There is something satisfactory when, in a National scientific competition for schoolchildren the winner out of the 1,000 plus entries was the designer of a home-made stove. It heightens the satisfaction to learn that he did not make it for the cash prize nor for its marketing potential but to have it taken up by Charities working in developing countries. Richard O’Shea, an 18 year old sixth year student from Blarney, Co Cork, designed his biomass (wood dung and plant material) fired cooking stove out of tin cans. It can be made with a screwdriver, a small knife and a nail! The stove uses small quantities of fuel and produces little or no smoke. It is reckoned that over 2 billion people in the world depend on fires for cooking. These use a lot of fuel and produce smoke. The beauty of Richard’s simple design is that it can be made from materials readily available. The life-span of the stove was not examined but, given the ease with which it could be made; replacements could form a sustainable cottage industry! The welfare of the poor has always gone hand in hand with the proclamation of the Gospel in Scripture. In fact when St Paul was commissioned to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles the church leaders asked him to remember the poor back in Jerusalem. It was not as if St Paul was wealthy at the time, quite the reverse, but it was an accepted fact that when the lord saves a person from their sins he puts a desire into their hearts to give to those in need. Their attitude to money changes when Christ is Lord of all. Those who were converted to Christ during St Paul’s ministry contributed to the needs of the saints in the Jerusalem Church. Seldom is giving purely altruistic as the donor, be it an individual or the State, usually looks for some reciprocal benefit. What makes Richard’s gesture different is its generosity, a Christ-like commodity in a greedy world.

Word on the Week. 9th January 2010. We thought postmodernity had put it out of the house but in it comes through the back door. The “A” word was heard in the media just when it seemed adultery had been dropped from the vocabulary. After all the current descriptions of “having an affair” blunts the impact and to be “in a relationship” sounds almost healthy. A possible reason is that we are dealing with Biblically literate Northern Ireland where the evangelicals call a spade a spade and not an agricultural implement. Another reason could be that the one guilty of adultery is the wife of the First Minister who herself was a formidable political figure. The fact that she recently condemned “same sex unions” in Biblical terms provided ready ammunition for her detractors. Her husband, the First Minister, mentioned his wife’s repentance and granted his forgiveness in a moving broadcast marred, perhaps a little, by his desire to remain in Office declaring, “I have done nothing wrong”. It’s not every week that we see two professing Christians in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. It is fairly common in the USA and each revelation is met with some agonising by the evangelical community and the issue of more books on “How to” pray more, practice forgiveness better, be more holy etc. etc. Another temptation is to look for better role models only to find that they too have feet of clay. Now it is understandable for people who have put their faith in Christ to look for some transformation, some conquering of sin, a victorious life. In 2Corinthians ch.5 verse 17 it says “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come”. So it is commendable that we want to see a bit more of it in ourselves. The problem is that what Christ offers and what we want are two different things! Instead of some form of sinlessness we are told to take our sin-stained broken lives into the world and proclaim that we are sinners saved, not by our efforts, but by God’s grace alone. What we are to do is offer, not ourselves but “Jesus Christ and him crucified”. We are to point to the way of faith in the work of Jesus. We are to show that fulfilled the law on our behalf so that we are now free to live a life of love – love to God and our neighbour. Whatever the fate of the First Minister’s job, perhaps he should revisit his confession of blamelessness, even if it was made in the restricted sense of his wife’s adultery. Like all of us we bow to the Bible’s verdict of universal sinfulness and get on with making known Christ as the remedy.

This New Year’s Eve, at a family gathering, I was asked to quote the words of the above Scottish song. Traditionally it is always sung at the start of a New Year, usually by people gathered in an out of door setting who mangle the words! I, coming from Scotland, was asked to supply the words and only just managed to remember the first verse and chorus! We did make some attempt at the last verse which involves the crossing over of hands, grasping the hands of your neighbours on either side and shaking them in time with the music. The handshake, of course, is symbolic of friendship and the whole poem reminisces over the old times when the singers were growing up together. An interesting change took place in the chorus from when it was first penned in 1788. Then the toast was to “Jo”. The Bard’s waywardness with the ladies caused him to substitute the anonymous “dear” five years later and it is this inclusive version which we now sing! For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We’ll tak a cup of kindness yet,

For auld lang syne! A loose translation would be “For old times, my dear, For old times, We’ll drink together in fellowship, Remembering the old times”. The Bible has always been big into relationships. Perhaps the most inclusive of these was the bond between Jesus and his disciples. St John, who was there in the upper room at the end of the earthly ministry of Jesus makes this comment; “when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end”. This was not the eros love of the poet but the agape love of the Saviour which is unshakeable. It is best seen at the cross when Jesus died for those who were actively seeking to destroy him. It is the unquenchable love of God for his own rebellious people. Did it include the poet Robert Burns? That is something which is in God’s province. Will it include you? That requires you to turn your life over to Jesus who said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me; and whosoever comes to me I will in never cast out”

Among the greetings from the East this Christmas came one from someone who was to be in Cebu (in the Philippines) during the early days of January. He was lamenting the influx of Filipinos to worship the effigy of Santo Nino – a representation of the baby Jesus – dating back to 1521. The feast day on 14th January deflects attention from Christmas and contravenes the second commandment. In Ireland we are not unfamiliar with relics or statues and recently there has been renewed interest in the Marian shrine at Knock. This occurred when a local “faith healer” prophesied that the Virgin Mary would appear and on the first occasion drew a large crowd which he asked to stare at the sun. Apart from some eye damage nothing miraculous appears to have happened and on the second occasion few turned up. It is not anticipated that there will be a third! What the Bible says about these things has been helpfully analysed for me recently by James R Edwards in his book “Is Jesus the only Saviour?” He finds two broad categories of those who worship and serve the creature (or created things) rather that the Creator as St Paul put it in Romans chapter 1. In the first category are the Canaanite Cults which worshipped the divine force pulsating through nature. This revolved around powers of fertility in the soil. Baal was the lord of the land and the source of its fertility. Union between Baal and his consort in heaven produced the rain that made the land productive. This was helped by similar behaviour and human sacrifice by the devotees. Other gods mentioned in the Bible are Moloch and Chemosh who required sacred prostitution and child sacrifice. These Canaanite fertility cults were the subject of unrelieved repudiation in Scripture. The second category rejects religious practices, not for their wickedness but for their worthlessness. Barnabas appealed to worshippers of Greek gods and goddesses to “turn from these worthless images to the living God”. (Acts 14:15) The Old Testament identifies their human origins; “the work of human hands. They have mouths but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear, nor is there any breath in there mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them!” (Psalm 135: 15/18). Thus the Bible views them as folly but not innocuous folly as those who worship them become like them – dumb, blind, deaf and lifeless – and are drawn away from seeking Christ. Cults in the first category are wholly rejected as evil. In the second category, the adherents are not condemned and certainly not annihilated but persuaded to abandon their folly and embrace the true God. So what are we to make of all this? If you are not a believer you need to reject these cultic ways and turn to Christ. For the believers in both Cebu and Ireland, may God give us discernment in our proclamation of the incomparable Christ our Saviour.

This week a friend sent me a homily recounting the martyrdom of Bishop Fisher for opposing Henry Vlll’s divorce. He wrote, “in defending the King’s first marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Fisher noted how John the Baptist, as Friend of the Bridegroom, Christ, had laid down his life in defence of marriage, “since,” he said, “the violation of marriage is no little insult to Him who is called the Bridegroom.” The Pope of the day got involved; “Shortly afterwards, news reached England that Fisher had been created a cardinal by Pope Paul III. The king’s reaction was that the Pope could send Fisher the red hat whenever he liked, but he’d make sure by the time it arrived that Fisher would have to wear it on his shoulder, ‘for head he shall not have to set it on.’ Of such steel stuff were Kings, Popes and martyrs made in the middle ages. Today the odour of martyrdom is in the air as one Bishop after another professes his innocence in the face of the Murphy Report into the cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Dublin diocese. It is not as if a stand was being made against a King, who was hell-bent in ignoring the sacredness of marriage on one hand, and wielding the axe with the other. The modern martyrs are seen clinging to their crosiers when the real martyrs – those children brutalised on their watch – are living witnesses to their dereliction of duty. For the Bishops indicted in the report there will be no public execution, only resignation and some wounding of pride but for the victims of child sexual abuse the daily martyrdom of living with the loss of childhood continues. At the time of Christ’s birth King Herod was the one in authority. Having been told of the birth of a king by the wise men, he set about to eliminate any possible rival to his position. The most vulnerable in the land were easy victims and the slaughter of the innocents was his response. (St Matthew Chapter 2 Verse 18). The astonishing thing is that God sent his son into such a world. Even more astounding is that he should show his love for his own to the ultimate degree by dying in their place. And today that salvation is available to everyone who believes. Joy to the world! The Lord has come Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room And heaven and nature sing – This week a friend sent me a homily recounting the martyrdom of Bishop Fisher for opposing Henry Vlll’s divorce. He wrote, “in defending the King’s first marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Fisher noted how John the Baptist, as Friend of the Bridegroom, Christ, had laid down his life in defence of marriage, “since,” he said, “the violation of marriage is no little insult to Him who is called the Bridegroom.” The Pope of the day got involved; “Shortly afterwards, news reached England that Fisher had been created a cardinal by Pope Paul III. The king’s reaction was that the Pope could send Fisher the red hat whenever he liked, but he’d make sure by the time it arrived that Fisher would have to wear it on his shoulder, ‘for head he shall not have to set it on.’ Of such steel stuff were Kings, Popes and martyrs made in the middle ages. Today the odour of martyrdom is in the air as one Bishop after another professes his innocence in the face of the Murphy Report into the cover-up of child sexual abuse in the Dublin diocese. It is not as if a stand was being made against a King, who was hell-bent in ignoring the sacredness of marriage on one hand, and wielding the axe with the other. The modern martyrs are seen clinging to their crosiers when the real martyrs – those children brutalised on their watch – are living witnesses to their dereliction of duty. For the Bishops indicted in the report there will be no public execution, only resignation and some wounding of pride but for the victims of child sexual abuse the daily martyrdom of living with the loss of childhood continues. At the time of Christ’s birth King Herod was the one in authority. Having been told of the birth of a king by the wise men, he set about to eliminate any possible rival to his position. The most vulnerable in the land were easy victims and the slaughter of the innocents was his response. (St Matthew Chapter 2 Verse 18). The astonishing thing is that God sent his son into such a world. Even more astounding is that he should show his love for his own to the ultimate degree by dying in their place. And today that salvation is available to everyone who believes. Joy to the world! The Lord has come Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room And heaven and nature sing –

Carol services all over these islands will take a hit as millions stay glued to the telly as Olly and Joey battle it out in the final of the X factor. From an alleged 200,000 entrants the numbers are whittled down by a combination of judges’ decisions and the volume of calls from the fans in favour of their chosen performer. Tonight its either Olly or Joey. The programme to tap into the latent desire of people to achieve fame and fortune. The lure of a fast ascent to stardom, coupled with the chance that it could be your favourite who succeeds, draws in both contestants and viewers. So far show was spawned six number one winner’s singles, two number one charity singles and in total 14 number one singles by contestants including winners and runners up. In Sunday night’s final, multiple advertising breaks will bombard the 20,000,000 viewers netting multi-million revenues from companies wishing to reach the largely young audience with their products. It’s a win/win situation all round as the cameras pull in the home crowd and a celebrity career beckons for all the finalists. According to the shows own definition of itself, the “X Factor” of the title refers to the indefinable “something” that makes for star quality. The Bible’s X Factor is Jesus. He too drew the crowds but not the cash. His fame was not in singing but in that definable something which separated him from everyone else who ever lived. He was, is and always will be the living God. In the words of St John, “He has made God known”. This knowledge, St John tells us is eternal life. The fact that Joey beat Olly will soon be forgotten by all but the keenest fans. The fact the Jesus triumphed by his cross to demonstrate God’s love for his own will never be forgotten. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” St John chapter 3 verse 16.

There seems to be no end to the story of Thierry Henry’s foul deed on the playing fields of Paris. He was caught, red handed so to speak, by the ever watchful TV cameraman. The referee was unsighted and the linesmen were no help to him. The goal that put us out of the world cup was allowed and the injustice fixed indelibly in the Irish psyche. Henry is a professional and knew what he had done. After a brief celebration he told the referee that he had handled the ball, a kind of confessional statement which helped his conscience but not the result. The referee’s reaction, assisted by the jubilation of the home crowd, was to tell Henry that his job was to referee and Thierry’s was to play football. A somewhat ironic reply as the referee had just learned that Thierry had been playing handball! In some respects a Church leader is like a referee. He has to know the rules in the Bible and how to interpret them. He will try to get into the best position to make a decision, taking advice from his colleagues if they are in a better position. One thing he must not do is to pay attention to the crowd. They are biased in their support and passionate with their advice. This is evidenced by the fact that for a substantial portion of the crowd the referee is always wrong! St Paul gave Church leaders an abbreviated job description when he wrote to the church at Colosse, using his ministry as an illustration, “Christ we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” Colossians chapter 1 verse 28. Sadly fouls do happen in church life. Some are premeditated others happen on impulse. God has equipped his leaders with yellow and red cards to be used in love with the ultimate restoration of the offender in view. May the living God guide us all as we try to follow his injunction….”speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ”. Ephesians Chapter 4 verse 15.

When St Peter was promised the Keys to heaven at Caesarea Philippi it was never imagined that his successors would use them to lock up so many childhoods as has been revealed in the Dublin diocesan report on clerical child abuse. The devastation caused to so many young lives by an organisation alleging to control the toll road to heaven reveals again the corruption that stems from a flawed theology. The inability to accept that one may be wrong is fairly universal but when an organisation claims to have a handle on the moral authority in the land it becomes doubly difficult to make amends. Looking into the abyss of ones self-righteousness is not a pretty sight and it is not surprising that people recoil in denial at what they see. After all St Peter reacted in denial to the accusation that he was a follower of Jesus. It needs the grace of God to produce the repentance which he showed when in reply to Jesus he said, “You know everything, you know that I love you”. St Peter’s reinstatement shows that failure in God’s economy need never be final. But note the reinstatement followed repentance which led to a changed life. Never again did St Peter deny his Lord. So what about the keys? (St Matthew ch.16 v 19). St Peter seems to have used them to unlock the door to the Samaritans (who were a mixed race of Jews/Gentiles) and then to the Gentiles. (Acts ch.8 and 10). With the Gospel now global the keys had done their job. But what about the authority to bind and loose that seemed to go with the keys? This was given to all the disciples by the risen Christ (St John ch.20 v 22) and mightily used by them and their fellow workers to proclaim the saving work of Christ throughout the known world. St Peter never forgot the lessons he had learned and was able to write to the churches, “God wants you to be …eager to serve, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock”. (1Pet.ch.5 v 2) We need a life changing repentance today in Ireland.

Rural Ireland descended on the Ploughing Championships at Athy in large numbers making the event the largest outdoor agricultural show in Europe. Aided by the dry weather and numerous cups of tea, business was brisk in the Baptist Associations Marquee which was our “home” for the 3 days. Some things never change and again we found the almost universal view that you will get to heaven by being good. Of course there are religious observations, mass going and pilgrimages but these seem to be more the props in the theatre of salvation. Basically you get there by being and doing good, of that there was a general air of certainty. Here was solid ground. It was bred into us. If we are going to be saved it will be on our record – and that record, we were told, was not all that bad. The Bible cuts a furrow through this type of thinking. It buries the weeds of our own ideas and performances under the coulter of the plough. In their place it reveals the fact that we are all sinners. There are no exceptions.  Any righteousness we may think we have the Bible likens to filthy rags.  God’s standard is infinitely higher than ours. How then can we be saved? Jesus said God’s word is the seed. Where it lands in good ground it becomes fruitful but first it must die. Jesus likened himself to that seed which had to die to bring forth life.  Out of his death for sinners is born new life for believers. Who are these believers? They are those who have died to self and turned to Jesus to receive this new life. They love him and as his Spirit enables them, they live for him. As one old-timer said, “less would not satisfy and more is not desired”. He is the incomparable Christ. What sort of furrow are you ploughing? Is your eye fixed on the marker which is Christ? Have you died to the old life of self effort and performance and put on the new life of serving Jesus? The change happens at the cross. The life of service begins not by returning to the rags of “good works” but by his transforming grace making everything we do an offering to him. As St Paul said to the Church at Colosse it was not a different furrow but having put our hand to the plough we do not look back, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

There is an old joke of the Australian lad who asked his father where he came from. His father sat him down and tried to explain about the birds and the bees. When he was finished the lad said, “that’s interesting Dad but my mate Patrick says he is from Ireland and I was wondering where I came from!” We all want to know where we came from, so much so that the RTE TV is running a popular series called “Who do you think you are?” In it celebrities are assisted in the task of tracing their forebears on both sides of the family. The uncovering of family secrets under the eye of the camera makes the unscripted show compelling viewing. Last year we gave a lift to a young American student who had fallen asleep on the bus and ended up a few miles from her hostel. She had come from South America where she traced her father’s roots and now she was in Ireland to see where her mother came from. The fact that her parents had separated in no way lessened her desire to know where her family originated. What light does the Bible throw on family trees? We find that Scripture has a high regard for lineage. In particular the human ancestry of Jesus is well documented. It is as if the human writers of the Bible were looking for the promised One who was to bruise the serpents head, Genesis Chapter 3 verse 15. As the years rolled by prophetic predictions sharpened the focus till the arrival of the Christ child came as foretold. Then the question was articulated by John the Baptist, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” In reply Jesus identified himself by the miracles and the preaching of the gospel as the Messiah – God had visited earth. So when was the mortal blow delivered to the serpent? It was at the cross where the last enemy, death, was defeated by the resurrection. As the poet put it:- The reign of sin and death is over, And all may live from sin set free; Satan has lost his mortal power It is swallowed up in victory. In the end of the day our earthly roots don’t matter. What matters is whether we are rooted in Christ. St Paul’s description of the Christian’s new family relationship says it all: “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians Chapter 3 verses 17/19.