Aptiva

One Author wrote about a friend who was trying to lose weight, and as a metaphor for those who follow the Kingdom way. "Most of us hear people talking often about the new diets they’re trying for weight loss. The problem is that diet books can’t do the one thing that’s required: change the way we think about food and ourselves. He told me he started to lose weight only when he came to terms with the reality that he lived in and was part of a culture of consumerism in which to be is to consume. Only when he recognized this and chose to resist this narrative did he start seriously to lose weight.”- Alan J.Roxburgh. How we view ourselves within a set culture plays an important part of understanding the leading of the Carpenter. We cannot remove ourselves from where we reside locally, or if we do, we risk the issue of being "so heavenly minded to be no earthly use”. We cannot just accept the attitudes and morals of the culture around us without critical reflection, for to d...

Another author wrote "We must be formed as people who are capable of appreciating goodness, truth, and beauty." As followers of the Carpenter, we may, if wise, come to the realisation that God, as creator, is a being who delights in the visual beauty of his world. It is, to be sure, not the only aspect of creation to be considered, but it is certainly one not to be ignored. As beings created in His image, we have this same desire and capacity to create, and we do. From paintings to music, from gardens to architecture we can see the hand of God displayed, and our worship of him in this action. Throughout history, we find, if we desire to look, at the ways fellow believers have turned their efforts to bring this beauty to blossom. Grand cathedrals built by stone masons seeking to use every stone to its maximum effect. Poet's of the street who's words can stir those Spirit led to physical actions of helping humanity by throwing off injustice and setting the repressed...

The Carpenter uses an illustration, it's recorded in the book written Matthew in chapter 3, it reads; 24  Here is another story Jesus told:  “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25  But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away.   26  When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. 27  “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ 28  “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. 29  “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do.   30  Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’” We can make the mistake of failing to see the world from God'...

This coming week I acknowledge my call to minister with a new community of faith, this one under the Baptist banner. Most Baptist churches follow a simple formula for their name; it is “place name” Baptist Church. Simple and descriptive, locating the community of faith, and supposedly what it’s core beliefs should be. Traditionally Baptists have focussed on what is now termed “believers baptism,” all well and good, I agree all believers should be "baptised as believers," nothing startling there, I have served in other Baptist churches, you would expect me to hold this point of view. I wonder how many of us who attend this church denomination have thought through what it means to be "baptised with Christ." The word holds many connotations behind it. One interpretation is "to be joined, submerged with Christ in his death, and new life." In being Baptised, one proclaims that the life you used to have has gone, and a new life, led by and with Christ has replac...

In the book of Genesis, Lot and Abraham separate.  Given a choice, Lot opts for the best-looking land, but his life unravels from there.(Gen 13 and 14). Captured, and retrieved, Lot still fails to notice the pattern. Life with Abraham and thus God is good, life without him brings trouble. Even at his retrieval, Lot fails to see the choice Abraham makes, by honouring Melchizedek, King of Salem, and by refusing the offer of the King of Sodom, Abraham clearly shows which path people should be walking. Lot fails. He chooses to return under the guidance of the King of Sodom and eventually loses all things. It can be the same with our life. The Carpenter offers us a choice, to follow him and live, or to exist without him, first dead on earth, then an eternity of being cut off from the creator we spurned. Living with Christ means going against the flow, often taking a path others rarely investigate, and suffering scorn from those who do not understand or agree. Yet the blessings ar...

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” C.S.Lewis excellent telling of the Christ story through his books about Narnia, though fiction carries some important truths. Aslan, a lion, who represents Christ is known not to be a tame lion, he is not considered "Safe." Safe can have differing meanings depending on one's background and circumstances. In this use, safe describes a being who does as needs for the best of those around, despite what they think he should be. Aslan refuses to bow to the expectations of those he cares for. This is an apt description of the Christ, Jesus often confused his critics, by being exactly opposite to what they thought he should be. Jesus was not a standard Rabbi, he was not safe to be around. Yet he was many things, depending on your attitude towards him. To the repentant, the outcast, the lost and the lonely, h...