Christ is King

As we approach the first Sunday of Advent on November 30 we must first negotiate this coming Sunday November 23rd, which by tradition is celebrated as Christ the King. We can easily assume that this is just another ancient tradition of the church; but in fact it was only initiated in 1925 – pretty ancient for some – by Pope Pius XI who recognised a need to focus on Christ the king of all creation. So it is celebrated on the last Sunday of the Church calendar just before Advent.

When I first came to faith in my mid 30’s I was greatly influenced by a man who I had first come across more than twenty years earlier. This man was Billy Graham. Billy is still around having just clocked up his 90th birthday and despite poor health continues to influence evangelical thinking across the world.

Through this influence I began a life long study of Billy and in those early days of faith even dreamed that one day I might be like Billy and be known far and wide as a great evangelist for Australia! We all know that some of our biggest dreams don’t often see the light of day and I have come to accept that fame is now unlikely to come my way.

I get worried by people who ‘know that they know’ what the future holds for them. They are King or Queen of their life and everything will be as they bequeath it to be. Well, good luck with that. So many times I have wanted God to write his will for me up on the wall so that I had a sense of control over this whole thing and so many times I have felt a still small voice whisper, ‘John, who do you think you are? You already know God’s will for your life – all of your life. Simply follow Jesus all of your days.’ Christ is king.

Christ is King and I am not in a position to argue the point and what’s more he doesn’t owe me an explanation! When I began this journey I was in an excellent job, well paid and well treated and then God called! Christ the King began to nudge me around. From the comfort of an assured career and the support of a great church I found myself on the north coast of New South Wales looking after a small congregation and with a brief to teach people about evangelism. I was afraid to tell people that I didn’t actually know that much about evangelism until I realised that compared to many I was in the Rhodes Scholar category!

God was good to us and over a number of years we saw some very exciting times, but we also struggled through some very hard times. During our Sawtell period we saw two of our children’s marriages break up while our third one went off to a year in the USA. We lost four very dearly loved family members over those eleven and a half years along with a great deal of local pain within our local congregation. Christ is King.

When it was clear that out time was running out at Sawtell I began to listen for God’s will for the next step. We had come through a hard but blessed gig and surely now was a time for something a little more comfortable. I was offered a position at a large congregation in Queensland but all was silent from God. A congregation on the south coast chased for months but I felt no sense of call. After all Christ is King.

About seven years ago I was approached to establish a new congregation in North West Sydney. Now that was funny! I had no experience in church planting and the whole thing looked way too big for JT. However, over several months I was reminded again that Christ is King and like it or not his nudging was pushing me in this direction.

So, in September 2002 we loaded up again and headed south to another unknown ministry. I would like to say that over the past six years it has become a little easier but it hasn’t really. Yet Christ is King and he has provided some stunning people to share the journey with.

It is nice to know who is in charge yet disconcerting when you realise that it isn’t you!

Cheers - John

Is anyone thirsty?

At our Church Council meeting last night the basis of our opening devotions was Psalm 46. Verses 4 to 7 go like this:

‘There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.’

In practical terms the city of God referred to is probably Jerusalem and the river a reference to the underground waters believed to have run beneath the city. However, there is a spiritual dimension to the Psalm that rarely fails to inspire and encourage me. Last Sunday I spoke of Jesus’ promise; ‘Out of the believers heart shall flow rivers of living water.’

The final chapter of the Bible continues the water theme with mention of the ‘river of the water of life’ and among the closing verses we find:

‘The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty, “Come.” Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.’

How is your spiritual thirst? There is a song that asks – ‘Is anyone thirsty?’ It’s a good question. When I first sensed the call of God in my life there was a lot about it that was puzzling. Yet there was one thing about it that was certain and that is that I was being called to the thirsty.

Many Christ followers today have lost their thirst for God. There is a lack of desire to go deep and discover the abundant rivers of God that bring healing and restoration. There is a lack of expectation that God is present among his people and in their gathering and scattering might choose to do amazing things!?

We have become used to shallow and with Christmas nearing it will be nice to recall the baby Jesus, the stable, Mary and Joseph, angels, shepherds and wise men. Christmas is much more popular than Easter – Easter is tapping into deep water and generally we prefer Hot Cross buns to nails! There is no lack of depth with Christmas but woe betides the preacher who tries to go there. I know, I’ve tried it!

It is great preaching in a thirsty environment. Some weeks are different to others but I find NorthWest one of those thirst filled places these days. Last Sunday was a great example and probably appropriately so as I was splashing water around for Nathan’s baptism.

I find the greatest thirst is often among people on the edges, sometimes well away from the church. They are desperate for a drink and yearn for someone, or some group to offer it. Naively I still believe that the local church can provide that drink; if they believe in the water enough.

Is anyone thirsty?

Cheers - John

Gathered and Scattered

Having enjoyed being a part of another very successful Melbourne Cup event yesterday has given me cause to reflect even more upon our future. We ‘do’ lots of things but I believe that it is in our BEING that fruit begins to grow. I am not saying that we are doing too much – though we probably are – but rather that perhaps we are not being enough.

I believe that our continued growth in this region is much more about attitude than it is about programs. It is less about what we do and much more about who we are (and whose we are!). Last Sunday evening’s WikiChurch was one of our more meaningful gatherings as we took time to reflect on a couple of DVD clips and then had the opportunity to take time to process our thoughts and feelings. Feedback at the time and afterwards has been extremely positive and affirming of our time together and several people were deeply touched. The time and space provided had little to do with doing and everything to do with being.

I don’t do computer games of any description apart from the occasional game of Solitaire. Yeah, boring, I know! I do recall some Pac-Man type critter that used to dash around gobbling up every darned thing that was in sight. Is he still around?? I think that church can be a little bit like Pac-Man. We are in danger of simply producing consumers who madly gobble up the latest religious experience and then dash off to the next feast.

Jesus doesn’t actually get near these kinds of people. The desire is for a spiritual fix that may involve some short term community networking but never turns into true community. We skip those bits of the Bible where Jesus talks about taking up the cross and following him and instead buy a WWJD (What would Jesus do?) bracelet and call it evangelism!

There has to be more to being followers of Jesus than worship on Sunday and yet the clue to this following is undoubtedly found in our worship time together. I have said it before; but will keep repeating it, you cannot fully get what we are on about during the week until you connect with what we do on Sunday and vice versa.

The gathering for worship is a brave thing. Prioritising worship in our family’s life is the best gift that we can give. It opens us up to mixing with others, some of whom we will disagree with and some of whom we may not even like! Hopefully our gathering exposes us to new thinking and invites us on a journey and as we journey we build trust with people and find a place where we can be vulnerable and transparent with our fellow travellers.

When God’s people gather in the Spirit of Jesus transformation will inevitably take place. You can’t hang around a people of grace and hope without being changed! It’s a sure thing.

The church consists of a people who gather and scatter. The value of our gathering will be seen in our scattering. We gather to worship, love and honour God through Christ and in doing so find restoration, renewal and refreshment. When we scatter that which we received is made available to others.

Scattering without gathering risks our being pointless and powerless, while gathering without scattering makes us foolish and fruitless.

Cheers - John