I Was Born Here!

“My brother was born here.
...........So was my aunt and my Mum.
................ ....and me too”

The Portuguese graffiti on the wall of the men’s lavatory in the Maternidade Dr Alfredo G Costa was intriguing. Not least because it was a lot less offensive than most of the graffiti you see in men’s toilets. But ... I mean ... do you know offhand where your various relatives saw the first light of day. It’s not the sort of information you tend to retain in your head. Some of us would be hard pushed to know which hospital it was in which even we ourselves popped out, a screaming bundle of energetic humanity, into the world.

I guess it’s a mark of the affection in which this noble institution is held in the hearts of Lisboetas. Not so much a medical facility, more a celebration of motherhood. According to our friend, Maria, the majority of this city’s inhabitants can claim their birthplace here. According to their website 5589 babies have been born there since the beginning of this year. Considering the population of the Greater population of Lisbon is 2.8 million, that’s a fair few babies.


And one of those little items is called Gabriel!!

He was born at 11am Saturday morning to proud parents Patricia and Milton Sanches, and is the latest little addition to our fellowship. I wonder, Gabriel, what life has got in store for you. I pray it will be good, and that you will enjoy discovering all that God has lined up for you.



Because at the end of the day, what’s important is not so much where you were born, or where you’ve come from, but where you’re going. Next week we will celebrate a historic birthday that took place in a roughly hewn stable in a corner of Palestine a couple of thousand years ago. But if Jesus had gone back there twenty years later, to see if he could carve his initials and “I was born here” on the wall, he may well have found it no longer existed. The birthplace of Jesus was important and it’s great to celebrate it, but far more important, is the destiny and plan and purpose that was contained in his life. That purpose that drew him and , eventually, in the fullness of time, took him an early death in his thirties - but a death that would change mankind for ever.

Celebrate his Birth!

Celebrate His Death!

Celebrate His Resurrection!

Celebrate His Life Forevermore!

Where Have you Been??

This last few months and no blogging. I know. Sounds terrible. Actually we have been to Ireland and to England on two separate trips, to visit family and friends.
We also had a linguistic “M.O.T.” with a noted phoneticist, (if there is such a word), who lives in Sussex. Joanna Benson is a linguistic expert who runs tailor made courses teaching the phonetic foundations for a number of southern European languages, Well worth a visit if you’re thinking of taking up Spanish, French or Portuguese (http://www.soundlanguage.co.uk/)

So we exchanged the brilliant light of Lisbon for the foaming north shores of County Antrim and the falling leaves in an autumn evening light in London and Sussex. Sitting on a late Saturday afternoon in Greenwich Park looking across the Thames toward the concrete and glass of Canary Wharf, the evening October light was just amazing. But seeing those glistening towers, and remembering how they were so recently caricatured on the cover of Time magazine, as sinking beneath of the waves of the global economic crisis, reminds me just how fragile a world we live in. How quickly banks and stock markets, and other institutions take on an altogether different perspective.

Anyway back to today, November 5th. It’s ironic in a way that this day celebrates on the one hand the triumph of American democracy, and on the other the historic near destruction of British democracy back in 1605 through the notorious Guy Fawkes (“Remember, Remember the fifth of November. Gunpowder, Treason and Plot!!! "- do kids still learn that stuff today?).

With the election of Barak Obama, I found myself this morning trying to explore a bit about the man through past reviews and speeches, especially his take on matters of faith. As with most political leaders, he’s notoriously hard to pin down, but I felt I did discover someone other than the standard issue democrat politician who, as the Washington Post put it “discovered God in the 2004 exit polls” (ie that they’d need to find some way of winning over the religious voters if they’re ever going to get back to the White House). Obama’s faith does seem to be deep rooted in his background, even if it does not fit the standard evangelical categories. It is worth taking a look at a June 2006 speech to evangelicals. (http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060628-call_to_renewal/ )


What I find meaningful is the way he would appear to be honestly grappling with how his faith in God needs to relate to issues of poverty, inequality, and ethics, even if it does lead him to different conclusions than you or I might hold. But let me quote here, a couple of sentences of this speech, in as much as they relate closely to where we are at, living as we do in a well to do neighbourhood of a European capital, trying to reaching out with God’s love and grace.

Each day, it seems, thousands of Americans are going about their daily rounds - dropping off the kids at school, driving to the office, flying to a business meeting, shopping at the mall, trying to stay on their diets - and they're coming to the realization that something is missing. They are deciding that their work, their possessions, their diversions, their sheer busyness, is not enough.

They want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives. They're looking to relieve a chronic loneliness, a feeling supported by a recent study that shows Americans have fewer close friends and confidants than ever before. And so they need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them - that they are not just destined to travel down that long highway towards nothingness.

I am convinced that many of the people living around us, busy in their lives and families, are just as he describes. They are looking for that meaning and purpose in all sorts of other things. Yet Christ gives so much meaning and purpose, provides an anchor to hang everything else on, gives a richer sense of perspective to everything we do. If only would look and see. That’s all I’m going to write about American politics this year, though, I might also recommend another Obama speech he made to a University Graduation in Chicago also in 2006 . you can watch on youtube if you want.

Here’s the link. http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=2MhMRYQ9Ez8 Inspirational and visionary leadership!!

Fifty five years young!

Sunday morning 8am. Running down the west bank of the River Tejo. Sun streaming across the face of the water. Blood pumping through my veins. And I’m thinking.

Seventh of September. I’m 55 years old today. And I feel like 45. I mean, ten years ago, I doubt if I could have run this 5 km on a morning and not felt the pain of my lack of fitness. (mind you, I'm sometimes a bit out of puff and might need a bit of help in blowing out the candles!

And I give thanks to God. For energy, for strength, for health but more than that, for the realisation of His hand on our lives here in Lisbon.

There was another old man. In fact he was much older. And at the age of 85 he was at the end of a long journey. A journey that had taken him with his family and his people through rough terrain and wild wilderness for all of 45 years. And when he came to the end here's what he had to say

“Here I am 85 years old. God has kept me alive these 45 years, since He first spoke to me about this land. And I’m still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now then, give me this mountain that the Lord promised me that day”.

Caleb, son of Jephunneh it was. And it says of him in the Book of Joshua. That he had a different spirit than the others. This was in relation to believing that God was able to fulfil all the promises He had made to his people. Now I’m not as old as that. Not yet, anyway. But I pray that I might have that different spirit, that Spirit that believes, that knows God is a God who keeps His word. A spirit that hears what God is saying. And I reply to God. Give us this “mountain” I say. Give us this area of land where you have placed us and where you would have us work.

References : Joshua 14:6-15

The End of the World looks like Donegal

I never thought that the ends of the earth would look like County Donegal. But as we drove round bays and craggy inlets from Santiago in north west Spain to reach the village of Finisterre, I felt that I had come to the end of the world, and it felt somehow like home.

Maybe it was the combination of the green fields and hedges, gentle mists and clear sunlight, maybe the Celtic music playing from one of the cellars in the small fishing village, but it all conjured up for me the west of Ireland. We had come north from Lisbon for a short break and were attracted by the promise of cool and unchangeable weather, the possibility of wild and stormy seas, and dramatic scenery. As it turned out the day we arrived was calm and idyllic with a clear sky and warm sunshine. However we woke next morning to a cloudy sky and a mild drizzle!! Now that's more like the Ireland I know!!

Now, apparently, when the Romans first came to this craggy corner of Europe, they looked out over the ocean and reasoned that this was it – that there was nothing else out there, that they had reached the end of the world. And so they named it “finis-terra” the end of the earth. And so is been called that since those days.

As we walked the narrow peninsula from the village out to the point of Cape Finisterre, my thoughts went back to those early disciples, and how they gathered around Jesus after his resurrection, when He told them that they were to be His witnesses, starting in Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria, and from there to the “Ends of the Earth”. I wonder what went through their minds. Was it this place in Galicia that they though of – as far as you could sail out to the west over the Great Sea, and then to traverse that massive land over to its western edge. It certainly was in Paul’s mind and plans to bring the gospel to Spain. And James is also supposed to have lived and ministered here.

I supposed the “Ends of the Earth” is a subjective term and depends very much on where your starting point is. For us, now, it would probably be considered Antarctica, or some remote isle in the Pacific – but the Pacific Islander, for his part, might consider it to be in the bowels of New York City or some other great soulless city! Whatever it is, that is where the commission takes to us, the urge to declare God’s glory, and to share the wonder of Jesus throughout this world of ours. For us right now, our “ends of the earth” happen to be in a corner of Lisbon. And what a delight! What a privilege to be able to do this, and to do so, knowing that the great God who commands us, also promises His eternal, loving personal presence to go with us, even until the end of the Age.

The Five Kings from the Orient

We’re currently on an intensive one month summer course at the University of Lisbon which includes Portuguese culture as well as language. Today we had a potted history of the Islamic conquest of the region of the Iberian peninsula, later to become Portugal, by the Moors in the 12th century and the struggles of the early Portuguese leaders to retake their territory. One key battle took place on St James Day 1139, the Battle of Ourique, in which Prince Afonso Henrique vanquished five kings of the Moors, and was thereby proclaimed Afonso I, the first king of Portugal.

Over time the event has acquired a number of accompanying legends, especially concerning the possibility of divine intervention. Saint James the Great (the disciple of Jesus, called in Portuguese Santo Iago) is said to have appeared from Heaven and helped the Portuguese win the day. Whether or not that little bit of information is true, one mystery that surrounds the whole battle is the fact that Ourique is located in the southern part of present day Portugal, way down toward the Algarve, deep into enemy territory and some 150 km beyond the line that divided the Moors from the Portuguese. It would have required a raid of spectacular daring and ingenuity to have penetrated so far south and managed to inflict so much damage. But there you have it. The event is enshrined even in the coat of arms in the centre of the Portuguese flag – the five shields in the centre are supposed to represent the five Moorish kings.

For me it’s a lesson on being bold, taking impossible risks and showing true daring when you believe strongly enough in something. When Joshua was handed the near impossible task of leading a huge multitude of people across the Jordan river and into territory already occupied by a wide range of different peoples, he needed to have a huge sense of purpose and confidence in God.

And in the book of Joshua we read how God encourages Johua to believe:

"Moses my servant is dead.
Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River
into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.
I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.
Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river,
the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west.
No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.
As I was with Moses, so I will be with you;
I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Joshua 1: 2-5

Amazing words, and more amazing still when you realise and understand that the God who led Joshua on that amazing journey, continues to lead people like us, continues to make solid and lasting promises, and continues to grant success to those who trust and wholly lean on Him!!

God is a DJ

Maxi Jazz, the vocalist with the British trip-hop band "Faithless", famously sang in 1998.

“This is my Church.
This where I heal my hurts….
…..for tonight, God is a DJ”

When I first listened to this track, I thought, hey this is blasphemy. To equate God with a disc jockey, the Church with a discotheque. But as I think about it, and as the night air wafts the sounds of Iron Maiden performing at the Super Bock Rock Festival at the north end of the Park through our bedroom window at half past midnight, I think to myself. Well, is he not just expressing the reality of how life is for thousands out there, jumping up and down by the River Tejo? We don’t know God, but we do know this! We connect together. We jump around. It’s awesome. We feel good.

July is the month of Festivals, Events, Concerts here in Lisbon. It gets totally crazy. You’re spoilt for choice – jazz (Diana Krall), rock (Bob Dylan), classical or whatever you want. No wonder everybody goes to ground in August!! But for now there’s something on almost every night. We’ve had the rock festival up the road from our apartment block over the last couple of nights. I’ve never been that familiar with the sound of Iron Maiden, but a quick surf of the internet washed up the lyrics of one of the songs they blasted out on the night air. And it’s intriguing. Entitled “Hallowed be thy Name”, it’s about a guy on his last night before facing the death penalty and it end with this

When you know that your time is close at hand

Maybe then you’ll begin to understand

Life down there is just a strange illusion

Maybe we need to work a little bit harder at connecting with this “church”, to find ways in, and to help make our God, the God we know, the God of love and compassion, who’s rich and unfathomable and holy, their “D.J.”, providing the authentic rhythms for their lives.

Almost Independence Day

Well 5th July was not so far off the mark. But since the 4th July fell on a Friday it seemed more appropriate to our American friends who live in the next block to throw a party in the forest of Monsanto on the other side of the Lisbon on the Saturday afternoon. So there we were, 40 or so of us including children and babies, all friends and neighbours of Ryan and Dana, plus friends from our little Church fellowship along with 5 kgs of beef for the hamburgers!! And apart from Ryan and Dana, not a single citizen of the US of A among us!

As it turned out, I ended up celebrating two Independence Days on the one day, if you can follow me. Surreal, I know. But it just so happens that, 5th July is also the Independence Day of the Cape Verde Islands (a former Portuguese colony off the west coast of Africa), and, with my love of Cabo Verde music, I jumped at the opportunity when neighbour Carlos suggested going to a Cabo Verdean club downtown to celebrate his country’s independence after we’d finished with the American one!!

Anyway back to the forest and the burgers patiently waiting to be fried. On arrival at Monsanto, a notice in the forest informed us that from 1st July to 15th August there was a strict ban on campfires and barbeques in forest parks due to the high incidence of forest fires in the summer months. A quick consultation and it was back to the apartment for myself, Ryan and José to fry up at home and blacken a few kitchens. But, all in all, it was great fun chatting and connecting with people. Oh, and by the way, after the official party ended, the music was good too, in Casa de Morna, at Alcantara from 11:00 to 01:30

The Cabo Verdeans are such that, you only have to set one down on a stool and put a guitar in his hand, and out comes this wonderful rhythmic music that combines Brazil with Senegal with Portugal, and all sorts of other sounds and rhythms in between. Carlos, himself is involved in a support group here that helps immigrants who come to Lisbon for medical treatment but need a lot of support. I am looking forward to helping him in some of the good work he does there.

Winners!

Madrid yesterday was awash with colour, welcoming home the conquering heroes of Euro2008. Life here in Lisbon, 7 hours away, goes on as normal. I think that people were happy enough for their neighbours, first cousins really, but felt that it really should have been Portugal up there on the podium.

But there can only be one champion, one team to raise the cup aloft, one team to bask in all the glory. And all the rest go away, as Anne Robinson would say in that terribly English accent, with nothing.

Well, whether, its Euro2008 or Wimbledon we’re used to the fact that, in sport, as in a lot of other things, that’s the way life is. But when St Paul, states that in a race “all the runners run, but only one gets a prize” * , and implies that he's talking about the spiritual life, we tend to throw up our hands and say, Hey, Wait a minute! If you’re talking living for God, finding the way into Heaven, are you saying that only one person will win in the end, and everyone else will be disqualified? That’s not fair! What about all my efforts, all my struggles? Don’t they count for anything? Is God going to exclude me because I didn’t quite make the grade?

Well, I thought about that for a bit, and it struck me, that yes, it's true. There is only one winner. Because the bar is raised so high that noone but the best can achieve it. The standard is perfection, God’s holiness, “no immoral, impure or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God”.** There's no place for anything but one hundred performance. Otherwise, God's kingdom would be admitting weakness, faults, imperfection, When Andy Murray fought back from two sets down to Gasquet yesterday, he showed amazing strength of character, as well as huge ability and skill. But if he had not in the end got to Match Point and won the game, he would have been out. All of the effort, the training, the self belief would have counted for nothing. There would in the end be no reward. And that's exactly where we lie. All our efforts do not in the end bring us up to God's standard of perfection.

There can only be one champion. And there is!! His name is Jesus. And for us, in spite of all of our best efforts, the only way that we can enjoy the victory parade and hold aloft the cup is by being part of His team. Believing in Him, knowing that He’s a winner, and that He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him. ***

* 1 Cor 9:24
** Eph 5:5
*** Heb 7:25

On Sardines and Saints

Today June 13^th is St Anthony's Day here in Lisbon. And it’s a public holiday as well, though just here within the city limits, not in the rest of Portugal. Anthony of Padua is the patron saint of Lisbon and a hugely popular saint – somewhat on a level with how St Patrick is regarded in Ireland.

His feast is being celebrated here in style!! We went down yesterday evening to the City centre which was jam packed with people celebrating through the evening. The smoke of barbecued sardines filled the evening air. The sangria was flowing and people were dancing in the streets. And everywhere you went, you would see little figurines of this humble monk holding a child. It didn’t seem to blend in too easily with all the partying going on. I decided to do a little bit of research myself and it seems to me that when you peel away all the hagiography, there’s a true man of God behind the legend, a Preacher of the Word, a Disciple of Jesus, a Missionary of the Gospel.

Born into a wealthy family in Lisbon in 1195, Anthony rejected the opulent life he’d inherited, entered a monastery in Coimbra, where he also became uncomfortable with the complacency he encountered in that academic world. When a group of five Franciscan monks passed through on their way to Morocco, and when their martyred remains were returned to the monastery a short time afterward, he felt irresistibly drawn to a path of simplicity, of missionary outreach, and of devotion to Christ. That path took him to Morocco, Sicily, Italy and France, eventually dying in Padua after only 10 years of active ministry. He was renowned as a Preacher and a man who could open up God’s word and who was not afraid to challenge unbelief and hypocrisy wherever it was found.

........................................................................Hmm I think I’d like to be someone like that.

Oh, and by the way, about the sardines. Well, legend has it that, once when his preaching was not being received by the people of the city, that he went out and preached at the side of the sea. No sooner had he spoken a few words when suddenly so great a multitude of fish, both small and great, approached the bank on which he stood. All the fish kept their heads out of the water, and seemed to be looking attentively on St Anthony's face; all ranged in perfect order and most peacefully, the smaller ones in front near the bank, after them came those a little bigger, and last of all, were the water was deeper, the largest. The people of the city, hearing of the miracle, made haste to go and witness it. I'd say that is more about the hagiography and less about the man!!

About his preaching, St Anthony had this to say

"I ask that if you find anything edifying, anything consoling, anything well presented, that you give all praise, all glory and all honor to the Blessed Son of God Jesus Christ. If on the other hand, you find anything that is ill composed, uninteresting or not to well explained, you impute and attribute it to my weakness, blindness, and lack of skill."

Teamwork

Portugal v Czech Republic

Last night we (1) made it through to the second phase of Euro 2008 soundly defeating the Czech Republic 3-1

When Cristiano Ronaldo lined up the third of the three goals, there was only one man between him and the open goal. He‘s widely acknowledged as one of the best strikers in the world. He would also have a personal ambition to be top goal scorer in the competition. But he gave the goal away to someone else. Ricardo Quaresmo was hovering to his left unmarked and in front of an open goal. A quick pass, and the ball was in the net. And so it ended up 3-1.

Now there’s teamwork, I thought to myself. How tempting to try and tackle the obstacle yourself, because you know you have the ability, because you secretly would like the glory for yourself, and because you’re not sure you have faith in your mates to finish the job. No game is ever won that way. As in football, so in life

The battle’s won when you intimately know and can trust the others on your team.

The battle’s won when you’re thinking abut the end result of bringing people to Christ and glory to God and not thinking about your own reputation or what people will think of you.

The battle’s won when you remain highly aware of others around you, their potential and their positioning and you encourage someone else into a place of victory, while staying in the background yourself. Hmmmm, Wonder what other lessons in life this championship will bring forth for me….

(1) Hey, It’s hard not to be influenced by the infectious and enthusiastic nationalism on every side with red and green flags flying from every building and vehicle, and not to feel as much a part of this wonderful nation as everyone else around us!

Unfurl the unconquerable flag
In the bright light of your sky!
Cry out to all Europe and the whole world
That Portugal has not perished.
Your happy land is kissed
By the Ocean that murmurs with love.
And your conquering arm
Has given new worlds to the world!

From the Portuguese National Anthem!

Fifteen Seconds of Fame

Portugal v Turkey

Andy Warhol said once that in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.
Well Anna had her 15 seconds of fame Saturday last night outside the Irish Pub down on the river front of Parques das Nações where we live.

It was approaching half time in the opening match of Euro 2008, and Portugal were playing Turkey and it was still a goalless draw. We were watching on the big screen with our friend Maria, and there was a TV camera there doing some shots of the supporters watching the match. As the whistle blew for half time, all of a sudden the TV presenter swung round to her and asked what she thought of the match so far. In moments like those you hardly know what to say, especially when you’re being asked in Portuguese. "Apparently I said that I loved Portugal, and that the atmosphere along the waterfront was brilliant. So I hope I got it right!! You can see for yourself if you follow the link below (you have to cut and paste into your browser to watch it). My bit comes about 5 mins into the news bulletin" (1).

And the atmosphere was really good. It helped that Portugal won 2:0, and even though there was plenty of alcohol flowing, somehow there wasn’t that belligerent intimidating atmosphere you often get with crowds of football supporters. It was fun to be out that evening. There's been a lot of negative news about, and most people are struggling financially, with the economy the way it is. So the huge interest in Portugal's fortunes as the Championship progresses is a way of thinking positively and taking your mind of your situation

June marks the beginning of the festive season here in Lisbon. Portugal Day happens tomorrow, 10th June. But St Anthony’s festival happening on 12^th and 13^th here in Lisbon is the BIG ONE. The city centre will be packed, we’re told, on the evening of the 12th. On our way back from watching the match, we bumped into St Anthony’s Day marchers which was very interesting. Every district of the city spends the whole year previous designing costumes for the grand parade through the city. Men, girls, little children - they all get involved. And the costumes and designs are all judged in a contest to see whose display is the best. That was what was happening on Saturday evening at 11pm, when we met the marchers from Alcantara District.

(1) http://sic.aeiou.pt/online/scripts/2007/videopopup2008.aspx?videoId={155D0A81-2B7B-4B6F-82C0-B07428291B68}

Knights of the Order of the Holy Cross?

Last weekend we had a totally refreshing and inspiring weekend in the small town of Tomar, about 2 hours away from Lisbon.

We had just finished language exams the previous week, and we just needed to get away and get our heads cleared. Some friends from the Lisboa Matrix, an Englsih language fellowship based in Cascais, were going there on a prayer retreat so it seemed like a great opportunity to join them there.

Quiet and sleepy, and steeped in history, the narrow streets of Tomar are overshadowed by a majestic medieval castle that stretches across the skyline. It's chief claim to fame is that it was the last stronghold of the Order of the Knights Templar before it was disbanded in 1314. My curiosity aroused, I had to research more on this mysterious medieval order, and found it to be formed as a band of brothers dedicated to the protection of the honour of Christ against the forces of darkness. At the time throughout Europe, of course, the struggle was between Christianity and Islam. The town of Tomar stood near the frontier in Portugal between the area controlled by the Christian King Afonso and the region controlled by the Muslim Moors.

Walking and praying through the cobbled streets and in the well laid out parks, brought to mind the fact that in the spiritual realm, we belong to a kind of Order of Knights as well. Maybe we're not out doing battle on silver steeds and in shiny armour but, we are, in a sense, a worldwide community of brothers and sisters dedicated to upholding the honour of the name of Christ and pushing back the darkness wherever it is to be found. And the Bible backs this idea up. Having already rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, and transferred into the kingdom of His son, (1) God has given us spiritual authority and power to tear down strongholds, and break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God in a fully personal way (2) . And to do is in the spirit and gentleness of Christ himself

Interestingly it was that old hymnwriter Saint Bernard of Clairvaulx who was one of the chief exponents and defenders of the military activity of the Knights Templar. In his writings, he can at one and the same time write of these knights as "truly fearless and secure on every side, for their souls are protected by the armour of faith just as their bodies are protected by armour of steel. Doubly armed and neither fearng demons nor men" and yet at the same time was able also to pen such words of gentle comfort as these

"Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest."


(1) Colossians 1:13
(2) 2 Corinthinas 10:4

Whenever you see a rainbow (rainbow)

What a mixed bag of weather we’ve had these past two weeks. Instead of a warm and gently sunny “Primavera”, April has been a mad rush of wind and rain and scurrying grey clouds. But last Sunday morning there was a perfect rainbow arching across the sky, colours highlighted against the greys and blues of the morning sky.

Optically, the rainbow is nothing a distorted image of the sun, a hundred thousand raindrops rearranging the sunlight via reflection and refraction, into a dazzling display of colour. And every time it’s different. The image looks the same but the raindrops are constantly in motion so the rainbow like a waterfall is always changing. And one person’s rainbow is always different from another person’s because of the angle of vision from which you look at it. My own personal rainbow!! Each time you see a rainbow, it is unique in its own spectacular way!

According to the ancient texts, the rainbow came to symbolise the faithfulness of the never changing God and the continuity of the seasons, something to recall in these days of glbal warming and meteorological uncertainty

"As long as the earth endures,
.........seedtime and harvest,
.............cold and heat,
..................summer and winter,
.......................day and night
...........................will never cease." ¹

Whenever you see a rainbow, (rainbow)
Whenever you see a rainbow, (rainbow)
Whenever you see a rainbow,
Remember God is love.

I remember this simple chorus from childhood and I think of Old Man Noah standing out on a mountaintop on a clear and sparkling morning. He remembers the destruction and the violence of his day and the awesome chaos of the flooding. And suddenly the heavens explode with light and colour – sunshine mixed with rain, spelling out the message “ I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.”

1. Genesis 8.22 and 9.9

How do I smell?

I say, I say. My dog has no nose.
How does he smell?
Terrible!!

So the old joke goes.

The Bible talks about us being the Aroma of Christ to people around us, and this was the theme of ECM’s Biennial Conference which took place over the past week, no two weeks ago, in Peñiscola in Spain. It was uplifting, exhilarating and challenging. We were encouraged to consider how we lived our lives, what sort of “smell” we were giving off – and whether it clearly reflects our identity as belonging to Jesus and having a real living relationship with Him or not. The amazing thing was that the main speaker, David Ruis, from Guatemala, came from a background in the perfume industry, and constantly referred to the preparation and marketing of a new fragrance as he talked about the “Aroma of Christ”

I have spent a lot of time in the last few weeks thinking about what aroma is all about. Why do things smell the way they do and how is it we use smell to convey certain messages, and I came up with the following :

Aroma and Identity – dogs explicitly use it to figure out one another when they meet. We don’t actually use our noses, and but we do the same, metaphorically speaking, sniffing around one another when we meet, to get some idea of what the other person is like. If we live like Jesus, we should “smell” like him, so that other people will know.

Aroma and Worship – so much in the Bible’s teaching about the Jewish sacrifices in the Old Testament has to do with the sense of smell, and the fact that God “enjoys” smelling the worship offered up by His people. We exist to worship and adore Him, and our enjoyment of Him comes from His enjoyment of our worship

Aroma and Warning – Poison stinks – rightly so. If it didn’t, we could easily be taken in and consume something dangerous. The message of Jesus has something of a “stink” about it too, a warning that if you avoid this promise of grace that He gives, there’s nothing left for you but a future apart from God and separated from His love.

Aroma and Pleasure – A woman broke an alabaster box of expensive perfume and poured the contents over the feet of Jesus, and the passage says that the whole house was filled with the smell of the fragrance. It is nice to be around people who smell good. Smell is sensual. We’re meant to enjoy the scents and aromas around us. Jesus smells good. Do I?

Aroma and Fruitfulness – Have you ever been in a crowded room when somebody peeled an orange. You have no idea where it's coming from, but you immediately sense the smell of orange, and a craving for the fruit is awakened within you. Well, that's how it is with me, at any rate – maybe I have a thing about oranges. A walk in the Algarve in October – orange groves bursting with fruit and the air is full of the scent of oranges. Fruitful lives should be “smelly” as we burst with the fragrance of Jesus in us.

Aroma and Appetite – our classroom where we study Portuguese is right by the little cafeteria, and sometimes, when it approaches 12 noon, the smell of food cooking sets the old taste buds going, and, by the time the classes end, we are positively drooling for food. God tastes good! But am I hungry for Him?

One

Seven Occasional Meditations on Lent #7 One God

One love
One blood
One life

One life
With each other
Sisters Brothers

One life
But we're not the same
We get to Carry each other
Carry each other

Last weekend I decided to run in the mini-marathon, or rather, I was egged on by my wife, and our good friend, Maria. What compelled me to go for it was the thought of being allowed to set foot on that amazing structure of the 25th April Bridge that traverses the Rio Tejo with startling vistas of the city of Lisbon in front of me, than any personal ambition to break records!! At 7.2 km it hardly deserves the term marathon, but it was still a tough old run for me. The neat part of it was that the half-marathoners started and finished at the same place as the mini-marathoners, so you had this awesome experience of puffing and blowing up the finishing straight, as this engine of a man, Haile Gebraselassie, the world record holder, passes you in a whisper like some graceful antelope, having completed the 21 km in the time it took you and the 20,000 other runners to complete 7!!

But out on that bridge the experience was amazing. It was fun being in such a vast crowd of people intent on one goal. It was exhilarating to sense the physical health and strength that God has given. It was awesome to see above wisps of cloud against a blue sky, and below tiny boats on the Tejo, and ahead the sparkling yellows and whites of Lisbon’s waterfront. But most of all there was such a strong sense of the One God. One God over all and around all and underneath.

One God who from time eternal has planned and purposed in Jesus Christ to connect with this world He has made – to communicate, and to live in relationship with ordinary men and women like this crowd of 20,000 mums and dads and brothers and sisters, boyfriends and girlfriends, crossing the bridge with me. And for this to happen, there was the cross and the empty tomb, and the constant knowledge that Jesus Christ is living and alive and will live forever more.

Hallelujah, Jesus is alive

Death has lost its victory

And the grave has been denied

Jesus lives forever

He's alive, He's alive

Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your Own

Seven Occasional Meditations for Lent #6 Holy Spirit

In my case it’s most of the time that I can’t make it on own. There was a time in life, when I guess I thought I could, when the grand vistas of the future seemed to beckon, and I felt myself to be master of all that lay ahead. It all came crashing down on a calm summer evening in 1976 sitting on a rock outside Helsinki. The clear blue of the Baltic below, and the realisation of a great and mighty God whom I did not know, and to whom my soul from deep inside cried out. I was a bit like the guy who sings in Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”

"I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone….”

One of the profoundly amazing aspects of the cross story is the continuity through it all and the focus that the dying Christ brings to His relationship with us, fallen broken men and women. The drama unfolds gradually through the in the hours leading up to his exit from the world and finds expression in the words between Jesus and his followers.

“Having loved his own, he loved them to the end…..”
................“ I am going to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I will come back and take you
.......................... ..so that where I am there you may be also.”
........................................“I won’t leave you orphans, I will come to you…. “
......................................................“Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again
........................................................and you will rejoice and no-one will take away your joy”
.....................................................................“Father, I pray that all of them may be one,
......................................................................just as you are in me and I am in you.” (1)

Even on the Cross, His thoughts turn to those He loves, that they might not be confused, scattered, left empty and uncomforted. And now down the centuries, the wonderful, amazing, powerful, dramatic Presence of God’s Holy Spirit continues to be the one that comforts, invigorates and strengthens, since the moment He swept through the gathered believers at Pentecost, down to the moment when he wakened a desire for God and truth and reality in the heart of a lonely student on a rock in Finland.

It is he who then communicates all the reality of what the Cross is about deep inside of us, who helps us walk this “boulevard of broken dreams” and helps us make the choices that guide our lives onward and upward to God, and keep us from the downward spiral.

You don’t have to go it alone. You don’t have to put up a fight. The grandest most human thing that each one of us can do is to bow down before the reality out there, and admit that we can’t make it on our own and that we need Him to come in and sort out the mess we're in. And the amazing thing is ...... HE WILL!

(1) John 13:1, John 14:3, John 14:18 John 16:22 John 17:21

Sweetest Thing

Seven occasional Meditations for Lent # 5 Forgiveness

My favourite U2 music video has to be “Sweetest Thing” (1) when Bono gets up in the horse drawn carriage with his wife Ali Hewson in Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin and tries to make it up to her (apparently the song was written by Bono as an apology for forgetting her birthday while he was on tour one year), even enlisting the help of the lads from Boyzone, and the cast of Riverdance among others!!

Whether it’s his gormless face, or just that he encapsulates what every man feels when things have gone a bit haywire, and you just want to somehow put things back the way they were, it cracks me up every time I see it.

Come to think of it, an awful lot of the sentiments expressed in our popular culture have to do with the business of forgiveness, the longing to set things right, and that horrible feeling that there’s not going to be a way back, and you've just gone one step too far.

“It's sad, so sad
Why can't we talk it over Oh it seems to me
That sorry seems to be the hardest word” (Elton John)

“It's too late to apologize, it's too late........ I said
it's too late to apologize, it's too late” (Timbaland)

Lately, we saw the movie based pm Ian McEwan’s book “Atonement” with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. Apart from the fact that it should have been awarded the Oscar and is an excellent film, it somehow touches the heart of how it feels to need forgiveness for some wrong done in the past and not to find it, and how that can eat someone’s life away.

How amazing then in the run up to Easter to know that its all there in those two pieces of wood nailed together and raised aloft on a distant hill. That all that we ever need in the way of forgiveness, either because of what we have done to someone we love, or against the God who made and created and loved us, it’s all dealt with in the cross. Not the shiny dangly thing that hangs around a hundred thousand necks, nor the dark images that cast shadows in a hundred thousand cathedral naves. It’s in that cross that stood as the harsh sadistic symbol of Roman capital punishment and was used to dispose of God’s own son.

And He does what we find we can’t do. He forgives. He puts all the sin and the pain and the hatred behind him. In the words of Psalm 103, “As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our sins from us”. Amazing Love. Amazing Grace.

Gretchen Peters is an American songwriter in the “alt-country” tradition, and I heard a song of hers recently, "Revival", in which she sings, (as they often do) concerning a broken relationship that can't seem to get fixed :

"Now I have done everything that I know to do
But you left a hole that I just can't fill
And If God can forgive me baby why can't you
But I guess you never will" (2)

If God can forgive us so completely, so constantly and so utterly, how come we find it so difficult to put behind us the petty upsets and annoyances that we get from others.

(1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfv3lJs5qE
(2) "Revival" by Gretchen Peters from the album "Trio Live" (2005)

Grace

Seven Occasional Meditations for Lent #4 Grace

There’s a little known piece from the “All that you can’t leave Behind” album simply called “Grace”. I listened to it first driving through Slovenia in Diederick’s car some months back. Maybe it was the incredible scenery we were passing through, or the good chat along the journey, but it started me thinking about the nature of grace – what it is and what it does for us. And a lot of the time, if we do think about it at all, it seems to belong in the world of religion, to high vaulted cathedrals and soft spoken bishops. It doesn’t seem to have much to do with the here and now, the messy lives we live, and how I am I going to manage to get through the day

The U2 song brings the idea of Grace down to street level. It imagines her as a girl and follows her through the streets. Something along the lines of how the book of Proverbs treats the idea of “wisdom” and personifies it as a woman - Sophia.

Grace

She takes the blame

She covers the shame

Removes the stain

It could be her name

Grace

It's a name for a girl

It's also a thought that

Changed the world

And when she walks on the street

You can hear the strings

Grace finds goodness

In everything

Because grace makes beauty

Out of ugly things

Grace finds beauty

In everything

Well, that might not suit everyone’s theological cup of tea, but you get the picture. And there’s a form of grace that does indeed walk the streets. Grace that you encounter in the lives and responses of people around you. A kindness, warmth, a readiness to overlook the wrong that’s been done. A willingness to believe the best. A Grace that looks for goodness and beauty in everything.

But the Grace you encounter in the person of Jesus is something totally other. Deeper and higher than anything you’ve encountered before in the way if human kindness, it leaps from the pages of the Bible.

It’s a Grace that loves unconditionally and without expecting anything in return.
…………It’s a Grace that overlooks but does not ignore the wrong that’s been done.
………………….It’s a Grace that says, I’ll pay the price, let him go free.
…………………………………..It’s a Grace that doesn’t stop until it meets death
………………………………………....and then passes through it to the other side.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,

that bids our sorrows cease;

'tis music in the sinner's ears,

'tis life, and health, and peace.

He speaks, and listening to his voice,

new life the dead receive;

the mournful, broken hearts rejoice,

the humble poor believe.

Beautiful Day!

Seven Occasional Meditations for Lent #3 Creation

It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

It's a beautiful day

See the world in green and blue

See China right in front of you

See the canyons broken by cloud

See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out

See the Bedouin fires at night

See the oil fields at first light

And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth

After the flood all the colors came out

It’s a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

There’s sometimes so much sunshine here you can get blasé about the beauty of creation. Clear skies over the clear blue of the river – herons and flamingos – day after day – not always – but a lot of the time. So it takes a day of rain to change the scenery - and what rain. Just after the newspapers had reported the driest winter in 91 years, we have the wettest day in ten years or so. The heavens opened, the rains poured down the streets, and in some areas it seemed that the fountains of the deep had also opened!! But after the rains, the evening sunshine, and a masterpiece of colour, shades of grey and eggshell blue, with a touch of vermilion and burnt sienna.

Creation might not seem such an obvious topic for Lent and the run up to Easter, but in the dark clouds that gather around the cross and in the bright dawn that floods the skies over the empty tomb, the creativity of Gods plan and purpose is unveiled. God, in Christ, actively dealing with all the hurt and pain and evil that this world contains, “reconciling the world unto Himself”

Against the backdrop of this almighty drama, the world takes on a different hue. The storm clears. The clouds reveal a different aspect. All of a sudden there’s hope for the suicidal, healing for the wounded, forgiveness for the desperate. Enjoy creation, in the light of what God has done. Revel in the immense variety, enjoy the richness, rejoice in the colour. It's God's world. He made it, and he has saved it.

Oh happy day

(Oh happy day)Oh happy day

When Jesus washed

(Oh when he washed)

When Jesus washed

He washed my sins away!

He taught me how

to watch and pray

Oh Happy day, Oh happy Day