Archive for the 'My Pilgrimage' Category

Privilege

Published
by
Graeme
on August 12, 2008
in My Pilgrimage
. 3 Comments

It’s strange to think that I only have two Sundays left in charge of the corps here in Godalming. We have had a challenging year in some ways, what with knowing that the appointment would most likely be for just one year and that we also had to adjust back to living in the UK after 6 years in Latvia. At times things have been difficult, in fact at times they have been quite demoralising, but God has brought me through the experience wiser and stronger in my faith.

This coming Sunday evening will be the highlight of the year for me personally. Why? Well I will be enrolling a soldier! To see the way this mature woman has grown in her faith is such an encouragement and as we shared together last night she said the following,

“The only thing now is that I have to study the Bible more. Not because I’m supposed to but because I want to!”

Says it all really, doesn’t it! I have to admit that I was almost skipping down the road as I walked home beaming with pleasure.

Worthy conduct

Published
by
Graeme
on August 1, 2008
in My Pilgrimage
. 1 Comment

I’ve been catching up recently on some old sermons on my iPod. In particular I listen to Rob Bell, although admitting that might get me challenged by some. For some time now he’s been going through Philippians and he recently spoke on Phil 1:27Open Link in New Window which says:

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

I’d not really noticed this particular phrase before, although I must have read it at some stage. However, in listening to this sermon the words really challenged me.

What sort of reaction do I have to certain situations? What do I say or do? How do I act? Are all these things consistently worthy of the gospel, or do I end up letting the gospel down? If I’m honest the latter is true. Too often in my own life my conduct isn’t worthy of the gospel. I’ve seen an improvement over the last 18 months, but I’m still quite a way from where I should be.

Can you imagine though what would happen if Christians were to act worthily all the time?

Seeing bigger II

Published
by
Graeme
on July 16, 2008
in My Pilgrimage
. 0 Comments

Following on from the last post, in Donald Miller’s ‘Searching for God knows what’ there is a section where Miller talks about how big we see God. Basically, he takes us to the burning bush encounter where Moses asks God who he should say sent him to release the enslaved Israelites. Of course God responds simply, “I AM who I AM”

Here’s what Miller says:

God did not answer, “I EXIST,” of offer one of His names, all of which are metaphors invented for humans, but rather, “I AM.” Climbing inside letters, God explains, I encompass, I am beyond existence, I am nothing you will understand, I have no beginning and no end, I am not like you, and yet I AM.
pg 147 - Miller, D., (2004) Searching for God knows what, Nelson Books

We try so hard to define God by adding to His name. Of course we have to try to make sense of Him as we learn about Him, but we should not limit Him to our own understanding or thoughts.

I suppose it comes down to what sort of God we want to have a faith in. Do we want to have a faith in a God that we can understand and doesn’t make a mess of our lives? Or do we want to have a faith that constantly challenges the boundaries of our perceptions; that is constantly stretched so that we grow deeper in our faith because the God we worship is always surprising us by revealing something new about Himself?

Seeing bigger

Published
by
Graeme
on July 15, 2008
in Faith and My Pilgrimage
. 1 Comment

The other evening Zoe & I were sat up talking and at one point we were talking about God and how small some people’s image of God is. As we talked I got the memory of a song that I remember being sung by a guy who I really respected about 20 years ago. I have no idea whether it was a song written by him, or by someone else, but it was called ‘God in a Box’. I can’t even remember how the song goes, but the title has stuck with me ever since.

There really is a sense in which we have tried to stick God in a box in our faith. The size of the box varies from person to person and the contents vary on the basis of our theological and political worldview, but on the whole many of us have God stuck into a box like so much screwed up newspaper. I guess that this is some sort of defence mechanism in many ways simply because God is too big for us to understand.

If, by dint of some relevation we have managed to get God out of the box, many of us still manage to restrict our view of Him. We tend to look out of a set of windows that surround us and can see aspects of God. So some will look out at Him through the window of Wesleyan Holiness, others through the window of Pentecostalism, still others through the windows of Roman Catholism. To these we can add windows of conservatism, liberalism, progressiveism etc. But our view is still limited! It’s still an attempt for us to constrain a God that trancends constraining.

It reminds me of the Dougie Dug Dug song, “Have we made our God too small?”

The other day Zoe blogged on a quote from Bill Hybels that talks about being a Prayer Warrior! Hybels said this:

A ‘prayer warrior’ is a person who is convinced that God is omnipotent - that God has the power to do anything, to change anyone and to intervene in any circumstance.

We believe in the omnipotence of God, but subconciously I think we’re terrified by it. It is simply too big for us to comprehend and consequently our minds retreat into a safety net of boxing God in, or looking at Him through from the safety of a window.

What would our faith look like if, instead of trying to understand God from our point of view, we were simply to allow God to speak to us? Instead of us trying to fit God into a nice little box that suited our own ideas or looking at Him through the windows of our own liking, what would happen if we entered a dialogue with Him, with a totally open mind, that allowed Him to shape our views?

Soldiership as Discipleship

Published
by
Graeme
on June 19, 2008
in My Pilgrimage, The Salvation Army and discipleship
. 2 Comments

It’s now more than 10 years since the International Spiritual Life Commission reported their thoughts to The Salvation Army. Unfortunately, in some areas the emphasis has been placed more on what they didn’t do, especially in terms of baptism and the eucharist, than on the calls that they made to Salvationists and the corps they are part of.

I’ve been looking at them recently and within the Call to Soldiership I discovered this:

“We believe that soldiership is discipleship…”

The reality is though that for many soldiers, soldiership has actually been a route to playing an active part in the life of the ‘club’ rather than a commitment to radical, life-changing service. The Articles of War, or Soldier’s Covenant, that they signed hasn’t really made a significant impact on their lives. Why this is the case has been discussed a lot in recent days and in my opinion is a combination of poor teaching, an emphasis on ‘Army’ subculture rather than mission, poor leadership and changing times.

When you read the Soldier’s Covenant it really requires a radical commitment. Too often the emphasis has been placed on the commitments not to drink and being active as is possible in the corps programme, rather than on those of response and obedience to the Holy Spirit and living by Kingdom values.

I heard today of two corps which are well known in this Territory that have changed the format of their evening meetings. The band and songsters are now only on duty about once a month and when they are not taking part the majority of the members are absent. When one of the corps has a Bible Study they only get about 25% of the number of people who go when the band or songsters are taking part. Is this radical commitment to the Lord, or is it membership of an interest group?

Real discipleship is costly not cosy. Yet despite this cost it ultimately leads to a life that is defined by the beauty of a relationship with the Father and assurance in His promises.

The greatest of these is…

Published
by
Graeme
on June 5, 2008
in My Pilgrimage
. 1 Comment

I was reminded this week of something that a great writer once said: “Three things will last forever; faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” If he’s right, I sometimes wonder if those with seemingly little faith, but out loving and serving people, might have a leg up on those who spent so much time hanging out in the church building “serving the Lord”. If love is greater than faith, quite a few of us may need to change our weekly planners up a bit.

Over on another blog (forgot to make note of where) I saw the above comment and it made me sit up and think hard, especially in the light of the conversation that I shared in my last post.

Love for God and for others were the two most important commands that Jesus gave; love is first within the list of the fruit of the Spirit; and Paul tells us that love is greater than faith and hope. We need to make sure that love is central to our walk as disciples of Jesus and there is no place in our lives for anything that detracts from that love.

Moving on

Published
by
Graeme
on May 23, 2008
in My Pilgrimage
. 2 Comments

Well the news is out and its now official that Zoe & I have been accepted to train to become Salvation Army officers starting in September 2008. This means that in around 3 months time (eek) we will be packing up and heading off to Camberwell to become members of the Prayer Warriors session at the William Booth College.

We’re not looking forward to the whole moving thing, but are looking forward to the training and studying bit. Sian thinks its amusing that Mummy & Daddy are going to be starting school at the same time as she does!