Before getting into the meaty stuff....A quick skim over what's been happening first: Exams done and marked...I shall be back in Brum in September for second year having passed with a 2.1....not too shabby a performance, but good room to grow. It's been a superb time since exams, Em's been up to stay which was lovely, and had a time of refocussing and relaxation which is exactly what was needed.
Picnics, barbies, films, music, gigs (Maybe a This Beautiful Thief review next time, they're wonderful, check them on spotify), bowling, Cadbury world, cinema, mates, a few cool beers, CS Lewis' books (I am buzzing off 'Miracles' at the mo) and a study bible have made for a great few weeks. Summer is yet to be sorted, with a few job prospects to be explored, but less about that.
Long, sunny days, multiple train journeys and the fast arrival of the end of an era are perfect conditions for this blog to begin to materialise.
With people I love very much already leaving uni, and preparing myself for a move out of halls in a few weeks, I've been getting thoughtful and indeed nostalgic...which will strike fear into some of you, I know.
The ramble that will hopefully come together smoothly begins in a (paraphrased) question that was on one of Ben's exams:
'Are the teachings of Jesus life changing?'. (With questions akin to that, I sometimes wonder why I didn't choose Theology as a degree course, but that's another story.)
Anyway, I heard that, and remarked at the simplicity of the answer....... It took a comment from another friend some time later that evening for me to even get thinking about the question. As a believer, the answer is instinctively and unequivocally, 'yes', as life is joyfully U-turned in a direction contrary to the way the rest of the world is going, with a different mindset on life, death, the universe and everything, with an unmistakable change and continuous improvement within me. (Though I doubt a mere 'yes' would have set Ben on the way to a first!).
But, as my friend pointed out, the extent to which His teachings will change a life depend on the response people have when they hear them- what if people simply ignore His teachings? If they are met with rejection or ignorance, surely they are not life changing?
It was an interesting point, one that Ben and I relished, and one that I have spent time thinking about.
When I read the gospels, one of the loudest messages that come from Jesus' teachings is that He is the only way, there is no room for half measure, no two masters, either take up your cross and deny yourself or don't. He also spends quite considerable time helping us realise our own need, our own bankruptcy. Another facet of His teaching is His desire to reconcile and to bring joy and abundant life.
To ignore or reject this is not a neutral response, because there is no middle ground, so I would maintain that ignoring the teachings of Jesus is life-changing also. Very much so. But not a good change.
Ignoring one's only possible saviour is like the scene in Star Wars: Episode III when Anakin refuses to reach his hand to Obi-Wan, even though he is the one person on higher ground, the one person that can save him. Insert other metaphors about sitting on branches and saws here.
Anyway, my point from all this is that our response to Jesus' teachings will be life changing either way, leading to contentment and fullness or helplessness and unsatisfied hunger.
Treating that as in intro, with a promise that the above isn't just a standalone point, but is intended to come full circle, we'll head to the word next:
2 Peter 1:5-8 (ESV).
'...Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self control, and self control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ'
I love this passage because it's very helpful for looking at what we can focus on and allow to be grown in us, much like the fruits of the spirit. Peter is encouraging and pastoral, all the time focussed on the effectiveness and fruitfulness of faith, which is a great characteristic to learn from and aspire to.
However, the word I am struck by here is 'supplement'. It seemed to me a curious word to use, because of connotations of vitamin supplements being used when there is a deficiency. I took a while to muse over it, and the more I read, the clearer it is that faith, and therefore our relationship with Jesus, is the absolute base; the staple diet; He is the daily bread, and in a vitamin-like way, these virtues and qualities are added on by Him where they are deficient, allowing us to be nourished and grow spiritually.
This, as an aside, links straight into something I remember Beth was saying about not doing things in our own strength- if we are willing to be taught, to follow, indeed to be fed, then through Him, for Him and in Him we can grow. I love it when different things that are impressed on us at a given time are exquisitely woven together .
It sounds like simple stuff, but I was convinced it was a good idea to write it down because of (amongst other things) a certain Mr. Allen's equally timed grasping and passion for this nourishment thing.
It seems that God is impressing heavily on us as a generation and each of us individually to be growing up in Him, to become more mature by becoming more like Him, to allow Him to make us into the kind of people that live with the qualities that the passage talks about. That's what I want to drive for.
Let's pause for a second, take this somewhere else, and ask you to imagine these events:
I had been home briefly and got the train back.
When I emerged from University station, there was a man selling the Big Issue, as there usually is.
Often, we shrug them away because we have no desire to read the magazine, and have far better things to than stop and chat, usually ending up in us failing to acknowledge the existence of these people at all.
I was in a hurry that day, and had no money on me at all, but I purposefully looked into his eyes and smiled, hoping to bring some small piece joy into his day, as I think many of us try to. (forgive the poeticism)
His face was haggard and drawn, with vacant eyes and a mouth that twitched as I presume he attempted to smile back. As I walked back to the flat, my heart broke for him and the state his life must be in. Monotonous. Helpless. Impoverished.
'Impoverished'....that word and his malnourished frame kept burning through my mind in one of those moments where poverty shows itself on the surface in a physical and obvious way.
As the day went on, the image remained powerful, but after dinner and a few games of pool in bar one, it had managed to get conveniently shelved in my mind.
Around midnight, I walked home for some sleep (which is a novel idea!), and I came across a couple of drunk chaps. They approached me and attempted conversation, but only succeeded in being sick and laughing at nothing.
Now, call me overly poetic or plain patronising, but I'd never been so close and looked into the eyes of someone so drunk before, and (in a rather film-like way) glimpsed an almost identical blank expression, and sensed the same vacuousness in the eyes; living life without direction. Empty . It was impoverishedness masquerading in a different façade, far more subtle, less physical.
It's easy to explain that situation away with the alcohol, which is fine because it doesn't detract from my point, and neither am I saying that alcohol is in itself a bad thing, I'm not putting an absolute parallel between drunkenness and empty living, but the juxtaposition between these two experiences reminded me afresh that whilst poverty's most frequently shown face is raw, obvious and related to money and food (and aid missions, soup kitchens, and campaigning for economically disadvantaged people to have better opportunities is a good and necessary thing), so much more urgent is spiritual poverty, which is rife from the rich and famous to the last, the lost and the least, and the students that lie somewhere in the middle.
I was reminded at this point of Ben's exam question and the life-changing nature of Jesus's teaching. Never had His words looked so powerful or crucial.
An analogy I've always found helpful is one of us being waiters; we don't make the food, we don't eat it, and we can't force people to eat it, we just have to deliver it, confident in the chef's ability to satisfy the hunger of the consumer if they choose to eat it.
I need to be a waiter who recognises the need to serve, because a lot of people are starving. I am hoping for the chance to see that guy again, so that I might have chance to share the bread he really needs.
They need the staple diet- the bread of life.
And once there, encouraged and helped to get stronger, to grow muscle.
One thing that I notice is that some parts of the church major so much on outreach that the existing body ends up malnourished and poorly looked after.
Others become so cosy and caring that they're introvert and forget the hungry mouths and souls that need the hope that we have.
Since I'm quite literally part of the church, I know this from experience, because this imbalance often happens inside me. So, a prayer for myself and for all of us that rather than have one or the other, we have a balance of the two, continuing to be bold, loving and sensible.
In the words of the A-Team, I love it when a plan comes together.
The more I see His plan unfold; the huge, majestic tapestry that we're part of, the more faith I have that it is and will continue to come together.
Soooo, in a roundabout way, that's what's been racing through the mind lately.
It's good to get it all down. Hoping it helps or challenges or encourages someone else too.
I'm stuck into Acts lately...that may lead somewhere next time.
But for now, be cool peoples. Have safe summers and happy holidays.
Peace.
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