“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15: 5
Why is working for Jesus not like social work? Work done by people in the social services and by charitable organisations is good - so helpful – and what would we do without it? Yet our work has a different dimension. We do it in Jesus, for Jesus. Our secret is we carry a heart oneness with Him and it is from Him our love, our joy, our long suffering with people flows.
Jesus compared Himself to the stem of a vine, and us to the branches joined to that stem. It is only as we abide in this richest and most luxuriant of stems, the Source of All Life, gaining our sustenance from Him, that we will grow and produce the grapes (the fruit of love, joy, peace, long suffering etc.)
Many Christians fear that doing works of love will propel us into a side steam instead of continuing in the main river of God’s purposes. ‘It is not the gospel, the pure, undiluted gospel they say. We are not leading people to eternal salvation, which is the work of the church. It is social work.’ They are right; it will lead us into a side stream - UNLESS, UNLESS our heart are united with Him – and with one another. Our source of life must come from Him. And, after all, if our hearts are full of Him, we carry within us the power of the gospel that saves - for Jesus and the gospel are inseparable.
A while ago I wrote this reflection about a butterfly on a friend’s birthday card and have added to it a little:
I saw a butterfly busying itself with the sort of things butterflies do: collecting, feeding, laying eggs and spreading out its wings before the sun; it was unconscious of its own beauty.
This butterfly was an unusual one. Most butterflies fly from bush to bush, or from flower to flower and usually stay fairly near the ground. This butterfly flew higher and higher, exploring the sky. Strangely, however, I noticed that the higher in the sky it climbed, the nearer to the earth it also flew.
This was a paradox! And so it is with us: The closer in heart we get to God and the more in touch with Him we get, the more we explore His spiritual realm, the closer to earth we become in the sense of finding His love and His heart for humanity and for the individuals we are called to share this planet with.
One of my favourite authors is John Stott; I’m indebted to him in many ways. Certainly, as a Christian writer and thinker, he was not in favour of a life of abandonment but involvement. He wrote the church should be ‘like a rock in a mountain stream, like a rose blooming in mid-winter, like a lily growing in a manure heap.’ (The Contemporary Christian.’)
‘Nearer to God’, may we be
… but never abandon humanity ...
If you had been on the streets of Rome around the year 304 AD you may have been startled and perhaps disturbed to see a young girl of 13 or so, being led in chains through the bustling streets. Her unhappy destination? The site of execution.
Agnes was an attractive young Christian teenage girl, living in Rome at the turn of the third century. She would have made a good wife: her parents were wealthy and she was attractive. But, Agnes was adamant; she had decided she did not want to marry but would live a life of undivided devotion to Jesus. Some of Rome’s disappointed young men reported her to the governor who thought, by gentle persuasion, one so young could quickly be won over. He was wrong.
‘No’ said Agnes again ‘I can have no other husband but Christ!’
Agnes’ persecutors showed her fire, iron hooks, racks and other instruments of torture and threatened her with immediate execution. Agnes remained resolute. She was then dragged before the idols of Rome and commanded to offer incense. To refuse to do this bore the death penalty but again Agnes stood her ground.
By now the governor’s wrath was aroused. ‘Send her to the local brothel!” he angrily commanded ‘and let her be abused there!’
Agnes’ calm reply was that Jesus was too jealous of the purity of His spouses to allow them to be violated in such a way; Jesus was their defender and protector.
It was written later that as Agnes was led off to the brothel, a sense of divine awe fell upon the place and no one was able to touch her.
The young teenager was condemned to death and, as she passed through the streets of ancient Rome, Ambrose, the fourth century church leader and writer later wrote, “she went to the place of execution more cheerfully than others go to their wedding.”
Agnes said a short prayer, bowed her head to worship God and was then executed by the sword.
Many in the crowd wept as they saw Agnes led in chains to the site of execution – not only because of her age but because of her fearlessness, loyalty and devotion. In future years her emblem in Christian art became a lamb, signifying purity and sacrifice – and presumably her willingness to be led ‘like a lamb to the slaughter’ for what she believed in and held so dear.
Agnes showed immense courage and that quality of outrageous, undivided love that stretches and stretches and defies all fear. Her life, her death spoke: “I’ll walk the highest way that I can go ….because of my devotion to Jesus … I‘ll settle for celibacy … nothing less..….”
Accelerate is here .... women's training day in the Jesus Fellowship (our region: Birmingham, Coventry, Swansea and Belfast.)
Well .. its’ 9:45am, Saturday 28 April, the countdown is over (early for me, actually - I was awake at 4.00am) and people are arriving already – always a good sign. There’s a lot of enthusiasm around and lots of chat. Actually, we might as well do that all day – chat I mean; we’re really good at it. Maki’s touch is apparent everywhere - flowers in the toilets and chocs as you come in – that’s us, girls; it’s the way we like to do things.
Certainly, there’s a hubbub now, I don’t really want to break in but Maki gives me the nod and yes, the microphone does work and we begin. 
A few practical sharing and a song and Mic, our leader, is at the mike. Well, this can be a dangerous point for me; sometimes hearing men talk about women is well, just awful. Before they’ve even say anything I feel my back stiffen and breathing gets quicker. They can be so patronising .. but no, not Mic. He spoke of how much the church needs women today and how important they were in the early church. After all, he pointed out, women were there where it was all happening and they got there first: at the cross, at the burial place and they were the first to tell everyone Jesus was raised, too. What’s the vision? For women in our church to reach their FULL potential. Sorry, Mic, I’m missing some of the gems as I’ve got half an eye on the programme, fiddling with the bits of paper in my hands and feeling a bit dazed. But it was great.
Rhoda is talking about her hero Martha from the gospels and then Debs and Deborah come in with their double act, an engaging and hilarious conversation between a discipler and would-be-disciple: Debs appears out of the cupboard, made up and dressed up to the nines and Deborah, well, is just her motherly self, reassuring but real too. One moment we’re holding our sides, the next moment …. those awkward lumps in the throat. The videos (Diane) were just brilliant – sometimes videos seem to cheapen or make shallow a little, I feel, what we believe, what we do - not this one. It was sensitive, original, the sort that can move you, to a better place. Ah, we all need more of that ….
Now, time for my chosen seminar: ‘healing and seeing ourselves as God sees us.’ It’s getting deep; one woman weeps as she shares the pain of not being able to have children and someone next to me sits with the silent tears falling: hearing such stuff, she tells me, has opened up her heart. Another shares the pain of not being able to communicate in her earlier years and speaks of the wounds resulting from coming from a dysfunctional family. These are the two women who said they were not up for taking this seminar. My response is: you two, this is just brilliant. It is bravery, this raw vulnerability, opening up to others your weakness, your pains, letting others see through the misty windows of your heart.
Lunchtime …thank goodness .. it arrives. Three good bros, David, Adrian and Karl are well up to the job of cooking for and serving us all … bless them.
Then, my friend Balbir (not her real name) turns up. She’s a Sikh. Actually she went to the seminar on prayer and we find out she’s been praying for an hour today already – that’s before her work which begins about seven. She’s probably been praying more than us all and that’s convicting …. But she’s in tears today and wants me to pray for her distressing domestic situation. This I gladly do .. may she find the reality of Jesus’ comfort and His arms of love around her.
After lunch, I decide I’m going to the seminar on ‘enjoying being a woman’: Marie inspires us with those heroes Gladys Aylward and Amy Carmichael – not heroes because they were great but because they were frail, written-off, cracked but obedient vessels that God could fill and use – and that means there’s hope for us, too. Maureen speaks of her experiences of being a local preacher, the journey away from timidity towards courage. Yes, perhaps courage is the overriding word and theme for today. Anna speaks of the importance of self respect…
We’re running late now and it’s time for the worship and response time. I’m feeling decidedly nervous about this one. The response time at the front is great but am I losing the rest of them? And I never thought beforehand how to finish and round up the day… help ….
The response is overwhelming: a great day. There’s another one soon but the vision is already there: all of us, everyone of us, need to be released into our FULL potential – and that takes courage. But, I’ve noticed today, there’s plenty of that around.
Celebrating Coventry Jesus Centre's 10th anniversary
IT’S YOUR TURN – COME CLIMB AGAIN
So many, the world’s failures, maybe,
For us a precious soul
Inside-breathed by breath of God
Made into a living soul
As you come into this place
May the Breath of Life
Bring you courage
Bring you hope
A knowledge you can turn the corner
Climb up again life’s stairs
One at a time maybe
Let us help you, God breathed, let us be
IT’S YOUR TURN – COME CLIMB AGAIN
Carrying on the series ... celebrating feminine strengths. After all, it's 'Accelerate' on Saturday (Jesus Fellowship women's training day) and it should be good (a lot of nervous people around - including me.)
I have observed woman have this marked trait of not giving up, of being utterly loyal and this sometimes reaches extreme lengths. A woman will often stick by her man, sometimes ludicrously so. I’ve known women severely beaten up by their partners and going back to them a few days later, not always for the best. And to be honest, it’s sometimes an attempt to find the security these men should bring to them.
But then there is the upside of this outrageous loyalty which is … amazing. I mean, those women at the foot of the cross, hanging in there, waiting for the end. They couldn’t do much except pray and vibe support; Jesus was too far away for them to whisper or speak tender words of love and comfort in His ears. The shame of it all (nakedness in Jewish eyes was indeed disgraceful) did not drive them away. The reproach of the crowds did not dent their loyalty. The fact that the men-disciples (apart from John) were not near at hand did not quench their devotion. The inseparable twins, love and loyalty, were the masters of their fear.
I’ve often noticed that the very worst of times is also the very best of times … just simply for what it brings out in people.. Those dark hours certainly brought out the best in those women .. outrageous, utter loyalty .. an outstanding expression of love of the deepest kind … love that will not let go .. feminine strength … let’s celebrate it.
Hey, folks, it’s day 1 of ‘Accelerate’ next week (that’s a training day for women in the Jesus Fellowship) so maybe it’ time to indulge in a little celebration of femininity or shall I say ‘feminine strength.’
How shall I begin? Well, now, let’s see …we all know, women can be tough (I’ve had enough fierce female teachers in my lifetime to know that), decisive, commanding and share many traits in common with men which we generally consider as more masculine ones. But some human character traits are distinctively feminine.
A while ago I went to see my friend, Angela, in hospital and I saw something very beautiful. She was suffering from liver cancer and a friend of hers, known to me a little, was sitting beside her bed filing her nails and rubbing a sweet smelling lotion onto her hands. She was comforting her in her dying hours - indeed, she died two days later. It touched something deep inside me and instinctively I thought, ‘how feminine! How beautiful! ‘I then thought of the woman in the gospels who broke the alabaster jar and poured its contents on Jesus’ feet, a deed indeed soaked with feminine strength …. devotion, gentleness, poured out love … indeed, outrageous love.
It seems to me that there are many things a woman can do and be that are distinctively feminine; they are beautiful and very strong; they are filled with feminine strength.
Now, let’s turn to the thesaurus … yes, looking up ‘strong’: among other things it gives the synonyms muscular, brawny, sturdy, rugged, strapping. Well, this is not primarily what I perceive ‘strength’ to be. Strength is foremost virtue, every virtue that comes from the heart of God Himself, whether it is tenderness, meekness or confident godly authority. Above all, it is outrageous love.
Yes, let’s look at God-filled femininity through fresh eyes and see it as something very powerful, something very beautiful; let’s recognise it and celebrate it and above all, explore and be and do it … allowing God to enlarge our heart in every way … so that, as well as sharing with the men some common traits, we are particularly filled with outrageous, feminine love…
