Mary in proper focus

Thank God for Mary, the mother to Jesus, who conceived Him by the Spirit and carried Him to birth, brought Him up, fed Him, clothed Him and no doubt performed so many normal motherly functions for Him...God chose to incarnate the Son of God as a man and to have Him born in the normal way, conceived in no ordinary way...So today, I want to honour Mary, to remember her and to thank God for her and for how she endured scorn, shame and the loss of a son on the cross...all for the Kingdom of God, quite a load to carry and from what we know she carried it well!

What a pity though that myths about Mary have been allowed to develop through church tradition that elevate her to a superhuman level and actually rob her and us of the true story of this humble servant - somehow in this there has been a sad loss of 'proper focus'. Mary is not God nor a deity of any form, nor can Mary answer prayers - according to Scripture. The Bible teaches that 'there is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ' (1 Timothy 2v5) Mary should be respected but the Bible gives us NO indication that we should ever pray to her or put our trust in her to help us out through interventions while we are alive. Repetition of 'Hail Marys', according to the Bible, are a waste of time and would surely cause Mary great distress if she were not enjoying the perfection of Heaven too much at this time!
Another myth about Mary, apart from her supposed ability to 'answer prayer' is the proposition regarding her 'perpetual virginity', even as a married woman! This is surely a complete myth developed on the back of dogmas developed under Plato's influence centuries ago by 'theologians'. The notion of Mary ever having had sexual relations with her husband has been rejected by a sector of the church because of philosophical reasons. This is the same logic and dogma that has left priests unable to marry in one major denomination and see what effect that illogical and unnatural imposition of philosophical belief upon God's divine order has brought about! Enough said. Mary was a normal woman, a normal wife, who went on to have other children. She was created as a sexual being and was a normal married woman no doubt in this regard. There is NO need to believe otherwise! Just because Jesus was immaculately conceived should not in any way presuppose that Mary had a restraining order from above imposed upon her to make her chaste. Oh what unnecessary foolishness. The final part of the 'dirty lens' that needs wiping regarding Mary is the dogma regarding her own immaculate conception. No! The very point Jesus chose to belong to a family of no great social standing or means, and to a teenage unmarried virgin - was that He is a God of GRACE! He chooses the weak and ignoble things of this world and kisses us with His favour inspite of these traits! One of Jesus' ancestors was a harlot called Rahab, David was complicit in murder, Abraham had betrayed his wife on fear of his life...should I go on? It is WRONG to think that Jesus had to belong to a 'perfect' mother, who is some super-sanitised otherworldly demi-God. The whole point of God's redemptive plan was to visit a guilty world in love. To visit the poor with the riches of His glory, and Mary was an ordinary young lady who was chosen, in no small measure for her 'ordinariness' I believe. She was chosen because she was chosen not because she was 'worthy' of being chosen.

Why pick a fight on this you may be asking? Well, this folks is important on a few levels. Twisting Scripture is never clever, creating your own dogmas and church tradition as authoritative on a par with Scripture is toxic and warned against by Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. My main point here though is simply this. Mary was chosen by God to carry the Lord of Glory in her womb because she was chosen, and because she was a normal 'imperfect' sinner. Yes, Mary too was a sinner. This only elevates my admiration of her. Imperfection rather than perfection seemed to qualify her to carry the Lord of Glory!
Lets see Mary through the lens of what is historically accurate and theologically sound. Lets admire her for her ordinariness and yet outstanding qualities of character. Lets resist the faulty premise that Mary needs to be 'elevated' to some other-worldly status and assigned the qualities of a deity type figure. She does not. Grace means we get what we DON'T DESERVE not what we do deserve, Mary must be longing for this to be revealed in relation to her own story.

The same is true for you and I. Resist the false teaching that claims you have to 'clean up your own life' in order to be saved by God. Resist the lie that you have to 'prove yourself' in order for God to accept you. No, the cross of Christ is the proving ground! Even our righteous acts are like 'filty rags' before God, in light of His holiness and glory. No. Accept your ordinariness. Accept your ignoble lineage. Accept your sinfulness and need of a Saviour. When you have done this, you are ready to believe upon Jesus in a new way, in a way that makes you desperate for His Grace, His blood for your sin, His life for your death, His eternity for your lostness.

Thank God for Mary, today I celebrate and honour her - mother to Jesus, and am so grateful for her life and example and thank God that He uses and accepts the weak and ordinary people of this world for His extraordinary and powerful purposes!
JS

The Myth of those who ‘believe’ and those who ‘don’t’

There is a myth that 'believers' are only the ‘religious types’! We are of course all 'believers', it’s just that we may believe contrastingly from one another. Every one of us has a worldview, a grid through which we view the world and its affairs, matters of faith or the absence of it and so on...
However, lets hold it a minute because we all put our ‘faith’ (trust) in something don’t we? Oh, I know you are now feeling like I am trying to corner you and most certainly are considering switching to read something less in your face, I understand if you do as there are moments for everything. If however, my deliberate play on words causes even a modicum of intrigue, then I invite you to read on.

None of us live in a vacuum. We have all had our ‘lens’ misted’ by something. The relativist tells us that ‘all roads lead equally to Rome’, the moralist that life’s deeper meaning is too mysterious and that all that really matters is being a good citizen and decent human being.

None of these thoughts developed in a vacuum.

Even Kevin Myers, the gnarly social commentator (Irish Independent) recently admitted in his column (September, 2010) that the opponents and detractors of protagonists of ‘Creationist’ views of the world’s origins (‘Intelligent Design’) are way less credible than the views of their ‘fodder’! It takes someone as ‘worldly’ as Myers at times to get people to sit up and ask some serious questions of what we believe and why we believe it.

The Biblical expression of how to interpret God's place in the affairs of His will can be summarised in the word Sovereignty. God being a Providential God who has ultimate control and power over His creation but has refused to harness the creation in a tight fisted grip of robotic dictatorship. No, the ultimate accolade we can give God is simply to recognise and respond to Him as He truly is, not because we have to but because we want to. That was the ‘risk’ of a Sovereign God granting human freedom.

Common worldviews or faiths that many hold in differing measures, even sub-consciously, in our day:

1. Atheism – the belief that eminates from evolutionary theory, that there is no God or higher power. Remember Atheism is surely also a ‘faith’ in something, even if it leads to a ‘faith in nothing’!

2. Polytheism – the belief in many gods or higher powers. Hindus’ pay homage to a host of gods and idols and may at times offer worship to one in order to appease another. Some Christians have suggested that idolatry is no less prevalent, albeit in a more sophisticated form, in 21st Century western society, a problem God lambasted Israel for in the Old Testament writings!


3. Deism – a belief in God that is based on reason based on nature and science. Sees the universe like a machine, believes in God but as a distant and remote being who is not involved in earthly affairs. The Bible and Christianity in general are based upon God having revealed Himself through Jesus Christ, to witnesses, in His Scriptures (inspiration) and so on. Deism refer to any ‘revealed religions’ as they call them, as ‘superstition’, including Christianity.

4. Astrology – star signs etc given a platform of inspiration and guidance from ‘other-worldly’ cosmic sources. Witchcraft and Satanism are also faith based practises active today.


5. Chance and fate – many believe in ‘Murphy’s law’, some in a haphazard ‘happy-go-lucky’ way, others have a deeper sense of ‘Fatalism’ which can have a more sinister effect on people’s lives. Even religions such as Islam and Christianity can be steeped in fatalism eg. The will of Allah as a carte blanche statement following events, Hyper-Calvinism which has twisted the Bible’s teaching on pre-destination and given it a fatalistic bent.

6. Relativism - a common post-modernism, that there is no such thing as absolute truth, that it is a subjective matter. In this case there is no one way to salvation for example, no one God to believe in, we can all chose our path, take whatever medecine 'suits us'. According to the Christian worldview this makes a mockery of the work of Christ on the cross as the only means of salvation.

7. Moralism - this puts faith in man's own 'goodness' and worth. It involves measurement against some subjective perception of right and wrong and often comparison against others, as the means of 'righteousness'. Many from nominal Christian backgrounds base their lives upon such assumptions. Again, the work of the cross is side-lined under such a view.


These are just a few of the worldviews that shape what people believe today. Even if a person wouldn't label themselves as belonging to any one of these ideologies (or others) it is most likely that there are at least trace elements or in some cases dollops of some of these influencing worldviews. Everyone believes in something, no one exist in a vacuum, my question is:
Do you believe that what you believe to be real is really real at all?
Jesus Christ spoke plainly of Himself. He said, ‘I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life. No man may some unto the Father but through me’

This was an exclusive claim. He came to bring salvation to a world of all kinds of worldviews. Many rejected Him and continue to. Is what you believe to be true still really true to you, or true at all?

Any comments?

Compassion in your gut

Brendan Manning tells a story about going to down to pray for a dying man in hospital. The man's 35 year old daughter had come to his house in tears because she had three times asked her Pastor if he could go down to do the same, three times he agreed, but three times got side-tracked in busyness and administrative duties and forgot or overlooked this most urgent and vital of pastoral duties. What a tragedy!

God is a God of compassion. He is surely longing to release His compassion upon a hurting and broken world, through us his 'compassion bearers'. Are we too busy or distracted or discouraged to notice what is happening around us? The flicker of sadness in an eye, the depth of despair or loneliness in a look....do we have eyes to see and ears to hear what is happening around us, or are we too self-involved to notice? May it not be so Lord...

The Gospels record that Jesus was 'moved' with compassion. Not only was he 'moved' with compassion but he allowed the compassion to 'move him' to take action, and bring healing and comfort and dignity to the broken and shamed. The original word for 'moved' is rooted in a language that is literally - a pain or wrenching deep within the bowels and gut! Now that is graphic and descriptive alright!

Brendan Manning offers this stunning but most provocative challenge to all believers of the goal of our faith being to be expressed in love and compassion. I leave you with the quote and may God meet you today in your need and out of the comfort you receive cause you to be a blessing to the hurting and broken. God is love.

Quote by Brendan Manning,

"You are never more Christ-like than when you are choked with compassion upon the brokenness of others"

Any comments?

A prophetic word given by Ali Shiels March 2010

Prophetic Word – Arise Dublin March 2010
Ancient Wells Prophetic word:

The following word was given at an 'Arise Dublin' meeting and was sent around the Arise Dublin network at the request of the Arise Dublin team:

While worshipping, the Lord showed me a picture of Ireland, and dotted all over our nation were WELLS. The Lord showed me that these are Ancient wells…. Wells that have been dug by saints of old.
But as I looked closer, the Lord showed me that the wells were stopped up. They were filled with grit and sand and mud…… where once pure fresh water flowed, now the water was stagnant, and dirty and not flowing.
The mud I believe symbolizes TRADITION, RELIGIOSITY, and SELF!!
The mud symbolizes where we have clouded and ‘dirtied’ the pure fresh water of God, by living lives that have been focused on SELF, on chasing after the things of this world, and not after Him…….

Then the Lord showed me that the time was now upon us, where He was going to unblock and unstop those Ancient wells. Where once again, the fresh pure water of God would flow through our land and wash over our land bringing new and fresh water to a thirsty and dry nation. As I looked, the wells did not just begin to flow, but the water EXPLODED up and out of the wells (much like when we strike oil, and the oil shoots up meters into the sky), and flowed out through the streets….. I saw clean, pure water flooding our streets and flowing through this city and this land……..

I believe that the Lord is encouraging us, that we have served him in a time of drought, and have proven faithful, but that now a time is upon us where we will experience an ABUNDANCE of His Spirit, where thirsty hearts and lives will ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’. It is a time of REFRESHING for the church in this nation. A time where we will begin to reap from the foundations of the wells that were dug hundreds of years ago…….

Ali Shiels (South City Church)

Beyond Hope Deferred

A Proverb of Scripture says

'Hope Deferred makes the heart sick'

Every one of us knows that horrid feeling of deflation where hope seems to have ebbed from our souls like a sagging party balloon. From being over-looked when teams are picked in the play-ground, the teen-age crush turned heart-break, a redundancy that comes out of left-field - 'restructuring' - a recessionary term that classically understates the trauma caused, to the greatest diappointments life can throw at us - marriage dreams shattered, tragic deaths...the list goes on and on. The potential for 'Hope deferred' seems endless.

Bill Johnson has described the HOPE God gives as 'the soil faith grows in'. It provides the necessary spiritual context for faith to take root and grow . Clearly despair is metaphorically soil that has gone toxic, the heart has grown sick as hope has been deferred.

Hope is the light that shines the way ahead for us. The Bible portrays many promises that seem utterly elusive amidst 'wilderness' experiences of utter despair and darkness.

History tells us that God is not a God though of heartless and tantalising mirages

but rather a God of substance,faithfulness and justice who is true to His Sovereign plan even when life appears to take detours and descend into dark times.

Many are indeed experiencing those 'dark times' in our times where 'Hope deferred' has made their hearts sick. Its a horrible place to be in. The Gospel is Good News and is found in the Person, the Hope of the Nations, the Promised One, Jesus Christ. The Gospel by definition is hope for the hopeless and in this more than some 'comfort blanket', but more substantially - mercy to the undeserving, Grace to the lawless, all because of one PERFECT SACRIFICE for sin.

Any of us who regard ourselves as followers of Christ are supposed to be the mid-wives of this hope into the world, ambassadors of another kingdom. For this to happen, dear friends, let us throw off the chains that bind us, and drink the delights of our God, even in tough times, that will help make sick hearts rejoice! Look beyond the mists and drunken confusion of your own disappointment and hope once more...its Christ in us that is 'the hope of glory'

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Romans 4v18

The Name Above All Names

Not to us, O LORD, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
Psalm 115v1


Its incredible how many times the theme and reality of the NAME of the Lord is spoken of in the Bible. Bible names so often embodied a message, made a point in some way, were used to honour or sometimes the opposite (Jabez for example means 'pain' because of what his mother suffered in child birth!), (names) spoke of the prophetic sense of destiny over a child's future life, (a name) was changed at times to represent the change in favour or status of a person (Jacob became Israel after struggling with the Lord and overcoming) and of course (names) identified the character or mission of a person and much more. No greater example than the name of Jesus (from Joshua - means Saviour)

"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins" Matt. 1v21


"He said to them, "When you pray, say: " 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come" Luke 11v2

"All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled". John 17v10-12

30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20v20/21

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Acts 22v21

15You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. Acts 3v15-17

6Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. 7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?" Acts 4v6-7

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Acts 4v18


15But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

17Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Acts 9v15-17


Do we live to 'make hallowed' the NAME of the Lord? Do we long to see the NAME of the Lord consecrated and set apart by people as the NAME above ALL NAMES - whom He actually is?

Do we understand the authority of the NAME of the Lord and the faith that comes through believing in and acting upon that NAME?

The 'NAME' and NAMES of the Lord represent WHO God is and who we are IN CHRIST, and what our mission is into the world.

Lord, make YOUR NAME greatJS

God of Burning

God of Burning

Flood our lives with hunger burning
The nation waits for sons of yearning
God of fire, Grace and Awe
We give to you, our lives our all

Lamb of God the Lion roaring
Deep to deep your Spirit calling
Heirs with Christ, in Promise stand
Arising called to take the land

Burn in us your Kingdom bright
So Christ is seen not out of sight
Hope of nations, your Presence is here
So fill us now, as we draw near

JS

The Episcopal Church of Scotland decides God can be female...read here for reaction to this

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7982904/God-no-longer-male-Scottish-Episcopal-Church-rules.html

The Episcopalian church of Scotland have decided that in order that no-one gets offended by the nature of God, they are making provision that you can make Him to be 'what you want Him to be' - in this case a woman. This is largely to cater for female priests who felt excluded on the grounds of the long held view that God is masculine in nature.

The thing that interests and concerns me here is this, the folly of political correctness that will change a doctrinal belief of such fundamental importance to appease and make God seem 'nicer' and more 'egalitarian' to all. The problem with this modern stance is that it filters belief and Biblical interpretation throught the lens' of apparent 'progressive thought' which is rooted in a reaction to global inequalities toward women.

The root of the issue is the statement of belief (and non-belief) that asserts 'To me God is like this or that....' The problem with this is that God's character, attributes and nature are not dependent on what you and I think about Him! I'll sometimes hear people say things like 'To me...God is like an angry school teacher in the sky', or 'To me God is like a big cuddly Santa Claus..' or 'To me...God is a feeling called love...' The list of 'lens-filtered' popular ideas of self appraised perspective on God is endless. However, here is the deal. God revealed Himself to Israel and said, 'I AM who I AM' and refered to Himself as the 'I AM'. Thats fairly emphatic isn't it? God will just continue being God. He is absolutely delighted in being Himself. He is fully satisfied in His masculine identity and surely doesn't need any of us to try and 'popularise' Him. Indeed, I would hold the view that trying to 'market God' is a huge mistake. Love Him, proclaim His Gospel, witness of Him, but for goodness sake don't try and make Him into a discounted special offer just to keep everyone happy, no, a thousand times no.

The Bible provides a living record of the nature of God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If we take that away as our reference point all we have left is human wisdom or in many cases what the Bible calls folly. Using the 'To me, God is like this/that...' approach is all about us, making God fit into our needs, wants and comfort zones where we can pull Him out in a crisis but reject the transforming influence of the 'I AM' in favour of what suits us and appeases our sensitivities. Dear reader, Ladies and Gentlemen, this should not be so. Any comments?
JS.

Ireland team for Autumn International

OK, our annual attempt at World Domination begins this Autumn against South Africa (whom we have beaten on their last 2 trips here!) I have always loved picking teams and am posting here my proposed Ireland team for the game against the world champions, assuming full fitness (always unlikely)

15. R Kearney
14. T Bowe
13. BOD (thats BOD not God!)
12. L Fitzgerald
11. K Earls
10. J Sexton
9. T O'Leary
8. J Heaslip (all is forgiven Jamie!)
7. D Wallace (Last hurrah and no ready made replacement)
6. S Ferris (every team needs an enforcer)
5. D O'Callaghan
4. P O'Connell (but will he be fit?)
3. T Buckley (Time for Bull to go out to grass)
2. J Flannery
1. C Healy (Hopefully ate well over the summer)

Anyone buying or selling a ticket?!
JS