Windows On The Soul

" Live creatively "; thus starts Peterson's paraphrase of Gal.6:1 . The traditional translations start with the situation of a Christian succumbing to sin. But the important focus of this verse is on the response of the spiritually mature members of the church. We are called to gently, humbly and forgivingly restore such people to the full fellowship, because one day we may be the one needing forgiveness. The concepts of creativity and restoration, suggest bringing something beautiful to life out of something that was dead. Further, the creation of something beautiful is not something that the 'dead' object or person can achieve by themselves, but only as the hands of the creator lovingly moulds and shapes. Of course it is God through Jesus who is the master craftsman who can turn sinful men into 'children of God'. But it is the church who is called to the curators job of constant tending and restoration of one-another.

My recent readings have ranged widely, from New Age (Quantum Healing), a Christian psychotherapist (The Road Less Travelled), through spiritual disciplines (Practicing Peace and Celebration of Discipline). The New Age book with a twisted pseudo-scientific slant inevitably leads down the path of mystic meditation with the promise of possible physical healing, but totalling ignores the problem of sin. The psychiatrist presents some excellent insights into what makes us tick (or sometimes 'toc'), the pre-eminence of love, the importance of grace and the nature of evil. The Disciplines present excellent material on spiritual growth principles. But the one common theme to lesser or greater extent, was the emphasis on what "I" can do: shades of "works" versus "grace". We must be constantly aware in our striving toward spiritual maturity and growth (and I'm sure the above Christian authors would agree) that our starting point must always be the ...

“ What the Church needs are more ‘deep’ Christians ” (Richard Foster, “Celebration of Discipline”).  The Apostle Paul wrote, “ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!!” ( Rom.11:33 ) How does one become a ‘deeper’ Christian? It takes ‘Time’ and ‘Experience’. To know the depth of something, one must have ‘plumbed’ the depth, that is attempted some sort of measure. To have some knowledge of the depth of God, one must explore the consequences and implications of Christian faith on one’s life and society, and thus to start to see the vast possibilities. Such exploration, takes time in God’s word, time with Him in prayer, and time in constructive, exploratory fellowship together. But most of all, depth of understanding and knowledge of the wisdom, grace and ways of God, come from experience. We learn only a small amount from what we hear, a larger amount from what we read and s...

“ I ask... that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ” ( John 17:20,21 ). The squabbles in the church must sadden our Lord who prayed that his followers may be one. If the church worldwide were united (in spirit, not necessarily in one organisation), the world would take notice. As it is, critics of the church are constantly mocking us for our sectarian divisiveness. The church is both human and divine. It comprises fallible humans, and has yet to be perfectly redeemed. It is divine - the Body of Christ. So we need to be patient with an imperfect church. Henry Scott Holland put it this way in 1914 when the Bishop of Zanzibar wrote a pamphlet asking where the church stood. Scott Holland said that it did not stand at all, but 'moves and pushes and slides and staggers and falls and gets up again, and stumbles on and presses forward and falls into the right positi...

In Paul’s letter of guidance to the young new minister, Timothy, he warns him of what sort of things he can expect to see happening in his congregation in “later times” ( 1 Tim.4 ). Apart from some things we normally see as being evil, such as people being led astray by “ lying spirits ” and the “ teachings of demons ” ( v.1 ), Paul also mentions some things that we might not normally consider as being wrong. He warns against various obsessions, such as physical exercise ( v.8 ) - we saw the newspaper article just last week about people becoming “hooked” on work-outs. He warns about an obsession of celibacy ( v.3 ), and obsessions of what to eat or not to eat ( v.3 ). Whilst we don’t see much of the former (although the opposite addiction to sex is now recognised), the later obsessions about foods, diets and ‘health’ regimes are rampant. Whilst our physical ‘needs’ are important, it is more important that our spiritual needs are nurtured. The spiritual ‘food’ to take in ...