I’m currently reading God in All Things by Gerard W Hughes and whilst I cannot agree with some of the stuff that Hughes writes, there have been a number of thought-provoking bits so far.
Last night I read the following:
We are told that two-thirds of the people of Britain are financially better-off and that per capita consumption is higher than ever before. A recent poll indicates that the British people are less happy than at any earlier period. Is this because deep down desires are being ignored or repressed?”
pg 83-84
It’s difficult making judgements about the UK having been away for 5 years, but if I look around Latvia I can see how society has become very much about the pursuit of superficial desires. The pursuit of beauty has become almost an obsession, at least it seems to have done in Riga, and this was exemplified by the car license plate “Beauty” that I saw a few months ago. We have TV programmes that offer a complete make-over, including plastic surgery, to make people more attractive.
But are people really happy? After only 15 years of renewed independance voter turnout in elections is dropping because of disillusionment over corruption. In reality change has happened so fast and has been controlled by a relatively small financial and political ‘elite’ that many people are left shocked by the transition. All around us we see evidence of deep depression, usually coupled with extreme poverty.
People are looking for something deeper. Something is pulling at them but they can’t work out what it is. They are searching and few are finding, so instead they seek what can be found easily and take refuge in what society says they need.
The Church has a challenge ahead of it to communicate that God is the ‘thing’ that people are seeking. When the doors opened after independance this was almost too easy, but now Latvian society has been seduced by the false gods of capitalism, wealth and beauty. Even some of the churches have been as well. But to answer this deep desire of people’s hearts with more superficiality is selling out the Gospel. We need to find ways to communicate the true depth there is following Jesus and the breadth of his teaching.
So NATO has arrived in Latvia and over the course of today the likes of George W Bush, Tony Blair, Angela Mertel and Jacques Chirac will be arriving. To ‘celebrate’ this event Riga is pretty much shut down, although some shops are probably open.
Consequently the vast majority of people have the day of work and it definitely shows. Looking out our bedroom window this morning it was comparable to January 1st, which is the only day in Latvia when everything shuts down. Only the occasional car drove past and there weren’t many people walking along the road either.
The key word for this summit is Transformation and it reminded me that this is the business that we are in. Back in August we had our own ’summit’ in The Salvation Army in Latvia, well it was really a leaders’ retreat, and we spent the time looking at the subject of transformation as well. I took loads of notes but have held off posting about them as I really wanted to get them sorted in my own mind.
One of the things I took away though was that transformation has to start with ourselves. Whilst we know we have to go first to God to get His guidance on any issue, it seems that our logical next step is to look outside of ourselves. Whether this be transformation in the Church, society or individuals, the process has to start with a change of attitude or thoughts in our own heart and mind.
I pray that after listening to God I will be open to His leading to look inwards as well as outwards.
Today saw the release of a new Phil Laeger EP which is available for free. I downloaded it this morning and have already listened to it and it is superb. You can listen online at his site and it is well worth it!
If you’re interested click here and have a listen.
Here is a picture of Sian on her 3rd birthday enjoying a milkshake with Tigger. She had a great day and we love her very much!
On one of the blogs I read there are some videos exposing the financial affairs of Benny Hinn and his ministry. Now I purposefully don’t want to criticise people directly on this blog so I’ll keep my personal opinions of this man and others like him to myself. What is interesting to me though is the ease with which some Christians build their ministries into multi-million dollar corporate machines, and how easily many Christians seem to be willing to support these ministries.
It seems that people can’t seem to accept the pricelessness of God’s grace. It is probably the only thing that is truly priceless in this world. Why? Because Jesus has already bought it for anyone who is willing to accept the gift. The problem is that it seems that people truly believe that there is no such thing as a “free lunch”. We are always looking for the catch. In a world where money seems to be able to buy anything is it such a big leap that people think that it will also buy healing and salvation?
It strikes me as a very similar thing to that which Martin Luther fought against when he questioned the selling of indulgences by the Church.
The problem is probably of our own making. For centuries the Church’s structures have built a barrier between man and God in just the same way as the curtain in the Temple. These can be as big as doctrinal issues and as small as styles of worship or even the way we act. Is it any wonder that God’s grace seems to come at a price?
Today is the most important day of the year for Latvians as the 18th November is Independence Day when they celebrate the first independence from 1918. It is especially important because this first period of self rule lasted only 22 years before the Soviet troops reoccupied the country. This occupation lasted over 50 years before a renewal of independence in 1991.
For us though in the Smith household this day calls for a double celebration as at 5:58am on 18th November 2003 Sian Zoe Smith entered the world. So tomorrow our wonderful, precocious, strong-willed and beautiful little girl reaches the ripe old age of 3. It is frightening to think how quickly she is growing up and how many things have changed over just the last year, but she gives us so much joy that all the hardships are more than worth it.
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