Here is the text from my talk given at All Saints Worcester this morning for our Remembrance Day service:

At times like this, when we attempt to grapple with the contradictions and tensions of human life, questions of faith and the existence of God, naturally rise to the surface.

This week we have had news reports from both the British and US military of soldiers being murdered by their own.

We hear increasingly of our soldiers losing their lives to hidden incendiary devices.

My job is not to pass comment on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is to help us pause and find God in all the madness and mayhem.

At times like this, many understandably reflect and come to the conclusion that with so much violence, evil, tyranny and death being experienced by people all round the world, God cannot possibly exist.

Or if he does, he must be a distant, disconnected, disinterested and angry God who has left us to kill ourselves off.

Many conclude that God, if he exists at all, cannot be good if he causes or allows such horrendous suffering to occur.  He certainly appears to be doing nothing to bring an end to conflict and war.

On this basis, many decide they want nothing to do with him at all.

This of course, raises another question.  One which fewer people dare ask, never mind seek to answer: without God, what hope do we have?

Some conclude that our hope is to be found in scientific and technological advance.

For others, it is a mix of Dawkinsian and Darwinian evolution that will eventually help humanity to conquer it’s own dysfunctions.

A shrinking number still put their hope in our global leaders to find ways for peace to prevail.  Indeed, President Obama’s campaign used the idea of “hope” brilliantly to reinforce perceptions that he truly could change the world.

A trip through Worcester city centre on a Friday night would suggest that an increasing majority do not hold out much hope at all, and so instead lose themselves in the moment.

The reason why across the country churches are remembering is because there is another perspective.

God is not distant and disinterested.  God is doing something about evil and war.  God has already done something about it.

God does not cause the suffering, and nor has He stormed off in a huff, leaving us to deal with our own mess.

He has stepped down in to it, right in to the hurt, pain, conflict and death, to bring new life.

The prophet Isaiah told us that “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; for unto us a son is given, the Prince of Peace”.

Not a peace-broker, or peace-keeper.  A peace-maker. God has come as a peacemaker.  The ultimate peacemaker.  The Prince of Peace.

Jesus Christ.

He is the answer to our questions:

• Where are you God?  Here I am.
• What are you doing to stop the madness?  Conquering death.
• What is our hope?  The promise of a redeemed and restored creation.

There is an irony worth noting here.

When the Prince of Peace finally arrived he, too, was cut down in his prime, as the brutal military empire of the first century did what brutal military empires have always done.

And so this morning we remember not only the many who have lost their lives in the quest for peace, but also the One who came in peace, who in dying, made it possible for the world to be changed.

The purpose of remembering is to draw us into a hopeful future.

We live between the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth and the final establishment of the kingdom be came to bring, the kingdom in which justice and peace shall be knit together at last and for ever .

And as the church of Christ – people of peace – we are entrusted with a mission.

Not simply to save a few souls from the wreck of this world, since God so loved the world and has promised to redeem it.  Nor simply to tinker with the world’s own systems, merely to do things a bit differently here or there.

No: rather, by prayer and courage, and holiness and hard work – and it will be hard work – we are called to discover the practical ways in today’s and tomorrow’s world of seeking justice without violence, of making and maintaining peace without tyranny.

The world says it can’t be done.

We who honour those who gave their lives, and who do so in the name of the Prince of Peace, are committed to saying it can be and will be.

That is why every act of Remembrance must also be a moment of decision and faith – perhaps for someone here today, to follow the Prince of Peace and become a peacemaker.

It is a rededication of our own lives, to serve the God of justice and the Prince of Peace and to follow wherever they may lead.

Let us pray.

A dear friend just emailed me, saying she’d “figured me out”.  Here is her conclusion:

one topic per email.

..preferrably sent to Rach (my P.A.).

pack cars efficiently.

drive safe but quick.

lasagne.

chocolate.

coffee.

kingdom living.

She just missed two things…

1. My family.
2. Good red wine.

That makes 10.

What are your ten?

I’ve had four emails this month from younger leaders asking me how I work.  An interesting question, and one that I think it’s worth actually answering in a blog post.  Often what trips up leaders is not a lack of vision or focus or gifting or opportunities.  It’s not having the right systems and habits in place.

Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about these sorts of things.  Many people think I am very organised and administrative.  I’m actually not.  Trust me.  Ask my wife or my p.a.!  My wife has the gift of patience, and my p.a. has the spiritual gift of administration.  Both make me look hopelessly disorganised in comparison.  But I’ve put some systems and habits in place to ensure that I work as smart and effectively as possible.  Some are things I need to have in place to compensate for my weaknesses, other things are there because they are simply good ideas or things to do that will work for all, and others still are just plain common sense.

So… as a starter in this series, let me outline how I work with technology on a general day-to-day basis and why.

I only use one computer.  It’s a nice 2.4Ghz MacBook running OSX Leopard, iLife, iWork and Microsoft Office for Mac. It syncs to our church server and I backup to our personal external hard drive.  I also use MobileMe for certain backups (more on that another time).  In my experience, having two computers – e.g. a personal one and a work one – gets too confusing.  I want everything in one place.

My phone is just a phone. I have a simple Nokia phone which I use for making calls and texting.  I don’t have one that I can do anything else with – no web, no emails, no diary, no music.  My phone is just that… a phone.  I spend the minimum possible on it – on average $25 pay-as-you-go credit/month, and use it as little as possible.  I encourage people to call me at home or work, or to email/Tweet me/text me.  I happily give people my direct dial at work so they can call me directly.  When I get home after work I switch it to “Home” profile – filtering out most work calls (not my “boss” or p.a.).  I turn it off during all meetings and all meals.  People know where I am and so if there is an emergency they can always get hold of me another way.

People often ask why I don’t have an iPhone.  Part of me would love one, but I consciously don’t for the following reasons. I’m not important enough to need a Blackberry or iPhone.  I think that from a productivity point of view there would be limited gain (if any) from me having a phone that is part computer.  From a more holistic self-care/boundaries perspective, I have decided that I simply don’t want to be online all the time.

Facebook is great for some things and terrible for others.  I use it as purely to keep in touch with my friends and family, primarily those in other countries to us.  I do not follow any work-related people on Facebook, nor have friends on there who are not genuinely friends.  I do not use the Facebook inbox and my friends know that.  I have disabled all notifications and set it to say no to all those pesky “application invitations”! I have very few applications installed other than the standard ones and I have turned off the chat function too.  I do not update my Facebook status.   All of this means that I use it in a controlled way, that does not invade my time or my family time, and in a way that works for me.

Twitter is a different beast to Facebook and I love it. Again, I have a clear rationale for how I use it.  It is to network, communicate and keep up to date with trends/blogs/resources/ideas.  I do not use it to keep up with my friends or family (that’s what Facebook is for!).  I use it connect with my colleagues, peers, the people I lead and mentors.  I follow certain people whose work/blogs/ideas feed and resource me.  I don’t follow celebrities or randoms.  Anyone can follow me, but I don’t automatically follow someone just because they decided to follow me.  I will say more about how I use Twitter in a separate post.

Email.  I have a love-hate relationship with email!  I love it because it can be efficient and effective.  I hate it because I have so much of it.  I have three accounts I use: work, home, professional.  I do not use Facebook or Twitter as a surrogate email client.  My work account is for all St Paul’s related work, but nothing else.  My home account is for all personal/family stuff but not work or my wider professional work.  My professional account is used for networking beyond work and my involvement in trusts and boards.

I only check my work email three times a day: when I first sit down to work, after lunch, before leaving for the day.  I do not have my work email set to notify me beyond these times.  I do not check it at home (unless working from home) or during my days/time off.  I direct as much work related email to my p.a. as possible, who filters out a lot, responds to a lot and then passes on what I should/must respond to.

GMail chat and Skype are vital tools for us as we seek to maintain long distance relationships, but also connect with others in ministry around the world.  I have set GMail chat up on both my home and professional email accounts to only allow certain people to see my online status.  Those are people I don’t mind being interrupted by, but don’t expect to be constantly nudged by.  Skype is great for connecting with parent, close friends, God-children etc.  I only place one limit on Skype – I only Skype if both parties have video, otherwise we just call on the phone – the line quality is not good enough to justify a free, faceless call when we have GoTalk phone cards that give us 1000 minutes for $20!

There are some other more assorted things I do which I find helpful.  I always carry around with my a 2GB USB stick for file transfers, quick backups and when I don’t want to lug my laptop with me.  I carry a digital dictaphone with me at all times, to capture inspiration for teaching/preaching.  I often get an idea that is best captured by me speaking it there and then.

Interesting? Helpful? Want more?  Let me know.

Everywhere U2 have gone to promote their latest album “No Line On The Horizon”, Bono has sung “Magnificent”, which is one of the highlight songs on the album.

Check out the BBC rooftop gig version here.

Here are the lyrics:

Magnificent
Magnificent

I was born
I was born to be with you
In this space and time
After that and ever after I haven’t had a clue
Only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born
I was born to sing for you
I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice
From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise…

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love unites our hearts

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent
Magnificent

If that is not bold, from the rooftops worship and proclamation, by a man who walks with Jesus, then I do not know what is.

Here’s where we gotta be
Love and community
Laughter is eternity
If joy is real

- Bono (“Get On Your Boots” from No Line on the Horizon)

A man is stumbling through the woods totally drunk, when he comes upon a preacher baptizing people in the river.  The drunk walks into the water and subsequently bumps into the preacher.

The preacher turns around and is almost overcome by the smell of booze.  Whereupon he asks the drunk, ‘Are you ready to find Jesus?’

‘Yes I am’ replies the drunk, so the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the river.  He pulls him up and asks the drunk, ‘Brother have you found Jesus?’

The drunk replies, ‘No, I haven’t.’  The preacher, shocked at the answer, dunks him into the water again, but for a bit longer this time.  He pulls him out of the water and asks again, ‘Have you found Jesus, my brother?’

The drunk again answers, ‘No, I have not found Jesus.’  By this time the preacher is at his wits end, so he dunks the drunk in the water again, but this time he holds him down for about 30 seconds.

When the drunk begins kicking his arms and legs, the preacher pulls him up.  The preacher asks the drunk again, ‘For the love of God, have you found Jesus?’

The drunk wipes his eyes, catches his breath and says to the preacher, ‘Are you sure this is where he fell in?’

To label me is to ignore me.

Dana Carvey

So thanks to Louise at Husk for the link, I took the little test found here that helps you work out which party you’re beliefs most align with, and here’s my result:

Now even I’m surprised by that…

There’s not much to say really.  We got to watch what will be known by future generations as one of the most historic moments in all human history – regardless of how well Obama performs.

My hope and prayers are that he turns out to be one of the truly great leaders of all time.

It’s extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion dollars to saved 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases… Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs… But this is moral bankruptcy.

Bono

Taking time to be human is a deep contrast to the drivenness of the acquisitive life that is always on the make and that ends in fatigue that has no energy for humane living.

Walter Brueggemann

I was working on a post on this, and then read this post by Andrew Menzies which says everything I wanted to say, more eloquently that I would have done. Worth a read right now.

The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class is in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.

Aristotle

One sunny day in 2009, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Ave, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the US Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine looked at the man and said, “Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The old man said, “Okay” and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The man thanked him and, again just walked away

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same US Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I’ve told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you understand?”

The old man looked at the Marine and said, “Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.”

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow, Sir.”

I’ve had three emails today asking me when I’m next “on tour”… truth is, I’ve dialled things back a bit recently, because I just want to be at home more, and doing less.  Less is more right now.

But… I’m looking forward to spending the morning out at Life Leadership College next week, and will be teaching into the idea of “intentionality”.  Then we’re off to Matamata for the St Paul’s annual camp where Mark & Sue Strom will be with us thinking about “living well in the 21st century”.  

My next “on the road” speaking gig looks like it will be at Soul Survivor in tidy Fielding next January.  

I’m trying to get my head down to some writing in the next few months – I’ve got a lot I want to say on paper right now.  Stuff I’ve road-tested for a while now, played around with, and refined.  

Currently I’m actually working on two projects.  The first is a possible workshop around “setting life vision and aims”.  I come across so many people who just aren’t sure of what their life vision and aims are.  And whenever I go through my little spiel with them, they are so grateful.  I figured it might be something other people would value. 

The other is a book, provocatively titled “Rescuing Jesus from the church” or something like that. In reality it’s perhaps better titled “Real Christianity in a hyperreal world”, but one sounds better than the other !  I want to say two things – the kind of Christianity we need and want is the kind of Christianity Jesus talked about, so what does it take to get out of churchianity and into the dust ?  And then, what the heck does it mean for someone to thrive spiritually as a fully sold-out Kingdom person ?  

Problem is… I can write the first one, but I’m out of my depth on the second, because I’m surviving not thriving.

I have had the privilege of being involved behind the scenes helping the Bible College of New Zealand transition in to Laidlaw College.  

The vision is inspiring – check out this promo video and visit the college website here.

Justice is what love looks like in public.

Dr. Cornel West

I’m not an economist or politician or banker.  But I read and think and discuss.  And I have a few dollars in the bank.  When it comes to the global economic crisis, and particularly the lower house of the US Congress voting against a $700bn bail out of Wall Street, I have the following thoughts:

1.  I think Barack Obama is right to name this for what it is – the government asking taxpayers to bail out private financial institutions who got in to a mess because of greed and flawed policies and procedures.  

2.  This whole crisis part of a much bigger, more ethereal shaking of the West that is going on.  It cannot be legislated out of.  The impending collapse of Wall Street is not the primary problem.  It is an effect not the cause.  The cause is, as Rowan Williams said recently, the idolatry of greed and wealth.

3.  A significant economic correction has been needed for at least 5 years.  People have been saying this for that long.  The longer a problem is left, ignored and even held at bay, the bigger the impact when eventually it comes to the fore.  When the gap between the rich and poor grows every year in virtually every nation on the planet, and between the global rich and poor; when people cannot afford to buy homes, or feed their kids, or pay for care of their elderly, while a tiny minority of bankers and business people become ludicrously wealthy; there eventually comes a time when people say “no more”.

4. Bring on the revolution.

Currently, every second guy that comes to see me for some “pastoral time” is struggling with some degree of addiction to internet pornography.  I said recently at a church course on relationships for our young adults that any guy struggling was welcome to come and see me, promising to help them.  So far only one has taken me up on the offer, but I hope others will pluck up the courage to come and talk.  

I don’t want to say much on this because there isn’t much to say.

Porn is evil.  It is highly highly addictive.  It is incompatible with a lifestyle choice of radical holiness.  It is not an option for guys or girls who want to live in and for Christ.

It cannot be “overcome” in some sort of “victorious man” approach to male Christian spirituality.  I’ll explain why in a moment.  But you can be free of it if you’re prepared to go the distance and go deep in to the underlying issues.

So here’s what I say when a guy comes to see me:

1. Porn is a form of self-medication, a drug, a habit, that helps us cope with life and/or escape emotional pain from unmet emotional needs.  It is not the primary problem.  Something else is.
2. You cannot “overcome”.  The Biblical call is to “flee immorality” and embrace the transforming work of the Spirit.  Overcoming relies on a guy exercising great will power to defeat the temptation, the addiction.  Christ invites us to flee it, to run to Him.  Overcoming is not a Biblical concept.  We leave something behind, we stand firm in the face of temptation, we choose another way.  We are not invited to fight and overcome.  It is exhausting and fails to go the real issue.
3. The real issue is that there is some underlying issue of brokenness that needs to be dealt with.  Porn addiction is a secondary problem, not the real problem.  
4. We can do things to help us resist temptations to sin, so that we have space in which to access and deal with the underlying issues that cause us to sin.  The best thing I’ve found to help porn addicts create this space is the technology from xxxchurch.com that spies on your computer use and emails your accountability friends.  This allows the opportunity for some space, in which to delve in to the real issues.  The guys I know who are using it all value it.
5. I’ve only seen guys make progress on dealing with the underlying issues with the aid of a brilliant Christian counsellor.  So I recommend a good Christian counsellor and say, spend the money.  It’s worth it.
6. The reality is that once an addict, always an addict.  The road to freedom from porn addiction is like any other addiction: a lifelong journey of perseverance, of choices.  And to make it, you need friends, accountability/prayer buddies, and a church that has a real-life approach to faith and spirituality.

I just had an email from a friend who has done all this, and is celebrating 1 year of being totally free.  He is just one of over 40 guys I’ve been helping over the last 3 years.  Many more are on the way.  

So guys – get in touch with your “pastor”.  And if he won’t help, or can’t help, find someone else who can.

P.S.  Mark Driscoll through his publishing project re:lit, is giving away, bit by bit, his book on the subject. He blogs here about how and why the book is pretty hardline.  It will be coming from his very reformed, black and white framework, but I’m still going to grab myself the full PDF once it’s all up there because when it comes to something as serious as this issue, we probably need someone giving us that perspective.

So what convictions do you have ?

Here’s one of mine at the moment: love wins.

That’s it.  Faith believes, hope pursues, love wins.

We often want fancier answers to the world’s problems than that.  But it doesn’t get more simple and more complicated than that.

I’m convinced that people who love others as Christ loved the world are the kind of people who do change the world.  I’m convinced that unless a person has the Spirit of God in them, they can’t really love like this.  They can get close, but not 100%.  Politicians don’t love the people they are trying to help.  

I’m convinced that until those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus learn to both receive love, and then give it,  nothing will really change.

But love wins.  We know the end of the story.  We know who wins.  The Lamb wins.  The loving Lamb wins, and He wins by those of who carry His cross as our cross, choosing to love.

Seeing a kid in the play area at McDonalds eating her chicken nuggets alone while her mother reads Women’s Weekly.

Seeing couples arguing outside posh restaurants next to their posh cars in their posh clothes.

Seeing people in A+E alone.

Seeing what some people have in their trolley at the supermarket, particularly those eeking out their dollars.

Seeing a family on the front page of the national newspaper because of a mindless murder.

Seeing people come in, and go out of church without being talked to.

Seeing those people come back again and again and still getting ignored.

You ?

Oh my goodness.

The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, on the financial crisis and global poverty.

“To a bystander like me, those who made £190million deliberately underselling the shares of HBOS, in spite of its very strong capital base, and drove it into the bosom of Lloyds TSB Bank, are clearly bank robbers and asset strippers…”

“Tomorrow morning I will attend a meeting to launch a campaign of ‘Education for All’ as part of the global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the eradication of global poverty by 2015. Of course for such a target to be achieved there needs to be stable financial systems.  Without a solid global economic base to work from, the eradication of world poverty would be an even greater task. But as one columnist recently noted, ‘the President of the United States recently announced $700 billion bailout plans for banks and financial institutions.’ One of the ironies about this financial crisis is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable. It would cost $5 billion to save six million children’s lives. World leaders could find 140 times that amount for the banking system in a week. How can they now tell us that action for the poorest on the planet is too expensive?”

Yup.

Dear AECT

I am listening with amusement and a certain degree of resentment at your current radio ads, inviting me to dream of indulgent ways to spend the $320 dividend you sent in the post.

In answer to your question: I am using mine to pay for the large hike in electricity prices over the last 12 months.

Yours sincerely,

Rich Johnson

Reflect on whether your choosing of God is bringing you genuine life.  If your God-choosing is not making you fundamentally more alive and vital, you may be choosing the external trappings of the Christian religion rather than the life-giving inner essence of Christian spirituality.  You may be choosing a spiritual self-improvement program of the kingdom of self, but you are not choosing the genuinely life-giving program of the kingdom of God.  Hear God’s call to surrender to God’s will as an invitation to a fullness of life that exceeds your wildest expectations and imaginings.  The source of this call is the Source of everything that is truly alive.  Settle for nothing less than this truly abundant and vital life in Christ.

David Benner