Transfish

I enjoy documentary programmes about wildlife and creation.  At the moment we have the new series with David Attenborough called Blue Planet 2.  We have seen 2 episodes so far and am looking forward the the third and last episode on Sunday.  In the first episode, there was amazing footage of an Asian Sheepshead Wrasse.  This particular filming was done off the coast of Northern Japan.  It first showed a male and female together.  The female is the smaller fish in the photo.  The male also has a large protrusion on the forehead.  The female was trying to get the male interested in her but when nothing happened in spite of all her efforts, she swam off and secluded herself in a hole in the coral reef.




Things started to happen with her - enzymes and hormones were released inside her body as she was changing both inside and in appearance.  The protrusion on her head became larger and when she eventually emerged from her isolation she had changed from a female fish into a male fish.  Creation has its own transgender creature!  

The account can be read on http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/blue-planet-2-transexual-fish-david-attenborough-a8026911.html
The female then went back and challenged the male and eventually took over his territory as a fully-grown alpha male.
Another strange occurrence in nature is the fact that it is the male seahorse that carries and gives birth to the young.  

For those who believe that God is the Creator of all things, then we must accept that the particular gender of creation does not seem to be important to him.  In fact in the Bible we read many, many times about eunuchs.  In Isaiah 56:4-5 God says that he accepts their worship and has a place for them within the temple.  When referring to eunuchs in Matthew 19:12, Jesus says that some are born that way and some are made that way.  'Born that way' would be what we now call Gays and 'made that way' surely refers to transgender people.  Paul teaches us that before God there is neither male nor female but we are all one before him.

So, I can't help wondering why some religious people get so obsessed with gender identity when according to creation, many parts of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus it would seem that to God it is not that important.  How we live and express our love to God is more important it would seem.  Maybe it's time to follow the teachings of Jesus and be a bit more inclusive instead of judgmental. 

Civilised - Or Not!

Earlier this week many people in Spain and the Americas celebrated Columbus Day, the day that Columbus first set foot on land on the other side of the Atlantic on the 12th October 1492.  At the time, Columbus and his associates went in order to find new land and claim it for the Spanish crown.  They actually thought they would find India going west instead of east as was the usual route. When they arrived in the Americas, they realised that this was a 'new world', somewhere they didn't know about.  They.saw how much gold and treasure there was and how friendly the native inhabitants were and realised how easy it would be to dominate them, making them slaves, forcing them to accept their christian faith and robbing them of all their wealth.  The native population were treated like animals that needed to be 'civilised'.  The truth is that many tribes were actually more civilised than the Spaniards, having a good system of social care, a healthy economy and thriving trade.  They were knowledgeable in many aspects of life including the arts and crafts as well as their study of the solar system and the natural world around them.  In opening their hearts and arms to receive their new guests, what they received was abuse, murder, pillaging and slavery - all in the name of Christianity.   Nowadays there is a growing movement to rename the day in favour of the indigenous people rather than Columbus.  


Although nations no longer go around the world killing and pillaging as in the past days of European empires, there are those who still find ways of destroying what is not theirs and taking for themselves what rightfully belongs to others, of course with promises of payment of a kind.  We need look no further than the same American continent to note that vast parts of the Amazon jungle are being cleared in order to have land where cattle can be raised.  This is so that more cattle can be farmed in order to keep down the price of beef for more northerly  parts of the world.  Apart from the damage to the planet's climate that the destruction of the Amazon jungle causes, there are countless indigenous tribes that have been swallowed up in this scheme.  Some feel almost forced to comply with what they are asked to do while others still fight on to keep what is rightfully theirs and the lifestyle that they choose to live.  It begs the question, 'Who are the savages and who are the civilised ones?'   The photo shows the systematic clearing of the jungle to make way for cattle.

On a happier note, this week I saw an article on social media that was also remembering an incident from the past.  Fifteen years earlier a small boy had fallen 18 feet into a den of gorillas at a zoo.  Everyone was dismayed as they thought that he would certainly be harmed.  However a gentle female gorilla called Binti approached the unconscious boy as he lay on the hard concrete surrounding the den.  She picked him up and cradled him in her arms, patted him a few times but got no response.  Everyone thought that surely now the boy would be hurt but instead Binti picked the boy up and walked almost 60 feet to an access door where an attendant and a paramedic could see to him.  All the time Binti guarded the boy from the other gorillas, growling at them to make sure the boy was kept safe.  I can't help thinking though that if any of the bystanders had been carrying a gun, they would have shot Binti without a second thought, presuming that on approaching the boy, she intended to harm him.  

We may not physically harm someone or rob them of any worldly goods but how often do we prejudge others?  Sadly many white people seem to have the attitude that they are in some way superior to those of a darker skin colour.  It might not be expressed in words but certainly in attitude.  How often do we look at a person's way of dressing or the house they live in and prejudge them without getting to know them?   Who would have thought that a gorilla would treat a human being with such care and gentleness in comparison to the way many people treat their fellow human beings?  People aren't better or worse than anyone else - they are simply different, sometimes by choice and sometimes by their cultural background.  I always remember my dear mother telling us as children, 'God loves everybody and so must we.'  Wise words.  Maybe being civilised is really about living God's love through our daily activities and attitudes and has nothing to do with authority, power and wealth.

Dividing Walls

It would be almost impossible for any person living in Britain not to be aware that this week saw the final of the Great British Bake-Off and know who won the title of Champion Baker.  There are those in the media who tried to claim that she won because of her ethnicity and religion to try and make a point that we are an open and accepting country.  Actually if those responsible for such accusations had actually seen the wonderful creations that she baked they would have realised that she won because she was a very capable and creative baker who although she began the competition struggling, she worked and worked until she overcame her doubts and succeeded in creating some amazing culinary delights.  She is a young mother of three young children, has beautiful eyes, a charming smile, a great sense of humour, some wonderful facial expressions and has come out with some great self-deprecating one-liners.  She has endeared herself to the heart of the nation.  Well done Nadiya.  She just happens to wear a scarf to express who she is.  People who cover themselves with tattoos do so in order to express themselves as does a gentleman who wouldn't be seen without a bow tie, feeling it gives himself a certain air of charm.  They all express themselves by their appearance.

Pope Francis has also been in the news again this week.  Last week we saw that during his visit to the USA, he met up with people of many faiths and religious ideologies other than Roman Catholicism.  This week the news is that in November he plans to meet up with some leaders of the Evangelical and Lutheran church in Rome and apologise for the way the Roman Church has treated Protestants, bearing in mind that it was Martin Luther, after whom the Lutheran church was founded, who was the reformer who opposed Roman authority and as a result the Protestant movement was formed.  


I was brought up in the ways of The Salvation Army and I was also reminded this week by a friend that the co-founder of that organisation once said, 'I don't believe in any religion apart from doing the will of God.'  It is a sad fact that over the centuries, Christians have forgotten the truths that Jesus taught about God's  all-encompassing love being for everyone.  Instead we have emphasized the divisions and differences, making them more important than our walk with God.

Another friend this week has said that after 8 years 'outside' of organised church he will be returning as part of the leadership team of a church in order to help out his friend.  He wondered what the reaction would be of those who had also left organised religion behind.  Is he a religious turncoat?  Has he changed his opinion about church structure? Is he in or out?


It saddens me when people think that you have to be either 'In' or 'Out'.  Why?  Which part of the Bible tells us that?  On the contrary.  Jesus speaks of God's love being unconditional and for all.  It was as much for the Roman centurion as it was for Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin.  He preached from a boat as well as in the synagogue.  He accepted those on the fringes of society as well as those who were faithfully observant of their Jewish faith.  After the resurrection, he walked through walls to join his disciples as they met in secret.  No walls or locked doors can keep him out.  He also met with them by the lake as they went fishing.  He taught us that God is Spirit and we must worship him in spirit.  God really is everywhere.  The Psalmist so many centuries even before Jesus appeared said that there was nowhere we can go and not be in his presence.  There are no walls, whether physical, imaginary or religious that can keep him out.  Yet we continue to build walls of division, separation and exclusion.   Whatever walls we may build and divisions we think up, they don't mean anything to God because he is Spirit, everywhere.  When are we really going to understand this truth?    

God's love is unconditional.  There are no conditions that we must observe in order for us to be in his presence.  In or out?  Does it matter?  God breaks through barriers, frontiers and divisions. Let's stop building walls of division and trying to box God into our own ways of doing things.  He refuses to be forced into our boxes.  Just let God be God wherever we are and however we choose to seek him.  Does it matter if we wear a scarf or bow tie or have tattoos?  Does it matter if we meet with a certain group of people on a specific day in a specific place?  As long as we seek God, he will meet with us.  Outside appearances and man-made rules don't affect his love for all of us.  He only looks on our hearts, what we feel in our spirits.  I just seek his presence and to know and do his will.  Everything else is not that important and of no real consequence.    

Don't Rock The Boat

I was interested a couple of weeks  ago to learn of the Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis (1818 - 1865).  He discovered that the washing and cleaning of hands greatly reduced the mortality rate of patients in his maternity ward compared to the wards supervised by other doctors.  He published papers to this effect and insisted that it was the simple act of washing hands that was the key.  His publications were rejected by the established scientific and medical opinions of the time.  He was eventually committed to as asylum for his 'outrageous' claims where he died only 2 weeks after entering the institution, having been beaten by guards.  His theories were proved correct by Lister and Pasteur years after his death.  Today personal hygiene and cleanliness is so much a part of everyday life that it is hard to imagine that the medical world of the mid 19th century did not accept this.


The other day I watched (again!) the now old film The Jazz Singer.  In case anyone is not familiar with the story, it is about a young Jewish man whose father was a cantor in the synagogue.  It was a family tradition and the young man would be the fifth generation of cantors in his family, something that made his father very proud.  However, the young man also lived another life by singing with non-Jewish friends in clubs.  When he got the opportunity to go to California, he realised that singing to the general public was what he really wanted to do.  The result of course was many problems within family relationships and heartache and struggles to come to terms with this idea on all sides.  Eventually he followed his dream and 'made it' in the music world of California.


The first story is a sad one but the second had a happier ending.  The thing is that deep inside we know what is right for us whether other people accept what we say or not.  Truth is truth.  It doesn't depend on how many people agree with us.  It doesn't necessarily mean that the majority must be right.  But it is very difficult to remain true to what we feel deep inside when all around seem to be going in the opposite direction.  The old song that we often used to sing says, 'I'll fear not what men say'.  But we do, don't we?  How often have we heard people say, 'What will people think?'   Today with social media someone can very quickly be made to appear like a saint or a villain.  Whistle-blowers and reporters who tell it as it really is are criticised by established figures and often rubbished in the media when most times what they are saying is the truth that nobody in authority wants the world to know.  It is more difficult when we go against family tradition and when those closest to us reject what we say.  The last thing we want to do is hurt and upset those we love and so often we bury what is inside and carry on just going along with tradition without questioning, closing our minds to any personal or different ideas that we may have had.  Our dreams remain only dreams as we feel unable to seek to make them reality. 


 I have to admit I have great respect for anyone who can stick to their guns when they really believe something regardless of who listens or accepts what they say.  Throughout history we find people who have been ridiculed only to be proved right in later years. Galileo comes to mind when he insisted that the earth went round the sun and not the other way around.  Sadly too often we conform simply to avoid 'rocking the boat'.  We don't want to get a bad reputation as a trouble maker or being a bit wacky.  Sadly this applies to many Christian congregations when those who question or don't fall into line end up outside of the group, excluded.  We have seen it with prominent church leaders like Steve Chalke when he spoke of accepting gay people and Rob Bell and Jim Palmer for offering a different perspective on Christian beliefs.  I find it sad that Christianity is becoming in many places, an exclusive 'club' where if you question, think for yourself, don't fit in and conform or rock the boat then you become excluded.  As for me - I will continue to question and seek truth even if that means being part of a misunderstood minority.  In the end it is only truth that will set us free, free from the fear of what others might think, free to be who we really are, free to be the person God made us to be.

The Way I See It

The two people were chatting while waiting at the bus stop when suddenly the younger one, focusing on a young girl passing by said in a low voice, 'Just look at that!  What a mess!  She looks awful!'  The older woman smiled and replied, 'When anyone criticizes what you wear, you always say that people should feel free to wear what they like.  So obviously she's wearing what she likes.'  The younger one conceded with a smile, saying that she wouldn't wear it but then she has a different fashion sense.  We might think someone looks nice or not because of what they are wearing, while they might see it differently.  As the saying goes, 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'.  


On a less flippant note, my nephew's young son often likes to play at role reversal - his father/grandmother being him and he being them.  He really is rather good at remembering things that they have said or done and playing them back to them as he sees it, reliving situations and conversations.  It really is an eye-opener on just how he sees them and how he interprets what they say.  Children so often manage to encompass in their playing what sometimes goes unnoticed to us.  Things that we don't give a second thought about might come across to them as something they take notice of and remember sometimes in great detail to the point that we can wonder, 'Am I really like that? Is that how I said that?'.  Children have an innocence that penetrates through all social etiquette and niceties to reveal just how things really are, at least as they appear to them.


We all see things differently, simply because we are all different, unique.  We cherish our uniqueness yet at the same time struggle to accept another person's different approach and opinion.  Often when someone says, 'The way I see it ...' they really mean that they think the other person is wrong and they will tell them exactly how it is and what is the right way.  We can become quite intolerant of those who don't do or think as we do, thinking smugly, 'They really don't have a clue and they are just so wrong'.  There is a built-in sort of arrogance that we can't be wrong, it must be them.  Is there not just a possibility that both are right - in their own eyes?  It all depends on how you see things.  This often can depend on your circumstances, your cultural background, your emotions and feelings at a given moment.  It seems strange that restaurants. shops, the entertainment business and so on cater for our different views and tastes in food, clothing, holidays, home decor, hobbies/interests and TV viewing so why, oh why, is it so difficult for us to accept that people just might have a different spiritual opinion from us?  When it comes to God, it seems, we are always and totally right as though somehow we are in the privileged position of having a monopoly of the truth!


I remember one holiday in Scotland when we climbed up a hill through some woodland.  Every so often there was a gap in the trees and a seat where you could rest awhile and take in the scenery.  What we discovered was that we saw different things at different stopping points.  Some objects became hidden from view while others became clearer.  The overall picture was constantly changing depending on where we were on the hill.  That has always remained with me over the years as an important life lesson.  People are different, each one unique, as we so often like to say.  So why is it so hard to accept another's point of view, another way of looking at things, another angle, another's belief system or spiritual leaning?  God has an overall view while, as the apostle Paul says, we only see in part.  In the same passage, Paul says that as a child he thought and acted in a certain way but as he grew, his thoughts changed.  We are constantly changing as our view on life changes, as we experience different situations. 

So let's show a little more tolerance and acceptance of others.  At least, that's the way I see it. (Maybe someone will tell me I'm wrong!).   

Roots

This week has seen the return of a TV programme that I really enjoy watching - 'Who Do You Think You Are?  For those who don't know, it traces the ancestry of celebrities and uncovers some very interesting and sometimes unusual and hitherto unknown facts.  There are always surprises and often tears as the stories unfold about their forbears.  Sometimes the celebrities begin to understand just why they are, feel and do as they do as they clarify some mystery from the past.  A couple of years ago I decided to trace my ancestors on both sides of the family, right back to the 1700s.  I remember as a child that two of my uncles had a shoe repair shop in our local town and I used to love to go and watch them mend the shoes and breathe in the smell of fresh leather.  I was told that the shop originally belonged to my paternal grandfather but looking further into the family history I discovered that there had been bootmakers in the family since the early 1800s, the business having been handed down from father to son over several generations.  The roots of the shoemaking business lay way back in the roots of our family history.

When I am weeding in the garden, I prefer to dig the weeds up by the roots in order to get rid of them instead of spraying them with chemicals all the time.  Occasionally though that is not so easy, on the paths and the front drive where you can't really dig them up.  The alternative is to get some weedkiller and spray them and let the chemicals do their work.  The best ones of course are the ones that you spray on the leaves of the weed and the chemicals go to work reaching right down to the roots underneath the ground.  Otherwise the weed seems to die but then comes back again as the roots go on feeding the plant.  To be effective, you have to get to the roots.

A close relative of mine has recently been in hospital and undergone quite a big operation.  She had been in a great deal of pain for a long time, months becoming years.  She has taken pain relief to relieve the symptoms until eventually the pain was becoming so bad she was sent to see a specialist at the hospital.  Various tests and scans were done in order to look deeper and ascertain the real cause of the problem.  Eventually the day came and she went to the hospital, a bit nervous but really having reached the point of just wanting the pain to go away.  After a time of recuperation she is now well on the mend but more importantly is without the constant pain that she had to put up with for so long before.  Once the specialist was able to get to the root of her problem, then the situation could be dealt with effectively.

The trouble I find in life is that too often we concentrate all our efforts on the symptoms that a problem produces.  A few decades ago, people weren't so eager to visit a psychiatrist or counselor to talk through problems in case they were thought by others to be a little deranged.  In fact such professionals were sometimes considered a bit suspect and often referred to in a rather derisory way as 'shrinks'.  Nowadays we understand that they saw the importance of going back in order to dig deep and find the root cause of a problem.  This often turned out to be not a physical problem at all but some hurt, fear or sense of inadequacy or exclusion or maybe loneliness, things that are hidden so deeply inside that others are not aware of itheir existence.  We think that we are sorting out a problem when the real problem is something quite different, hidden and not obvious until we delve deeper.

I feel that so many problems in the world, on both an individual and group level, whether that be family, friends, tribes or nations, could be solved if only we really addressed the root of the problem.  We waste so much time and effort treating and reacting to the symptoms when the real problem is still there often festering underneath so that the problem we think we have dealt with crops up again and again.  So often we ask the wrong questions!  There is no point in doctoring and treating the hurt and pain if we don't deal with the root cause of that pain and hurt.  Jesus knew that very well when he told the crippled man that his sins were forgiven.  He then told him to get and walk.  He knew that the man was concerned that his physical limitations were because of some sin.  He needed to know that God had dealt with that problem.  People are hurting and in pain and we waste time on superficial symptoms instead of really dealing with their root point of need and giving them the help they're silently crying out for.  Let's not waste time looking at the outside, the symptoms, the appearance of a situation but go to the roots and see where the help is really needed.
  

Bee Yourself

You can just about see the tiny white flowers near the top of the bush.

I spent some time the other day trying to trim back and tidy up some overgrown bushes at the bottom of the garden that had become a sort of mini forest.  It's a part of the garden that is mainly to make a natural barrier between our garden and the garden of the neighbours at the back of us.  So I like it to grow big and quite thick but it still needs the occasional 'haircut'.  While I was cutting away I noticed one bush had some tiny white flowers that I had never really noticed before.  They were so small that it is difficult to actually see them among all the foliage.  I couldn't help thinking that if that were a human they would possibly reason that hardly anyone ever goes to that part of the garden in the far corner at the back so why bother.  No-one would notice if it produced any flowers or not so what's the point?  But being a plant, it does just what it's designed to do.  Producing small flowers was something it just did in the annual cycle of life and it didn't depend on being noticed or appreciated.  It flowered anyway!

Taken from the BBC Springwatch Facebook page, 20th July 2014

We have heard much lately about the bees and how we need to look after them.  They are considered to be the most important pollinators of food crops.  It is thought that a third of the food we consume each day depends on pollination mainly by bees.  The inset picture shows some very interesting stats about bees and what they do.  We are encouraged to have a bee-friendly garden by planting the plants that will attract bees.  Local councils are encouraged to leave spare ground as wild meadows for bee-loving flowers to grow in the wild.  I was very interested to learn that bees don't actually go so much for the exotic types of flowers but are more drawn to the ordinary British flowers including most of the wild flowers.  It's really quite mind blowing to think that so much depends on such a small creature.  It doesn't have the size of an elephant, the fierce roar of a lion or the strength of a grizzly bear to make an impression.  It's so small that it flies from flower to flower without many noticing it at all.


The Bible verse comes to mind about how God uses the weak to confound the mighty and the well known story of the shepherd boy David defeating the giant Goliath.  The thing is that so often we look for success in size and strength.  You are taught from childhood that you have to climb the ladder of success at work.  People try to impress others by saying that their relative or close friend has such and such a position at work or a certain car or large house.  Some love to show off their suntan to give the impression (rightly or wrongly) that they have travelled to some far off land (implying a certain wealth?)  In many walks of life (even church life) there can be a sort of competition for popularity and trying to be more active and involved than someone else.  Some people spend their lives comparing themselves with others and aiming to copy them or be like them.  It gets to the point that often people can feel a bit of a failure for just being ordinary, with no particular talent to share.  They have a rather apologetic attitude and are always striving after some false goal to achieve in order to 'make something' of themselves.  Yet throughout the Bible and in creation God shows time and again how he loves the ordinary.  


The flower at the bottom of the garden just did what is was supposed to do.  The bee just gathers pollen and nectar to keep his extended family fed and surviving every day.  It doesn't know how important it is in the big scheme of things - it just does what it is meant to do each and every ordinary day.  And that is all that God asks of us.  He just wants me to be me.  He made me me because that was his plan and that is my purpose - just to be me.  If that entails just doing the ordinary, everyday things then that is what I should do.  Who knows in the big scheme of things what that might mean or lead to.  I might never know but that shouldn't stop me from being who God made me to be.  Even if you think you don't make a difference or nobody notices, like the tiny white flower, do it anyway.  No competing or comparing with others.  Just bee yourself!   

Talking My Language

This week I have watched a couple of absolutely fascinating programmes about 'talking to the animals'.  Through modern technology we are now able to decipher many of the noises made by animals.  Researchers have discovered that what they thought were simple grunts and shouts of (possibly) fear at the approach of some danger, are actual sounds relating to particular situations and the sounds change depending on the form of danger or situation - they are actual words in animalspeak.  Some creatures are even 'bilingual', understanding the particular sounds made by an entirely different species.  Other creatures that were thought to make no sound at all but only gestures have been found to use sounds that the human ear cannot hear.  I won't bore you with all the details of all the discoveries (if you missed it and are interested, you can catch up on BBCiPlayer) but I will mention the amazing Honey Guide bird that has conversations with the people of the Masai Mara.  The bird knows the exact spot of the bee hive but can't retrieve the honey because of all the bees - their stings would prove fatal for such a small bird - but it knows that the men of the Masai Mara have ways of getting to the honeycomb.  The bird communicates with the tribesmen with a particular call that is used only for the purpose of contacting humans.  The men call back with the same call and follow the bird until it leads them to the hive.  They get the honeycomb which they then share with the bird by way of a 'thank you'.  Amazing!  We talk about 'dumb animals' but it seems that the ones who have been dumb are us humans in believing that they can't and don't communicate with other creatures within their own species and with those of other species.

We can look at some people and judge them to be a bit OTT and noisy when they might actually be hiding behind a front to disguise the deep loneliness that is their reality.  Someone who can appear stand-offish and keeping themselves at a distance might really be afraid of getting too close to someone.  They may have been hurt too many times in the past and now don't trust either their own judgment or the words of anyone else.  They just don't want to go through the experience of being judged or misunderstood yet again so they prefer not to mix too much.  If someone is a bit grumpy, they might not be bad tempered but be feeling taken for granted and unappreciated when all they want to do is strive to please those around them.  So taking a tip from the research into animal speak, maybe we should listen carefully to the sounds instead of judging too quickly.  Why are they the way they are?  Why do they say the things they say?  What do the sounds and actions really mean?

When we say that someone is talking our language, what we mean is that they understand where we're coming from.  They not only hear the sound of our words but know exactly what we mean.  We feel that they can relate to us in a way that goes deeper than sound.  Befriending in this way takes time and effort.  The programmes took 2 hours to share with the general public but the actual research has taken years.  An article can be read in a few minutes or a sermon can be preached in half an hour (some more, some less) but really getting to know and understand a person's deep longings and needs takes much longer.  It takes observation, continuous contact and a willingness to really listen, not just to the words that are spoken but also to what is not said.  People are often silently crying out in their pain, loneliness and unhappiness but how often we just hear words but don't understand their language.  They are in need for someone to talk their language, know what makes them tick and understand what they are really communicating.  

This is not done through big gatherings but on one-to-one.  It is possible to talk to a load of people all at the same time but really getting to know them and what they are saying is a different ballgame.  You can sit in the garden or the park and listen to all the bird songs but identifying each individual bird and knowing what each separate call signifies is completely different.  It is comforting, refreshingly reassuring and in a sense liberating when someone knows exactly what you mean, when they talk your language.  Listening and not just hearing, seeking to understand instead of dismissing out of hand, that's the key to learning another language.  I pray for a world full of linguists. 

Give us a clue

Those who are familiar with quiz shows and magazines will know of the sort of quiz that gives clues and you have to guess the connection.  Small children are often engaged in such activities in order to teach them about different animals and what they're like, for example: 

Who am I? 
1) I live in Africa.                                            
2) I eat the leaves of tall trees. 
3) I am a sort of orange-y brown colour with dark brown patches.         
4) I have a very long neck. 

Of course the answer is the giraffe.  More points are awarded for the fewer number of clues required to guess correctly.

If a clue is 'they like to eat pizza and pasta' then it's a safe guess to say the Italians.  Likewise if the clue says 'They have been known to eat frogs' legs' then the answer would be the French  I began thinking about this in relation to people groups and their way of life and thinking.  Below is a set of clues that the average person in the street think and relate to:


1) They sometimes seem a bit standoffish.
2) They think they are better than everybody else.
3) They can be quite judgmental of others.
4) They don't like or accept gay or lesbian people, telling them they are wrong.
5) They are restricted in the things they are allowed to partake in so don't join in much.
6) They believe their sacred book and their leaders must not be questioned - they are infallible.
7) They join with others in a special building on a Sunday.

The answer to the clues is 'Christians'.  Christians reading those clues would be adamant that it certainly doesn't describe them.  They are nothing like that.  The sad truth is that most people who are not members of a particular denomination or organised religious group do have that impression of what Christians are like.  Over centuries they have been given a very negative portrayal of Christianity.  And sadly nothing like what we read in the Bible about how or what Jesus was, thought and did.  Christians are more often than not thought to be intolerant, homophobic people who consider themselves to be 'holier than thou', better than the rest and separate themselves from those who are not part of their exclusive Sunday club.  You can join their club only if you change who you are and become a clone.  This sadly is what others see.  


In contrast if we take each of those clues and refer them to how Jesus lived we would get something along the lines of the following:
1) He will talk to anybody.
2) He identifies himself with the poor and needy.
3) He accepts people's shortfalls and cares about them anyway.
4) He loves everyone and accepts anyone who wants to be his friend.
5) He goes wherever he is invited or people need his help or advice.
6) He has often quoted from his sacred book and law and tells people to think about it in a  different way.  He insists that the only true lord and master is God.  All others are fallible  humans.
7) He has been criticised for spending time walking in the fields with his friends and breaking religious rules on his special day of rest.

So it begs the question - how do we put that right?  Maybe we should go through each of the clues in turn,comparing the first and second set of clues and being honest as to which really describes us.  People are crying out 'We would see Jesus'.  As Jesus followers we need to set the record straight and show Him to others by the way we live.  People are not interested in going to a building - God is everywhere.  They don't want to listen to someone preaching at them, telling them how wrong and sinful they are.  They don't want to hear about Him, they want to see Him living in us.  So forget all the theological arguments, dogma and splitting hairs.  We need to have the mind of Christ and really put Jesus at the centre showing God's all-embracing love at work through our actions and attitudes in our daily living.  

That's Entertainment?

He should be nicknamed 'Marmite' - you either love him or you hate him.  Some people wouldn't watch anything he's involved in while for others, his programmes are a 'must see'.  I refer of course to Simon Cowell - the man who, at times, seems to monopolise our viewing options.  To be fair he is usually very honest about his feelings towards the wanabees who appear on his shows.  The fact is that some people don't like him because of the way he is so brutally honest, to the point of being offensive.  But he certainly leaves the aspiring entertainers in no doubt as to what he thinks of them or their acts.  He is always saying that he wants to see something new, different, something he hasn't seen before, something that will catch his attention and keep him interested instead of the same old, same old that he's seen and heard so many times before.

The other day I received a phone call from someone who is regularly in touch, keeping me up to date with what's going on in her life.  She commented on what lovely Easter services she had had at the church where she goes.  She went on to explain in some detail of how the church leader had taken them right through the Easter story a bite-size at a time and interspersed his words with other items in the service.  She said that she really enjoyed the way he held the attention of the congregation and so afterwards deliberately made a point of thanking him for his hard work.  While she was talking, for a moment I thought of Simon Cowell and how he's always looking for something different.  I must admit I was grateful that the conversation was by phone and not Skype so at least she couldn't see the cringing look on my face while she related it all to me.  Ok, there's nothing wrong with trying to find a more engaging way of getting your message across but there are those who seem more taken with the novelty, entertainment value, feel good factor of what's going on than what is actually being said.  Has Sunday morning become nothing more than some sort of spiritual entertainment that we consider good if there is some sort of novel idea or thought?


There is a danger of always looking for a new angle, a different way of doing things in order to keep people interested in church - the catchy tune, some gimmick to get attention.  It almost smacks of 'attention seeking' - in a very spiritual way, of course.  A 'good' church leader is considered to be someone who can always bring something new to their congregation, always has interesting ideas for things to do, projects to be involved in.   I know, I have been in church leadership and done exactly that.  I mean, how many ways are there of telling the same story?  The prophets of the Old Testament would live out their parables and prophecies in order to get their message across.  Jesus not only spoke to people about God but he showed what God is like by the way He lived, the things He did and His attitudes.  In parables He praised the publican while criticising the Pharisee for their prayers in the Temple.  He made a Samaritan (national enemy) the hero of a story while showing disdain for the actions and attitudes of the religious of His day.  He not only spoke against injustice but was prepared to stand up and be counted.


So much energy and time is spent on trying to find a new angle on a Bible story or verse, as though God's Word were not powerful enough in itself.  It seems that what is needed is not that Christians look for ever new ways of saying the same thing but actually living it - that's the Jesus way for a Jesus follower.  More of our energy should be used in spreading the gospel message by our words, actions and attitudes in our everyday living and not just gauge it by what happens when people gather on a Sunday morning.  Actions speak louder than words, as they say. 

Say what you see.

I like to watch quiz shows and puzzles on television.  There is one at the moment called 'Catchphrase' where you have to try and guess what saying is represented by the picture that is unfolding.  The presenter often says 'Just say what you see'.  Ha!, but that's not always so easy.  Sometimes contestants seem to say just about anything other than the correct answer, all the time of course we are shouting the answer at the television.  I also have a number of books called 'Dingbats' that are the same idea of guessing what saying is represented by the picture.  This only works of course if you have heard of the sayings otherwise you could be guessing for a long time without getting the right answer.

Then there are the puzzles that seem to be two different things depending on how you look at it.  In this picture on the right do you see some columns or six people?  There are many of this type of picture.  Some years ago there were computer generated pictures where if you looked in a particular way you could see a 3D image emerging from what seemed to be just a chaotic scene.  What you see is not always apparent immediately.  Sometimes you need to take a long hard look.  


I once saw all the letters of a sentence written altogether - GODISNOWHERE.  That could be interpreted in two ways depending on where you place the spaces between the words.  You could say GOD IS NOWHERE or GOD IS NOW HERE.  You've probably seen that before.  The point is that not everything is at it seems and people often see things differently.  Jesus was curious as to how people saw Him and so asked his disciples 'Who do men say that I am?' There were various answers but Peter saw the truth when he recognised Jesus as the Son of God.  

I was reminded recently at Easter of one of my favourite Godfrey Birtill songs:

When I look at the blood all I see is love, love, love
When I stop at the cross I can see the love of God.

But I can't see competition, I can't see hierarchy.
I can't see pride or prejudice or the abuse of authority.
I can't see lust for power, I can't see manipulation,
I can't see rage or anger or selfish ambition.

But I can't see unforgiveness, I can't see hate or envy,
I can't see stupid fighting or bitterness or jealousy.
I can't see empire building, I can't see self-importance,
I can't see back stabbing or vanity or arrogance.

I see surrender, sacrifice, salvation, humility, righteousness, faithfulness, grace, forgiveness.

How often do people seem to be one thing but turn out to be quite different when you get a closer look.  Or as a friend of mine says 'the outside and the inside don't match'.  It's not just about appearances of 'going to church' or abstaining from certain things/places/language.  Those things aren't the same as showing the love of God in our actions of daily living.  Reading again those words of the above song, as a Jesus follower I need to ask myself 'When people look at me, what do they see?'