Reading Recycling Centre and the Victoria Falls

A few weeks ago I visited Reading Recycling Centre, not exactly a trip to Alton Towers or the London Eye, but still quite an experience. Having been to many recycling centres over the years (previously know as council dumps) this one stood head and shoulders above the rest. It was huge, but not only huge but it was indoors! Clear signage directed you to where you needed to be and there was plenty of car parking so you didn't have to carry heavy items very far. And, I know this is difficult to belive, it was ran by workers who actually seemed to want to help, nothing was too much trouble for them

Some years back we had the privilege of working in Zambia for two months, Alison and I were accompanied by our 18 year old son Chris. Whilst most of our time was spent working with a Bible college and children's project we did get chance for a short break including a visit to Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls is considered to be the largest waterfall in the world. They are not the widest waterfall or the highest, but with all dimensions taken into account, including the largest flow rate, they are considered to be the biggest curtain of falling water anywhere on the planet. They were stupendous, we were expecting a lot but this was an experience of a different magnitude 

These two experiences have changed me, I used to think that the Swansea recycling centres were pretty good but they pale into insignificance compared to Reading. I can no longer see other waterfalls and get very excited, they may look beautiful but compared to Victoria Falls they seem just a small trickle

In the same way I want my experience of Christ to spoil me for anything else. I want to be captured by his beauty, overwhelmed by his love and grace, consumed with his priority and purpose. It is not that other things should have no value, simply that they should be desired and appreciated in a correct comparison. Paul put it like this: What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ Philippians 3:8

I will still appreciate the help and professionalism at our local recycling centre, I will still hope to enjoy waterfalls both large and small. But I have seen something more and can never be the same again

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