The God in the corner

I was in Peterborough again yesterday. I'm starting to feel like Queensgate shopping centre is my second home after the countless times I have been there over the last month. Part of my job is to facilitate summer residential camps and this year we are joining with East Midlands division to create a joint school. Therefore Peterborough is the half way point for myself and DYO Andy Whitehouse to meet. Yesterday we spent 6 Hours in Starbucks planning the residential camp. Now I like Starbucks, I have a Starbucks card, I like the free refills, I like the scrumptious BLT sandwiches. But 6 HOURS!!! there is only so much whirring of the grinding machine and milk frother one can take. By the end of the meeting I felt like I had gone 1 round with Mike Tyson (could have put the cliched 13 rounds statement, but lets be honest, one round is generous to me and my breakable frame). The meeting however opened some new insights for me and was definitely worth the fatigue.

During our marathon, caffeine fuelled, meeting, myself and Andy were discussing this years bible studies for the small groups at our residential camp. We got into quite a deep conversation about where God often speaks and celebrates with us and whether that is where we look for him. It came about as we were discussing Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3) and the grand gesture in a quiet corner of the desert.

I see often in our journey with the church and as the church that we are continually looking at ways to bring God into the limelight, to bring him into a place of the X Factor final, Royal Variety Show or O2 Arena. We create church services that look like west end musicals or a coldplay concert, we have celebrity worship leaders and speakers who sign our bibles and we strive to emulate the numbers of the football stadia and night clubs around the globe. We have a grand Saviour in Christ who deserves to be given a place of prestige and honour, that I can agree with. But there is a huge however looming over us that I see in scripture.

No christian would deny the titles of King of Kings and Lord of Lords that Jesus is attributed with. We would rightly bow our heads and fall prostrate on the floor before him. We acknowledge his throne and wish that others would too. But what are the actions of this prestige saviour, how does he respond to the public proclamations? As myself and Andy chatted away about this stuff I was struck with a characteristic of Christ I knew of but had never really taken hold of. Jesus operated in the corners of society, in the places of the loner, the places not even fit for beggars let alone the King of Kings. He was born in a stable, He was homeless, His friendship circles were not the political powers or smooth talkers but the despised, hated and spat on by all in society. He was not liked by everyone, He did not win the phone vote for Israel's Messiah factor and He was not understood. On the surface he was not, what even today we understand to be, the king of kings. If Prince William is not allowed to laugh in public during certain occasions then the King of Kings was acting very below par indeed.

Run scripture back to Moses and Exodus 3 again. The burning bush was not for all to see, it was not in front of all the Midianite people, or the Egyptian people. It was in a quiet corner of a desert and only for Moses. In that moment the wheels of redemption began turning for the Israelites in Egypt. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah is on his own up a mountain and meets with the Lord not in the grand and the powerful but in the quiet whisper in the corner of a mountain, as he comes down from the Mountain he anoints another great prophet in Elisha, Elijah's eventual successor. In Genesis 40 it is in the corner of a prison cell that Joseph listens to God and explains the dreams which leads to his redemption. It is in the prostitute Rahab in Joshua 2 that the Lord is proclaimed and her family are redeemed in a small house in the corner of a great city. In Matthew 6 Jesus encourages his followers to pray, fast and give in secret, in the quiet corner of your heart. Although there is equally occasions where God is glorified in Public, on the stage we might say. In reading the breadth of scripture we witness a God who operates in the corners, who often is not seen and missed because we're looking at the stage or the lighting rig or the PA.

In the Salvation Army, and indeed often in the wider church, we Love events. We rejoice in mass gatherings whether it's the ISB120, ROOTS, Soul Survivor or Congress. In conversations over coffee yesterday God challenged me that whilst these events are brilliant, whilst these events can often fortify our faith we can often miss what God is rejoicing about. Luke 15:10 says:

"In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents"

It is conceivable that at all these "Christian" events we attend, that all those attending are also believers. The sober thing is that should there be a forgotten, young, normal, lonely woman, sitting on her bed all alone in her tiny box bedroom because she has no friends and her family are unconcerned about her, who declares to God " I believe", Heaven bursts with more rejoicing over that one woman than the 1000 listening and worshipping to music and watching the lighting display. That's the God in the corner, who is infinitely more worthy and powerful, and rightfully will take his place on the throne as described in Revelation. But for now he is off his throne operating in the quiet corners of our lives that we might know him and be loved by him. I'm simply glad my God found my corner and that Starbucks do good coffee.

A Fathers justice

So this is the last day of our Live below the Line challenge. If you're not sure what the challenge is please read my earlier post this week entitled 'Give me joy in my heart'. The challenge has been an interesting one and a time of serious reflection for myself and Sara about how we use our money, how we oppress others without even thinking about it and how much God has blessed us. There have been times were the lack of food and boring water have simply become normal and times were the challenge was almost unbearable. Yesterday was definitely a day of the unbearable.

I had an important meeting to discuss some youth work challenges we are facing and this meeting occurred in Starbucks for a total of 3 hours. The coffee, the muffins, the panini's, the fruit toast, oh man was it hard. The glass of iced water all of a sudden felt like I was drinking crude oil. Those I was meeting with all had their selection of cappuccino's, lattes and espresso's banded around the table and when lunch time came my rice with carrot and broccoli was more like a mouthful of sawdust. It was hard and it was also tempting.

I found myself in this meeting thinking only of myself, self indulging in my own fantasies of what it would be like to taste that caramel shortbread with a hot perfectly made cappuccino after a mozzarella.. and.. meat ball.... panini... mmmmm (Let's pause a second whilst I salivate on that thought which will not aid my current hunger in the slightest),

Anyway, back in the hungry world, what I found myself doing was I was becoming self obsessed in this place of hunger, and this got me thinking. If my son was doing the live below the line challenge (he's 2 years old and enjoying the ball pool currently at home), would I be so obsessed with my own hunger? You see I can't help but feel that I would be filled with concern, worry, anger and frustration if my son was living off £1 per day. I have chosen to undertake this challenge, as a 2 year old he wouldn't have chosen this challenge and we would have been placing this feeling of hunger, uncomfort, tiredness and oppression on him. I would be angry that he couldn't eat his usual crumpets, that he would not be able to dive into the varied choices we have in our world, that he could not experience a full stomach and know that we have provided for him.

And this is where my thoughts have taken me during this week. God is a loving Father who gets concerned, angry and frustrated at the oppression his children are forced into. There is no need to look into scripture regarding God's provision, as the sheer amount of food discarded on a weekly, if not daily basis is enough proof that provision of food is there. We also only need to look at the distribution of wealth and resources in the world to see that once again provision for everyone is there, just not distributed fairly. We know this stuff, and we've known it for years, yet still we seem to not act, to not consider our actions and our part in the problem. Our lives become so embroiled in ourselves, in what we get to eat, in how we can get by and how 'poor' we are that we fail to hear the justice cry of a loving and concerned Father for his 1.4 billion children, who have less than what we spend on a trashy burger from the golden arches.

Another aspect I have found in this place of self indulgence is that we justify. As the wealthy in comparison to the majority of the world we justify our spending, our extravagant yet pointless use of money on takeaways, clothes we don't need, or films we 'must see'. As martin smith,  in the song 'our God reigns', sings "but still my Chinese takeaway could pay for someones [medical] drugs'. I found myself in the midst of this challenge justifying our spending with phrases like 'we deserve a treat sometimes', 'it's all relative' and 'we're not as bad as some'.

Now this isn't about wallowing in a place of self guilt and self flagellation but is about a recognition that we, as the church, are called to make a difference, to stand up, to act. To receive the blessings bestowed on us with a thankful heart that loves our neighbours who live in extreme poverty, both in thoughts and actions, whether that is down the road or on another continent. This is the cry in Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25. Our Father in Heaven is their Father in Heaven and he is about justice for all. He stands up for the poor and oppressed not because he favours them above others but because they are treated unjustly and he is about justice. And this justice is to be displayed in this world, in the practical outworking of life not just the eternal destination of the soul.

As a Father I want my son to be treated justly, I want him to have enough food to grow, to realise he is blessed and to accept that blessing with a thankful heart. Our Father wants all his children to have enough food to grow, to realise we are blessed and to receive that with a truly thankful loving heart. If we are to take up the call to follow Jesus, to become his disciples, we have to take up his Father's call for Justice in our hearts, to stand up for the oppressed not contribute to it, to speak for the voiceless not mute our hearts, to feed the hungry not keep their food and to clothe the naked not indulge in our fashion.

God is not about guilt tripping, the love of the father and son on the cross proves that he is not a guilt tripping God. He is a God of action, a God of Justice and a God of love. After this week I for one am going to start being a father of justice and strive that my life reflects this choice, my prayer is that all his followers will choose that too and that with this call for justice our world will finally begin to move towards being a world of justice.

'To be a Gleek, or not to be a Gleek'; Is that really the question?



In my travels visiting the varying degrees of life in this part of the Church called The Salvation Army I have not found something more polarising of people's views other than the topic of Glee. Glee: TV gold or popular trash, musical genius or cheesy outdated anthems. It appears no matter who you are, Glee very much has the Marmite factor attached to it, which has resulted in a powerful and determined faction of society now affectionately labelled 'Gleeks'! Rejoiced by those who are and mocked and scorned by those who aren't.

Therefore to Gleek or not to Gleek was certainly my question some 18 -24 months ago when Sue Sylvester's Adidas track suit wearing scouse fashion sense first hit my TV screen. Now to make the Gleek journey more interesting I must point out that I hate musicals. There is something about watching grown men and women dealing with the tragedies and dilemmas of life before breaking into song in one seamless continuum that just doesn't sit right with me. In my mind, sing or act, pick one not both. But with Glee it was different, for some reason the use of popular anthems, which reminded me of my childhood growing up in the 80's, just worked alongside the bizarre yet hilarious humour. To others it was pointless, boring and g(l)eeky, to me it was brilliant, entertaining and cool. After a few weeks of uncertainty and 'conversion' I was hooked, I had become a Gleek.

So why on Earth am I telling you this seemingly pointless aspect of my life. Well lets just rewind  to yesterday. Myself and Sara had been away all weekend working at The Salvation Army's Roots Conference. There we were challenged about our voice being a voice of hope and transformation, seeing God in every aspect of our lives. We returned home to our Sky+ player filled with TV goodness, one of which was of course Glee. As we settled into our sofa with our Gleek mugs (losers I know), I was suddenly challenged with one question. Am I ashamed of our Saviour?

You see I encounter people who will mock, scorn and berate me for my Gleekiness (if that is even a word) and I will respond with a defence of my glee friends, the humour, the music. I will defend that which I believe is one of the best TV shows ever!! (Big statement I know). I also realised that I am not a gleek by saying I am, I am a gleek because I watch every week expectantly, I own the albums, I'm engaged in the humour, I want to know if Mr Schuster and the Miss Pillsbury will finally get together. I am a gleek in deeds not just in words.

The big question is am I as committed to my Saviour as I am to Glee?

Do I surround myself only with those who believe in Jesus so I don't have to stand with him (and love with him) in a society that ever increasingly rejects him? Do I truly heed his words that I should expect to be mocked, scorned and berated for my faith (John 15:20)? Do I strive to ensure my life is alive with him, for him? That I am Christian not because I say I am but because my actions and commitment to the cause show that I am (James 2). Do I read scripture expectantly? Do I worship him unreservedly? Do I want to know what he has planned for me next and how this life will pan out for me with his Spirit guiding me?

Jesus said "Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." Luke 9: 26

I am not ashamed to be a Gleek, but am I more willing to defend that position and live out that position when compared to my life with Christ? The heart of this question may be relevant to more of us if we were to honestly reflect on areas of our life. I believe the reason for this juxtaposed dilemma is simply that living out our faith results in transformation, which from experience, is challenging, difficult and hard. Defending a TV programme doesn't. Living out and standing beside, and with Christ, in this world changes our core being, it shines light in the dark places of our existence we believe we only know. Not being ashamed of Christ is less about speaking out in the world for Christ and more about allowing Christ to speak into our own world.

Glee doesn't change me, I move towards it's value for cheesy 80's pop and strange humour so that I will defend it's greatness. The beauty of the Gospel is that Christ moved alongside us (John 1) and fights for our position, that we may be transformed into his likeness and have life in all it's fullness (John 10:10). We don't go to him but he comes to us.

Why is it easier to defend my gleekiness? Because it doesn't affect me or ultimately matter. Christ's Love, Sacrifice and Resurrection is a much more worthy part of my life to defend and align myself to.

"To be a gleek, or not to be a gleek?"; that really isn't the question... 'To follow or not to follow?' now that really is...