The Lightfoot Lane Blog

I had my last summer Sunday off over the weekend so I went to a different church.

The vicar – Brian McConkey only preached for ten minutes. He was deep, thought provoking, simple and profound. He preached from Luke 17 about the Ten Lepers being healed by Jesus. Ten were healed, only one returned to give thanks. Maybe, Brian said, nine were healed, but only one – the Samaritan, the odd one out was made whole. We don’t just need healing. We need to be made whole and to be truly thankful to God for the wholeness of salvation he gives us in Christ!

And it only took ten minutes. I have heard it said that a ten minute sermon produces ten minute Christians! That’s usually an excuse to go on and on and take forty minutes to say what you could say in twenty.

I’ve just read an excellent book on preaching. 360 Degree Preaching by Michael Quicke. My model and method is very similar to his – a stream of development of a sermon from start to finish in which we are all, preacher and listener alike, in the flow of the communication of the Holy Spirit. It got me all excited about the privilege and power of preaching again.

But I am stuck. I’d like to preach shorter, I am not sure how.

A minister once got up to preach and apologized for the nicks on his face. He said, “I was thinking about preaching and cut myself shaving,” A crumpled note in the offering box offered this advice, “Next time, why don’t you think about shaving and cut your preaching!”

But, I’m a preacher! Why use twenty words when two hundred will do?

PAG

On Sunday 27th April I preached on one of the most human passages in the Bible. Matthew 26 when Jesus’ disciples fell asleep praying – 3 Times!

I encouraged us all to work at the spiritual discipline of prayer even if it meant we begin by taking ten minutes more regularly to pray.

I guarantee if we did this we would see a great difference in our lives – especially in our relationships with God who loves us to spend time with Him – our heavenly Father.

I closed with the following story of answer prayer. Someone emailed me to ask for it. So I thought I would blog it as well.

Please feed back on your own prayer thoughts!

Andrew Gardner

This beautiful story was written by a doctor who worked in South Africa ..

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labour ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter.  We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator).

We also had no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts.  One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.
Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle.  She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). ‘And it is our last hot water bottle!’ she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles.  They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

‘All right,’ I said, ‘put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts  Your job is to keep the baby warm.’

The following noon , as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me.  I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby.  I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills.  I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

During prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children.  ‘Please, God’ she prayed, ‘Send us a hot water bottle today.  It’ll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.’

While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, ‘And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl
so she’ll know You really love her?’

As often with children’s prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say ‘Amen’?  I just did not believe that God could do this.  Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so.  But there are limits, aren’t there?  The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland.  I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.

Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle?

I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses’ training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door.  By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the verandah was a large 22-pound parcel.  I felt tears pricking my eyes.  I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children.

Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot.  We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly.  Excitement was mounting.  Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.

From the top, I lifted out brightly-coloured, knitted jerseys.  Eyes sparkled as I gave them out.  Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored.  Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas – that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.

Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the…..could it really be?  I grasped it and pulled it out.  Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle.

I cried.

I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.

Ruth was in the front row of the children.  She rushed forward, crying out, ‘If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!’ Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly.  Her eyes shone!  She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked: ‘Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she’ll know that Jesus really loves her?’  Of course, I replied!

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God’s prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator.  And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child – five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it ‘that afternoon.’

‘Before they call, I will answer.’  (Isaiah 65:24)

Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive.  There is no cost, but a
lot of rewards.  Let’s continue praying for one another.

Sometimes being a Pastor is a curious privilege. When you respond to God’s call to ministry, you don’t think, “Great, I get to visit the sick and the dying, to go into hospitals and hospices and then take funerals.” But you do! It is a vital part of your call and ministry and an amazing privilege to be allowed into family circles in tough times and in grief times.

I have had a couple of deeply wonderful days visiting Linda and Chris in the hospice. Sometimes, just to sit quiet by Linda’s bedside and pray in silence, sometimes to chat. Chris and I talked in the Hospice chapel last night. We sat and cried and spoke about the future. There is a quiet, deep dignity about him and Linda at present. I know this is of God.

Yesterday morning, the kids were in church – it’s a place where they are happy. It gave Chris and Linda space to be together, to say “I love you,” to each other and even talk about a song Linda wants if we should need to celebrate her life at a funeral, but I guess you’ll already know the song…”though there’s pain in the offering, blessed be the Name of the Lord!”

I am always worried that churches exercise control and don’t release people into true freedom in God. The worst thing this does is create an impression that as long as we do certain things and believe certain things - in the case of tithing, as long as we give enough – we are O.K.  This is not grace!

Take tithing. It makes great sense for a church to teach tithing because by it we truly honour God with our bank balances, we throw down the god of money and demonstrate how spiritual we are. OR do we? By the way we also keep the church ticking over financially which is very handy for people like me – a full time pastor – who needs paying!

Why did no one ever tell me that in the “Law,”  the Old Testament part of the Bible, I got to eat all my tithe at a feast to celebrate God’s goodness? Why did they tell me I had to give 10% of my income when a simple Bible study reveals that you only gave ten percent every three years? Why did no one ever point out that most of the giving mentioned in the New Testament is based on the principle of “giving in keeping with your income” which releases us from the legalism of tithing into the personal free responsibility to find out from God if and what we should give? Why did no one dare to say that in the New Testament most of the giving spoken and taught about is actually giving to poor people and not to sustain the church? Why did no one ever paint such a brilliant picture of church that I wanted to give my all, including my money, to help paint that picture into being?

(Update: Listen to Andrew’s Sunday Talk on The Truth About Tithing)

5th February 2007 – a brilliant night for our church. We took a massive decision for the future when we decided to build a new annex and to re-develop the front of our building. Buildings are definitely not the be all and end all of church life, but when you personally have journeyed for twelve years towards something God put in your spirit, you can breathe a huge spiritual sigh of relief when your people come to a place of unity and hope together. And that’s worth waiting for!

You see it’s not really about a building at all. It is about a people walking as one together in the faith that God is and will use us to bless others with His love and the Good News about Jesus…buildings can help!

 FFMC is about to embark on a major building project. To finance this we pray, we trust God, but we also give. In my experience of several building projects and fund raising campaigns, I find it hard to get people to understand a few key issues. Firstly we have not “arrived” because we built a building. The novelty of a new home, a newly decorated room a new conservatory can also be the novelty of a new church building. It’s great whilst it’s new, but this passes! Secondly, everyone takes a deep breath when they get to know how much it costs, but then discover that God steps into people’s pockets as well as their hearts and finance is wonderfully found! Thirdly, getting the right perspective; that buildings are useful, liberating and enjoyable tools for the work God has called us to.

I recently read of two men laying bricks. Someone asked the first man what he was doing. “I am laying bricks,” was the reply. They went to the second man and asked the same question. His reply said it all. “I am building a cathedral!”

We’ve always either put Christmas dinner on at church or had a handful of people round to our house for Christmas dinner. It’s definitely good fun, but hard work.

All the presents, pressure, parties are great ,but has any one some brave new prescriptions for a hype free wholesome Christmas?

No and don’t suggest I buy a goat from Oxfam. I got one last year thanks, but it was immediately given to a family who had more felt needs than I, or so this was perceived. I am sure the goat got eaten anyway which is what I would have done if I actually had received it and then been given the choice as to how I used this particular gift…

Me, I definitely like gifts, but I also like the simplicity of the stable, but where is it nowadays? And don’t say Bethlehem!

So Chris preached on family on Sunday 22nd October. Quoting a modern translation of Proverbs he said, “Don’t fail to correct your children. They won’t die if you smack them.” Proverb 23:13 New Living Translation

Well, I confess to having smacked my girls when they were little, but I do believe this passage points to something beyond smacking. The real issue is understanding that loving discipline is vital for our children. It teaches that there is a right and a wrong and that there are consequences to both. As parents God’s book makes us responsible to do this in a loving and constructive atmosphere. In fact, if we don’t, the Bible says we are disowning our children. See Hebrews 12:9-11

Looking back, I regret resorting to smacking as a short cut to better more imaginitive and patient discipline. But I don’t regret loving them well enough to discipline them and giving them lots of big hugs and telling them in three simple words, “I love you!”

I think the real issue for many Christians is, “To what lengths will you go to be holy?” We act like holiness is something God the Holy Spirit will magically waft into our lives. Clearly God may encounter us with His holy presence and this can make a huge difference  – see Isaiah 6:1-8. But whilst He does change our heart, Jesus says that if our eye offends us, we should pluck it out. (Matthew 5:29) So what action will we take to become holier? Automatically sending our web visits to a friend on a weekly basis may remind us not just that our friend, but our God of holy love is watching, working and waiting with longing for us to “Be Holy!” (Visit www.xxxchurch.com )

So when I preached about sex within marriage I mentioned a web site – xxxchurch.com I said they had free software which you could download to you and a friend who would then receive a log of all the web sites you had visited. How intrusive or how holy making is that?

Personally, I have found that a friend who asks me hard questions is well worth it.