Flash Forward

I was lent the DVD series ‘Flash Forward’ recently; we must have missed it when it was first broadcast as we were living abroad at the time. After just 1 episode I was hooked and I’ve realised my bed time has been getting later and later as I stay up late to watch just one more episode.

The series is based on the lives of several people following a mysterious event that causes nearly everyone on the planet to simultaneously lose consciousness for two minutes and seventeen seconds on October 6, 2009. During this "blackout", people see what appear to be visions of their lives six months later on April 29, 2010.

 For some people their vision is a wonderful blessing, they see themselves getting married on a beach or re-united with a long lost daughter. They have something to look forward to as they’ve seen their dreams will come true.  For others the future is not so welcome, they see themselves drinking heavily or fighting with someone, this future flash forward haunts them – what will happen to them in the next six months for such a horror to occur?

The question the programme poses is: if you knew what your future was- would you try and change it, or can you change it? And if one person manages to make a change that leaves his ‘flash forward’ unfulfilled how does that affect other people’s future? The programme seriously messes with your head.

There’s another group of people who during the blackout did not see anything – just blackness, emptiness, nothing.   They conclude from this that their lack of vision must mean they will not be alive in six months time. If you knew you would die in the next six months would you try to prevent it or just accept it? They call themselves ‘ghosts’ as they are living, but they know they will soon be dead. Some of them start taking extraordinary risks – if they are going to die anyway – why not?   Again the question – can the future be changed?  

I was in the pub with a friend last night who used the turn of phrase several times, ‘It wasn’t meant to be’; perhaps an indication of a deep held belief that our lives and choices are mapped out for us – our future is decided, it can’t be changed.  People express this sentiment all the time perhaps without realising it,’ It wasn’t the right thing’, ‘it wasn’t the right time’, ‘it wasn’t meant to be’.

Where does faith come into this?

Do we believe that God has our lives mapped out – a road for us to walk down, we just have to find the right road?   God has all our 90 or so years on this planet marked out for us?  Or do we believe that we make our own decisions and that our future depends on the decisions we have made in life?

If we believe God has everything planned for us then we’re let off the hook a bit; any consequences of our actions are not really our fault- there are all part of God’s plan.  The bad things that happen to us are also part of God’s plan. We don’t understand but at some stage we’ll understand why certain things have happened.   I don’t subscribe to this point of view.

If we believe that we are responsible for our own choices and decisions and that we have to live with the consequences of our actions we may end up with a more mature attitude to faith.  God is part of our thinking and decision making; we ask him for guidance, we trust his direction; we form our views and opinions based on what we know of God from his word, the Bible, and our own relationship with him.

If you had a vision of your future and you didn’t like it would you try and change it?

Did you see the torch?

 Standing in the crowd by the road side the excitement in the air was palpable. Children were sat on their parents shoulders waving inflatables in the air and cheering.

 ‘I can see the torch!’

‘No.. it’s just the flashing lights of police cars and ambulances.’

 ‘It’s coming its coming’

And we waited and waited.

We cheered the police and Exeter bus that had somehow got itself in the middle of the relay.

We cheered families we knew who walked along the middle of the road, everyone got a cheer apart from the parking enforcement vehicle- whose driver took the ‘boos’ from the crowd with good grace and humour.

The rumours kicked in….

‘They’ve changed the route’

‘Why didn’t anyone tell us? ‘

‘Who’s organising this thing?’

‘The busses can’t turn around’

‘The torch isn’t coming after all’

‘It’s okay they’re just taking a break’

And still we waited & waited & waited until the moment came: and the procession re started..

Busses with music and dancers

Police cars

Olympic runners in grey shorts and tops

And finally in the middle – one runner in a white a gold tracksuit – carrying the Olympic Torch.

She ran past smiling and waving and then she was gone, the torch had passed through Torquay.

We milled around for a few more minutes,some rushed off for Olympic Torch tea parties – another chance to see the flame  and the rest of us wandered home,  we’d seen the flame for ourselves – we’d been part of something bigger than ourselves, we’d been part of history  for that brief period of time on Sunday 20^th May, but more important than history, we’d been…..  ‘community’

That was the point to me, being part of something big, something special, and something to remember:  it was about being together.  Some people chose not to see the relay or watch it on TV or the internet.  You can imagine the conversations years in the future.

‘Grandma what were you doing when the Olympic Torch went through Torquay?’

‘I was sat at home watching it on my computer’

Or  even, ‘I thought it was a bit of a waste of time actually so I just stayed home’

In my line of work I come across so many people who have the same attitude to church services and meetings.

‘I am a Christian, but I don’t go to church anymore’

‘Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian’ … True, but it does help your faith mature, grow and develop.

‘I prefer to stay at home and watch the God channel’  - Hard to believe but people do say this.

And so they miss out on being something bigger than themselves, or the sense of belonging, being together, the big occasion, but most importantly being community.  Christian life is best lived in community, that’s where we learn from each other, encourage and support each other, question, learn and grow.   This is where we help those that need help, cry with those who are going through a hard time and celebrate with the celebrators.

And it’s very very hard to do this sat at home on your own by the computer or the TV.

Don’t stay at home as a distant, passive slightly critical observer.

Come and join the crowd.

Part of the family

Last weekend I had great fun at the Baptist assembly in London. The theme of the assembly was beyond 400 – celebrating 400 years since the first Baptist church was opened in Spitalfields in London but also looking forward to what the Baptist Union might look like in another 400 years time.

One of the significant messages that came across through the meetings, seminars and discussions was the importance of engaging in the conversation rather than thinking ‘nothing to do with me’; just as Chris Duffett the new President of the Baptist Union encouraged us that evangelism is not someone else’s job ,we were encouraged that the future of the union involves us.

It’s good to be reminded what great things the Baptist Union does, for example the home mission fund enables some fantastically brilliant pioneering church planting projects to exist, the result being that churches too financially poor to pay a minister, can have a minister; but even more thrillingly many spiritually poor areas with little or no Christian witness now have churches being planted. These churches may not look much like Upton Vale; they may not meet in a Church building, some meet in pubs, cafes, community centre’s, schools even in homes. Nevertheless, through Home Mission these churches are starting up and operating.

My first church was supported by Home Mission, so I feel personally very grateful for the generosity of fellow Baptists throughout the country giving to the fund.

The Assembly was jointly hosted with BMS World Mission –my old organisation who I worked with in Albania.  These organizations, like many others are facing financial challenges. The wonderful thing is that through financially supporting BMS we can fund pioneering mission across the world. 

It was good to be reminded that both the BU and BMS are not just draining our finances but enabling gospel communities to grow and flourish across our nation and across the world. And we should be part of it.

I’ve come back from the Assembly convinced that we should be more involved with discussions on the future of the Baptist Union and BMS World Mission. It was good to be reminded that we are family – and families look out for each other.

God @ Work

One of the most well known passages from the Bible is Matthew 28:19; ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’.  This verse captures some of Jesus’ last recorded words with his disciples where he authorises them to be agents of his world changing work and power. 

Inspiring words indeed that  have motivated people travelling to and living in remote places, learning new languages and cultures in order to share through word, action and integrity the life changing story of Jesus’ new kingdom.

When I was 22 these words inspired me to join a BMS World Mission Action team to live and serve in Zimbabwe for 6 months – it was a life changing experience. These words inspired Mairi to live and work in South Africa for a year. They commissioned us as a family to live and church plant in Albania, this verse has been responsible for millions of people responding to the command of Jesus to ‘go’ where he calls them to go.

After I preached on this passage last Sunday someone came to talk with me about how their ‘call’ to ‘go’ was to a completely different but just as legitimate a mission field: their work place. In fact this is where most people are called to be Christians.  The majority of people who attend our services spend the best part of their week at work, where they are often the only Christian or in the minority.   The work place is an incredibly legitimate mission field which makes most Christians missionaries in their place of work. It’s the pace where people really can see the difference being a Christian can make; day in day out, sharing all the stresses and anxieties of life and work.

Let me ask you a question: when did you last hear a sermon about being a Christian at work? 

 I don’t mean a sermon in which work was mentioned in a generic way; ‘the shop, the marketplace, the office etc’. I mean a sermon that really addresses the joys and challenges of working. A sermon that really addresses some of the daily moral dilemmas you face at work.  A sermon that really helped equip you for the week ahead of you .I suspect the answer might be ‘not many’ especially when I rather ashamedly admit I’ve not preached many sermons on work at all.  

I used to work in a department store in London, it was a great place to work; ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ with a good discount scheme and annual bonuses. I used to put on my suit, commute to the city, work long hours and come home exhausted day after day.  But that was 17 years ago, since then my ‘work’ has been a bit less conventional.

One of my ‘Christian‘work colleagues was a big bold Pentecostal preacher called ‘Claven’ he used to block the door to the stock room so no one could get out while he preached to his captive congregation. Surprisingly his approach didn’t go down too well.

I can speak with passion and integrity about serving God abroad or being in full time Christian service but I feel hugely under qualified to try and speak with integrity about being a Christian at work.... But I think we should talk more about it and I want our church meetings to equip and resource you to be a missionary in your place of work.

So I’m really interested to hear from you

How is it being a Christian at work?

What are the challenges?

How can we, the church, help and equip you more?

What stories have you got of living your faith at work?

I believe your place of work is just as valid a mission field as Zimbabwe, South Africa, Albania or anywhere else. I also believe its God’s place and I also believe that God could work through you in his work place to do some amazing world changing things.