Chris Jefferies

A political post?

What are your hopes, what are your needs, and what can you contribute?

You won’t often see me post on political topics. This is not the first time I’ve done so, but it’s been something of a rarity.

Today I feel compelled to share a Liberal Democrat story, a short video presented by their new party leader, Ed Davey. Take a look and think about the people he talks to and the reasons he visited them.

You can read the article, or you can just watch the video below.

So – what are your hopes, what are your needs, and what can you contribute? How can you co-operate with friends and neighbours, meet needs, calm nerves, comfort hurting people? And, whatever your politics, how can you influence your chosen party to listen, hear, understand, and promote fairness, kindness, and the common good?

Covid-19 risk assessment

It is humorous enough that you want to read it, yet it still helps to remind you of the real dangers

I love this, popularised on Twitter by Alice Roberts. It is humorous enough that you want to read it, yet it still helps to remind you of the real dangers, and makes you think about the fact that some risks are greater than others.

Brilliant! Stay in the green where possible, everyone.

Elephant hawk moth

The caterpillar did something extraordinary – it mimicked a small snake

Have you ever seen an elephant hawk moth? If you live in Europe or Asia you might have spotted one of these amazing insects. In the United Kingdom they are fairly common, but perhaps not often seen. It’s a real treat to spot an adult or a caterpillar, both are amazing sights.

An elephant hawk moth male (credit: Wikipedia)

The circle marks the spot (credit OpenStreetmap)

Walking in the Cotswold Water Park recently, near the Gateway Centre on Lake 6, we spotted an elephant hawk moth caterpiller crossing the footpath (close to the grey circle in the map.

For a short time we just watched as it made its way across the path. But before it made it to the vegetation on the far side, some people appeared with a dog. The dog ran up enthusiastically to greet us and accidentally kicked the caterpiller before running off again. The caterpillar did something extraordinary – it mimicked a small snake.

Am I a caterpillar, or am I a snake?

The caterpillar crossing a stony path

For perhaps 20 seconds or so it writhed its body in a convincingly snakelike movement, and it pumped up several body segments behind the head, tucking its head down at the same time. With eye spot markings on its flanks, a scaly pattern on the entire body, and by raising up the front part of the body, it really did look the part. I wasn’t fast enough to get a photo, but I did get some video of the recovered caterpillar continuing on its way afterwards.

Searching the internet later, I found several good images of the caterpillar mimicking a small snake. Perhaps the best of these is show below.

The caterpillar looking very much like a snake (credit iSpot)

The natural world is so amazing, and so full of surprises, but mimicry is quite a common feature in both plants and animals. The European white dead-nettle has leaves that cannot sting but match the appearance of the unrelated stinging nettle very closely. Some insects look like pieces of wood, or a leaf, or a patch of white lichen, or a bird dropping. Many slugs look very much like animal droppings of various kinds, and as they move so slowly only an alert predator is likely to notice them. Predators, too, use camouflage which is not truly mimicry, but helps them merge into dappled sunshine and shade. Fish are often dark on top and silvery underneath. Sometimes they are patterned and look like the gravel bed of a stream or river.

Amazing!

Rethinking witness

Do we need to talk about Jesus or should we demonstrate his character?

Michael Frost is a great communicator with excellent presentational skills. He expands our horizons by opening up the truth about church, evangelism, and living as followers of the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.

Michael speaks very clearly about whether we need evangelism or whether it’s better to focus on loving those around us. Should we tell people about Jesus or should we demonstrate his character by touching lives in practical ways? It’s a false dichotomy – we need both. But how does this work in practice? Few have explored this fully, so most of us need to hear it.

Michael’s message is as fresh and as necessary now as it was in 2015 when this video was made. Please don’t miss it!

New situation, new (old) ways

If meetings back then were small, informal, and participatory, could that become the norm again for us?

< Is church unbalanced? | Index | No later posts >

I’d better begin by explaining the title – ‘New situation, new (old) ways’. We are certainly in a new situation! Covid-19 requires us to avoid large gatherings of people in close proximity, whether at the beach, in the supermarket, at sports events, or in church. It may be a long time before the situation will ease, so this could become the new normal for most of us. In terms of church meetings, many of us have been learning to make do with internet services and small group meetings using Zoom or some other form of online discussion. These are stop-gap measures.

Meeting at home in the New Testament – image from Michael Frost

So what do I mean by ‘New (old) ways’? The original form of church meeting is described very clearly in the New Testament (see this tweet from Michael Frost – I borrowed his image for the article). It was based in people’s homes. What is preventing us making this old form of church life into our ‘new’ form in response to our current circumstances? I suggest two answers – habit and prejudice – or to roll them into one, familiarity. More about that in a moment, but first I’d like to suggest reading through some of the replies to Michael’s tweet. All sides of the debate are pretty well covered.

Familiarity

For most believers in Western and some other contexts, church meetings normally take place in church buildings and have done so for many generations. Closely allied to the church building experience come other expectations, among them a worship band, rituals, a minister or pastor, sitting in rows, a liturgy, hierarchical leadership, and limited participation. Not all of these factors are found in every church, but some mix of them is normal. The danger is that familiarity gives us expectations and blinkers us to alternatives.

Not only does the New Testament remind us that people often met in homes, it also describes what these meetings were like (1 Cor 14:26-40, for example). They were informal, everyone was encouraged to contribute, spiritual gifts were exercised freely, there was a shared meal, and sometimes things got a bit out of hand. So if meetings back then were small, informal, and participatory, could that become the norm again for us?

House church in our time

House church meetings do exist today, they are common in places and times of persecution – China, Iran, India, Pakistan, North Korea to name a few examples. But they are also quite widespread in the USA, the UK, and the Western world in general. Try a Google search for ‘house church uk‘ and you’ll be surprised at what pops up. Bear in mind that most groups of this kind don’t have an internet presence so the hits you see are the tip of a considerable iceberg. Some of the websites represent wide groups or networks of home churches.

Is this ‘the new (old)’? I think it could be, in part. One way of dealing with Covid-19, would be meeting in limited groups in homes or, indeed, in the open air. It’s important to respect government guidelines on gatherings, but even a few people face to face might be better than trying to get by online. Jesus said, ‘Where one or two are gathered in my name, I’ll be right there with them.’

You do not need permission to start a home meeting in the UK. So if anyone in or near Cirencester wants to meet like this or is already doing so, I’d be very interested in exploring the possibilities. Please leave a comment and I’ll be in touch.

Author: Chris Jefferies