Meeting with Royalty

On Monday morning, the world woke to the news that the Duchess of Cambridge had gone into labour. The long awaited royal baby was on its way! The world’s media had been gathering outside the hospital for days waiting for the moment when we would learn whether a prince or princess had been born.

I’m not a big royalist, and I was a little frustrated after 2+ hours of news coverage once the prince was born. And then there was the waiting for him to be named, and first pictures, and I really was rather sick of it all be the middle of the week.

But I can understand the excitement, even if I don’t share in it. There is anticipation for the future of the British monarchy, and it spills forth into all the publicity and excitement we see. The line is secure, and the Royal family is set to continue for a number of generations still. A future king has been born, and that’s exciting!

The Royal family is a strange topic for a blog post, I’ll admit, but next week, 50 young people will be gathering for the East Midlands and Anglia Summer School (EMASS) to spend some quality time with the King of Kings, and that’s what’s exciting for me!

Whenever we come before Jesus, our hearts should be full of anticipation and excitement. We’re meeting with the King!

I know that sometimes when I come before God, I can feel like it’s a chore, or my mind is on all the other stuff I need to get done. I’m distracted and easily taken away from the moment and what God wants to say to me.

But if I was to meet the Queen, or the new Prince, I wouldn’t feel it was a chore. I would be focussed, wholly dedicated to what they were saying. I wouldn’t just get up and leave before they were finished. I would feel privileged and blessed to have met them.

Why don’t we feel that way when we come before God?

As I said, next week is going to be spent at EMASS, and I’m full of anticipation for what God is going to do there. While I could let myself be distracted and worried by all the ‘important things’ that need to be done (don’t worry, they will be done!), I don’t want to let them get in the way of those moments with God, the King of Kings. I want to spend time listening to him and being blessed, and seeing him speak to and bless the young people who are coming.

So if you’re coming to summer school, I hope you share in my anticipation for all God is going to do.

How often do you think of the times we meet with God as coming before the King of Kings?

How would that change the way you worship him?

How would it change the way you pray?

Time flies

I can’t believe it – I’ve been here over year now! And what a year! I wanted to take some time reflecting on all the stuff that’s happened, what God’s been saying, and what I hope for the future!

Firstly, let’s start by looking back on all the Divisional activities that have happened.

When I first arrived here, I had about six weeks to prepare for my first ever summer school! Looking back, I’ve no idea how I did it, but at the time I loved every second of those few weeks as I learnt to swim in the deep end. I had only ever been to one summer school as a student, and never been on staff, so it was a real learning curve! The week itself was fantastic – the best start to a job anyone could wish for! – and helped me settle in. If you want to hear more about the week, you can find the review here.

In some ways, starting with such a high left me a little down for the following few months, but I worked through it and got out and about to meet young people, youth leaders, and Corps Officers around the division. I also spent time preparing for the youth worship event in November (Boundless: The Adventure Continues) which gave another good opportunity to meet people, and re-launch the Anglia Youth Chorus!

In the run up to the New Year, I spent time praying for this year and the young people within the division. It was a great time, and I felt God was really encouraging us to be courageous this year. And this challenge has not left me. I often find myself being reminded about this message and finding situations that require me to be courageous in my personal life, spiritual life, and decisions for the division. Again, if you want to read more about the challenge, you can find the blog post here.

Soon enough, Youth Councils arrived. The day was spent thinking about Holiness and the ALOVE theme for the year – ‘…. Water’. More about what we did can be read here.

And now, I find myself once again in the run up to the East Midlands and Anglia Summer School (EMASS). We’re just over 2 weeks away (it’s earlier this year), and I’m experiencing the same feelings of excitement and nerves as last year! This year, our focus is on going deeper into our discipleship through exploring the passages in the Bible about Jesus and water (spot the theme yet?). It’s going to be a great week, so if you’re coming, get excited! If you’re not coming, then keep an eye out for the review post in the weeks following EMASS. You could also join us on the Wednesday night (31^st July) for an evening of illusion with Steve Price (£2) or for the Final Celebration on Saturday night (3^rd August, £5). Please message me for more details.

Now for the coming year and beyond – what do I hope? Where do I see things going? I want to develop the discipleship of young people within the division and encourage the leadership skills within them. I want to see every young person in the division come to have a full and deep relationship with God; reaching their God-given potential and following his will for their lives. I want young people to become more involved and invested in the running and organising of divisional events. In short, I have the same vision as I did 12 months ago, and I continue to trust in God that his will is best, and I will do my best to follow his path.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

The Condition of the Court

It will come as no surprise, I’m sure, that we are half way through Wimbledon fortnight. Now, I’m not a big tennis fan, and Wimbledon fortnight is something that I only really acknowledge due to the change in the TV schedule, but I did notice the news about players slipping and injuring themselves due to the condition of the courts. Many of the great names complained and withdrew from the competition because of this, including Sharapova, Federer, and Tsonga.

 

While some players are blaming the courts, the officials say they are in almost identical condition to last year and that the courts always gain grip throughout the competition. Andy Murray has been quoted as saying it’s a surprise this hasn’t happened before and that it is a statistical anomaly that the big names have got through to the later rounds for so long. Other players already had injuries that they were recovering from, or there were other issues than purely the condition of the court. As I’ve already said, I’m not a big tennis fan and so I can’t really comment on the how these various factors can contribute to slips and falls in a tennis match, but the reactions of some of the big names has caused me to pause and consider.

In life, we all experience highs and lows. Just as the big names of tennis have gotten through to the latter stages of Wimbledon for a number of years, often the good times can last a long time. It becomes a normal occurrence. Then, when things the tough times come back, when we start slipping and falling more than usual, we often blame the surroundings, or the most obvious reason for our failure – ‘The court is not up to standard’. When the tennis stars started slipping, it was the courts fault. Many did not look to other reasons. It was the courts fault they were not doing as well as normal. Not theirs. 

Since leaving the competition, I don’t know if the stars have looked at the other possibilities for their slips, but the officials and experts have, and found other possibilities for the anomaly. Often, we need to step back from the immediate situation, and explore the other possibilities, or we need to invite someone else into our life to help us identify what may be the underlying causes of our troubles. Maybe it is our ego that is clouding our judgement on the situation, so we lash out at everything else, and inviting someone we trust to help us can offer us a fresh perspective on what is really going on.

The most important thing we should remember, however, is that God is there throughout, helping and supporting us, in both the good time and the bad.

So don’t blame the condition of your court of life; stop and reflect on the other possible causes. Ask God to help you discern the cause, and He will be with you through it all.

The Christian Fandom

Have you ever heard of a 'fandom'? Or a 'fan girl' or 'fan boy'?

If you ever speak to anyone who knows me well, you will soon discover just how much of a fan girl I am regarding certain musicians, tv shows, and books. I can't begin to tell you how many hours I've spent waiting at stage doors or hotels to get a photo or autograph, or how much money I've spent attending concerts, conventions, and buying merchandise. I have travelled for hours to perform flash mobs in the snow and rain (I’m in the row on the left, second from the back, with the yellow bag over my shoulder; just in case you didn’t believe me). I have also made a large number of good friends through our shared fandoms. For the vast majority of my teenage life, and to some extent still, I would know all the information about what was happening in the future of the pop star or actor's life or tv plot line weeks before any of my friends or family had a clue. This is a fan girl, or boy. You may have one as a friend, family member, or be one yourself.

A 'fandom' is the name for the things fan girls and boys 'fan' over. For example, I belong to the Harry Potter fandom, the Doctor Who fandom, and the Tolkien fandom, to name but a few. Other fandoms are the Justin Beiber fandom, the Star Trek fandom, and the

But I want to put before you: The Christian Fandom.

‘How can Christianity be a fandom?’ I hear you ask. Very simply, there are some people who are fans of Christianity. They enjoy going to church, hearing the sermons, singing the songs, attending retreats and festivals, spending time with other ‘fans’, etc. They know their Bible back to front and will always win a game of Biblical Trivial Pursuit. Fans are different to followers. A lot of fans will think they are followers. The difference?

Relationship!

A fans relationship with the object of their fandom is detached, impersonal, and all about head knowledge. A follower, or friend, of the person has a deeper connection with them, knows more about their everyday life, and there is a two way relationship.

When a fan meets their favourite actor/musician/etc., they ask for an autograph, or a picture. When a friend of that person meets them, they share a conversation about their life; they support one another.

A follower of Christ has this two way relationship with God. They meet with him often, and share their life with him. A fan of Christ will go through the religious motions, but never connect on the deeper level.

Jesus met a lot of fans. Ever heard about the Rich Young Man?

¹⁷ As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.”
²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
²² At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
(Mark 10: 17 – 22, NIV)

And what about the crowd of 5000 that followed Jesus after being fed? They were huge fans – wanting to see him again, but not for the right reasons. They wanted to be fed again (John 6).  And what of the fans of the Jewish faith? The Pharisees and Sadducees would have called themselves the greatest followers of all, yet Jesus’ teaching always warns people away from them and to not follow their example.

In Matthew 7, Jesus describes what will happen to the fans when they meet him:

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
(Matthew 7:21 – 23, NIV)

The importance of relationship here is key. While the fans did a great many things, Jesus says he did not know them. They had no relationship with him.

Fandom is heavily influenced by feelings. Fans will describe themselves as having ‘feels’ for certain characters, or ‘ships’ (romantic pairings - there are even ‘ship names’). Fans have lots of emotion about their fandom. But when the feelings diminish (from lack of new series/books, or time, age, etc), fans become a lot less enthusiastic. As I said before, I have been a part of a large number of fandoms, but each has had its own time in the spotlight. When my feelings change, I become less involved. Something new has come along that I feel more passionately about. For example, as a teenager, I absolutely LOVED McFly. Now, I enjoy listening to their music occaisionally, but I spend more time watching Doctor Who or reading books by George R R Martin.

The same is true of fans of Christianity. When everything is good, or they feel particularly ‘close’ to God, or go to one of their festivals – no one could be more committed! When things get tough, fans wander away until things get good again and they feel like being a follower again. But true followers stick around for the long term, and don't act upon their feelings. True relationships are so much more than feelings. Good friends stick together even when things are hard. Good relationships last even when you don’t feel like being together, because of the commitment. And you get past the bad times and negative feelings together. The same is true of our relationship with Christ.

I could delve a lot more into this topic. But I just wanted to start your own thinking on this issue. My thinking was sparked by a book called ‘Not a Fan’ by Kyle Idleman (I’m reading the teen edition – well I am a youth worker!), and I have spent a long time considering the nature of my relationship with God. While I am not a fan, it has inspired me to follow God even more closely than before.

And that’s what I wanted to do; to encourage you to reflect upon whether you are truly a follower of Christ, or just a fan. How committed is your relationship with Christ? Will he ‘know you’ when the time comes?

The Legacy of Ball Face

Have you ever had one of those surreal moments?

I had one this week during an email conversation with a contact from my gap year. It turns out that an incident that occurred during my time at their church has become a bit of a legend - still talked about today! I was quite taken aback by this.

The incident wasn’t a great message I preached.

It wasn’t a fantastic prayer, or conversation I had.

It wasn’t that I’d helped change someone’s life.

It was that I was hit in the face with a ball during a (out of control) game of dodgeball, and I completely lost my temper. I yelled at the young people, and sent them all into a stunned silence, which later earned me the nickname of ‘Ball Face’.

According to the email with my contact

“You have become a living legend in these parts. Some think that ‘Ball face’ is a myth but only a handful of us know the real story. Your legacy lives on”

As human beings, we all want to leave our mark, our legacy, upon the world. We all wonder how we will be remembered; what will be said at our funeral; whose life have we impacted? Decisions we make, actions we take, can all be effected by how we want to be remembered.

But what about those moments when we aren’t thinking about what we will leave behind? In one moment of weakness, I left a legacy I didn’t intend. I am remembered as the ‘ball face’ at this youth club. Was that what I wanted? No.

When thinking about leaving a legacy, often thoughts turn to the big, grandiose actions you can take. Who can we proclaim the good news to? How much money will it take to be remembered by a charity or project? What marks do I need to get in my exam? How many hours volunteering do I need to do?

While big things will help you be remembered, don’t forget about the little things. The everyday decisions count. The actions you do daily count. We all make mistakes, but lets drown them out by living well and displaying God in all we do. If we focus on leaving a legacy for him, we will most likely leave a better legacy than one of our own name.

The problem with legacies is that however hard you try to create your legacy, it is ultimately other people who decide how you are remembered. Those who focus on what they are leaving behind can become dissatisfied with their lives when they don’t come up their expectation, or become prideful by all they have achieved. Eventually, such people will be remembered in these ways, as that is the main focus of their life, not what they actually want to be remembered for. The big actions may be remembered fleetingly, but it is the small, consistent actions we take that become our legacy.

I may be remembered as ‘Ball face’ by the young people, but the email went on to say how positively our gap year group was remembered by the leaders and others within the church. As an individual, I may be ‘Ball face’, but our group left a legacy of how to live life well as Christians in community. We didn’t do anything great; we just lived together, focussing on God and making his name great, daily.

What legacy are you leaving behind in your daily life? Is it something you are proud of? Does your everyday life reflect how you want to be remembered?

Spiritual Check Up

I hate going to the doctors. I’ve been coughing for the past few weeks and finally decided to go get checked out. But I hate making that call. I’m always nervous they’re going to tell me I’m imagining things and to stop wasting their time. That has never happened, of course, but I still would rather suffer until someone forces me to go. Then I know I’m truly sick. But how often could I have avoided unnecessary pain and illness by going earlier?

Going to the doctors wasn’t as bad as I thought. They checked me out and told me what I needed to do, and all’s well. My mind is at ease. I can get on with life.

Being ill these past few days, and my unwillingness to call the doctors made me think of Luke 5:30 – 32.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
(NIV)

While the Pharisees and other ‘righteous’ people continued to view themselves as healthy, they would not need Jesus. The ‘sinners’ who were so aware of their own sin, appreciated Jesus more and came to him more readily to  be healed of that sin.

While I am reluctant to see my doctor, my fiancé is the opposite. Because he has poor health, he has a great relationship with his GP and will happily go to them with even the slightest change in his health. I, on the other hand, take my health for granted and rarely admit to being ill.

We can be the same in our spiritual lives, as Jesus’ words show. Those who are new in their relationships with him seem to be very aware of when they mess up and go immediately to him. Those of us who have been 'healthy' and in a relationship with him for longer can be very different.

Even though we are saved, we are can often carry around sin for a long time until we can’t ignore its presence any more and come to God for forgiveness. We pretend everything is fine, yet we know deep down we should go for a spiritual check up to sort it out. The sin can then seep into every part of our life, poisoning our efforts, and we feel like we’re not communicating with God as we used to. We can fear his wrath and anger, and that stops us from making that call to him.

But just like a quick visit to our doctor, placing our sin before God and asking for forgiveness is never as bad as we think it will be, and we feel so much better afterwards.

I encourage you to spend time with God this weekend having a quick ‘spiritual check up’. What spiritual battles are you ignoring within yourself? What does God want to say to you, but you won’t give him the time to?

(Don’t forget to check out my fundraising page for EMASS – I'm walking 34 miles in 2 days!)

Servant to what?

I found myself watching ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’ this weekend, something I don’t normally do, and Joanna Lumley was one of the guests. They ended up discussing the use of mobile phones, and how when their phone notifies them of anything, people jump immediately to respond. You can see the interview below (from 5:38 – 7:20).

Last night, I was engaged in conversation and one of the group explained how they has deleted their facebook. Why? Because of the way it can take over people’s lives and the ‘Like’ culture it creates. We began discussing the why’s and what’s of people’s behaviour in regard to these sites: why do we post something on facebook? Why do we become disappointed if someone doesn’t ‘like’ or comment on our post? What is our motivation for posting information? Why are we still ‘friends’ with people we haven’t had contact with for more than a year? And many other such questions. In the end, a lot of us admitted that we very rarely use facebook because of all these issues.

I’m doing a 34 mile sponsored walk next month (find out why and how to sponsor here: https://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Perry1/), and so I’ve been completing training walks on my days off. Although I take my phone with me in case of an emergency, it remains in my bag from the moment I set off until the moment I return. I also leave it on silent so that I’m not distracted or tempted to check it while I’m out. The experience is quite freeing. I no longer feel like the servants in ‘Downton Abbey’, at the beck and call of my phone. For those few hours, I am free to be in my own mind and work through problems and concerns without becoming distracted. It also grants me the opportunity to speak with God and actually listen and wait for him to respond.

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (NIV)

While Jesus is speaking about money, we can relate this to our relationship with our mobile phones (or other internet enabled devices). Responding to our phones can end up consuming all of our time if we are not careful. Our quiet times can be interrupted by a notification from our phone, and we never get back to it. Our phones can never leave our sides and if it does, we feel like we’re missing a limb! Is this really healthy? How beneficial is it to our relationship with God?

Upon reflection, I’m now trying to cut down on the time I spend with my phone directly at my side. And if I do have it on me, I will ignore it if I’m with someone else as my focus should be on them, not on what’s happening with my phone. I’ve already started with my walks, but I’m going to continually seek times in my week when I turn my phone off or leave it completely out of site so I can seek ways to serve God more whole heartedly.

We are God’s servants, not our mobile phones.

I encourage you to spend some time this week reflecting on your own relationship with your mobile phone. Are you its servant? Can you leave it away from your side? Or is there something else that you are servant too?