George Cadbury realised that his faith in God meant he was here to make a difference which he did through housing, employing, feeding and educating…he brought hope!

A hope that I still get to enjoy and be challenged by.

I know that faith in Jesus changes anyone, as it gives us a true sense of security, value, peace and hope…but the deal is is it doesn’t end there as it then causes me and others to then reveal, point to and cause others to know the same.

I am left wondering what Birmingham would like if I and others became a lot more like George Cadbury and allowed our faith to impact the city?

I am left wondering where the entrepreneurs like George Cadbury are? (and am I doing enough to encourage them)

On a day when the Birmingham Post warns there are a predicted 13,000 jobs to be lost in Birmingham I am left thinking surely if there was ever a time to reveal security, value, peace and hope…it is now!

This Sunday we get to join in with the Edgbaston Cricket Ground funday and the 100 or so volunteers from Oasis will be wearing our loudest ever (colour wise) t-shirts to identify ourselves within the crowds. However, seeing the t-shirts reminded me of the impact wearing the Oasis t-shirt had on me last year at the funday as I wore it to, from and at the fun day.

But it’s just a T-shirt, right?

As I wore the T-shirt blazened with Oasis church, I found that I was noticeable and that I stood out as someone who was representing Oasis church and therefore the one the church is all about, God…there was no hiding!

I found myself thinking more about how I was acting and speaking not beacuse I had to but because I wanted to give people a postive experience of church and therefore God who I was representing. The problem was as I thought more about the impact of wearing the t-shirt was having I was left with this uncomfortable question…

…do I always act and speak the same with others when I am not wearing the t-shirt?

You see wearing the T-shirt revealed an identity I wanted to live up to but when I don’t wear the t-shirt do I still?

The unfortunate answer was as I thought about it I realised the answer was no, I don’t always.

Therefore since last year I have given myself to living sub-consciously as though I am wearing an Oasis t-shirt that reveals my identity as a follower of Jesus part of His church and the freedom, hope, love, joy and life that that brings…it has made the world of difference in my every day existence in the way I speak and act towards others.

That’s me but how about you?

Sub-consciously we can wear t-shirts that are labeled in so many ways how about discovering afresh or for the first time wearing one that causes you to live from a place of freedom, hope, love, joy and life?

I hope you enjoy wearing orange.

But it’s just a t-shirt, isn’t it?

I returned off holiday this last weekend to discover that one of the windows in my garage had broken and needed to be replaced…today I have just received the replacement for my broken phone. For most of us when we encounter something that is broken we know it means it needs to be replaced.

broken = replace

Something that is therefore labeled ‘broken’ can immediately be thought of as something where there is no hope, it just needs to be replaced. But does broken always mean we need to replace?

What about a broken society?

There has been a lot of talk over the past 6 months about our ‘broken society’, however the danger with this expression is that we immediately think that broken means that there is no hope and it needs to be replaced.

What if broken can lead us to something else…yes sometimes it means replace but surely sometimes it means restore!

broken = restore

Broken can therefore be an opportunity …

…an opportunity to restore!

To see brokenness like this means that when society is labeled as broken or where you or I can feel broken, we can have a totally different starting point, as brokenness reveals something worth restoring…

…society is worth restoring

…you and I are worth restoring

At the heart of the Christian faith is that we are broken…

…broken in our relationship with God, one another, ourselves and creation…

…but that God in His love for us wanted to restore what was broken…

…therefore God does this through His Son Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Understanding we are broken is the starting point to discovering the wholeness God has to offer.

So do we see brokenness as an opportunity…

…to play our part in revealing God’ ability to restore society and others through our actions and words?

…to be restored and to receive the wholeness God offers?

]]> http://www.theoasischurch.com/blog/broken/feed/ 0 http://www.theoasischurch.com/blog/vote/ http://www.theoasischurch.com/blog/vote/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:17:50 +0000 Adrian http://www.theoasischurch.com/?p=1951 …because we can!

What a privilege that we live in a country where we can have our say, where we can vote…but with any privilege comes responsibility and in respect to the imminent election it is surely is to vote!

Though there is a lot of cynicism around politics at the moment it is key that we still use our votes to ensure that minority views are not given larger platforms from which to speak.

But who do we vote for?

Though we will always encourage you to vote we will never tell you who to vote for.

Fortunately there is not a Christian political party, as our faith in not a political ideal but whole way of life (a new way of life that is as a result of faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection). However this can make it hard to see which party to vote for, as all will have policies that you and I will both agree and disagree with. We therefore need to give ourselves some thinking space before the 6th May and ask ourselves some questions before we begin to ask questions of different parties policies…

…do i have a particular bias towards a political party? If so why?

…what issues, in priority order, do I feel most passionate about in respect to the nation?

…what issues, in priority order, do I feel most passionate about in respect to my local area?

…who are the candidates for my local MP’s seat?

Having answered the above questions we can then begin to examin the different parties policies and are local cantidates as to how they respond to the issues that we feel most passionate about.

The following websites are also helpful in forming an opinion as to who to vote for, click on the picture below to connect to the sites…

“Two months ago Mr Obama’s efforts to pass comprehensive health reforms seemed to have been wrecked by the loss of a single Senate seat to a Republican, depriving the Democrats of their “supermajority” in Congress. Then the President received a letter from an Ohio cancer sufferer, Natoma Canfield…“Please stay focused in your reform attempts,” she wrote, and Mr Obama has done so. “I’m here because of Natoma,” he told a rally in her home state last week.” (Times newspaper)

The writer of the article also went on to say, “when the history of his presidency is written, Ms Canfield may turn out to be its saviour”. As I read the article I was struck how one persons actions, someone we have never heard of before, impacted a nation.

As I sat sipping my coffee I remembered something Jesus had said about what it looks like for anyone who is a follower of His to impact the world around them as they reveal what He is about…

…Jesus is about bringing peace, righteousness, justice, mercy and revealing his power. His desire is that anyone who puts their trust in his death and resurrection lives knowing the reality of this. This is what the bible calls God’s kingdom, that those of who have put our trust in Jesus and are now part of…

…back to what Jesus said

Jesus gave two illustrations to explain the impact of revealing what He is about (His kingdom), stating is like a mustard seed that is planted and grows or a small amount of yeast that is mixed in to a bowl of flour. In both illustrations the starting point is very small but the end result is vastly greater in size either in the large mustard plant or the flour that is effected by the small amount of yeast.

Or it could be like a woman who writes a letter to a president who inturn impacts a nation.

As I read this article and sipped my coffee and remembered what Jesus had said I pondered what small acts I could take to reveal what Jesus is about knowing though they start small the impact will be greater.

The question is how about for you? What is the small act you can take? The letter you could write, the words you could say or the actions you could take?

Or maybe it is to investigate more of what Jesus is about, as from this small decision it could change everything!

The first is just some shots of the city centre and just reminds me of the privilege of living in such a diverse city…

Birmingham City Centre UK – Caught in Time from Simon Smith on Vimeo.

The second captures the change that goes on, Birmingham is a city that continually redefines it self. Sometimes this is good and sometimes not but we now get to a play a part…

Birmingham timelapse from 7inch cinema on Vimeo.

This is my favourite coffee mug, it may seem a bit strange to have a favourite mug, but there you go I have one!

The thing is, up until the new year this mug would have exposed a terrible habit I have. Though I enjoy drinking coffee from this mug I would often leave it on my desk waiting to be discovered a few days later. The problem was when I discovered the mug, outwardly it would continue to reveal its pristine white exterior, however on the inside it would be a different story. Inside one would discover a brown sludgy potentially mouldy mess!

The outside, what you could immediately see looked great but the inside told a different story. But I’m talking about my coffee mug aren’t I?

I wonder whether sometimes, if I’m not careful, there is a danger I can be more like my coffee mug than I would like to admit. I wonder whether we can all be? I wonder whether we can find, that the public appearance of who we are can sometimes tell a different story to the one our lives are telling on the inside, in our home, amongst certain groups of people or internally in what we are thinking and feeling?

I watched the BBC four dramatisation of Enid Blyton recently, as I watched it I couldn’t help be in awe of her prolific writing ability and gifting to capture children’s attention. However as the drama unfolded I became more and more struck by the way who Enid was in public was vastly different to her she was in private. Probably the most striking portrayal of this was through the relationship she enjoyed with the nations children who read her books and her two daughters. To the nations children she was a dream Mum who could transport them to magical worlds and fill their lives with joy an laughter, however her own Children really experince none of this and were limited to seeing Enid for an hour a day. This uncomfortable reality was best expressed through a scene where Enid entertains a number of children who have won afternoon tea with her in own home. Enid send her own daughters away so she can entertain the other children. The daughters and listen in enviously to thye fun being had…

Though it was uncomfortable viewing I found myself  wondering how am I like Enid in respect to how I live my life?

Perhaps you and I can be more like Enid or my coffee mug than we would like to admit?

Maybe to admit this is a starting point!

Jesus confronted this inconsistency in living when he walked the earth. Stating, we can look like white washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead peoples bones. He then gave a simple and direct remedy, make sure that you are clean on the inside and outside.

There is a need to ensure that who we are on the outside in public is who we are on the inside in private.

Sometimes its hard to admit who we can be in private, however until we do we can never become who we want to be!

Since the start of 2010 I have resolved to not leave my mug on my desk but rather to ensure that it is clean inside and out.

The start of a new year presents an opportunity to not allow there to be a difference between who we are publically and who we are privately. An opportunity to be clean inside as well outside, to live a life of transparency! An opportunity to start a journey of admiting who you are in order to become who you want to be.

I hope you have a fantastic Christmas!

Though it is slightly cheesy I hope that you are able to enjoy the ‘three r’s’ of Christmas…

…rest: within all the different elements of Christmas that you are able to find time to relax

…reflect: Christmas season leading up to the next year can act as a great time to reflect on what has been.Tto celebrate the good, come to terms with the challenges and to look forward to what is next

…remember: a time to be reminded of how God out of His love for us, gave us the greatest gift of a life, in his Son Jesus coming to earth in order that he could offer us the gift of life!

I do hope and pray that you have a fantaic Christmas and and amazing new year!

With love and peace,

Adrian

Is silence golden?

I love noise, I love living in a city because there is noise! I enjoy being around loads of other people, traffic. There is always a background sound, there is a buzz, a buzz that gives me energy, a buzz that causes me to feel part of something. In the age we live in, I enjoy the fact that when I make a journey in my car I can listen to the radio or to music. That when I walk I can speak on my mobile to anyone anywhere or listen to music on my MP3 player.

I enjoy noise. So, in what way is silence golden?

Silence can feel lonely, uncomfortable even vulnerable.

But maybe silence does actually bring with it an opportunity…

…an opportunity to connect with ourselves. Without the noise we start to hear how we are doing, what we are feeling, the decisions we are facing, how we see ourselves. Maybe this is why I can find it unnerving. Noise can be a distraction. Maybe sometimes the fact that we find silence uncomfortable says more about us than we would like to admit.

Maybe we need to face the silence!

I don’t know what this looks like for each of us, maybe we need to face how we’re feeling, to forgive or be forgiven, to enjoy the silence for our own wellbeing. Maybe we need to face up to how we see ourselves, to talk to someone about it. Silence does not mean that we have to be alone…sometimes facing the silence and connecting with ourselves means we have to talk to someone else.

…an opportunity to connect with God. There’s a story in the Bible of man called Elijah. He found that as he faced his silence he felt completely hopeless yet within the silence it gave him an amazing opportunity to connect with God. There is a wonderfully poetic part of the story just before Elijah encounters God. Elijah first encounters the noise of a violent wind, then an earthquake and finally a fire but we are told God was not present within any of these. Finally a gentle breeze comes and it is here that Elijah encounters God. Without the distractions of noise, silence also offers the opportunity to connect with God, to hear from God, to consider who God actually is. The question is, will we take it?

I still love noise but I am increasingly enjoying silence and the opportunity it affords me.

How about you?

Why not turn off the music, enjoy some journeys without making calls…enjoy the silence…who knows you might hear something, or someone, worth listening to.

And maybe then, silence is golden.

In their reasoning behind the awarding of President Obama, the Norwegian committee stated,  “Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.”

You see, I wonder whether the awarding of President Obama, says as much about you and me and the world we live in as it does about him. That it points to the fact that we need to know HOPE!

You only have to pick up a daily newspaper to realise that we are living in a world that needs hope. And if we are honest we know it to be true as we feel it ourselves, we need to know that there is hope!

This need for hope makes me feel awkward as I know at the core of what I believe is a message of hope.

A hope based not in a philosophical idea or mere human effort but rather in God.  A hope that promises peace with God, peace with one another, that death is not the end and the fact that this isn’t how it always has to be.

Surely this a hope worth pointing people to?

Therefore I am thankful for the hope President Obama is revealing, however his example challenges me to the core of my being as to whether I will be a signpost of the hope I know!

So that’s me how about you?

Do you know this hope?

If you don’t, then I want to say there is hope! I want to encourage you to investigate it for yourself…

If you do know this hope, then you are left with the uncomfortable question I am left with, are you revealing it?

Am I, are you willing to stand up, to stand out and become signposts pointing to God who is hope?