Reality Check

There are seasons in our lives that always present opportunities for change. People can feel very frightened of change. We place our trust in the routine and rhythm of life and the path that we are walking, and we endure the storms that might want to blow us off course.

Some of these storms are the injustice we see in the world around us or in the opportunity that we believe we have been denied. Sometimes we are simply dissatisfied with our ‘lot’ and want change. Unfortunately, when we battle change, we pick up injuries along the way that can both bruise us and deeply wound us.

We all operate in this type of environment, where our encounters with people determine the direction our paths take. Unexpected challenge can threaten us in ways we are unfamiliar of; we experience challenges in areas of our lives that we are ill-equipped to handle, especially when we consider the consequences of the decisions that we make. There can be physical violence in all of its form’s, actual bodily harm to grievous bodily harm. There is the emotional scarring that comes from abusive relationships that use intimidation and malevolent behaviour as forms of control. Then there are the psychological weapons that people use to determine how they might get what they want from those they feel are vulnerable to coercion.

The natural scientists and indeed the reductionist view, may even argue that these states of human behaviour are part of man’s natural evolutionary path and there is no wrong in what is happening. It is simply humanities unchecked morality that is expressing itself without any artificial forms of control. Now this is a very liberal view of humanity where our actions are considered to be preconceived by the material body and the mind, reacting to causation that leads to these extreme behaviours.

Some have indeed argued that those who commit atrocities cannot help their human nature, as it is part of their human condition to behave and react in such ways. Indeed, to question ones human expression may ultimately be a form of control that is unhelpful to the natural course of events. The church is often seen as complicit in placing on humanities collective will, a set of man-made, self-serving, religious rules that seek to control a population for its own end. Humanity today has seemingly outgrown these superstitious and ‘evil’ practices as Dawkins would call them, in favour of science and reason.

In a secular view of the world, we can observe pockets of good-will and charity being expressed throughout the civilised world... we don't need religion to tell us to do this do we? These acts in themselves prove humanities desire to do ‘good’ and to help his fellow man in their pursuit of an egalitarian view of the world. A type of STAR TREK  world that was once described by Captain Picard to an alien race, where mankind seeks to better itself, providing opportunities for all peoples regardless of race, gender and sexual persuasion. Live and let live. This view is obscured through many man-made political and economic mechanisms such as capitalism or globalisation, which distort the natural condition of humanity, creating inequality. When these are banished, the world will finally be able to express its full humanity and rid itself of the corruption that exists today.

For now, we exist in an insular environment where we protect our families from the perceived threat at our door. We seek financial reward for the work we do so that we have the capacity to enrich our experience of this life and all of its pitfalls. We even disconnect ourselves from face-to-face experiences through social media and only invite people into our lives on the click of an editorial. We are caught between wanting to tell the world of our amazing experiences in life and the desire to protect our privacy from those who we deem to be a social pariah.

We all seem to have developed an intuitive distrust of those that want to break into our private domain, putting up barriers through the emotional and physical signals we display to others. Body language and the superficiality of our interactions can often betray how we really feel about people. We are so competitive for what we want to get from our interactions with our peers that you can now go on courses about the benefits of networking and socially interacting with colleagues whilst at work.

 

Our genuine relationships need no effort. It’s amazing that with friends you rarely see, you are able to pick up where you left off as though time was unimportant. In relationships built on trust, there are few barriers to what can be said and done. We appreciate their counsel and can accept it when criticism creeps in because you know that ultimately, they have your best interests at heart. However, it is increasingly hard to develop those types of relationships in our post-modern experiences of life.

 

I have seen my children struggle to develop bonds with their peers when their relationships have become exclusive. Often something has been either said or done, which is deemed by those in the centre, to exclude them from that group. My daughter particularly, has experienced being the un-cool child desperate for some attention from her peers.

 

We are relational creatures who crave attention from our associations with others and find it difficult in group settings, when our openness is crushed by the demonstrative nature of the group leaders. This is why social media is so compelling. We seek assurance from our relative anonymity whilst seeking self-expression… We accept friend requests or seek new followers as though it affirms us beyond the physical nature of our person.

Life is a complicated web of interactions spurred on by our dominant personalities and our emotional self-sufficiency. I work with colleagues at both sides of the personality spectrum. One is the eternal optimist who seems to relish each new day and has a positivity to his nature that can either be contagious or an annoyance. My other colleague is the moody one who brings his world into the office. His negativity can suck the joy out of the morning and the tension is so tangible it can appear visible. Who is to know what they carry with them in secret that helps to define who they are? We work alongside each other in a delicate interplay of respect and professional conduct that befit the setting we are in.

It is interesting to note that in my working environment, our relationships have never progressed beyond the functional boundaries that the job entails. We might describe our lives outside of our office but we never share in it. One colleague recently failed to turn up for his own ‘baby-shower’ even though it was proposed a month before hand. Aren’t we an odd bunch! There are others who crave a more dynamic and interesting social life to help counteract the pressure of a busy work-life balance where work seems to be too dominant. We look for ways to let-our-hair-down. In the UK, we live in a culture of working hard and partying hard, yet it is often when we have down-time, when we take time-out to have a vacation or take on other pursuits, that we can recognise we have something missing from our lives.

A poor work life balance can also lead to many different expressions of stress and anxiety. Some scientists say that our bodies suffer from the common cold because we have reached a specific pressure point where our physiology is worn out. We become vulnerable to physical and mental insecurities when we are run down, leaving us exposed to the virus that starts with a bit of tension in our shoulders or a nose that starts to produce too much mucus! I am certain that our elevated levels of blood pressure, heart disease, immune deficiencies, and digestive problems, all have contributory stress related causal effects.

Stress leads to a wide variety of social, emotional and physiological factors that can have other consequences. We manage our stress and anxiety issues through the comfort we derive from the lives that we live. The first being to protect that which we love and the second being to grab life as we know it with both hands because it will never come again.

Our bodies are amazing biological organisms that can absorb an inordinately large amount of abuse. Some believe that our bodies can endure this type of punishment without affecting our mind or even our soul, if such a thing exists. We still possess the ability to reason and to make informed decisions, despite the abuse we might inflict our bodies to. This type of lifestyle cannot endure. At some point, our physiology will start to fail; our ability to manage our indulgences against any addictive properties of the lifestyle we choose, can cause us to succumb to a need for more. And when we arrive at this point, what do we have?

There are those of us of a more timid character, who withdraw into a closed psychological perspective. This is where we seek to protect our vulnerabilities as a form of defence, by withdrawing from perceptions of threat. As we fear what we may be left exposed to, we construct sophisticated strategies to disengage from situations that we are unfamiliar with. This can have far reaching side effects, leading to anxiety and exposure to depression and illnesses such as agoraphobia or OCD… I don’t particularly like making telephone calls for example and I will avoid using them if I can as part of my control of this phobia.

The mind is a powerful organ, able to prepare our reactions to the causal effects of the information it processes from all of our senses. Some consider the brain to be a supercomputer that through experience and memory, responds to the situations we are presented with through causality. There are a variety of factors that cause us to react to the situations we face, with multiple consequence which then leads to intermediate effects. So we form habitual interactions with the world around us which we commit to memory, holding our reactions in reserve until we call on it through our reasoned responses to the situations we experience.

So we learn to interact with the world around us through a form of transactional analysis where we employ our personality and our cognition to determine our responses. These responses are regulated by our life experience, the expectations placed on us, or by the pressure we put ourselves under. Where we are familiar with an experience and our personality can accommodate the risk to our delicate persona, we embrace it as wholesome and good. Where we perceive a threat, we feel anxious as our brain triggers the correct serotonin level to induce that empty hollow, heart pounding, and pulse racing feeling that warns us off.

 

So how does this actually work? If we are just body and mind as the humanists would argue, then the relationship between our mind and our body would determine our actions. We would have no more claim to being sentient than the dolphin. If all that we are is a series of chemical changes that occurs in our brain, triggering our reactions based on the memory of our prior experiences, then why do we care about justice? If our brain responds to our reactions but it doesn’t feel what our bodies feel, then how are we to know what is right or what is wrong? 

 

Christians believe that our mind and bodies contain a soul… that human nature is a combination of our soul and our bodies working in union to correlate our emotional experiences with physical actions. To this end, we also possess a moral compass that helps us determine between what is wholesome and good and that which is destructive and bad.

 

However, our brain can’t feel… so what causes us to experience emotions such as fear or anxiety? We react to physiological, chemical and neurological signals in the brain which we interpret with a variety of filters or perceptions of fear that we have buried deep within our being. What helps us to interpret these perceptions of danger? When we recognise danger or a threat, our bodies are pre-conditioned by our brain to react as we choose fit. How do we determine what is a threat?

 

Our brain releases a series of chemicals that raises our heartbeat, quickens our breathing and tenses our muscles, placing us in a state of alert. We are put into a psychological position which we know today as fight or flight. Our assessment of the threat we might be exposed to, is a process of cognition, but how good are we at determining the level of risk to us? Which of our reactions are autonomous and which are cognitive? How does our mind precondition our bodies to inform our decision making?

If we learn certain behaviours in response to sets of circumstances, then we may find it difficult to alter our responses in favour of a more desirable action, when we see the deficiencies that exist within our original reaction.

Cognitive therapies can help us to learn new behaviours through building up our resilience in dealing with the circumstances that have triggered our initial response. We can learn to transform our behaviour and remove points of friction. We are often fighting against the hypothalamus, which triggers our fight of flight responses, by releasing adrenaline into our blood scheme. This then triggers our body’s natural administration of a cocktail of hormones that prepares our mind and our bodies to deal with the perception of threat. When this does not work, we can use medication to relieve our anxiety. Christians believe however, that our mind is renewed through the transformation of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to change our perspective of life's challenges and maintain a better balance in our reasoning.

So where do feelings such as anticipation or reaction originate? There are many of us who experience seemingly irrational phobias that debilitate us and there are also those who experience enjoyment from fear. Where we enjoy the adrenalin rush our body induces when watching horror movies or when riding a roller coaster. Some people seek ever more thrilling experiences from bungee jumping to skydiving and extreme sports. But are we not more than just natural stimulant junkies?

When we are unable to process the natural balance of our brain chemistry, we can seek to manage this through a variety of medications to block the receptors of the various hormones and the adrenalin that our bodies naturally dispense. It is always difficult to find the correct balance between our brain chemistry and our perception of danger, when our ability to process the demands of our lives have become disjointed. Where our perspective of life has become skewed, we can perceive danger or anxiously sense fear where none exists. This irrational thinking would point immediately perhaps to unresolved issues with the way we process the information our senses have gathered, or to an imbalance with our brain chemistry that would trap us in our fear.

From a psychological perspective, we could be dealing with issues for any number of thought processes that have become corrupted through our social interactions and our perception of self. Christians would tentatively suggest that these feelings of disconnection with our surroundings is part of the condition brought about by our separation from God.

We were designed to be in relationship with God at creation but due to our rebellion against the instruction he left for us, we were banished from paradise and have to work the land as part of the punishment for our indiscretion. Our experience of the different seasons, with its plenty at harvest times and fallow in the winter, reinforces the hardship that we experience, in order for us to identify what we truly want out of life.

So we continue to pursue the desires of our hearts through experiences, to bring meaning and fulfilment to our lives, particularly when times are hard. We try to maintain our sense of identity and have a sense of purpose because without it, we would be lost. Many of us have interests in the arts, humanities and sciences that require reasoned responses to often complex issues that form the basis of each discipline. We then use these to help us interact with the known world in order to give it meaning. 

Humanity prides itself on its ability to move forward in its understanding of the natural world. We live in a secular society free from religious interference, where man’s ingenuity has enabled those of us who live in the developed world, to enjoy a leisure based lifestyle where manual labour exists only for those that choose it, within some kind of utopian ideal.

So when we see pictures of horror in the news from war and disease to famine and drought we are inspired to offer a donation for the work of the charity that is directly involved in offering support, from the relative comfort of our arm chair. Some of us even go on trips to build schools, visit orphanage’s or provide clean water to crisis locations, before returning to the relative safety of our ordinary lives. Some of us choose vocations that serve the needs of people rather than in the support of commerce and financial gain.

These actions display the diversity of the human condition and it makes me wonder how, if our bodies are just a collection of neurons and chemicals that respond to our environment, we are all drawn into the types of occupations or areas of service that we are engaged with? Why, when we feel trapped by the situations we are in; where the hardships that we face each day trap us in un-happiness, do we dream of another life… a different life… a better life?

It is because we were designed for more. 

When we have the correct orientation of who we are and what we are to be, then we are able to endure all that life throws at us and to live it with passion. When we have the correct orientation with God, we suddenly recognise that we are more than the sum of our parts rather, we are ambassadors for God. When we know that we are not in self-serving occupations but in partnership with Jesus and his church, then we will have a sense of belonging that transcends all that this life offers. God calls us out from the ordinary and the everyday so that we might choose to live for him. Transformed by our encounter with God, we are better able to deal with the everyday because we are doing his work.

 

You might be a refuse operative, collecting the rubbish in the pouring rain. The stench of the decomposing trash on your clothing and the pace by which your bosses have told you to collect the refuse, means that you are running behind the truck grabbing the waste and flinging it into the back of the open hopper. You are hot, sweating, moaned at by passing motorists who think they have had to sit behind you for far too long because you seem to be moving too slowly. Coupled with the early mornings, low pay and the physical nature of the work, is it any wonder that you might hate it. But then, in hindsight, you do have a job and the pay is regular… of more importance to the Christian, is that God honours those who honour him through their work life. Honouring our employers with a fair day’s labour also honours our God who calls us to be his representatives on earth. In doing so, we are blessed, particularly if we have opportunity to express to others why we work as we do.

 

The apostle Paul spoke often of the inheritance that we receive through accepting Jesus into our lives. Many of the Jews and the Gentiles he talked to were not Roman citizens and so were in a kind of limbo with their identity and their sense of belonging in the land that they dwelt. Roman citizenship provided the protection of the empire, with all of the benefits of the law. Those non-Roman citizens were considered to be alien or slave and were certainly not free to do what they wished. Bound by regulation, the way that business was conducted and the forms of etiquette used, many were frustrated by their position in society.

As the Messiah, Jesus ushered in a new spiritual kingdom… one where the captives would be set free and the righteousness of God would bring justice and peace. Just as the robber who hung on the cross next to Jesus was offered a place in paradise, we too are offered the citizenship of the kingdom of God as co-heirs. We are adopted into Gods family and so become sons and daughters of the living God who came to rescue humanity from itself. No longer would humanity need to accept the overbearing nature of the etiquette of society and the hierarchy of status. Those who accept Jesus as their saviour are heirs to a kingdom based on Godly foundations.

This assurance meant that the early Christians were able to endure a huge amount of persecution because their hearts and minds were not responding to the fear of men, but in the hope of an eternal life, given as a free gift to all who call on Jesus for their salvation. Those early Christians knew that no human law or regulation could prevent them from experiencing the love of God. Many felt overjoyed at being emotionally and spiritually released from the oppression of an occupation by a ruthless and overbearing Roman army. The people also felt released from the oppression of the religious leaders who overwhelmed the Jews with temple rules and demands on their pocket.

 

We experience the same forms of oppression in our everyday experiences. Whether it be an employer or government official, those in authority can give an impression that we are subservient to their demands, believing that they can tells us what they want us to do, however unreasonable. We can look for justice and find none, we can look for an end to tyranny but find no peace. Only when we look beyond ourselves, will we be able to align body and soul to a better place.

Many scientists are in pursuit of discounting the God factor. Current thinking amongst the intellectuals is that the universe is so old that it transcends time and space… it has always existed and when it didn’t exist, we had nothingness. Out of the nothingness, came something, and that this something became the universe as we experience it today. So in essence, today’s scientists are saying no more than what our ancestors believed about the creation of the world. The account in Genesis 1 states that the world was without form and the spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters (v2). The water was an ancient metaphor used to separate the domain of God from our own existence. Into that emptiness, God said ‘let there be light.’

The author of the account of creation that we find in Genesis, believed by many to be Moses, was not a celebrated scientist or great philosopher. He was a leader of men who knew the heart of God and through whom God inspired to record the story of the beginning of civilization. The story is told so that out of the nothingness, we may find purpose. That man’s purpose was to fill the earth with the glory of God’s creation, men and women, so that we would all experience a symphony of life that revealed God’s true nature. Isn’t that what we all desire… a sense of belonging and connectedness that goes beyond our physical nature; to draw out meaning for our lives and our very existence?

Unfortunately, God’s plan for humanity was corrupted in the creation account by a fallen angel who thought himself greater than God. It is this same essence that is alive in each one of us today. We believe that we are stronger, wiser and better, than a superstitious belief in an unexplained deity whom we cannot see or hear. A deity who is disproved by modern science, and in whose existence we have outgrown. There are two great lines in the Avengers movie that cement the idea of our perception of how we view God. One is where Loki is stating that humanity is beneath his God-like status, to which the Hulk pulverises him. Then there’s the earlier Captain America quote: ‘There’s only one God Ma’am and he certainly doesn’t dress like that.’

Just as the fictional character Loki felt that he had grown beyond the shackles that his ethnicity and parenting had bound him, so we too seek assurance that we have become more than our ancestors.

We see many distinguished scientists, philosophers, politicians, despots, dictators, organisations and institutions making claims that they have learned all that there is to learn and know all there is to know.

 

These different factions grow so powerful that there can be a sense that there are no limits to what is achievable. In the UK, our media institutions, politicians and the security services have all been found complicit in a form of ‘information theft’ through covert surveillance. The information was not collected legally, nor was its use sanctioned by those it was taken from. These organisations believing that they had the moral authority to collect the information make themselves above the law, leaving them exposed for all to see their true nature.

Humanity proves again and again that left to its own checks and balances, it is unable to maintain an integrity that we can trust. So we find ourselves back in that place of irrational fear and fight or flight. That is why many people place their faith in God through the God we see in creation and the God who came to earth in the form of a man called Jesus. We can get to know Jesus because his humanity reveals the heart of God for his creation. Jesus says: ‘Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ (Matthew 11:38, NLT) Jesus says that he is the living water of life and that any who drink from his cup, would never thirst. Jesus also says that he is the bread of life that any who eat with him and remain in him, will find life.

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35, NLT) and “Those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." (John 4:14, NLT) or from the Old Testament we have Isaiah prophesying 600 years before Jesus was born, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” (Isaiah 51:1, NLT)

This free gift of living water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit which was poured out for all to receive at Pentecost (Acts 2). Jesus’ life marked the beginning of a new covenant between God and humanity through the death of his son. Jesus died so that the separation between God and his creation could be restored. This is why at times, we don’t experience God; we are headed in an opposite direction. Jesus points us back to the Father through his sacrifice on the cross. Jesus speaks to us all when he says believe in me and you are trusting in the Father also: ‘Jesus shouted to the crowds, "If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me.” (John 12.44, NLT)

So we invite the Holy Spirit into our hearts to reveal the love of God to us through the life of his son. The Holy Spirit transforms our hearts and our minds: there is no need to fear; there is nothing that will happen to us that God hasn’t already foreseen and made provision for. We are filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can do God’s work in this world; bringing peace and justice to the darkness that seeks to corrupt that which God made pure. Jesus sends his spirit so that we will not be alone and can endure the various attacks of the enemy that cause us to fear. The Holy Spirit brings true freedom from the shackles that bind us and releases us into a new life, deposited with a deep reassurance that we are citizens of God’s kingdom and are adopted into his family. The Holy Spirit fulfils that desire which is found in each one of us for reassurance and hope.
 

The Holy Spirit heals old wounds and enables us to break free from habitual patterns in our lives that cause us pain. He releases us into new forms of self-expression that only his Spirit can reveal. Where our minds and bodies have been corrupted by the sin in our lives, the Holy Spirit gently draws alongside us and reveals how we can change our nature into one that is wholesome. He does this in relationship with us and his gentleness is like that of a good friend who knows us better than we know ourselves. The Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit that we truly belong to God and is a constant source of strength when we are weak.

God has a ‘doing’ plan for our lives. Through the Holy Spirit, we can understand the demands of our journey so that we would no longer dwell in the injustice of our situation but rise above the ordinary, seeking out the beauty of his grace in all situations. When we can be trusted with the small things, then quite naturally, through our faithful obedience to his will, reading the Bible, listening to his voice in prayer and by being available, we will find that the bigger things in life are not so hard and our perspective of the way that we view the world, may not seem so cruel.

In this place we can truly feel safe, protected, and secure. When God is for us, who can stand against us? This is not an arrogant boast, rather one that is based on the experiences I have had of my walk with the father. I see people everyday struggle with their own mind, their security in who they are, the pressure to conform to the demands of this world, and my heart goes out to them. I pray that all of us get to know the Father whose son Jesus came into our world as a baby and through his humanity, understands my every need, hope, and dream. He stands before us and beckons us in to the comfort of his embrace. In that place, all of our pain and hurt is poured out. No longer do we need to mask our true nature… no longer do we need to bottle it all in like a poison corrupting our soul. Only Jesus can wipe away our tears, remove our shame and set us on our feet again.
 

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can change; and the wisdom to know the difference. (The serenity prayer)

 

This is my God, who everyday picks me up off the floor and sets me on the journey that he has mapped out for me. St. Peter tells us that for a time, we may have to endure all sorts of obstacles. Our faith in the security that God provides is tested so that we can know it to be true for ourselves. This encourages us to complete our journey, dependent on his power, rather than accept the life that this world offers, which is corrupted and leads to our destruction. Choose life, choose it today; put aside your fear and doubt; ask God to reveal himself to you through the resurrection of his son Jesus to new life and through the baptism of the Holy Spirit to restore your soul.

 

If you have made this step today, I welcome you into God’s family and ask that the Lord bless you and keep you safe. I pray that you experience his peace that is greater than any you have known before. I pray that the Holy Spirit fills you to overflowing so that you cannot contain it. I pray that you experience a touch from the father that brings life and freedom from whatever bonds hold you and that you seek out the truth through studying the Bible and joining a church community that you feel comfortable in.

 

God bless you.

Return of the King

I began writing the ‘Elephant in the Room’ as a response to how society deals with obvious ‘truth’ that is either ignored or left unaddressed, or at the very least, explained very poorly. I also wanted to use the blog to express my view of the obvious problems that people of faith experience in their walk with God. I do not profess to have any answers, just insights that you can either take or leave.

What I have found recently, is that no matter how persuasive the argument used to support a theological position or how concise the interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, in our post-modern context, where absolute truth is considered to be unattainable because it is impossible to prove, we can read something designed to build us up in our understanding of God and reject it out right because it doesn’t suit our thinking.

We are happy for others to believe what they feel is right, but won’t necessarily adopt the reasoning that they have used to reach this new level of understanding for our own spiritual journey. “What works for them is fine for them but I will go my own way.” We don’t want to do something that someone else has decided is best for them because we have not discovered it for ourselves. Just as many of us don’t like being told that we have done something wrong, neither do we enjoy being told that something is right and we ought to be doing it too. We see rules, protocols and legislation as mere killjoys to the accepted progression of our cultural expression and can feel curtailed by ‘red-tape.’

Our journey in life is exclusively about our own sense of satisfaction, which we derive from our experiences. We tend to only assimilate new truths about who we are and our purpose in the big scheme of things, when it has jumped out at us and slapped us in the face. Some things are so obvious, that we cannot see them when they are right under our noses, while other truths are hidden because we are unwilling to pay the cost in revealing it.

Many people have heard of C.S. Lewis, the author of the Narnia stories but not many people realise that he and J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings stories, were great friends who believed that they could reveal truth about God through a good story. Telling a story allows the reader to suspend their reasoning for the sake of accommodating the story line and the extraordinary exploits of the principle characters.

Frodo Baggins and his companions on their journey to destroy the ring of Sauron, found to their cost, that freedom comes at a price. The audience goes through the realisation and anxiety of Frodo grasping that his fate could possibly lead to his own destruction. At the end of the movies (I have only read the Hobbit I’m afraid), we have the moving scene where the heroes depart Eriador at Journeys end, saying their goodbye’s in an emotional farewell. We also bid an emotional farewell to the characters as we reflect on the story and its impact in shaping our own character.

I have to say this, I find Frodo annoying… yes, yes; he carries the evil ring with the lure of Sauron calling the ring back to himself, corrupting his soul and so, he was always going to get a little ‘tetchy’. However, when you consider how Samwise Gamgee deals with everything that Frodo lays on him, accusations of malice and deceit; we see how truly corrupted Frodo had become when mirrored against the character of Sam. Each character has to give of themselves, something that went beyond their natural abilities. Yet in that fellowship, they endure and persevere, going to extraordinary lengths to protect each other. The many off-shoots to the story also reveal that the courage of one man, or should I say, one halfling’s quest, encourages all who understand the challenge to extend their support for a noble cause.

We leave the cinema knowing that we have also been on an emotional journey and carry away aspects of what we have seen and heard into our everyday lives. In the story telling, we have suspended our sensibilities in favour of a new experience, knowing that it is after all, a movie. What would your reaction be then, if I mention that both the Narnia Stories and the Lord of the Rings trilogy were written to communicate the Gospel story of Jesus? It is more obvious in the Narnia Stories as Aslan represents Jesus. Aslan was sacrificed in order to pay the penalty of Edmunds indiscretion with the Ice Queen. It is not so easy to rationalise the Jesus story hidden within the subtext of the Tolkien stories because it has multiple layers.

One could argue that Gandalf and the spiritual nature of the Elves and Lady Galadriel, represent the work of the Holy Spirit. Urging Frodo on with their quest and providing protection from illness, poisoning and the wounds he received, as well as being physically equipped for the fight that lies ahead and the good counsel they offer. Certainly the fellowship is analogous of the church, where people are brought together from all corners of the known world under a common bond of trust and belonging to a kingdom far greater than their respective corners of middle earth.

It is Frodo that sacrifices his life for the sake of the shire and the protection of the world. Sauron is the archetypal evil figure, drawing strength from the innocent and those susceptible to his persuasion; to serve him out of a sense of duty through the threat of malevolence and intimidation. We observe how each character responds to the situations that they face and how the natural order is challenged by the forces stacked against them. We can question how we would react if faced with those circumstances ourselves and we can challenge our values and our moral compass as we watch the story unfold.

Using a story to convey conceptual information or to challenge us philosophically, is an art form that is still valuable in our contemporary secular society today. In the UK, stand-up comedians play to sell-our audiences because of their observations of our everyday ordinary lives in which they have found humour. Self-parody or irony is also a useful vehicle for humour as is sarcasm, but a rich storyline is vital to a good book. Heroes and villains, cops and robbers, lovers and cheaters all place our minds into impossible situations that we would not experience in the context of our own lives. When we suspend our reality to accommodate the world presented to us through the eyes of the story teller and make connections with that which we do know, we can be led to greater levels of understanding of who we are.

If we consider our own lives and the challenges we face, we can revel in our ability to navigate its currents and find dry land. We take courage in our ability to deal with our colleagues at work and the intricacies of family life. We enjoy our social lives and our hobbies. We increasingly secularise our experience and become self-confident in our ingenuity in solving our own problems. ‘There is no God… I have no need of one anyway! I am my own person and can form my own values and my own sense of what is good for me or what could be bad for me… Anyway, it is my choice if I over indulge in anything… I can handle it… I have no need of anyone to tell me otherwise.’

We are encouraged to seize the moment; to be assertive when demanding what we need from the circumstances or situations we are faced with. We are told that endless possibilities exist for those prepared to work for it; for those prepared to make sacrifices so that we might achieve that personal dream. No matter how secure we are in our own identity or the level of success that we have achieved, we can all experience seasons of loneliness, isolation, despair, hopelessness.

I’m not talking about the full-on psychologically debilitating episodes that those with mental health issues struggle with, but those quiet moments when you are in a crowded room full of people that you know; when you begin to feel distant from what is going on around you as though it is all too superficial.

What is it that can sustain us in these moments in time? Therapists would have us remember all of the positive elements to our lives, using them to comfort us in times of distress. Taking hold of the positive helps us to organise the present and move on. Many of us are able to distance our emotional health from our everyday experiences, believing that our occupations and our ability to satisfy our curiosity with the world around us can counteract any negativity with the way we feel.

There are any number of distractions to ease our hidden, deep-down fears. Wealth generation and materialism is the biggest European draw that encourages us to view the world positively which is indirectly linked to our occupations and our standard of education. We are given status within management structures and are rewarded with extravagant pay scales appropriate to our responsibilities.

We can then use this wealth to reward our hard work through our leisure time and ability to purchase possessions that bring enjoyment for a time. But like all material things, the emotional pick-me-up is transient and we look for the next thing that might secure our happiness. In the UK, our young people are courted by the lure of adulthood at increasingly younger ages. By 16, there is little left that they have not experienced, alcohol, drugs, sex… Similarly, the fear and hopelessness of the jobs market make some anxious for the future. Some hide in computer gaming and the avatar world, where the everyday routine can be forgotten for a time; rates of self-harm grow alarmingly high amongst young people, as does their dependence on anti-depressants.

As adults, we tend to leave these young people to fend for themselves and then publicly beat on them in the media as benefit scroungers who do not work. I was told an interesting story about the future of retail. Young people will find it increasingly hard to find work as a cashier in a local supermarket as customers will use hand held bar code scanners to log their purchases. There will be no need for people to sit on the check-out. The scanner can invoice the customer and pay through a cashless system. That is of course if we even need to visit the store. Distribution centres with full automation and internet transactions could mean we will all be shopping virtually. So what hope of careers for those who do not have the capacity to work beyond these semi-skilled occupations?

This week, members of the London Underground trades union called a 48hr strike because of the closure or ticket offices at tube stations and the redundancy that this will bring. I am told that even the drivers no longer drive the train; they are only employed to check that the safety brake is attended to as everything else is automated. So no wonder the jobs that require human beings are sought after and protected because there isn’t an alternative vocation to replace them.

So what is our story? How is it going so far? What happens next? Where does it all lead? Who do you turn to in the storms of life? What confidence do you have in humanities ability to find answers from within? How do you cope when things get on top of you and there seems to be no hope? These are difficult and deeply significant questions for our generation who have been promised the world, yet find that there are many hurdles to cross and too many closed doors.

To look at these issues, I will tell a story from my own life in the hope that through it, you may find the comfort that I have found in my journey. Some may think that faith is a superstitious make-believe which has no substance, but even those who do not believe in God, have periods of doubt in their experience… ‘Is this all there is? Is this all I am?’ The cries of our heart do not go unheard.

When I look back on my life I have a dark period where I was lost and searching for something more. As it is Valentine’s Day in the UK, it reminded me of when I was in a long term relationship with a childhood sweet-heart who I met when I was 17 and in whom I had been close to, before we both went off to different Universities. She was my companion in life’s journey and we enjoyed each other’s company. Going to University changed this relationship so that I began to question what it meant to me and whether it was time to move on. This was such a shock to her that I couldn’t bear watching the heart ache she clearly felt.

Being emotionally inexperienced and naïve, I relented in my resolve and tried to make up for this by proposing marriage! This was an ill-conceived move as we were both still students with a few years left of our degree courses to go with no real contact except for holiday’s and evening phone calls. However, I began to realise when talking with our college chaplain about preparing for marriage that I was not really ready for marriage. I felt that I was already trapped and powerless to stop this juggernaut of a relationship that appeared to have no brakes. I had no family back-up, no money and little understanding in what planning a wedding needed.

It was in this state that I first met the girl who would later become my wife. She was a University ‘fresher’ and I was introduced as the older student who could answer questions and offer advice to those with worries. My wife fondly remembers that she thought ‘I was a knob!’ What do they say about first impressions…? As a member of the Christian Union, our paths crossed a few times and it was obvious that Sarah was hurting. She was still grieving the death of a much loved granddad whom she felt had become disappointed in her behaviour, while being trapped in a relationship with a boy whom was by nature, controlling and physically abusive.

Sarah also felt isolated and alone, which was something that I could relate to and share my own experience with. I suppose too, that I was looking to escape my own troubles through supporting Sarah. This mutual support developed into a relationship which triggered my desire to break my commitment to my fiancé. It enabled me to make a choice and do what was best for me, knowing the consequences of the decision I had come to, didn’t make it any easier.

Sarah and I had a relationship where I as a mature Christian, tried to offer a Godly perspective of her life experiences with the help of other Christians in our college community. A couple of months or so later, we were all out at a Bonfire night where in the UK, we celebrate the uncovering of the gun powder plot under the houses of parliament on the 5^th November 1605 and one of the leader’s Guy Fawkes. The day is celebrated with an evening firework display.

Living in the city of York, the birthplace of Guy Fawkes with its rich historical architecture, we watched the fireworks being shot out of the top of Clifford’s Tower, a medieval keep sits on top of a mound originally built by William the Conqueror. This is when Sarah and I first expressed trust in each other as she grabbed my hand. As we stood there, I knew that something had changed between us.

My faith in God seemed to make it harder for me to accept how my emotions had begun to betray the feelings that I had for Sarah. It grieved me deeply to think about letting down someone I had shared a number of years of my life with and in whom we had shared experiences that were special. I felt guilty about developing my relationship with Sarah over that of my fiancé and I was desperately unhappy with myself for allowing this situation to develop as I felt it dishonoured God. I should actually have dealt with my feelings towards my fiancé, a long time before it had got this far but I felt powerless with no one to turn to for advice. My emotional inexperience made it impossible for me to deal with the situation as I simply hadn’t got the skills necessary to sort out the mess. I just wanted to run away and ignore it… if I ignored it for long enough, then it would simply go away wouldn’t it?

The distance we had apart had already contributed to the demise of our relationship so it became useful now as a barrier in dealing with the pain of the emotional fall out and the exasperation of the various factions that arose… the name calling, smear campaigns, underhand surveillance, turning friends against me. It was a horrible experience that stayed with me for a long time. Every time I began to feel settled in who I was in the eyes of God, the devil on my back would quickly squash any sense of esteem I had. Yet in all of this, Sarah had enabled me to feel a joy that I had never before felt possible for one as lowly as myself.

In my church life, I became subservient to others, never confident enough to state my mind or offer opinion because I felt guilty at what I had done. To add to this, after I had married Sarah a few years later, my ex fiancé had tracked my location and sent hate  letters to Sarah and even turned up on the doorstep accusing Sarah of ruining her life. I even had a letter posted in my internal mail at work. This was the days before mobiles, the internet and social media. The letter was unaddressed and appeared to be from a colleague in the school I worked in, a good 10 years later, telling me what an awful person I was and how I needed to apologise for my actions.

You have to understand that as a Christian, I had been to all of the talks about relationship ‘do’s and don’ts’ and felt like I was an unworthy person because I had broken the rules. I felt that I was not able to receive the love of God because of what I had done. Believe me when I say I felt guilt like a great weight upon my shoulders oppressing me like a thundercloud. Whenever I was criticised or passed over by peers and colleagues in my church life and work life, I felt that I deserved to be left out because of this secret sin of a failed relationship and the heartache I had caused.

The opposite was also true. Whenever I was invited to serve in more visible ministries such as leading a house group or leading worship in church, I would always feel that I could do it and it was an honour to be asked to do so, but I would be racked with self-doubt. Such was my need for reassurance that I sought the favour of those in leadership and fell out of love with what Christian service was actually meant to mean, through the wrongful pursuit of men’s praise rather than that of Gods.

Throughout all of this, God was quietly willing me on. There were times when I was so overcome by my own needs that I drowned God’s voice out and could not hear him. There were times too, when I was just so busy with life that I lost out on hearing his voice calling me back to himself. There were also times when I walked to places that he could not follow for he is Holy. Like the parable that Jesus told, of a father who lost his son when he sought sanctuary in the trappings of life, I know that God waited patiently, watching for the horizon to catch sight of his returning son so he could run out and greet me with a fathers embrace (Luke 15:11-32).

Jesus talks about people having to lose things of value in order for us to find ourselves; we lose our lives in order to save it (Matthew16:25). At the time of my relationship meltdown, I was a religious man, living a legalistic Christian lifestyle, who wore his Sunday best to church as though that earned me extra points before God. God had to break this stuff off my character so that the treasure within my heart could be unearthed. My goodness, it has been painful. The more that I searched for the fathers heart, the brighter the light of Jesus shone into the areas of my life that he wanted me to lay down.

One of my favourite worship albums at the moment is Samuel Lane’s ‘The Fire’. In one song, he uses one of my favourite passages of scripture in the lyric. It goes like this: Lord, I look to your cross, and the life you laid down, you are my God. Lord, you had mercy on me, drew the line in the sand, you are my God. I will worship you, I will worship you, my redeemer lives; Jesus I worship you. Lord, how you love each one of us, risen one so glorious, you are our God. Lord, how you saved us all, let our joy be restored, you are our God.

I know with assurance that my past is truly behind me. Jesus has drawn a line in the sand. There is no one to condemn me for my past actions. I know this because Jesus was crucified on a cross so that he could pay the debt that I owe. I owe a great debt to God for the heartache I have caused, and the choices I make that do not bring honour to his name. Jesus has paid this debt despite him knowing I was to blame… It is Jesus that holds out his hand and says come follow me and I will give you rest. So I pledge to honour him with my life. The woman who was standing at the well was told to go home and turn away from her wrong doing (John 4:1-38); the outcast was invited in to eat with Jesus and learn of the kingdom to come (Mark 1:40-2:17).

We are but strangers in this world, passing through… we are offered citizenship to a new  kingdom where no moss grows or rust can destroy… there will be no more mourning, no more pain, no more suffering. We will be given a new body, free from the ravages of time, disease and death. I know this to be true because Jesus rose from his grave three days after they buried him and revealed himself to his friends and followers so that they would believe it was true. He then gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit so that they could be empowered by the same spirit that lived in Jesus. This same spirit is available to us today, right here, right now.

Where the enemy will try to rob, steal and destroy that which God freely offers us, we know that if we stand firm in the knowledge that Jesus died for us, we will endure even if it may hurt for a while. God allows nothing more than we can bear. He is always watching, always hoping, always giving, always blessing… when we are down he is our champion, willing us on to our final destination where we say farewell to this life and look forward to the next.

This is my confidence in times of despair, hurt and sorrow. When life is grey and overcast, Jesus is the light in that darkness. When we live in his light, we do not need to fear the unknown because we are not alone. Jesus walks before us in whose footsteps I will gladly tread for he is worthy of my praise and he equips me for the journey. So do not fear tomorrow, for it is in his hands. Instead, rest in Jesus’ provision for today for he will be alongside us, urging us forward… He is my ever present hope in times of trouble, of which I hope that you will embrace to.

This is difficult to achieve because we are intensely private people. We work hard to provide for our families and to enjoy the fruits of our labour. We have a professional public life and a private home life which we tend to keep secret. Like the hobbit who never left the shire, we too like to keep what we hold precious, secret to all but our most intimate family and friends. We are guarded about anyone who wants too much of us or gets too close. It’s why today we can live in communities where neighbours in the same street do not know each other.

God calls us into fellowship with each other as part of a wider family that represents his nature here on earth. We call this place the church. It is a place where we can meet together to publicly declare that we have a faith in his son Jesus. Our faith transforms our private affirmation of what Jesus has done for us into a public celebration of praise and honour for the one who has rescued us. This does seem peculiar to our insular western lifestyles because this act of public worship does not fit into any kind of accepted behaviour for the conduct of men and women. It goes against the flow of society to declare faith in God so we fear the treatment we might receive when from people, when we declare to those around us that God is real.

‘Hey, I’m getting out of this rat race… nothing I do is ever good enough… there is always the next deal to chase after when I’m still tired after securing the last transaction… holiday experiences become transient memories… our friends suffer, we grow old, disappointment can often be more familiar than joy. I’m going to put my faith in God who never changes and in whom I can trust because he sent his son Jesus to rescue me from the rat race of life and he gives me an eternal citizenship in heaven.’

As a citizen of the UK, I am signed up to receive the protection of the government and the associated benefits it offers such as education, healthcare, pension and welfare. By accepting Jesus’ offer of citizenship into his Kingdom, I no longer hold onto human standards but live in the hope of an eternal salvation that cannot be destroyed by the actions of men and women. It is in God’ promises that I place my trust, rather than the transient nature of this world. This truth transforms my perception of what it means to be truly alive and in who I am as a child of God. I learn to understand that the line has truly been drawn in the sand over my past and I can only look forward with optimism for what is to come.

I invite you to recommit yourselves to honouring the creator God who knows us better than we know ourselves by stepping out from the safety of our private reflections into a faith life that is Christ centred. Without God, we will always be in conflict between two worlds, torn between our human nature which often prompts us to do wrong and our conscience which urges us to do the right thing. Our Antagonistic nature gets crossed up in our emotions, keeping us in a personal state of instability doing we battle with our desire and our feelings.

King David was one such man whose heart’s desire was to honour God. Yet in a moment of weakness when he should have been in battle, he happened to notice from the window of his palace a beautiful woman bathing. A web of deceit, lies and miss direction ultimately leads to murder and the eventual uncovering of this sordid affair. David knew that he had been caught out when the prophet Nathan was instructed by God to confront David for what he had done.

Psalm 51 was written by David when he was caught out for his misdeeds and it reflects how he recognised that he could no longer hide the truth and instead he is moved to confession. Read through the psalm and reflect on why we do the things we do. Declare with David how the things that we have pursued in the past have not been exactly appropriate to what God has willed for our lives and ask for his renewal through being filled by the Holy Spirit… Amen

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love.

Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.

Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.

For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.

Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just. For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there. Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice. Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you... You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

(Psalm 51, New Living Translation)