Who is responsible for this...?

Well done to all of you who remembered to pray for Her Majesty the Queen today!

Puzzled?
Even as I write I can see the frowns. Is it some special occasion? Has something tragic happened to someone in the royal family? No, don't worry it's nothing like that. I've just been reading from the book of Timothy (lights start to go on in the minds of those with a good memory for matters biblical), in particular I've been reading about prayer. 1Tim 2:2 exhorts us to; Pray for everyone, "for Kings (Queens!?)... and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth...."

"God save our..."
So now you know why I congratulated those who remembered to pray for the Queen, Now we could have an interesting discussion about how much authority the Queen actually has in a parliamentary democracy, but the reality is that she still does command a great deal of respect and not insignificant influence both nationally and internationally.

We could have a further interesting debate on the separation of Church and State, but like it or not Her Majesty is still the head of the Church of England. As such the Queen and her family play a role in shaping how Christianity is viewed in the UK and beyond. That role has no doubt diminished, but not yet disappeared. So as you can see she's in need of our prayers.

Of course the Queen is not the only person in authority. I wonder how many of us have sat and watched the news of the unfolding global financial crisis, seen how the impact of greed is now starting to impact millions of ordinary people. I'd be willing to wager that many of us have commented on the failings of such and such a chancellor, governor or prime minister, and perhaps we were even right in our criticisms, but have we prayed for them?

Who's to blame?
Reading the news and pointing the finger of blame is such a nice easy game, it's much easier than reading the bible and kneeling to pray. I mean running a country is so easy, any one of us could do it,and if only we could manage the trick of turn hindsight into foresight we'd all be brilliant.

Now don't get me wrong, I think that our politicians, captains of industry and the financial powers should be held accountable for their actions. I think that they should be rewarded when they get things right and penalised when they get it wrong. But in these tough times I realise that we need to accept some of the blame too.

Fire and forget?
We vote people into office which is good, but too often we don't shoulder the burden of our responsibilities after that. Too often we just vote and then we simply leave them to it. Scripture takes a different view, scripture tells us to pray. When we don't pray can we blame those in authority when they go off the rails, or is it our job to uphold them in doing right through prayer?

Follow who's example?
Many of us would love to see revival in the Church, and a spiritual awakening in our country. How sad would it be if that revival came and we trained up millions of new believers to follow Christ as we do, and continued to neglect what scripture teaches? We could have a country that was much more Christian in it's make up, and still have a government and economy that was shaped by forces other than God.

Let's Pray. Father forgive us for not praying for those in authority or one another as often as we should. Help us to support those who shape our nation and our economy through our prayers. Give us wisdom to know how to pray for them, that they might have wisdom to make the right decisions. Amen?

So today, as you listen to the news, or read your newspaper, take a moment or two to pray for those involved in the stories you read. Ask yourself if I don't pray can I really expect things to improve?

Discerning?

The row over the so called prank phone calls by Messrs Ross and Brand, continues to reverberate as I write. It's interesting to watch as the media struggles to tackle the issue. In my own mind I'm sure they have done wrong and that the broadcast should never have been allowed to be aired which shows that others in the BBC have done wrong too.

When compared to so much of what passes for entertainment today, their breach of good taste seems less of a crime. Therein lies the problem. We have been conditioned to take a relative view by the self same media that is now in full hue and cry over the issue of standards of decency on the media. Compared to X's behaviour then Y's looks tame goes the thinking. The problem is that when there are no absolutes, no benchmarks, then deciding how bad something is is a matter of subjective opinion.

My job involves working with machines that run at high speeds, and that rely on things being adjusted to very fine tolerances, so that things line up with each other. To make life simple these machines have datum points, bench marks that show you where things were when the machine was first built and running effectively.

If you you choose to ignore these datum points when setting up the machine then you risk either damaging the machine, or running it in a way that produces sub-standard results. Yet despite this, it's not unusual too see inexperienced engineers trying to take short cuts and subjectively setting things up by eye. Invariably the machine or it's output suffers and eventually someone will order the work redone, properly.

As human beings we need datum points, we need standards that are not simply subjective or we risk living damaged lives that are less than what they could be. God has given us His datum point, His living benchmark - Jesus. When we choose to ignore God's benchmark and take the lazy subjective route we end up in a mess.

Bethlehem Live, tells the story of the arrival of God's benchmark. It's a wonderful true story, one that still makes the papers each Christmas, a story that will continue to run long after Messers Brand and Ross and their bad behaviour have been forgotten.

Please take a few minutes to pray and ask God to use Bethlehem Live to speak to people of His love, and how we can live better more fulfilling lives by aligning out hearts with Jesus as the perfect datum point for mankind. We should also pray that those in the limelight, and behind the scenes in the media, know His love and forgiveness too...plainly they (like me) need it!

Bethlehem Live - Countdown 47 days to go!

All of the people involved in putting together "Bethlehem Live" are very excited about the project. It's the first time that so many different Bury churches have come together to work on a project, to the best of my knowledge. That in itself should be a cause of some excitement. God promises His blessing when His people come together in unity to do His work. (Psalm 133) I know that the blessing we'd all be delighted by, is to have many hear and come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour through this project.

One of the most important facets of making "Bethlehem Live" the success we all hope for is prayer. This is the foundational, back-room work on which all the other work stands.

To this end, over then next few weeks I'm going to use the BCF prayer blog to help our folks lift the event to Father in prayer, by means of a prayer countdown.

27/10/08 - 47 days to go:
I know that the various churches involved will all have prayer co-ordinators working to help focus prayer on every aspect of Bethlehem Live, under the overall co-ordination of Val Ingram.
So it seems appropriate to ask folks to pray for all those involved in prayer co-ordination as a starting point today.

Please pray asking Father to stir all those involved in prayer for this project and to excite them afresh with His vision for the Church in Bury.

Each separate church in Bury is a part of the larger Church. Scripture calls that Church "The Body of Christ", what a privilege to be a part of that Body as it comes together to work on "Bethlehem Live." It's something we should be excited about and that should help motivate us to soak the event in prayer.

Pray that those coordinating prayer will find the task stimulating and rewarding, and that God will create in them an infectious enthusiasm that will stir many to prayer. Happy praying!

Tornados?

This contribution is from a friend of mine called Francine she writes.

"I was looking for a CD by Jason Upton. (He wrote a song called 'Fly' in 2005 ) and I came across this by him:

“Remember” is a compilation of two nights of ministry. The first night was recorded in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The tornado that devastated Oklahoma City was headed right for us the night we were scheduled to begin our ministry at a local church. At first the church leadership wanted to send everyone to a protected area. I suggested, ‘maybe we could sneak a little worship song in before we head to shelter’. They agreed and we began to sing the song, "They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love". When we got into the middle of the song I was led to begin speaking directly to that tornado. I did not want to do this because I could not get past the thought of how stupid I would look speaking against this tornado and then, when the song was over, all of us having to run for our lives to shelter. I was afraid that my words……..might just be words…….absent the power of God to stop that tornado. But while thinking this very thought I found myself already speaking…….it was too late to stop. So it surprised me more than anyone else to later learn that, immediately as we started praying, the tornado system mysteriously broke apart. (How weak my faith is!) God literally stopped a tornado that night as we played and prayed. I hope I never forget it. Yes God can stop a natural tornado. But much more importantly, if we would ask, God will stop the spiritual tornadoes that divide us and render us such an anemic force on the earth. My prayer is that we will ‘come to the water’, the very love of the Father, and quickly shed the independence that so weakens us. Only then will we be able to take on the radical dependence of a child that was the strength of the early Christians."

She goes on to say "As I read the above, I thought about the prayer blog: To encourage everyone to pray, to seek God's face, Matthew 7: 7 - 11, that spiritual tornadoes would stop in their tracks and see not division, hurt, illness, whatever it is. But as we ask causing situations to turn around and victory, strength in us to arise with our communication with Father God.

Its only by the water of life, and the food of God, His word and that deep commune that comes from being honest with Him, and talking to Him, that provides us the necessary means to fight the good fight of Faith and to stand our Ground as Ephesians 6 calls us to."

What tornado's do you face in your life? They may not be literal tornado's, but whatever the storm God can deal with it, if you will only ask, and allow Him to.

Bethlehem Live - The Countdown Begins!

The first lights are lit, the latest yuletide adverts start to roll, and the hunt is on to spot the first Christmas tree of the season....yes it's October!

It seems that Christmas comes around earlier every year, and even children appear to be questioning why?! Can't we at least get Bonfire night out of the way first?

For so many people Christmas has become the season of the consumer and this year with the credit crunch and recession looming large, no doubt high street retailers will be desperate to exploit the seasonal feeding frenzy to the max. Little wonder then that Christmas is greeted by so many people with more than a little cynicism. The mystery and awe of that first Christmas has been lost amidst all the tinsel and till ringing. Once it was all about the gift to mankind. A tiny new born child, the carrier of hope, born surrounded by the stark realities of stable life. Now it's all about what have you got for me and can I have it, Now!?

Bethlehem Live is our attempt to show what Christmas is all about. I was tempted to say it's our attempt to remind folks what Christmas is all about, but sadly the polsters tell us that today fewer and fewer people know the Christmas story in any meaningful way. So rather than a re-telling of the tale, for many Bethlehem Live will probably be the first telling.

The true Christmas story is the story of the greatest gift ever given, yet it's been eclipsed by the avalanche of consumerism. The most valuable gift EVER swamped by billions of relatively worthless presents, ranging from "it's only a bit of fun" tat, through to the costliest of material baubles. Yet all of these pale into insignificance compared to that baby born 20 centuries ago! It's story that is worth the re-telling, if we take the time to understand it. It's value is plain there can be no doubt of that - yet it's threatened, an endangered species, that is being slowly choked by consumerism, relativism, secularism and even dare I say it political correctness.

So Bethlehem Live is our attempt to draw back veil of time and reveal the story of that first Christmas as it would have happened. A story free from tinsel and till bells, a few precious minutes away from the mayhem of the supermarket and the Christmas crush.

Bethlehem Live is simple in concept, it's a staging of the Christmas story, with all it's sights sounds and smells. It's an attempt to allow people to connect the real world facts of the story with the real world of today. It's a step away from the romanticised view of the Christmas card designer, who all too often show the stable scene in a kind of soft focus sterility. At Bethlehem Live we hope to show things in a more realistic light, a scene where shepherds and doting natal parents have to watch where they tread as the baby Jesus shares his sleeping quarters with real animals!

Please can I encourage you to pray as each of the churches involved begins it's preperations.
Pray for:
- The scenes being prepared that they come together to tell the story well.
- The publicity, that many would hear and come along to see Bethlehem Live.
- The visitors, that they would see the truth and receive the greatest Christmas gift ever!