‘Emmanuel: God with us’

Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth was considering breaking off his engagement to Mary. She was pregnant. And he wasn’t the father. According to Matthew’s Gospel, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream to convince him to go through with the marriage. The heavenly visitor told the carpenter, ‘do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’ As the Lord had spoken by Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” The name given to Jesus by ancient prophecy tells us something about his unique identity and mission.

 

God with us

Matthew explains that Emmanuel means, ‘God with us’. Christians believe that the baby boy who was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger was God in human form. Now, that’s an awesome claim. We might perhaps expect that God would do God-like stuff, like create the universe to display his wisdom, power and goodness. But would the Creator of heaven and earth stoop to enter our world as man? The New Testament insists that he did. Jesus is the Son of God, fully divine in every way. Yet he became human. He is Emmanuel, God with us as one of us.

 

God for us

The angel of the Lord also instructed Jospeh that Mary’s son was to be named Jesus. Once more, a word of explanation is given, “for he will save his people from their sins”. Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means ‘the Lord saves’. That is the reason why God became man, to rescue us from sin and death. Christ, who was without sin, died in our place on the cross that we may be forgiven. As Paul affirms, ‘God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

 

God in us

Matthew concludes his Gospel by telling us that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples. The final words of the risen Lord to his followers in Mathew’s account are, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ Jesus ascended to heaven, having completed the work of salvation. He then poured out the Holy Spirit upon the church on the Day of Pentecost. Christ dwells in his people by the power of the Spirit. His presence in the lives of his followers now is the pledge of greater things to come, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’. Jesus became Emmanuel, God with us so that those who believe in him may be with God for ever. 

See here for Providence Baptist Church Christmas Services 

* Article for various local parish mags 

Shared Life The Trinity and the Fellowship of God’s People, by Donald Macleod

Christian Focus, 2024, 30^th anniversary edition, 129pp, hbk 

The doctrine of the Trinity can sometimes seem just that, a doctrine we are called to believe and defend, and that’s about it. Nothing can be further from the truth, as is demonstrated by the author in these pages. Of course, he discusses the biblical evidence for the claim that the one God eternally exists in three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The theologian also covers what the first Christian thinkers made of the Bible’s teaching, as set out at the Council of Nicea. Macleod’s handling of matters biblical and historical is admirably clear and concise. But that is just the beginning.

The doctrine of the Trinity is of deep practical relevance. It speaks to us of the God we have been called to understand, worship and serve. The fact that the God who made is ‘in his image’ exists in three Persons tells us something very important about human equality and our need for community. Macleod cautions, however, that Bible’s teaching on male headship should not lead us to think that the Son’s relation to the Father is one of eternal submission to his authority.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit indwell each other in the fullness of the divine being.  Jesus prayed that his people may share in the fellowship of the persons of the Trinity (John 17:21). With that in mind, the unity of the church is not a drab uniformity, but unity in diversity. The doctrine of the Trinity has profound implications for the Christian life. We have become children of the Father though his Son and by the Spirit of Adoption. The indwelling presence of the Triune God secures our final salvation. In our evangelism we have been commissioned to ‘make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:19).

Shared Life is an ideal introduction to the Trinity for believers wishing to read up on the subject. It will also be of help to pastors in equipping them to tease out the practical implications of this most glorious of doctrines. 

Losing our virtue

Matthew Syed is one of the most insightful columnists writing today. A couple of his recent articles in The Sunday Times really made me think. In one he argued, ‘All the policy in the world won’t save us if we can’t rediscover patience’. Easy access to money has ‘taken the waiting out of wanting’. Both governments and individuals prefer to borrow to spend now, rather than save up and purchase goods more cheaply. Government debt is unsustainably high, at 100% of GDP and those Klarna bills soon mount up. We need to learn once more that patience is a priceless virtue.

In another piece Syed reflected on a key lesson from the Grenfell Tower inquiry, namely, ‘Today’s disasters aren’t caused by lack of regulation, but simple dishonesty’. Governments can pass as many new regulations as they wish, but if building contractors dishonestly subvert health and safety rules, more disasters are likely to happen. As with patience, fidelity to truth pays economic dividends. Countries where people are more likely to be honest are typically wealthier than lands where lies and corruption are the order of the day.

It is difficult to gainsay the points made by the columnist. Theologian David Wells spotted the trend he highlights more than two decades ago. In Losing our Virtue he suggested that where populations widely adopt civic virtues like honesty and consideration for others, governments can give people a considerable amount of freedom to live their lives. Where such virtues are scarce, the State is forced to try and  maintain order by regulating its citizens' conduct ever more tightly. As Wells put it, “What was once an open space between law and freedom, one governed by character and truth, is now deserted, so law must now do what character has abandoned.” And so Community Protection Notices are being used to force unruly members of the community to behave in a neighbourly manner. 

But as the writer’s point about Grenfell shows, more government regulation isn’t necessarily the answer. Especially when the State has lost its moral authority. The idea that our political leaders can form us into more virtuous citizens is laughable. The last lot never recovered from ‘Partygate’. Sir Keir Starmer pledged to lead a ‘government of service’. A noble sentiment, but to many it seems more like a ‘government of scroungers’. The PM and some of his senior ministers have faced a barrage of criticism for accepting hordes of freebies; from expensive clothing to pricey concert tickets.

Syed has certainly diagnosed the cause of many of our ills today, but he prescribes no cure. How may we regain our virtue? It is increasingly recognised that the ‘Christian Revolution’ had a transformative effect on the moral and spiritual climate of the ancient world. This was not a top-down imposition of morality by regulation, but a matter of personal regeneration. As Paul wrote, ‘if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’ In the New Testament believers are frequently urged to shun their old vices and display the virtues of truth, self-control and hard work. So, Vive la Christian Revolution!

Vicious cycles

I am an ex-cyclist. I quit when it was me calling for my children to wait up, rather than the other way around. They were mid-teens at that point, I think. Now they're late twenties. When I finally dispensed with my unloved and neglected bike, I didn't even accord it the dignity of flogging it on Ebay. The lime green Raleigh roadster was deposited without ceremony at Warminster recycling centre. Destined for a new life in India, apparently.

I wasn’t much of a cyclist anyway. I don't think I've ever knowingly worn Lycra. My top speed was probably achieved as a paper boy. A dog I regularly encountered in Tredegar Street, Rhidwerin would snap at my pedals until the road went downhill on entering my home village of Bassaleg near Newport. Eat your heart out, Geraint Thomas.

With apologies to Orwell's Animal Farm, for me, it's a case of "two legs good, two wheels bad." Cyclists may object. Oh, well. For their sakes, my wife and I must repeatedly stop holding hands to let them whizz past when we're strolling along the Kennet & Avon towpath.

And my point is? Oddly, that freedom is a precious thing. Cyclists are free to get on their bikes, while I'm free never to get in the saddle again. Old married couples and two wheelers may groan at the sight of each other on the K&A, but neither party owns the towpath. We just have to give each other a bit of space to do our own thing.

Now, freedom has limits. I'm not at liberty to push cyclists into the canal as they pedal past. Cyclists aren't free to run into us if we’re a bit tardy getting out of the way. Similarly, the law does not give us liberty to incite violence against others. As keyboard warriors who made incendiary comments during the summer riots have found to their cost.

But with all the necessary qualifications in place, in a democratic society, we need to be able to say stuff that other people may find objectionable or even offensive. Christians shouldn't have a problem with that, as we don't believe people can be coerced into the kingdom of God. We demand no aid from the state when it comes to advancing or defending our beliefs. Our God requires no blasphemy laws to protect the honour of his name.

The truth is best served by making space for an honest and forthright exchange of views, even when some of those views are despised by fashionable opinion. Otherwise, you end up with a vicious cycle of intolerance and repression. Freedom withers, truth is sacrificed. As Jesus himself once said, 'You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.'

 * For various local mags 

Deadlines

 

"Depend upon it, sir", wrote Dr Johnson, "when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully." The editor of this publication has not threatened to hang me, yet. But she does set strict deadlines.           

They have the effect of concentrating this writer's mind wonderfully. Especially when nothing has thus far entered his mind as a topic for the next edition of the magazine. There's a deadline to meet. A blank Word document to fill up. Better get on with it, then.

From the grandest columnist for The Times newspaper to the humble contributor to your local parish mag, scribblers live and die by editorial time limits. In fact, there's a deadline looming over us all. The day will come when we are called to give an account of our lives to our Maker and Judge.

That thought should certainly concentrate our minds. For who of us can say that the copy book of their life is without blot or blemish? The good news is that God has done everything necessary for us to be prepared to meet him.

He sent his Son, the Lord Jesus to die on the cross that the record of our sins may be wiped clean. The Holy Spirit has been poured out to give us new life. A grand invitation is made for us to ‘seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near’. 

Well, if you’re reading this, it means I was ready in time for the deadline. Always important, that and not just for writers.

*For various local rags & mags

Free of charge

 

Yes, I know, according to the old cliche church ministers only work one day a week. That would be nice, but no. In fact, I only tend to take one day off a week, Saturday. Apart from when there's also a Bank Holiday Monday, of course. The wife and I thought it would be a fun if we went to Bournemouth either on the first Saturday of May or the Bank Holiday Monday. The weather forecast would decide which day we headed for the seaside. Initially the outlook was good. At least according to the BBC Weather App. But as the weekend drew nearer rain was predicted both for the Saturday and Monday, and so it turned out. Oh well.    

It was glorious sunshine the following Saturday, so to Bournemouth we did go. On such days you’d think parking anywhere near the beach would be a hassle. But there’s a street we know where you can park all day for free, only 5 minutes’ walk from the seafront. We’ve never failed to find a space. As it happened, one was available immediately we turned into the road. From there you stroll to the seaside down a street with pay & display parking bays. It’ll cost you £13.50 for 6 hours and that’s before you’ve even bought an ice cream. Extortionate.     

Oddly, cars were queuing up to park on the pay & display street. Every bay was taken. Some drivers seemed to grow tired of waiting and left to find a space elsewhere. Others chanced it and parked on double yellows. It was dead quiet where we pulled up. No fiddly parking app. No fumbling for change. Free parking all day long. We didn't feel at all smug, honest. In fact, being a preacher and that, this little episode was suggestive of a modern-day parable.

People were bypassing what was available for free, while falling over themselves to park at great cost. It's a bit like that with the Christian faith. With most other outlooks on life, you 'gets what you pays for'. The religious hope that if they keep the rules demanded by their faith, they will earn an eternal reward. Those with a more secular outlook often believe that given enough hard work, they'll get what they deserve and soon they'll be 'living the dream'.       

The Christian message is different. It is based not on merit, but grace. Which means God giving us what we don't deserve, free of charge. Jesus willingly paid the price of sin by dying in our place upon the cross. God offers eternal life to everyone who puts their faith in his Son as their Saviour. What's not to like? Yet many people spurn this gracious offer, preferring to pay their own way. Eternal life, however, is a gift that can’t be bought.     

Of course, it's my bounden duty as a minister of the gospel to proclaim to anyone who will give me a hearing that salvation full and free is available for all in Jesus. The whereabouts of that road with freebie parking, a short stroll from the golden sand and shimmering sea of Bournemouth? Now, that would be telling.         

* For June edition of various local parish magazines 

Something greater than me

Our post-Easter break was cut short. Something came up that necessitated the wife and me returning home a day early. Don’t worry, nothing bad happened. On the contrary. We had booked a week in the lovely Herefordshire village of Eardisley. The original intention had been to arrive on Easter Monday and stay until Saturday. But that’s not how it worked out. After the reservation was made it was announced that Paul Weller was due to perform at the newly refurbished Bristol Beacon on the Friday evening. Hence the change of plans.

I’ve been a fan of Weller ever since I was a teenager and he fronted The Jam, followed by The Style Council, and then as a solo artist. He has a new album out this month, called ‘66’ (his age this year, apparently). Back in April he played a series of concerts across the UK to promote his latest offering. At the Bristol gig Weller played a variety of old and new songs, including the first single to be released from his forthcoming album, ‘Soul Wandering’. It’s an intriguing track, full of spiritual yearning. Weller sings, ‘I want to believe in something greater than me’. You’ll find it on YouTube if you fancy a listen.

It seems that even being a successful rock musician has not satisfied the singer’s soul. The idea of believing in ‘something greater than me’ put me in mind of the teachings of Anselm (1033-1109 AD), the great Medieval Archbishop of Canterbury. His writings are an expression of faith seeking a deeper understanding of God and his ways. The theologian proposed that God is, "something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought". He is a perfect being, without flaw or creaturely limitations.

But how could such a God be known that we may believe in him? The Christian faith teaches that God has revealed himself to us through the universe he created by his powerful Word. The world we encounter each day speaks to us of the wisdom, power and goodness of our Creator. Further, God reveals himself by his written Word, the Bible. The pages of Scripture disclose God’s matchless being, mighty acts and righteous laws. Above all, God has revealed himself to us by the Living Word he sent into the world, Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit he has poured out upon his people.

According to the Bible we are lost and wandering, far from God due to sin. Jesus came to bring us back to God by laying down his life for our sins on the cross. Are you also longing to believe in, ‘something greater than me’? Your wandering soul will find rest in returning to the one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is none greater.

* For the May edition of various local parish magazines 

Time Passes

 

“Time passes” wrote Dylan Thomas in Under Milk Wood, “Listen. Time passes.” It certainly does. The ebbing away of an old year and the promise of a new one makes us acutely aware of the passing of time. The joys and sorrows of 2023 are gone and can never be recovered. Crane our necks as we may, we cannot peer into the future.
 
In his great work, The Confessions, Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) ponders the nature of time. He can’t quite pin it down, reflecting, “What, then, is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks me, I do not know. Yet I say with confidence that I know that if nothing passed away, there would be no past time; and if nothing were still coming, there would be no future time; and if there were nothing at all, there would be no present time.”
 
Augustine addresses the question, ‘What was God doing before the creation of the world?’ He points out that the question is based on a misunderstanding. ‘Before’ is a time-bound category. We should not think that God waited for ages and ages before creating the universe. The world originated not in time, but with time. Modern day scientists agree. The clock only started ticking at the beginning of creation.
 
God is infinite and eternal. He had no beginning and will have no end. His life does not depend on anything outside of himself. The Lord God  exists beyond the world of time and space that he created. The vast universe cannot contain him. His power is not diminished by the passing of time. As the Bible says, “from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.”
 
God created all things by his Word and through his Spirit to display his wisdom, power and goodness. What the Bible calls ‘sin’ is our rebellion against the Creator, our stubborn refusal to live for his glory. But God did not write off fallen humanity. He entered the world of time and space as one of us to rescue human beings from sin. John writes in his Gospel, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
 
Time passes. The old year has gone and a new year has dawned. Many opportunities will no doubt present themselves in 2024. Above all, let us seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near. 

‘You shall call his name Jesus’

 

“What's in a name?” asked Shakespeare’s character, Juliet, “That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.” Smell as sweet, maybe, but I can't help thinking that roses are called roses and turnips, turnips for a reason. Although, maybe the Bard had a point. When it comes to the names our parents bestowed on us, or we gave to our children, I doubt the meaning of the name was a big factor.

My mum wanted to call me Alexander, which has a rather distinguished ring to it. But my dad registered the birth and dubbed me Guy. The name means ‘wood’, apparently. I  guess the name was chosen more for how it sounded than what it meant. Unless he thought I looked as thick as two short planks. Oh, well. I’m stuck with it now. 

When it came to naming Jesus, Mary and Joseph had little choice in the matter. For according to the Gospel accounts he was named by the angel of the Lord. First, Mary was told, ‘And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.’ Then Joseph was informed concerning Mary, ‘She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus’, with the added word of explanation ‘for he will save his people from their sins.’

‘Jesus’ is the Greek version of the Hebrew name ‘Joshua’, which means ‘the Lord saves’. In Jesus’ case his name could not have been more fitting. The Bible teaches that the Son of God came into the world as a human being to bring us back to God. He lived a perfect, blameless life, died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead. Now we may be saved, by faith in Jesus.

As the angel of the Lord said to the shepherds of old, ‘For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.’

‘What’s in a name?’ In the name of Jesus we find salvation.

*For various local parish magazines 

When dinosaurs roamed the earth

‘The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there', wrote L.P. Hartley. Just how foreign and exotic is the past was brought home to me the other week. My wife and I went to hear the author Tom Holland give a talk on his new book, Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age (see report here). In the opinion of Edward Gibbon, the era covered by this work (69-138AD) was ‘the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous’. Not so much, perhaps, if you were a woman.

These days there is widespread outrage if allegations are made that a powerful man has exploited his position to gain sexual favours. #MeToo scandals have engulfed the words of politics, business, entertainment and the police. All that would have made no sense in ancient Rome. It was the expectation that rich and powerful men were entitled to pounce on anyone they pleased. 

As a boy Holland was fascinated by the heroes of Rome. To him they were the awe-inspiring apex predators of history. But as he grew up and immersed himself in the ancient world, the author found himself appalled by the monstrous cruelty and depravity of Rome’s overlords. Holland realised that he was viewing the mighty emperors of old from the perspective of someone who lived in a culture that was steeped in the Christian faith. He tells that story in his previous work, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind.

In his preface to Pax, the author describes Christians living in the period of Rome’s ‘Golden Age’ as ‘Mesozoic animals in an ecosystem dominated by dinosaurs’. Those tiny Christian ‘mammals’ seemed pretty insignificant as they scurried  around at the feet of towering T-Rex figures like the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. But they sparked a revolution that still affects the way we think today.

Christians held that men as well as women are made in the image of God. That is the basis of equal rights. Christ is pictured as a husband who loved the church as his bride and gave himself up for her on the cross. In the light of that the church upheld the importance of marriage and men were forbidden to use women just as they pleased. The #MeToo movement only makes sense in that context. 

In Paul’s Letter to the Galatians we discover the meteorite that destroyed the dinosaurs. The impact of that meteorite is still sending shockwaves around the world centuries later: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ (Galatians 3:28)

*For November editions of various local parish magazines