A nudge from God

Visitors to our Street Pastor training session last night offered to pray for us and share any 'words of knowledge' they might have. If this sounds a bit weird, then all I can say is that it was done in a very down-to-earth and sensible way without any undue hype and everyone seemed to feel uplifted and encouraged by the experience.

In my case the girl who prayed for me said two things which made me think. One was that she saw a picture of origami - someone folding paper into intricate patterns - and felt that my gift was to approach things scientifically and logically. This led me to wonder how I can use such a gift to help build up the church. (Answers on a postcard please....)

The other thing she said (twice) was that I should stop seeing things as grey but rather as black and white. I took this as a hint that it is time for me to give up my favourite pastime of sitting on the fence, reserving judgement as much as I can, and leaving situations well alone. Instead I should have a clearer idea of what is right and wrong and act accordingly. Her final comment was that perhaps my 'scientific approach' should be as simple as - 'this is what God says, so go and do it'.

Which just leaves the question, 'what exactly is God telling me to do?' The only answer that's come as I've slept on it is to love people. I don't do this nearly enough. When confronted with someone in need I will try to help, but between those times I am not particularly pro-active. Perhaps I should be sitting down each day and asking myself, 'who needs my help today and what can I do to bring them God's love?'

Heaven needs Christ

I need to re-think my idea of heaven. I know that any description of heaven is incomplete and relies heavily on symbolic images, but I have discovered that there is something (or rather someone) important missing from my own imagined view of the life to come.

The idea which has always appealed to me is that heaven is the reality and this world a mere shadow of it. Or, if you like, heaven is three dimensional and in colour whereas life today is, in comparison, merely two dimensional and monochrome. In other words I picture heaven as a more solid, more real and altogether 'greater' version of earth. There will still be all the things that make life on earth so good, but they won't be tainted by sin or sorrow.

And what is wrong with this picture? It barely leaves room for God, let alone Christ. It is possible to see heaven as some idyllic paradise where God does little more than set things up and leave us to get on with enjoying eternity. It is possible to see Christ as little more than a glorified gatekeeper - he is the one who opens heaven up for us, but again just leaves us to enjoy it.

There are plenty of Biblical images of a wonderful heaven which awaits us - a great feast; a peaceful mountain; a holy city - but if we are to take seriously the whole Bible, then what about those passages which remind us that all things were made by and for Christ? All things, in heaven and earth, have been given to him. How can a Christian view of heaven not include Christ at the centre? Heaven must be more than a place where God's creatures feel good. It must be a place where we live in perfect relationship with Jesus, our Lord, our Saviour and our Friend.

The nature of reality - Tetris or Patience?

I'm reading a book on eschatology - the study of the 'last things'. Thankfully it doesn't seek to establish a time-scale to predict what order things will happen. What it does is remind me that the nature of the ending does make a difference to life here and now.

For a long time I have not taken eschatology seriously. I've always had a vague idea that God's kingdom when it comes will be a massive interruption to life and history and the universe as we know it, rather than as the end point of a slow steady development within history. But I've not thought it mattered much. Are my vague ideas about the future anything like correct? Do I care? If it happens roughly like I expect that's OK by me. If God decides to do something radically different from my expectations that's OK too. I'll find out when it happens.


I've still not come to any firmer conclusions about the nature of the last things. All this stuff about the rapture and the millennium I regard as heavily symbolic. But I have realised that the Christian faith is not based on the life and history of the human race just stretching off forever into the future. Life is not like a perfect game of Tetris. Slotting those falling blocks into place is good fun, and an expert can keep going for a long time. A perfect player, assuming that the speed never increases beyond his capacity to react quickly enough, can in theory just keep playing forever. (NB I say 'his' because females are far too sensible to embark on an infinitely long game of Tetris.) The game is not designed to finish. Or at least not to have a successful finish - in practice it ends when the player makes too many mistakes or gives up out of boredom.


Patience is a different kind of game. From the start it is moving towards a conclusion. The cards begin in random order, but by following the rules and moving them here and there, a degree of order is gradually imposed. The player works towards a conclusion. The game ends when perfect order is achieved. Isn't that the point of all the Biblical teaching on eschatology? Life is moving towards a final purpose. We can debate how much we are involved in the process and how much God is involved. Maybe there are times when some dramatic sudden shift will be instigated by God. The key thing is that such a view should affect the way we live today.

Do I see today as just one more day to get through, making as few mistakes as possible, and expecting tomorrow (and all the tomorrows after that) to be no different from today? Or do I see today as an important step on a journey, for me and for all creation, which will bring us closer to the final perfect pattern of life which God has in store?