God of the Gaps
Many people only think of God when they wish to explain things that science and philosophy have not yet explained.
I read a quote this week from an interview in Rolling Stone magazine with Bill Gates (the richest man in the world and the founder of Microsoft). He had been asked if he believed in God and Bill Gates had made comments that science has now filled in some explanations for disease and the weather. He also admitted that science cannot explain everything.
He then made the following comment: “The mystery and the beauty of the world is overwhelmingly amazing, and there’s no scientific explanation of how it came about. To say that it was generated by random numbers, that does seem, you know, sort of an uncharitable view. I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decisions in your life you make differently because of it, I don’t know.”
For us as Christians the knowledge that there is a God and that he is active in the world makes a huge difference to the decisions that we make.
This month we are looking at the Seasons of Creation in our worship and will be reminded again and again of the beauty and wonder in our universe and how they reflect on the character of God and our relationship with him.
– Chris Ambrose
Did Jesus use a modem at the sermon on the mount
Did he have to be on itube for his ministry to count
Did he ever use a fax machine to get his mission out?
Did the disciples carry ipods when they went out and about?
Did Paul use a laptop with lots of ram and rom
Did Paul use an email address such as Paul@Rome.com
Did he always have to hear God’s Word on his personal ipod?
Did Paul need a phone or earphones when he wanted to hear from God?
Did Moses use a joy stick at the parting of the sea
Did he need a GPS to show him where to be
Did he realy receive the commandments on tablets or was it DVD? If in your life the voice of God is sometimes hard to hear
With other voices calling it doesn’t touch your ear,
Then set aside that ipod, unplug that fancy gear and
Open up your Bible and talk to God in prayer
And keep company with Jesus
( James Merrett Just the 2 of us)
Flat Tyre
The other day whilst coming home at the lights on the corner of Daws and Goodwood Roads whilst waiting to turn right the driver behind let me know that I had a flat tyre. It was just after 5 pm and the middle of peak hour traffic.
Because of the circumstances I had to drive a little distance to ensure that it was safe to pull over and change the spare tyre. I managed to pull into a side street but as the flat tyre was on the right hand side rather than the curb side I was still rather hesitant and alert for traffic as I eventually changed the tyres over.
It turned out that the flat was caused by the balancing weights on the tyre rim shifting and exposing the steel belts that are in the tyres and this eventually exposed some threads which then penetrated the inner tube causing the flat tyre.
There was nothing I could do at the time to prevent the flat tyre. All I could do was to make sure that I was as safe as possible in changing the tyre.
Sometimes in life we are faced with circumstances that we can do little about. We need to face them and ensure that in dealing with them we are as safe as possible.
– Chris Ambrose
Life in all its Fullness
The Gospels, especially John, talk about living in relationship with God (or Jesus) as being about life in all its fullness. Sometimes it is described as abundant life or eternal life.
Having a reflection on some of the horrific events on the world scene at the moment we would have to say that life may be very fleeting indeed. It may also come to an end in an instant, sometimes terribly.
As I read the whole of the Bible I see God give to us a very precious thing – life. It is meant to be enjoyed and to be celebrated. Too often that is not the case today.
To God each life is precious and important. Time and again in the Gospels we see Jesus moved by compassion and concern for either a crowd of people or for just one person for whom life was a struggle. He reached out in compassion and never seemed to suffer compassion fatigue.
When we reflect on events like the current Ebola crisis in West Africa, the conflict and suffering in the West Bank, the shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines plane and the conflict raging in the Ukraine we sometimes no longer feel compassion.
Life is precious and meant to be enjoyed and it can only be most fully enjoyed as we develop our relationship with Jesus.
– Chris Ambrose
Passion or Triumph
Today is the Sunday that in the church we celebrate either the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem which we call Palm Sunday. The other title for this Sunday is that of Passion Sunday.
When we talk and reflect on passion we are not just looking at strong emotions and feelings. For the church the word passion holds a special understanding on the suffering of Christ on the Cross.
The dual celebrations of this Sunday underlay some of the paradox of Christian faith. We worship and celebrate Jesus who is the king and ruler of the world. Yet this ruler died in a gruesome way on a Roma form of torture.
The emphasis today is on the innocent king who allowed himself to die for the wrong doings of each and every one of us. God’s Son allowed himself to go through the horrific events of the cross so that we are able to be forgiven.
Sometimes in the past sections of the church have concentrated on the passion of Christ. This has led to some being repelled by all the emphasis on suffering and torture. Yet it happened.
At other times we have concentrated on the triumph of Christ and ignored the horrible events of the Easter week. We do not gain our new life in Christ without the events of the cross.
Easter week is a mixture of suffering and passion and triumph. Let us remember both aspects of the cross this next week
– Chris Ambrose
Feeding the soul
The leaves on the trees outside our place have started to fall. I will now spend several times a week using a very handy machine to collect them and to cut them up for mulch. This will later go on the garden to feed the plants (and weeds) that we wish to grow.
I reflected that it takes an amount of effort and planning to achieve a garden that will nurture the plants that are in it.
The soil itself needs to be worked and prepared for the plants. If it is too much clay or too sandy then preparation is needed. The weeds need to be eliminated and nutrition put into the soil.
Of course without water (in the proper proportions) no matter what you do will not produce any plants surviving. Sunlight is also important – many plants do not thrive and grow without sufficient sunlight!
Then once we have prepared the soul, planted and watered we need to provide nutrients so the plants can grow. In the garden this is done with a variety of materials including composts and mulches and plant nutrients.
If we are to grow as Christians then we also need to feed our souls. We can do this with a variety of practices and aids. These include prayer and reflection (there are a multitude of different ways of going about this one aspect of the devotional life).
We can also read the Bible and then other Christian writers. We can be fed by a variety of teachers.
One other way to grow is actually to eliminate the “weeds”. This is avoidance of those things and people who take us away from God.
– Chris Ambrose
Why do you Climb a Mountain?
There are (at least) four reasons why anyone would go outdoors and climb a mountain.
Some people climb a mountain for the view. Boomers in particular want to meditate at the top and appreciate the beauty.
Other people climb a mountain for the exercise. Busters (or “Gen Xer’s”) in particular like to work up a sweat and participate in a great work out.
Still other people climb a mountain for the challenge. Echos (or “Gen Yer’s”) in particular like to attempt the impossible and overcome all odds.
And still other people climb a mountain for the thrill. Millennials in particular savour the risk and crave the rush of adrenaline.
Despite the different motivation to get out there, they all share one thing in common. All these activities connect body and soul in living harmony. They all feel at one with the mountain and at peace with themselves. They all meet God in different ways … but they all meet God.
Then there is one other group of people who may be of any age. These are the people who don’t know or even care that there is a mountain to be climbed.
Tom Bandy (in Australian Leadership)
– Chris Ambrose
What do we pray for?
In England a number of cathedrals have public prayer boards. Paper and pens are provided for visitors to the cathedral to write their prayers which are then pinned to a board or placed in a box. In many cases people write prayer requests rather than write a specific prayer.
Recently a study (over 4 years) looked at a random selection of 1,000 prayer or prayer requests that were left at the Bangor Anglican Cathedral in North Wales.
A wide range of people wrote these requests including some local, some visitors and tourists. Some were travellers and homeless people. A significant group of prayers wwere from people associated with the Bangor Hospital.
The great majority (92%) of the prayer requests were intercessory (Asking for God’s help in some way). Just 51 were thanksgiving, five were confession or repentance and three were prayers of adoration.
Of the intercessory prayers 29% were about illness, 17% were for general peace and happiness, 14% were for spiritual, religious and moral growth, 13% related to death and 8% were about relationships.
During Lent what will you pray for and about?
– Chris Ambrose
Wasting Time with God
Many of us have been brought up to be concerned if we are wasting time in not doing anything productive. It is a part of the Protestant work ethic that time is important and not to be wasted.
Currently I am reading a magazine from within our American churches that is on the issue of spiritual formation. How do we structure our lives and our learning so that we grow spiritually?
One of the articles is about how to organise a silent retreat. In the material the writer was advocating that we spend a weekend alone with God and that we allow the Spirit to determine that time spent on possible activities. She writes ”Keep the phrase wasting time with God in mind.”
How often do we allow ourselves to “waste time with God” in living in a world that God has created? Too often we need to fill up time with an activity. Too often loneliness is caused by people not having time to spend with each other.
We have not used silence well in our church worship nor in our own lives. We tend to crowd out God to the marginal times and then because we are too busy do not spend time with him. Over Lent maybe we can strive to “waste time with God”.
– Chris Ambrose
Triggers for Behaviour
There are a number of triggers that work on human behaviour. One of these is the subconscious.
Apparently in 1997 in America Mars candy bars experienced a sudden spike in sales. The company was surprised because they hadn’t changed their marketing plans. So what caused the surge in sales? That was the same year that NASA undertook their much-publicized Pathfinder expedition. Pathfinders destination? The plant Mars. The media attention on the plant caused people to subconsciously to relate to the candy bar and thus sales rose!
When Paul and others talk about putting on the mind of Christ we can think of the same sort of subconscious in action. If we constantly reflect on what Christ would do in any situation then when we face a variety of issues in life then we will start to act like Christ.
Too often though we have subconsciously taken on the attitudes of the world and not that of Christ.
How well is your subconscious attuned to God?
– Chris Ambrose
