This post is about a new church theme that we are launching on Palm Sunday – the glory of God.
Where did our theme come from?
How did we get to our new Church theme to take us through the rest of 2024? Part of it was in discussion with those who lead the teaching at the church. It’s possible others will also preach later this year on the glory of God. You can also listen here to a great talk from Lizzie kicking this theme off. We are all so encouraged and blessed to have someone share their personal journey of suffering so honestly, openly and sacrificially.
But personally, I felt an anointing from January on the prayer for us to experience more of God’s glory. It’s what we live for, isn’t it?
Jack Hayford and Ruth Heflin
Some of this came from my own times of worship and prayer. But in case that sounds too holy, and more impressive than it really is, I have also read two books over the past 12 months that have stirred me up in this way. One is Jack Hayford’s book ‘Manifest Presence’, and the other is by Ruth Heflin, ‘Glory: Experiencing the Atmosphere of Heaven’. I recommend them both.
So that you don’t feel cheated, I will give you a quotation from each, but don’t imagine this is the measure of either book. Hayford refers to a teaching based on Zech 4:7 ‘Shouts of ‘grace! grace to it!’ and says:
…suggesting then that each person literally shout, declaring God’s grace and the release of His Spirit, virtually firing the words at whatever obstacle they face in their lives. People do that. And testimonies have come in from around the world that was worshipers honor God’s Word of truth and humble their pride to apply His Word obediently, things happen.”
p.162 Manifest Presence, by Jack Hayford
Secondly, a quote from Ruth Heflin, and it has to be this one, which is explained more fully in the book, about how we experience God’s glory:
Praise…until the spirit of worship comes. Worship…until the glory comes. Then…stand in the glory.
Start, Glory: Experiencing the Atmosphere of Heaven, by Ruth Heflin
These saints are both now in glory themselves. Possibly singing still some of the songs that they have written. Majesty, for example, by Jack Hayford, and perhaps for Ruth that song ‘I ask for the Nations’. I certainly like to think of wonderful believers who have encouraged me, being part of that great ‘Cloud of Witnesses’ referred to in Hebrews.
What does this year hold for us?
I certainly do not yet have the answers about Glory, but I am planning to press in more both as we worship together as a church and setting my heart to encounter Him every day.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord. Just a glimpse of Jesus is worth more than an extended conversation with anyone else. It’s only when we linger in His presence that we start to remember how much He is for us; that we regain our emphasis on His beauty and His majesty. When did you last get blown away by His love for you?
I’m so grateful to the Lord that often when I just sit alone with Him, I find a stirring in my spirit and I have to get on my knees, or sing a song right through, or declare His praises out loud. In these ways, God cleanses my heart so that I can experience more of His glory, even in our normal days.
I wonder what the real hunger will be, when I see Him face to face. To touch Him? To see Him looking at me? To kneel before Him? To hear His voice saying my name? It’s sweet to hear those we know and love saying our name. It creates a pang in our heart when we miss those voices.
But His voice is the sweetest voice of all, and yet I don’t even know what Jesus’ voice sounds like yet. But He is the one to whom I owe everything. Come Lord Jesus – it’s all I can pray.
What experience of His glory do you have that you can share?
I am delighted to be able to give more time to the King’s Gate Church currently, and would love to welcome you on a Sunday morning, or to any of the events that we run. If you’ve not come here from our church website, why not take a look?
Why not drop me an email or get in touch in another way, to find out more about how we feel God is calling us as His people to follow Him together at this time. One thing is for sure, we can’t survive on our own (in fact, I don’t believe we were ever called to do that).
Our priorities as we move into 2024 are to ensure that children get good Christian teaching; to spend time in God’s presence worshipping Him together, and to bring about through prayer, through service and through living our lives the very soon return of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
This blog is, to be honest, a little bit of a hodge-podge of my interests: if you hunt around you will find book reviews, Bible study, devotional posts, posts about running. I enjoy writing, and when an idea occurs to me, I quite often splurge something out on the up-to-date equivalent of a typewriter. It’s not always highly polished, and I apologise for that – sometimes I write them in a little bit of a rush. But I always welcome engagement, such as ‘Likes’ and comments, and I may even reply to them.
I had just completed the Southampton Marathon and changed out of my trainers – April 2023
Leaven is viewed with suspicion in the Bible. For those not well versed in Authorized language, we’re talking essentially about yeast, or more correctly, a batch of dough with yeast in it. Rather like the sourdough that foodies often exclaim over. You haven’t really made bread until you have made sourdough, have you?!
And let’s stick with that idea for a moment. It is true that at key moments in the Bible, leaven is eschewed (while we’re talking Authorized version, let’s draw on a fuller range of biblic vocabulary, and make up adjectives while we’re at it). I’m thinking the Passover, where leavening the bread would take the focus of a hasty departure, while Pharoah’s ‘Yes’ still hangs in the air, in Exodus 12. Or those New Testament passages where Jesus inveighs against the religious leaders of the day and exhorts his followers to beware the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees. Or Paul, for that matter, discussing the need to avoid certain types of leaven, indeed purging it out – and this feels a very modern concept too – so that we can be a new lump! Not perhaps the most attractive of Bible images. Yes, to avoid old leaven, and also to avoid the leaven of malice and wickedness. Instead, the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Which, I might add, could give you a bit of a tummy ache.
And this turns me towards a point of Bible hermeneutics that I want to make. Sorry, another long word. In the circles I move in, I regularly hear people pick up on a symbol, or an image, and immediately associate it with one meaning – perhaps good, perhaps bad.
To be fair, leaven is usually identified as bad in the Bible.
In case you don’t believe me, listen to J.C. Ryle, that Victorian grandaddy of Bible teaching, who has this to say on the effect of leaven (I love this):
“Leaven. No word more suitable could have been employed. It exactly describes the small beginnings of false doctrine – the subtle, quiet way in which it insensibly pervades a man’s religion – the deadly power with which it changes the whole character of his Christianity. Here, in fact, lies the great danger of false doctrine. If it approached us under its true colours, it would do little harm. The great secret of its success is its subtlety and likeness to truth…Let us no more trifle with a little false doctrine than we would trifle with a little immorality or a little lie. Once we admit it into our hearts, we never know how far it may lead us astray. The beginning of departure from the pure truth is like the letting out of waters – first a drop, and at last a torrent.” J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark
But this is acceptable, as Ryle is saying up front that it is a description of how false doctrine creeps in. He is not equating leaven to false doctrine. If we’re not careful, we might find certain believers forbidding us from eating any baked goods with rising agents in them. Perhaps if you experience too many stomach pains it is worth leaving them out, with the associated impurities.
It is, I admit, a wonderful and thoroughgoing analogy – the speed at which the bacteria invades the dough, just a little warmth and time needed. How many churches have been ripped apart by a little leaven? Whether that’s flattery, gossip, a desire for prestige that undermines the pastor’s teaching, a party spirit that seeks to create division and pull down the work of Jesus among people.
Yet ‘Leaven’ is a reminder that any symbol that is used in the Bible is in a sense neutral, and then requires comparison to interpret it. So we are given an inspirational view of leaven here:
“Another parable He spoke to them: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” Matt 13.33
This parable follows the parable of the mustard seed, and is interpreted in a similar way. Here leaven is used to describe a supernaturally desirable process, rather than an infernally diabolical one: the secret, mysterious working of the kingdom of God which eventually has a vast impact.
Did you realise that this hardworking lady is working the leaven through sixty pounds of flour (the NIV tells us that) which is sixty normal-size bags. Quite an energetic undertaking, and it suggests that the kingdom doesn’t just happen by itself, but requires some human action and energy as well. It also requires a little patience, and we need to stand back at times, to let God do His work in people, ensuring that the right conditions are there for the leaven to spread effectively.
I was fascinated to see that in the rabbinic writings around the Torah, and Jesus may have been aware of this teaching at the time (note I use the word ‘aware’ in human terms only), the Torah was also seen in a positive way as leaven:
“Indeed, even if they forsake me, everything would turn out well provided that they keep studying my Torah. Because even if they did forsake me, but kept occupying themselves with the study of my Torah, its leaven [inner force], through their engagement with it, would be so powerful as to bring them back to me.” Rabbi Chaya bar Abba, quoted in Jesus the Jewish Theologian, by Brad Young.
So the lessons we can learn from leaven include that there are certain traps, certain defaults, that believers regularly almost spring on themselves, especially in institutionalised settings. Legalism, formalism, dead religion, tradition, malice and unadulterated dishonesty at times. The spread of pride, discontent, bitterness and false doctrine has produced a virtually uncountable proliferation of Christian denominations, and torn apart the beautiful and unique work of the Spirit in many expressions of His church.
Also, however, any symbol that stands out from the pages of Scripture is polyvalent – not reducible to a single meaning. Yes, it can be helpful to new believers to characterise, for example, ‘fire’ as God’s judgment, or a fig tree with Israel. But let me close with a citation from the helpfully descriptive rather than prescriptive ‘Dictionary of Biblical Imagery’ concerning leaven:
‘The effect [of leaven] can either be positive or negative…But most uses of the image seem to regard the idea of infiltration as negative, and this may lie behind the commands to remove leaven from bread during the sacrifices. Worship of the true God could not be combined with other gods or religions. Unleavened bread symbolized this requirement of purity of worship.’ P.498 Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, Ryken, Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III
I wonder whether it’s the innocence of leaven, the hiddenness of it, that helps us to see it as something to avoid? The effect of leaven is attractive, it’s addictive, and once we start it’s hard to stop. Keeping it out of the house is the only solution: rather like the alcoholic or the chocaholic, drastic means have to be taken, or it will find its insidious and all-controlling way back in. The leaven causes something else to take over, and rule your life.
The Lord Jesus never does that, but is gentle, pure, health-ful and life-giving. Like all God’s gifts, leaven is wonderful. But the phenomenon of impurity, of sin, of idolatry and selfishness is very similar to it, and is in all our hearts, unless we yield them to God to be transformed.
Father, search my and know my heart. To be abiding in You, as I long for, I must walk as Jesus walked. May I be in the light, and allow all impurities to be exposed, and help me to expunge them from my life, that I recognise the good, and turn quickly away from all that is going to rob me of joy, the blessing of Your presence, and the transforming power of Your Kingdom. Amen.
Whenever I do a talk it often reflects my life. Maybe this talk is just for me. But it has made a profound shift for me and that’s why I’m excited to share it with you.
John 8 – I’ll tell the story a little bit. When I was preparing this, Gideon said to me, what is your talk about? I was trying to think about how to compress it in a sentence. Lord, I just want to tell them that prayer is about love and about being loved. This talk today is themed around being a bride and marriage. I’m using a word here which I find quite old-fashioned, but I think it is more true to what I’m trying to say. The word I could have used is ‘faithful’: to be firm, not changing in your friendship, with, or your support for a person or organization, or you believe in your principles. The word I’ll be using today is ‘fidelity’ – the quality or state of being faithful or loyal, especially loyal to one’s spouse in refraining from adultery.
This is based on a talk that Tyler Staton did at the American 24/7 conference a couple of years ago and I’ll be quoting him throughout. He also wrote a book Praying like monks, living like fools, which is very good on prayer and it is available through the Living Word bookshop.
If we look at John 8 we see the story of the Pharisees bringing the woman to Jesus who was caught in adultery. Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law Moses commands us to stone such a woman. What do you say? he was saying this to Jesus to try and catch him out. But he doesn’t answer them, just bends down and starts to write on the ground. They keep pushing it and pushing it. So he stands up and says,”Okay let any of you who is without sin cast the first stone at her.” He just bends down and writes on the ground again. Jesus just hears the feet shuffling away. Maybe there were a couple of stones dropped to the ground. And when he stands up again there is just the woman. And he says to her, ‘Woman, has no one condemned you?’ ’No one sir,’ she says. ’Neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ’Go now, and leave your life of sin.’
What was impossible for this woman to know, still stunned by this intrusion of love into her life, was the real fight for her life. Because the real fight is all the ordinary days after the transcendent, memorable breakthrough kind of day. All of us have had a woman caught in adultery moment or two in our lives that has profoundly shaped us, but it’s all the days after the breakthrough day, the fidelity that we find mostly disenchanting. The mountaintop experience wears off after a while, and we find ourselves reluctantly dragging our feet after Jesus on this narrow path, mostly underwhelmed and bored. The real fight is the ordinary days after the extraordinary day. Most of us know by experience but are typically far too polite to admit, that fidelity is boring.
It’s rich and satisfying and meets the deepest needs of the human soul in a way no surface pleasures can ever touch, but it’s also boring most of the time.
That leaves the average believer to live out his Christian days with a few bad options. Either, go through the motions, passionless and half pretending, or secondly obsess about recapturing that original passion, even if I have to recapture it, or even if I know I’m manipulating myself in some way.
Or the third one is to just wander away, disappointed, admitting that intimacy with Jesus has left me somewhat short of satisfied so I guess I’ll look somewhere else.
Let’s look at fidelity from the first book of the Bible to the very last. In Genesis 2 when God asks Adam to name all the animals, Adam finds no counterpart, or no bride. So God creates Eve. Adam calls her ‘bone of my bone’ and flesh of my flesh’. Fidelity is the oldest and the truest of all stories.
But as we know, fidelity is boring – in the slog of ordinary days Adam chooses a lesser love, ripping a seam right through the whole story, destroying intimacy with God and intimacy with each other.
God then starts up with Sarai. This time he makes a covenant. Not a contract with terms and conditions. His covenant is ‘I love you. I make the promise. All I ask of you is to accept my love.’ But again fidelity is boring. Even a covenant that strong is wandered away from in the slog of ordinary days. Often throughout the description of the Old Testament Israel is described as an unfaithful wife.
But then God redeems the intimacy that was lost in infidelity. He places his being in the womb of a fallen woman. God becomes bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.
Let’s fast-forward to the Last Supper. But first, let me tell you how the marriage proposal was done in first century Israel. No dropping to the knee with a ring. first, the groom’s father would choose a bride, he would go and see the bride’s father, and if he agrees on the marriage they would agree a bride price. Basically, The groom’s father would buy a bride for his son. Then All parties would come together for the betrothal ceremony. At this point the birde’s price would be paid, the groom and the bride would sign a contract or a covenant, signifying their agreement to marry. Then they would drink wine as a symbolic sealing of the marriage. At thsi point they were betrothed, but unlike our modern times, or our modern engagements, being betrothed meant that you were married. After they drank the wine the groom would return to his father’s house and he would either build a new house, or add to his father’s house more typically and when his father approves of the building and the house, sometimes it could take up to a year, he would give his son permission to get the bride adn bring her, and they would have a wedding feast, which could last up to seven days.
As Jesus eats the last supper with his disciples, before he himself pays the bride price with his life, he drinks the Passover wine with them and says, ‘This is the blood of the covenant. I tell you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it with you in the Father’s kingdom.’ Matt 26.29.
This is the betrothal wine. He has gone to prepare a place for his bride and one day the Father will give him the go ahead to return and bring home his bride. On that day we will feast, the wedding of the Lamb will be prepared for us. Rev 19.7 The end of the story is not an apocalypse, it is a wedding feast. Jesus heals that wound that was caused by infidelity. He says, ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love.’ John 15.19.
How do we remain in that love? How do we make a love so big more than just an occasional reflection?
How do we keep on choosing Jesus in all the ordinary days after the breakthrough?
Prayer is about love. If you can’t love, you can’t pray either. Learning to pray is learning to love. So going right back to the thoughts where we started, I want to quote somebody who says Ronald Rawheither who says “The single biggest obstacle to sustaining a life of prayer is simple boredom and the sense that nothing meaningful is happening, but that doesn’t mean we are regressing in prayer, it often means the opposite.”
What if boredom is a good sign, not a bad sign? And what if boring fidelity is the hidden in plain sight invitation to discover a life of prayer that Jesus so lavishly and lovingly promised us? Prayer, just like love, is easy when you are first in love and infatuated with each other. And it’s easy when that love has matured into like a fine wine.
It is the in-between years when you are making a life and building a career, raising children, going to work, taking a holiday, falling apart and putting it back together again, those are the long years that love has to be worked at. Those are the years when love is won or lost. Prayer, like love, comes easy at first after the breakthrough. It’s like breathing. It’s easy for throse who have matured that breakthrough into a fine love over years of walking with God. But the years in between, those are the years when we choose, or not, prayer, in all the ups and downs and the variety and circumstances of our lives. Those are the years when prayer, and love, is won or lost.
To get a bit practical, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said ‘It’s not your love that sustains your marriage, but from now on the marriage that sustains your love.’
We need a container to contain our prayer. The early church had a daily rhythm of praying three times a day. What orders our days? You have rhythm to your life and to your prayer life, whether you think it or not. Something is at the centre of your life and everything is revolving around that. Knowing and naming that is really important. Whatever is at the centre of your life is shaping it into its image.
There is no neutral in this world. There is intentional spiritual formation, or unintentional spiritual formation. Everyone’s life is set on an affection, a fidelity that forms them into its image. What if, at the centre of your day, you place God, who personifies love? What if you take time every day to be with God, because so many people, so many things, are vying for your attention, but only Jesus has your heart. What if fidelity is everything, and the simple way to choose it is prayer?
I don’t want to give rules to prayer, and I don’t have a formula either. I will put a couple of links below if it will help you to pray to a more a set rhythm. I only know that I want to live my life by a different set of loves Let’s bank everything on fidelity to Jesus through prayer, and find out if God is still who He says he is and who He has always revealed Himself to be. If He really satisfies the soul’s desire like nothing else can. If He really writes the best stories and has the wildest adventures. If His power is made perfect in weakness. And if fidelity actually is where the real treasures are.
They say that the older you get, the less excited you become by Christmas – all the hype, the warm-up, the anticipation that you know will culminate in a flat disappointment.
But for me, I’m finding I get more excited by Christmas every year.
It’s the deepening way that Christmas is God’s arrival, His first coming, on earth.
When it comes down to it, the Christmas story doesn’t in itself take long to read. A couple of chapters in the gospel of Matthew, and a couple of chapters in Luke, plus that powerful 18-verse segment that majestically launches the gospel of John, and you’re there. In a nutshell. Finito.
But I find that every time I re-read the birth narratives, I’ve hardly even started. It’s such a mystery.
Just take a couple of examples.
In Matthew’s account, no fewer than five dreams guide Joseph and the wise men as they strive to keep the newly born Son of God safe from harm. Both important Josephs in the Bible have many dreams. Probably only Daniel and Ezekiel have more, and some of them are visions (day-time). Dreams show God bringing divine revelation to individuals. That’s awesome.
Something else. I was taken, reading Matthew 2 earlier today, by the journey that the new young mother Mary has to take with her ‘young Child’, to Egypt, going at night-time to avoid attention. This is traumatic in itself. When they return to Israel it does not improve much, as Joseph is forced to settle in Galilee, in Nazareth, rather than perhaps in Bethlehem – a more royal location, more fitting for the Messiah. No prophecies in the Old Testament that the Messiah was to be reared in Nazareth. All these details are unsettling and circumstantial. Unsatisfactory, you might say. Rather like the details of my life, or yours.
Then we get the genealogy that starts the gospel off. As in the title of this post.
I don’t know if it’s the lovely large print in my recently acquired Thomas Nelson brown NKJV personal size Bible, but the names seem to jump off the page. You could not make a bigger claim for this man. ‘Son of David and Son of Abraham’ heads up the genealogy.
We trace his line through Solomon, but apparently in Luke the line to the Messiah came through Nathan, another of David’s sons by Bathsheba. Why the contradiction? I understand there is so little extant information about Jewish genealogies that we have no way of knowing if these records are correct. A lot of it comes from the Old Testament, or the Jewish Scriptures, but not all of it. It’s a mystery, basically. And the genealogies in any case appear a little otiose, as they both pertain (Matthew and Luke, that is) to Joseph, while Jesus is only – and this has to be unique – descended from Mary his mother.
This may be God coming to earth, but he has been arriving for a long time. For three sets of 14 generations at least, according to Matthew’s gospel.
One of the reasons I’m excited is that Advent hasn’t quite started yet, so I can make good use of an additional daily reading to reflect and meditate on the verses that seem familiar, but I know have so much more redolence and ramifications to unfurl.
What to read? I might dust off my Lectio app as from the 4th December they have a special ‘Light the Night’ set of readings.
For example:
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, ‘God with us’.”
Matthew 1:23
You had me at Behold.
Without Christmas, there would be no hope for the world.
Without the careful plan laid from before the worlds were formed, that can be traced in every line of Scripture, we would not have been able to come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. How much I need that grace.
Without a virgin being with child, the earth could not have carried on spinning, and the grandeur of Creation would have been dismantled, and the gorgeous fabrics of this universe mothballed for untold aeons, not to be appreciated by the billions of souls born since.
I’m starting to get excited about Christmas, like a child who can secretly think of nothing else.
This Week of Waiting is a big deal for me. I feel that we are being obedient to the word that God has spoken to us. Now more than ever we are called to be His children and hearing His voice in His presence. That’s why we’re hiring a space to come together as part of His church.
And now that we’re getting nearer to it, I just wanted to say that we are going to have a combination of singing, quiet, and resting in God’s presence through music on each evening.
It would be good to remember that this idea of ‘waiting’ was the main point I made in my talk about how to prepare for God’s presence. Three of the realisations for me as I studied especially the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-135) were that while I find waiting hard, the good news is that waiting is broader than we realise it:
Watching is waiting
Serving is waiting
Resting is waiting
One of the helpful aspects to waiting is that it reminds us that we’re not in charge, but God is. And one of the most fabulous verses I found as I was looking at this was Isaiah 64:6 which says ‘For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him.’ What a promise! God to act on our behalf if we wait for Him. Let’s do it.
Someone’s voice is a powerful part of them and as I listened to an old talk by a former elder of our church I was also struck by the rich timbre of his voice, and the clear enunciation, which I had forgotten. A voice seems to bring a person back to us even when they’ve gone to glory. Isn’t it extraordinary that in a church I have lived in all my life, just a couple of words and instantly I know the voice!
It’s an old Sunday sermon by Norman Todd with this title ‘Excess Baggage’ which caught my eye. It struck me that Norman himself didn’t carry much excess baggage. I recall one elders prayer meeting at his house in Ellasdale Road where we had begun a discussion on a hot topic, and after a few minutes Norman expressed a view in no uncertain terms that we were here to pray! I also know that he spent a lot of time in personal work with those inside and outside the church.
Norman focuses quite a lot on Paul and the baggage he was carrying. He also comments that habits can be a problem – a good question to ask is whether the habit was formed from studying God’s Word or whether it’s come from the world.
I am so conscious of the excess baggage I carry; it’s definitely lightened the load to not have a permanent teaching contract any longer. Possessions can be a burden, so can relationships or even the remains of relationships. We must let go if we are to be fruitful for Him. He prunes those branches that do not bear fruit.
I was also reminded of a song by Steve Taylor which includes the phrase ‘excess baggage’. The chorus is: I just wanna know am I pulling people closer? I just wanna be pulling them to you. I just wanna stay angry at the evil. I just wanna be hungry for the true.
The song begins: Life’s too short for small talk. It really is, yet on we go having random conversations about the weather, ticket office closures, floods, fires – let’s bring these topics round to the glory of God and make a difference for him. When you’re running a race, you happily run light. He is calling us to run lighter.
The Lord reminded me of a verse earlier this week and was calling me into it:
21 Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
Parable of the Growing Seed
26 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; 32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.” 33 And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. 34 But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.
Picture of lamp full of oil. Put it under a basket could start a fire. Put a fire in the wrong place it can be a catastrophe.
We put a lot of pressure on ourselves.
Never saw a lamp struggling to shine.
A tree doesn’t strive.
With the right oil, it will burn brightly.
Where is the lamp?
Works-based approach. Not about where can I be in relation to God.
Can lead to a sense of failure.
If we’ve given our lives to Christ. He is our light. He shines.
What am I saying? I’m a bit embarrassed. I don’t want people to know about me.
People will start to know your relationship with God.
Am I positioning myself to allow Jesus to be revealed? I want others to see me.
Extremes: never witness. Never do street evangelism etc. where should I be? Visible. Maximum radiance in the room.
God has designed us uniquely. Our lamp stands might be different to each other. But we develop our relationship with God. We lay down some of our rights. We take steps of obedience and God positions us.
Get close to Jesus so he can put us where we need to be.
v.22. Sins might come out. Gives example of disorganisation that was hidden, and became exposed.
God said to Chris, you are my son, your identity is in the wrong place.
We don’t need to fear, even areas of weakness, God will bring restoration and healing, wants to give you a greater testimony.
As we walk with Jesus we sin less. Other temptations fall away as intimacy grows. A place of safety.
v23 – ears to hear, let him hear. God wants us to get this. Doesn’t want us to walk as slaves, bring the hidden things into the light.
Hear: we need obedience. We take steps.
Where am I?
Short prayer:
Video of a waterfall on Zomba mountain.
Mark 4:24. Equity is an ideal. Rights are important. Fairness isn’t necessarily God’s way. God’s Grace being poured out is biblical. Not everyone positions themselves to know him.
Take heed what you hear. We hear the right things, but we don’t act on it. God is always speaking to us. How much are we hearing? We might need but not hear.
Under the waterfall but unaware of what’s happening. We might be oblivious to letting it have an impact on our lives.
Faith is an action, not head knowledge.
I believe in Jesus, so I start to walk with him.
God has so much to impart. But we can’t handle it. He’s desperate to give you the next bit. As he hear and need he takes the measure and gives us more.
What is the amazing Christian life? One step of obedience followed by another step of obedience. God multiplies through us.
We have to surrender to God.
Who do we obey? Are we willing?
All of us are walking by faith. Even if we get a pay check? God,supplies for all his children.
[We don’t need a scarcity mindset! – My addition based on a talk I heard recently]
God wants his kingdom on earth and society transformed.
God’s kingdom is here because we are here.
Mark 4:25. If you stand under the waterfall, you will get wet. As God’s people are we willing to jump in, let others laugh at us, and go and stand where he is? If I’m standing where God is pouring it out, I will get his blessing. God is always loving and pouring out. But if we draw near we will experience his intimacy.
We can be fighting against him, and he put himself on the cross and says ‘I love you.’
God has been saying: I’m calling you to prayer, to intimacy. I’m calling you to worship, I’m calling you to true obedience every day.
Give us more trust in you. Let us use what you’ve given us.
Photo of maize, ready for harvest. One field not so good.
Mark 4.27.-29. Walking with Jesus is less about a roadmap and more like a relationship. You can’t live a relationship by following a book. There is a natural change. God transforms as us we allow the seed to grow.
We need the seed. This can apply to many areas. Walking with Jesus is not meant to be a morbid, sad thing.
We can’t sow the seed into our lives ourselves. Jesus does it in us. We get up and go to sleep, we look back and think, look what the Lord has done.
Areas we’re struggling with: normally we know how to take the first step. But we don’t want to take it. If I don’t take the steps we’re never going to see transformation.
God puts his finger on something as he wants us to be fully transformed. Rom 12.2
Lifelong process.
Grain ripening. Joel 3.13.
Our testimony becomes freedom for others. The sickle is ready. We have to allow God to do the process. There are people God wants you to lead. You pray. And then pick up the sickle to reap.
Mustard seed. The impact on society. Be obedient and you can have a massive impact. In your work. Let God use you. People change around you. What could Bognor look like if we were living in this way? We would see transformation.
Mark 16 – go and tell everyone.
Matthew 28 – go and disciple nations. Not individuals. Christian’s are called to show the nations how they should live.
Jesus explained to his disciples. This is key for us. God speaks to everyone. But he wants to reveal his secrets.
Fear of the Lord. God’s invitation to those who will be his disciples. Hatred for sin and a love of who He is. If he revealed his power we would die.
Fear of God which is an awe.
Ps 25:12-14. Him shall he teach in the way He chooses. Not in our way. We must surrender to him. If you fear the Lord you obey Him. Access to the riches of heaven. E.g. the prodigal son. The older son did not access the riches he had. Do we really believe we have the riches of heaven? We don’t need to wait for it. We have it already. Use Dad’s credit card. It helps us with faith.
Will we dwell in prosperity?
V.14 the secret of the Lord is with those who fear him. God’s secrets revealed to his disciples. We reveal our secrets to close friends. Family. He wants to reveal his secrets to us!
God has no shortage of secrets.
Show us his covenant. God goes through on his own, he holds up the bargain.
I’m sitting here having staggered down the stairs, and if I don’t write something now it’s possible I never will.
So, yesterday I ran the Southampton ABP (did a quick search to identify this acronym but there appears to be a wealth of options – ambulatory blood pressure seems appropriate?) Marathon. It was a cold and unforgiving morning, with a moody sky although it didn’t rain, and I kept myself going by thinking that at about 12pm the sun was supposed to come out; it didn’t! Technically the conditions were good – about 7 degrees, little wind, and not a drop of rain.
It’s cold – hurry up – I want to get my jumper back on!
I didn’t reflect much on this during the run, but I was reminded that it was Palm Sunday – I spotted a few churches who had opened their doors and were cheering runners on, and it’s actually really hard for me to schedule a race as due to road closure issues many road races are scheduled for Sundays, and it’s quite costly for me to miss a church service, and also quite painful spiritually. But while Palm Sunday stands for cheering on, crowds gathered in Jerusalem, everyone excited at who they think Jesus is – some kind of conquering hero, although almost a parody of that as he’s on a donkey, barely distinguishable above the crowd – it seems appropriate to be running on this day! Better than missing Resurrection Sunday, anyway.
I read the Bible on an app every day, with a few others, following the same plan, and this verse was highlighted this week by me and a friend:
John 12:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”
Somehow a marathon feels a little bit like ‘a dying’, and often seems to be accompanied with ‘fruit’, with personal growth, family bonding, deepening of connections with friends, colleagues and the community. Running is certainly a spiritual activity. I did realise towards the end that in not seeking sponsorship for this particular run – partly with cost of living in mind – I lacked a powerful motivator to keep going. Thankfully, I had my family at the end, which helped!
Technical
I was going to write some general then technical observations, but the General below took over, so suffice it to say that I hydrated well, took just enough gels – bought a caffeine gel just beforehand but it was too gloopy and I couldn’t manage more than a couple of mouthfuls – and while I didn’t run a consistent pace due to the hills, I kept myself for the most part between about 8:45 and 9:25 pace. As soon as I started drifting south of 9.30 I picked up the pace pretty sharpish, and whenever I was going 8.30 or faster (except coming downhill) I told myself to slow down. Actually, it was after the downward slopes where I just let the hill take me that it was hardest to get back to a steady pace.
I found myself in stages happy, focusing, scheming, angry (at all the hills they don’t tell you about – like that nasty little one in the housing estate on the loop between the Itchen Bridge crossings) and ultimately relieved to get across the finish line, and slightly incredulous that in the chip time I was just under 4 hours, which meant I achieved a PB! With the bits of cramp I kept having to stretch off in the last three miles, and the decision to walk up some of the slopes on the last Itchen crossing and the last loop, it’s amazing that happened. To be fair to the hilly course, what goes up must come down, and I made sure I came down fast, which probably helped.
I would also say this by way of pacing, that about mile 24 I was glancing at my overall time and saying to myself, okay I’ve got half an hour before the end, and I’ve got a bit of time in hand, (ten minutes per mile) but I’m glad I didn’t let up on pace, it seemed like at one stage I’d be able to come in 3:50 or something like that, but those last two miles on this course your legs (in my case untrained for hills) are gonna be tired. You cannot afford to drop the pace, but at the same time the mind games kick in, and it’s no good throwing your toys out the pram, you’ve just got to keep going and do what you can. I literally couldn’t believe, and my wife said so as well as they were waiting for me to appear on the Finish straight, that I had only a minute or so to get across that line under 4 hours, and my legs hardly seemed to be moving. At Southampton the crowd near the end bang the metal sidings and it makes a great noise that propels you along!
You can just see the metal ‘walls’ here that the spectators bang to support the runners!
General observations
Like I said, it was very cold at the start, and not much seemed to be happening in the Race Village. There were no tannoys or marshals telling you where to be. At least , that was my perception.My wife even accosted one poor competitor who happened to have ‘Race Marshall’ emblazoned on the back of his coat.
To be fair overall, I think they did a great job of organising this race and it was a fantastic experience!
Also I was glad I dropped my bag off early, as both the queue to the Guild Hall for bag drop off and the one for a row of toilets beside the Park were extensive. Brighton, in contrast, have far more toilets (then it’s a bigger crowd, I guess) and they have those mobile urinals which are so helpful for blokes. I gave up on all that, not wandered up (leaving family behind and urging them to find somewhere warm) beyond the pens for starting where a Wetherspoons had a warm toilet with hardly a queue. I kept an old woollen jumper with me, but there were no ‘discard’ bins so had to ask someone beyond the race barrier to bin it for me.
I mentioned the little things, that happen that are clearly planned in a day in my pre-marathon post. Finding a toilet without a queue was a good start, and then I had a brief conversation with a guy who was running the half, but had a pacemaker and, I think, limited time he told me. That he should choose to carry on running shows he’s making the most out of his life. How many incredible stories sit behind each of the 6,000 competitors for the three races here today?
I had a couple of dramas that those who know me well will not be surprised about. We had hardly started the race when my large water bottle slipped off my belt (I hadn’t put the bungee holder round it) and rolled onto the ground. Without missing a step, a kind runner behind me scooped it up and handed it to me. Shortly after, on my first run up the Itchen Bridge (which does afford splendid views of the river on both sides) I realised my running belt was too high up, and was starting to sheer off my race number from the safety pins.
For those unaware of how a race is timed, there is an incredible piece of technology called a race chip, that is sometimes fixed to your race number, and can occasionally be something you tie to your shoe. So when you cross the start line, the chip begins, and when you go back through it stops, an individualised time.
Visions of no chip time shot through my head, and I hopped up onto the pavement and re-pinned the number, and adjusted my belt so it was sitting on my hips not around my waist, and wouldn’t interfere. I also became quickly aware I needed the loo, but about mile 6 I spotted a portaloo en route and that made me more comfortable.
I had been a bit anxious with family and before the race started, but once we got going I was enjoying myself, and I think I can genuinely say the first loop round felt pretty good. A marathon is full of many tiny memories of small interactions, but they keep you going, distract you from the pounding of your feet. I’ve written once before that it does amaze me that ordinary folk whose houses are on the route bother to write supportive messages, stand outside with snacks for you, and cheer you on. You realise that it’s a long old time that runners are coming past, so it’s no small commitment. Just after the Itchen Bridge one family thoughtfully had a table with water cups on, although I did wonder and one marshall actually said as I returned back through, that it was really vodka.
There were some memorable members of scout troops grinning at you and supporting you, and many of those supporting made an effort to read your name off the race number. It’s more gruelling in some ways to continuously clap, so hats off to all the sterling Southampton citizens who distracted me and helped my run to be a little bit easier. One fellow club runner has a nice response to onlookers: Looking good! And I did this a few times, getting a smile back. Another contribution to the marathon experience is the choir by Itchen Bridge, and also the drum group, and the kettledrum/ukulele players who were positioned in a particularly welcome place near the end. How they managed to play kettledrums and ukulele with such energy, accuracy and synchronicity for over four hours, I don’t quite know. It leaves putting one foot in front of the other continuously in the shade!
In a moment, I want to reflect on the emotions and thoughts of the second loop. As I neared the end of the first loop, through the university road, there were young boys helping with clearing water bottles by chucking them along the verges. I commented to someone running by me, ‘They’re enjoying themselves!’ He remarked, ‘At least someone is!’ I could see he was finding it tough, and I said, ‘You doing the half? You haven’t got too far to go now. You’re doing well.’ It dawned on me that to complete the full marathon, here I was running at the same pace as some people (not everyone clearly) who were doing a half. All thanks to the excellent training I’d been able to do with our Tone Zone ‘Brighton marathon posse’ as our WhatsApp group is named. A WhatsApp, I might add, in which the frequency of posts has gone off the charts in the last couple of days.
The infamous Second Loop
As soon as we left the noise of the half marathon finish behind us, the runners were so spread out, on the second loop, and there was quite a gap between each one. You started to engage with pedestrians trying to cross the route, or feel as if you were on a normal run, and it went very quiet at points. On the first loop, after the long hill on Burgess Road, which climbed again I think to perhaps Glebe Road, I noticed that you got a pleasant stretch through the common (or a piece of woodland again) and I thought, I’ll enjoy that on the second loop. But I was too far gone to enjoy it! What was helpful was the occasional runner who I ran with for a bit and we helped each other on.
On the third time across the Itchen Bridge I was running up it with a guy, and I thought, he’s got a good pace on him I’ll match him, then after a few paces he started to flag, I kept going, and he managed to keep level, then I slowed, and he pushed on, so I followed. In other words, we pulled each other up the hill, and that little element of competition took our minds off the slope. In case I’d imagined it, he said ‘Thanks for that’ as we hit the downward slope, which I started taking at more of a pace than him and left him behind.
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Respect the distance: a marathon is not an easy proposition. In my pre-marathon blog I said, it’s not THAT long – well the last couple of miles sure seem it. I was going up the long hill on the second loop, and someone said ‘You’re nearly at the top,’ and I said ‘It feels like I’m not moving at all!’ and she kindly reassured me that I was.
There was also a runner with me, when we got to the top of Burgess Road hill, went ‘Yes!’ And it bothered me, so I said to him, ‘You do know that there’s another hill in a minute?’ And he grinned and said, ‘I know!’ We were running a similar race over that crucial mile 24/25 and he said to me at one point, only a mile to go! I stopped to stretch off a bit of cramp, and he said, ‘Are you okay?’ I think I was ahead of him at the end.
But it was on the second lap, as most of us just had our heads down, as it were, and we’re running our own race, that I thought in a flash that just like a race, all of us are on the same journey from cradle to grave. We are all going through the same experiences, just like in a race. We have all had sleepless nights. We’ve all been hurt by those we love. We’ve all experienced rejection. We have the same highs and lows, the same doubts about our value, about our purpose. And we owe it to each other to say, Well done. That’s fantastic! From time to time.
Heaven knows, many of those we encounter have probably had far more painful life experiences, bereavements, illness, setbacks than we have. Particularly those who are older than us. Some also have climbed far clear of wrong beginnings, as one poet has said. And life is short, and can be nasty and brutish. I got a flash of insight – as I so often do when running – that I can afford to stick my neck out, risk a snub, and say ‘Well done!’ to someone who needs to hear it, and I may never know what a difference that will make to them: how it might be the one factor that makes them determine to keep on going.
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A marathon is a very particular type of journey. As I was running the last mile or so, I have no idea what contortions were visible on my face. One marshall said, ‘You’re looking good!’ and I responded ‘I doubt that!’ Early on in the race you can high five the kids, you can grin at the cheerleaders, you can thank the marshalls. (Although, a caveat, doing too much high-fiving means you’re weaving across the course and will add unnecessary distance, and can affect your pace too. Which is why I take water with me and don’t mess around with the water stations, as I’m not THAT quick that it makes a difference).
But towards the end I can hardly give a flicker of recognition to those cheering, perhaps manage a thumbs up, and there are two things that are hard to cope with. One: those who say ‘You’re nearly there!’ (Because you’re not nearly there, sunshine, not until you can actually see the finish line, and even then you doubt that your legs can carry you that far). Secondly, all those going about their normal business who completely ignore you, as you’re suffering, as you’re pushing on. I charitably assume two things about people who I see as I’m trying to keep going at the end, who stare blankly at you. One, they’ve never run a marathon. And two, that they’re thinking that you’re a seasoned marathon runner who doesn’t need any encouragement.
It was only the shouted encouragement that got me through the last bit and miraculously brought me in just under 4 hours.
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Epilogue
Congratulations to you if you’ve read this far! I stopped, then I thought there might still be a few questions about the end of the race, so I’ll put list them briefly here. I hadn’t realised how young a race it is, as the inaugural event was in 2015, and Reesleisure have been responsive to feedback, such as reversing the route so you’re not facing the Itchen Bridge near the end, and staggering the race starts of the 10k and the half/full (these start together) so that the longer runners don’t face a ‘wall’ of 10k runners limiting their time!
If you’re fancying a more exotic marathon, and an excuse for travelling, the Lonely Planet has these suggestions for other marathons to try (I’ll be working on the family for these in the future, especially Loch Ness and Kenya).
Additional merits of the Southampton ABP include free provision of photographs (and I might add the best photos of myself – don’t comment on this – I’ve seen and the most), as well as the options of 10k and the half if you don’t fancy 26.2, and I’ve failed to mention part of the route includes running through the football stadium, which is memorable.
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So here we are:
– a lovely medal, solid, spinning disc centre, definitely stands out
– attractive Finisher’s T shirt, and nice little cup of iced tea poured out for you
– very slick bag drop but note you have to collect your bag and work out where it is in the Guild Hall at the end
– speaking of end, it’s a long trudge after the finish line down to the Plaza area to collect medal and snacks! Why so long, guys? I was wondering if it’s to stop us all collapsing? At Brighton last year I collapsed on stones on the beach and couldn’t get up!
– We went into the shopping centre (that was a long walk, family!) and to the Food Hall where we had a Pizza Hut meal to celebrate, as we miss the one in Bognor. The bill reminded me why we don’t buy one too often now!
– Then we had to get home to see the dog. But a great day, and my family squeezed in an IKEA trip between the marathon start and cheering me on at the finish, which meant they weren’t too cold. Bless.
Other posts about running that I’ve written in the past:
Staying Faithful 