Is it just me, or is there particular pleasure to be gained from completing a job with a tool that has been designed and made for that task? I am not talking just about the satisfaction of a job well done, and not talking at all about the temptation to make tool-collecting a hobby in its own right. Contrast the frustration of fighting with the spanner or screwdriver that doesn’t quite fit, and the precision of the perfect match between Allen key and bolt; the saw that makes cutting that particular material in that particular way a pleasure rather than a battle; lightly guiding the SDS drill while it effortlessly powers its way through brickwork which has defeated the combined efforts of my weight and an ordinary masonry drill.
We are, Genesis 1 tells us, created in God’s image. This almighty and all powerful God calls us to follow him and work with him to build his Kingdom. The Bible shows us how he forges and equips his servants to fulfil the specific tasks to which he sets them. Think Joseph, Moses, Daniel and Nehemiah. Think of the apostles; ordinary men who became the instruments through which God’s good news flowed from Judea into the whole world.
Might there be, in our handiwork, a faint echo of the delight which God takes in shaping and using his tools? I wonder how the Master is moulding you to His design, and for what purpose he is patiently perfecting you?
Image credit: Photo by Keating / CC BY 2.0

Perhaps I should stay out of the kitchen.

I’m not talking about our kitchen at home; I’m talking about church kitchens, where my brothers and sisters in ‘the tea-towel’ are our church family. It can get hot in there.
I like to think I have a thick skin, but last Sunday I discovered that the passing of the weeks had not dulled the resentment which I harboured for the instant and multi-voiced rebuke I had received last time round for going through the “wrong” door while carrying the rubbish out to the bins.  The lack of logic (most direct route to the bins), the lack grace on the part of my sisters (was I not taking upon myself a lowly yet essential task?) and (this most especially) the lack of any notification on that door that it was not to be used (how anyone is supposed to know they don’t want you using it baffles me), pressed all the wrong buttons.  As the perceptive among you may have sensed, they seem to have stayed pressed.
In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Paul tells us what love is like, as personified in perfect form by the Lord Jesus Christ.  Although a staple reading at wedding services, Paul here is not writing about how to love our spouses but how to love our church family.  Love, Paul tells us, keeps no record of wrongs. How many records are you keeping?

“..and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” Matthew 6:12

Dementia is typically an illness of old age; the longer you live, the greater your chances of developing dementia.  In the UK, between the ages of 40 and 64, only one person in every fourteen hundred people has dementia.  In those over the age of eighty it is one person in six. Women with dementia outnumber men with dementia by two to one.
To different degrees in its different stages dementia affects memory, thinking, understanding, judgement, the capacity to learn and the use of language.  Every aspect of the lives of those who suffer from it, and the lives of those who care for them, can be touched by dementia.  Drug treatments can sometimes slow down the progression of the condition for a time but there is currently no cure.
In the face of such an illness, what can we do?  What do we have to offer?
We can share our time, our companionship, practical help and prayer with men who suffer from dementia or who find themselves caring for wives or parents who have dementia.  If you don’t know someone who fits that description, ask around.  It won’t take long to find someone; a man with dementia, deprived of role and memories, perhaps living alone or in a care home; a man caring for a wife or a parent, increasingly isolated and lonely as the burden of caring erodes his ability to sustain friendships and social activities.

 ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’…..
⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Matthew 25:34-36,40

More information can be found here:
www.livability.org.uk/church/dementia-friendly-churches/
www.dementiafriends.org.uk/

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” Ephesians 4:11-14, ESV

In Ephesians 4 Paul includes the gift of teaching in a list of spiritual gifts which God gives to His people, to build up His church and to grow followers of Jesus in their faith and ministry.
Most of us will have been taught by a variety of different people in different settings at different stages of our lives.  From experience as children and young adults in school and perhaps higher education we can probably call to mind excellent and inspirational teachers, as well as those who, by comparison, were not good teachers at all.  In adult life we may have been taught things by others in a variety of ways and contexts, in work, leisure or our own Christian discipleship.  While a talented and fortunate few may be able to claim to be “self taught” in some area, in order to truly excel and to fulfil our potential to the utmost, we usually need to be taught.
What is your experience of teaching in your church right now?  Are there people who are gifted and able to exercise this gift?  Do you support them, encourage them and pray for them?  Paul’s linking of the roles of shepherd and teacher is illuminated by what Jesus says (in John chapter 10) about the contrast between the good shepherd and the hired hand or stranger, and speaks volumes about the proper motivation and conduct of those who would teach. James warns that the role of teacher should not be worn carelessly (James3:1).
Are there people who have a teaching role in your church, but whose gifting really lies elsewhere?  How can all of us, humbly but honestly recognising our responsibilities as members of the body of Christ, ensure that everyone is encouraged to use their gifts within the church?  A church family should not leave every task to one person or a small number of people, irrespective of what gifts they have (and don’t have).
Is teaching something that is seen as central to the life of your church at all?  Some are wary of teaching, concerned not to alienate or give offence in our post-modern culture where absolutes are shunned and a distorted (and intolerant) dogma of “tolerance” holds sway.  How can anyone be so arrogant and intolerant as to claim to teach truth, thereby implying that other’s beliefs and world-views are untrue?
If we are satisfied to remain child-like, adrift and vulnerable then we probably won’t want teachers or teaching.   If, though, we are committed to growing in the unity of the faith, in knowledge of Jesus, towards greater maturity and the fullness of Christ, we must seek, support and make use of those with the gifts in our churches.

What do you say when someone asks you what you do?
We might say that we are retired, in paid employment of some kind or looking for work, unable to work because of health or disability, volunteering, a full-time carer or some combination of the above. We might not have a ready answer but, whatever we do, we all pass the time somehow.
But what if we are asked “How, or in what way, do you do what you do?” That question might give us more pause for thought. What would you say?
In 1749 Charles Wesley wrote the words:

Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go, my daily labour to pursue;

Although Wesley speaks of “daily labour”, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that this attitude is not just for those who go out to work:

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17

The second verse of Wesley’s hymn begins:

The task Thy wisdom hath assigned, O let me cheerfully fulfil;

So, in May 2013, what is the task that God in His wisdom has assigned for you? What does it mean for you to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus? Can we trust that our Sovereign God may have assigned to us a role that we did not expect and might not have chosen for ourselves? Or perhaps we are settled and comfortable, yet sense His calling us to a different task in his name.
Just as an ambassador acts, not in his or her own name but in the name of the state he or she represents, so let us faithfully and thankfully serve the Lord Jesus, whatever we do.
 

“But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13b,14
The Apostle Paul was in no doubt, but what are we straining towards? What are our goals? Ambition may be more often associated with youth, but at all stages of life we tend to make assumptions about the direction our lives will take. We see our lives progressing in certain ways and have expectations, even if unspoken, about our futures.
Hard-earned relaxation in retirement can become our objective, the promise of independence from the demands of work and the means with which to enjoy that freedom. Yet for many these things turn out to have been a mirage, failing to materialise, replaced instead by the burden of increasing ill health, pain and disability. Increasing dependence on others, practically, financially and emotionally can precipitate bitterness, frustration and depression.
On the other hand, our expectations of later life may be all too firmly founded on predictions of adversity, filling our mid and later lives with anxiety and despondency, robbing them of any joy. If our trust is in our pension fund or if our purpose in life depends on our hearing, eyesight, memory or physical capability then, as the fragility of these things becomes evident, we may think we see only too clearly what old age holds in store.
So often the things towards which we strain, the things on which we fix our hopes, are not the glory of things above but earthly distractions. Just as Mo Farah’s mind was dominated by the finishing line, not the expectations of the watching world or the pack breathing down his neck on the final bend, so too let us not take our eyes off the goal as we reach the closing stages of the race. And where does the endurance come from that enables us to finish well, however long the race may be? Paul was not in any doubt about that either.
“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:12,13