Barbara

I am not sure how well I knew Barbara, she was not one to reveal her true feelings very often. In many ways she was quiet and did not open up very much, she was quite a private person. However I will be eternally grateful to her for inside her womb grew the person who would be my life's partner, my precious wife and my best friend. Barbara and Roy can be seen in every one of Alison's cells, both of their DNA is alive and well!

Barbara died trusting that the saviour who she followed would allow her to follow him into the next chapter of her existence. At the end, as her body was giving up the fight, she believed in the reality of eternal life. Not some sentimental gush that would hide the reality and horror of death but a rock solid certainty that was rooted in the promise in the Bible

One if the songs that Barbara choose for her funeral service says this: 

Jesus loves me this I know

for the Bible tells me so

This truth was part of the formation of her life as well as a fitting tribute to the faith in which she continued to live until the day she died

So to go back to my original thought. Perhaps the best way to understand what Barbara was like would be to look at how she has influenced future generation. We can discover a lot about someone by looking at their descendants and seeing how that new generation has been impacted. Barbara can still be seen in her children, grand children and great grand children

Barbara may no longer be living and breathing on earth, but as she continues in her new, heavenly body her influence continues. We all will impact the world around us. The question is not whether we will make a difference in the world, but rather what kind of difference will we make?

Paul

Last month I found out that a friend only had days to live. His family asked for our thoughts of Paul that they could read to him before he died. These are my thoughts

I met you only 18 months ago at a service station in South Wales, we discussed what was the passion of your heart - how to reach people for Christ. Less than a year later I began to volunteer at UDC* and to spend more time with you, Sharon and the rest of the team. You visited St Madoc Christian youth camp in Gower where we lived and you were thrilled to have this little pilgrimage to where your Christian journey began. In the short time that we've known you, Alison and my life has been enriched and challenged by your heart, faith and passion. Not only that but the fun we had together at New Wine this year will be unforgettable! God bless you Paul on this next journey

(Paul died on the 14th October)

*www.theuglyducklingcompany.co.uk 

Clothes

Driving home from picking up Josh from school I was asked an interesting question. It was one that I had never heard before, but one that got to the nub of a wonderful issue. We somehow got onto talking about the second coming of Christ and Josh asked, "when Jesus comes back what clothes will he wear?"

Jesus was and is the word of God, God's exact likeness and perfect representation. Jesus was and is also a first-century Jew and therefore God's absolute revelation was mediated to us via language and custom. God's word had a Jewish accent, an Aramaic vocabulary and was dressed in first century clothes. 

After Jesus rose from the dead his human body remained 'ordinary' in that he could be seen and touched and he seemed to need to eat. But his body was also extraordinary, he could appear and disappear and he ascended back to heaven. Ordinary yet extraordinary, human yet devine, flesh yet spirit, the same as us yet also different to us

This is the wonder of the incarnation, God became man and was therefore clothed in humanity to ensure that we could know what God is like. When Jesus ascended into heaven he did not leave his flesh behind, he was glorified as the God Man and skin and hair and bone remains at the right hand of the Father. 'One of our kind' now represents us before God and interceeds on our behalf

So how does a human live in heaven? How does Jesus' human nature impacts his life with his Father? Does Jesus have any physical needs in heaven? Jesus had physical needs when he was on earth - he needed oxygen, water, food, shelter etc but does that mean that he still has those needs? But how could Jesus have any needs, if he does would that suggest that he was not the self-sufficient God? Jesus becoming human did not diminish his nature, Jesus becoming human did not enhance his nature. The incarnation was not about the eternal Godhead morphing into a new kind of deity but rather the eternal Word being expressed in a new way, in a new cultural context

To return to Josh's simple question, like many 'simple' questions they can provoke the mind to look at things in a fresh way. 'When Jesus comes back what clothes will he wear?' is not a deep theological question but one that can lead to other questions that will help in our understanding of the incarnation 

Time to get a drink and think about this further 

Alternative

The kingdom of God is an alternative economy - a different kind of financial system

The kingdom of God is an alternative community - a different kind of neighbourhood

The kingdom of God is an alternative family - a different kind of belonging 

The kingdom of God is an alternative civilisation - a different kind of empire

The kingdom of God is an alternative theology - a different kind of revelation 

The kingdom of God is an alternative society - a different kind of association

The kingdom of God is an alternative nation - a different kind of government

The kingdom of God is an alternative outlook - a different kind of viewpoint 

The kingdom of God is an alternative gathering - a different kind of congregation

The kingdom of God is an alternative future - a different kind of dynasty

The kingdom of God is an alternative jurisdiction - a different kind of sovereignty

The kingdom of God is an alternative power - a different kind of potency

The kingdom of God has an alternative King  - a different kind of sovereign

Words

Bible black words etched in red

The thoughts of God inside my head

Encased by skin and hair and bone

They settle there as if alone.

We grapple deep within our mind 

To try to fathom some new kind

But these are words that need to see

To come alive as new decree 

They have not heard, they have not seen

The words of life are but a dream

The words that offer life and hope

If not lived out are merely smoke

They promise much, deliver little 

Transforming words are simply brittle

Our greatest joy and deepest pleasure 

Found in knowing Christ our treasure

Therefore we search and hunt and seek

To know his way, to hear him speak

And as we hear, respond and thrive

The words of God will come alive

No eye has seen no ear has heard

The wonder of incarnate word

The logos lived forever free

And now alive lived out in me

The world around can't see the name

He lives within, inside our frame 

So as his body shines his grace

An impact on the human race

What the church should fear

What the church should fear is not incompetence, being unable to answer people's questions; but irrelevancy, being able to answer questions that no-one is asking

My Space Their Space

I turned up a few minutes early and just about found somewhere to park. I walked in and found that I shouldn't have bothered to bring a coat, it was far too warm. I went back to the car, dropped off my coat and returned into the main reception area. After waiting ages to be greeted I eventually got into the main area. Everyone else seemed to be with a partner or in a group. I knew no one!  

I looked around for a place to sit, nothing! I looked around for a vaguely friend face, nothing. Even the children seemed to know what was going on, I stood on my own and played with my iPhone. I looked around wishing that I could see some bloke, a bit like me, that I could have a chat with. Two Billy No Mates who fate had brought together. I wouldn't try to start talking to a 'non bloke' person, that would be seen as chatting up at best or weird at worst. I hoped that the music would start so that I could at least look as if I was there for a reason. Then someone mentioned that it wasn't starting for half an hour!

Now, if you know me you will understand that I am an extrevert, I am normally happy to initiate conversations. But being in an unusual situation where everyone else seemed to be enjoying the company of friends and family made me unusually uncomfortable. Then I became religious; I am a Christian aren't I, God has a plan for me to be a blessing wherever I am. Surely there is someone in this busy congregation that needs some encouragement. I looked around, trying to see if anyone appeared to be, well ready for my pearls of wisdom. Nothing. 

Then I saw them, hallelujah God is here! Two friends drove past, parked up and came up and joined me. I was saved, or safe, no longer alone!

This event could have been a church meeting but wasn't. It was a pub and I was there to listen to a friend's son playing with his band. However it reminded me how difficult in can be for visitors to feel at home in our gatherings. Is it right to expect people to cross a large cultural divide? What can be normal for us can seem like a different world to them. We forget that the average person has no idea what the average church meeting is like. 

Surely, like Jesus in the incarnation, it is us who need to cross the divide. To join others in their space rather than think they have to come into ours