Author: Chris Jefferies

I live in the west of England, worked in IT, and previously in biological science.

Hand, foot and eye

At a time when the disciples are well aware of Jesus’ glory, power, transcendence, and authority, they ask, ‘Who’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’

I was reading Matthew 18 this morning, and thought that there are depths in this chapter that can only be grasped when we see things from a kingdom perspective.

In chapter 17, Yahshua reveals his glory to Peter, James and John; deals with the disciples’ lack of faith; speaks of his death and resurrection; and explains that he and his followers are not subject to the demands of religion because they are already part of his holy kingdom. The scene is set, Jesus has demonstrated that he has all the glory, all the power, transcends death, and is subject to no human authority. These factors are all relevant to our understanding of chapter 18, which begins with the words ‘At that time’.

A three-year-old child (Wikipedia)

So, at a time when the disciples are well aware of Jesus’ glory, power, transcendence, and authority, they ask, ‘Who’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ As he often does, Jesus answers indirectly. He calls over a small child to place amongst them, and tells them clearly that they need to be childlike or they won’t make it into the kingdom of heaven at all. Only the humblest adult can be great in the kingdom, and welcoming such a person is, in reality, welcoming Christ himself.

Furthermore, even being drowned is better for me than putting obstacles in the way of a humble believer; Yahshua isn’t saying I must be put to death, he’s saying I’m already worse than dead! If I cause such stumbling I’m not really one of his followers at all. In verses 8 and 9 Yahshua describes how my hand, my foot, or my eye might cause me to stumble. So it’s what I choose to do, where I decide to go, and what I pay attention to that puts me at risk. There’s a challenge here for all of us: don’t do, go to or look at anything that might cause us to fall. Avoid actions, circumstances and sights that are unhelpful. Stay humble, remain in his presence, and we will share in his glory, power, life and authority. Now that’s good news!

Season’s Greetings

Fresh grace and peace in your life every day

It’s that time of year again, cards have gone out and others have arrived on our doormat. I’d really like to include my blog readers. So, whoever you are, wherever you live, here’s the image that was on this year’s card:

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And what I’d like to pray for everyone reading this is that you would find fresh grace and peace in your life every day and be blessed throughout the coming year. May 2019 be the year you meet Jesus as your friend and guide. And for those who already know him, may your journey find you going deeper and further with him than ever before, in increasing faith and obedience.

Happy New Year 2019 everyone!

The photo shows Cotoneaster berries covered with hoar frost, the photo was taken in 2012 in our old front garden before we moved to Cirencester.

Other years

2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016

Life together

Only living things can form a murmuration. Not only that, the individuals must all be alive with the same kind of life, don’t expect to see seagulls and starlings together in the same formation.

A murmuration of starlings

This morning, swilling out the cafetiere, watching the dark coffee grounds fan out and spiral down the drain, a word popped into my mind – ‘murmuration’. This word is used for a flock of birds flying together, swirling hither and thither, flying together as one yet moving independently and in smaller groups within that one flock. Starlings are particularly known for this behaviour as they go to roost in the evening light, and the dark specks of coffee reminded me of a murmuration of these birds.

Murmuration of starlings

But looking at those coffee grounds made it very clear to me that only living things can form a murmuration. Not only that, the individuals must all be alive with the same kind of life, don’t expect to see seagulls and starlings together in the same formation. The living entities must also be in a fluid environment (air or water, large shoals of fish can exhibit the same phenomenon). And they must be aware of one another and able to respond rapidly to one another’s movements.

Take a look at this video of a starling murmuration. It’s stunning!

So it should be with the church. A formation of individuals all alive with the same life, the life of Christ, all filled with his Spirit. Church should be a fluid environment, the individuals free to move in every dimension, yet always aware of one another and responding to one another.

When the church flows like a murmuration, individually alive with Christ, individually free to move yet mutually aware, responding to one another’s presence and movement, unconstrained except in obedience to Christ, then, my friends, we will see her transcendent glory revealed and the whole world will gasp. People will say, ‘Oh wow, how can this collection of individuals flow together with such transcendent beauty and grace?’

If not, we are little better than coffee grounds swirling into the drain. Not alive at all, merely acted on by random currents as gravity draws us ever downwards. Paul expressed this when he wrote to the church in Ephesus,

We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

An old school friend

Friends are important, we humans are fundamentally social beings

At my sister’s recent book launch, I was delighted to meet an old friend from school days, Nick Henderson. Although he looks older – as, of course, I do too – his personality is entirely as I remember from the mid 1960s. We agreed to meet again this morning at the Golden Cross in Cirencester, and it was a delight.

Nick and I last met when we were both living at home and very probably still at school. For a year or two we used to hang out quite a bit. I remember going with Nick to see a local band called The Corals during a record-breaking attempt at playing non-stop without repeating any songs; the drummer, one Colin Flooks, another lad from our school year, later became famous as Cozy Powell. And yes, they did break that record – in fact they smashed it by playing for 11½ hours.

TheCorals
The Corals during their record-breaking session, photo from The Wilts and Glos.

Nick and I talked about many things, catching up on our personal journeys over the last half century, recalling the cross-country runs that were compulsory on Wednesday afternoons at school, and thinking about Daglingworth Brook, the River Churn and how the water is channelled in and around the town. The drainage courses have changed over the years, altered for many reasons, beginning in Roman times when the town was young, and continuing right down to the present.

Friends are important, we humans are fundamentally social beings; renewing a connection after such a long gap has been a very special thing for me. More so than I had expected or imagined.

For more about Nick, take a look at his website and/or a site he edits, Anglicanism.org .