Poppies - beauty just off the normal road

Where might the good soil for harvesting actually lie? In our neat, well organised fields, where the ground-rules are established, boundaries clear, and where things feel that they are working well? The groups within our church where it is all suitably & safely organised?

I was walking out into the countryside and noticed how poppies spring up in the wild, just off the normal road:

Just off the main road, 'in the wild', is something growing of great beauty. I didn't have to go that far to discover these - just a little to one side or the other.

Could it be that if we allowed ourselves to go off the usual & recognised highway, and outside of our organised fields, we might find God is already preparing something of great beauty waiting to be discovered? Is it possible for us to find ways of meaningfully working with the crop to be found in such soil?

Domesticated Faith

As I read the Old Testament I am struck by the number of occasions when all the people are assembled, which by implication one can presume includes the children. Some verses are explicit, e.g. Ezra 10:1 and Joshua 8:35, while others like Exodus 19:11 leave the reader to make an assumption.

These are special moments in the life of the people of God, with the whole community gathered, everyone present. There is no talk or sense of segregation, which leads me to think that the children were indeed included. The Passover meal was a family meal, in fact explicitly so as a means of communicating the faith to the younger generation (Exodus 12:26). The other festivals were too (Exodus 13), indeed the whole Exodus deal was an all-age experience (12:37).

Yet our current practice of faith seemingly enforces age distinction more often than not. Now there are obviously some good reasons in play here, amongst them of course some practical reasons. Yet heading off into the desert with only as much as you can carry was hardly 'practical' if you had to take your young children!

I wonder if sometimes we have overly domesticated our faith? Have we let all the good and reasonable practical aspects gather undue weight? Maybe there are theological reasons too - yet presumably they all stood young & old together trembling before God in that Exodus 19 episode?

1 Corinthians 11 gives us a glimpse on the Lord's supper in at least one segment of the early church. It is clearly a 'bring and share' meal. Were children excluded? The text doesn't explicitly tell us, but in all reasonableness what is likely to be implied in a community meal?

Of course at that time the church didn't have dedicated church buildings. So whilst they might have met in a home, if the gathering was of any size I would guess they actually met outside - implying their communion experience was in fact a bring and share picnic! By our standards, anything but domesticated.

Trajedy or Glory

Death - the ultimate statistic, the great taboo (at least in the West), the source of grief, loss, and tragedy.

Can there be any good in it?

Curiously there are times when God seems to actively bring it on. Exodus 14:4 records 'and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army'. That would be Pharaoh and his army heading out to a mass watery death. A tragedy for the rest of the Egyptian people.

And John 11:4 has Jesus saying, 'This illness will not end in death. No it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it'. Allowing the death to proceed - tragedy for Mary, Martha and others at the time.

Both stories bring death: both bring with them grief, loss, a sense of tragedy.

And yet through both 'glory' for God.

That seems odd to us, death doesn't sound that glorious. Yet both these stories show the power of God: over the threat of death in the Exodus example and literally over death in the case of Lazarus.

So these deaths bring a realisation by humans that God is God, He is in charge, above all, and that includes life and death itself.


In the Western world we now seem to keep death at bay for as long as possible. Yet even in death God's glory is manifest and can be seen.

The Call From, The Call To, and the Journey along the way

A typical understanding of salvation is what we are saved "from": from our sins, from spiritual death and so on. In proclaiming the gospel we are therefore calling people 'from' their old position, urging them to repent (turn) from that position to adopt the new that is freely available in Jesus Christ.

All good stuff.

Yet if we only ever concentrate on this 'call from', might we be missing something?

The writer to the Hebrews spends the best parts of chapters 3 & 4 talking not just about where we have come from, but also about where we are heading to. Yet note the real risk the author perceives of us not actually getting there, of not being able to enter the 'Sabbath rest'.

The Israelites had to cross the sea to leave the Eyptians behind and go forward towards their God intended destination. Yet even with such a dramatic departure, they later baulked at entering what was the promised land.

Biblically there is a very real sense of a call "to", to enter the restored land where things are brought to their God-intended perfection. We must therefore urge people on to what they are called to, to their restoration and being put back together. Before we even get there we can anticipate it, see examples of it forming now - just as the Israelites in the desert were able to start living a Kingdom based lifestyle.

For between the from and the to there is the journey along the way. Not always easy, in fact most likely tough and arduous. One in which we are going to have to work at and expend ourselves. An onward journey that will require continued faith that God can get us to the ultimate destination.