Teams and non teams

This past week we had the misfortune to be following two teams that didn’t really get it together as teams, when it really mattered. To be fair, Portugal put on a better performance than abysmal England, but they still lost. Both pairings, England v Germany and Portugal v Spain, were fairly evenly matched in terms of individual strengths and capabilities, and both teams had their magic talisman, as the media would have us believe, in Rooney and Ronaldo.

But having a wonder boy, who can score fancy goals is not enough when the teamwork isn’t there, and last night it just wasn’t. Being able to work together and recognise one another’s strengths, supporting one another and having a common strategy that everyone understands and follows. These are all part of good teamwork. Last night, it didn’t happen, and they were overpowered by the team that actually did act as a team. Lisbon, this morning, was a rather subdued place to be living in.
Makes me think of how it is with us working together as a team, here in Park of the Nations, and that the unity we have in God is, in the end, far more important than the sum total of our individual strengths and qualities. Once upon a time, another group of characters acted together as a team and brought down the might of Mordor even though the individuals themselves were mere dwarves and elves and hobbits.

Yes, we’re back in Middle Earth again.

Now, how did I get onto that. Well, mainly because, Tim Keller (Redeemer Presbyterian, NY) happened to refer to the Lord of the Rings in a message we listened to last Sunday. So it’s been in my mind all week. He was talking about Abraham and how God called him out to leave his home and his family even though he hadn’t a clue where he was going. Referring to this, Keller said that the Christian life is not just a “there and back again” kind of “adventure” like Tolkein’s earlier book “the Hobbit” , where we go out and do stuff for God, and then return to live our normal lives. No, it’s a full blown “quest” like Tolkein’s trilogy, where we go out, not really realising all that we have got ourselves into, except that its big and its scary and its exciting, and we NEVER return the same.

“It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance.

He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents.

And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.

Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations,

a city designed and built by God”

Petyanna

Simão, just coming up to his second birthday, calls us “petyanna”. “are we going to petyanna’s house?” he asks in his toddler Portuguese. We find it kind of cute. It’s a collective term because he sees us as one, rather than two people, which is a nice complement. Simão is imaginative, energetic and talkative (not unlike his father in that respect), and I can usually figure out one word in twenty of what he says. I have a bit more success with Pedro’s Portuguese! Our son Colin, sees him as the real life version of Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes cartoon fame. He’s even got the same hairstyle.

Besides Simão, we have a number of other surrogate grandchildren. Duarte, who lives down the corridor and has just turned two, is also our real life godson. Nati who comes to church with his parents Madeline and Gil, has unfortunately been down with the mumps for the past week or so. And Anabela, who has just learnt how to stand on her own two feet, is soon to be travelling on a big plane back to visit her real grandparents in Australia.

It’s a real privilege to have these little ones around our house, to find ourselves tripping over toys and picking up bibs and plastic beakers after they’ve gone. It’s especially great if they see us as “petyanna”, and if we are able to reflect the oneness and consistency and stability of a strong marriage , that is a grandparents’ privilege. We hope one day to have grandchildren of our own, but until that day, these will do.

Pics 1 : Our daughter Judith transforming Simão into a tiger, at least for a short while, at our kids' programme "Lusitos". Find out more by visiting our church's Facebook page "A Ponte" in the links.

Pics 2 : Duarte on his second birthday - the guy with the cool hat

Return of the Nephilim?

Yesterday I had to preach on Genesis 6 and Noah’s flood in the small church that meets in our apartment. It’s bad enough having to explain the bit about the sons of God marrying the daughters of men and bringing forth this mysterious generation of alleged giants who are called the “Nephilim” in the Hebrew language. But having to do it in Portuguese got a bit beyond me. The internet didn’t help either (not that you would expect much help rom that direction. Typing “nephilim” into google produced a whole array of weird and wonderful theories of extra terrestrial beings, alien abductions, UFO sightings and the like.

However I was keen to find an application of this peculiar portion of scripture to our own day, and in particular the needs of our own little community here in Park of the Nations. What struck me, in my reading of the passage, was, not so much the biology of how these beings came about, or their physical size, but that they were described as the “heroes” and the “famous ones” of their day (depending on your version of the Bible), and that God judged the influence they had on society as exceedingly harmful and evil, to the point where the society of the day required a total revision, and only one family, that of Noah’s, was found to be faithful.

So then, are there “Nephilim” in our day? Maybe not physical giants. But we have our own heroes. Our own men and women "of renown". Our celebrities. On the stages of the entertainment world, in the corridors of political power, in the ivory towers of the universities, in the fields of conflict around the world, and behind the media’s television cameras. People of stature, influence and finance who powerfully persuade (is “intimidate” too strong a word?) others into their line of thinking, which is generally pitted against God, and often against that which is honourable, good and pure. And slowly but surely, society moves in that direction. And the words of Peter begin to take on more of a reality.

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.....So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him."

.................................................................2 Peter 3:10-14

Edges of His Ways

My mother used to use a book of devotions by Amy Carmichael who was a well known missionary of the last century from Northern Ireland who served in India. I remember the title. It was called “Edges of His Ways”. I think I discovered today where that title was probably taken from. In the Book of Job, after all that he has passed through, Job describes the amazing power of God in the vastness of the Heavens, and the greatness of the oceans. And at the end of that chapter he says that

“these are but the outer fringes - the edges - of his works. How faint the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?” (Job 26:14)

Makes me think of the seaside, the sand between your toes, and that mysterious foam that froths and bubbles and disappears so quickly from the hot sand with the receding wave. Growing up only five miles from the ocean, I’ve always had a fascination with the edges of the sea - the tidal pools - rugged cliffs - sweeping strands. (The photos are from last summer’s adventure down the south west Alentejano coast of Portugal - highly recommended). As you wade out into the water and you feel the pull of the tide, and the strength of the surf, you suddenly realise how much more of all this there is. You look out to the horizon and you see a heaving ocean. And you get that strange sense of peril side by side with safety, of the powerful and dangerous alongside the gentle.

God is a bit like that. What we know and understand of him are the mere edges of his ways - that which we have to come to know of His grace and His love. These are the shallow waters where we learn to swim and enjoy that sense of floating, and experiencing His presence around us. But that is but the beginning. There’s an ocean of understanding and experience out there. We just need to go that little bit deeper. As Job says, if we remain in the shallows how will we ever understand the thunder of his power.

Nationhood

This weekend it’s about nationhood. About what it means to be Portuguese, and what it means to be a "Lisboeta", to belong to Lisbon. It begins with Thursday 10th which is Portugal Day and runs straight into Dia de Santo Antonio on the 12th (today) when the whole city (including us) gathers down in the city centre and the old district of the Alfama for fun and festivities. Now Portugal Day does not commemorate a famous battle, a revolution or a declaration of independence. There are other days for those things. No, this day is about a dead poet. Luis de Camões who died on the 10th June, 1580. Because being Portuguese is about the language, about history and culture, and about the exploits of a great people who, in their day, discovered half the world.

Camões is to Portuguese as Shakespeare is to English, and more so. Well, he didn’t write tales about star crossed lovers in some random Italian city. The subjects of his epic poem, Os Lusiadas, are the incredible voyages into the unknown of Portuguese sailors like Vasco da Gama. And he didn’t just write all this from his armchair either. He travelled the world with da Gama, fought in India, was shipwrecked near Vietnam, and generally lived the life he describes. Here’s a section of the poem, in which he describes the arrival in India

They were already drawing closer to the land
that had been longed for by so many,
that is enclosed between the currents of the Indian Ocean
and the Ganges, that lives in the earthly sky.
Now, come, strong people, who in war
wish to emerge victorious:
You have already arrived, you have before you
the abundant riches of the earth!!

Which brings me to nationhood, and the way our world is split up into peoples and cultures with distinct identities. I’m Irish, (or Ulster-Scots or British depending on your political tastebuds). But I feel enriched by living here among a people with such an amazing cultural heritage. Indeed, as I was enriched by our eighteen years living among the Punajabis and Sindhis and Seraikis of Pakistan. Some would view the Babel account of Genesis Chapter 11 as a cruel judgement by God and an unhappy division of humankind into warring and divided people groups, separated by language and culture. I see it more as part of Gods overall plan and the richness of his creation, in that we all form such different nations, each with a unique contribution, and a unique way of declaring God’s glory in this earth. Its awesome to look forward to a time when all the nations, tribes and peoples will be drawn together to worship round God's throne.

Where the Pope did not pass

The following (which I've translated from the Portuguese) is by my friend Pedro Barbosa from his facebook page. I thought it gives an interesting perspective on where the Portuguese nation is at....

The whole City was dressed up to the nines for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. To increase the sense of celebration the Prime Minister declared a public holiday. Everything was ready for his visit. Flags and bunting on every street, welcoming his Holiness, declaring the devotion of the Portuguese people to the Christian faith.

But how true is it?

Two weeks before the visit of the Holy Father, the Segunda Circular, the highway I pass by several times during week, was exhibiting publicity posters for a cable TV channel, described as “sexy hot”. The publicity was not so explicit, as we are still, thankfully, a little bashful in this country. In another place, one of the roundabouts near Santa Iria da Azoia, where pass when I go to fill my tank, there is another poster of a lady dressed provocatively in her underwear, advertising a Sex shop, alongside a supermarket, an insurance agency and a pet shop.

I ask myself the question, if the Pope were to have passed by this roundabout, would the powers that be have requested for the advertisement to have been withdrawn, at least temporarily.

This is not intended to be an X-ray of our country, in which, on the one hand, we legalize the marriage between persons of the same sex, putting into question the basic value of the family such as God idealized it, while, on the other, we legalize the voluntary interruption of a pregnancy, throwing the value of the human life into the hands of a momentary choice of intense emotion, and bearing fruit through permanent repercussions in the life of the one having the abortion, be she an adolescent or an adult woman. We have here social and moral values, defended by the government and by the citizens in general, which run clearly against the Christian perspective (Roman Catholic or otherwise).

I wonder if it is a sort of schizophrenia or another similar disease, from which we are suffering. On the one hand we receive with great enthusiasm festivals of erotica, as is the case with the Salão Erótica International de Lisbon, which during the three days it was on, received thousands of visitors, while, on the other, we receive the Holy Father, representing the Catholic Church, one of the Christian confessions that defends the moral, intellectual and physical wholeness of the human being.

I feel confused and leave you with one question: Was what we have all been involved in over this past month, a mere "Puppet show" and a play of political interests, giving a good impression to the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church, or do we, at the bottom, still respect and hold dear those Christian values on which our country was based, and which can still make a huge difference in peoples’ lives?