The Special One

It's funny how in the popular consciousness a label gets attached to a particular celebrity from some throwaway comment he or she has made.

So it s that, as Portugal's most famous son, Jose Mourinho, bows out of managing Chelsea football team this past week, it was as "the Special One" that he is remembered in the popular press. Whether or not he remains “special” in the eyes of the ever fickle media will depend on performance and whoever else emerges over the horizon to capture the popular imagination

I like Jose. (Even though I’m supposed to support Arsenal) I like his shrug. I like his scowls and I like his grimaces and his straightforward approach in the press conferences. I read a quote of his he made back in 2004 on the subject of being sacked

“I was nine or 10 years old and my father was sacked on Christmas Day. He was a manager, the results had not been good, he lost a game on December 22 or 23. On Christmas Day, the telephone rang and he was sacked in the middle of our lunch. So I know all about the ups and downs of football, I know that one day I will be sacked."

Next year’s “special one” will be somebody different. But we’re following a Special One who’s constant, never changing, always faithful. Last evening we had our farewell service in 1^st Coleraine Presbyterian. It was a glorious occasion. So many friends, some from way back, and some we’d only begun to get to know in this last year. But all representing a whole body of support and encouragement that we know will follow with us as we travel out to live and work Portugal, in, yikes, just about ten days time.

And Peter Fleming reminded us about, Jesus, the Special One we’re going there to serve. The Faithful One who is so unchanging presence is our legacy. I think if we were not convinced of his utter dependability, that he is alive, and lives for evermore, and is able to save to the uttermost all who come to Him, then we would not be making one step out of Northern Ireland.

Sandra and William Workman, and Dan and Primrose Avila probably travelled furthest from the wilds of county Kildare to be with us on what was a very special evening

Faithful One, so unchanging. Ageless One, You're my rock of peace. Lord of all, I depend on You. You are my rock in times of trouble. You lift me up when I fall down. All through the storm your love is the anchor My hope is in you alone.

Wandering Stars

Our Sharon recently got together with three of her contemporaries from high school in Pakistan at a curry house in Brick Lane in the East End of London.. And Judith at the end of this month will organise yet another mini MCS reunion with her friend Lydia. They’re never done connecting and re-connecting on facebook, on msn, and in person. They’re of that unique breed, sometimes known as “third culture kids”. Born to parents of one (or maybe, as in our case, two cultures), raised in a second culture, and then trying to make it on their own in a third or even forth culture. They’re citizens of planet earth, with roots that drag around after them looking for a decent piece of soil to grasp onto. Wandering stars, sometimes blazing a trail of light on their own, and sometimes colliding with others in a blaze of multi-coloured brilliance

They’re not like the wandering stars of the thirteenth verse of the Book of Jude though. These stars burn bright and carry with them the riches drawn from the cultures they’ve lived in. I never cease to be amazed how they immediately connect with others with a similar story even though their context may have been Latin America or Africa rather than South Asia. In some ways they carry about in their hearts a glimpse or foretaste of the cultural riches of a heaven that will peopled with stars from every tribe and race and language.

But sometimes these wandering stars do feel the loss of a fixed point of reference. Their hearts do cry out for understanding, for meaning, for some sense of history and connectedness. And sometimes there is a sense of grief for what’s been lost and what might have been, and friends you’ll never see again.

Please could you stay awhile to share my grief
For its such a lovely day
To have to always feel this way

(Wandering stars – Portishead 1994)

As Colin heads off into Southampton University, as Sharon continues to finds her way in art and creativity, as Judith serves her God in her place in Brussels, here's a prayer for all you wandering stars out there.

May you shine like stars in His universe
and bring light to the blackness around you.

May you find a way, Gods way, His clear and perfect way,
as you manoeuvre round the roadblocks on the path

May you hold out that perfect word of life to those who need it.

May your lives reflect that pure and blameless lifestyle that was Christ’s
and may you taste and see that He is good

East of Eden

That, according to the account in Genesis Chapter 4, is the location of the world’s first city, as designed and built by Cain following his exile from the Garden. In a perverse sort of way, in the popular Christian mindset, the “city” is sometimes thought of as intrinsically godless and nurturing all manner of social evils and vices, not a place where Christ reigns. But Revelation Chapter 21 shows the “city” as the centrepiece of God’s redemptive activity, and in the imagery it is once again restored to Eden.

I have recently been reading Tim Keller’s writings, and fascinated to explore this view of the “city” in God’s plan and purpose for the world. I’d never heard of Keller before, but the name cropped up in conversation on two separate occasions the other weekend when we were in down south in Clonmel and Kilkenny. He's an inner city pastor in Manhatton with a very clearly communicated vision of God's plan and purpose for the cities of our world. A good place to find a summary of his articles and stuff about him is http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/bio/timkeller.html

Suddenly in my head, a lot of things came together and I got quite excited. The motivation that is pushing us toward Lisbon, which has always been in part a desire to be involved in a vibrant urban ministry - but I never quite figured out whats behind it --- until now. The idea of being involved in the Park of the Nations, in the heart of Lisbon city takes on a fresh new significance.

One Generation Shall Praise your name to Another

One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts. (Psalm 145:4)

I used to have an old LP of Handel's Chandos Anthems, and Anthem No 5 "I will magnify thee" is a lovely setting of Psalm 145. I love the way he makes the words "one generation" and "to another" trip over each other in a kind of waterfall of sound (you can tell I have no musical training whatsoever - I just love the stuff) but I think we've always usually thought of the above verse, as, yes, we ought to be teaching our children stuff about God. But it can work upwards as well, the children telling the parents about God, as happened to us yesterday.

We were sitting in a Church, a small fellowship in Limavady, waiting to share about our plans for Lisbon, and the mobile phone was not switched off. Daughter Sharon, in London, sends a text at that moment, and quotes Exodus 33:14 "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" in the body of the text. What Sharon did not know was that that verse has been the signature verse of our whole married life, from way before she was even conceived. That that verse is the one God used to seal our relationship at a time when as young Bible College students in Glasgow we wanted to know if God had a future in the growing attraction we felt for one another. At that time, back in 1979, my Mother, Sharon's granny, not even aware of any kind of blossomin gromance whatsoever, sent me a letter from Coleraine and started it with this verse and nothing else "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest".

And now twenty eight years on, God uses the same verse, this time through the granddaughter, and puts a seal on his calling and equipping us for ministry with the church he is bringing into being in the Park of the Nations, Lisbon. Verily, one generation does tell another about the woderful works of God, and it works both ways!!

It's a long way from Tipperary

…to Lisbon.. .. or, indeed, most other places for that matter.

From Coleraine, its 282 miles to be exact. Last Sunday found us in the rolling hills and fields of South Tipp as they call it, sharing with a small fellowship that meets in an old Methodist church building in the town of Clonmel, and, later that same day in Kilkenny. In both cases, we were so impressed with the level of spiritual life, the depth of their fellowship and commitment to one another, and the richness of cultural variety God has brought into every corner of the republic of Ireland.

I was born and brought up in Ireland, but there’s much that’s unfamiliar and much that’s changing in the in Ireland of 2007. They have called it the land of Saints and Scholars, but today’s Ireland is more about the cost of housing and how many euros you can stash away into pension funds and offshore accounts in the shortest time possible, than about any pursuit of holiness or scholarship. So, it's refreshing then to find a group of people who regard storing up treasure in heaven as a more important occupation of their time and energy. We're praying that God will produce a similar sort of thriving fellowship in the coming months in the Park of the Nations, Lisbon.

Matthew and Barbara Brennan with their two boys, Timothy and Simon, who serve with the Church in Clonmel, live on the edge of a grand old country Estate that bears all the echoes of a bygone era of Anglo Irish gentility.

Wake me up when September ends

As, September begins, the amount we have to do between now and the end of this month is something else. And a lot of it has to do with all the stuff that surrounds us – furniture, electrical gadgets, clothes and books. You know. All that stuff that is incredibly useful and helps us manage our lives when we’re staying in one place, yet gets in the way a bit when we’re seeking the freedom to uproot ourselves and move on under God’s leading.

And in regard to the stuff, the “S” question is something we’ll be asking ourselves again and again over the next few weeks – Shall we Store it, shall we Sell it, shall we Ship it or shall we Scrap it?

Looking for a Biblical view on “stuff”, there’s not a lot of direct instructions available. And what bits of advice there are tend to be framed in the negative - “do not store up treasures on earth” and “take with you nothing for the journey, no staff, no bag, no bread, no money…” Wonder how we’ll manage in an empty apartment in the Park of the Nations without a staff, a bag and some bread and money!

Oh for wisdom from on High for all these imponderable questions. In the meantime here’s a verse from Psalm one hundred and nineteen for the week ahead

May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy,

for I have put my hope in your word. (psalm 119:74)