Three things to know...

There is something quite awesome to hold a baby in your arms and to look at this tiny bundle of love and happiness and wonder. What future, what talents, how like mum or dad will they be? And then the great adventure called parenting begins.

 I shared at our Commission Prayer days last week three things I observe in the life of the prophet Jonah and priorities I desire to see reproduced in all of the churches I serve and in each member  - three things for us to know.

 Firstly knowing God. A few years ago my son announced from the back seat that church had been "boring" that morning. I swiftly told him he had no idea just how dull and boring church can get but then reflected that while styles may be lively it is no substitute for the presence of God. There exists within the heart of every human being a shrine reserved for God alone. Idols can quickly accumulate in that hallowed place, gifts God has blessed us with, skills, intelligence with which we soon find our identity.

Our hearts put down roots into these things and only violence can tear them from us: “those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs” (Jonah 2:8). Our God is too small, our appetites too easily satisfied. God wants all of us, intimacy, prayer, worship, a childlike delight in our Father and a refusal to become professionals.

 Secondly and in every way linked to the first is a knowledge of God’s word. A God who lives in unapproachable light speaks. Living words that bring God life, conception, birth, small steps growing through to soul maturity. "I speak to you children…young men… Fathers” (1 John 2:12ff).

 God calls and we walk - we grow up into Christ through the nourishment of word and Spirit. Ephesians 4 is a pivot point in the letter, to live a life "worthy" of the calling. The Greek word Axios functions here like an enormous pair of scales in equilibrium. Good doctrine must result in good living, calling means walking; a mature life is one of balance. We live in the day of the soundbite, the quote, tweet, where scales are quickly loaded dogma or caricature. Questions designed to box us in, to label and subsequently ignore biblical dialogue and depth.  I.e. Driscoll or Johnson, complementarian or egalitarian, charismatic or missional? The pressure increases for the one liner and the church becomes unbalanced, illiterate and immature. Each of us must go deeper and engage in open biblical dialogue if we are to grow strong and mature.

 Thirdly we must know God's mission. ‘What is your Commission?’ is the theme for this Westpoint 2013, encouraging every believer to know God's unique kingdom plan for each of his children. Jonah is us and we can quickly run from the cost of discipleship and being true to all God wants us to do for his glory. Of course this means churches being planted, missionaries commissioned to new nations, churches growing.

 But our mission is so much more. It involves families, mums and dads, singleness, business, conservation, care, development, education, music, politics, art, sport and so much more. The questions Jonah asks our generation are the three great knowings - knowing God, knowing his word and knowing his mission, the Great Commission.

In appreciation of burdens

Arriving at Bournemouth hospital (year 2000) in the small hours of the morning with my sick body writhing in pain I found myself wheeled into an old people's ward; all others were full! It was a veritable farmyard experience with grunts, snores, shrieks and other unmentionable noises leaving the air smelling like a plowed turnip field. I wanted out, I did not belong. I pulled the covers over my head and hummed.

Day however brought about a new perspective. Nurses speaking tenderly to the old lady in pain, laughing and joking with the wards chatterbox, or sheltering the embarrassed with an NHS no nonsense bed bath. Relatives arrived in the afternoon pleased to touch the wrinkled hand, kissing the fevered brow, bringing gifts new and familiar to brighten each small world. What struck me most was the delight most staff and visitors shared in carrying a loved one’s burden.

The legislative fight for voluntary euthanasia is without doubt complex and needing great wisdom from the many involved, particularly the doctors and nurses, clergy, politicians etc. with life and death legal decisions to make. We must pray with great compassion for all those who suffer and for those seeking to address the complexities of this important issue.

I wanted to simply address the common mantra, "I don't want to be burden to anyone" to those of us who are believers.  I would like to ask, “when did being a burden” become something to be avoided. Babies arrive burdensome. In fact it takes a Transit van or garage to store baby burden equipment. Mothers bodies are not their own, fathers learn the happy art of nappy changing, and sound sleep becomes a distant memory as Zombie-like adults are consumed with their precious little burdens.

Interesting to reflect that God became a burden, a baby in need as any other human child. Even in his hour of greatest need at Calvary where we read of his betrayal and abandonment from his Father and his disciples we glimpse burden carriers. His mother, with a few of his closest, cried, cared and took his bruised and bloodied body. They then washed, wrapped and laid it carefully to rest in the tomb. Jesus became a burden as well as a burden carrier. It was Jesus who encouraged his disciples to take up their cross daily and it is Paul who writes, “carry one another's burdens and in this way you fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2).

I wonder in our modern world that places happiness as almost a human right and the ultimate goal of human existence, if suffering, sickness and even death need to be legally sanitized and brushed under an easily available and presentable NHS bed sheet! We all desire a good death, as free from pain as possible, and as far removed from public view, embarrassment and avoiding all those costly care and drugs (particularly if we are beneficiaries of the relatives will). But is it biblical and should we not embrace the burdens God gives each one of us with faith?

Let me finish by talking of a dear friend of mine. A church leader married for over 50 years who has for the past 4 years held his beloveds hand as she has battled with Alzheimer’s. He has never once in my hearing complained and watching his pure delight in caring for his wife in her confusion and distress I am reminded of the 16th century Bishop who said "Marriage has less beauty but more safety, it is full of sorrows and full of joys. It lies under more burdens but is supported by all the strengths of love and those burdens are delightful!"