad. Basically, anyone with the skills and the means to go overseas will leave the country, the majority do not return. Friends in the Philippines have lost many of their gifted youth leaders to the detriment of youth ministry in the churches. These young people are also potential leaders in the churches as a whole, they would have been potential elders and committee clerks but as I mentioned many will never return. I invite you to pray with John and Lois for strength and wisdom to continue their work among Young Friends despite many of their co-workers moving overseas.

Just one of the many inspirational characters we met among the Friends in Manila, was Pastor Rodel. He has been the pastor of a small church at Angono, of around 20 members that was started about a year ago. It was delightful to meet the pastor, his wife, Laya and their three children who all lived in the back of the church building, a small concrete building with a corrugated iron roof. Before he trained to be a pastor, Rodel had been an engineer. He was not content to leave his engineering past behind him when he became a pastor so he has set up a “technical mission” at the church. Every Saturday local people are invited to bring their broken electrical appliances to get repaired for free and while he is meeting his clients he has the opportunity to share the gospel with them. Some have gained a much more eternal free gift than having their television fixed, the free gift of salvation in Jesus. The pile of stereos and computers in the corner of the church is testament to the success of this mission. Please pray for Rodel, that he would touch his community with the transforming power of the love of God.

It is always a privilege to meet with Friends from other countries and even more so to visit their meetings and share with them in worship, thanksgiving and prayer. It is something I would encourage all Friends to do.

The Angono Friends Church building

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:39:12 +0100

The Angono Friends Church building

Me with Pastor Rodel and his wife Laya at Angono Friends Church

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:37:40 +0100

Me with Pastor Rodel and his wife Laya at Angono Friends Church

Photos from The Philippines and Thailand

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:08:57 +0100

Photos from The Philippines and Thailand:

This link will take you to photos of my recent trip to Asia. You will need a password to view them so email from the link on the righthand side of this page to get the password.

Humility in Prayer

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:04:59 +0100

I’ve said to a few people this summer that the thing God has been teaching me about most this summer is prayer. I was reflecting on something that was said in a sermon I heard on Sunday about prayer. The speaker was the Children’s Pastor at the church. She was speaking about a time earlier this year when she was struggling in her life. She decided to tell Sunday School class about it and ask all of them to pray for her. This really struck me as when I think of asking people to pray for me I often think of my close friends or people who are older or wiser than me. Asking your Sunday School class to pray for you is like admitting weakness is it not?

The more I reflect on it the more I wish all Sunday School teachers were like this one. When I was young I always saw my Sunday School teachers as knowing everything about God, not having any problems with anything. In some ways they were unreal, although I guess what I saw wasn’t the full picture of them. It then comes as a shock when somebody you’ve put on a spiritual pedestal has weaknesses in their personal and spiritual life too. But that’s what life’s all about.

Everyone’s going to have problems of some sort or another at some stage or another but it’s about what we do with that. This women did a great thing by facing up to her problems and humbly asking others to pray for her, admitting that she couldn’t do it all on her own, she needed God’s help and the help of praying friends. I’m sure the kids in her Sunday School class really appreciated that lesson.

Remember when Paul ask Christ to remove the thorn in his flesh, Christ said “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (II Cor 12:9)

Bluetree - Greater Things

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:35:16 +0100

It’s another album review. This time a band called Bluetree who started off in a Belfast church but are now full time recording artists, this is their first album called Greater Things.

I got this album a couple of weeks ago and I have listened to it over and over again. I’ve found it to be musically and spiritually inspiring. It has some of my new favourite songs on it, especially tracks 2 and 3 Burn Me Up and For You. Burn Me Up from it’s opening bars makes you want to get up and dance around the room or at least tap out the drumbeat on the nearest hard surface. For You then takes you to a place of worship and awe at the wonder of God’s grace and love. I love the way lead singer Aaron Boyd’s Belfast accent comes through strongly as he sings the chorus. I’ve heard too many non-American bands singing in American accents, but that cannot be said of Bluetree and long may that continue!

The album has a beautiful mix of rocking guitar riffs and drums and worshipful relfective lyrics, sometimes in the same song. I’m sure they’d be terrific live so I plan to see them play at some point. They have been leading worship in churches and at events round Belfast for a few years now, but they’ve moved on to bigger concerts and conferences, playing at the Rocknations and Adoration08 this summer.

This is a fantastic album that I can’t recommend enough and I look forward to much more from these guys. Check out their Myspace to hear some of their songs.

Jon Foreman - Spring and Summer

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:52:08 +0100

A few months ago I reviewed the first part of a solo project by the lead singer of Switchfoot, Jon Foreman, a double CD called Fall and Winter. Well, now comes the other two seasons namely Spring and Summer.

I really enjoyed Fall and Winter but for me Spring and Summer has taken things up a notch to really show the depth of Foreman’s talent. All of the songs seem to be steeped in scriptural references and spiritual metaphors and some of them are very challenging. I think it is musically even better to, the songs feel more positive and the melodies more memorable.

The Spring CD starts of with March (a prelude to Spring) which is a happy start, it moves on to Love Isn’t Made which appears to be about struggles in relationships, with backing vocals by Jon Foreman’s wife, Emily. Then In My Arms shows us the joy to be found in relationships. Baptize My Mind is one of my favourites on Spring, it’s one I found myself singing along to having only listened to it a couple of times. Next up Your Love is Strong is a beautiful song with powerful lyrics about God’s love with lines from the Lord’s prayer throughout it. The final song Revenge seems to be a throw back to the darker songs from Fall and Winter.

The Summer CD kicks off with a Mirror is Harder to Hold, which reminds me to take the log out of my own eye before looking at the speck in another’s. Resurrect Me is more like a Switchfoot song with a strong chorus. Deep in Your Eyes brings us back to the more contemplative style these CDs have been characterised by. Instead of a Show is another favourite of mine with it’s very direct challenge to the church, “Instead let there be a flood of justice, an endless procession of righteous living…instead of a show”. The next song is Foreman’s adaption of the 23rd Psalm, The House of God Forever which I’ve found myself singing along to repeatedly over the last few days. Once again Foreman keeps the production in the family with vocals provided by his sister-in-law, Sarah Masen. The CD ends with Again, a slower more thoughtful song which is really a prayer “Holy Holy, you alone are true, turn us back towards you”.

So if you liked Fall and Winter you will love Spring and Summer and you should buy this record immediately! There’s also a lot more in there for Switchfoot fans and those who just want to listen to some inspiring lyrics that speak about God’s love for us in a real way, so you should go out a buy it too!

The City Church Experience

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:56:02 +0100

As part of my visiting churches in Belfast I went to the Belfast City Church yesterday. I’d heard good things about it and I have often been to their non-profit making charity cafe that they run in the church building.

My overall impression was that I really enjoyed being there, they are a laidback, informal bunch with a passion to reach all sections of the community. During the course of my time there I spoke to two people suffering with drink problems and an angry young man who had been passing by the church and came in to seek refuge. I thought, how fantastic that this church could be open to this, I’m not sure how many churches could be. I think all churches want to be but if they’re honest with themselves they are not.

In reflecting on my visit, I’m not sure if it’s somewhere I could go every week. I didn’t think it was possible for a church to be too laidback and informal for me but perhaps this one was! They started 10 minutes late and lots of people wandered in and out during the worship. I know a lot of people like this more relaxed way of doing things but I think it would frustrate me after a while. Part of it is my ordered personality, maybe it’s the Air Traffic Controller in me, I like everything in its right place, but it’s also about respect for worshiping God and everyone being fully part of that. I am so thankful that City Church do what they do and I may well go back there but I’m not sure it’s the church for me.

Velvet Elvis Part 3 - God wants you to be you

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:29:10 +0100

My final reflection on Velvet Elvis for the moment is a short piece towards the end of the book about God’s purpose for us. It’s one of the most encouraging descriptions I have heard. I don’t want to say very much about it, just let the words speak for themselves…

God makes us in his image. We reflect the beauty and creativity and wonder of the God who made us. And Jesus calls us to return to our true selves. The pure, whole people God originally intended us to be, before we veered off course.

Somewhere in you is the you whom you were made to be.
We need you to be you.

We don’t need a second anybody. We need the first you

The problem is that the image of God is deeply scarred in each of us, and we lose trust in God’s version of our story. It seems too good to be true. And so we go searching for identity. We achieve and we push and we perform and we shop and we work out and we accomplish great things, longing to repair the image. Longing to find an identity that feels right.

Longing to be comfortable in our own skin.

But the thing we are searching for is not somewhere else. It is right here. And we can only find it when we give up the search, when we surrender, when we trust. Trust that God is already putting us back together.

Trust that through dying to the old, the new can give birth.

Trust that Jesus can repair the scarred and broken image.

It is trusting that I am loved. That I always have been. That I always will be. I don’t have to do anything. I don’t have to prove anything or achieve anything or accomplish one more thing. That exactly as I am , I am totally accepted, forgiven, and there is nothing I could ever do to lose this acceptance.

God knew exactly what he was doing when he made you. There are no accidents. We need you to embrace your true identity, who you are in Christ, letting this new awareness transform your life.

That is what Jesus has in mind

I will pray for this trust, it is so difficult to let go of the things you want to hang on to in life, things that I think make people like me or make me popular but God wants us to let go of all of those things and trust.

Velvet Elvis Part 2 - Binding and Loosing

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:05:00 +0100

Another thing I have been reflecting on in relation to Rob Bell’s book Velvet Elvis is what he says about the Bible. Many books I have read quote the Bible and tell you that it means a particular thing. In a way Bell is no different but he first explains that someone else talking about the Bible has to be an interpretation whether they like it or not. He shows how he thinks it’s important to look at the Bible in the way Jesus looked at it.

He talks about how a woman told him that she “has the absolute Word of God (the Bible) and that the opinions of man don’t mean anything to her”. But much of this woman’s ministry was around telling people they need a personal relationship with God through Jesus. Bell states that the phrase “personal relationship” isn’t found anywhere in the Bible, so at some point someone has introduced this phrase, so it is an “opinion of man”. He is not saying that the woman was wrong to encourage people to a personal relationship with God, but he just calls on us to be honest when we say things like “we just teach the Bible”. In fact the Bible has to be interpreted because if it isn’t it can’t be lived out today.

Bell goes on to show how the Bible was viewed by rabbis in Jesus times. They knew the Torah off by heart by the time they were 10 and the prophets and books of wisdom by the time they were 14. They wrestled with the text with other rabbis. Two other rabbis had to lay hands on any new rabbis and say they had authority to make interpretations of scripture. When Jesus was baptised he was affirmed by John the Baptist and God himself, “this is my Son whom I love, with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17)

The rabbis would forbid and allow things based on their interpretations of the Bible, this was called binding (forbiding) and loosing (allowing). Giving the keys to the kingdom was the term a rabbi used to give his disciples (trainee rabbis) authority to bind and loose. Which brought a wonderful interpretation of Jesus’ words to his disciples in Matthew 16:19. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”.

So we need to wrestle with God as Jacob did and go away limping. Bell says “some people have no limp because they haven’t wrestled. But the ones limping have had an experience of God.

Once again Bell has made things difficult for me, if I really agree with this then I have a lot of work to do to learn my Bible. It is much easier to sit back and have the Bible interpreted for you but this was not Jesus way or his intention for us. But the difficult way offers the opportunity to experience the Living God which has got to be the most rewarding option.

Velvet Elvis Part 1 - A wall or a trampoline?

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:11:00 +0100

I’ve just finished reading this book by Rob Bell called Velvet Elvis. It’s a book that lots of people have recommended to me over the past year, so I’m long overdue reading it. I’m so glad I did get round to reading it, I ended up reading it in less than a week which is very quick for me, unless I’m on a long plane journey! But, it’s such a rich book and I know I will keep coming back to it.

This is just a general review to say EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK, but I’ll come back and talk about various parts of it over the coming weeks as I explore it further. That is what Bell has designed the book for, he invites the reader not to ”swallow it uncritically but think about it and wrestle with it”. I found myself reading parts of it and saying,

“I like that, I totally agree”.

Then I would think about it and say “Wow, if I believe that I should be living my life differently” or “would that idea really work in the real world?”

I’ll give you an example…

In the first chapter he talks about our faith being like a trampoline rather than a brick wall. A trampoline where the springs are beliefs and ideas that help us understand who God is. In the wall each brick represents our ideas and beliefs about God. If there is definitive evidence that one of your beliefs or ideas is not true what happens to your faith? So, say concrete evidence shows the world wasn’t created in 6 days, does that mean nothing else about God is true? In the wall, one rigid brick is removed and the wall falls down, in the trampoline the spring flexes and other springs can take the strain. I thought this was a great analogy and encouraged me in examining my beliefs about things. But as I thought further I became worried, what if something I hold to be important in my faith doesn’t work the way I think it should, how would that affect my faith?

I wonder if my faith is more like the brick wall, where I think (incorrectly) that I’ve got everything figured out and don’t need to think about my faith or work on it? I need to have a trampoline faith where I talk to others and challenge myself and allow the springs to flex and become stronger and give my spiritual life more bounce!

I was then immediately encouraged when he went on to talk about how our faith should not be like a wall that we want to defend and spend time talking about how right we are. Instead our trampoline faith is one where we invite others to come and jump with us. Also, God is bigger than our questions, God is bigger than our faith and when we try to put Him in a neat wall we are limiting an awesome God.

Everyone should read this book but don’t expect it to be a nice gentle read, you will have to do some wrestling!

Bluetree - God of this City

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:04:29 +0100

There’s a great band emerging out of Belfast called...

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:03:09 +0100

There’s a great band emerging out of Belfast called Bluetree. Check out this video of one of their songs, based on Belfast but it could apply to any city in the world.

Prayer really works

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:59:34 +0100

I have been thinking a lot about prayer recently. My time at Moyallon Camp was bathed in prayer. We didn’t do anything without praying about it. There was thanksgiving for things that had happened and prayers of petition for what was coming up. We prayed at every meal time, we prayed before the speaker spoke, we prayed in small groups.

Moyallon Camp is like this every year but this year I was very struck by it. I thought about how much prayer was part of the apostle Paul’s ministry, such as in his letter to the Ephesians…

Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for Christians everywhere, I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people. I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 1:15-20)

I was reminded of my need to pray for others but also my need to ask others to pray for me. We can feel connected to each other through God by prayer. I also resolved to tell people when I am praying for them as a way of encouraging them.

I have also felt God has been reminding me about the prayers he has answered in my life over the last couple of months. I must be thankful to God for these times and celebrate them as God being involved in my life. I am reminded particularly about my job situation. My temporary contract was to run out on 31st July and there was no job for me to take on at the airport. So, I prayed, the more I prayed the more I felt God was calling me to pray specifically for people at the airport who might be able to help. And, all of sudden one of those people offered me a new contract for another 6 months, a position that has pretty much been created for me and has increased pay and responsibility with it. I see it as a miracle of God, I know that it only happened because God wanted it to happen, there is no earthly reason for it to happen.

So, I continue to pray and pray more because I know God is listening and I know he answers and I know how connected to God and others we can feel through prayer.

Praying for camp

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:59:43 +0100

It’s nearly time for Moyallon Camp again. I am getting quite excited for camp this year. My anticipation of what God will do there is based on my experience of God moving among people at camp in amazing ways ever since I first went to Moyallon Camp. Quakers aren’t supposed to see some places as holier than others but Moyallon really seems to be a place where God’s presence can be felt more easily and in a very real way. I look forward to seeing the campers make these Divine connections whether it be for the first time or the hundredth time.

One of the things that is so important about camp is to pray for it. I have spent some time in vocal prayer for camp over the last couple of weeks and I believe in what I have been praying for. That people would feel touched by the transforming power of Christ, that lives would be changed because of God’s love for each one of us. I’ve been praying particularly for the leaders at camp because they can play a major part in pointing campers towards Jesus by their example.

I have experienced many answers to prayer over the last month or so, in relation to my job, in relation to our wedding plans, in relation to people I have been praying for. So, prayer really works and I look forward to the prayer meeting each morning at camp that sets you up for a day centred on God.

“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart” (Col 4:2)

Follow the Lord your God

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:26:00 +0100

My daily Bible reading notes have taken me to the book of Joshua, one of my favourite books in the Old Testament. I have got as far as Chapter 3 and I was admiring the intention of the Israelites to follow God directly despite the strong leaders they had from Moses and Aaron and then Joshua. The children of Israel are instructed in verse 3 to follow the ark of the convenant across the River Jordan into the promised land. They were not told to follow Joshua across even though he was God’s appointed leader, they were told to follow the ark which was where God met with Moses to give him instructions for the children of Israel (Exodus 25:22) so symbolised where God dwelt to the Israelites.

This is a reminder to me to not base what I believe and what I do on any person no matter how holy they are or how Godly their message seems, I still need to directly follow God. Of course other people are very important in that walk with God as they can help me along the right path but it is God who is leading me, others are just companions and encouragers on the journey. No one is without sin, apart from Jesus who’s prefect life, death and resurrection I am called to strive toward. Ithas to be Jesus who is my example in life not any other person who cannot achieve that perfection.

Visiting the Vineyard

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:10:03 +0100

Yesterday my fiance and I went to the Belfast City Vineyard Church for the first time. Some friends of ours go there and it’s about a ten minute walk from my flat so a visit there was long overdue. It’s all part of a quest to find a good congregation that we can feel comfortable in and that will help us in our relationship with God individually and together. Since I returned from London I haven’t felt fully part of a meeting or church, I’ve been going to Joy’s church in Moira but it’s quite a commute on a Sunday morning. So everytime I go to a different church I ask myself “Is this somewhere I could go every week?”

My first impressions of Belfast City Vineyard were that I could see myself going there every week. The first thing that struck me was the average age was much lower than any church I’ve been involved in, it’s so encouraging to be with lots of people of a similar age to you who are going through the same issues in life as you and trying to follow God’s calling through issues in the same way you are.

The Senior Pastors and Associate Pastor were all young as well, the Senior Pastors being a married couple. The Pastor had a really good way about him, he presented the Truth as he understood it but not in a way that suggested that it was the only way of looking at it or that his thoughts and research on the topic were somehow exhaustive and final. The worship was great too, I believe it differs from week to week but this week it was a simple guitar/singer, bass and bongo drum that really invited the individual to experience God’s presence and praise him rather than being a show or being distracted by the band.

Joy and I were quite surprised to see that the sermon was about marriage! God really had led us to be there yesterday so we could hear some insight into God’s plan for marriage generally and seek to live more in God’s plan for our own relationship. We even got the opportunity to be prayed for which was so valuable. I recommitted myself to praying for Joy and praying for our relationship more.

So, it was great to be there, and I could see myself going there again. there are a couple of other congregations in Belfast I hope to visit over the summer so I’ll try to blog on those as well. I pray that Joy and I will find the congregation that allows us to live that abundant life that Jesus has for us to the fullest.

I'd rather be a name in heaven than a name on earth

Wed, 28 May 2008 11:54:20 +0100

I heard a sermon recently on the story of the Rich man and Lazarus that Jesus tells and is recorded in Luke 16:19-31. It is a really powerful message from Jesus about what happens after we die and how what we do now affects that.

In the passage Lazarus is a beggar who lies at the rich man’s gate hoping for a few scraps from his table. The rich man is painted as a high society gentleman who only wears the finest clothes and hosts banquets every night for the great and the good. But both the rich man and Lazarus die, Lazarus is taken up to heaven and the rich man sent to hades to be in torment. This is not a story about how beggars go to heaven and rich people go to hell, it is about how your priorities on earth determine what will happen after you die. The rich man wanted to be loved by the people around him, he wanted them all to be impressed by his huge wealth and he squandered it on fine clothes, food and drink and wouldn’t even give a scrap to a poor beggar at his gate, let alone spend any of his money on the kingdom of God.

One of the things that really struck me about the story was how the rich man had no name, he was described as “a certain rich man”. Whereas Lazarus is named. As the pastor said in his message everyone in that town would have known the rich man’s name and no one would have known Lazarus. But when it came to death God personally sent his angels to take away Lazarus, and the rich man was suddenly lonely and nameless. The rich man wanted for nothing on earth became a beggar in death and the beggar in life experienced the full richness of God after death. I know which person I would rather be in this story.