Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

Archives for January 2012

A tale of four famous Christian siblings: When Christian children shipwreck, there’s still hope

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A tale of four famous Christian siblings.
A) His ex-wife “alleged that her husband not only abused drugs and alcohol and had inappropriate relations with other women, but also that he engaged in domestic violence and used pornography. 
In the meantime, he admitted becoming ever more dependent on alcohol. He was granted “board-approved time away” to deal with his alcohol dependency.  
On his return, tensions in his marriage and at the offices of the ministry he headed escalated when he began spending extended time with a young woman who had recently joined. He also had an ongoing intensive friendship with another female staff member.
Source: Christianity Today
B) The third of the five siblings has dealt with a daughter’s teen pregnancies, another daughter’s bulimia and a son’s drug use.
She struggled with suicidal thoughts herself in the wake of her first husband’s infidelity — a discovery that led to a “rebound marriage” of only five weeks.
Source  Columbus Dispatch
C) Both of C’s brothers rebelled, using drugs and alcohol.
And one of C’s sons grew so uncontrollable as a teen that his parents called the police to their home. He ran away at 16, spending several days and nights on the streets of Fort Lauderdale.
 C. has suffered bouts with depression.
After her divorce and remarriage, she was arrested for domestic abuse of her new husband
Source: Houston Chronicle, USA Today
D. In the news for taking “two full-time salaries and two retirement packages from two Christian family ministries. Last year his total compensation from the two Christian ministries was $1.2 million.”
All these individuals make their living through donor contributions to Christian ministries they run.
* * *
Okay, who are we taking about? A “white trash” family (to use a mean phrase I occasionally heard when I lived in America)? A ethnic minority family on welfare for generations? A feckless illegal immigrant family?
Actually, these are the children of one of the most respected men and Christians on the earth. Billy Graham.
A)   Ned. Christianity Today B) Ruth or Bunny Columbus Dispatch C) Virginia or Gigi , Houston Chronicle. USA Today D) Franklin—Thinking out Loud
·      * * *
As a young Christian, I read biographies of Billy Graham, and his books, including his autobiography, Just as I am. I admired and admire him. I tried to imitate Graham’s spiritual disciplines (unsuccessfully). I was charmed and impressed by Ruth, as she came across in her books. She was indeed an beautiful and remarkable woman.
I read out these news articles of Roy as I googled them and we were chilled.
How did their children shipwreck?
And, if they did, what hope is there for us unprofessional Christian parents, who know our Scripture less well, who do not have the additional safeguard of practising our faith on a world stage to keep us honest?
If that’s the parenting outcome of the undoubtedly godly Grahams, down to the third generation, who can stand?
However, Billy Graham is on record as saying that if he could go back and do anything differently he would “spend more time at home with my family, and I’d study more and preach less.”
   * * *
I think of one of my favourite Psalms, Ps. 130
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD;
 2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.

 3 If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, 

   Lord, who could stand? 
4 But with you there is mercy, 

so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

Ah, that’s our hope for ourselves, our parenting, and our children. The mercy of God.

Hesed, the steadfast goodness, mercy and compassion of God which will follow us all our lives.
  * * *
And for each prominent Christian family which shipwrecks–and I can think of several off-hand–there are another 2 or 5 who do not.
I think of my friend Paul who was the son of Jack and Rosemarie Miller who founded World Harvest Mission. All five siblings are faithful Christians. As are Paul’s six children. In A Praying Life, he describes how he brought up his children– (one of whom was severely disabled) amid financial difficulties, great work stresses, working two jobs, and his own breakdown–by quietly, steadily, and specifically praying for each of them and their specific needs—and what amazing answers he saw!
He once told me that he asked his wife Jill what she wanted most, half afraid she would say, “A new kitchen.” And she said, “The mercy of God for our family.”
Ah that is what we all need!
    * * *
So, there is hope for us and our children, in the mercy of God. And, as I feel more convinced, the best thing we can do our children and family is pray for them. At red lights. When walking. During sleepless nights. While doing housework. In lines at grocery stores. Whenever. As much as we can.
And then trust the mercy of God.
Into your hands, oh Lord, I commit my spirit.
Into your hands, oh Lord, I commit my family.
Into your hands, oh Lord, I commit my children.

Make it New: By being Rigorously Honest in our Writing, we Find Originality.

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 Sometimes, when I am tired and grumpy and find myself scanning my Twitter feed or the blogs I follow, I find myself saying, “Platitude, platitude, platitude. YES!” Yes, I say, when someone expresses an old truth in a fresh way, so that it strikes me afresh. Or shares a new insight on an old truth.What are platitudes? At best, using someone else’s words and language to describe your own experience. At worst, using someone else’s words to describe experiences, which you have not yet experienced.

* * *

 Matt Redman says, “Every authentic response in worship comes from revelation. When you become a Christian, you commit your life to God. And then from that moment on, everything you see of God, everything that is revealed to you, everything you find in His Word, everything you realize when you gather with the believers, every time you take a walk under a night sky and gaze up at the stars above is revelation. It’s like fuel for the fire of worship.”  

In this amazing diverse world, no two zebras have the same stripes, no two roses, or snowflakes, or fingerprints, or the iris of eyes have the same pattern.  Each African penguin has a unique spot pattern on its chest, which zoo-keepers—and other penguins—soon get to recognise.

So too, God shares different revelations, different aspects of his personality, to each of his beloved. God is always speaking, A. W. Tozer says. His voice rises above the din and clatter of the world around us. 

Just as we instinctively adjust our description of an idea or experience to our audience, the Spirit who created vast diversity  reminds us of ancient truths in unique words and images, differing in emphasis, colour and music, geared towards each of our Myers-Briggs personality, IQ, culture and life-experience, our spiritual age, if you like, and our capacity to be changed by our insights.

And the fresh insights the Spirit gives us, the new wine he pours, needs new words, a fresh expression. New wineskins for New Wine.

* * *

Make it New was Ezra Pound’s slogan, adopted by the Modernist movement.

To write in the fewest possible words, as clearly as possible, exactly what one meant—that was his only lesson in the art of writing, Virginia Woolf wrote of her father, brilliant literary scholar Lesley Stephen, who home-educated her.

We do not need to strain after newness. By being brave and honest and telling the truth the way we see it, we will be fresh. And by trying to say as clearly as possible, exactly what we mean, in our own words, not anyone else’s, we will be unique.

And so no two Christian writers or bloggers writing about prayer, or hearing God’s voice, or loving one another should say the same thing in the same way, because, you see, our experience will be slightly different. No two people will have an identical spiritual experience; different things will strike each of us with gale force.

 Last season’s fruit is eaten

 And the fulfilled beast shall kick the empty pail. 

  For last year’s words belong to last year’s language

   And next year’s words await another voice

 To purify the dialect of the tribe (T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding)

* * *

 When I expressed my dream of a Blog through the Bible project last year, my daughter Zoe said dubiously, “Do you know Mike Pilavachi is doing that too? Nicky Gumbel is doing that too?”

At first you feel “Why bother”? Nicky Gumbel is cleverer, theologically trained, experienced. Why read me if you can read him?

But God gives each of us unique circles of influence, unique tribes. And our life-experience, personalities, and ways of expressing ourselves speak to our own tribe, in a way someone else’s might not.

And so we continue “writing down the revelation and make it plain that he may run who reads it,” (Hab 2:20), continue recording what we hear the Spirit say, even while John, Mark, Luke Matthew, James, Peter, Paul, Nicky and Mike are doing it too, and doing it better.

* * *

Fortunately, the eight authors of the New Testament were not deterred by the fact that Paul and Luke were clearly better educated and more intelligent and better writers than Peter or Matthew or James or Mark, because all eight of them contribute richly to our New Testament, and we each have a favourite book, and those who have no time for Paul have a lot of time for John or Luke.  And vice-versa.

 

Take a handful. Yes, really! (Guest Post by Jo Royal)

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Image Credit
She offered the tin of Celebrations to my son.  Chocolates!  He shuffled to the edge of his seat, and peered into the open tin.  His eyes widened as he examined the full tin of brightly coloured favourites.  

His hand hovered over the chocolates.  He paused, looked up, wordlessly asking, ‘How many am I allowed to take?’  With astute perception, she answered ‘Take a handful.’  And that is what he did!  A rather huge handful!  

When my embarrassment subsided, I considered my son’s literal interpretation of ‘take a handful‘.  To him this provided an opportunity to scoop up as many chocolates into his hand as he could physically manage.  Why wouldn’t he?  He loves chocolate!  It makes sense.  

Would we have done the same?  I am not so sure.  To most adults (myself included) the same phrase usually triggers a different response.  ‘Take a handful‘ – becomes interpreted as ‘take a few because you don’t want to look greedy.’  The consequence of this interpretation results in the adult taking their hands out of the offered tin with only one or two chocolates.  How polite!

So, whilst children get to enjoy their acquired feast, adults are left with a tantalising taste of chocolate in their mouth.  Politeness aside – why do we do this?  If we are offered a handful of chocolates, why do we not take it literally and grab as many as we like?  After all, the offer is there and we love chocolate!

* * *

As I reflected on this response, it dawned on me that the inclination to settle for less does not stop with chocolates.  It may have an impact on an untold number of experiences in our lives.  Take a handful, go for it, follow your dreams …


But we don’t.

We tell ourselves that we are not good enough.

We believe that we do not deserve it.

We assume that the offer is not really meant for us.

Nonsense!  Why do we think this way?

These incorrect understandings are often deeply embedded in our lives, resulting in mediocrity being accepted as norm.  Our ability to learn, to enjoy life, to love and be loved, is hindered as the ‘take only a few’ reaction kicks in.  We stifle our experiences and our ability to fully participate in life, and say that this is ok.

However, Jesus came to give us ‘life to the full’ (John 10:10).  Not a life living in the shadows or accepting second best.

This fullness of life includes being offered total forgiveness of sins, unconditional love and full acceptance into God’s family.  And yet, our immediate response can result in us being unable to fully accept this.   

Let’s find out and understand what God is offering, and reach in and grab all we can.  Jesus died in order to make this possible for us.  God will not be offended or think we are greedy if we ‘take a handful‘ – because when he offers it to us he really means it.  He loves us and wants us to experience all he has for us – so we can live our life to the full with him. 

Ready to grab a handful? 🙂

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Jo Royal is the Assistant Pastor at Wessex Christian Fellowship in Basingstoke, Hampshire. She blogs at All in Day.
Thanks, Jo:-)

15 Minutes of Infamy, Public Golgothas, and Blessed is He who does not sit among the mockers

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The Cross: it’s like a tardis, with a vast number of rooms and corridors. The more you contemplate it, the bigger it becomes.I was brought up Catholic, and was trained to meditate by putting myself in the picture, a staple of Ignatian meditation. So I read Eph. 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ and visualized Calvary.

 

I hoped I would have been one of those who pushed through to wipe the face of Jesus, who dipped a sponge in wine vinegar. That surely I would not have been among the mocking crowd.

 

But would I? Very few stood by Jesus: the Marys and John. Peter and the disciples had fled. The crowds who acclaimed him as he entered Jerusalem—vanished. They were now a mocking mob chanting, “He trusted in God, let God deliver him. Let him deliver if he delight in him.”

* * *

Where would I stand, with the mocking, mobbing horde, or with the quiet succourers?

You see, Jesus had been disgraced. He was subject to a myriad false accusations. He had been brutalized, savaged, and humiliated. Ridiculed and made into a laughing stock. Everyone said he was wrong, ridiculous and dangerous—telling them to destroy the temple, and not to pay taxes to Caesar.

He was mobbed. Only a very few had the courage not to join the mockers.

* * *

Blessed is he who does not sit in the company of mockers, Psalm 1 declares. I want to be blessed. And so I want to avoid the ugliness of mockery, which diminishes the mocker more certainly than it diminishes the object of mockery.

Sadly, both because of my cast of mind, and the company I’ve kept, irony, sarcasm, and mild mockery come naturally to me, so I guess I need some retraining of the mind.

* * *

Here’s a possible way of guessing at what kind of men and women we might have been at Calvary:  Standing with the mockers, or the compassionate.

In my 34 months in the Christian blogosphere, I’ve noticed that pretty much every month, a follower of Christ makes himself, or is made, into an object of international public derision.

Mark Driscoll who baptized 1392 people in 2011 alone declares that the UK church are “a bunch of cowards,” “guys in dresses, preaching to grandmas.”

He is mocked and condemned on most blogs, though he qualifies his statement.

Mark Driscoll also said…Well, let me not go there. I am not a fan, of course; I just don’t want to take my seat among the mockers.

    * * *

John Piper dismisses a young, wildly popular preacher with a three word tweet, Farewell, Rob Bell. The blogosphere explodes in mockery and condemnation of Piper who has written one of the best Christian books of the last twentieth century, Desiring God.

As it does, when John Piper declares he knows why a tornado hit Minneapolis on the day the Lutherans were debating homosexuality. The message of the tornado, he says was, Turn from the approval of sin. 

* * *

  Pat Robertson says the earthquake and the string of disasters which have cursed Haiti was a result of their ancient national pact with the devil. That there is a connection between terrorist attacks on America, Hurricane Katrina and American sin. He is widely mocked and scorned because, well, we are in the 21st century, without anyone considering that the Old Testament continually talks about curses on nations, peoples, and families, though well, all that seems Old to us. But Jesus warned of such things too.

And we all mock the self-professed Christ-followers on the fringes of faith—poor deluded Harold Camping, or beyond the pale, Burn a Koran Terry Jones, or Westboro Baptist Church. Or anyone really, who gets too politically incorrect, as the younger Graham does, all the time, in calling Islam wicked and evil. (Though as I wrote in a very early blog post I can see why he thinks so.)

* * *

Andy Warhol famously said, “In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.” Well, the flip side of that could be that everyone who is in any way a public figure, might make themselves the object of public opprobrium for least 15 minutes, whether on a public or private stage.

Even our Christian brothers and sisters. And the issue is: are we going to join the mobs baying for their blood? This lowers us far more than it lowers them. They have already been publicly diminished. We diminish ourselves by our eagerness to kick and stone the man or woman who is already down.

So, will we join the mocking hordes at their Golgothas, or be the discreet and kind who quietly pray, knowing: There, but for the grace of God, go I?

Will we be the One who is blessed, who does not sit in the company of mockers? (Psalm 1).

I want to be blessed, and I do not want to mock, and Lord, please lead me not into temptation.