Biennial

Biennial happens for the European Christian Mission every two years. Obviously. Usually it’s the week just after Easter, still slightly out of season, so it becomes a bit easier to find a reasonably priced venue for a large group of people to come together from all over Europe. It was cold there by the Mediterranean, near Valencia, but the sun rose brilliantly most mornings and the sea was a clear blue

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This is when we, as an organisation, find our expression as a community, and as a Mission family. When we can re-energise in one another’s company, and refocus on our shared values and vision. It’s a huge commitment, in time and in money. For all of us. Even with the discounts it’s an expensive week.

 
But really, it’s worth it. As long as we don't become too big as an organisation and not too far apart, it makes a lot of sense to bring the whole community together for a few days of prayer and reflection (and fun too!). And sitting there, in the sort of hotel that you couldn’t normally afford to book into, gives one an extra sense of the value God places on your life and on what you are doing. Yes, it is all worth it. And three hundred and thirty five people (including about 100 children) all committed to making a difference for God in Europe and gathered together for that purpose makes for an amazing experience

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I like the fact that we’re such a mixture, with all our languages, and funny ways of doing things, and all our diverse backgrounds. And I like the fact that you can sit at table with someone else for the very first time and immediately find a point of contact. And having the worship music each morning thrown together by four extremely gifted lads from Ireland was an added bonus.



I’ll leave the last word with the kids and their constantly inventive way of making life as rich and fun as possible. (The song was created and performed by them at the conference and the movie put together by a creative Romanian called Florin)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgZefuIV97s&feature=youtube_gdata_player


 (sunrise photo : courtesy Nigel Cameron)

A Dividadura

 I was in the metro yesterday, and the man beside me was reading a book with this intriguing title. It would appear that the word “Dividadura” is in fact a made up word, invented by the author Francisco Louça, a Portuguese politician of the Bloco Esquerda (left wing). it connects together the the Portuguese word for debt, “divida” and the the word for dictatorship, “ditadura”. The English equivalent might be “debt-tatorship”. But the concept is an interesting one, especially today, as the country celebrates 38 years since the quiet Revolution that brought to an end a 42 year period of dictatorship under António Salazar.
In many ways there’s a new sort of dictatorship that seems to ruling the country, and it’s a dictatorship from outside, not from within, a dictatorship of the impersonal forces of the financial institutions and the markets of western Europe. That dictates what I can earn, what I need to pay in taxes, and what are my chances of having a job next year, and being able to put bread on the table. I have heard more than one person in recent weeks describe their own personal situation as a form of slavery - working long hours for meagre returns, or in some cases, no work at all, and still the bills to pay.

It’s good to look back in history, and to savour those moments of liberty when everything seemed rosy and bright and startling as you emerge from, as it were, a long dark tunnel. In fact the Carnation Revolution that took place in the early hours of 25th April 1974, and is memorably captured in the film “Capitães de Abril” is a particularly inspirational story, and reveals a lot about the Portuguese national character.

(The carnation idea, by the way, came from the spontaneous action of the flower sellers in Lisbon, offering carnations to the soldiers who marched in to liberate the city). But freedom, in the end, is elusive, and as political dictatorship gives way to financial dictatorship of a different sorm, the “debt-tatorship” as proposed in Louça’s book. In the end, the only lasting freedom is that which Christ gives. An internal liberation from all that enslaves - “Stand fast therefore in the liberty, where with Christ has set us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage...”  (Galatians 5:1). When you know that lasting freedom in your own life, you can cope with these temporary impositions that threaten to drag you down.

The Empty Cross

This Good Friday, as I reflect on the hours Jesus suffered on his cross, the thing that impresses me most is that, yes, He did suffer, but that it ended. By the end of the day, it was over. Out of the darkness, he could cry out “It is finished!”, and “Into Thy hands I commend my Spirit!” And Good Friday is followed by Easter Sunday and the promise of His Rising again and the victory over sin and death and evil

Hailstones fell this morning - tempestuous clouds were scurrying across the sky, and there was a serious drop in temperature. Thunder was rumbling, and in the middle of all this, this most amazing rainbow was shining above the apartment blocks of Portela. A reminder of God’s eternal faithfulness to his word.

“Were heaven's praises silent in those hours of darkness?

Your Holy Spirit brooding round that empty throne?

Until the declaration "He is Risen", You are risen, Jesus,

"He is not dead, behold He lives for evermore".

(Robin Mark - Wonder of your cross)

We listened recently to an audio podcast from Mosaic church, in which Erwin McManus, in a series called “The Truth Between Us” sought to explore the Christian faith against a variety of other religious perspectives. On Catholicism, McManus, himself born into a hispanic Catholic tradition, describes vividly his first experience of entering a evangelical church and being confronted with an empty cross, and the deep shock he felt that - “my goodness, they’ve forgotten Jesus!” Anna related to that immediately. It took her back to the first time she entered an Anglican church in Kenya, and suddenly realised they have a cross without Jesus on it.

But that is the point of the hope that we have. He is not there! Neither on the cross, nor in the tomb. Yes, we focus on his sufferings and death, but we go on from there, to enjoy the full freedom of forgiveness and new life and walking with Him. Hallelujah

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6fv9rkIIZo&feature=related

www.itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mosaic-audio-podcast/id74403741