Happy Christmas

Big thanks to everyone who's downloaded the album, said nice things and been seriously generous to SAFE.

If you wanted to hear the record and haven't been able to, you still can at http://s177273346.websitehome.co.uk/scatcat/christmas2/

I hope it adds to a fantastic christmas.

Big love, Tim

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet (Pt 2)

If you trust the Bible, you’ve got even more reason to expect this. It doesn’t describe the Christian life as ‘become a Christian, be good til you die, go to heaven’. It describes a journey of growing up ourselves, and of bringing heaven to earth. As well as the ‘new start’ images, there are many of gradual progression. ‘The kingdom is like a mustard seed... the kingdom is like yeast...’

This is really good news because it means all those things I see in the Bible, love, wish I could see in my life, and haven’t... people getting healed from serious illness when I pray for them, hearing God tell me thing about people I couldn’t know so I can help them, teleportation (Acts 8)... are not actually closed to me forever, just something that special people or Africans get to do. They’re just something I haven’t experienced yet.

What this does do is put the responsibility back on us. If I believe that I won’t ever experience more of the Father’s love, I’ll not ask him for it, not make time for him to give me that experience. If I believe he won’t ever heal anyone through me, I won’t pray for people and so he won’t get the chance. If I believe there is no God, I won’t look out for evidence that he’s working, listen to friends who believe otherwise, or take any of the many ways most people who have ever lived have used to check him out (praying, reading ‘holy books’ etc.) And I might miss out on the very thing I long for.

Because of what I think the Bible is saying on this, and the logic of new experiences in general, I’m not going to give up on my dreams. I can even take on new challenges at work and in life with a reason to be confident that they will actually work out.

If you catch that thought, squash it and throw it in the bin. There is always more for us than we have experienced. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet (Pt 1)

The other morning I was spending some time with Jesus and I caught a thought in flight. I peeled open my hand to have a look. This is what I saw: ‘You won’t experience anything this morning that you haven’t experienced before.’

Have you ever had a thought like that? If you consider it, it’s not actually very logical.

Over breakfast today, me and my housemate were wondering what a Baby thinks the first time he sneezes. Probably not ‘my head just exploded’, because it won’t yet have seen many Bruce Willis films to learn about explosions. Without the words to put it this way, what goes through his head is more like, ‘Ah! A thing just happened!’

Now if you’d asked the baby a minute before if he was expecting to sneeze, he probably wouldn’t understand English yet. But the answer would be ‘no’. And new things will continue to happen to that baby throughout his life – some he’s seen happen to other people, others he’s only heard about, others he’s had no preparation for at all. But as he grows up, he will learn experientially that new ‘things will happen’.

So why not let’s apply that logic to spiritual reality and experience? Whatever you believe about spiritual reality, it’s probably a little reductive at best. There are more things that we are yet to experience.

Grace pt3

You might also remember the preacher I made you all listen to on the way up to Scotland last summer – the one Dad said sounded like a Disney voice actor. I wish I’d played almost any other of his talks from that series, because they were quite a milestone for me. He points out something that’s been right under my nose all my life, but missed in my utilitarian religious looking at things. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him”.

What this means is, it isn’t our good behaviour, our radical lifestyle, our acts of love to people in need, that will best show the world how great Jesus is. Weirdly, it’s our dependence on him. If we do good stuff on our own it makes us look impressive, not him. Because the Father’s primary aim is to bring about a full appreciation of his glory (he actually deserves it so this is not the selfish arrogant thing it would be if we were to attempt the same), he is actually way more pleased by our coming to him with a ‘please help’, than a ‘look what I did for you’; with us spending loads of time enjoying being with him and getting to know him than doing what we do every night - try to take over the world.

Me and you have rightly been brought up to believe in ‘put your money where your mouth is’ Christianity – ‘faith without deeds is dead’. We never forget that when Jesus answered ‘what is the most important commandment?’, he gave two answers, because it is so important to love other people. But I recently realised that I had been forgetting something about Jesus’ answer – ‘love people’ still comes ‘second’ to ‘love God’. What I sense is that we’re supposed to focus on loving God, and we will then find ourselves loving people.

I think I’ve spent most of my Christian life, not trying to earn my ‘ticket to heaven’, but the Father’s smile. And I’m beginning to realise it was all a waste of time, because he was always smiling at me. And I never noticed because I was too busy trying to impress him, or impress myself. I think what I really want to say is, learn to just sit and enjoy his smile. That’s what he most wants you to do. It will give you real quicksilver joy, whatever else is happening in your life. And people will see your joy, instead of your weariness, and think they want that for themselves. Don’t worry about doing good works – you’ll end up doing them without thinking about the fact that they are ‘good’. All you have to do now is enjoy the Father’s love for you.

Big big lumps of fudge,
Tim

Grace pt2

I’m sure you remember Katy’s 21st. The party in Chester, where you mixed with all her friends, and I only caught up with old Southampton-ers in the corner. I had a bit of a revelation (as often happens) when talking to Chris.

I suddenly realised that all the effort I’ve poured in to becoming a radical super Christian like Mark Driscoll has resulted in no positive impact on myself or the world whatsoever. Either I’ve failed to carry out my intentions (x hours of Bible study before breakfast), or I’ve done what I meant to (told my school mates throwing conkers at me, ‘I forgive you’) and it’s just been seen for the put-on religious nonsense it is.

But by contrast, I saw, the wonderful things that happened in my life when I ‘selfishly’ enjoyed God’s love for me, and then joyfully did not what I thought I ought to but what I actually wanted to. The best times of prayer, the most enjoyable routines, the most exciting conversations, tough acts of service that left me more psyched than when I started.

I’ve never had a problem with the idea that we are saved by grace – that our restored relationship with God is entirely achieved by Jesus, and that I contributed nothing to it except the evil from which I had to be forgiven and released. I don’t think you find this difficult either. Maybe I’ve found this easy to swallow because I don’t feel I’m a very bad person – I don’t feel the debt that God had to write off for me was very large. My problem with grace is that I didn’t realise there is more to it than that.

God doesn’t stop treating us with undeserved favour when we become a Christian: “Aha! Now I’ve got you! You’d better work solidly from now until you die, or I might change my mind and not save you from hell.” It’s completely the opposite. “If God did not spare his own son,... how will he not also graciously give us all things?” Being a Christian is receiving grace from start to finish. We’re chosen undeservedly, saved undeservedly, made like Jesus undeservedly, used to restore the world undeservedly, and undeservedly enjoy God’s direct and indirect love throughout the whole process. We weren’t just saved by grace. We get to live by grace.

A few things about grace I've never found the words to tell you (Pt1)

Hi Lyds. I wrote this in Pembrokeshire, intending to just give it to you; instead of asking and trusting the Father to give us the right moment to just talk about it... and then he did, in the car on the way home. I guess that is just a classic example of exactly this! Anyway, I thought you might want it in writing; and to be honest, I also might like to put it in a blog, so let me know if you’re okay with that. You don’t have to say yes.

I was sitting eating chips with Matt and Josh after a bike ride, watching the sky slip into dark, and your move came into the conversation. And I realised if there was one thing I wanted for you (or anyone) in a church, it’s not that they practice the presence of the Holy Spirit, or believe in the sovereignty of God, or are actively engaging with the poor in their community; it’s this. That they teach and practice grace.

You probably remember the story about CS Lewis and the congress of religions. They were arguing away for days, Christians trying to identify what makes Christianity any different to anything else. So they ask CS Lewis. ‘That’s easy’, he says. ‘It’s grace’.

You know what an irritating do-gooder I am. You know how I patronise you and look down at some of your behaviour. You know how I spend hours on family holidays writing myself ‘to-do’ lists to make myself a better person. It’s a wonder you don’t hate me. It would certainly be no wonder if you were put off my lifestyle; or my God.


But I hope you’ve noticed me going on a journey with this. I hope these days I’m a bit less judging, a bit less driven, a lot easier to be around. My journey has been getting to know the God I’ve spent so long trying to serve. I want to help you see that when Jesus said, ‘Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light’, he wasn’t telling us a massive lie.

Where your money is going

We made this record because we love it. We don’t need money from it. But there are lots of people who do. That’s why we’ve made it, ‘give what you like’.
When you download, you'll have the option of making a donation at www.justgiving.com/christmasisforlife

All monies raised from Christmas is for Life will go to Southampton Action For Employment (SAFE). SAFE started in 1994, reaching out to people in South Hampshire facing need as a result of high unemployment and recession. Sound familiar?

The programme boasts a 75% progression rate into further learning or employment - an incredible achievement when you take into account the fact that SAFE are working with the hardest to reach, most excluded people - most of which suffer from chronic low self esteem, isolation and lack of motivation.

SAFE's work is so worth supporting because they are not just helping out people who are already in trouble, but empowering them to achieve their full potential. So, in years to come, they will no longer need help, but be helping society themselves!

I have been on 2 SAFE courses myself, as a participant and a trainer, and I've not only seen them sparking others into life, but they've been life changing for me. So please give generously - your money really will be buying something for life, not just for Christmas.

SAFE’s Choices course is delivered by local churches as well as voluntary organisations. This started in Southampton but is now spreading more widely in the UK. For more information visit http://www.safe.org.uk/ and do contact them if you’d like to get involved or see this sort of programme running in your local area.

For more of SAFE’s story, read my blog at http://timothyfacts.blogspot.com/2010/10/pt-3-precedents.html


Get the album now: www.myspace.com/thescatcat

Christmas Complete

SCRATCH (Southampton City and Region Action to Combat Hardship) is a Charitable Company which manages various social action projects that currently operate in Southampton. The 'Christmas Complete' project has been running for over 14 years and is the means of providing toys and gifts to children and teenagers who otherwise would receive little or nothing at Christmas. We are able to help children from a couple of months to 17 years old.

“I would like to pass on my thanks to you and the people who donated presents. My son and daughter were delighted with the gifts you delivered. I recently lost my job after an accident at work and my wife works part-time so this was going to be a very lean Christmas for us. We could not afford presents. To receive a boxful of presents from Scratch for our children was a fantastic gesture. My daughter was thrilled with her doll and we read her a story at bedtime from one of the books donated. My son loves his wooden lorry.”

“Yesterday I visited one of those families I had referred. She was absolutely made up with the parcel you delivered containing Christmas gifts for her children and she couldn’t believe the generosity. It was wonderful to see her so happy after what had been an extremely stressful time for her and her family financially.”

“Many, many thanks on behalf of our service users for the wonderful Christmas toys you delivered to our children. You offer such an invaluable service. The parents were absolutely delighted with the toys.”

In December 2009, we were able to provide 7 or 8 gifts to 1718 children from over 690 families. As with all of the other SCRATCH projects, every child who receives toys will have been referred by one of our registered referral agencies.

How to become Father Christmas...

Christmas is for life, not just for Christmas. The new album: www.myspace.com/thescatcat