Spring Forward

It seems to have been a long winter for the start of 2014. In the UK, the snow blizzards experienced in the USA had travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to become stormy weather that battered our sea defences, flooding many acres of land, cutting off communities and trapping people in their homes. The unnatural rainfall was subsequently blamed on global warming with many scientists publishing papers backing up their claims and political sound-bite blaming the government for not doing enough.

Come the spring, and the extra daylight saving that British Summer Time brings, the plight of others and the world outside our window will dissipate as we anticipate what the warmer weather might bring to us personally. Living in a traditional British costal town within an hour of London adds to the tourism and traffic that clogs up our road network that was designed centuries ago, real evidence that our community has awoken from the winter slumber.

 

Like all things, our worries that we carry with us, change with each new season. I have been putting 70hr weeks into my job in order to meet April deadlines, of which I am now sat at my dining room table in the spring rain and grey overcast skies, waiting for the next season to begin. When we are so busy, there are so many things that we take for granted, and other things that we neglect. I take it for granted that my wife patiently gets on with family life when I am absent, recognising that I am being indulgent in my use of our family time because of the skilful way in which she manages our home.

 

There are many friendships that I fail in as a friend when I am busy; no man is an island. In the organised chaos of our fractured work-life balance, I might manage an odd hello or a Facebook message but quality time is a fleeting thing. People, friends and family deserve more than a cursory hello, which in times of busyness, is all I can rather rudely manage. There are many things that we can indulgently obsess over to the detriment of other situations in our lives but we are fickle like that.

 

Before we are truly aware of what we have become, there are a whole host of hang-ups and miscommunication that we have to deal with, adding an extra layer of complexity to an already overflowing concoction of misplaced sensibilities that cloud our judgements and overcomplicate life.


For example, I have been using a road on my journey to work for a number of years. As is often the case in local road networks, you get familiar with the obvious… the crossing lady in front of the school, the pedestrian crossing, the bus stop and the right turn where waiting motorists always block the carriageway. Then there is the popular convenience store with too-few parking spaces for the number of visitors and the ever-present delivery truck blocking the road.

 

All of these hazards and warnings should make me cautious about the level of concentration and observation that I ought to give to the situation I encounter each morning. Yet on Friday I happened to notice a small red sign stating: ‘New 30mph Speed Limit in Force’.

I had never noticed the sign before, nor had I any indication from the traffic I was travelling in, that they had either. The next day I looked for the position that the original 40mph signs were once erected and indeed, they had gone. Eye’s peeled, I travelled along the road for a while before noticing their new location about ½ of a mile further down from their original location.

 

The rules of the road for that short journey had now changed overnight without me even being aware. It meant that I was now in a position to violate a number of traffic laws concerning the speed now accepted on that stretch of road. In the UK, we have this weird law that states that roadside lighting pillars in urban areas are placed approximately 30ft apart. Motorists who are unaware of the speed of the road they are travelling on should take notice of the distance of each road-side light to help the driver determine what the speed we should be actually travelling at is... it would be a maximum 30mph unless a sign tells you something more specific.

 

The law is designed for those of us who register for a driving licence, to encourage us to use our reasoning in obeying the rules of the road. There are absolute rules of the road that are applied to all circumstances, even if it is not immediately obvious what rules of the road those circumstances dictate to. If we stuck signs up all over the road side stating what the rules of the road are, if would be a forest of metal poles and light refracting signage. It would simply look terrible if in front of some of our Roman and Medieval towns and villages; blotting out the view with speed restriction signs and warnings of elderly people crossing.

 

In life too, we seek to free ourselves from the shackles of too much red-tape. Social etiquette, professional conduct, parental will, religious instruction, political control all combine to influence our perspective of the risks we can take and the controls we put on our conduct. In our teenage years, we dream about the freedom of adulthood and the opportunity of the lives we can live, then in our 20’s as young adults on the first rung of our careers, we have that bit of money in our pocket that empowers us to start our adventures and perhaps, find that connection with the world in which we live.

 

Youth brings a certain determination to make something more of ourselves than possibly our breeding and circumstance might allow, and we strive forward to make an impact in our corner of the world. The people that we meet and the situations we find ourselves in, shape us into who we become. Life can be colourful for those who embrace all that there is to offer and have the financial means and professional success to bring to life those childhood dreams. There are those too who do not seem to get the same breaks in life and fail to realise the potential inside them for whatever reason because the opportunities never seemed to materialise.

 

For most of us, the idealism of youth becomes the realism of our adulthood and the foundation for parenthood. In the words of John Lennon: ‘You can say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one, I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one’. Lennon was singing of a human consciousness, the brotherhood of man, who had no allegiance to a creed or country, money or possessions. That there would be no heaven or hell so therefore no rules to judge humanity by and no condemnation. Without these things, the world would be one.

 

Like my journey to work, if I was to travel free of restrictions, governed by the brotherhood of man, I might not get to my destination in one piece. Each day with the rules of the road common to each driver, I have motorists tailgating my car when I am already over  the 30mph limit… motorists pulling out in front of my car because their journeys are more important… and evidence of mobile phone use while driving, illegal in the UK, impeding the drivers ability to pilot their vehicle. I’m not sure that I can always trust my fellow man to make sensible decisions when driving, let alone with my health care, quality of education or indeed, the protection of my family.


"There will always be another person out there who will employ their own world view in situations that might contravene our own considerations."

Indeed, our sensibilities can be considered to be second rate or outdated in the light of this new collective consciousness. Lennon also sang about the need to deny religion and country in favour of his utopian ideal and the societal organisation that might arise from it, because it would be better than what we have today. However, in suggesting that his view was somehow better is in itself, a judgemental attitude towards the values that those countries and religions have. That somehow his way was better is an illusion of his own mind.

 

All of the major religions follow similar ideals to better humanity and to draw it together in unity under one banner. None of them suggest that men should take up arms to force this banner over everyone except when man gets involved with organising religion. When man tries to do the work of God, there are always issues just as those politicians and governments who are supposed to represent the will of the people, get it wrong. Whether it be politics or religion, fault can always be lain at the feet of those dispensing it. People come and go, but the institution that remains stands testimony to the journey of those that have walked along its path, whether they be good or bad.

 

And so, like our own lives, we have to decide for ourselves what it is we want to believe: To determine what truth is and what is untruth. We often need to look beyond our own reasoning to be able to determine what objective truth is because we recognise that our interpretation of the truth is corrupted by our own reasoning that has become bruised along life’s journey. If we are to become mature in this life, we need to seek assurance, without prejudice or through any preconceived ideas, of our purpose and responsibility in this life and indeed the next.

 

I am always amazed at how many reject the existence of God because they cannot see him or have not experienced him.

The premise being that our experiences in this life determine what we know and understand. As we have never seen God, nor do we know what he looks like, we therefore by default, have no reason to accept his existence and therefore, we are absolved of any obligations that such a God might request of us. This argument is always put together with the question about the amount of suffering there is in the world. "If God so loved the world, then why not remove all suffering?"

 

There is not one answer to this question, but several approaches to the topic of suffering that allow the questioner to be given a direct response to the intellectual or theological arguments for the role of suffering in a world created by God. Some argue that suffering leads to  an appreciation of the beauty of those things that we might previously have taken for granted. However, the answer given doesn’t always heal the psychological and emotional scars of those who ask it. I spent time with my wife’s friend today who is suffering with cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. With her wig and in the company of friends, there were no outward signs that she was battling a disease that could rob her of life. So as a man of faith, I echo the same sentiment even if I think I might understand some of the answers.

 

Our personal battles with the suffering we experience or that which we witness in the lives of others, defines our opinion of God. If God is indeed good, how can this suffering be allowed? The first observation to make is whether the suffering that we are going through is natural to our human existence or is it supernatural? Similarly, if we recognise suffering is part of the natural evolution of life, why do we demand God’s intervention? Surely if there is no God, he would not be there to intercede in the lives of others anyway, so the very question, ‘Why does God allow suffering?’ is out moded before we begin to analyse this cry of our heart.

 

A common question is to do with natural disasters. Our world sits on a crust of tectonic plates that sit on a molten magma that has eddies and flows which cause movement. These flows of magma cause pressure on the tectonic plates, causing them to pull apart of squash together. At other fault lines, where the tectonic plates drag alongside each other, we experience earthquakes and Tsunami’s that have become catastrophic within our urban communities. Just as those populations that exist on the edges of arid landscapes and frequently experience drought and famine, our civilised world is fraught with natural disasters that affect our natural evolution on the face of the planet.

 

Are we to blame all of these events on a God who doesn’t care, even if he were to exist? It would be convenient to do so don’t you think? Let’s forget that we understand the science behind why these things happen in the world for a moment and call it an act of God. Catastrophes, accidents, terrible illness and pandemics; let us all group these grievous events together and blame them on God?

A colleague of mine was in the Tsunami of 26^th December 2004. He is not a Christian, nor has he changed his lifestyle because of it. He and his partner escaped the incoming wave by climbing to the top of the hotel complex they were staying in, just before it swamped the beach they had been sat on moments before… he was one of the lucky ones. I can remember watching the Tsunami that hit Japan with both shock and awe. The power of the wave was so well documented as it swept inland, that it seemed unnatural somehow as we do not experience this phenomenon each day.

 

We are all secure in our understanding of our built environment and believe that science has all of the answers and yet the fragility of our humanity was clear for all to see.  The Bible reveals what Jesus says about their being wars and rumours of war, earth quakes, famine and drought…

 

And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. (Matthew 24:6, NLT)

 

Jesus says these are just signs to humanity to reveal that this world is not finite. That there will be a time where what we believe and understand to be certain, will quickly lead to uncertainty. Just as doubts over global warming has led to a lot of foot dragging over environmental policy, the human condition, with its doubt over the existence of God will continue to evade the question until finally it will be too late.

 

The longer we reject God in favour of our own ability to think rationally through the challenges of life and plough our own furrow, the harder it becomes to accept the simplicity of the Gospel story: That God in his mercy and great compassion for those he created, surrendered his own son to the cause. In Jesus we find God who became one of us. He ate, joked, laughed, cried, shared, grieved… he had no special powers or secret stores of wealth or magic. Jesus was a simple man, a carpenter from a small town and from a family who had to manage the shame of their daughter being with child outside of wedlock, claiming that the baby growing within her was from God.

 

From this humble beginning, the whole of the world has been changed. Jesus stands testimony to all of the suffering in the world. As the world cried out, God answered the prayer of our forefathers and sent a Messiah in the form of a child. Jesus had never known a time without the presence of God running through his soul. We find that Jesus didn’t make things up as he went along, but did the work of his Father God, here on the earth. Where he saw suffering he brought healing, where he saw injustice, he spoke out to end it with truth and where he saw death, Jesus demonstrated that he had power to defeat even that.

 

Mel Gibson’s film the ‘Passion of the Christ’ is not without its critics but the humanity of Jesus’ suffering was made very real within it. Here was God who had known no sickness, physical brutality or any of the hardships of life, yet as a man, Jesus knew all these things at first hand. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before he was betrayed by one of his own friends, wept before his father, asking that the cup he had to drink from be taken away.

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42, NLT)

 

Believe me when I say this but as I write these words, my rational thinking mind and my emotions combine in a symphony of pure joy and with tearful eyes my soul declares:

“That MY Lord would do such a thing for me… that he would suffer in this way for me. This suffering is what I deserve, not him, and I cry with him there in the garden for his evident grace and mercy towards me.”

The Christian faith is built on the suffering Jesus; the servant of God’s grace. Jesus knew that all of creation so far had led to this very moment. He knew that he was now going to become one of us – separated from his Father from whom he had never been separated. Even for us, when our loved ones pass away in circumstance beyond our control or through the ravages of time, we experience that separation of love, or relationship with the one we have shared so much.

 

God is in that because he understands it. He recognises your pain and my pain as his own. Jesus brought forward the conclusion to this world through our adoption into the family of our heavenly father. But for a moment we have to endure all that life throws at us. You know, I struggle from season to season with my walk with the Lord. The demands of this world encroach on my personal space, asserting control on areas of my life that I wish they would not. I have to make ethical and moral choices that demand compromise to what I hold true. I really want to stay in that place of emotional comfort that we all get to at times when listening to that favourite album or watching that movie that speaks into our consciousness. Yet life is always wanting me to compromise.

 

Jesus in the garden before his death, knowing what was about to enfold, trusted in his heavenly Father to honour his side of the plan; even though his own resolve was faltering, he chose not to compromise. On the cross, the cry of Jesus isn’t about his death but his loss of a tangible relationship with the father. “My God, My God” is the cry of someone who is seeking out the source of the relationship that has empowered him to perform the miracles he conducted during his ministry. Up until this point, Jesus has known God since the beginning and yet now hung on the cross, with the burden of sin separating him from the presence of God his Father; the source of strength in his life; in desperation, Jesus cries out in hope to his Father who appears silent.

This is the position that we each find ourselves. Standing in our own strength we call out:

“Where are you God? If you are real, reveal yourself to me, end my suffering.”

 However, we are unwilling to let go of the ties that bind us to our natural lives and as a consequence, we can seek, but we will not find. Only when we are willing to sacrifice our lives and let go of the ties that bind us to it at the cross that Jesus hung on, will we be able to find peace. However, we cannot do that because we are not Jesus...  we are too conflicted by the cares of this word to even be willing to lay our lives down. Even for this act of obedience, Jesus makes it easier: All we have do is offer our lives at the foot of the cross for Jesus to reach down and rescue us from it… Jesus truly did it all, our joy can be restored.

Nicky Gumbel the Alpha Course author tweeted (07/04/2014): “If God answers our prayer immediately, it is to build your faith; if God asks you to wait before your prayers are answered, it is to teach you something about perseverance, and if he says no, then it is because he has something even better.”

For Christians, we know that there can be nothing better than to take up the place that Jesus has prepared for us in heaven. We are a child of two worlds: We are born into our humanity but we are adopted as sons and daughters of the living God as a new creation. This is why I cannot agree with Lennon to imagine there is no heaven, as this is where my hope lies. With no God and no heaven there is no more hope for humanity than what is perceived today. In my experience of living in the secular society that the UK has now become, I find that behind the façade of life, people are still searching for something more because our natural humanism is not to build community but to ensure our very survival.

Of course we can fill our lives with celebration for all that this life holds and bask in the sun of our ingenuity at rising above the complexities of modern living to achieve a sense of purpose and indeed peace, but as the sun fades and our achievements become just memories, we await death, returning to the dust from which the scientists insist we evolved from. But when we are young and full of life, we shrug off these nagging doubts and feelings of insecurity, hoping that when we get to whatever it is we are heading, we will find peace. You may even find my tone morbid or even pessimistic for what life has to offer and reject my council simply because life is for the living.

But as I approach my 43^rd birthday I realise that my time on this world is as transient as the teacher who has just left my school after 15yrs of service. His presence will be forgotten in an instant that the new colleague arrives. The reason that the man left his job is because his years of service to the school had accounted for nothing. He had seemingly lost the respect of his managers who saw him as an obstacle to some un-communicated ideal they were pursuing. I spent time with him sharing my faith and explaining how God sustained me through these dark times. Yet he knew for himself that the time had come to move on. There are many forgotten souls who have served their employers and families well; who have made contributions to the society that we take for granted today, yet all that remains of their effort is a tombstone.

So unlike John Lennon, I imagine a heaven where all of the hurting and all of the longing is healed. We trust that God will set straight the wrongs we have endured and the suffering that we face. Loved ones we have lost to disease or violence will be restored in this new eternal life for all those that profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. This is the one truth that we face in the 21^st Century. Jesus calls us to himself throughout history, through our culture, through our politics and through any altruistic sense that we might have about bettering ourselves for the good of humanity.

Still believe that there is no God and if there is, does he care?

Then look to Jesus. Don’t look at the church necessarily or even religion but into the face of Jesus whose compassion has no bound and whose mercy took him to a grave that we deserve. No amount of persuasive argument can convince you of the truth of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, only a personal encounter will open your mind to the realities of this world and that of the next.

If you are ready to take that step, then say this simple prayer:

"Lord, I recognise that I have tried to live my life in my own way for far too long. The things I ought to do, I don’t do and the things that I shouldn’t do, I go ahead and do them anyway. I recognise that no matter how hard I try, there is nothing within me that honours you. I repent of my sinful life and ask that you would come into my heart as my Lord and my Saviour to set right what is broken within me. Transform my heart and mind by filling me with the Holy Spirit. Lord, I ask for your healing and your restoration so that I can be born again into new life as a son/daughter of the living God, Amen."

If you have said this prayer and have not got any Christian friends to share in your new life with Jesus, I urge you to find a local church that can support you and disciple you in the Bible. Start learning about what it means to be a Christian by reading about Jesus in the Gospel stories of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and find a way to connect with God through the use of a daily reading plan that will introduce you to your new family, WELCOME!