Category: Love

The art of persuasion

We need to be noticed for our goodness. If we are filled with the spirit of Jesus we will bear the fruit of his spirit; and here’s that fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Working at a food bank (Wikimedia)

Thinking out loud – 2

My previous post was an image of the day. I wrote about evening mist, and how our lives have a beginning, a middle, and an end, just like a day there’s a certain mistiness about growing old. I ended by writing:

The teaching of Jesus is very logically sound, not testable but also, as far as I can see, internally coherent and free of self contradiction. That quality amazes me, I believe his claims to be true, testable or not. He has convinced me. Maybe he has convinced you too, or maybe not. We have that freedom, and we cannot persuade one another using the scientific approach, good as that is for studying more measurable and therefore testable matters.

Food bank
(Wikimedia)

If we can’t persuade others using the scientific method of testable hypotheses, how then can we reach those around us? There is a way, of course, so lets take it step by step.

How I live

The first thing to realise is that if we are following Jesus, we are his ambassadors in this world. An ambassador represents one nation by being present in another. Jesus came as an ambassador (and much more than that, of course). He came to represent his Father and his Kingdom here on Earth. He demonstrated Kingdom values and ways as well as talking about them.

I’m an ambassador too, I’m here to represent Jesus and his Kingdom to others. If I’m to represent Jesus I need to be like him as much as possible. So let’s dig into his character for a moment. Why did people 2000 years ago in Israel listen to Jesus? He did speak to individuals and even to crowds, but he also did things that surprised people. He met people’s needs (that will always get attention). He fed hungry people, he listened to lonely people. He healed sick people (that definitely got attention) He told stories (something else that people will listen to). But primarily (and what lay behind everything else) – he loved people and cared about them. So that’s what I aspire to: love people and care about them, meet their needs, feed the hungry, listen to the lonely, heal the sick, and tell good stories. Those are things I try to do as an ambassador for Jesus.

There’s a lot of love but also a good deal of uncaring in this human world of ours. People usually love their close family and their best friends and it’s love that drives us to help, to go the extra mile, to put up with those times when we feel let down or disappointed. But with people we don’t know we may be cautious at first. Some people seem not to care at all about others, appearing to be driven by selfishness alone. But the fact is that almost all of us are a mix, we display love sometimes, at other times or with other people we just don’t care very much.

We need to be noticed for our goodness. If we are filled with the spirit of Jesus we will bear the fruit of his spirit; and here’s that fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control – this list was written down in Greek by Paul, an early follower of Jesus. Read what he wrote in context.

It’s not so much about what I say, it’s about what I do. Helping in a food-bank, for example, picking up litter, planting snowdrops on grass verges, listening, learning to be more like Jesus.

Talking about Jesus

If I walk up to a stranger in the street and start telling them about Jesus, what will happen? Will they listen? I think we all know the answer!

If people notice how I behave and what I do and are surprised about that in some way, they might sometimes ask me about it. And I’ll explain that it’s simply because I’m trying to become more like Jesus. They might ask about that as well.

If I claim to be following Jesus, people will assume that Jesus is like me. That is a huge responsibility. If I fail in how I live, what I say will not be believed. Answering questions is always better than telling people things they may not be eager to hear. Reaching people is a matter of my behaviour being interesting enough to spark the why question and then providing good answers.

See also:

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Season’s Greetings 2024

Look at the world around you and you will see pain, loss, discouragement, guilt, and hard struggles for survival. But look at the world from just the right angle and you will see altogether better things.

This photo of the interior of Cirencester Parish Church reminds us of the dedication, hard work, and sheer skill put into building a church nearly 1000 years ago. That should stop us in our tracks and make us think – why go to so much effort?

Click to enlarge

Work on building Cirencester’s Parish Church of John Baptist began in the twelfth century. The chancel (where the altar stands) is the oldest part of the structure and replaced a previous Saxon Church, and perhaps a Roman one beneath that. Additions, alterations, repairs and improvements date to almost every century, the most recent change returning sculptures to two empty niches on the tower in 2019. It’s been a lot of work over a period of a thousand years.

Why? There will, of course, be many reasons. Wealthy townspeople have been willing to spend large sums of money from time to time, and masons, carpenters and other tradespeople will have worked for payment. Some people may have been motivated by their faith, others by a desire to contribute to something beautiful and special, perhaps some to say, ‘Thank you’, for answered prayer. We will never know the full detail, mostly we can only imagine.

But for me, this photo illustrates something quite different. My own understanding of Jesus’ teachings is that we have received a great treasure and should do whatever we can to share it freely with friends, family, neighbours, even enemies, with everyone who will listen. This is an altogether different kind of building work. We are raising a beautiful structure, not of stone and timber, brass and lead, stained glass, silver and bronze. We are building as Jesus builds, a structure of trust, love, grace and peace, of joy, precious thoughts, acts of kindness and caring, a work of self sacrifice, healing, truth, and acceptance. A drawing in as well as a raising up, a work that can always be extended further.

Am I good at it? No, not really. Only Jesus is truly good at this task. He came to reveal his Father, and to pour out his Spirit. And he told us (his followers, his apprentices) to carry on his work.

So, as a very small part of this task, I say to you my readers (if you are still reading at this point) whatever your faith, or religion or view of life, my wish for you, my prayer for you, is that these weeks as 2024 grows old, will be a time of growing peace in your heart. Life isn’t always easy, so my hope is that you will find something to smile about even in difficult times.

Here’s something I wrote last year, I’ll offer it up to you again now. More and more, the UK is a rich mix of people from many cultural backgrounds. That’s why the title is not ‘Christmas Greetings’. Please accept the greetings and replace the word ‘Season’ with whatever you like. If you’re Hindu you could choose Diwali as a reminder of your celebrations in October, or Jewish friends might go with Hannukah in December, if you’re Muslim you might look forward to Lailat al Miraj in February; Buddhists might consider Bodhi Day, and there are more groups of people I haven’t mentioned specifically. But whatever you celebrate, please take my greetings as a blessing for the whole of next year – spring, summer, autumn and winter.

And I apologise to my southern hemisphere friends whose new beginnings may come in June or July!

PS – If you like the photo, click the thumbnail for the full size version. Print it out, put it in a frame and hang it on the wall. Give a copy to friends if you think they’d like it; or send them a link to this message.

Other years

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

See also:

Every chapter is necessary

There is a synergy, a sparking of abundant life that comes from the interdependence of the parts.

A page from the book

This is a slightly modified copy of an article I wrote in 2014. I’m republishing it because I think it is still useful and deserves another airing. Perhaps it hints at some things we are liable to forget.

The book, Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity, contains twenty-four chapters. Each one discusses a positive aspect of church, something that is an essential part of the whole. Reading from the book I was deeply impacted by Chapter 22 from Kathy Escobar; the chapter is entitled A church that restores dignity where it’s been lost.

She writes:

Jesus calls [Lazarus] out of the tomb, but then he looks to the people around him – his community, friends, and advocates – and says to them ‘unbind him’. Unbind him. Unwrap him. Take off his graveclothes.

I think God calls us to participate in this uncovering-unwrapping-unbinding with each other through healing community.

And it struck me that although church is much more than the sum of its parts, all of the parts need to be actively present. There is a synergy, a sparking of abundant life that comes from the interdependence of the parts. Church is a person, the Bride of Christ.

Like all people, you and I are much more than the sum of hands, ears, spleen, heart, lungs and all the rest. But if any of these were missing we would either die or be unable to fully function. And it’s just the same with the church.

Just consider some of the other chapter themes. The church cherishes Jesus Christ, exhibits personal holiness, counts every member as key, assembles for mutual edification, and knows eternal life is free. Imagine all of those being true in a church that fails to restore dignity where it’s been lost. It would be a church without the active compassion necessary to unbind those who so desperately need it.

Or consider a church that clings to scriptural truth, is most notable for its love and is united in Christ but doesn’t follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. This would be a church that failed to hear where to go and what to do and did everything in its own strength.

Or what about a church that was composed of peacemakers, viewed itself as a people, restored dignity but failed to proclaim the gospel clearly?

The chapters of this book all stand alone and can be read alone. But they often overlap so that there are echoes and glimpses of them in one another. Yet taken together, with no part missing or inactive, they describe a holistic church, a wholesome church and a church that is alive and active and effective in the world. There are other aspects that are not explicitly covered in the book, prayer for example. But these are implied throughout in a variety of ways.

Church is as complex as any living organism, and just like a living organism it is not only complex but also multi-faceted, and astonishingly well constructed. The church is also alive with the life of Christ. And every part contributes!

Find the book on Google Play Books and on Amazon Books.

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Paul Young, three videos

The videos are by turn funny, gripping, informative, and very, very useful.

Paul Young (sometimes William P Young) wrote The Shack for his children and it unexpectedly became a very famous best-seller and much later a movie.

Here he speaks to a House2House (H2H) conference in 2008, explaining how our traditions can trip us up and mislead us, how he came to write the book, and how Father’s grace can take any one of us and make the impossible possible.

Paul Young, speaking on the topic ‘Grace’

I’ve put the three YouTube videos into a playlist. The video is low quality as it was recorded in 2008 using the standards available at the time, but the sound is clear enough. Copyright for all three videos is with House2House and I have their permission to share the videos here.

Click the playlist link and watch away. These videos have, I suspect, changed many people’s lives – in a good way. They open up truths that have been hidden for some, for others they will confirm what they already thought. The videos are by turn funny, gripping, informative, and very, very useful today just as much as in 2008. Truth doesn’t change.

So for you, and your friends, it may be transformational or it may be confirming. Either way, my prayer for you is that you will be blessed and encouraged by listening.

Some background

The conference was over three days, the first day was for leaders; Paul spoke on Grace and covers how and why The Shack came to be written. In his opening remarks he notes that he’s in an environment that he’s not familiar with. However, he was very well received.

The second topic, Tradition, was presented to the full conference. In it, Paul discusses the fall and the interactions between Yawheh, Ish, Isha, and Lucifer. (We often think of Ish as ‘Adam’ and Ishah as ‘Eve’, Paul explains the distinction.)

The third topic, Soul, was again to the full conference. This time Paul explains his background and life story very frankly.

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Image of the day – 18

Knowing what is the right thing to do is not the same as doing the right thing.

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

This is an image of an image of a story. It’s my photo of a stained glass window in a little church in the village of Upper Framilode near the River Severn in Gloucestershire.

The words at the bottom of the window read ‘Go and do thou likewise’ which we might rephrase in today’s English, ‘Now you go and do the same’.

It’s the punchline from a story Jesus told to show that love is an active thing, and if we don’t love the needy people around us in practical ways, how can we claim to be pure, or spiritual, or selfless?

Knowing what is the right thing to do is not the same as doing the right thing. It’s quite easy to mix those two ideas up in our minds, but it’s oh-so-important to have clarity about it.

You can read the story in modern English on the internet.

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

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Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!