Will You Sponsor Me?

Please watch this video. I am hoping that you will be able to help me raise £2500 to donate to UCB.

Information on UCB CLICK HERE

Information on Looking for God CLICK HERE

To see my sponsorship page CLICK HERE

Pick of the Week – Transform Your Patch

Adverts have the power to inspire and to encourage us to take action. Although their primary goal is to get us to engage with a product or service, there are some that just make you go ‘wow’.

Recently I saw this brilliant advert where some Britvic and PepsiCo drinks, when bought, will contribute toward regeneration development. I was really impressed with the advert, as it didn’t focus too much on the drinks, but on what would happen as a result of them. It was uplifting and inspiring, exactly my favourite type of advert.

There is a bit of negative here though. Each drink will pay for 1cm squared of land for regeneration. In one square meter, there are 10000 square centimetres. That’s a lot of drink. In a space of just 10m x 10m, you would need to buy one million drinks. In saying that however, the fact that Britvic are willing to do this is good in of itself. It will be a fantastic opportunity, if enough drinks are bought, to see areas of waste and abandoned land turned into something inspiring and encouraging. Due to budget cuts and austerity, it may be that councils are unlikely to fund regeneration projects, so it’s good to see the private sector stepping in to fill the gap.

You’re even able to vote for a regeneration project to take place in your area, giving a good chance to get the community together, even before any work has been done.

For more information about the project, visit http://www.transformyourpatch.com/

Are Richard Dawkins and Mark Driscoll on the Same Page?

Two people and two very different walks of life, but can they both teach us something about faith?

Two people, poles apart in terms of their situations and beliefs, yet do they share common similarities about the church in Britain today?

On one side we have Richard Dawkins, an individual who rejects the belief in God (or any god for that matter). Recently Dawkins has been using the following statistics as the basis of his argument: that on the 2001 census, 71% of people marked themselves as ‘Christian’ but when asked in a separate survey by the Richard Dawkins Foundation the majority couldn’t even name the first book in the New Testament (only 35% said Matthew). It’s not just once that he’s mentioned this, there are currently at least two occasions that I can mention where he has shared this thought, and I imagine there will be several more over the coming weeks. He uses the research to say that people only call themselves Christians because they are good and live in the UK, rather than they actually live the life that Jesus intended. It may be a valid point, and it may be better to know that (say) only 10% of the UK live the life of a Christian fully than 71% live it only by name.

On the other side we have what some people might call “friendly fire”. Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church, Seattle caused (yet another) controversy when audio clips of an interview for Premier radio were published online (listen here, starting at 34:05). Driscoll said that “there is a Christian crisis in the UK”, including that he couldn’t name one young up-and-coming preacher, several established middle-aged and older preachers, but no one in their late teens or early twenties. Driscoll also mentioned the church not standing its ground in regard to its beliefs and giving up against secularism. Although Driscoll’s data was less reliable than the Office of National Statistics and Ipsos MORI where Dawkins gathered his research, it still showed that, at least from a single US perspective, that the Church in Britain is not viewed highly. Driscoll, in a blog post, went on to describe the audio clips as “most disrespectful, adversarial, and subjective” but he did uphold his argument in regard to certain things, such as the church giving away ground and not knowing a young preacher.

Although the two men live very different lives, one from a life of faith and the other of rejection toward it, they both agree that the church in Britain is either stagnant, not as well as we make out or in decline, whichever suits their position best. The reaction from UK Christians is quite standard for both, and it goes along the lines of “there’s nothing wrong so let’s keep quiet” or “who does he think he is?”. The problem here of course is that if there is a decline, eventually it will be such that any attempt to regain or maintain influence will be ill fought.

I remember a number of years ago watching a video on the TED website staring Dawkins. Entitled “An Atheist’s Call to Arms”, it gives a clear understanding as to what he was trying to say. It could even be considered that this was the start of his ‘ministry’ as it was after this speech that he, and secularism in general, came more into the lime light. Is something similar from a Christian needed today? Not a softly-softly approach to faith, but a clear, powerful and concise message that will unite Christians and the Church in general together. That is, if Christians and the Church in general do not want to decline and lose its place within society and government.

Pick of the Week: Why I Love Church Even Though I am an Atheist

Blogger Tess Wynn explains why she goes to church and yet does not believe in the person most associated with church. It’s a very interesting article, and I’m sure churches (and perhaps even mine) might learn a thing or two from it.
I urge you to read it for yourself:
http://jolteons.livejournal.com/167658.html

Singing In Dulci Jubilo

It happened during Christmas.

Christmas music only comes out for about a month, and is played over and over and over again, almost in an attempt to see if a CD can wear out from over use. Sometimes we may find ourselves singing or humming a particular song, perhaps even to our annoyance, and to the annoyance of others.

One of my most favourite Christmas songs, In Dulci Jubilo, was one such song. It was stuck in my head for three days. Now when I saw it was stuck in my head for three days I don’t mean that I forgot about it and came back to it for a period of three days. No. It was continual: from the moment I woke up to the moment I went back to sleep. The song went over and over again. Over and over and over again. Over and over and…you get the point.

And yet, I didn’t mind. By the end of the first day I was enjoying this song going through my head, and by the third day I was still happy to hum the tune hour after hour. In fact, by the third day I had gone into the garage to find my old recorder and play along.

I am always amazed whenever I hear about the angels in Revelation 4:8, also mentioned in Isaiah 6:3, who cry out day and night “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come”. Can you imagine saying, let alone singing, this sentence for eternity? How about a week? The angels don’t seem to mind at all, rather, they seem to be enjoying what they are doing because it is for and to the Lord. In the same way, this is why I enjoyed In Dulci Jubilo.

It turns out that In Dulci Jubilo originally had words to it, albeit in another language. So much so was the continuance of this song, I decided to put my own words to it:

Jesus Christ is Lord of all,
Jesus Christ is Lord of all

Sing to Him creation
Sing to Him you saints of old
And sing to Him you angels
Praise Him for his death and resurrection

Praise Him, Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

Perhaps the song will get stuck in my head again in the future. If it does, I shall be sure to embrace it, for in saying and singing it, even repetitively, I am giving praise to the Lord of all.

For those of you who can’t remember the tune, it goes like this:

Religion Does Not Stink

Bishop James the Just - "The Greatest of the Bishops"

This is a guest blog from my brother, Tim Lucas:

I remember vividly the very first time my English teacher gave us his definition of culture. He seemed to get so passionate about it, as though it meant something to him; and I think it did. He developed the lesson in such a way that made me know he realised the strength and importance of culture, and his simple yet potent explanation cemented the same views in me:

‘Culture is what you do every day, every week, every month, every year – your attitudes and values’

There are two words that we in the Church really hate today: tradition and religion. I find it very interesting that we hate them so much, since they are used in the Bible to positive effect, and actually our whole faith relies on those two things to function properly. Tradition can wait; it’s not the more hated of the two. That unfortunately goes to religion.

First mention we have is Paul. In the fantastic 1 Timothy he teaches about the younger looking after the older, and that their duty is to pay back their parents for their care by caring for them. He puts it more directly though and says they should “put their religion into practise”. Practise is an interesting word. In dictionary terms is literally means to do something repeatedly as to gain skill. In direct terms, practise is something we DO, which leads me nicely to James – my all-time favourite letter in the Bible.

James says some wonderful things. Don’t get me wrong I like John Sentamu and Tom Wright, but I’m putting James number one on my “favourite bishops” list. He has this amazing teaching about faith and deeds and how they correlate to each other so perfectly, and other teachings such as ‘The Two Wisdoms’ and ‘Taming the Tongue’ (I know the headers were put in afterwards but whoever put them there, Mr. N. I. Version I assume, did a grand job of it). I encourage you to read his letter. One Truth he teaches though is the often-overlooked one of the two religions. It’s found right at the very end of chapter 1, just verses 26 and 27, and it is brilliant. The word religion is summarised in 3 short points:

• Esteem silence
• Care for the needy
• Keep yourself from being polluted by sin

Now if this is religion, and is what is Biblically taught as pure and undefiled that God likes, then I find no fault with it. In fact it just highlights the truth about Jesus’ ministry. He disliked the religious leaders because they didn’t lead people into religion but into self-importance and the very easy skills of looking the other way and judging others. Religion is so much harder than that. Religion is a completely radical culture*. Religion is what we do every day, every week, every month, every year – our attitudes and values. Religion is choosing to Love our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to Love our neighbour as ourselves. Religion is examining ourselves to find the log in our eye before we can help remove the speck from someone else’s eye.

Religion does not stink.

James teaches that faith alone cannot save anyone. He teaches that if we say to someone “I wish you well, God bless, I’ll pray for you” but do nothing for the person’s immediate needs then we are dead. Faith enables us to see a person’s need; religion challenges us to do something about it. If we as a global Church really think that religion stinks then perhaps it’s simply because we’re not up to the challenge.

There is too much more to say, but please, do not believe what people tell you simply because they tell you. Finally I pray that your life is drenched in religiosity, and may Jesus’ words come true to you, that people would look at you and praise God Who works through you.

*For a great description of the word radical, and how to begin living out a religious life, read Shane Claiborne’s book The Irresistible Revolution.

Leading Communion

A simple yet powerful proclamation of what Jesus has done for us.

I enjoy communion. There’s something about everyone being on the same level, taking the same sacraments, eating and drinking together. Even though the bread and juice might not constitute as a filling meal, it is still eating and drinking together, which is a powerful proclamation as to what God has done for us.

The other week I was asked to lead communion. In this there is no real problem, in fact I enjoy it. Normally the leader of communion will give a 3-5 minute ‘thought of the day’, in which a couple of bible verses are shared and what God has said or taught the leader that week. I enjoy giving these kinds of talks. Long enough to get a point across, but not long enough to end up boring people or having to prepare something substantial. However, there is another side to the leading of communion that I don’t enjoy – the choosing of the servers; those that will hand out the sacraments to the congregation.

I feel quite an amount of pressure in this department: I don’t feel it would be right to choose people that I am too close to, for fear of showing favouritism, and yet you need to pick someone that you trust and who knows the order and route in which to hand out the bread and wine. It might not seem right to pick non-Christians, and it would seem odd to me to pick the leaders of the church. You’ve also got to think about the male-female divide: not all women and not all men, and I’m sure there’s lots of other things that you’d have to take into consideration…

So I spent a lot of time during the worship thinking about all these influences and who I should pick for serving. I stand up at the front, share my thought for the day, and begin asking people that I trust to serve (this is somewhat normal to ask in front of everyone rather than beforehand). A couple stood up, began shuffling their way across their row…when I noticed a glare from my Pastor. “I’ve already picked the servers” he whispered… Somewhat embarrassed I had to ask the couple I’d just asked to sit down and the pre-asked servers to join me at the front.

I was nervous, worried even, about the choosing of the servers for communion, when the people had already been decided. It was outside of my control, yet I owned responsibility for it, even though I wasn’t supposed to.

Sometimes in life there may be times when we worry about a situation. In my experience however, I have found that the worry I had is unfounded, that the person didn’t raise a particular issue, or that a problem has already been sorted.

Matthew 6:27 “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”.

My Tips for Running

It may seem tough at first, but running can be great exercise.

I do not profess to be any sort of expert when it comes to running, but I have picked up some useful tips that seem to work well for me, and you too may find them useful.

Water: As with all sports, water can be a key to making sure that you feel comfortable when running. I personally have a glass of water before I go on a run, and I find that this keeps me hydrated enough until I need to take drink again, or when I have finished my run. I have found my local McDonald’s to be an excellent place to get free water. They will even fill your water bottle for you. It’s not the best water: my local McDonald’s water is very cold and has an after taste of Oasis (the fruit drink) but it is still very refreshing when you’re on a run. Don’t over hydrate either – it’s more embarrassing trying to find a toilet than asking for water.

Time: The time can play a part in how far and fast I can run. A time for me that I used to think worked well was early in the mornings. However I have found that evenings seem better for me. I attribute this down to not having eaten for several hours, running before breakfast and my body still ‘waking up’ from the sleep. You may find a particular time of the day helps you, so try a variety of times until you find one that works best for you.

Run with someone: I cannot stress this one enough. When I run by myself, there is always a thought in my head that says “you can stop now”, even though I may feel very comfortable. When you have someone with you, there is an unspoken level of competition as neither of you wants to appear slow or tired. You may not do much talking (due to increased breathing) but just getting out and meeting up with someone can be a real motivation for a fitness goal.

Breathing: This may seem a ridiculous one to mention, but breathing when running is important. I have found that breathing with a rhythm is a useful way of keeping you going, especially on tiring stretches or on inclines. When I first started running I would breathe out on every third step, that is: first step (out), second step (in), third step (in). Nowadays I can manage breathing in a four step pattern, rather than a three step pattern (that is, in for two steps, out for two steps). Of course, if you need to breathe less or more often, do so. Last thing you want is to feel light-headed or faint due to over or under-breathing.

There’s an app for that: The iPhone is a brilliant piece of technology, and regardless of what smartphone you own, there is likely to be a piece of software you can download where you can keep an accurate record of the runs that you have done. Personally I use “imapmyfitness”, a bit of a silly name but the app is very detailed and the integration with the website is very good. Your app may also give voice feedback regarding how long you’ve been running and how far you’ve travelled. Also having your phone on you is important just in case anything happens.

Plan before you go: I know roughly where I will be running before I go out, and plan a route based on time and a goal I have in mind. This means that I don’t have to worry about where I’m going during the run, and allows someone else (such as my wife) to know where I am and how long I expect to be on my run.

Set a goal: If you’re running a marathon or some other race, this is obviously a goal, but I find that having a smaller goal in mind can push you toward meeting your long term goal. This might be a medium term goal such as a particular distance by a certain date or a small term goal such as running your usual route within a certain time. Running, whether in a race or just for fun, needs to have some sort of goal otherwise it’s easy to quit or not try as hard as you otherwise might.

Do you have any tips? Anything that’s made you more successful in your running? Feel free to share it using the comments section.

//

Disclaimer: if you are in pain or having major difficulties when running, stop and if necessary, seek medical advice. These tips are not an all win solution to minor problems when running, and you may find your own solution to problems that you encounter.

Pick of the Week: The Page Turner

A great video. Love the whole Rube Goldberg stuff…

I’m Running a Marathon

This is what some people think of when they hear the word 'marathon'.

Sometimes we need a goal in life, something tangible that we can aim for, push ourselves and reach. Sometimes those goals are of our own making, and other times a goal is placed in front of you and a challenge is set.

Before Christmas I received an email from work saying that a place had been offered to run in the 2012 London Marathon, which takes place 22nd April. I had less than one hour to respond otherwise the opportunity would go to someone else.

One hour to make a decision that would affect much of my time over the next four months.

With a little thought and some positive encouragement from my wife, I took up the challenge.

The furthest I have ever run in a race is 10km in the famous ‘Swanseabay 10k’, a beautiful run that was a really enjoyable afternoon. A marathon is more than 4 times this length, at 42.195km, or 26.22 miles. The furthest I’ve ever run? A mere 16km or 9.9 miles. Clearly, with only a few months to go and having not run regularly between October and December, there are some challenges to conquer.

Some of my blog posts in the future will concentrate on this theme: my successes and problems, challenges I’ve faced and how I’ve overcome them. In the menu bar will be a new category “Marathon”, where you can keep up to date with all my marathon related posts.

I will be raising money for UCB, the charity that I work for, and (as they put it) go the ‘extra mile’ in helping them. If you would like to sponsor me in my quest, I will let you know the details as soon as I get them.