Day 10: Truth Telling....

Exodus 20:16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.

It’s with a bit of sadness that I observe the slow exiting of Tony Blair from office because I remember the optimism with which he swept into government in 1997. Labour spokespeople talked about being whiter than white, of not just being free of the sleaze that killed the outgoing government, but of the importance of being seen to be without that sleaze. But that ambition has faltered. Corrupt ministers, the war in Iraq, and his seeming pursuit of wealthy friends (not to mention his spats with his next door neighbour) have destroyed his reputation for integrity. Like most politicians that have been around for a while, it seems that we don’t trust any words that come out of his mouth.

Jesus said 'know the truth', [in other words have a complete, personal, intimate, life transforming relationship with me, then I will show you how to live in this world, to treat other people, to properly put things into perspective so your relationship with God will be restored, and you will bring healing, not conflict to the world] 'and the truth will set you free.' Imagine what it would be like living in a world where truth telling was the norm. Imagine living in a world where behind every deal, transaction, or agreement, no secrets were waiting to sneak up and surprise you. Imagine being seen as a person of such integrity. People would want to do business with you.

Tony seems to be a man of faith, who reads theology in his spare time according to several newspaper profiles, and I remember him giving a speech to the Labour party conference in 1995 where he seemed to hold to the truth above. Talking about justice and exclusion within our society, and our responsibilities to each other, he said "We are our brother’s keeper, we will not walk by on the other side." We have to acknowledge that it is harder to be in charge than to critique from the outside, but I wonder if after a decade of Labour we can say that Tony has led us in keeping our brothers and crossing over to the other side.

Because then we will be on the road to knowing the truth, and having the truth set us free....

Day 9: Act Generously....

Exodus 20:15 "You shall not steal.

A few years ago what I really wanted at Christmas was a Palm Pilot. Now I know these things don’t come cheap, so I dropped hints to all my family members that perhaps they could all make a small contribution. “I don’t want your tat,” I told them, “just give me your money.”

On Christmas day I got a card from my brother in law. Having been taught well by my mother I gave it a good shake so that the money would drop out and I could be suitably grateful. But none did. Instead inside was a picture of a goat, which I had apparently ‘bought’ and sent to Africa….

Now it’s not that I think my brother in law is cheap. But I think that he was playing a part in a lesson that God wants me to learn. In our lives we have much, sometimes too much. It might not be enough for us not to steal, but for us to act generously.

The richest 20% of the world’s population:
• consume 45% of all meat and fish; the poorest consume 5%
• consume 58% of all energy; the poorest less than 4%
• have 74% of all telephone lines; the poorest 1.1%
• consume 84% of all paper; the poorest 1.1%
• own 87% of motor vehicles; the poorest less than 1%

It may not just be about keeping our noses clean. Saying we’re not stealing may not be enough. While we satisfy the negative command, do not, what about the positive that it alludes to? We need to be generous with what we own. We need to be compassionate with it. We need to be realists about what we can achieve with our time and resources. And we have to wonder if by just sitting on what we have we are in fact stealing from Him who gave us everything in the first place.

Day 8: Jesus speaks….

Exodus 20:14 "You shall not commit adultery.

Nobody comments better on these words than Jesus himself….

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered round him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no-one condemned you?"
"No-one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
John 8:2-11

Day 7: The world’s gone mad….

Exodus 20:13 "You shall not murder.

Where were you on September 11th 2001?

I was on a train travelling back from Sheffield with a colleague when Jenny sent me a text message. "The World's gone mad.... get to a TV quick." Of course I couldn't, but we did have a mini-radio and we managed to listen to Radio 5 all afternoon as we wound our way up the East Coast mainline. We didn't see the pictures till we got to Glasgow, and sitting on a train with only one little radio, and rumour spreading throughout the carriage was a numbing experience. And my friend was American....

Since then our world has changed - there was conflict before the twin towers, and there is conflict now. It's not confined to the 'war on terror', it's everywhere, Darfur, Afghanistan, Iraq, Indonesia, Lebanon, Gaza, West Africa, Madrid, London....

I wonder how it has changed me. Have I hardened my heart, or has it been softened? Do I look at the world from a western viewpoint (we need to burn all the poppy fields because they make drugs) or can I take a global stance (we need to find poppy farmers an alternative source of income)? Am I a more cautious person now, or more reckless? Do I want to protect what I have, or ask who others want to destroy it? Do I turn to God more, or do I rail against him for abandoning us? Am I to be an agent for change, or peace, or justice?

Jesus told us that we would hear of wars and rumours of wars. He was warning us that we would have no peace, that there would be forever conflict, that somehow we are trapped on a downward spiral until he came back. But he also gave us hope. The Bible tells us that, despite all the uncertainty in the world and the fact that we do not know which way we are going, ultimately God stands behind history, and He will bring it to a close when He is ready.

Until He comes - a phrase which was written on the Communion Table of the Church I grew up in. Jesus tells us that in this world we will have trouble. Until He comes....

Day 6: Share….

Exodus 20:12 "Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Sorry it;'s a few hours late.....

Have you heard of the IPOD generation? I heard about it on the radio yesterday. The IPOD generation (do you think they made up the name and then thought up the definitions?) are twenty-to-thirty-somethings who are Insecure, Pressured, Overtaxed, Debt ridden, and a Think Tank are claiming that they are contributing to the Welfare State without getting any of it's benefits and being hit with student debt, soaring housing costs and job insecurity. Apparently it's stifling the lifeblood of a generation that is responsible for building the nation's future as they are paying more than their fair share....

It got me thinking about the Fifth Commandment: "Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." A lot of the time we look on this as just a personal injunction, that we have to obey, then respect and finally care for our parents. But it has a corporate dimension as well. If we as a nation do not honour the older people in our communities, working for and looking after them, incidentally part of the bargain of the welfare state, then we will create a society which is stuffed full of insecurity and fear. The old and unproductive will be neglected and left to wither and die. Those of working age will look out only for their own and as they see the older folk struggling, they too will fear for their future. Living long will not be a blessing, but a curse.

Maybe it is hard work being a young person today, but maybe it always has been. Maybe in the past people accepted this because they better understood the corporate nature of the responsibilities between generations. When I was a kid both my parents worked, and my grandparents looked after us frequently. Now that we have children my parents often watch mine... We look on this as a blessing for our family and we benefit from the interaction of the generations. Maybe my generation just has to overcome their worship of personal fulfilment and stop asking about what they get out of society now, and think about what they may need when they get older.... Maybe then we'll get to live long in the land that God has given us.

Day 5: Stillness....

Exodus 20:8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. [9] Six days you shall labour and do all your work, [10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. [11] For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Recently we have been given a car by my cousin, an M reg Mk3 Fiesta, dark green with a few orange streaks, and a unique keyless ignition system. We've been using it over the last few weeks as our round-town-run-about.

Of course the sound system isn't up to spec - it's an old early nineties Ford radio cassette, in a nasty green finish. So our first 'pimp-our-ride-modification' was to rip out the antiquated unit and replace it with our 'spare' CD player. We pulled it out only to find that the Sony connectors didn't match with the Ford wires. Undeterred we just shoved the Ford unit back in until we could get back to Halfords to buy the proper adaptor. But disaster..... the stereo needs a code now its been reinstalled and we don't know it, and now we can't pull it back out because we've jammed it in, and the handles are stuck.... so our little green car is silent.

You'd think that this would be a real handicap - no music, no radio 5, but actually I've come to enjoy tootle-ing around town without any electronic noise. Just me, the engine note (a throaty rasp with a worrying rumble underneath) and my thoughts. It's not like Joey from Friends who wanted to be alone with his thoughts, but found he didn't have as many of them as he hoped, I've found I've had enough. And it's been in the car that I've had some of my most inspiring work related thoughts recently, because without the 'noise' I've been able to share with God more..... To find God in the still, quiet place, I've needed.....stillness. And I've found it in our little green car.

Day 4: Reputation….

Exodus 20:7 "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

When the tail end of Hurricane Gordon reached the shores of the British Isles it disrupted the preparations for the Ryder Cup and caused a damp patch to appear in our roof.... We wouldn't have noticed except that Brian, our builder (why do people say it like that? It makes him sound like we keep him in the cupboard under the stairs along with Ron our electrician, John our odd jobs boy and Harry Potter....) who is converting our attic into an office space for us noticed some dampness around the chimney stack.

I was a little disappointed. As a house warming present Mum and Dad had paid for the roof to be retiled in March so we weren't expecting to deal with leaks for another 60 years. So we called the builders, a local firm of some repute yesterday morning and they promised to send a man round, especially after I told them that we were having other work done.

Now if you're like me you expect that to mean "We'll send someone round, but only after you've called us up every hour on the hour during business hours for a week, and also left messages on all our voice mails, and we're only coming round now because it is quicker and more convenient than getting a restraining order from the Courts to stop you from sitting on our front door. Oh, and please can we have our bunny back, preferably not boiled...."

But two guys in a company van came round this morning, took a look at the patch, scrambled up their ladders, did some cleaning, reapplied some sealant, and then left. Job Done. And now Brian is back upstairs plastering the loft space....

It speaks a lot about the value of reputation, because the roofers obviously value the word of mouth that can spread. It won't matter about flashy brochures, professional websites, and eye catching publicity if the product and workmanship aren't as required. A reputable firm is jealous about its reputation.

I wonder how much we are jealous of the reputation of God, the loving, compassionate, strong, mighty caring God, as expressed through the workmanship of the Church? I wonder how God is seen amongst the people we work with, socialise with, and witness to. I wonder what the word of the mouth around the town about God is?

Day 3: Excess Baggage….

Exodus 20:4-6 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. [5] You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, [6] but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

I got my first car on my 21st birthday and I idolised it. It was a metallic amethyst (grey/brown!!) Rover Metro and I washed it by hand every other day. Then I would polish it with real turtle wax. Every stone chip was methodically treated and covered up. By the end of the summer it gleamed. If I wanted to I could have used the bonnet instead of a mirror to shave in. I didn't do anything else that summer though - no holiday, no job and no girlfriend. I was too busy shampooing the car's upholstery and interior trim....

That's the danger of Idols; they consume our time and energy. We give time and energy to the things we love, and if the best of our time and energy is given to something other than God then we have created an idol.

Jesus met a man once whose wealth was an idol. To others the man was a good guy, keeping the religious laws of his society. But he treasured his wealth; it was his security, a sign that he controlled his life, not God. His wealth was compromising his heart, and when Jesus encouraged him to sort out his internal condition he bottled it. Jesus remarked "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Luke 18:24-25 Most people seem to agree that the eye of the needle was a small gate in Jerusalem's walls that was too short and narrow for a heavily laden camel to get through. For the beast to have a chance then it needed to take off all its saddle bags and jars, and bend down - even then it would be a bit of a squeeze. Too many of us may be like the camel. Too many of us may be carrying excess baggage, an idol that demands our time and energy and takes it away from loving God with all our hearts, soul, strength and minds. For the man Jesus met it was wealth - for us it could be our careers, our family, or even a hobby. With the help of the Spirit and the truth-talking of those who are close to us, we need to ruthlessly eliminate any trace of idolatry in our souls. We have to shed our excess baggage, and devote ourselves to the things that will stand for eternity.

Thing was, soon I lost the energy to keep my Metro shiny, in the autumn it rained to much and in the winter it got chipped too much from the grit - which also started to corrode the bodywork, and when it died seven years and 124,000 miles later it was dirty, scratched and rusty. I don't idolise my current car. We pay a local Kid £7 every other Saturday to do that for us…..

Day 2: Added Value….

Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

School League tables are a statistical minefield. On first reading it seems that its easy to determine which schools are doing best - it's obvious really, those which are getting the best exam results. But is it? The schools which get the best results seem to come in the most affluent areas so put crudely they have the best 'material' to work with, so they should do best. And of course this creates a scramble as parents buy houses in the correct post codes so their children can go to those schools.... But some commentators have started to look for other indicators in the tables. If the 'best' material was going to get an 'A' grade anyway, what value has actually been added? The best schools are surely those which turn 'D' students into 'B's....

So here's a thought. If someone on the outside was looking at my life, my journey with God and the way it has transformed my relationships, happiness and the like, what added value would they see?

The satirist Terry Pratchett observes of religion "The gods.... these days they restrict themselves to things like grace, patience, fortitude and inner strength. Things you can't see. Things which have no value." (Reacher Gilt, Going Postal). So I'm wondering what value is a faith which adds only things which cannot be seen?

But I don't really agree with Terry about my God. I believe He wants to see communities and lives transformed by us being in relationship with him and each other. I believe he wants to see it, and that he shows it in lives all around the world. Things such as restored marriages, broken addictions, bodies healed are all visible and have real value. I believe that grace, patience, fortitude and inner strength, when they are truly present in a person, add real quality and depth to that person's life. And when they are, we can speak with conviction about what the Lord has done for and through us.

A lot of people around us are used to measuring, of weighing up and comparing. They are used to making choices, and many of them ask of us 'What would following your God do for me?' Maybe we just need to be more open about the added value that comes into our lives, and the lives of our communities by being servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Day 1: Comfort Reading....

Exodus 20:1-2 And God spoke all these words:

[2] "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Last time we went to the dentist it turned out to be a pretty expensive trip.... Anyway, while sitting in the waiting room and praying "please don't send me to the hygienist, please don't send me to the hygienist", I tried to take my mind of the sound of drilling, the screaming and the manic cackling coming from next door, by picking up one of the magazines left on the window sill. There were about a dozen mags, but only two titles: "Creative Homes - posh houses for you less well off people to lust after: this month how to hide your slaves so everyone thinks you're a domestic Goddess!" and "Bunkered" which turned out not to be a survivalist handbook about riding out a thermonuclear attack in a concrete hole, but a golf magazine. There was an article on the impending Ryder Cup, but it turned out to be for 2004, and so I had to content myself with an article on putting - "When striking the ball up hill and across the slope, right to left, remember to align yourself at 18 degrees to the gravitational pull of Uranus, taking care to avoid any interference from mobile phone masts and nearby ley line intersections. A small goat should also be sacrificed and a poultice of yak's milk and frog spawn smeared across your chest." This was followed by an article on fashion - "Course Wear - how to dress like a hood from Starsky and Hutch and get away with it!" It was depressing, all I had for help was a small pile of vintage magazines that in no other circumstances I would pick up. We need to start a campaign - save your old mags,don't bin them, and next time you are going to the Dentist take a bag and just leave it behind.... maybe then we'd get some variety: The Economist perhaps? PC Pro? Top Gear? Red? Glamour? MixMAg? People's Friend.....

It got me thinking a little - if someone I knew was about to go through a time of trial and great testing, is there anything I would give them to read to bring them comfort? Comfort isn't something soft like fabric conditioner. Comfort is supposed to prepare you for the task ahead, to fill you with hope for the future, and courage to face any darkness in the present. As a believer I know that the Bible is full of words of comfort because the writers knew that living in this world can be hard. Jesus himself says "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33. I think we need to learn to hold on to these promises more and learn to share them with love to those who need to hear them. And I think it is why God reminds the Israelites of his love for them here – that when they were suffering he came and rescued them. If they choose to be his people then they’ll have to make tough choices. He wants them to know that he’ll be with them no matter what. He makes the same promise to us. Today. Tomorrow. That’s comforting.

So sitting with articles for detergent and Pringle sweaters, it was almost a relief when I was summoned to the dungeon next door....