That man Thierry Henry again
24/11/09 15:51 Filed in: Musings
What are your ambitions?
I remember that question being asked in English class
at school. What nonsense we wrote—one of mine was
swimming the English Channel. I suspect we weren’t
writing our ambitions, but seeking to impress the
teacher.
The ambitions of children differ somewhat from those of adults. But perhaps only in terms of realism. Our ambitions become a little more in tune with our abilities (unless of course you’re on X-Factor).
Ambition is fine, but it has a nasty habit of springing surprises on us. Consider the now infamous Thierry Henry, footballing superstar, and now possibly seeking to switch to Gaelic football, except that he wouldn’t be welcome in Ireland. His ambition to get France to the World Cup finals took a nasty turn for the worse.
Ambition has a habit of narrowing us as individuals. We see our goal and only our goal. Other things that stand in the way become secondary—in Henry’s case, the rules of the game, sportsmanship, integrity, reputation etc. The result becomes all that matters. And it’s true not only for him, but also for us in all sorts of different ways. Consider the pursuit of something ordinary—a quiet evening in. Your aim is peace and relaxation, but your children aren’t aware of that! And in pursuit of your goal, you turn into a screaming threatening monster, resentment and fear is bred, and relationship damaged. Our ambition has blinkered us.
Ambition also has a habit of disappointing us; we get what we aim for, only to find out that it isn’t as fulfilling as we thought. Or we achieve success, only to be eclipsed by others.
Ambition brings fear and anxiety too—what if my goal doesn’t materialise? What if I get it and something threatens it?
Am I saying that we should all be spineless, ambitionless couch potatoes? Certainly not. But there has to be a way of having ambitions that doesn’t narrow us, disappoint us, or threaten us.
The answer is found in Philippians 3:10-11where the apostle Paul sets out his ambition in three strands. He wants to know Christ, he wants to be like Christ, and he wants to be with Christ.
Here is the greatest ambition anyone can have—to know and relate to the infinite God who created the universe, forever. Here is ultimate success. Here is ambition that lasts. Here is an ambition that will never disappoint, be taken from us, threaten us, or narrow us.
Instead, when we get this one right, then all our other ambitions fall into place, and we can enjoy the pursuit of them, whether we get them or not—because our happiness, security, identity isn’t bound up in them, but in who we are before God.
What is your ambition? And where will it take you?
The ambitions of children differ somewhat from those of adults. But perhaps only in terms of realism. Our ambitions become a little more in tune with our abilities (unless of course you’re on X-Factor).
Ambition is fine, but it has a nasty habit of springing surprises on us. Consider the now infamous Thierry Henry, footballing superstar, and now possibly seeking to switch to Gaelic football, except that he wouldn’t be welcome in Ireland. His ambition to get France to the World Cup finals took a nasty turn for the worse.
Ambition has a habit of narrowing us as individuals. We see our goal and only our goal. Other things that stand in the way become secondary—in Henry’s case, the rules of the game, sportsmanship, integrity, reputation etc. The result becomes all that matters. And it’s true not only for him, but also for us in all sorts of different ways. Consider the pursuit of something ordinary—a quiet evening in. Your aim is peace and relaxation, but your children aren’t aware of that! And in pursuit of your goal, you turn into a screaming threatening monster, resentment and fear is bred, and relationship damaged. Our ambition has blinkered us.
Ambition also has a habit of disappointing us; we get what we aim for, only to find out that it isn’t as fulfilling as we thought. Or we achieve success, only to be eclipsed by others.
Ambition brings fear and anxiety too—what if my goal doesn’t materialise? What if I get it and something threatens it?
Am I saying that we should all be spineless, ambitionless couch potatoes? Certainly not. But there has to be a way of having ambitions that doesn’t narrow us, disappoint us, or threaten us.
The answer is found in Philippians 3:10-11where the apostle Paul sets out his ambition in three strands. He wants to know Christ, he wants to be like Christ, and he wants to be with Christ.
Here is the greatest ambition anyone can have—to know and relate to the infinite God who created the universe, forever. Here is ultimate success. Here is ambition that lasts. Here is an ambition that will never disappoint, be taken from us, threaten us, or narrow us.
Instead, when we get this one right, then all our other ambitions fall into place, and we can enjoy the pursuit of them, whether we get them or not—because our happiness, security, identity isn’t bound up in them, but in who we are before God.
What is your ambition? And where will it take you?
Anonymous Calliope
10/11/09 15:48 Filed in: In Defence
Dear Calliope,
Thank you for your letter in response to a previous column, although since you gave no address, this is the about the only option left for response. In response to my claim that God is a master artist you raise what you imagine to be numerous “design faults, never corrected” such as earthquakes, tsunamis etc. I can only assume that you haven’t read much of this column before because I have written often on these sorts of issues, as well as others you mention.
You write, “If I were God I wouldn’t have the neck to ‘proclaim my handiwork’ when it is so lethally shoddy”. It is as a result of mankind’s ‘handiwork’ that it has become lethal. I don’t just mean that in the sense that we have damaged the planet physically, although we have, but the issue goes deeper.
The Bible teaches that the world was created perfect—without any such design faults. Man however decided that he would rather cast aside the authority of his Creator, and in doing so found out that he cannot both have his cake and eat it. He cannot throw off God’s rule and still enjoy all the benefits of God’s rule. As a result of mankind’s rebellion God subjected his creation to decay and struggle in order to help us see the painful reality that life without God is fragile and futile. They are not design faults; they are consequences of rebellion.
In short, the brokenness of the world is our fault, and is there to show us that we need God more than we realise. Even it we are the ones to blame, God himself has stepped into the brokenness in the person of Jesus Christ to provide the solution, but that solution isn’t simply the waving of a magic wand to take away the earthquakes etc. The solution starts much closer to home in the recesses of your heart and mine. We need to resubmit to the authority of God (by the way, the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament is exactly the same, and there is no contradiction between him and Jesus, for they are one), and seek forgiveness for our own rebellion against his kind rule. Only when that is done can we look forward to seeing this broken masterpiece restored to its original form—with everything corrected.
Yours sincerely
Mark
PS – I know this doesn’t answer everything, but if you really want to discuss, then drop me a line, with an address.
Thank you for your letter in response to a previous column, although since you gave no address, this is the about the only option left for response. In response to my claim that God is a master artist you raise what you imagine to be numerous “design faults, never corrected” such as earthquakes, tsunamis etc. I can only assume that you haven’t read much of this column before because I have written often on these sorts of issues, as well as others you mention.
You write, “If I were God I wouldn’t have the neck to ‘proclaim my handiwork’ when it is so lethally shoddy”. It is as a result of mankind’s ‘handiwork’ that it has become lethal. I don’t just mean that in the sense that we have damaged the planet physically, although we have, but the issue goes deeper.
The Bible teaches that the world was created perfect—without any such design faults. Man however decided that he would rather cast aside the authority of his Creator, and in doing so found out that he cannot both have his cake and eat it. He cannot throw off God’s rule and still enjoy all the benefits of God’s rule. As a result of mankind’s rebellion God subjected his creation to decay and struggle in order to help us see the painful reality that life without God is fragile and futile. They are not design faults; they are consequences of rebellion.
In short, the brokenness of the world is our fault, and is there to show us that we need God more than we realise. Even it we are the ones to blame, God himself has stepped into the brokenness in the person of Jesus Christ to provide the solution, but that solution isn’t simply the waving of a magic wand to take away the earthquakes etc. The solution starts much closer to home in the recesses of your heart and mine. We need to resubmit to the authority of God (by the way, the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament is exactly the same, and there is no contradiction between him and Jesus, for they are one), and seek forgiveness for our own rebellion against his kind rule. Only when that is done can we look forward to seeing this broken masterpiece restored to its original form—with everything corrected.
Yours sincerely
Mark
PS – I know this doesn’t answer everything, but if you really want to discuss, then drop me a line, with an address.
November's Verse
03/11/09 14:31 Filed in: Bible
(By Jonny McCollum –
working with New Life Fellowship)
Ocean, Satchel, Apple, Pilot. What do these words have in common? They’re just a few of the weird and wacky names celebrities have given to their kids. And it’s not just celebrities who are up to it—a New Zealand couple weren’t allowed to call their child ‘4Real’ (apparently names can’t contain a digit) and they had to come up with a more conventional name. Their choice? ‘Superman’.
Why would a parent choose such a quirky name? Maybe it’s to prove a point, or perhaps it’s just to get attention. Most parents choose a name for more obvious reasons—some babies are named after friends or family. Some are named after singers or footballers. But often a name is chosen simply because the parents like how it sounds.
In some cultures names are deeply significant. Names aren’t chosen because of how they sound, but of because of what they mean. The name reflects the parents’ hopes and aspirations for their newborn child. It’s hard for us to grasp just how significant a baby’s name is in other cultures. 2000 years ago, Jesus was born into one of these cultures. So surely Joseph and Mary had a particularly difficult decision to make?
Not really, no.
Months before Jesus was born, an angel appeared to Joseph and gave Him instructions. The verse on the calendar this month contains one of these instructions.
“Give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21)
The message was clear—the baby was to be called Jesus. The name means ‘God saves’, and that’s exactly why Jesus was born. He was the saviour that God had been promising for thousands of years. This unborn child was the one who would save His people from their sins. He would deal with the guilt and the punishment that are part and parcel of doing wrong.
Often we can try to save ourselves from our sins—we try hard to be good so we can make up for our past mistakes. But we can never be good enough. We can never get rid of our guilt. We can only be rescued if we turn to the rescuer.
Jesus is the only person who can deal with our sins because he is the only one who has no sins of his own to deal with. Only Jesus can rescue us from our guilt. If we ask him to, Jesus will save us from our sins. It’s what he was born to do.
Ocean, Satchel, Apple, Pilot. What do these words have in common? They’re just a few of the weird and wacky names celebrities have given to their kids. And it’s not just celebrities who are up to it—a New Zealand couple weren’t allowed to call their child ‘4Real’ (apparently names can’t contain a digit) and they had to come up with a more conventional name. Their choice? ‘Superman’.
Why would a parent choose such a quirky name? Maybe it’s to prove a point, or perhaps it’s just to get attention. Most parents choose a name for more obvious reasons—some babies are named after friends or family. Some are named after singers or footballers. But often a name is chosen simply because the parents like how it sounds.
In some cultures names are deeply significant. Names aren’t chosen because of how they sound, but of because of what they mean. The name reflects the parents’ hopes and aspirations for their newborn child. It’s hard for us to grasp just how significant a baby’s name is in other cultures. 2000 years ago, Jesus was born into one of these cultures. So surely Joseph and Mary had a particularly difficult decision to make?
Not really, no.
Months before Jesus was born, an angel appeared to Joseph and gave Him instructions. The verse on the calendar this month contains one of these instructions.
“Give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21)
The message was clear—the baby was to be called Jesus. The name means ‘God saves’, and that’s exactly why Jesus was born. He was the saviour that God had been promising for thousands of years. This unborn child was the one who would save His people from their sins. He would deal with the guilt and the punishment that are part and parcel of doing wrong.
Often we can try to save ourselves from our sins—we try hard to be good so we can make up for our past mistakes. But we can never be good enough. We can never get rid of our guilt. We can only be rescued if we turn to the rescuer.
Jesus is the only person who can deal with our sins because he is the only one who has no sins of his own to deal with. Only Jesus can rescue us from our guilt. If we ask him to, Jesus will save us from our sins. It’s what he was born to do.
Special Service - God the Master Artist
27/10/09 14:31 Filed in: Events
Donegal’s a great place
to live. One of the questions often asked by my
well-meaning northern acquaintances is, “Have you
settled in yet?”, even though we have been here nine
years. If we haven’t settled in yet, then there must be
a problem!
Donegal is simply glorious in its scenery. The rugged mountains, the barren heather-covered hills, the long sandy beaches. I love the time of year that we’ve come to—the low afternoon sun casting its long shadows, bathing everything in a golden glow. I love that crispness to the air—cold enough to see your breath, but not enough wind to blow the cold deep into your bones. I love the autumn colours of the landscape as the sun brings them out—the greens of the fields, against the blue of the sky, the golden browns of the trees just before their leaves fall.
Now it’s getting somewhat colder, and the place to be is inside. So, wearing my other hat – that of minister of Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church, I invite you to come to a special service we’re holding to praise God for his work of creation. The conservation folks at An Taisce usually have an annual service, and this year they’ve asked us to host and organise it for them; we’re delighted to do that and would like to broaden the invitation to everyone.
The theme of the evening will be “God: the Master Artist”. One aspect of the evening will be a journey of praise through the book of Psalms looking at Psalms which celebrate both the Creator and the creation. But much more than looking at the creation, we will be looking at the artist himself—posing the question, If the creation is this fantastic, what must the creator be like? We are going to let scripture guide us on a take a brief high-speed tour of the universe, pausing to ponder the artist as well as the art.
We’d love to see you there on Sunday 1st November at 7.30pm at Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church on the Kilmacrenan Road, Milford.
“The spacious heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim his handiwork.”
Psalm 19:1
Donegal is simply glorious in its scenery. The rugged mountains, the barren heather-covered hills, the long sandy beaches. I love the time of year that we’ve come to—the low afternoon sun casting its long shadows, bathing everything in a golden glow. I love that crispness to the air—cold enough to see your breath, but not enough wind to blow the cold deep into your bones. I love the autumn colours of the landscape as the sun brings them out—the greens of the fields, against the blue of the sky, the golden browns of the trees just before their leaves fall.
Now it’s getting somewhat colder, and the place to be is inside. So, wearing my other hat – that of minister of Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church, I invite you to come to a special service we’re holding to praise God for his work of creation. The conservation folks at An Taisce usually have an annual service, and this year they’ve asked us to host and organise it for them; we’re delighted to do that and would like to broaden the invitation to everyone.
The theme of the evening will be “God: the Master Artist”. One aspect of the evening will be a journey of praise through the book of Psalms looking at Psalms which celebrate both the Creator and the creation. But much more than looking at the creation, we will be looking at the artist himself—posing the question, If the creation is this fantastic, what must the creator be like? We are going to let scripture guide us on a take a brief high-speed tour of the universe, pausing to ponder the artist as well as the art.
We’d love to see you there on Sunday 1st November at 7.30pm at Milford Reformed Presbyterian Church on the Kilmacrenan Road, Milford.
“The spacious heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim his handiwork.”
Psalm 19:1
Who wants to live forever?
20/10/09 14:31 Filed in: Musings
Not me. At least, not the
way scientists are trying to go about it. Scientist Ray
Kurzweil claims that humans could become immortal in as
little as 20 years’ time through nanotechnology. He’s
not quite a nutcase; he has a track record of
predicting new technologies.
He argues that the technology to replace many of our vital organs could be available by then. Already artificial pancreases and neural implants are available.
He writes, “I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogramme our bodies so we can halt, then reverse, ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever.”
“Within 25 years we will be able to do an Olympic sprint for 15 minutes without taking a breath, or go scuba-diving for four hours without oxygen.”
It still sounds pretty fantastic—ie. mostly fantasy—to me. It would certainly make the Olympics a non-event. And there’d be little need for performance enhancing drugs when we can all run like a gazelle.
Yet from time immemorial man has sought ways to find the elixir of youth and live forever. In more recent years those rich enough have settled for plastic surgery and looking like a youth until they die. And those richer still, and even more hopeful of scientific progress, have had themselves cryogenically frozen in the hope of a second shot at life at a future date.
Much and all as I enjoy life, I can think of few things worse than living forever in this world. This world is profoundly messed up, and for all the progress that science has made, it has failed to deal with the problems of the human heart. The thought of living forever in a world surrounded by selfishness, greed, evil, murder, dishonesty, etc is a depressing one. Despite the compensations of friends, family and pleasures, an eternal nightly litany on the news of abuse, violence, corruption and immorality isn’t a particularly appealing one.
I do want to live forever, but not here. I want a perfect world, one where the problems of the human heart have been dealt with. And that’s not a pipe dream. While it can’t be done by science, it’s why Jesus came to live and die here: to deal with the problem of the human heart, so that that longing that lies deep within us—the hunger to live for more than the few short years we have on this earth—could be fulfilled.
He argues that the technology to replace many of our vital organs could be available by then. Already artificial pancreases and neural implants are available.
He writes, “I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogramme our bodies so we can halt, then reverse, ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever.”
“Within 25 years we will be able to do an Olympic sprint for 15 minutes without taking a breath, or go scuba-diving for four hours without oxygen.”
It still sounds pretty fantastic—ie. mostly fantasy—to me. It would certainly make the Olympics a non-event. And there’d be little need for performance enhancing drugs when we can all run like a gazelle.
Yet from time immemorial man has sought ways to find the elixir of youth and live forever. In more recent years those rich enough have settled for plastic surgery and looking like a youth until they die. And those richer still, and even more hopeful of scientific progress, have had themselves cryogenically frozen in the hope of a second shot at life at a future date.
Much and all as I enjoy life, I can think of few things worse than living forever in this world. This world is profoundly messed up, and for all the progress that science has made, it has failed to deal with the problems of the human heart. The thought of living forever in a world surrounded by selfishness, greed, evil, murder, dishonesty, etc is a depressing one. Despite the compensations of friends, family and pleasures, an eternal nightly litany on the news of abuse, violence, corruption and immorality isn’t a particularly appealing one.
I do want to live forever, but not here. I want a perfect world, one where the problems of the human heart have been dealt with. And that’s not a pipe dream. While it can’t be done by science, it’s why Jesus came to live and die here: to deal with the problem of the human heart, so that that longing that lies deep within us—the hunger to live for more than the few short years we have on this earth—could be fulfilled.
Apparitions at Knock
13/10/09 14:31 Filed in: Current
Events
Last Sunday hoards of
people descended on the Mayo village of Knock in
response to a prediction made by Dublin-based
clairvoyant Joe Coleman. He forecast that an apparition
of the Virgin Mary would appear at 3pm. He made a
similar prediction about an appearance near Dungloe
last week.
Coleman claims he has had regular visions of Mary since 1986. He said regarding the predicted Knock apparition on Sunday, “She has told me she wants to make the biggest statement she has ever made on this earth.”
What are we to make of all this? Mary was undoubtedly a remarkable woman, ‘highly favoured by God’ as the Bible puts it. She was a young girl when she was landed with news that would turn her life upsidedown—in ways far from pleasant. She was to have a son, outside of marriage—an event in a time and culture where this was unthinkable. She is told that a ‘sword will pierce her heart too’—this son is going to bring great pain and sorrow to her. Yet she shows great fortitude and faith throughout.
But one thing she always does is to direct attention to her son, to step back from the limelight, and to keep him in it. She is presented in scripture as one who ‘ponders and stores things up in her heart’. Even when Christ ascended into Heaven and his followers were meeting in Jerusalem she still doesn’t push herself forward, she remains in the background. It would have been easy to try to claim status in that little group, but in her superb humility she doesn’t—for that would upstage her son, and his message of salvation. What a humility of heart.
I think this is significant, and bears thinking about. Her focus is not on herself, but always on her son. This is fully exemplified in words spoken at his first miracle when she turned to the servants and said, “Do whatever he tells you.” There she is, always directing the attention to Jesus.
And what is it he says? “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” It is Jesus who gives us rest. It is him we are to go to, and focus on.
What are we to make of these recent happenings? I think we should assess them by Holy Scripture’s own criteria. And I think that the biggest statement Mary ever made on earth was delivered somewhere around 30AD at Cana in Galilee, “Do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5)
Coleman claims he has had regular visions of Mary since 1986. He said regarding the predicted Knock apparition on Sunday, “She has told me she wants to make the biggest statement she has ever made on this earth.”
What are we to make of all this? Mary was undoubtedly a remarkable woman, ‘highly favoured by God’ as the Bible puts it. She was a young girl when she was landed with news that would turn her life upsidedown—in ways far from pleasant. She was to have a son, outside of marriage—an event in a time and culture where this was unthinkable. She is told that a ‘sword will pierce her heart too’—this son is going to bring great pain and sorrow to her. Yet she shows great fortitude and faith throughout.
But one thing she always does is to direct attention to her son, to step back from the limelight, and to keep him in it. She is presented in scripture as one who ‘ponders and stores things up in her heart’. Even when Christ ascended into Heaven and his followers were meeting in Jerusalem she still doesn’t push herself forward, she remains in the background. It would have been easy to try to claim status in that little group, but in her superb humility she doesn’t—for that would upstage her son, and his message of salvation. What a humility of heart.
I think this is significant, and bears thinking about. Her focus is not on herself, but always on her son. This is fully exemplified in words spoken at his first miracle when she turned to the servants and said, “Do whatever he tells you.” There she is, always directing the attention to Jesus.
And what is it he says? “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” It is Jesus who gives us rest. It is him we are to go to, and focus on.
What are we to make of these recent happenings? I think we should assess them by Holy Scripture’s own criteria. And I think that the biggest statement Mary ever made on earth was delivered somewhere around 30AD at Cana in Galilee, “Do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5)