Jon Hunter rants

It is with some pain that I have heard about the difficulties back at New Life at the moment. Troubles in churches are always difficult, trouble in your home church, when you are a long way away, are very difficult to deal with.

I have no way of knowing what the issues are or to form any firm opinion on them, but what I do wish to see is normal business resumed as quickly as possible and issues dealt with in the right way, by the proper authorities.

However we do care about our church, we have opinions, church is something that matters deeply to us? We want to fix things, make everything alright, understand everything that is going on, sometimes that is just not possible.

As we look at how we react and interact around this time, we need to be careful in how we interact with each other, what we say and how we say it- so that we do not create new problems, nor damage the chances of resolution being brought to existing problems. A few useful scriptures spring to mind:

Submit to one another out of reverence to Christ – Ephesians 5:21
Our goal ought not to be to fight our corner, but actually to submit to one another. Does this mean that we should never hold a contrary position or give an opinion? I don’t think so, but it does mean that if we do so it is for the good of others as much as for the good of ourselves. If your concern is for your agenda, your rights, your way, put it down and examine what you can do or say that would bring most benefit to the people round you.

Bear with each other – Colossians 3:13
I love the practical nature of this scripture, it assumes we are imperfect and need bearing with. None of us are perfect and we all do things that cause others to struggle with us at times, even me , and the scripture encourages us at times just to ‘suck it up’ and love each other despite our grievances.

Some offences are not even worth mentioning- you just need to let them go, and hope that other people do the same with yours. In other instances, issues are important enough to mention, but then the issue is the issue not the person. We should have the grace to hold a differing opinion and treat other parties with love and respect- believing that even though our views may differ, the other person is doing their best to hear God in the situation, is acting in good faith and working things through as they know best. It is too easy to demonise both people and their motives when they hold differing opinions and give offence to us.

Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another– Colossians 3:13
When it does get too much and we do take offence, stop and forgive. This doesn’t mean forgive and seek reconciliation when you are only in the wrong. It means forgive even when you feel yourself to be in the right and have ground to stand. Often being right in the wrong way does more damage than being wrong in the right way. Attitude counts for an awful lot.

How does this translate to how we conduct ourselves at this time?

I would suggest the following practical steps:

Listen More
God gave us two ears and one mouth. It is our tendency to want to tell the world what we think, or what we think we think, or what we don’t know but want to say anyway. We need to stop and listen to God, listen to our brothers and sister, submit to them and put their preferences and needs above our own.

Listen to Peoples hearts.
So often we are caught up in issues, opinions and facts when we really need to be listening to peoples’ emotions, desires and aspirations. I do not know the facts of this situation- I may never do. But I do know the heart of the trustees and the elders is to serve the church to the best of their ability and knowledge. In absence of other things we need to listen to peoples’ hearts.

Talk Less
I will freely admit I am preaching to myself here. In the war, the phrase was used ‘careless talk costs lives’, I don’t think the issue is as serious here, but the principle remains: talking about things we don’t know about, or things that we half know about can cause discontent, undue arguments, stir people up and cause grief- leading to discord and unsubstantiated allegations being thrown.

In politics the phrase is used, ‘Those who know don’t talk, and those who talk don’t know.’ There is much truth to it. We all like to speak and be heard even when we have little that is constructive to say. Restraint here is hard, but I believe it is invaluable to helping people get this resolved.

Please don’t attack people, insinuate motives, send fiery emails or other ways inflame the situation.

Be Patient with the Process
We are an instant generation; we wish to see things fixed yesterday. A process is underway and showing the Christian virtue of patience is the best way forward to seeing the right solution come.

Ands finally in all things love. Look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Jon

By no means mine, but I came across this and had to share …

I was always perplexed by Psalm 126 until I went to the Sahel, that vast stretch of savanna more than four thousand miles wide just under the Sahara Desert. In the Sahel, all the moisture comes in a four month period: May, June, July, and August. After that, not a drop of rain falls for eight months. The ground cracks from dryness, and so do your hands and feet. The winds of the Sahara pick up the dust and throw it thousands of feet into the air. It then comes slowly drifting across West Africa as a fine grit. It gets inside your mouth. It gets inside your watch and stops it. The year’s food, of course, must all be grown in those four months. People grow sorghum or milo in small fields.

October and November…these are beautiful months. The granaries are full — the harvest has come. People sing and dance. They eat two meals a day. The sorghum is ground between two stones to make flour and then a mush with the consistency of yesterday’s Cream of Wheat. The sticky mush is eaten hot; they roll it into little balls between their fingers, drop it into a bit of sauce and then pop it into their mouths. The meal lies heavy on their stomachs so they can sleep.

December comes, and the granaries start to recede. Many families omit the morning meal.

Certainly by January not one family in fifty is still eating two meals a day.

By February, the evening meal diminishes.

The meal shrinks even more during March and children succumb to sickness. You don’t stay well on half a meal a day.

April is the month that haunts my memory. In it you hear the babies crying in the twilight. Most of the days are passed with only an evening cup of gruel.

Then, inevitably, it happens. A six-or seven-year-old boy comes running to his father one day with sudden excitement. “Daddy! Daddy! We’ve got grain!” he shouts. “Son, you know we haven’t had grain for weeks.” “Yes, we have!” the boy insists. “Out in the hut where we keep the goats — there’s a leather sack hanging up on the wall — I reached up and put my hand down in there — Daddy, there’s grain in there! Give it to Mommy so she can make flour, and tonight our tummies can sleep!”

The father stands motionless. “Son, we can’t do that,” he softly explains. “That’s next year’s seed grain. It’s the only thing between us and starvation. We’re waiting for the rains, and then we must use it.” The rains finally arrive in May, and when they do the young boy watches as his father takes the sack from the wall and does the most unreasonable thing imaginable. Instead of feeding his desperately weakened family, he goes to the field and with tears streaming down his face, he takes the precious seed and throws it away. He scatters it in the dirt! Why? Because he believes in the harvest (Italics added).

The seed is his; he owns it. He can do anything with it he wants. The act of sowing it hurts so much that he cries. But as the African pastors say when they preach on Psalm 126, “Brother and sisters, this is God’s law of the harvest. Don’t expect to rejoice later on unless you have been willing to sow in tears.” And I want to ask you: How much would it cost you to sow in tears? I don’t mean just giving God something from your abundance, but finding a way to say, “I believe in the harvest, and therefore I will give what makes no sense. The world would call me unreasonable to do this — but I must sow regardless, in order that I may someday celebrate with songs of joy.”

Hi guys better late than never my blog is now in existance. I will try and get some content written and quality stuff here some time in the next six months, ( Hopefully next few days actually.)