simple trust

A new book of 70 pages caled 'In Simple Trust' is now available from Rev Ian Gregory, at 16 Grice Road, Stoke on Trnt ST4 7PJ. It is intended to help people whosefaith is shaky, as they go through difficult times of life.  It suggests that there is a spiritual dimention from which each of us has a 'guardian angel' who follows us through life and death into the new life of spirit.  £7 inc p&p. Not for people stuck in ancient prejudices and medieval beliefs.

children

The Congregational church of which I was minister for almost 20 years (2003) is a strong feature of the local community life. It is still so, although old hands tell me that it was once much more so. On Sunday afternoon hordes of children from ages five to 14 would come down the main road from the fairly mean houses 200 yards away to attend Sunday School. Indeed my forebears had created halls and rooms to accommodate some 500 children in various classes, and these children were taught by enthusiastic leaders and teachers in well-organised classes, and with well-prepared teaching. We are still fortunate in that children come, and when we have a dozen on a Sunday morning we think we are doing quite well; many churches have fewer than that, if any children at all. There is no Sunday afternoon event for them, although there are weekday events which attract small numbers.  The Sunday School movement flourished in nonconformist churches in the early years of the last century, but perhaps two world wars reduced an almost automatic belief in the Christian faith, and Sunday Schools declined in common with church attendance.  It is interesting that the behaviour and confidence of young people seems to have deteriorated in almost exact proportion to the decline of Sunday Schools. Children have been cut off not just from teaching about Christian faith, but contact with the kind of Christian people who taught it and influenced them in our churches. I see a definite link betwen the decline of one and the increase of the other, to the general dismay of the community.

Prayer

Suddenly, prayer is a live subject. People you would not imagne engaging in heartfelt prayer are asking God to help a premiership footballer survive heart failure. Patrice Luamba, aged 23, collapsed while playing for Bolton Wanderers and was rushed to hospital, the watching crowd at Tottenham, Hotspur's ground stunned into silence as he was treated on the pitch. Players from both sides were on their knees in prayer when they realised how serious his condition was. Muamba's heart stopped working for some hours, and at the time of writing there are reports that he is beginning to show signs of recovery, and has started talking again. Everybody concerned is at prayer for him, because that is all that people feel they can do to help. The professional skills of surgeons at the London Chest Hospital have obviously been effective so far, although their patient is seriously ill. Everybody else is still praying. One of the most moving messages is from his fiancee Shauna Muganda, writing on twitter: 'All your prayers are working, people.Thank you so much. Every prayer makes him stronger.'  A fellow footballer, Gary Cahill, unveiled a message on his tee shirt after scoring a goal. 'Pray 4 Muamba'. It is clear that prayer is still a huge part of people's lives when they face uncertainty about what else might help. Those of us who promote prayer as a normal part of the life of faith may be encouraged to see all this, and while joining their prayers for a young man in desperate trouble, will be intrigued to see that thousands who do not  appear to be people of prayer turn to it in extremity. Irrespective of  belief or religious commitment, they obviously think prayer 'works'.

Hammer

Morning prayer for me often centres on the BBC programme 'Homes under the Hammer'. It is a perfect illustration of the way God can take and transform a property, in my vision, the property being a human being.Two delightful 'priests' being Lucy Aexander and Martin Roberts find property in various stages of disrepair or even dereliction.  They attend an auction at which somebody puts in an offer for it. They discuss what needs to be done to make it habitable and how much it might cost. Later they go back to the property to see how far the transformation has progressed. Often what had appeared to be a hopeless house has been improved beyond belief, so that it is now 'fit for purpose'.  I picture the auction room in which  God makes the top bid so that the property becomes his own. The cost is what God pays for the property in suffering on the cross. Now it can be transformed and made a thing of use and beauty. A troubled person, in disrepair, can place their lives 'under the hammer' and  undergo a complete transformation after our Father puts in a top bid to make them his own. 

wind

The huge amounts of money being invested on wind farms is now making the government think again about the wisdom of extending the idea. An article in The Spectator by Matt Ridley questions whether wind power as an energy resource for the nation will ever work. Despite all that has been spent world-wide so far, 'the total energy generated each day by wind has yet to reach half of one percent... If wind power was going to work it would have done so by now.'  There are signs, says Ridley that the government is 'coming to its senses about the whole fiasco'.  One reason why wind power cannot be relied on to provide sufficient energy to replace other forms of fuel is that the wind cannot be relied on to blow with sufficient force. I am reminded of events in the Bible which speak of the importance of wind. Elijah at Mount Carmet was hiding in a cave at Horeb when he heard a gale so powerful that it split rocks. (Useful to find shale gas?) Isaiah was aware of the power of God that would sort out disobedient people through a 'scorching wind coming down from the heights'. Pentecost was anticipated by 'the blowing of a mighty wind from heaven' on the cowering apostles. Terrified disciples were threatened with a  'furious squall' on Galilee. Revelation 6 speaks of a strong wind removing mountains and islands. Are the 3,500 turbines now despoiling land and seascapes like the Golden calf which Aaron erected in defiance of God - a totally useless pieceof  idolatry. The Lord 'struck the people with a plague', it is reported. We are not told what it was... perhaps a total loss of power.

sparkle

Starting work aged 16 in the offices of the Derby Evening Telegraph, I was one of eight young hopefuls looking for a career in journalism. There was no such thing as work experience, or job seekers' allowances. We were told that if after six months we showed signs of understaning the way newspapers worked then four of us would be taken on as juniors, and four would be told to find something else to do with their lives. Four were discharged, before the six months were up, for incredible stupidity; one was to take down racing results from a phone service, but went to sleep. He was found with his head on the desk by frantc printers wondering where the result of the 300pm at Kempton Park had got to. The rest of us clung on in spite of furious sub-editors, and a news editor who wore his ulcer like a badge of office. My first reporting job was a meeting of Derby Groundsmen's Association, and I produced  100 words on the problem groundsmen were  having with moles under cricket pitches. The sports editor threw my 'copy' back at me, and said: 'mek it sparkle, lad!'  I gradually discovered ways in which even the most tedious subject could be made interesting. In 550 The academic Muretus fell on hard times financially and physically. He was taken to hospital, where surgeons said, thinking he was unable to understand:. 'There's nothing we can do with this nobody. Let's experimentt with his bones'. Muretus looked at them and said in perfect Latin: 'Don't call any person for whom Christ died a "nobody".' In faith even the dullest can sparkle

creeds

Millions of people go to church n Sundays to worship an oxymoron. No, that's not the name of the preacher! Ir's a god who is said to be two quite contrary things. The Apostles' Creed sys he is 'Almighty', while all the way through the New Testament we think of God as 'love'.  How can this be?  'Almighty' implies omnipotence - tortal power to intervene in all things. But many of the things that happen in real life are bad. Would not an all-powerful father intervene if it were seen that his family were suffering in earthquales, wars, famine? The God we speak of cannot be almightty AND love, because the two words mean contrary things and so constitute an oxymoron. Progressive Christians see the point of ceasing to refer to God as 'Almighty'. He not only fails to prevent bad things happening, he is absolutely vulnerable to them himself, viz in Jesus having to face the cross without any intervention. God is 'love' in that he somehow enables people to cope with the worst that life can throw at them.  We are all vulnerable to the perils and dangers of mortal life, but reliance on the ever-present Christ spirit we can face whatever comes with what the old hymn rightly calls 'blessed assurance'. So no more praying to 'almighty' God to change the weather or find us a car park space.

Prepare

Preparation is everyrthing. When Andy Flower was explaining the way England lost all three cricket tests against Pakistan he said the team had not been properly prepared. Flower is the team's coach, and peparation was his reponsibility, so in what way did they fall short>? When my wife heard him blame  poor preparation she was surprsed. These men had been playing cricket, she said, since they were first able to hold a bat and ball, and so had been playing the game for say 20 years, What better preparation could they have had? True enough: they were fit, young, well paid, and had reached a goal to which thousands of young men aspired. Did they suffer from a condition which holds back so many people in sport, business, and personal relationships, called confidence deficit?  Obviously financial reward, physicall fitness, youth, experience and even the personal support of a wife or partner is not enough to assure self-belief. Nor in the case of test cricketers or top footballers is the adulation of the masses. There can be no greater peparation  for any human endeavour than in the words of the man who wrote Philippians 4.13: 'I can do all things through him who gives me strength'. Who is he? Surely worth finding out.

deficit

Politicians are feeling about for a formula that may restore moral values and economic hope to the nation. We should not distinguish between these two ambitions: they are firmly linked, and depend together. Our leaders speak of the big society and now 'responsible capitalism', and nobody is sure what they mean. Jesus Christ does not speak in riddles; we all know what he means when he speaks about loving our neighbour and behaving responsibly. The University of Essex has produced a report which talks about a boom in dishonesty, and a nation heading for an 'integrity crisis'. As if we didn't know ! If there is to be hope for the nation it will not be through the pronouncements of politicians grimly tackling our immense 'trillion pound deficit'. There is a far greater deficit: of love, integrity, and faith. The transformation we all hope for will not begin in stately halls at Westminster or even Brussels. It will begin at ground level in the thousands of little cells of love which we call churches. To say 'Jesus is Lord' is not a bland religious motto: it is the most powerful political manifesto we can sign and promote.

Blessed

Sunday mornng: to an exquisite village church at Oakamoor, Staffordshire for simple Free Church worship. Home for superb lunch prepared by smiling wife. Sunday evening: to the parish church for compline. The lay reader arrives in the nick of time, and gallops through the prescribed order for evening prayer. It takes 20 minutes, and we are not led to think prayerfully about Christians in Nigeria, under heavy attack from a ferocious Islamic sect. Many dead. Feel guilty because I will now sit secure and safe for at least four hours doing nothing except drink tea, and be conducted round the nation on TV. First to the glorious British countryside in 'Countryfile', then to the Alexandra Palace to see breathtaking snooker. Then to Mancheter to see Man City play Tottenham. Then to the Emirates to see Man United against Arsenal. To travel to all these events in person would cost more than the annual TV licence (But hang on....  I do not have to pay it, being legally ancient). To access these events by buying tickets would be a cost beyond  all possibility. To get ringside seats and hear commentators explain what's going on - no chance. I just sit and drink tea. 'We have a better view here than we would have actually being there' I reflect. All this, plus not having to face Islamic Terrorists...... To prayer, and to bed, richly blest. What have we done to deserve all this?

Speed

Our political masters (that includes you, Ms Greening) appear to think that we can only embrace the future by investing untold sums of money in a primal need to hurtle about the face of the earth at ever faster speeds. It is a fallacy, The real need is to discover better ways of working together using all the far cheaper means of communication. With all the gizmos now available to us we do not need to leave home, never mind the office, to attend fruitless meetings.The Bible holds no brief for high speed anything. It wants us to slow down. 'Lie down in green pastures' (Ps 23), 'Be still' (ps 46) 'Let us walk in the light of the Lord' (Isaiah 2.5). The greatest characters of Old and New Testaments pottered about the ancient world on camel, horse, or on foot. Their chief concern was not high speed rails, but proper shoes. A name from Isaiah (8.1) indicates the scorn in which the urge to move faster was held by the prophet. 'The Lord said to me, take a large scroll and write this name on it: 'Maher-shalal-hash-baz'. It's the longest name given to anybody throughout scripture. It is an HS2 slogan, which should be written on every 250mph ticket, for it means; 'Quick to the plunder; swift to the spoil'.

literal

It is a troubling thought that four out of every ten people in America believe that the Bible's account of creation in the mythical book of Genesis is literally and historically true. Apparently five of the six  Republicans who are possible candidates for the November election are among those who deny evolution and think mankind was created in the last 10,000 years. What is troubling is that so many Americans in positions of authority - airline pilots, doctors, teachers among them - reject the most obvious findings of science. How can a nation of such massive influence and power live in denial of truth? Not long ago a professor of theology, John Schneider, was obliged to resign his post at a 'Christian' university in Michigan because he questioned the creationists' belief that all humans desceneded from a real Adam and Eve, and denied that the 'fall' of man was an historical event. Evangelical Christians rose up in wrath to demand that he and a colleague should be fired. and he resigned being 'pressured to leave'. America is producing some profound theological thinkers who embrace evolutionary science as the only possible reason for us being here. But they face strong opposition from fundamentalists who insist that Charles Darwin was misguided. The idea that some of the most influential and powerful people on the planet are so opposed to enlightenment science is literally beyond belief. That there is a large element of churchgoing Brits who hold the same blind convictions indicate just how much the church and the education system have yet to do to explain how faith and science can live together in constructive harmony.

judgment

Look, all you football club managers, 'not guilty' pleaders, and family squabblers: just face up to it: somebody has got to be the judge. Technology may or may not provide absolute definitions of what actually happened- did the ball cross the line? Was the accused really the man caught in a camera? Did  the tipsy husband really say that to his weeping wife? In the end we only have human judgment to offer in every hunman dispute. Is Iran making a bomb? Is Cameron taking us too far, too fast over the UK deficit? Given that we cannot turn to an all-knowing Wizard at the end of the yellow brick road, all we cn do is appoint the best qualified people we can find to be referee, umpire, arbitrator and moderator to judge human disputes. Then we must abide by their decisions. It is tiresome to hear arguments about penalties, sendings off, and offside flags after almost every high-profile football match. Fatuously,I know, millions of pounds depends on these decisions. Teams go up or down, players lose ridiculous sums in 'wages' and reputations are ruined or enhanced by what referees and their assistants say and do. Of course, they get things wrong. and the watching hordes become furious. But we are stuck with a system that can only be human, and human beings are at their best, fallible.  There are things that only God knows. 'Will not the judge of all the earth do right?' asked weary Abraham over the wickedness of Sodom, and no technology coud have helped Old Isaac to sus the deceit of his son Jacob in stealing his blessing from his brother Esau. You see how complex life is, all you ref maulers. Just count your blessings, and your money. Get over it, and get on with it.