Contagious – Big Teach 1: Jesus the Living One

By Caleb | September 9, 2007

I haven’t updated my blog in a while, but I’m going to try and get back into doing so more regularly, including typing up some of my notes from Contagious 2007: The Resurrection. I’m kicking off with the first “Big Teach”, which was preached by Ian Fry. MP3s should be on the Contagious website at some point soon!

1: JESUS the Living One (Revelation 1)

v9-11 The Speaking Vision
John was exiled to Patmos for preaching Jesus, which was a dangerous activity. The island of Patmos was an unpleasant place where Christians were put to work in mines. John heard a voice behind him, and is told to write what he sees. John saw the vision, we get the book.

v12-16 What did John see?
This book shows John struggling to capture an amazing vision in words, and he does so with powerful images and symbols. What does he see?

“One like a son of man” (v13) – this is a reference to Daniel 7, where “one like a son of man” is led into the presence of the Ancient of Days and given authority, glory and sovereign power, and the worship of all the world. His clothes are described as “a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash round his chest”. The robe is like those the priests would wear, while the golden sash shows he is someone of great importance. He stands among the lampstands, which represent the churches (see v20). This is the kingly high priest who is supreme over every language, nation and tribe.

“His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow” (v14) – just like the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9); the person who John sees is God, ancient and forever. We respect the dignity of age less and less, but the Bible values old age highly. In our Fallen world, we associate ageing with death and decay. But redeemed, old age loses all its negatives. There is all the gain of wisdom and maturity with none of the qualities of youth being left behind. “His eyes were like blazing fire” – eyes of sharpest clarity that miss nothing that happens in the universe, aflame with inexhaustible joy and hope. He is not tired or bored, but burns with passion and joy.

“His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters” (v15) – He is burnished, he has been tested in the fires of death and has come out the other side. His voice is like a waterfall, as full of power as the roar of the Niagra Falls.

“In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance” (v16) – He holds the churches in his right hand (which denotes his hand of power). His word is living and active, like a two-edged sword, an instrument of surgery, or of judgement. He burns more brilliantly than the storm at the heart of the sun. What an amazing sight!

v17 The Impact on John
What effect does this have on John? He falls down – bam! – as though dead. John had lived with Jesus, glimpsed his glory on the mount of transfiguration, but this sight of Jesus’ unveiled majesty was enough to knock him right out. None of the rest of the wonders in the book of Revelation, as amazing and shocking as some of them are, has the same effect on him. He is no longer a little baby, meek and mild; he is not just a human teacher; he does not hang any longer on the Cross or lie there in the tomb. This is the risen Christ; this is your God!

But Jesus reaches down to him with his right hand, with power and kindness. He tells us, “Don’t be afraid!” This is the mighty mercy of God.

v17-20 The Risen One
Jesus gives three reasons not to be afraid:

  • Firstly, “I am the First and the Last”. He is eternal; there are no birthdays or funerals when it comes to God.
  • Secondly, “I am the Living One! I was alive, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever!” The Living One is a name for God. He has life in himself, is the source of all life – how could he possibly die? “‘Tis mysery all, the immortal dies; ‘Tis mercy all, immense and free.”
  • Thirdly, “I hold the Keys of Death and Hades” – Jesus is the one who is in control of death and hell. We need not fear death, we need not fear punishment. He opens and locks the gates of hell and the gates of life.

Application
Do you see Jesus for who he really is?
The universe is all about him: from him, through him, to him. He is worthy of all honour and glory and praise. He’s beautiful and wonderful, and worth worshipping. He holds the ultimate power in the universe. He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet, ultimately death. We should approach him with both fear and love.

Maintaining a proper sight of Jesus
Jesus shouldn’t just be mere background noise in our lives. Jim Elliot prayed “Deliver me from the dread asbestos of other things”. Seeing is becoming – whatever we delight in most, whatever we gaze on, whatever occupies our thoughts and desires, shapes us. 1 John 3:3: “We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”. The primary way of gazing on Jesus, of becoming like him, is in his Word. The Bible is written not to give us information only, but to give us an experience of the Living One. Not for data, but for awe. Bible knowledge isn’t an end in itself, but stepping stones to delighting more truly and deeply in Christ.

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Death Be Not Proud (Remix)

By Caleb | August 26, 2007

I’ve just got back from Contagious, the Bible-centred youth conference. It was amazing, and I’ll write more about some of the talks and seminars and stuff soon. The theme was the Resurrection, and while there I wrote and performed a poem on that theme, “inspired by” John Donne’s sonnet Death Be Not Proud.

Death Be Not Proud (Remix)

Oi Death! Think you’re tough?
Come and have a go if you’re hard enough!
You’re as close as shadow
Near as a stolen breath away
But my Lord Jesus is closer any day.

Really you’re a slave to all kind of things,
At the beck and call of war, famine
and the whims of kings.
But most of all if you come threatening me,
Jesus is the one who holds your key.

I fear you as much as, ooh, an afternoon snooze.
Because Jesus is risen, frankly, you lose!
In fact you’ll be a nice little rest
Waiting there with Jesus
Until he clothes me in new creation best.

It’s all because of that cosmic event,
when Jesus died for the reason he was sent,
A perfect life,
death in my place,
the grave couldn’t hold him –
to new life he was raised!
United to him, in this I trust:
Death, Jesus is gonna your ass bust!

One day, old enemy, I’ll bid you goodbye,
Because of Jesus, Death, you’re gonna die.

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Nefyn Mission 2007

By Caleb | August 13, 2007

I got back on Saturday from two weeks of sun, sea and frantic activity running activities and seeking to share God’s big story of redemption with young people in Nefyn! A team of around 40 people put together a busy programme of games, Bible studies, “beach specials” and so on. I had a great time – very tiring, but very worthwhile, and spiritually stretching and challenging for me too.

We started with Genesis, telling part of the story of the Bible each day, including the Fall, Promises to Abraham, the Exodus, King David, the Exile, Jesus’ life, death and Resurrection, the coming New Creation, and the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. Each day, we had a time of worship and Bible teaching as a team looking at these things, and so it was a real time of learning for us as leaders as well.

The age groups are Shrimps (4 to 6 years old), Mini Sprats (7 and 8), Maxi Sprats (9 and 10), Sharks (11 to 13) and Holiday Club (14 plus). I was helping with the Sharks. Across the age groups, we can get over 100 children coming to our activities. There are three distinct types of children who come along to the mission, each of which presents particular opportunities and challenges.

The first group are the local children from Nefyn, usually Welsh-speaking with a strong sense of local identity, and often with little in the way of Christian background and input. Secondly, we have Christian families, many of whom come to Nefyn specifically for the mission each year, in many cases because the parents served on the team themselves. Thirdly, there are holidaymakers who discover the mission and come along despite not being Christian themselves.

There are sometimes tensions between the local children and holidaymakers, often heightened by the language difference. Many of the Sharks were very impressed with my knowledge of Welsh. Not many on the team speak Welsh, but in a community like Nefyn, it really helps in reaching the local people.

One of the strengths of the Nefyn Mission is its longevity. It has been going for almost 80 years, and while team members come and go, there’s a dedicated core that come back every year. Two pillars of the mission are “Auntie” Rita, a woman of more mature years (but don’t dare call her old!), and Keith T (“K. T.”), who have been coming for decades. There are a number of leaders who were on the team when I came as a 10 and 11 year old on holiday, and a number of the team who have grown up coming to the mission every year since being toddlers!

This means that it’s possible in many cases to have long-term involvement with the young people who come, and the mission involves not just quick-hit evangelism, but seeking to help in continuing discipleship of the young people. I’ve also done UBM beach missions, and while they do a very good work in many ways, in my experience there isn’t the same continuity and commitment of the same team going back to the same place year after year. Different strategies, and I have to say that I prefer the approach at Nefyn.

Because of this, the emphasis is not on necessarily producing instant commitments, but we were blessed by seeing some of the older children make professions of faith towards the end of the two weeks. It was also particularly encouraging to see some of the local children in the Sharks seemingly understanding and believing what was being taught, and in some cases God seems to be very clearly at work in them. One of the challenges is keeping those who aren’t from Christian backgrounds spiritually supported, which is where keeping in contact afterwards is often particularly important.

We were really blessed with the weather. We only had a couple of rainy days, the first Friday and middle Saturday (the team day off, unforunately for us!), and most of the rest of the time it was glorious sunshine.

Special activities included the Family Fun Night, which had a Doctor Who theme, tying in with the daily drama that formed part of the Beach Special, a free gig by Christian band tbc, and an all-age barbeque. We also took some services in local churches and chapels, which involved me preaching in Welsh (fortunately both God and the congregations were very gracious when it came to me doing this).

The team was amazing, a great bunch of enthusiastic and interesting people. There was a great team spirit and sense of humour, which is very necessary when you’re living on top of each other for two weeks and getting increasingly tired as the mission continues.

It was a very special time, and there’s lots of challenges that I received from the teaching, from conversations with other people, and from the experience of trying to teach, evangelise and live in close community with a whole bunch of other Christians from two weeks. I hope I can go back again next year, but I don’t know what my work commitments will be like then, since I’ve not found a job yet.

Things to pray for include:

  • The mission will have a lasting impact on both the team and the children who came along, and that we’ll put into practice the things we learned.
  • For the team to keep in touch with the kids through letters and so on, especially the local children who mostly don’t have any spiritual input other than the beach mission.
  • The work about to be done on Pendorlan, the house that acts as mission headquarters, which gets quite a battering over the course of the mission!

To see photos from the mission, go here.

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Review: Heroes

By Caleb | July 27, 2007

Amid a lot of hype, drama series Heroes has arrived on BBC2 on Wednesday evenings. Watching the X-Men films, I always thought that a multi-character superhero story was better suited for an ongoing television series than for cinema, since many characters only get a couple of significant moments on-screen. Having heard good things about the series from friends who’ve seen it already, I tuned in hoping that it would be good.

In the first episode of behind-the-scenes documentary Heroes Unmasked (which succeeded in being even more self-congratulatory than Doctor Who Confidential, no mean feat when Russell T Davies is in fully enthusiastic PR mode!) they boasted about it being like a movie shoot. Heroes obviously has a lot of money behind it, and it looks very slick. But that’s of little consequence if the story isn’t any good.

It’s early days yet, but the beginning is promising. Around the world, people are beginning to develop strange new powers, and we see the impact of these powers on the lives of the ensemble of characters, whose paths sometimes cross and look set to eventually converge. Through an artist who can paint the future, and a Japanese guy Hiro (by far the most entertaining character) travelling through time, we learn that unless something is done to stop it, a nuclear explosion will devastate New York in five weeks time. Meanwhile, a serial killer and a sinister organisation are hunting down those with superpowers…

I have to say it’s got me hooked. One of the frustrating things about it is that since it moves between so many characters, you get a little bit of one person’s story and you might not get any more until next week. This does make it somewhat slow-moving, but since there are so many questions of “what happens next?”, this does help make it strangely addictive. The cliffhangers are generally pretty good too.

I wonder what Heroes would be like if it focused on one character at a time on an episode by episode basis? In series 2 of Battlestar Galactica, the first half a dozen episodes or so were closely linked together in a similar style to Heroes. There were at least three largely distinct plotlines running in parallel in different locations, and we kept cutting between them. Eventually they were woven together, but it could have been more effective to focus on one plot for an episode.

For example, there’s a subplot about some Cylons boarding the Galactica, and that could have made a wonderfully creepy and focused Base Under Siege story. But any sense of fear and claustrophobia of being stuck on a ship with hostile robots trying to take it over is diluted by cutting away to storylines on other planets. Of course, if Heroes did do episodes mainly focused on one particular character, I might end up only bothering to tune in for those that were about Hiro!

Time will tell whether it will deliver on the promise of the first few episodes or whether it will end up meandering endlessly like Lost. At the moment, it’s intriguing and enjoyable, but could quickly become frustrating. Here’s hoping!

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Recovering Goodness, Beauty and Truth

By Caleb | July 25, 2007

I found an article on Goodness, Beauty and Truth by Andrew Fellows of L’Abri that gives in written form the same argument as a L’Abri lecture of the same title that has had a big influence on the way I think. Well worth a read! An extract from the introduction:

Goodness, Beauty and Truth, I call this the ancient triad. The classical culture of Greek civilisation called this the triumvirate. It’s interesting to see this triad existed in other civilisations. There is something Trinitarian in the function of these three, existing together as one. They seem to belong together, just like an American BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwich… This loss of Goodness, Beauty and Truth in the larger sense signals the demise of Western civilisation, for without acknowledging them as larger realities it is impossible to sustain human society.

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“If only we could be nostalgic at the time”

By Caleb | July 24, 2007

As I finish university, my thoughts are frequently caught up with looking back at the last three years and looking forward to my hopes and ambitions for the future. I just came across the blog of someone visiting L’Abri, which brought back good memories of my time there and reminded me how much I’d like to go back for a longer visit sometime. Ironic then that one of the things I should read on their blog was this quote from Pascal’s Pensees:

“We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does, so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is. The fact is that the present usually hurts. We thrust it out of sight because it distresses us, and if we find it enjoyable, we are sorry to see it slip away. We try to give it the support of the future, and think how we are going to arrange things over which have no control for a time we can never be sure of reaching.

Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.”

“If only we could be nostalgic at the time” is a quote from an upcoming Steven Moffat script, which he mentioned in Doctor Who Magazine. I think I have become more appreciative of my present moment, which is one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed my final year at university so much, but it’s so easy to get caught up in dreams of the past or future. Another note to myself: I really need to get round to reading Pascal.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Chapter by Chapter Reactions

By Caleb | July 21, 2007

Contains hints and teases, but no specific spoilers…

10:15am It’s arrived! Hooray! Time to settle down with a good book for the next few hours. “I suppose we won’t be seeing much of you for the rest of the day” says my Dad. Oooh, I open it and there are quotes at the front. I wonder whether the first one is a hint that the founders of Hogwarts will somehow come to the aid of Harry and friends? Anyway, I’m sitting comfortably, so I’ll begin…

Chapter 1
Who’s the source among the Order passing information to the Death Eaters? I heard a theory beforehand McGonnagal is a spy for Voldemort, which I think is rather unlikely, but I don’t have any definite ideas on who it could be yet. The score at the end of chapter one: one wedding, one death.

Chapter 2
Some revelations about Dumbledore’s background. Interesting, but nothing that appears at first glance to be particularly significant. The last bit with the mirror, though, is very intriguing…

Chapter 3
Ah, some changes at the Dursley household, and a change of heart from Dudley. Good stuff.

Chapter 4
Out of context amusing quote: “You look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry”, said Hermione, before catching sight of Ron’s raised eyebrows. A clever plan, followed by a great action sequence, very exciting. Oooh, the peril – and there’s another death, oh no!

Chapter 5
A title like “Fallen Warrior” doesn’t bode well, and sure enough, things haven’t gone well for someone. J K Rowling was right about the final book being a bloodbath. What of the golden sparks from Harry’s wand, though? That sounds phoenix-like to me. Perhaps it’s something to do with Dumbledore’s “Gleam of Triumph” in The Goblet of Fire.

Chapter 6
Harry faces an attack that’s quite different from one of Voldemort’s, but no less terrifying! Gosh, it’s really something what Hermione’s done to her parents. So many plans and details to be worked out for all the characters to try and protect one another from Voldemort. More exposition on the nature of Horcruxes, how to destroy them, and, most interestingly, how a souls can be put back together. Will that piece of information prove to be significant later?

Chapter 7
Ron’s birthday present to Harry – hilarious! “You’d be surprised, it’s not all about wandwork”. Anyway, one prediction of mine seemingly proved wrong in this chapter.

Chapter 8
A happy occasion, with more revelations, and a big cliffhanger at the end of the chapter. No time to stop and comment, I want to read on!

Chapter 10
Ah hah! One of my predictions at least was right.

Chapter 11
Regime change in the Wizarding World, and it’s all very Nazi Germany. I wonder if there’s any connection between Dumbledore’s sister and Aunt Petunia? No, I don’t think that works, but I’m intrigued about what exactly the story is on both counts.

Chapters 12-14
Really getting into it now, hence the lack of comments. Really good sense of oppression and menace with Harry, Ron and Hermione on the run. More questions being raised – what is Voldemort after from the wandmaker?

Chapter 15
Flash of inspiration – I’ve got a theory about what Voldemort is after now.

Chapter 16
Punch the air moment from me on reading what’s written on James and Lily Potter’s gravestone.

Chapters 17-20
More twists and turns. I thought it rather obvious that something was up with Bathilda. Anyway, time to grab a quick bite to eat for lunch…

Chapters 21 to the end
Blow this for a lark, I’m too gripped by it to stop after each chapter to make notes for my blog!

3:50pm – Reached the end. A satisfying ending, particularly since I’d guessed several key points correctly (though was mistaken on other points). A proper review to follow later!

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The long wait for the postman

By Caleb | July 21, 2007

Today is a long-awaited day, the day when the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is published. I’m now back in sleepy old Dolgellau, so no midnight opening for me, just the wait for the postman to arrive bearing the latest volume.

Rather than just a plain and ordinary review once I’m finished, I’m planning on giving my reactions chapter-by-chapter, in both a spoiler and spoiler-free version. I’ve managed to avoid any leaks of the plot, and I intend for it to stay that way. Until I’ve finished reading it, the television and radio are staying off, I’m not going online except to update my blog (especially avoiding internet forums).

Anyway, to pass the time until the hallowed package arrives, here are some guesses about what might happen in the last book (spoilers for books 1 to 6):

The Horcruxes
We know that Voldemort has been trying to make himself immortal by hiding fragments of his soul in different trophies. The list of seven is as follows:

  1. Tom Riddle’s diary from The Chamber of Secrets (already destroyed)
  2. Salazar Slytherin’s ring (already destroyed)
  3. The locket (stolen by the mysterious “R.A.B.” – Regulus Black? Could this be the “heavy locket none of them could open” that was mentioned during the cleaning of Grimmauld Place in The Order of the Phoenix? Of course, even if it was, with Mungdungus Fletcher selling on the contents of the house behind Harry’s back, it could be anywhere by now)
  4. Hufflepuff’s Cup (to be found)
  5. Possibly something of Ravenclaw’s or Gryffindor
  6. Possibly Nagini, Voldemort’s pet snake
  7. Voldemort himself – once the six other fragments of his soul have been destroyed, then it will be possible (though very difficult) to kill Voldemort.

I reckon that one of Dumbledore’s guesses for 5 and 6 will be mistaken, and that Harry himself is a horcrux. We’re told that Voldemort was intending to make his final horcrux with Harry’s death. He reserved making horcruxes for particularly significant deaths, and believed that he was defeating the prophecy and making himself invincible in killing Harry. What if Harry’s dead body was supposed to be the last horcrux? But when the killing curse literally backfired, it all went horribly wrong. It’s clear that there’s a strange connection between Harry and Voldy. In The Chamber of Secrets, when Harry and Dumbledore discuss this connection, Harry says “so Voldemort put a piece of himself into me?” which Dumbledore confirms. Now we know about horcruxes, I reckon we know what that “piece” is.

Voldemort’s Defeat
I think it’s pretty obvious that Voldemort will be defeated by “The Power of Love”, proving Dumbledore’s theory that love is more powerful than the darkest magic, and is a force more wonderful and more terrible than death. It’ll probably go something like this: Harry will realise he’s a horcrux and will think that he has to kill himself and Voldemort at the same time in order to defeat him. Harry will nobly sacrifice himself, but the strength of his love will destroy the fragment of Voldemort’s soul within him and save him from his seemingly inevitable death.

Dumbledore also says that Voldemort’s greatest weakness is that he doesn’t realise that there are worse things than death, so I’m also not sure he’s going to die. I think he may end up with a fate worse than death, such as being trapped in the eternally locked Room of Love in the Department of Mysteries, which for a soul so twisted would be a terrible and painful experience.

Who will live and who will die?

  • Harry Potter – live. No way is Harry going to die. It’s going to be an overall happy ending, and having a team of lawyers ready to swoop on anyone who tries to publish any sequels will do just fine for preventing any more books.
  • Ron and Hermione – live, and will get married, even though they’ll be fighting like old crows for the rest of their lives, rather like Cor and Aravis at the end of The Horse and his Boy.
  • Ginny – die. I think Harry’s victory would have to come at a cost, and what could be a greater cost than the one he loves? I hope I’m wrong though!
  • Voldemort – fate worse than death. See the previous section on his defeat.
  • Snape – die. Even if he redeems himself in the final book (which I think he will, and I think Dumbledore had instructed him to kill him rather than die by breaking the Unbreakable Vow, because Dumbledore would be willing to sacrifice himself like that), I think Snape is doomed.
  • Hagrid – die. Just because it’d be so horrible. Don’t kill Hagrid, noooooo!
  • Dumbledore – J K Rowling is clear that he’s actually dead, but since he seems to be the Christ-like figure in the books, and since he’s so closely associated with the phoenix, a symbol of the resurrection, I suspect that there will be some way in which he comes back or aids Harry from beyond the grave.

I won’t go through each and every character in turn, but I reckon that Harry will inherit Fawkes from Dumbledore, and that Hawkes will play a crucial part in helping Harry finally defeat Voldemort. Since J K Rowling claims to be a Christian and says that if people knew her beliefs too much then anyone would be able to work out the ending, I reckon that we’ll be seeing some strong themes of resurrection and the power of sacrificial love.

Right, I’m off to check whether the postman has been yet. See you!

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Talking about my graduation

By Caleb | July 18, 2007

Today was my graduation ceremony, which means I’m now officially a Bachelor of Arts and no longer a student. It was a strange feeling to look around and see coursemates, some of whom I’d met during Freshers’ Week, which seems both just a blink of an eye and a lifetime ago.

It was good seeing friends again after several weeks since the end of term. I enjoyed saying hello and wishing people all the best for the future and reminding people to keep in touch. I’m often not very good at maintaining friendships once I’m away from other people, but I hope that some of the friends I’ve made at university will be friends for life. There are few things better than the pleasure of the company of friends, and over the summer with fewer students about, I’ve appreciated all the more the people who have still been around and the time I’ve had with my friends.

Now, of course, comes the exciting task of taking our part in the adult world: finding something to do in life, building friendships and relationships, starting families, trying to make a difference to the world that we find ourselves in. I think that transition is a really exciting one, and it annoys me the negative connotations we attach to ideas like “growing up” and so on. One of the things I want to make sure that I do is avoid becoming caught up in the rat-race of the often shallow dreams of our culture, and be prepared to live differently, to seek to change the world and to be the change I want to see, with all the risk that is involved with that. I want to give up the small ambitions of mere personal peace and prosperity, and aim for the big ambitions of Goodness, Beauty and Truth in the way I live. I know I can only achieve that with the power and grace of God at work in me, and with the support of friends and community.

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