Jack In The Box

The Long, Lost Relative

2009-03-03T17:45:00.000Z

Foreword
This paper is written for the professors of the Bakke Graduate University in Seattle as part of an assignment for the Doctor of Ministry program, but to the “Research and Resources” committee of the Board of Mission in Ireland, of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The aim is to describe some aspects of the Orthodox model of ministry and mission and to set out some lessons we can learn. This is paper is the conclusion of extensive reading and a visit to Turkey and Romania with a group of other students, professors and Romanian Orthodox Priests. We began in Istanbul, made our way to Cappadocia and Ephesus before traveling through Bulgaria and into Romania to Bucharest and Iasi. We walked in the footsteps of Paul and saw the ancient remnants of the Church of Jesus Christ before observing and experiencing the living church in a former communist country. These are my own personal reflections. This was never intended to be a tourist trip but more of a pilgrimage and an opportunity to experience and rediscover our long lost family in the Orthodox tradition. It turned out to be a very long pilgrimage but these experiences and reflections were made with a group of people who have come to know each other better because of the many hours we spent together on the bus. We came to admire and wonder at the physical endurance of Paul who made the same journey without modern transport.
In seeking to understand this church, which has been isolated from the west since the split with Rome in 1054, we will look at its doctrine and practice. One becomes very aware of the distance between us but also the faith and practices that we share: it’s not always clear that in using familiar words we understand the same familiar things. J.I Packer reflects this line of thought when he describes the perceived distance between |Orthodoxy and traditional Evangelicalism, using the words of the ballad, ‘’It’s a long way to Tipperary, it’s a long way to go’’ . George Bernard Shaw said much the same when he described the usage of English on both sides of the Atlantic as ‘’a common people separated by a common language’’. The average person is not familiar with the Eastern Orthodox Church, we are not taught about it and so the assumption is made that there is little, if any, difference between the Christian and the Roman Catholic Christian. It is my contention that there are similarities as well as differences that we can learn from and even adopt to make valuable contributions to any living church for the glory of God.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank those who journeyed with me on the Orthodox Trail and those who have helped me along the way and in the process of producing this paper and pray that it will help someone somewhere on their journey through life.
Dogma, the practical theology of Orthodox Faith
Before investigating some of the beliefs of Eastern Orthodoxy we need to give some consideration as to what we understand it to mean by ‘’orthodoxy’. The literal meaning of Orthodox is that it is the right teaching or right worship, being derived from two Greek words: orthos (right) and doxa (teaching or worship). As the false teachings and divisions multiplied in early Christian times, threatening to obscure the identity and purity of the Church, the term Orthodox quite logically came to be applied to it. Hence we have then term applied to Judaism with Orthodox Jews As opposed to Reformed or liberal and orthodox Protestants in contrast to liberals. The Orthodox Church considers itself as something of a guardian of truth against all error and schism, both to protect its flock and to glorify Christ whose body the Church is. Another way of considering Orthodoxy is to think of it in the light of those churches which call themselves ‘Orthodox’ meaning those churches who belong to a loose federation of churches who split from the Latin church in 1054AD [some of them are aligned to the council of Chalcedon and others opposed] giving special honour to the see of Constantinople. They were part of the eastern flank of the Roman Empire, where Constantine had his capital. After the historic split with Rome it became detached and developed an independent identity. Today, because of mission and political decisions, there has developed a Diaspora throughout the world but especially in the United States of America.[check this definition]. We will be using the second of these understandings in this discussion.
We are what we are because of what we believe and so in studying Orthodox faith and practice we need to reflect on the theological perspectives that make her what she is. When a people are separated by thousands of years it is quite natural that they should take some time to get to know each other once they have been re-acquainted. Before our trip we spent much time in reading about the life and faith of Orthodoxy but we have also been in discussion and spent time with those involved in ministry. In seeking to get a basic understanding of the dogma of the church one of the books we read was ‘’Introducing The Orthodox Church’’ by Anthony M. Coniasis . This covered such basics as liturgy, prayer, scripture, salvation, the sacraments and the controversial areas of Mary, the saints and the use of icons. Like other churches the Orthodox see themselves as the ‘’one, holy, catholic and apostolic church’’: they consider themselves,’ as the only way, and the truth to be the guardians of that truth for over 2,000 years. For a deeper understanding of dogma we read ‘’The Experience of God’’ by Father Dumetru Staniloae . This gives, not only a deeper understanding of Orthodox faith but also a different way of understanding dogma, which in turn gives us a better understanding of the nature of this church.. For Orthodoxy, dogma is not about those rules and regulations of the faith that are rigid and fixed. In some of the English translations the ‘’Dogma’’ was omitted from the title for fear that it would be understood only in the western way. For Father Dumitri this is not about a bald exterior appeal to the magisterium but…’’to indicate the inner coherence of dogmatic truth and the significance of each dogma for the personal life of the Christian’’ He goes on to say that what is needed is a ‘’concrete theology’’. For him theology presumes a personal relationship and that makes it less theoretic and more dynamic than the normal, western Dogmatic Theology.: it’s not about placing beliefs in various boxes, it’s more about living an integral faith where each part of the faith relates to all the others.
In studying the theology of Orthodoxy we find both continuity and discontinuity with ourselves and with the early church, at least as we understand it. Unlike the western or Latin Church the Orthodox have not been subject to the Reformation nor the Renaissance and they were never influenced by the Age of Reason and governance has not been by dictate of Pope or prelates but by the collective decision of the church: the Patriarch is merely the first among equals, as is the Moderator of the General Assembly, with his brother bishops. Anthony M Coniasis writes that ‘’The holiest moment in the church service is the moment when the Church-God’s people-strengthened by preaching and sacrament-go out the church door into the world to be the Church. We don’t merely go to church; we are the Church’’ . This view is similar to the Roman Catholic practice as the priest declares at the end of the Mass, ‘’The Mass is ended, go and serve the Lord’’. The division and schism of 1054 represents the separation of the brethren and a very long period of isolation, which has been aggravated by the historical events, such as the sacking of Constantinople in the thirteenth century by the knights of the Fourth Crusade. One of our problems is that we think by using the same word s we are meaning the same thing but that is not always the case. J.I Packer makes this point in his foreword to ‘’Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism’’ when he says
A venerable British ballad [or was it Irish?] begins by declaring, ‘’It’s a long way to Tipperary, it’s a long way to go.’’’. Substitute for Tipperary the desired togetherness between, on the one hand, North America’s evangelical church- as the great cluster of evangelical denominations, freestanding Bible churches, and evangelical networks within the subevangelical mainline are currently called-and the western outposts of the Eastern Orthodox communion on the other, and words of the song fit with ominous exactness: indeed, ’’it’s a long way to go.

Continuity
Theology of Mary
There are apparent similarities with the Western Church in the theology of Mary and the saints but also discontinuity when we begin to unpack what the words actually mean: for the Orthodox Mary, the mother of Jesus is Theotokos, the God bearer and any icons of her are always with the child, Jesus. In Orthodoxy Mary is never alone and she is always pointing to the Son of God she is looking inwardly in contemplation. She is not holding the child. The child blesses her for her willingness to be the one who brought him into the world. In the Latin Church Mary is seen alone. In Orthodox understanding Mary gives Jesus the place of priority and honour which is in line with our reformed view. [picture of Mary here?]
Ian Bria takes this further by saying that ‘’an ecclesiology which does not include Mary the mother of Jesus is unbiblical.’’ We may have to take this as a valid criticism in that we do not give Mary the position of honour that she has in scripture as the one ‘’most highly favoured’’. Timothy Ware states that anyone who fails to honour Mary is usually someone who does not really believe in the incarnation. He tells us that the Fathers of the Council of Ephesus insisted that Mary be called Theotokus because honouring her would safeguard a right doctrine of Christ’s person. He says that ‘’anyone who thinks out the implications of that great phrase, ‘The word was made flesh’, cannot but feel a profound awe for her who was chosen as the instrument of so surpassing a mystery’’
The Communion of the Saints
Like the Roman Church Luke there is a theology of death which means that life is not defeated or interrupted by death: the Church is quick and dead, militant and triumphant.. There is little practical evidence to show that we believe in a church militant in our practice: we remain orthodox in our liturgy if not in our praxis. Some believe that we ignore the saints who have departed unless they were born in the nineteenth century and were sent out as missionaries. To some we act as if nothing of any importance happened before the Reformation if not prior to the Revivals of the nineteenth century. More familiar to us is the view that the Church is not the building rather it is the gathering in the name of Jesus and the fellowship of the saints which means that a Christian is never alone. Upon entering an Orthodox sanctuary one becomes immediately aware, we are told, of the great cloud of witnesses spoken of in the book of Hebrews: they are on the walls and on the roof and on the Iconostasis, which is viewed as a window onto heaven. To those of an evangelical and minimalist view it appears to be more of a barrier between the clergy and people. The saints are very important to any Orthodox worshipper because they are part of the triumphant church. . Just as evangelicals look with great reverence to the Old Testament patriarchs and to the missionaries of the eighteenth century so the Orthodox looks to the Patristic Fathers with veneration. In visiting the region of Turkey known as Cappadocia we were reminded of the Cappadocian Fathers and the part they played in making of the church. In our reading we were reminded of the part played by the patristic thinkers in the theological formation of John Calvin .
The Trinity
Then there are similarities with the evangelical world too. We have the world of Orthodoxy to thank for giving us a focus on the Trinitarian nature of God. All too often today we observe those Christians who pay little attention to the Fatherhood of God and give too much on Jesus [they tend to be Reformed Christians], those who give all the attention to the Spirit [charismatic or Pentecostal] and then there are those who deny the trinity altogether and we call them Unitarians, while the Orthodox are very careful to hold on to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ever three, ever one. In the Trinity we have the model for fellowship and partnership which results in service. It’s in the Trinity that we get the imperative to serve and to engage with each other. It’s in the trinity that we are reminded that ministry is all about relationships: our relationship with God, the triune God and our relationship with other human beings. We are all made in the image of God and that means we are fulfilled when we are like God, this is what the Orthodox call ‘theosis’, or the process of deification, what we prefer to call sanctification. This is what gave the Celtic Christians their relational ministry: this way of doing evangelism makes the person more important than the program and is more person-directed and less aggressive, more Christ-centred because the centre is not what we are doing but on Christ Himself. This is the approach we have taken in our church when we set up our prayer table in the community market. In this approach we allow people to come to us and request prayer rather than being direct and aggressive. As the Father relates to the Son and as the Spirit energizes the Son and makes sure the will of the Father is done so there is inter-dependence on each other, and that is how we are to relate to each other. Out of this approach we empower people rather than make them dependent, they become inter-dependent. In any community every member should have responsibilities and gifts for the benefit of the whole body.

Incarnation
This Trinitarian approach also leads on to the Incarnational approach of the Orthodox. In the incarnation the son of God came to earth as a real man, of flesh and blood. He took on our humanity, cleansed it and transformed it into a holy and glorious humanity. God became like us that we might become like Him. The flesh is important and not to be despised, rather we are to give thanks for it: the Romanian Orthodox, we soon discovered have a great facility for moving easily from the holy to the earthly, they can worship and celebrate without any difficulty. It is because of this incarnation emphasis and their trinitarianism that they thought it important to work and worship and study in the monastic settlements, so on these settlements there were sanctuaries with elaborate icon pictures along with libraries and refectories and fields to work in. In this model there is a holistic or integral approach rather than a pietistic, individualistic and private faith. The church building and the liturgy is designed to be heavenly and God –centred so that the worship becomes a drama: gospel is processed through the door of the iconostasis and the priest is dressed in his finery with the cloud of witnesses looking in the presence of the icon of the Theotokos and the pantokrator on the doom of the roof [God is panokrator or creator]. In ‘’The Liturgy after the Liturgy’’ Ion Bria makes the starting point that the word, ‘liturgy’ has its derived meaning in the words leiteros meaning public, and ergon, meaning work. He goes on to say that ‘
’the liturgy is not just a commemoration of Christ’s ministry to the world, teaching, healing, feeding the people; it is the realization, in each new context, of the history of the world, of ‘what the lord has done’ [psalm 64:8]|The faithful can see with their eyes and hear with their ears and hearts the message of the gospel in the symbolic language of Jesus…Again, this is a matter not just of visualizing the Word of God, but also of partaking the Body of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life’’
In the participation of the people in the liturgy there is an appeal to all the senses: to sight as they see the architecture, the icons and the actions of the priest; to smell as the sweet fragrance of the incense rising up in worship; to hearing as the y hear the bells in the liturgy, as they listen to the singing, telling the story and the words of the priest and the reading of the Gospel and preaching of the word; to touch as they venerate the icons and feel the bread; and to speech as they respond in worship and as they bless themselves in the Trinitarian blessing. For Orthodoxy worship is central to life and living and does not remain in the sanctuary. How often do we need to remind ourselves, in the west, that worship is intended as our spiritual sacrifice, not to be restricted to church, not something we leave in the pews but in everything we do. If we believe in the Trinitarian God then we will follow His example of relational service. Worship is more than singing a few songs and praying a few prayers, it’s about the way we live. Music is of vital importance in the worship of Orthodoxy. In this heavenly drama that can last up to 150 minutes without seating the singing of the liturgy becomes vital. Listening to the harmony which tells the drama it is easier to attend to and remember than the spoken word. From blessing themselves to entering church the Orthodox believer remains thoroughly Trinitarian. Getting the worship right will lead to the right way to live. Like the Celtic Christians life and faith is relational rather than programmed, the ‘’Gospel Driven Church’’ becomes the ‘’Community Church’’ driven by the triune God. Many evangelicals are time driven: we have trained our people to come to worship which will fit into the lifestyle they have chosen. This may well be to do with the music of their choice or the liturgy that suits them best or even the length of the service so that once the magic hour arrives they are keeping an eye on the clock.
Worship
For Orthodoxy it’s not about the time spent in the sanctuary. There is an impulse for the faithful to be totally involved in the action of the liturgy. There is a desire to see, to enter into the holy place, to concelebrate and to take Holy Communion. It’s not a matter of time, but of moving towards the throne to praise in the presence of God. Ian Bria says that it is impossible to be uninvolved. Personally I can verify this. In a visit we made to a church in Iasi I felt caught up in the worship, by the beauty of the singing, by the spirit of worship in the place. Several times I wanted to leave but felt the tug to remain. I had no idea what was being said but that did not seem important. I was struck by the desire of the faithful to be there and to take the blessed bread with them. I was struck by the humility expressed by the women who stayed on their knees for long periods of time, blessing themselves, not in a way which seemed calculated to use the least possible amount of energy but reaching from their heads to the ground. At another church I was struck with a mixture of admiration and suspicion as I saw some women crawling on their hands and knees, blessing themselves in the name of the Triune God making their way through the icon of the virgin and child, pleading for health and healing. We in the reformed tradition remain suspicious of such practices, naming this as superstition and earning their salvation: do they not know that Christ forgives as we ask? But then I find myself asking ‘’how do we express our humility?’’ I think we would be too proud to humble ourselves .Metropolitan Anthony covers this in ‘’School for Prayer’’ saying that if we wish to pray we must start with a certainty that we are sinners in need of salvation. We need to realize that we are naturally cut off from God and that we cannot live without him. All we can offer is our longing to be changed that we may meet him. He says that ‘’prayer is really our humble ascent towards God, a moment when we turn God wards, shy of coming near, knowing that if we meet Him too soon, before His grace has had time to help us to be capable of meeting Him, it will be in judgment’’ Such real humility is not always at the top of evangelicalism
Vertical faithfulness
The Great Commission of Matthew 28 is seen as vertical faithfulness rather than horizontal persuasion. For most evangelicals the Great Commission drives them on so that ministry becomes an objective to be reached: targets are set as to how many can be reached with the message this week or this year, we seek to pack as many as possible into the church or the theatre or the tent. For Orthodoxy the target is to pass the faith on to friends and family that they may pass it on to their children and their children’s children. That seems like something Paul said in 2Timothy 2:2. For many generations now the Presbyterian Church has played lip service to this approach: the practice, on the other hand, has been less committed: we have made such demands on members to spent all their waking hours in the church that spending time with family and being in the community has become a rarity with the resulting outcome that we have become detached from the community in which we live and, worst of all, estranged from our families. We have become too individualistic and private and personal, failing to understand that our Trinitarian faith means we were intended to be the corporate body of Christ, and to have fellowship with one another, bearing one another’s burdens. In seeking to be faithful to the Great Commission we have actually become disobedient and have distorted it. Surely this command of Christ is both vertical and horizontal. There are some implications of this vertical faithfulness that local churches need to attend to.
Then there is the thorny question of the unity of the church. It was Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that the believers would be one but as the years go on then fragmentation becomes greater. In the ‘’Liturgy after the liturgy’’ we read that,
One of the issued raised by the liturgy after the liturgy is the question of Christian unity. It was Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that all the believers should be one: today we are more fragmented than ever, not just across the denominations but within them also. For may years now the Orthodox have kept the World Council of Churches together given the absence of the Roman Catholic Church. By their presence they have demonstrated a commitment to church unity. Since the early years of the infant church Christians from the east have been in the vanguard of doctrinal purity and guardianship, hence the ecumenical councils that defined the divinity and humanity of Christ an other important doctrines we now affirm. On the more local scene the division among local churches whom largely share the same core values is a real obstacle to the gospel and the cause of Christ. While we cannot merely sweep aside the differences between us we should be deliberate and intentional in the engagement we have with those with whom we disagree. In 1974 the World Council of Churches meeting in Bucharest pointed to the necessity of churches working together in communion which would reflect in history the Trinitarian existence of God Himself. It goes on to say that,
The church is meant precisely to be that. Mission, therefore, suffers and is seriously distorted or disappears whenever it is not possible to point to a community in history which reflects this Trinitarian existence of communion. This happens whenever the church is so distorted or divided that it is no longer possible to recognize it as such a communion, or whenever mission is exercised without reference to the church, but with reference simply to the individuals or the social realities of history.
This means that getting our ecclesiology wrong may well make mission impossible. We need to have a correct view of the church, not as something separate from daily life but as an integral part of life. Our worship is another way of preaching the gospel to a secular world. This was highlighted at the W.C.C meeting in Canberra in 1991which spoke of the fundamental nature of the Christian life in sacramental terms.
Every worshipping community should be a model for an inclusive community. Worship space needs to be designed so that all people are able to participate fully. A lively ministry of hospitality, welcoming all in the name of the Lord, is most important. The plea of young people for forms of worship and celebration which fit their culture must be taken seriously.
With the attitude of intentional engagement there will be opportunities to agree and to disagree and to witness to the power and love of the Trinitarian God. Hospitality means being open to the thoughts and traditions of others, it means an openness to light from any quarter with the spiritual faculty of discernment. In our working with churches outside our comfort zone we have tended to isolate ourselves and remain aloof with the danger of remaining closed to the work of the Spirit of God.
Discontinuity
Some of the difficult areas of belief and practice include icons, the place of Mary and the saints and the attitude to tradition. At the beginning we quoted the ballad, ‘’It’s a long way to Tipperary’: recalling icons, is one of those areas were the distance seem the greatest. When a westerner looks at an icon he sees something quite weird, he sees something which evokes feelings of idolatry and exaggerated, cartoon-like thoughts. When the case for icons is put forward it appears very reasonable but the problem is that observation leaves us less than satisfied. This is an important topic because in a post modern society art and music have a very important place in worship and if we can learn from that we should.
Iconology
The trouble with icons and iconology is that we can only look at it from a western point of view. For the Orthodox there are three purposes in using them: one is to create reverence in worship, the second is to instruct those who cannot read; and the third is to serve as an existential link between the worshipper and God. The point is made by the Orthodox that while the Hebrews have always rejected any visible representation of God they did not appreciate that the use of letters can do the exact same thing: for example the use of Chi-Rho and HIS stand for Christ and Jesus respectively. St Basil said that ‘’what the word transmits through the ear, that painting silently shows through the image, and by these two means, mutually, accompanying one another…we receive knowledge of one and the same thing.’’ We are to understand that the Orthodox has two gospels: the one is visual and the other is the verbal to appeal to the whole person. The idea of icon has also become more a feature in the lives of people in popular culture: the communist regime of the USSR made it their practice to display photographs of their leaders to keep people focused on the right issues and the other is contemporary use of icons which act as windows to their programs; we understand that in the Presidential election in the USA on November v4th 2008 many African Americans took pictures of their forebears with them into the voting booths with them as a way of including them in this momentous event; then we are also reminded of the iconic nature given to celebrities and the description of Jesus Christ by the Apostle Paul as an icon of God long with his call for all the faithful to be like Him.
When it comes to prayer there are important lessons for us to learn from the Orthodox Christians and some things which call for critical thought. Take a look at the list set out by Anthony Coniasis and you can only agree that here we have a treasure for us to meditate upon. Here are just a few of these gems of understanding, taken at random, to demonstrate the wealth of wisdom as to the nature of prayer:
• Prayer…uplifts and unites human beings with God [St Gregory Palamas]
• Prayer is our personal communication system with our home base
• Prayer is opening the door of our hearts to receive the Holy Spirit
• Prayer is not bargaining with God, trying to convince Him to change. It is, rather, our asking Him to change us so we see His ways and His plans more clearly
• Prayer is raising my eye to God lest I begin to think that I am the highest point in the universe.
At the heart of eastern Christianity there is mysticism, there is a call to go beyond the cognitive thought forms that we in the west have iconized . There is much here that we can agree with and much that must challenge us. Theophan the Recluse calls for the worshipper to come before God with ‘’’the mind in the heart’’ He says that we need to pray with the mind but also with the heart. He says that we must pray with the mind so that it is not merely words, but the heart has to feel what the mind is thinking. Metropolitan Anthony says that ‘’unless the prayer which you intend to offer to God is important and meaningful to you first, you will not be able to present it to the Lord’’ He sets out three types of prayer: spontaneous; short vocal prayers and ready-made prayers. Discounting the possibility of being spontaneous all the time and rejecting set prayers he talks of the need for which is rooted in conviction. He suggests learning the Psalms by heart so that they can be used, drawn up from the well whenever they are needed and of the Jesus prayer. None of the above should present us with any problems and the idea of practicing daily prayer devotion at each end of the day should encourage us all. Coniaris sets out the daily cycle as one way of putting this into practice. Where many evangelicals have difficulty is with prayer to and with the saints.

What lessons can we learn?
Having tried to tease out any family resemblance I want to try to suggest some practical lessons we can learn from our long, lost relatives. To do this we will need to set out some of the features of the family. Firstly there is the Trinitarian doctrine, which sets the context for much of what is Orthodox Theology and practice. From the fellowship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit comes the monastic communities. Since the fourth century monasticism has been organized into communities, some surviving to the present day. The monastic initiative was the response of the believers to the spiritual struggle. They went to the places that others would not go to. They took the gospel to those places where it had no gone before. When the gospel was taken to Russia monasteries appeared immediately; when the communists left Romania the monasteries began to multiply. Michael Oleska tells us that when Russia, Central Asia and Siberia were settled it was not by adventurers or frontiersmen, as in America, but by monks who went to the remotest corners of Eurasia to continue the struggle against the devil, in the world and within themselves. John Binns reminds us of the problem when discussing Eastern approaches to theology: the words used are often used by east and west but have different meanings. It is also useful to note that both sides have different ways of understanding the nature of this theology. In the east the understanding is not about an academic knowledge but of personal knowledge. Dumitru Staniloae makes the same point when he declares that dogmatics is about ‘concrete theology’…a theology of experience’’ this is not about abstract systems nor philosophical theory but the expression of personal experience and a living encounter with the divine. John Binns quotes the words of Evagrius of Pontus who described a theologian as one who prays and one who prays is a theologian. The reason for this is that theological understanding has developed in the Monasteries rather than the universities, in the rough and tumble of daily life rather than in the ivory palaces of academia. We must wonder how the increasing importance of the universities may influence the life of the church in the days ahead or if the strong link with monasticism will act as a practical bulwark. It would be a mistake to think of the eastern monasticism as remote and distanced from church and people. The fact is that from the very beginning, and we saw this in Turkey, the monasteries were tightly linked to the community. This is seen in the fact that they were centres of learning, places of hospitality and places of work. In times of economic difficulty they provided employment, places for prayer and contemplation. They had their origins in the gospel call to complete commitment and to leave family and friends. I the trinity there is a call to service and interaction. They saw themselves as ‘’white martyrs’, called, not to die, but to give up all for Christ’. John Binns reminds us that the first monks we re just ordinary people who committed themselves to live as the people around them lived. There was nothing very unusual about them. They lived in groups or alone; they ate the same food, wore the same clothes and did the same work as the people around them. Their aim was to live as an alternative communities so as to be critical friends, sometimes challenging, at other times encouraging society. It was in the monastery that people found training and education and sometimes employment. In the early days membership was flexible: monks could leave the monastery and work m in the community and community people were able to join the alternative community for a [period of time. This was an intentional community. we have to ask the question, especially in those places which are often considered God-forsaken, where are the intentional communities in our western societies? These communities were so successful at what they did that they attracted financial support from government and people with great resources. They even played a part in the national defense, making the point that all defense is not military but also spiritual. Emperor Basil II wrote: ‘what foundations are to a house and oars are to a boat, the prayers of the saints are to the Empire. Who can doubt that what the sword, the bow and military strength could not achieve, prayer alone has brought tom pass easily and splendidly’
Stemming from Monasticism we have another feature which is their servant attitude. This also stems from the emphasis on the incarnation. In the triune relationship there is the interaction and mutual service of their fellowship which explains their desire to serve. In Christ God planted Himself in our world, the tabernacle with humanity for a while. Unlike other kings he came to serve rather than be served and it is the responsibility of every Christian to do likewise: not that they speak of responsibility but rather of doing what should come naturally. In the various countries where Orthodoxy is found you will find the liturgy in the national language. You will also find a strong nationalist spirit. Sometimes the question is raise as to how the eastern European nations managed to keep their religion going. The answer to this question raises another characteristic which is that of a survival mentality: in Ireland we call it stubbornness. What that means in the Russian and Romanian context is that they choose to be with their people instead of holding on to religious purity. A pietistic view in Belfast has denuded the community of vibrant Christian witness today.
When Dumitru Staniloae was asked about the cost of surviving communism he said it was two-fold: fear and lies. The persecution was great and they had to pretend to be faithful to the atheist regime. The alternative was top resist, remain pure but be destroyed and be of no use to their people. The Romanian Patriarch during the Ceaucesu years decided to collude rather than resist and this choice was accepted by the population: when he resigned after the revolution the people persuaded him to return because they understood his decision. The same course of action was taken in Russia. The affect in Russia and Romania was to outlast communism: as in China the philosophical premise of Leninist-Marxist ideology was seen to be defeated. The premise was that eventually the success of communism would destroy the foundations of the church and that would lead to a rejection by the people. Unfortunately, for the regime, this did not work out and that was re-enforced when they turned to repression and persecution. When the communists left the church was there to pick up the pieces.
Next, we see that they are clearly intentional in their engagement, both with those they agree with and with those they disagree with. This is illustrated by their involvement in the ecumenical movement where they have held the foreground and in the way they have decided to stay in communities. Where are our intentional communities engaging with the enemy as well as with friends? We have been slow to join the discussion table. We have deserted those communities which need people to fight the spiritual battles which face them every day and that helps to explain why there is a major dislocation of church and community.
Another feature, already mentioned elsewhere, is their grounding in the saints, especially the patristics. They have a clear view of their place in history as the people of God: they are part of a long line of saints who have held true to the faith. While this history can imprison, as it tends to do with us, it can also liberate and inform. The ruins and relics in Turkey and elsewhere can give rise to hope as well as to despair as they consider the sovereign will of God
Application
Having suggested some features of our Orthodox brethren let’s spend some time in setting out how we can benefit from them. Living in a post modern world we need to consider how we can make more use of, and, appeal to the senses. The way we live and worship is very cognitive and while it is necessary for us to have strong minds as well as strong bodies we need to become more holistic in expressing our faith. While we may have difficulties in using icons as a way to focus the worshipper’s mind on Christ we may be able to use art in other ways. In our church we already have a stained glass window of Jesus but we may be able to highlight it more often using creative methods.
In thinking of the great cloud of witnesses we can include the example of the early church fathers along with the missionaries of the nineteenth century.
In thinking of mission we can take the approach of other congregations, along with our Orthodox brothers of making the worship service be the place to help people to become disciples of Christ and leave the liturgy with the understanding that the service has only begun.
Following the implications of the incarnation we need to be intentional in our approach to community. One of the strategies used by John Perkins is to call Christian people to relocate in tough urban communities. We need to attract those people who can, and will, be open to minister and live in the most difficult places, be they in the inter-faces of our cities or in the rural border areas. We can decide to make housing available in areas of acute housing shortage without giving up ministry opportunities. We could set up Intentional Christian Communities in the various areas of Urban Belfast, and why not on the Crumlin Road? In a community which is so segregated into Protestant and Catholic, Nationalist and Unionist we need models which can give example to how the two major traditions in Belfast can live together in harmony. If an experiment in integrated living is to succeed and space is to be shared we will need to create communities which have a certain degree of protection and control. Here is one suggestion or line of thought which is worth considering for our congregation and community:we could use our site to build some housing. A chaplain/warden and other necessary members of staff would be appointed. Places could be allocated with a mix of Christian and non-Christian people, young and old. A cross community aspect would be both essential and inspirational for the greater community. At the same time we could go into partnership with statutory services to build a sports hall/community hall which could also be used by the church.
This would be a renewing resource because it would get regular funding from government and it would dove-tail with the both the Vine and the other churches in the Greater Shankill Community-if it was thought appropriate we could be done with leadership coming from the shankill worship centre. We could be in partnership with the Shankill churches / or with Immanuel-there are models in the US [e.g. Redeemer Presbyterian in New York] and the Vine would play a vital part.
This would enable us to keep the present congregation going and keep a foot on this important arterial route. At the same time the outreach could go on, in parallel with the Vine and other congregations. Being intentional means that we have decided to do this rather than just let it happen. We have decided that we need to attract some Christians who will live in community to help us to model what it means to be a Christian in the urban community. Who else is going to be prepared to live in the places that even Christians have left. Living in community makes it all the more possible. If we were able to build as high as the church then we could have all the more accommodation. There would also be the possibility of extending the services in the future.
Outreach at the vine would be more likely to attract non-Church people. Alpha type courses as well as other topical services. This can only be of encouragement to the other churches and to the Vine-there is no need or desire to do what others are doing.
While the development of a worship centre’s on the Shankill Road is a laudable idea it would be even better if there were people living in community. Along with the work on the Shankill this could be an urban community, where in-service training could be received and students placed to find out the realities of urban life in Belfast.

1. We can also seek to be critical friends to both community and government. This has already begun but what we need to do, by way of intention, is to make it clear to the community which feels deserted by the church is that we are committed to and actually passionately love our communities. In the best practice of development principles we would seek to work with people rather than for them.
We could also make places of spiritual retreat available all the time: turning desert waste places into spiritual oases. We need to consider how to make our worship glimpses of heaven. Our sanctuaries should use the best of art and music and appeal to a many of the senses as is possible, given our theology and they should be as open as possible that people can make use of these sanctuaries.
We need to take biblical reality much more seriously: for them Pentecost is a continuing reality.
We should also consider the implications of vertical faithfulness in our models of ministry. As Presbyterians we speak often of the importance of family and of the responsibility of the family in passing on the faith to the next generation rather than delegating this to the local fellowship. One of the people in the UK to take this seriously has been the of Rev William Still of Gilmartin Parish Church in Aberdeen. Here the congregation is freed to work in the community as active members of the community and to minister to their families. In many of our Presbyterian congregations the expectations on the minister are very high which has tended to make people dependent rather than mature and active. I am not sure if these expectations are driven by ministers or by their congregations or by both. The effect is to increase the pressure and stress on the minister. We have forgotten that the work of ministry starts at home and when it looks outward it requires ministers who are well rounded people; people take time to think and pray and are not afraid to take creative opportunities to meet people where they are. We need to think out of the box. Too often we think, like the institutions we serve, in straight vertical lines. Too often we are overly concerned with our part of the Empire we call church when we need to take the rest of the body of Christ into consideration. We need to ask how to help one another in the spiritual battle.
In seeking to be faithful to creation we should seek to build any new plant using environmentally friendly actions. We should also be concerned with social justice issues so that we will stand up for those who are oppressed in any way.
Conclusion
In this paper I have tried to tease out the family resemblances and to look for lessons to be learnt. A church which has kept the faith for over 2,000 years, through years of persecution by Ottoman and Communist regimes is worthy of investigation, at least. I wonder how we would have fared if we had been the ones who had suffered what they have suffered?

The Long. Lost Relative

2009-03-03T17:39:00.003Z

Foreword

This paper is written for the professors of the Bakke Graduate University in Seattle as part of an assignment for the Doctor of Ministry program, but to the “Research and Resources” committee of the Board of Mission in Ireland, of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The aim is to describe some aspects of the Orthodox model of ministry and mission and to set out some lessons we can learn. This is paper is the conclusion of extensive reading and a visit to Turkey and Romania with a group of other students, professors and Romanian Orthodox Priests. We began in Istanbul, made our way to Cappadocia and Ephesus before traveling through Bulgaria and into Romania to Bucharest and Iasi. We walked in the footsteps of Paul and saw the ancient remnants of the Church of Jesus Christ before observing and experiencing the living church in a former communist country. These are my own personal reflections. This was never intended to be a tourist trip but more of a pilgrimage and an opportunity to experience and rediscover our long lost family in the Orthodox tradition. It turned out to be a very long pilgrimage but these experiences and reflections were made with a group of people who have come to know each other better because of the many hours we spent together on the bus. We came to admire and wonder at the physical endurance of Paul who made the same journey without modern transport.
In seeking to understand this church, which has been isolated from the west since the split with Rome in 1054, we will look at its doctrine and practice. One becomes very aware of the distance between us but also the faith and practices that we share: it’s not always clear that in using familiar words we understand the same familiar things. J.I Packer reflects this line of thought when he describes the perceived distance between |Orthodoxy and traditional Evangelicalism, using the words of the ballad, ‘’It’s a long way to Tipperary, it’s a long way to go’’ . George Bernard Shaw said much the same when he described the usage of English on both sides of the Atlantic as ‘’a common people separated by a common language’’. The average person is not familiar with the Eastern Orthodox Church, we are not taught about it and so the assumption is made that there is little, if any, difference between the Christian and the Roman Catholic Christian. It is my contention that there are similarities as well as differences that we can learn from and even adopt to make valuable contributions to any living church for the glory of God.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank those who journeyed with me on the Orthodox Trail and those who have helped me along the way and in the process of producing this paper and pray that it will help someone somewhere on their journey through life.
Dogma, the practical theology of Orthodox Faith
Before investigating some of the beliefs of Eastern Orthodoxy we need to give some consideration as to what we understand it to mean by ‘’orthodoxy’. The literal meaning of Orthodox is that it is the right teaching or right worship, being derived from two Greek words: orthos (right) and doxa (teaching or worship). As the false teachings and divisions multiplied in early Christian times, threatening to obscure the identity and purity of the Church, the term Orthodox quite logically came to be applied to it. Hence we have then term applied to Judaism with Orthodox Jews As opposed to Reformed or liberal and orthodox Protestants in contrast to liberals. The Orthodox Church considers itself as something of a guardian of truth against all error and schism, both to protect its flock and to glorify Christ whose body the Church is. Another way of considering Orthodoxy is to think of it in the light of those churches which call themselves ‘Orthodox’ meaning those churches who belong to a loose federation of churches who split from the Latin church in 1054AD [some of them are aligned to the council of Chalcedon and others opposed] giving special honour to the see of Constantinople. They were part of the eastern flank of the Roman Empire, where Constantine had his capital. After the historic split with Rome it became detached and developed an independent identity. Today, because of mission and political decisions, there has developed a Diaspora throughout the world but especially in the United States of America.[check this definition]. We will be using the second of these understandings in this discussion.
We are what we are because of what we believe and so in studying Orthodox faith and practice we need to reflect on the theological perspectives that make her what she is. When a people are separated by thousands of years it is quite natural that they should take some time to get to know each other once they have been re-acquainted. Before our trip we spent much time in reading about the life and faith of Orthodoxy but we have also been in discussion and spent time with those involved in ministry. In seeking to get a basic understanding of the dogma of the church one of the books we read was ‘’Introducing The Orthodox Church’’ by Anthony M. Coniasis . This covered such basics as liturgy, prayer, scripture, salvation, the sacraments and the controversial areas of Mary, the saints and the use of icons. Like other churches the Orthodox see themselves as the ‘’one, holy, catholic and apostolic church’’: they consider themselves,’ as the only way, and the truth to be the guardians of that truth for over 2,000 years. For a deeper understanding of dogma we read ‘’The Experience of God’’ by Father Dumetru Staniloae . This gives, not only a deeper understanding of Orthodox faith but also a different way of understanding dogma, which in turn gives us a better understanding of the nature of this church.. For Orthodoxy, dogma is not about those rules and regulations of the faith that are rigid and fixed. In some of the English translations the ‘’Dogma’’ was omitted from the title for fear that it would be understood only in the western way. For Father Dumitri this is not about a bald exterior appeal to the magisterium but…’’to indicate the inner coherence of dogmatic truth and the significance of each dogma for the personal life of the Christian’’ He goes on to say that what is needed is a ‘’concrete theology’’. For him theology presumes a personal relationship and that makes it less theoretic and more dynamic than the normal, western Dogmatic Theology.: it’s not about placing beliefs in various boxes, it’s more about living an integral faith where each part of the faith relates to all the others.
In studying the theology of Orthodoxy we find both continuity and discontinuity with ourselves and with the early church, at least as we understand it. Unlike the western or Latin Church the Orthodox have not been subject to the Reformation nor the Renaissance and they were never influenced by the Age of Reason and governance has not been by dictate of Pope or prelates but by the collective decision of the church: the Patriarch is merely the first among equals, as is the Moderator of the General Assembly, with his brother bishops. Anthony M Coniasis writes that ‘’The holiest moment in the church service is the moment when the Church-God’s people-strengthened by preaching and sacrament-go out the church door into the world to be the Church. We don’t merely go to church; we are the Church’’ . This view is similar to the Roman Catholic practice as the priest declares at the end of the Mass, ‘’The Mass is ended, go and serve the Lord’’. The division and schism of 1054 represents the separation of the brethren and a very long period of isolation, which has been aggravated by the historical events, such as the sacking of Constantinople in the thirteenth century by the knights of the Fourth Crusade. One of our problems is that we think by using the same word s we are meaning the same thing but that is not always the case. J.I Packer makes this point in his foreword to ‘’Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism’’ when he says
A venerable British ballad [or was it Irish?] begins by declaring, ‘’It’s a long way to Tipperary, it’s a long way to go.’’’. Substitute for Tipperary the desired togetherness between, on the one hand, North America’s evangelical church- as the great cluster of evangelical denominations, freestanding Bible churches, and evangelical networks within the subevangelical mainline are currently called-and the western outposts of the Eastern Orthodox communion on the other, and words of the song fit with ominous exactness: indeed, ’’it’s a long way to go.

Continuity

Theology of Mary

There are apparent similarities with the Western Church in the theology of Mary and the saints but also discontinuity when we begin to unpack what the words actually mean: for the Orthodox Mary, the mother of Jesus is Theotokos, the God bearer and any icons of her are always with the child, Jesus. In Orthodoxy Mary is never alone and she is always pointing to the Son of God she is looking inwardly in contemplation. She is not holding the child. The child blesses her for her willingness to be the one who brought him into the world. In the Latin Church Mary is seen alone. In Orthodox understanding Mary gives Jesus the place of priority and honour which is in line with our reformed view. [picture of Mary here?]
Ian Bria takes this further by saying that ‘’an ecclesiology which does not include Mary the mother of Jesus is unbiblical.’’ We may have to take this as a valid criticism in that we do not give Mary the position of honour that she has in scripture as the one ‘’most highly favoured’’. Timothy Ware states that anyone who fails to honour Mary is usually someone who does not really believe in the incarnation. He tells us that the Fathers of the Council of Ephesus insisted that Mary be called Theotokus because honouring her would safeguard a right doctrine of Christ’s person. He says that ‘’anyone who thinks out the implications of that great phrase, ‘The word was made flesh’, cannot but feel a profound awe for her who was chosen as the instrument of so surpassing a mystery’’
The Communion of the Saints
Like the Roman Church Luke there is a theology of death which means that life is not defeated or interrupted by death: the Church is quick and dead, militant and triumphant.. There is little practical evidence to show that we believe in a church militant in our practice: we remain orthodox in our liturgy if not in our praxis. Some believe that we ignore the saints who have departed unless they were born in the nineteenth century and were sent out as missionaries. To some we act as if nothing of any importance happened before the Reformation if not prior to the Revivals of the nineteenth century. More familiar to us is the view that the Church is not the building rather it is the gathering in the name of Jesus and the fellowship of the saints which means that a Christian is never alone. Upon entering an Orthodox sanctuary one becomes immediately aware, we are told, of the great cloud of witnesses spoken of in the book of Hebrews: they are on the walls and on the roof and on the Iconostasis, which is viewed as a window onto heaven. To those of an evangelical and minimalist view it appears to be more of a barrier between the clergy and people. The saints are very important to any Orthodox worshipper because they are part of the triumphant church. . Just as evangelicals look with great reverence to the Old Testament patriarchs and to the missionaries of the eighteenth century so the Orthodox looks to the Patristic Fathers with veneration. In visiting the region of Turkey known as Cappadocia we were reminded of the Cappadocian Fathers and the part they played in making of the church. In our reading we were reminded of the part played by the patristic thinkers in the theological formation of John Calvin .

The Trinity

Then there are similarities with the evangelical world too. We have the world of Orthodoxy to thank for giving us a focus on the Trinitarian nature of God. All too often today we observe those Christians who pay little attention to the Fatherhood of God and give too much on Jesus [they tend to be Reformed Christians], those who give all the attention to the Spirit [charismatic or Pentecostal] and then there are those who deny the trinity altogether and we call them Unitarians, while the Orthodox are very careful to hold on to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ever three, ever one. In the Trinity we have the model for fellowship and partnership which results in service. It’s in the Trinity that we get the imperative to serve and to engage with each other. It’s in the trinity that we are reminded that ministry is all about relationships: our relationship with God, the triune God and our relationship with other human beings. We are all made in the image of God and that means we are fulfilled when we are like God, this is what the Orthodox call ‘theosis’, or the process of deification, what we prefer to call sanctification. This is what gave the Celtic Christians their relational ministry: this way of doing evangelism makes the person more important than the program and is more person-directed and less aggressive, more Christ-centred because the centre is not what we are doing but on Christ Himself. This is the approach we have taken in our church when we set up our prayer table in the community market. In this approach we allow people to come to us and request prayer rather than being direct and aggressive. As the Father relates to the Son and as the Spirit energizes the Son and makes sure the will of the Father is done so there is inter-dependence on each other, and that is how we are to relate to each other. Out of this approach we empower people rather than make them dependent, they become inter-dependent. In any community every member should have responsibilities and gifts for the benefit of the whole body.

Incarnation

This Trinitarian approach also leads on to the Incarnational approach of the Orthodox. In the incarnation the son of God came to earth as a real man, of flesh and blood. He took on our humanity, cleansed it and transformed it into a holy and glorious humanity. God became like us that we might become like Him. The flesh is important and not to be despised, rather we are to give thanks for it: the Romanian Orthodox, we soon discovered have a great facility for moving easily from the holy to the earthly, they can worship and celebrate without any difficulty. It is because of this incarnation emphasis and their trinitarianism that they thought it important to work and worship and study in the monastic settlements, so on these settlements there were sanctuaries with elaborate icon pictures along with libraries and refectories and fields to work in. In this model there is a holistic or integral approach rather than a pietistic, individualistic and private faith. The church building and the liturgy is designed to be heavenly and God –centred so that the worship becomes a drama: gospel is processed through the door of the iconostasis and the priest is dressed in his finery with the cloud of witnesses looking in the presence of the icon of the Theotokos and the pantokrator on the doom of the roof [God is panokrator or creator]. In ‘’The Liturgy after the Liturgy’’ Ion Bria makes the starting point that the word, ‘liturgy’ has its derived meaning in the words leiteros meaning public, and ergon, meaning work. He goes on to say that ‘
’the liturgy is not just a commemoration of Christ’s ministry to the world, teaching, healing, feeding the people; it is the realization, in each new context, of the history of the world, of ‘what the lord has done’ [psalm 64:8]|The faithful can see with their eyes and hear with their ears and hearts the message of the gospel in the symbolic language of Jesus…Again, this is a matter not just of visualizing the Word of God, but also of partaking the Body of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life’’
In the participation of the people in the liturgy there is an appeal to all the senses: to sight as they see the architecture, the icons and the actions of the priest; to smell as the sweet fragrance of the incense rising up in worship; to hearing as the y hear the bells in the liturgy, as they listen to the singing, telling the story and the words of the priest and the reading of the Gospel and preaching of the word; to touch as they venerate the icons and feel the bread; and to speech as they respond in worship and as they bless themselves in the Trinitarian blessing. For Orthodoxy worship is central to life and living and does not remain in the sanctuary. How often do we need to remind ourselves, in the west, that worship is intended as our spiritual sacrifice, not to be restricted to church, not something we leave in the pews but in everything we do. If we believe in the Trinitarian God then we will follow His example of relational service. Worship is more than singing a few songs and praying a few prayers, it’s about the way we live. Music is of vital importance in the worship of Orthodoxy. In this heavenly drama that can last up to 150 minutes without seating the singing of the liturgy becomes vital. Listening to the harmony which tells the drama it is easier to attend to and remember than the spoken word. From blessing themselves to entering church the Orthodox believer remains thoroughly Trinitarian. Getting the worship right will lead to the right way to live. Like the Celtic Christians life and faith is relational rather than programmed, the ‘’Gospel Driven Church’’ becomes the ‘’Community Church’’ driven by the triune God. Many evangelicals are time driven: we have trained our people to come to worship which will fit into the lifestyle they have chosen. This may well be to do with the music of their choice or the liturgy that suits them best or even the length of the service so that once the magic hour arrives they are keeping an eye on the clock.
Worship
For Orthodoxy it’s not about the time spent in the sanctuary. There is an impulse for the faithful to be totally involved in the action of the liturgy. There is a desire to see, to enter into the holy place, to concelebrate and to take Holy Communion. It’s not a matter of time, but of moving towards the throne to praise in the presence of God. Ian Bria says that it is impossible to be uninvolved. Personally I can verify this. In a visit we made to a church in Iasi I felt caught up in the worship, by the beauty of the singing, by the spirit of worship in the place. Several times I wanted to leave but felt the tug to remain. I had no idea what was being said but that did not seem important. I was struck by the desire of the faithful to be there and to take the blessed bread with them. I was struck by the humility expressed by the women who stayed on their knees for long periods of time, blessing themselves, not in a way which seemed calculated to use the least possible amount of energy but reaching from their heads to the ground. At another church I was struck with a mixture of admiration and suspicion as I saw some women crawling on their hands and knees, blessing themselves in the name of the Triune God making their way through the icon of the virgin and child, pleading for health and healing. We in the reformed tradition remain suspicious of such practices, naming this as superstition and earning their salvation: do they not know that Christ forgives as we ask? But then I find myself asking ‘’how do we express our humility?’’ I think we would be too proud to humble ourselves .Metropolitan Anthony covers this in ‘’School for Prayer’’ saying that if we wish to pray we must start with a certainty that we are sinners in need of salvation. We need to realize that we are naturally cut off from God and that we cannot live without him. All we can offer is our longing to be changed that we may meet him. He says that ‘’prayer is really our humble ascent towards God, a moment when we turn God wards, shy of coming near, knowing that if we meet Him too soon, before His grace has had time to help us to be capable of meeting Him, it will be in judgment’’ Such real humility is not always at the top of evangelicalism
Vertical faithfulness
The Great Commission of Matthew 28 is seen as vertical faithfulness rather than horizontal persuasion. For most evangelicals the Great Commission drives them on so that ministry becomes an objective to be reached: targets are set as to how many can be reached with the message this week or this year, we seek to pack as many as possible into the church or the theatre or the tent. For Orthodoxy the target is to pass the faith on to friends and family that they may pass it on to their children and their children’s children. That seems like something Paul said in 2Timothy 2:2. For many generations now the Presbyterian Church has played lip service to this approach: the practice, on the other hand, has been less committed: we have made such demands on members to spent all their waking hours in the church that spending time with family and being in the community has become a rarity with the resulting outcome that we have become detached from the community in which we live and, worst of all, estranged from our families. We have become too individualistic and private and personal, failing to understand that our Trinitarian faith means we were intended to be the corporate body of Christ, and to have fellowship with one another, bearing one another’s burdens. In seeking to be faithful to the Great Commission we have actually become disobedient and have distorted it. Surely this command of Christ is both vertical and horizontal. There are some implications of this vertical faithfulness that local churches need to attend to.
Then there is the thorny question of the unity of the church. It was Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that the believers would be one but as the years go on then fragmentation becomes greater. In the ‘’Liturgy after the liturgy’’ we read that,
One of the issued raised by the liturgy after the liturgy is the question of Christian unity. It was Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that all the believers should be one: today we are more fragmented than ever, not just across the denominations but within them also. For may years now the Orthodox have kept the World Council of Churches together given the absence of the Roman Catholic Church. By their presence they have demonstrated a commitment to church unity. Since the early years of the infant church Christians from the east have been in the vanguard of doctrinal purity and guardianship, hence the ecumenical councils that defined the divinity and humanity of Christ an other important doctrines we now affirm. On the more local scene the division among local churches whom largely share the same core values is a real obstacle to the gospel and the cause of Christ. While we cannot merely sweep aside the differences between us we should be deliberate and intentional in the engagement we have with those with whom we disagree. In 1974 the World Council of Churches meeting in Bucharest pointed to the necessity of churches working together in communion which would reflect in history the Trinitarian existence of God Himself. It goes on to say that,
The church is meant precisely to be that. Mission, therefore, suffers and is seriously distorted or disappears whenever it is not possible to point to a community in history which reflects this Trinitarian existence of communion. This happens whenever the church is so distorted or divided that it is no longer possible to recognize it as such a communion, or whenever mission is exercised without reference to the church, but with reference simply to the individuals or the social realities of history.
This means that getting our ecclesiology wrong may well make mission impossible. We need to have a correct view of the church, not as something separate from daily life but as an integral part of life. Our worship is another way of preaching the gospel to a secular world. This was highlighted at the W.C.C meeting in Canberra in 1991which spoke of the fundamental nature of the Christian life in sacramental terms.
Every worshipping community should be a model for an inclusive community. Worship space needs to be designed so that all people are able to participate fully. A lively ministry of hospitality, welcoming all in the name of the Lord, is most important. The plea of young people for forms of worship and celebration which fit their culture must be taken seriously.
With the attitude of intentional engagement there will be opportunities to agree and to disagree and to witness to the power and love of the Trinitarian God. Hospitality means being open to the thoughts and traditions of others, it means an openness to light from any quarter with the spiritual faculty of discernment. In our working with churches outside our comfort zone we have tended to isolate ourselves and remain aloof with the danger of remaining closed to the work of the Spirit of God.
Discontinuity
Some of the difficult areas of belief and practice include icons, the place of Mary and the saints and the attitude to tradition. At the beginning we quoted the ballad, ‘’It’s a long way to Tipperary’: recalling icons, is one of those areas were the distance seem the greatest. When a westerner looks at an icon he sees something quite weird, he sees something which evokes feelings of idolatry and exaggerated, cartoon-like thoughts. When the case for icons is put forward it appears very reasonable but the problem is that observation leaves us less than satisfied. This is an important topic because in a post modern society art and music have a very important place in worship and if we can learn from that we should.
Iconology
The trouble with icons and iconology is that we can only look at it from a western point of view. For the Orthodox there are three purposes in using them: one is to create reverence in worship, the second is to instruct those who cannot read; and the third is to serve as an existential link between the worshipper and God. The point is made by the Orthodox that while the Hebrews have always rejected any visible representation of God they did not appreciate that the use of letters can do the exact same thing: for example the use of Chi-Rho and HIS stand for Christ and Jesus respectively. St Basil said that ‘’what the word transmits through the ear, that painting silently shows through the image, and by these two means, mutually, accompanying one another…we receive knowledge of one and the same thing.’’ We are to understand that the Orthodox has two gospels: the one is visual and the other is the verbal to appeal to the whole person. The idea of icon has also become more a feature in the lives of people in popular culture: the communist regime of the USSR made it their practice to display photographs of their leaders to keep people focused on the right issues and the other is contemporary use of icons which act as windows to their programs; we understand that in the Presidential election in the USA on November v4th 2008 many African Americans took pictures of their forebears with them into the voting booths with them as a way of including them in this momentous event; then we are also reminded of the iconic nature given to celebrities and the description of Jesus Christ by the Apostle Paul as an icon of God long with his call for all the faithful to be like Him.
When it comes to prayer there are important lessons for us to learn from the Orthodox Christians and some things which call for critical thought. Take a look at the list set out by Anthony Coniasis and you can only agree that here we have a treasure for us to meditate upon. Here are just a few of these gems of understanding, taken at random, to demonstrate the wealth of wisdom as to the nature of prayer:

• Prayer…uplifts and unites human beings with God [St Gregory Palamas]
• Prayer is our personal communication system with our home base
• Prayer is opening the door of our hearts to receive the Holy Spirit
• Prayer is not bargaining with God, trying to convince Him to change. It is, rather, our asking Him to change us so we see His ways and His plans more clearly
• Prayer is raising my eye to God lest I begin to think that I am the highest point in the universe.
At the heart of eastern Christianity there is mysticism, there is a call to go beyond the cognitive thought forms that we in the west have iconized . There is much here that we can agree with and much that must challenge us. Theophan the Recluse calls for the worshipper to come before God with ‘’’the mind in the heart’’ He says that we need to pray with the mind but also with the heart. He says that we must pray with the mind so that it is not merely words, but the heart has to feel what the mind is thinking. Metropolitan Anthony says that ‘’unless the prayer which you intend to offer to God is important and meaningful to you first, you will not be able to present it to the Lord’’ He sets out three types of prayer: spontaneous; short vocal prayers and ready-made prayers. Discounting the possibility of being spontaneous all the time and rejecting set prayers he talks of the need for which is rooted in conviction. He suggests learning the Psalms by heart so that they can be used, drawn up from the well whenever they are needed and of the Jesus prayer. None of the above should present us with any problems and the idea of practicing daily prayer devotion at each end of the day should encourage us all. Coniaris sets out the daily cycle as one way of putting this into practice. Where many evangelicals have difficulty is with prayer to and with the saints.

What lessons can we learn?

Having tried to tease out any family resemblance I want to try to suggest some practical lessons we can learn from our long, lost relatives. To do this we will need to set out some of the features of the family. Firstly there is the Trinitarian doctrine, which sets the context for much of what is Orthodox Theology and practice. From the fellowship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit comes the monastic communities. Since the fourth century monasticism has been organized into communities, some surviving to the present day. The monastic initiative was the response of the believers to the spiritual struggle. They went to the places that others would not go to. They took the gospel to those places where it had no gone before. When the gospel was taken to Russia monasteries appeared immediately; when the communists left Romania the monasteries began to multiply. Michael Oleska tells us that when Russia, Central Asia and Siberia were settled it was not by adventurers or frontiersmen, as in America, but by monks who went to the remotest corners of Eurasia to continue the struggle against the devil, in the world and within themselves. John Binns reminds us of the problem when discussing Eastern approaches to theology: the words used are often used by east and west but have different meanings. It is also useful to note that both sides have different ways of understanding the nature of this theology. In the east the understanding is not about an academic knowledge but of personal knowledge. Dumitru Staniloae makes the same point when he declares that dogmatics is about ‘concrete theology’…a theology of experience’’ this is not about abstract systems nor philosophical theory but the expression of personal experience and a living encounter with the divine. John Binns quotes the words of Evagrius of Pontus who described a theologian as one who prays and one who prays is a theologian. The reason for this is that theological understanding has developed in the Monasteries rather than the universities, in the rough and tumble of daily life rather than in the ivory palaces of academia. We must wonder how the increasing importance of the universities may influence the life of the church in the days ahead or if the strong link with monasticism will act as a practical bulwark. It would be a mistake to think of the eastern monasticism as remote and distanced from church and people. The fact is that from the very beginning, and we saw this in Turkey, the monasteries were tightly linked to the community. This is seen in the fact that they were centres of learning, places of hospitality and places of work. In times of economic difficulty they provided employment, places for prayer and contemplation. They had their origins in the gospel call to complete commitment and to leave family and friends. I the trinity there is a call to service and interaction. They saw themselves as ‘’white martyrs’, called, not to die, but to give up all for Christ’. John Binns reminds us that the first monks we re just ordinary people who committed themselves to live as the people around them lived. There was nothing very unusual about them. They lived in groups or alone; they ate the same food, wore the same clothes and did the same work as the people around them. Their aim was to live as an alternative communities so as to be critical friends, sometimes challenging, at other times encouraging society. It was in the monastery that people found training and education and sometimes employment. In the early days membership was flexible: monks could leave the monastery and work m in the community and community people were able to join the alternative community for a [period of time. This was an intentional community. we have to ask the question, especially in those places which are often considered God-forsaken, where are the intentional communities in our western societies? These communities were so successful at what they did that they attracted financial support from government and people with great resources. They even played a part in the national defense, making the point that all defense is not military but also spiritual. Emperor Basil II wrote: ‘what foundations are to a house and oars are to a boat, the prayers of the saints are to the Empire. Who can doubt that what the sword, the bow and military strength could not achieve, prayer alone has brought tom pass easily and splendidly’
Stemming from Monasticism we have another feature which is their servant attitude. This also stems from the emphasis on the incarnation. In the triune relationship there is the interaction and mutual service of their fellowship which explains their desire to serve. In Christ God planted Himself in our world, the tabernacle with humanity for a while. Unlike other kings he came to serve rather than be served and it is the responsibility of every Christian to do likewise: not that they speak of responsibility but rather of doing what should come naturally. In the various countries where Orthodoxy is found you will find the liturgy in the national language. You will also find a strong nationalist spirit. Sometimes the question is raise as to how the eastern European nations managed to keep their religion going. The answer to this question raises another characteristic which is that of a survival mentality: in Ireland we call it stubbornness. What that means in the Russian and Romanian context is that they choose to be with their people instead of holding on to religious purity. A pietistic view in Belfast has denuded the community of vibrant Christian witness today.
When Dumitru Staniloae was asked about the cost of surviving communism he said it was two-fold: fear and lies. The persecution was great and they had to pretend to be faithful to the atheist regime. The alternative was top resist, remain pure but be destroyed and be of no use to their people. The Romanian Patriarch during the Ceaucesu years decided to collude rather than resist and this choice was accepted by the population: when he resigned after the revolution the people persuaded him to return because they understood his decision. The same course of action was taken in Russia. The affect in Russia and Romania was to outlast communism: as in China the philosophical premise of Leninist-Marxist ideology was seen to be defeated. The premise was that eventually the success of communism would destroy the foundations of the church and that would lead to a rejection by the people. Unfortunately, for the regime, this did not work out and that was re-enforced when they turned to repression and persecution. When the communists left the church was there to pick up the pieces.
Next, we see that they are clearly intentional in their engagement, both with those they agree with and with those they disagree with. This is illustrated by their involvement in the ecumenical movement where they have held the foreground and in the way they have decided to stay in communities. Where are our intentional communities engaging with the enemy as well as with friends? We have been slow to join the discussion table. We have deserted those communities which need people to fight the spiritual battles which face them every day and that helps to explain why there is a major dislocation of church and community.
Another feature, already mentioned elsewhere, is their grounding in the saints, especially the patristics. They have a clear view of their place in history as the people of God: they are part of a long line of saints who have held true to the faith. While this history can imprison, as it tends to do with us, it can also liberate and inform. The ruins and relics in Turkey and elsewhere can give rise to hope as well as to despair as they consider the sovereign will of God
Application
Having suggested some features of our Orthodox brethren let’s spend some time in setting out how we can benefit from them. Living in a post modern world we need to consider how we can make more use of, and, appeal to the senses. The way we live and worship is very cognitive and while it is necessary for us to have strong minds as well as strong bodies we need to become more holistic in expressing our faith. While we may have difficulties in using icons as a way to focus the worshipper’s mind on Christ we may be able to use art in other ways. In our church we already have a stained glass window of Jesus but we may be able to highlight it more often using creative methods.
In thinking of the great cloud of witnesses we can include the example of the early church fathers along with the missionaries of the nineteenth century.
In thinking of mission we can take the approach of other congregations, along with our Orthodox brothers of making the worship service be the place to help people to become disciples of Christ and leave the liturgy with the understanding that the service has only begun.
Following the implications of the incarnation we need to be intentional in our approach to community. One of the strategies used by John Perkins is to call Christian people to relocate in tough urban communities. We need to attract those people who can, and will, be open to minister and live in the most difficult places, be they in the inter-faces of our cities or in the rural border areas. We can decide to make housing available in areas of acute housing shortage without giving up ministry opportunities. We could set up Intentional Christian Communities in the various areas of Urban Belfast, and why not on the Crumlin Road? In a community which is so segregated into Protestant and Catholic, Nationalist and Unionist we need models which can give example to how the two major traditions in Belfast can live together in harmony. If an experiment in integrated living is to succeed and space is to be shared we will need to create communities which have a certain degree of protection and control. Here is one suggestion or line of thought which is worth considering for our congregation and community:we could use our site to build some housing. A chaplain/warden and other necessary members of staff would be appointed. Places could be allocated with a mix of Christian and non-Christian people, young and old. A cross community aspect would be both essential and inspirational for the greater community. At the same time we could go into partnership with statutory services to build a sports hall/community hall which could also be used by the church.
This would be a renewing resource because it would get regular funding from government and it would dove-tail with the both the Vine and the other churches in the Greater Shankill Community-if it was thought appropriate we could be done with leadership coming from the shankill worship centre. We could be in partnership with the Shankill churches / or with Immanuel-there are models in the US [e.g. Redeemer Presbyterian in New York] and the Vine would play a vital part.
This would enable us to keep the present congregation going and keep a foot on this important arterial route. At the same time the outreach could go on, in parallel with the Vine and other congregations. Being intentional means that we have decided to do this rather than just let it happen. We have decided that we need to attract some Christians who will live in community to help us to model what it means to be a Christian in the urban community. Who else is going to be prepared to live in the places that even Christians have left. Living in community makes it all the more possible. If we were able to build as high as the church then we could have all the more accommodation. There would also be the possibility of extending the services in the future.
Outreach at the vine would be more likely to attract non-Church people. Alpha type courses as well as other topical services. This can only be of encouragement to the other churches and to the Vine-there is no need or desire to do what others are doing.
While the development of a worship centre’s on the Shankill Road is a laudable idea it would be even better if there were people living in community. Along with the work on the Shankill this could be an urban community, where in-service training could be received and students placed to find out the realities of urban life in Belfast.

1. We can also seek to be critical friends to both community and government. This has already begun but what we need to do, by way of intention, is to make it clear to the community which feels deserted by the church is that we are committed to and actually passionately love our communities. In the best practice of development principles we would seek to work with people rather than for them.
We could also make places of spiritual retreat available all the time: turning desert waste places into spiritual oases. We need to consider how to make our worship glimpses of heaven. Our sanctuaries should use the best of art and music and appeal to a many of the senses as is possible, given our theology and they should be as open as possible that people can make use of these sanctuaries.
We need to take biblical reality much more seriously: for them Pentecost is a continuing reality.
We should also consider the implications of vertical faithfulness in our models of ministry. As Presbyterians we speak often of the importance of family and of the responsibility of the family in passing on the faith to the next generation rather than delegating this to the local fellowship. One of the people in the UK to take this seriously has been the of Rev William Still of Gilmartin Parish Church in Aberdeen. Here the congregation is freed to work in the community as active members of the community and to minister to their families. In many of our Presbyterian congregations the expectations on the minister are very high which has tended to make people dependent rather than mature and active. I am not sure if these expectations are driven by ministers or by their congregations or by both. The effect is to increase the pressure and stress on the minister. We have forgotten that the work of ministry starts at home and when it looks outward it requires ministers who are well rounded people; people take time to think and pray and are not afraid to take creative opportunities to meet people where they are. We need to think out of the box. Too often we think, like the institutions we serve, in straight vertical lines. Too often we are overly concerned with our part of the Empire we call church when we need to take the rest of the body of Christ into consideration. We need to ask how to help one another in the spiritual battle.
In seeking to be faithful to creation we should seek to build any new plant using environmentally friendly actions. We should also be concerned with social justice issues so that we will stand up for those who are oppressed in any way.

Conclusion

In this paper I have tried to tease out the family resemblances and to look for lessons to be learnt. A church which has kept the faith for over 2,000 years, through years of persecution by Ottoman and Communist regimes is worthy of investigation, at least. I wonder how we would have fared if we had been the ones who had suffered what they have suffered?

INSIDE OUT OUTSIDE IN

2009-01-31T20:51:00.000Z

Crumlin Road Presbyterian location

Some time ago my wife gave me a funny look. You may not think that as being particularly strange, not when you know me and you know my wardrobe “elegance”. What was funny was that somehow I had managed to put my jumper on “inside out” or was it “outside in”? That’s one way of getting more use out of it. It’s a bit like the case of the student who never washed his socks; he just recycled them in the wash basket! Who is to decide what is the right way anyway? My guess is that there are night clubs in Belfast where you would not get in if you wore your clothes that way, whether the article was a stripy jumper or not
That got me thinking about how important it is, or is it, to look well and to do things which look good. Some people are very concerned about the way they look so they spend hours getting ready to go anywhere: they have to wear the right clothes, having everything colour co-ordinated. Most women need to have their make-up on first thing in the morning and men who would not be seen dead without their latest electronic gadget. For me the most important thing in the morning is breakfast and taking the dogs out for their walk.
I guess the normal thing now would be to remind us all that God looks at the heart and not the outside appearance and that is we concentrated on that it would be a better idea than thinking of how we look. That would be normal and true but I want to take a sidewise glance at this from another angle. We are all too familiar with the decline in numbers attending the institutional churches. I only say the institutional church because that is where my experience is and not on those churches which are emerging in various places. Sometimes I feel very defeated by the downward trend and then I have to remind myself, to quote Jonesy in Dad’s Army, “don’t panic, don’t panic”.
This is where I come back to the truth I learnt from my wardrobe malfunction. Unless we in the church are ready to turn our churches “inside out” or “outside in” we are never going to make a difference in our society. What I mean by this is that we need to keep our focus on God and on Jesus Christ in particular but we need to draw alongside people. We need to put the community back into the heart of the church. Presently our church buildings tell the world that we are different, set apart, a place where ordinary people do not go. Jesus Christ was always part of his community. I want our building to say to the world, “you are welcome” I want the Christians to say to the world, “church is a place of sanctuary, of peace and of acceptance”. We are not a private club; we are a people who are literally on the move. I know that the worry is that if we do not take care of ourselves we will lose our edge. Can we not leave the health of the church to the God who owns the church? Can we not trust God so that as we become more community minded He will look after our spiritual health or is that ok for missionaries in Africa and different for us in Belfast? Why not, for example, share our buildings with the community?
It’s time for all Churches to turn the inside out. Maybe my mistake was worth making after all!

What kind of society do we want?

2006-10-02T22:39:00.000+01:00

Crumlin Road Presbyterian location

The call came at 6.30am on Sunday, 1^st October to tell me that the church minibus had been torched and all that remained was the shell. My first reaction was one of thanks that no one had been hurt or worse. But now I would like to ask a very important question- what kind of society do we want? Another question is what are we prepared to do to get that society?

We were only one of a number of incidents that night in the district around the church and the damage that is done by this affects the whole community. What we struggle with is the fact that we are really trying to develop projects to work for a better society. Crumlin Road Presbyterian has been one of the lights in this district all through the troubles- on Friday night I was at the Boys Brigade Company section where there were teenagers meeting in the upper hall and next week the plan was to take these boys to Dundonald to go ice skating. Every week there are groups of people meeting in the church and the bus is used to collect and return people of all ages to church. Over the years we have taken people on various trips and outings,. Only this summer we hosted a team from the USA who worked with local people to clean up the district and to improve the environment by helping with gardens and giving flowers and plants in window boxes. We took a large group of local residents to the Giant’s Causeway for the day. The bus was used every day to ferry the team to various places to help them do their work

In our reading of the bible we understand the Christian’s calling is to serve and to help to rebuild civil society. Over the last 12 months we have been asking questions about how we can best serve our community- we are not going away, not to the suburbs, not to the green countryside, we are staying because this is where we are called to work and serve. We have had many meetings where we have considered whether or not we should sell the bus just because of the expense of it upkeep- the insurance alone costs £1,800 a year- but we have always decided that the need and the use has outweighed the cost and so we have made a commitment to keep it.

Thankfully there was no one hurt. Thankfully all that was lost was a material asset but we need that asset to do this work. This is not the time to talk about those who did this in negative and harsh ways because, like it or not, they are part of this community and an outburst of moral indignation will serve no one, even if the temporary feeling is good. What we do want to say is that it is completely counter-productive to destroy the work of those who want to help. Yes the bus was insured but that will not be enough to buy a new one- we do not have the money-you will not find big expensive cars parked outside our church. We do not have the professional people with the healthy salaries. Any that we did have, have left for the more comfortable places- we are a truly indigenous church and that means we have ordinary working men and women struggling to keep above the debt line. We are running an overdraft. Earlier in the year our data projector was broken – it cost £1800 four years ago- to day the same model costs about £500 but we do not have even that amount to get a new one and will have to hope that the insurance company pays up.

Is this the kind of society that we want? Yes we can turn the other cheek because we know that in the end no one gets away with the consequences of their actions but if we are to continue working for the community we need help.

ALL PEOPLE MATTER TO GOD ALL THE TIME

2006-09-06T10:41:00.000+01:00

Crumlin Road Presbyterian location

As a child I went to two primary schools: the first one was in Danube Street just a few doors up from my granny's shop and the other was Cliftonville Primary. The head teacher in my time at Cliftonville was Mr McLaughlin and the two teachers most etched on my memory were Mrs McGaughy and Mrs Flanaghan. I remember Mrs McGaughy because I experienced her "discipline" all too often and Mrs Flanaghan , partly because that was a happy time but also because her classroom was different. My memory tells me that it was a semi-circle of glass and so was a very bright place to be.

When I begin to think back the memories come to the fore - it was a year when my friend at that time and myself looked longingly at one of the girls in the class but she was much cleverer than either of us. We played kiss-tag in the playground and sometimes we even followed her home but the relationship never developed any further. Then I remember the injustice we boys felt because our toilets were outside while the girls were inside the school! Every morning about 11am the senior boys of the school would come round with a crate of school milk, free to everyone. I'm sure that some people will remember those 1/3 pint bottles with milk which was cold in the winter and warm in the summer, enough to put some people off for life.

If you remember the milk of those days you will remember that the cream was always at the top of the botttle and so the custom was to give the bottle a shake so that the cream was mixed though with the rest of the milk. Some people, on the other hand, liked to drink the cream off first. Today our children do not get any free milk and there is a variety of milk to choose from. Go to the shop now and you have to choose from "whole milk", "semi-skimmed milk", "skimmed milk" and even "1% Milk".

When I look at our society today I see much the same kind of divisions. The United Kingdom and Ireland is quickly coming to look like that plural society that many have talked about for some time. I recently heard that there are over 60 different languages spoken in Northern Ireland today [ not to mention Irish and Ulster Scots]. That being so we have to ask the question: what do we want our society to look like? Do we want to see people keeping to their own territory or do we want to become like the homogenised milk where everyone is mixed together? We often talk today about a growing ethnicity within our society and when you register for the doctor today you are asked to complete a form which deals with your own ethnic origins. Few people want to see a society were there are ethnic ghettoes of people but would prefer one where it is possible to be different yet respectful of others. Jesus did not recognise ethnicity just people and people matter to God and to His son and to His people. This is certainly a more difficult road to travel because each of us has our own political, social and traditional zones of interest but the rewards of a society where people are the primary importance is a society worth having.

Jesus never forced people to believe and it is no different today but he loved people because they mattered to him. He was not judgmental or patronising but caring. In Sunday school we used to sing, "Jesus loves the little children, all the children in the world red and Yellow, black and white all are precious in his sight Jesus loves the little children of the world". And its not just the children either but the men and women as well, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, the protestants and the Catholics. the Hindus and the Jews and He is "not willing than any should perish but that all SHOULD come to eternal life".

Grist to the Mill

2006-07-20T20:17:00.000+01:00

Crumlin Road Presbyterian location

Thursday 13^th July 2006 and we can all rise after a very successful and peaceful 12^th. “No tidy up and no inquisition” was the report from the BBC. The quietist 12^th for many years without the help of the army. Like other congregations our prayer last Sunday was for a peaceful day. Thanks to the grace of God and the good work of many people at political, community and church level we are able to enjoy the 12^thas well as the 13th.

As a child the 13^th of July was always one of my highlights of the year. The reason for this was that it was one of the days of the year when our shop was closed and we went away for the day as a family – that included my mum and dad and my aunt and uncle and my sister and cousin- and we usually went to Donegal. That meant making the mysterious and magical journey “across the border” as if it was like a bridge connecting two separate islands. We children got really excited in the anticipation of that “exciting” event and going to another country complete with trip tick and customs officers

Sometimes life is great but sometimes it is anything but great. Life can go sour without any warning when the sunshine turns to rain. Because of this we need to be equipped to face the difficulties as well as the joy. When Jesus tells us we can have “life to the full” and be friends of God He intends that friendship to be more than fair weather camaraderie. His desire is that we remain his friends forever.

The other week we went to visit our daughter who lives in Dublin and we took the opportunity to visit the Guinness factory, a vast complex of 55 acres which tells the story of how the drink is made and of the great success that has\resulted in Guinness being a trade mark recognized world-wide. The process of manufacture requires that the barley is milled so that the flavour can be released – it’s from this process that we get the phrase, “grist to the mill” and it brings to mind the crushing of the barley into a grist. Its all too evident that there are people among us who seem to be crushed by life’s experiences. I have met inspiring people who have gone through so many tough situations and come through as better people but there are also others who just seem crushed.

There is a popular myth around which tells us that if you take the decision to follow Christ your life will be full of joy and success without a cloud in the sky. Nowhere, absolutely nowhere does the bible make this promise. In fact Jesus tells the disciples to take up theirs and follow after him. We do no one any favours by telling half truths or by spinning them a line to get them into the kingdom, what we need to understand is that he has promised us is that he will never leave us.

Street Level Christianity

2006-06-27T22:27:00.000+01:00

In our church we have a stained glass window which puts our challenge and vision very well. In the fore front there is a big Jesus standing with his palms open. In the background there are the industries of old Belfast- the two giant cranes, Goliath and Samson, once used to build and repair major ships and then there are rep[resentations of the linen mills and the engineering works.

They remind us of the days when Belfast was famous for industries and made her name for the Irish Linen used in so many homes within and outrside of this island. The congregation came into being because of the expansion of linen which, in turn , came about because of the American Civil war which resulted in the rising price of cotton leadiong to the diversification into Linen- at one time there was a mill on every street corner but now all those industries have gone. At one time there were over 30,000 men working on ships but today there are less then 200 and the mills have gone and too too have the machine shops whih have been priced out of the market.

BUT Christ is still here- he is notsome far removed icon but the LIVING Christ who has remained with his people and has no intention of leaving until he returns in the flesh to declare that the time has come and the end is nigh.

Here we have the Christ of the street who has called all Christians to play their part in fulfilling His commion to go into all the world and make disciples for him. here we have the God who wants His people to be his followers wherever they find themselves. That means in the neighbourhood, in the leisure centre on the city council, wherever. We are to play our part in making Christ known and i teaching men and women what it means to be a Christian at street level.

In the early church the believers were of one heart and mind and no one considered his possessions to be his exclusive property, when there was a need they pooled their money to help their brothers and sisters. Being a Christian at street level means rejecting sectarianism and racism and all kinds of unacceptable behaviour like homo-phobia. It means leading an honest and ethical life-style, caring for what happens in Africa and Asia as well as in little old Northern Ireland. It means taking the lessons and exortations of the bible and applying them to every day use. While we reject the idea that anyone can win their salvation and that all men can be saved only through the grace of God in Jesus Christ we also believe that life-style is important.

Crumlin Road Presbyterian location

Tenants not Owners

2006-06-03T11:54:00.000+01:00

A good few years ago now John B Keane’s novel was transferred onto the big screen. The central figure of the story is a man called Bull McCabe, whose family had farmed a small piece of land in a remote part of the west of Ireland for many generations. The time came when Bull had enough finance to make this arrangement permanent and so he entered the auction not knowing that a wealthy American with very big pockets had the same idea. The result led to tragic consequences!

This film struck a raw nerve in Ireland because we live not only in an island of small fields but because while we share the territory we spend a lot of time fighting over its ownership. Each community is able to present its title deeds to whoever is willing to listen- one looks back to the plantation and the other to the rebellion in an attempt to make their case clear and unambiguous but failing, perhaps, to realise that history is seldom that simple. While giving America back to the Indians seems to be a simple matter and not without logic and justice there have been an awful lot of people living and working on those land since the first while man arrived and settled.

Today the fundamental question for us is this: how are we going to share the shared space that everyone can be at peace with each other? Various ideas have been tried in various parts of the world; in Israel the government has built a huge wall to keep one set of the sons of Abraham out and the others safe. In the Balkans ethnic cleansing was tried and in Africa it was apartheid .Each and every logger-head attempt has failed to bring better relationships.

When we look at the bible we discover the answer to the land question- we are all wrong. The land “belongs to the Lord and everything in it”. The story of the bible is about the attempt of men to take this land off God and make it their own. Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who left his land in the hands of some tenants. The story tells about how even the son of the owner was not safe. Right at the start when God made Adam and Eve they attempted to rebel against God and take the garden for themselves. That had tragic consequences also and we are living in the shadow of them today. Ever since that day there has been a fault line of selfishness and rebellion in the heart of us all. The prophets warned of the judgement of God and yet, God was not, and is not “willing that any should perish but that all should come to eternal life”. No one could have complained that the owner of the land should have his justice and he will have it yet but before that is meted out He has given grace and mercy and new life to anyone who is willing to take it accepting that God is the only sovereign Lord.

Tennent Street is a permanent reminder that this land does not belong to Protestant, Catholic or dissenter but to God and we are his tenants.

Crumlin Road Presbyterian location

blogger blogger

2006-05-26T12:50:00.000+01:00

Hello young lovers were ever you are

Learn to think!

2006-04-05T23:52:00.000+01:00

Crumlin Road Presbyterian location

About a year ago Dr Jonathan Saccs, the chief Rabbi for Great Britain said on BBC radio's "Thought For The day":

If discipline is a problem in our schools it isn’t only because of the schools. Teachers are just one of the many influences to which our children are exposed. There are parents, neighbours, culture and society and if discipline isn't a value there, then schools can't create it alone.

There’s a moment in the Bible that's long fascinated me. When Moses addressed the Israelites as they were about to leave Egypt after two centuries of exile and slavery, he didn't speak about freedom, or about the land flowing with milk and honey. Instead he spoke about the duty of parents to educate their children. Why? Because to defend a country you need an army; but to defend a civilization, you need education.

When we pay our taxes we don't always do so with delight but my guess is that there are some things which most people would be fairly happy about forking out for. The National Health Service would be one and another would be the education of our children. The area of North Belfast is a part of the realm which stands, not so proudly, at the top of the , not so sought after, table when it comes to social deprivation. We have a very low expectation when it comes to education and very few of our children go on to third level education. Not all children can go to university or college but all children should be given the opportunity to learn to think for themselves while they are in full-time education. All children should be inspired to read and to discover the world of imagination and knowledge. In recent days we have had local politicians and independent members of the various Education and Library Boards being forced to make stringent cuts in the schools' budget. Only a few people are in the position to decide why the boards have been unable to balance the books but surely we owe our children and young people a sound education beyond the "3 rs".

Today the film industry and the television companies are often blamed for capturing the reading audience but, at the same time, the successes of movies like Harry Potter, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the Lord of the Rings etc can also be used to inspire the movie goer to be a reader as well. Our school libraries need to have the money to buy the books and allow teachers the time to read to the children, using the picture medium as a spur and bridge into the literary world.

C.S Lewis, the Belfast literary giant says that to read is to learn to think- that’s what we want, men and women who can stand on their own feet and think for themselves. In our society it is imperative to move beyond the accepted thinking and even identities to develop our own thoughts and be able to express those thoughts in coherent and acceptable ways. We are a society which is hardly at peace with itself. We re-act to opposition and to the opinions of others without allowing our thought processes to take control and this means that we are often aggressive to others and very much an "in-your-face " people. We need to take the time to study what we read and we need to read and re-read until we understand and formulate our thinking and we need to allow what we read to make a difference to our lives. we will not always agree with what other people say but the way we disagree is important. too often we loose the debate, not because of the substance of what we are saying but because of the way we are putting the case forward.

When we read the bible we discover that because we are entering a world which is so distant from where we are today that the temptation is to give up or to stick to the passage we love so much to the impoverishment of our daily walk with God and the building of our spiritual character. Today we are led to believe that education should always be fun but that cannot always be the case, sometimes we have to do the long hard slog. We live near to the Cave Hill and we often take a walk up to the top. The walk is fairly steep at the end, especially for the not so young any more but when you get to the top the effort is all the more worthwhile. Standing at McArt's Fort the whole city lies at your feet and the view and experience is breath-taking every time. So it is in learning, we need to make the effort and not to give up. When you finally understand what God is saying it is very special. As someone has said, if it wasn't my father, "if a thing is worth doing its worth doing well!

Education will not change the world, only Christ will do that but it is well worth paying for and even being happy to pay for it. What do you think?

Groaning For Belfast

2006-03-23T12:35:00.000Z

Crumlin Road Presbyterian location [right click]

There are people and they like nothing better than a good old moan and groan- they are what some broadcasters have called the “whingers”. They sound like people who give little or no credence to the redemptive power of Christ in people’s lives.

Back in the 16^th century the words of Shakespeare fit nicely with this when he said

“life is a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing”

or the more contemporary person who said that life was

“little more than the slow march towards death”

I came across this depressing understanding of life:

Think of the typical life of a person living in the Western world at the moment. They are born, are educated, get a job, find a partner, have a family, make enough money to stave off discomfort, live the constant struggle of existence, get old, weak and sad, and then die. It makes as a much sense as Eamon Dunphy's weekly column in the "Sunday Independent".

Many people love to talk about the good old days and about how bad life is today but here is the real question- How are we to make life today better?

The Chinese proverb says- “stop complaining about the darkness and light a candle”

Yes the world is in a terrible mess but – and you should not be surprised at this-it’s been like that since the fall in the garden of Eden- the real question for Christians is how can we play our part in restoring and redeeming the world. The story and message of the OT prophets is just how they went about doing that. The story of Jeremiah and Nehemiah and also of Joseph in Genesis is how they played their part-

Nehemiah started with lamentation and prayer

“Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.” Later he says “See the trouble we are in” He spent days “mourning and fasting and praying” and then he acted.

Likewise Jeremiah saw the disgrace of his people- the people of God and worked for restoration. The lament of the prophet was a common thing in the OT times- the book of Lamentations is one long dirge or lament about the state of the city of Jerusalem

“How deserted lies the city once so full of people”

….Bitterly she weeps at night

after affixation and harsh labour Judah has gone into exile…her foes have become her masters…all she splendour has departed…all her people groan …how the Lord has covered the Daughter of Zion with the cloud of his anger….my eyes are frail from weeping I am tormented from within…”

and so it goes on but then in the middle of all this it says

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are NOT consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion: therefore I will wait for him”” [sounds just like a hymn???]

In Luke 13 Jesus looks at the city of Jerusalem in his day and sees that nothing has changed- the glory days are gone- for the moment anyway. Yes there have been good days as well as bad ones between the days of the OT prophets and the day of Jesus but at this time its all a mess and Jesus laments over his beloved city. For Jesus these were. literally, mean times and mean days- in the double sense of being the days in-between- good days and bad days but also in the sense of being sorry days- we too are living in mean times, between the bad days of sin and condemnation and the return of Jesus. Yes He has defeated both sin and death but there is still that one final declaration of victory- if sin and death were human enemies we would say- yes they are defeated but they have not finally recognized their defeat – they have not surrendered in unconditional surrender and laid down their arms- they have not been decommissioned but that will happen when Jesus returns and God declares- IT IS FINISHED- echoing and bringing to mind what Jesus has already achieved. Here he too laments the state of the beloved city

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you…..”

and you can almost imagine him taking up the posture of the Rabbi in lament- look at the Jewish people praying at the Wailing Wall and you get the idea- swaying back and forth and praying at the same time- the passionate prayer does more than speaking words-that passionate person’s whole body tells the story- they want to bash the wall and let their whole body weep and wail- this is the story in a few words of the desolation of the people-

can you imagine coming home to find your house gone, your children or parents or brothers and sisters dead like happened at the Tsunami or hurricane Katrina? Can you imagine the horror going through your body? We have made Jesus like a cardboard cut-out and then wonder why so few in our community seem to be moved by him. They are not seeing the real Jesus because we are portraying a very different version- one which is sanitized one which reflects our society- a thinker and philosopher but Jesus was a doer of compassion and miracles-

who came to preach good news to the poor

to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and the recovery of sight to the blind and release for the oppressed and to proclaim the year of God’s favour

This cannot be done dispassionately but with excitement and a sense of anticipation. Today Jesus would say something along the lines of

“O Belfast, O Belfast….I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, BUT you are not willing”

Now have we wept for this city? Do we really think that our city needs to be redeemed and you and I with it? And the next question is – are we ready and willing to DO what we can to rebuild this city so that we have not only a better place in which to live but one which shows the world how to live? Or do we agree that life is a story told by an idiot signifying nothing?

Jesus came to bring the good news- he did not send it, he brought it. But he was not content to declare the problem and issue the condemnation- he did the one thing which made it possible for men and women to live with hope and to do the work of reconstruction-he did the work of “driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow and on the third I will reach my goal”

There is a personal cost to all of this- for Jesus it cost him his life- yes he had raised up the heckles of the Pharisees by making it clear that they were on the wrong track and he had Herod as an enemy and that led to his arrest and trial and death but God used it all for His purposes- as Joseph said what you meant for harm God intended for good-it was God’s desire to free the people and the only way to do that was for Jesus to become the scapegoat. But God also raised him to life on the third day.

This was God’s work and it cost Jesus his life but what about us? Are we ready to pay the price? Are we ready to give to God as generously as he has given to us? Financially? Emotionally? With our talents and skills?

We have to ask- why has this good news which we continue to declare because we believe it- why does it appear to have lost its electricity when it comes to those outside? The message has not changed- so the answer must be to do with you and me in the way we are living and failing to touch them and the answer must also be to do with the way we are declaring it- we must think through how we explain the gospel and present it in ways that are faithful to the actual message and we must be working to restore the kingdom- the message is more than words its God’s unfailing power.

Whatever we do as a result of “Church, Community and Change" we desire that it be a demonstration of the love and care of our God and that means we have to love and care also- words of condemnation change nothing- they only makes us feel that bit better and more righteous but they change nothing- we are in the business of change for the better.

When will they ever learn?

2006-03-04T01:13:00.000Z

Crumlin Road Presbyterian location

Here we are sitting in Seattle, Washington State. In yesterday's edition of the Seattle Times we were told that during the last couple of weeks of February there were something like 400 people killed in Iraq. Since the end of the lst Iraq war the inforced peace and cohesion has fallen apart. This seems to have come as a surprise to many in the USA but what more can you expect- the cohesion prior to the war was enforced by Sadham Hussein. When a society is fractured before a conflict it will surely remain fractured afterwards. When Iran was the great danger the enemy was perceived to the Shiites but now it is the sunni.

Rahim Abdul Karim is quoted as saying "I don't want tgo be brothers with Sunnis, because tghey continue to kill Shiites so it's very hard to follow the religious leadership [who caling for an end to all sectarianism] onthis matter."

Illustrating this the story nos told of Salim Rashid a 34 year old Shiite labourer in an overwhelmingly Sunni district. At 6pm on Friday evening he was told to leave his home otherwise he would be killed.

To somone like me living in Northern Ireland this could well have been said to someone living in an area in Belfast were the predominent population is from the "other side". This is not the action of a real Muslim any more than the same kind of actio in Belfast was from either of the Christian communities.

We are not unique in the world as people who cannot live with one another, even though we like to think that we are. Like many other people we are fractured because of the old enemy-sin! We are known the world over as a people who will respond in great generosity when people are in trouble, as was so during the recent Tsunami - while we have given freely and without question to Muslimsand Hindus in the far east we cannot give the time of day to our neighbours because they are another branch of thre Christian faith!! Weird or what?

Perhaps the lessons are best learnt when they are taken from far off places? Perhaps we can really understand the need for reconciliation when we see the protests after those infamous cartoons.

Iraq stands at the crossroads which our society has faced so many times- will we learn from them or will they learn from our mistakes? The Christian gospelhas reconciliation at its very heart- the heart of God has the dna of reconciliation and that is why he sent his son to die that we might be forgiven. How many more people will have to die before we learn of a better way? How long will it be before our world leaders learn that the answer to the problems of the world will never be solved by democracy alone.

"ULSTER SAYS NO"

2006-02-17T00:05:00.000Z

“

Ulster

says NO!” is a well known slogan which many in this community have heard and said. The question is, what do we say “No” to? Here are three suggestions:

Firstly we say no to creeping secularism. There is something like 36 churches around the Shankill but how many are full on Sunday morning? How many have a significant number on Sunday evening when the opposition is the TV? Secularism is when we say no to God and declare our independence to God. Secularism is when we believe we can do as well, if not better, than God.

Secondly we say “No” to the retreat of the Church. The church has allowed herself to be intimidated by those who say that Church and politics are to be kept separate. We have been intimidated into a retreat into our places of worship, closing the doors behind us and going into the safety of the sanctuary. The Great Reversal of the early part of the twentieth century resulted in a walking away from our calling to incarnate the Gospel. The well known theologian Carl Henry said that the Church was central to the well-being of any society and Jeremiah and Nehemiah and many others in the Old Testament agreed. He went on to say that “it is time for church-goers to take a rightful place in American society.” Saying “No” to secularism and to the retreat of the church means that we decide to take our rightful place in Ulster society.

Thirdly, saying “No” means an end to Christian flight from our streets. We have to say that this is not the time to retreat. Not the time to stay in our locked churches. It is time to be pro-active and to engage with men and women that we may serve them as Christ served the church.

Why would we do this? Quite simply because Christ has called his people to a live of love and service. Quite simply because this was what he did himself. For a while he lived among us and became one of us. We are living at a time when Britney Speers is considered more inspirational than Jesus Christ and we, the Christians, are to blame because we have remained asleep on the job. We have taken our eyes of the ball and allowed secularism to be crowned sovereign.

Someone has said that Christians are literally “lucky bastards” because they have received forgiveness and new life. No longer illegitimate but now legitimate sons of God. Too true we are but this gift is not for the in-crowd, it is to be shared with others. While politics has let us down Christ has not and he wants his church to get her hands dirty in service. Can you say “No” to this?

Good Leaders

2006-02-09T00:48:00.000Z

To many people today the Bible, and especially the Old Testament, is so remote as to be useless for modern living. It may well fascinate actors and authors by its Shakespearian language but it remains a dust collector when it comes to any modern application. Yet the other day I was looking at the prophet Jeremiah and found some very sound instruction for all leaders.

Every leader will work for and be an example of justice and right living.

The New Testament tells us that every leader from PM down is a minister of God and not just state. According to Romans 13 whenever elected that leader is no longer just a private citizen they are role models.

Are we to be concerned when our political leaders lie to us as has happened in Westminster in recent days or been economical with the truth? Yes, I think what is happening to the United Kingdom of GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland is a cause of great concern: “RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION”

Taking this onboard will have its affect upon how I use my vote and how I live my life. What it means is that I should vote for the people who will uphold righteousness and justice even if they are not in the party I usually support since God is in control and he uses all men to do His will.

Secondly leaders are to do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless and the widow. It is often said that a good way to judge a nation is by looking at the way it treats its minorities. Today the demographic shift in a place like North Belfast mirrors what is going on in much of these islands and indeed in Europe- today the church is challenged by the arrival on our doorstep of Africans and Asians, along with people from Eastern Europe and how are we to react?

Finally leaders are to make sure that the courts honest and just. We need a justice system which is both fair and is seen to be fair. This was to apply to both King Zedekiah and the foreigners who were invading the nation and its still true.

Even when the nation was suffering financially the king made sure that he had a mansion to live in, even when the temple was looted he had his big house. In our society we know of examples where this has happened but it must not happen when God’s people are in leadership. God used the great enemy from the north to discipline his people and He never failed to be in control. What is our hope for our children? That this same God is still in control and has set sound principles of leadership, which are as relevant today as in the far off days of Jeremiah.

THE DROP

2006-01-25T16:06:00.000Z

The Drop is the latest ad in the Guinness “Knowing What Matters” series, featuring characters who go out of their way in pursuit of what’s truly important in life.

At the outset we meet Seany, an intense young Irish-American on a mission. Quite what he’s looking for, we’re not sure, but we have a strong sense that he’s up to no good. We follow Seany on his increasingly frustrated quest through his blue-collar Brooklyn neighbourhood as friends and acquaintances declare themselves unable or unwilling to help him out. Finally, Seany’s luck turns – a contact leads him to a truck-stop diner where he picks up an ominous package.

We cut to Seany making his way stealthily into a suburban house and sneaking up on an old man sitting inside. The mysterious package is produced – and turns out to contain a pair of all-Ireland tickets. As his amazed father embraces him, the now-smiling Seany explains:

“It could be a long time before they make the finals again, Pops.”

It is truly amazing what some people will do in the pursuit of their dreams: athletes will hit the streets in all kinds of weather to get fit for that big race and to win the prize; actors and entertainers will go to the clubs and do their gigs in the hope of getting the recognition that will give them their big break; mothers and fathers make big sacrifices for their children.

Jesus calls for every believer” to take up his cross and follow” after him. While we in the developed world are currently called to make little sacrifice or suffer little persecution our churches are struggling to be relevant to the community, but our brothers and sisters in the under-developed world, who are daily paying a high price, are experiencing church growth. Why is that so?

The Tsunami of 2005 was just a reminder of how privileged we are in comparison to others- we are very fortunate that this community was able to present £1,750 to Christian Aid for the benefit of third- world families. How far are you willing to go to learn about being a disciple of Christ? What price are you willing to pay? It is truly amazing that we are willing to give generously to such far off communities where there are Muslims, Hindus and Sheiks and yet we find it so difficult to speak to some who are so near at home. Is it just possible that part of the price of following Jesus Christ is to find a way whereby we are able to agree to disagree and to do so agreeably? How much effort are we willing to make to reach out accross the sectarian divide?

In Jeremiah 35 the prophet describes how the Recabites showed such loyalty and obedience tro the instructions of their fathers while the Israelites have failed to obey God. If men will go to such lengths to obey other men and ancient customs why will they not obey God who is so much more worthy of obedience and trust?

Seany was willing to leave no stone unturned in his effort to seek out some tickets for his father because he loved him, how much more will the love of God move us? This is of eternal worth.

Patrick the politician?

2006-01-05T17:59:00.000Z

What do you think Patrick, St Patrick that is, would think about the partition of Ireland? What would he have to say about priestly celibacy or the doctrine of the real presence? Do you think he would approve of the flying of the Union flag or the Tricolour of the Irish Republic? Did he speak Irish or English?

Why, you may ask, would anyone be asking questions like these? After all we have no reason to think that Patroick was even interested in the politics of his own day. He was a religious leader and his sphere of interest was in the spiritual realm. He was not even an Irishman butb then neither was Dev and unlike the unionists of our day he was not even born on this island. When he was growing up and when he ministered to the people of Ireland the label of Protestant or Catholic, or even Ropman Catholic had no meaning.

Is it not ironic that the flag that many will desire to take to the celebrations on the 17th March, [hopefully they will be disciplined and see evvery reason to take no flags with them] is not welcomed by the majority of people within this modern province of Ulster and yet so many fly it. It is not welcomed by the Republican section because it represents a PARTITIONIST Ireland and it is not welc0med by the unionist sector because it represents a brewak with the rest of the UK and rule from Rome. This is ironic when you take a look at the flag- on it is represented the two religious communities in equal measure even though they are certainly not numerically equal. Is it not also ironic theat the Union flag which clearly recognises the flag of St Patrick, is not welcomed by the Republicans and forgotten by the unionists.

If the city hall is bedecked with the tricolour on the 17th of March the cross- community aspect will be lost and there will be a danger of someone somewhere reacting and causing trouble which will send community relations back by years. It is time for Protestants to re-capture Patrick- for too ,ong he has been seen as a catholic or nationalist saint when he is no such thing- his sainthood is solely based on his faith in Christ and nothing else. Patrick ids our saint and he could be a figure of unity instead of disunity.

It is also time for the gaelicisation of Patrick to cease- we need to make him a modern figure for a modern Ireland. With all due respect we should stop misusing him for our own political purposes

Patrick was a man of faith in Christ and his ministry was one of reconciliation ans that is our ministry also. Christ destroyed all the barriers between God and man and between Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free. March the 17th could be a day when this community is turned round, when we show the world that it is possible to differ and yet respect each other and that we are, at last, growing up to be a mature political people- no one is being asked to end their political convictions just to realise that not everyone shares them. have lived in the Republic of ireland for nearly 15 years and I come from Northen Irealand and have returned to Belfast and know that it is possible to live as a peculiar people and even to revel in that distinction.

Lets depoliticise this man Patrick and celebrate his gospel message- the message of Christ in a new Ireland with a new breed of Irishmen!!

Jesus The Man

2005-12-13T16:44:00.000Z

When I was a student in the 1970s there were, at least, three TV programmes which has reached cult status. Programmes which were guaranteed to fill the TV room each week:

Top of the Pops
Mont Python’s Flying Circus
and Star Trek

Star Trek was launched in 1968 in a pilot programme called, “The Cage” but it was dropped because of poor ratings – it was only in the 1970s when it was re-launched that it became so popular and remains so to this very day. It is one of those programmes which appeals to a wide range of people and ages and there are many thousands proud to call themselves "TREKIES"

On of the characters is the first officer of the SS Enterprise, a man called Spock. Most of the time he is articulate, measured and logical in speech and stoic in his character. Within a matter of minutes you realise that he is not like other human beings and the reason is simple- he is not entirely human he is partly Vulcan.

Vulcans hail from a planet where they have no emotional baggage and we find this just that wee bit odd. It’s odd because humans are emotional beings- we cry and laugh, we get angry and we can be happy, we love and are loved in return. Spock looks like another human being but….there is something not quite right.

At Advent we remember the incarnation of Jesus Christ, that God-Man who came from heaven into this world exchanging His divinity for our humanity, yet remaining divine. Confused? That’s understandable. The fact of Jesus dual identity is unquestioned within the faith and no one has doubted his historical humanity outside the faith. In the early days of Christianity some found it difficult to see how this remarkable man could be a human being like us; others defended his divinity at the expense of his humanity. The end result of this was that some thought of him as one who resembled a man, one who looked like a man, just as Spock looked like a man but maybe not completely a man. Maybe, like Spock, he was only 50% man. In the early church the fathers of the faith declared this to be the heresy of docetism. Today we are still struggling with a Jesus who is completely God and completely man.

The Victorian poet A.C. Swinbourne painted a cruel caricature of Jesus when he wrote these words:

“Thou has conquered, thou Pale Galilean,
And the world has grown grey with thy breath;”

Was Jesus a “pale” figure? If that is the image we have of him then we are greatly mistaken, and don’t understand the biblical record. Let me ask you this: do you think He is he like Spock? I don’t think so. The bible tells us that real blood pumped around his body and still does today even though in a spiritual dimension. When He stood at the grave of Lazarus he wept because he was grieving for the life of his good friend. Christians need to learn that there are times when it is ok, more than that, right, to weep. That it is very wrong to pretend that all is well when it is anything but well. So at the funeral of a loved one we expect the family to grieve and weep and that is why Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn”….

When Jesus entered the Temple in Jerusalem and saw what was going on he was very angry and drove out the offenders. Hardly the image of a “Pale Galilean”. Here we have a man of Sorrows” who was acquainted with grief and yet we live in a society which does its best to deny grief, pain and sorrow. Christians are called to be real people just as Jesus was real. On every page of the gospels his heart pumps with emotion. Sometimes Christians do appear to be “pale” two dimensional characters just as Swinborne describes but this is definitely not a fair picture of the Nazarene. He was a working man who knew all about the sweat of work and the frustrations of life

One of our problems today is to locate good role models for us to follow? Since we all have feet of clay and our national and sporting heroes are no different how are we to know how to live? In our human arrogance we sometimes think we have solved problems only to discover that, at best they are no better and at worst we have made them more ingrained, more intractable. I guess Iraq is a current example- some thought that getting rid of Saddem Hussein was the answer and that we could impose democracy only to find that we can’t and the hidden ghost of Viet Nam threatens to be revealed all over again. . Too many on all sides have died in this vane human effort, and we say this in the context of our own shattered society, reaping the results of the sins of the fathers.

To have a better world we need better human beings and to have better human beings we need the perfect one to follow- what is so special about Jesus is that he is completely human and yet he made a success of life. He is neither a Spock-like figure nor a “pale” character. He is one who is worth following because He is the God-Man.

” The Word became flesh and lived among us” as one of us. He is the normal human being and to be normal we need to be more, not less, like him.

REMEMBER WHAT?

2005-11-12T12:42:00.000Z

In one of Winston Churchill’s famous speeches, given to the House Of Commons on the 18th June 1940, just 4 days after Dunkirk, after setting out the disastrous news to the assembled MPs when Britain stood alone to resist the massive juggernaut of Nazi troops he ended with these words:

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, ‘This was their finest hour’”

It is often the case that nations are at their best in times of national disaster . Churchill had the ability to get everyone behind the cause and be ready, no matter what the cost , to fight to the bitter end. He had managed to capture the spirit of the hour and challenge the people to commit themselves to the cause. Now he did not KNOW that victory would come but he had the gift of making people believe that they would even against the disaster of the fall of Paris and the rest of the European allies and without the support of the USA.

On 4th June he had already said:

“I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty,,,,……we shall prove ourselves, once again able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone……….we shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight in the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island , whatever the cost may be, we shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them on the landing grounds, we shall fight them in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight them in the hills, we shall never surrender…..”

History tells us that this country was perilously close to destruction
- almost starved
- almost defeated
- almost invaded

By every measure the country was at the end of all its resources- the coming of the cavalry could not come too soon and , thanks to the Imperial might of Japan, it came and not a moment too soon. Today, as we look back, we celebrate the might of right but we also tend to concentrate upon the power and the might which overcame the enemy and, in the end it was the might of the atomic weapon of mass destruction which forced the Japanese to their knees.

As Jesus chose and set apart the 12 Apostles he begins to teach them and also the bigger group of disciples along with those on the fringes. What is immediately apparent is that this group is very different and this Kingdom that He promises is very different. HE USHERS IN A NEW KINGDOM

They are not promised that they will be among the great and powerful- not like the Romans -indeed this kingdom is not a picture of strength and power- that was seen clearly in the kingdom of David and his successors- God tells them at the outset, that He doesn’t want them to have a king because he is the only king they need but they think differently.

This Kingdom is all about:
poverty
hunger
weeping
and being among the hated.

Here He eyeballed them- both friends and enemies. This kingdom, he says, is like no kingdom you have experienced before.

This kingdom is made up of the weak and the powerless, the hungry and the poor- they are the beggars who sit with longing and hungry eyes beseeching us for help.

Paul says much the same in 1Corinthians 1:18-25
This runs totally contrary to what we believe and to the experience of the people of God in the history of Israel- they were the chosen
They were the blessed
They were “THE PEOPLE” and now this Rabbi pulls that all down and inverts it- it is the negative of the picture- he gilds no lily but tells it like it is- if you want to be part of my kingdom you will have to take this view- but that is only half the story.

There are three groups of people here- Disciples, fringe members who can be won over and who might because they have spent time with Jesus and with His people and then there are the enemies who have nailed their colours to the mast- they are against him – as He speaks He looks at each in turn

To the opponents He says- live only for today and you will be rewarded today-v24-26

To those who have an eternal perspective to life He says- “you will be rewarded tomorrow”
You will be satisfied
You will laugh

To one he says :

YOU are BLESSED and to the other he says
WOE to YOU

To the one he says “Rejoice….for that is how they treated the prophets” and to the other he says

“Woe…. For that is how their fathers treated the false prophets”

No one is won over to a cause which lacks demand- we need to set the challenge before men- its not for wimps, its not for those who can spare a few minutes a day its for those who will invest their time and energy in the things of God- living today but with an eye on a time beyond all time when Christ will be our companion.

The challenge set forth by Churchill was awesome but the Challenge set by Christ is infinitely greater but also more certain. This is the kingdom that God does desire and has made possible for us to be a part of.

Verses 46-49 tell the familiar tale about the need for a firm foundation- to make a house secure and able to stand up wind and wave it is necessary to spend a lot of time on building the foundations and so it is in the Christian life- we need to build on the teaching of Christ and His Apostles.

Now the big question is this- what DOES THIS KINGDOM LOOK LIKE, in practical ways?

We now come to the radical and challenging verses of 27-45
In our every day experience and certainly in the wartime experience you need to know who is your friend and who is your enemy- you need to, “cultivate your friends” [Oscarv Wilode]but Jesus adds- MAKE YOUR ENEMY YOUR FRIEND.

This kingdom is like no mother kingdom you have experienced- in this kingdom the heroes are not the strong and the brave, not the rich and the powerful- in this kingdom LOVE IS THE KEY

The Beatles said – “ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE” But in our thinking this is the romantic love which has led men to give up thrones and devote their lives to the one they love or even the love of your country which has inspired great devotion in wars and other conflicts- but this love which Jesus speaks of is the love of God- the love which God demonstrates in this

“while we were yet sinners Christ died”[Romans 5:8]

This love is all about giving and not receiving- Jesus says LOVE:

your enemies
do good to those who hate you
bless those who curse you
pray for those who ill-treat you
if your enemy strikes you on one cheek turn the other
if he takes your coat let him have the other one also

In other words, make a friend of him!
There is nothing special about loving those who love you- even the sinners do that
Nothing special about inviting your friends to dinner even the sinners do that.

Let the love of God be clearly demonstrated among you:
Make friends with your enemy- lets God’s love reign
Treat others as you would like them to treat you
Don’t be critical of others
Look to correct your own sins
Once you can see then you can lead others
V45 “The good man brings good things stored up in his heart”

Challenging or what? If we, in Belfast, could do that what a witness that would be- then we would truly have had the "war to end all wars".

A Prayer For The Community

2005-10-27T23:23:00.000+01:00

Lord Jesus we are in great trouble and destress. Community life is at an all time low- our people are at odds with each other, the police have lost the support of the community and our elected politicians feel under great pressure to conform to what the people want. Everyone does what they feel is right in their own eyes. we have lost our vision and are in danger of perishing.

Will you forgive us for the sins of the past? We confess to you that we have not kept you at the centre of all that we do. In days past our community has not always treated those who do not share our political vision with the respect and courtesy they deserve and your word expects. There have been times when we have failed to speak out when wrong things have been done in our name and we have given cover to those who have done the wrong things. We have not looked to you alone as the one to save us.

Will you help us through the work of re-construction in society and revival in your church?
Empower us to be the people you want us to be and strengthen your people to serve the community and to live our lives in such a way as to bring glory and honour to your name. Help us to work for peace in our land and in our times.

My prayer is that Northern Ireland will no longer be a by-word for sectarian strife but a name which inspires hope in the hearts of all divided people. Help us to live with differance and make us eager and willing to accommodate one another. May our slogan be "Ireland For Christ and Christ alone".

This is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ Amen

TRUE GREATNESS

2005-10-01T23:56:00.000+01:00

True Greatness

The other night we had the battle of the giants- the English Premier Champions against the European Champions. While it was a draw the European champions had the moral victory! What make a team great? What make a nation great? What is it about Britain that makes her great? When Knox Mitchell was ordained in this church as the first minister in 1867 everything about Britain was great and Belfast was a great city within a great Empire. Britain was, as the USA is today, the richest nation in the world- the globe was predominately pink to show that the British Empire reigns without challenge or equal-from Canada in the west to New Zealand in the east and that included huge swathes of Africa in the middle. Belfast was the 20^th largest city in the UK and was a world leader in Ship buildings, engineering, rope making and, of course in the Linens industry.

In parallel to this the working man and woman was experiencing life at the raw edge- while they helped to make Britain great a Belfast a leading city of industry they experienced few of the benefits and when they were unemployed or sick they were shown little sympathy or practical help. In 1900 an article in Bibby’s Annual had a picture of some unemployed men and it goes on to say,

“These men should be made to feel… that their condition is a disgrace…Teach them how to play, run, jump, sing, to get a move on things. Play is action and all action is good!”

At the same time Belfast remained fairly unaffected by the famine which was hitting the rest of the country cutting the population from 8million to 4 million in a matter of years.

When people came here to worship they knew that they were part of a great nation in a great city and that the population had increased extremely quickly because of the expansion in the linen industry- what you find as a rule is that at a time of poverty people rush into the city to find work because the irony is that while the city was becoming prosperous many ordinary people were not-at a time of general prosperity people rush out of the city to seek the better life- so today the trend is in reverse to that of the 19^th century. As people gathered here they gathered in a great city to worship a great God.

Today we find ourselves in a nation which has lost its position as top dog and is seeking to adapt to being a nation of equals in an international scene where empire is no longer acceptable and we are just one of many equal nations and what makes matters worse for us is that our nearest neighbour across the border has been on a fast track of prosperity. We are like the once great football team who can only look back to the glory days.

Belfast City Council has a development department which has produced a document which looks back in history but also looks to the future and concludes with this statement:

“All cities need a clear sense of direction to achieve their goals and, for too long, Belfast has not had a clear vision of what it wants to become.”

That is a very interesting statement. The name of our city comes from the Gaelic –Irish and Scottish- BEAL FEIRSTE and it takes the name from the river Farset [as in the Farset Hostel on the Springfield Road]. The meaning in English is

“the mouth of the sandbank”

Belfast is built on the sand! No wonder we have problems. Here we have a living parable which stands to warn us.

G. K. Chesterton once said that when a people stop believing in God its not that they stop believing in anything but that they start believing in everything and s0 they loose both cohesion and a sense of direction. We need to gain our direction and start to build on the ROCK. For some their direction is on the aspiration of a united Ireland and for others it is a return to the Ulster of old- both aspiration and both impossible for life moves on.

WE need to get back to basics and realise that these aspirations are illusionary and lead to nowhere acceptable for anyone. While we have been pre-occupied by holding our ground and we have lost sight of the God we worship. WE are looking at the wrong things- some are looking intently at the unity of an Ireland which has never existed and in the process have lost the people they want to unite and for others they have focused upon maintaining a colonial Ulster as part of a Britain which no longer exists.

While nations rise and fall God remains the same. If we ask the question- what kind of city do we want to be we can only begin to answer that by centring our focus on the one who si truly great.

Isaiah was a prophet for a people rather like us and for our times. He was speaking to a people who were

discouraged and despondent
who felt that the tide of events had been against them for a very long time
who feel like king Kinute
who have ceased believing in the cause of Christ in this place

WE make a big mistake if we think this is the worst of times and that there have never been such bad times, the truth is well put by Charles Dickens in a “Tale Of Two Cities” when he said,

“It was the worst of times, it was the best of times”

read the Bible and see if that is not true0- we are not unique either in the world today or in the history of the world.

As we prepare for celebrating communion together lets focus on the one who is Sovereign Lord of ALL.

A great nation and people is a people who follow a great leader and the leader we follow is incomparable because he is the divine Lord. Isaiah says look at Him very carefully and then you will see that he is worth following and will not let you down and will form your vision.

Look at :

What He has DONE v12-he created the world from NOTHING. In the NT He completes that creation by sending Jesus Christ who gives us SALVATION from our past sins and a HOPE for the future. In Adam we are in bondage, in Christ we are free. This is a freedom which is infinitely greater than any political freedom or franchise. Even those who live under tyranny are free. At present we are free within the confines of our humanity but the day will come when we will be free without restraint.
NATIONS- In the past Great Britain ruled the world. Today it is the USA and tomorrow? China?

God says that God looks at them and calls them insignificant and meaningless- they rise and they fall at the hand of God.v15

WORLD- today the world has a huge population of over 6billion and rising every second but when compared to God they are like grasshoppers and yet he also says that God knows the name of every one of the stars in the sky at night.
LEADERS- When Knox Mitchell was minister it was Gladstone the GOM [later the MOG] and Disraeli [immortalised her in the name of the street.. Today it is Bush, Blair and Putin and many others whose names are not known to us but who wield awesome power and Isaiah says v23 He brings them to nothing.

In short we come to worship the incomparable Lord, God and Saviour and if we focus on him then we will see that being like him is our goal- that is our vision. In Him we have real and true greatness so lets look to him and we will be a great people once again, a Great Britain, a United Kingdom and a people at peace with ourselves and that will transcend political greatness and a desire to accommodate one another. I doing this we will build on the rock and not the sand and we will unite with one another in true unity.

Authorative Christians

2005-10-01T23:29:00.000+01:00

At the moment I have an uncle who is very seriously ill in the hospital and watching him in the bed WE ALL FEEL TOTALLY HELPLESS. There is nothing we can do apart from be there and watch his slow deterioration

There are times in all our lives when we can only feel our powerlessness. How often have you heard someone say- “My hands are tied, I can do nothing”?

The other week when the human barricades where up from 4pm each day and the nights were filled with rioting it was perfectly obvious that the police were helpless. When I found myself closed in by lines of women and children and a few angry men the police could only keep a watching brief. One man in a long queue of cars asked me “can you do anything here?” In a word no.

In Luke 4 the context is about the power of Jesus [Holy Spirit]- he leaves the wilderness where he was tempted to imitate Adam in taking control himself and away from God.

He begins his ministry full of the Spirit only to face another temptation- to give in to the crowd but he challenges them instead and walks through the opposition

Then he enters Capernaum and is opposed by this man who is possessed by demons and he begins to work out his manifesto, which he had set out when he read from Isaiah about setting free the prisoners and forgiving sin and recovering the sight of the blind.

All the people were amazed, again at the authority he was showing, this son of Joseph the carpenter. Here is the key word is authority – this man who had such power was also a man with authority. Power and authority are not the same- sometimes people have power and no authority and at other tomes they have the authority and no power

The police have the authority vested in them by the people to maintain law and order but they only have the power when they police with the consent of the same people. Of course they can take power by the force of arms but when they do that they have to be convinced that the end will be justified by the means- past history has shown that there are times when less is best- how often have we seen the authorities, in the movies and in real life, going into a situation with all guns blazing only to discover that more people ,innocent people, were killed in the process and so the short term gain has lead to long term defeat?

When the human barricades went up there was a withdrawal of consent from the unionist population either directly or indirectly when the majority acquiesced. In contrast to that the protestors had the power but no authority. Their authority was not legitimate.

Here we see that Jesus had both power and authority. In Matt 28 he tells us that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to him. This power is from above and here everyone was amazed by his power to deliver from sin and the demons and to save men from their sins- what a man this was. We also see that this was the legitimate power of God it was authorised by Him. He was the Messiah and here lies the whole issue- who was this man really? Was He the Messiah?

In these stories we have that authority manifested over:

sickness
the demons
people

1. DEMONS

This was a time when demons were very prominent in the thinking of the people. They were implacably opposed to this man Jesus Christ- they had no doubts as to who he was. While the religious people questioned his identity the demons knew exactly who he was-

“What do you want with us Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are- the Holy One of God”

Later in the letter of James he says something similar

James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder.”

Jesus shows his power and authority by saying “BE QUIET”

Now here is the difference between authority and power- when the policeman stands in the middle of the road with his hand up or that red torch the traffic stops. If I did the same they would blur the horn and drive on. The uniform tells you that he has the right to stop the traffic. When the women and children stood in the road they had no authority but they had a kind of power, that kind which assumes its own authority for a while- they had little power themselves for they were weak and anyone could have defied them and driven through the ranks but their power was behind them in the community.

In Jesus we have one who has both power and authority- so when he commanded the demons to leave they did so. The result was an utter amazement at his authority.

2. SICKNESS

News about Jesus spread like wildfire and the crowds followed him out of the synagogue and to his mother-in –laws. When he arri8ves there he finds that she is sick with a fever and the family ask him to help her so he bends over her and REBUKES the fever and she gets up at once-again we see his power and authority. Then he spend all night healing the sick and setting them free from the demons. Again they recognise him immediately.

Now he faces another temptation- the temptation to curry favour but he knew that his time was not yet right- he had no desire for them to make him king- like the devil they promised something which they could not give as he was king already.

He was ready to give his all in healing yet not to the point of neglecting his mission to preach the gospel in other towns and cities. Just as he had authority over sickness and the demons so he has control over us also. He can cast out our demons- personally and collectively. He can set free Northern Ireland, Ulster, Ireland and Britain and give us life to the full, if we will just pay attention to him and allow him to direct our ways.

3. PEOPLE

In Chapter v5 we have the calling of Peter as one of his disciples.. While he takes the opportunity to preach to the crowd using the boats as a makeshift platform or pulpit he also draws Simon to himself.. He had seen what Jesus had done for his mother-in-law and for here friends and neighbours and now he experiences this great catch of fish – there are so many fish that the boats began to sink with the weight and peter and the others are left in awesome wonder at this man. Even though they were tired and weary from fishing all night and catching nothing they did what he commanded and their obedience was rewarded way beyond their expectations

Do you stand in wonder at Jesus Christ?

Are you ready to obey him even though you are tired and weary? Are you amazed that he gave his body and his blood that you might have life to the full?

What is your reaction to this wonder? Peter became acutely aware of his own sin and could only feel dirty and unworthy- “Go away from me Lord I am a sinful man”

There is no presumption here only an acute sense of personal failure and sin. Sa we come to the table of the Lord Jesus we too are to come with a deep sense of sinfulness yet also knowing and experiencing His forgiveness- this bread and this wine speak of total forgiveness and complete fellowship with the living Lord. We should never stop being amazed at His grace and mercy. We wants us to be complete human beings just as Jesus himself was-so today we come to accept his forgiveness

To realise his promised new life

And to live in his power and authority.

Yes we are totally helpless when faced with the magnitude of our sin and our hands are tired but this table reminds us that in His power we are “more than conquerors” we are victors and not victims.

Accommodation

2005-09-19T23:32:00.000+01:00

Accommodation can refer to things like help, assistance, aid, obliging, indulgencing or it can mean making alterations to fit new cicumstances requiring adaption, adjustment, modification, reconciliation, fitting and harmonization.

When used in connection with our political stalemate I think it is a concept very worth consideration. Usually when people are in dispute the talk is of compromise. When the Whiterock parade was re-routed by the Parades Commission for the second tiome there was a hope that a compromise could be achieved but there is the fundamental difficulty with all compromises and that is that it looks for the middle ground and often means that no one is really ever happy with the solution and so it is no solution at all. We need a much more creative way to square the circle and create a much more long term solution. I think the idea of accomodation is a better way forward. If both sides start from the view of accommodating the other side the conclusions will be much better than the middle way- in the middle way both parties take up their negotiating positions which are not realistic positions at all but positions from which they can allow for movement. If I am willing to accommodate you then I will be looking for way to make us both happy.

How can the Loyalist accommodate the Nationalist and how can the Nationalist accommodate the Loyalist? To start with each will WANT to look at the problem from the other's point of view. To be able to do this they will have to take up positions to view the other side. Can we get to that place where we both want the best for the whole people? Can we get to the place where we are both willing to make changes to accommodate the other? To begin this proces of thought we will have to find ways of taking the heat out of the situation. What is it that adds heat for both sides?

A Community at prayer

2005-09-19T19:39:00.000+01:00

On Saturday we had a morning of prayer and reflection in the church. This had been arranged in connection with the Community Council. The turn out was not great but that can be, partly, explained by the haste in which it was organised. There had beeen no time to announce it on a Sunday but we wanted t9o act immediately. I thought it was encouraging that the council would be prepared to advertise it in the press and make it an initiative of its own. The News Letter, one of the biggest papers in Northern Ireland, covered it on tweo days including this photograph.
Thankfully the Lord is not moved by the number of people nor by the sound of our voices- C.S.Lewis onece saud that when menm prayer its not that God changes His mind but that they change theirs. We need to be in the vanguard of working for change in our city and country. WEe cannot just sit back and do nothing, not even be satisfied with praying-sometimes we become the answer to our own prayers. Sometimes we have to act as a result of praying. What should the church be doing in Belfast?

Faith .gif
Originally uploaded by jack in the box.

Flickr

2005-09-19T15:43:00.000+01:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Flickr

2005-09-19T15:42:00.000+01:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.