Richard Dawson, 4 June 2015

The story of the Christian Church begins of course with the work of Jesus—His life, death and resurrection. But the birth of the Church is always considered to be coincidental with the events in Acts which are associated with the Holy Spirit’s coming on to the gathered disciples and empowering them to witness to Jesus in languages they had never learned. This was called the ‘infilling with the Spirit’ and from then on it was considered normal for all followers of Jesus to be ‘filled with the Spirit.’ But what does this mean? It means that when we become Christians we are to be open to taking on the personality of Jesus for the ‘Spirit’ is, in fact, the Spirit of Jesus. We are, perhaps, used to thinking that our personalities are unique and immutable (unchangeable) but this is not the case. There is as much will involved in the people we become as there is predisposition. We spend much of our early life having our personalities shaped by our parents—usually quite appropriately but sometimes not. When we become Christians we begin a new process of having our personality changed and of taking on the characteristics of Christ and this is, in fact, a never ending process. I am continuing even now after many years of being a Christian to learn how best to love others and, indeed, even to love myself. With this taking on of another Spirit comes a new confidence in God because this Spirit knows God intimately and it is this knowledge which releases the power of Christ to work in ways we could never imagine to bring that love to others. Are you open to the Spirit of Christ? Ask God that you might be today!

Richard Dawson, 29 April 2015

I wrote last week about how important it is for us to understand the reverse logic of the Christian faith demonstrated most significantly in the Cross. The Cross, an instrument of torture and inhumanity—now the symbol of the Faith of God’s peace and the love of God’s Grace. And this upside down symbol represents all that we should be in the world and, indeed, the way God continues to work in the world, raising up the poor and powerless and bringing down the rich and powerful.
A further indication of how contrary our faith is to the way the world works is found in the remark Paul makes about the young Corinthian church made up as it was with… ‘not many [who] were wise by human standards, not many [who] were powerful, not many [who] were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;’ (1 Cor 1v26.) The question must arise in our minds, ‘Are we among the ‘not many?’ And the answer must be ‘No’ since if we truly know ourselves we will know that whatever our strengths, we come to God always out of our weakness and need. The question then arises—Who then is among the ‘not many?’ and the truth of this answer is that we may all be if we do not recognise the weakness in which we come to Christ. For even the wealthy and the noble if they come to Christ can only come in the knowledge of their sin and need and when they do so on this basis then they are no longer among the ‘not many’ but among those whose weakness has become their salvation.

Richard Dawson, 17 April 2015

I am continually amazed by the way the Christian faith proves the reverse logic of the crucifixion. Jesus died at the hands of a deeply religious establishment and a world power. Both should’ve upheld His innocence but they didn’t. He, the Son of God, perhaps the most powerful human being who ever lived chose to accept death by human hands so that we might have life. He chose the low path that we might have a way back to heaven. He was humble that we might find ourselves and find hope. And the same thing operates today in our lives and in our community. I continually find that I see Christ in people whom the world chooses to discount—the unemployed, the depressed, the mentally challenged and ill, the forgotten, the discarded, the rejected. More and more I find myself at peace with these sorts of people because somehow Christ shines in them and through them.
There are many people hurting at Leith but we will never get to know about their hurt until we seek them out. For various good reasons they usually don’t ‘lead with their limp’ to quote Dan Allander. Somehow or another however, their lives provide a window into heaven and into God’s heart. To experience it, we have to make ourselves available to these people—to risk a relationship which is, in one sense at least, one sided and to risk our ego and pride because to be seen in relationship with such people is often not great for our CV’s if you know what I mean. Can I encourage you to think about gently working at a relationship with someone who isn’t going to add to your reputation today.

Helen Harray, 24 February 2015

Have you ever just stood and declared God’s truth over a situation in your life or the life of a loved one? If you have, then you know the power of declarative prayer.
Declarative prayer is announcing, out loud, something that is true according to the teachings of Scripture and the character of God. It’s about proclaiming truth and destroying lies. This changes the spiritual atmosphere. When we declare God’s truths over ourselves, they stick. They change the atmosphere. They change us. Declarative prayers get me out of my self-pity, anxiety, confusion and self-doubt. They change my mindset and reorient my thinking.
Examples of declarative prayer:
– Declaring our own identity in Christ, for example; “I am a son or daughter of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.”
– Declaring God’s sovereignty and love over the people around us, for example; “The God of the universe loves my friend. He has sent His Son, Christ Jesus to seek him.”
– Declaring God’s sovereignty and power over the nations, for example; “The God who is greater than the leader of this nation desires justice, compassion and mercy.”
Declaration of God’s truth is powerful prayer but it’s not a ‘name it, claim it ‘ form of prayer. It comes out of waiting and listening for how to pray and knowing the Word of God which we wield like a sword in the Spirit. There is power in the Word: “the words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). Our words release life and death - “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21). Practicing such prayer purifies our own hearts and the world around us. In praying God’s truth, we find our own faith strengthened and our confidence ever more firmly grounded in him.

Helen Harray, 18 February 2015

As Richard and I talked through the Annual Plan for 2015, we felt a real sense of call to prayer as our first base this year. We recognize our need to know what’s on God’s heart to enable us to ‘go to grow.’ We thoroughly believe that mission, ‘going,’ serving, comes out of a prayer-centred relationship with Jesus. Without this foundational
relationship we so easily fall into busyness and trying harder, and we get tired and discouraged.
So firstly our call to prayer is to be in a relationship. One of friendship and following Jesus. As the prophetic word last Sunday said: You are programmed to be like Me; to replicate Me in every aspect of who I am. You are the image of who I am. We are joined as one. Savour the moment. (there was more but this is the essence of it.) In our call to prayer let’s not try harder to pray longer or for more but to seek the One who we belong to and to savour the time with Him.
Secondly our mission as church begins and ends with prayer. We make progress on our knees. You can never do more than pray until you have prayed. So out of our relationship comes the prayers, the compassion and the words or groans that partner us with God in His kingdom coming.
Let’s keep these two things in mind as we hear and respond to the call to pray.

Richard Dawson, 3 February 2015

Last week I compared our Christian journey to Cricket and I pointed out that the end colours everything about the game. To some this may have sounded harsh. It may have sounded very performance-oriented and as if God were pretty hard to please. Can I assure you that the opposite is indeed true. God is not nearly as interested in our ‘performance’ as he is in our ‘position.’ A Christian’s position is ‘with Christ’ and if we get out of this position, no amount of ‘performance’ will gain for us what being with Christ can give us. In cricket the position of fielders is absolutely key to winning the game. Fielders in the right position can make an enormous difference to how many runs the batting side makes and, of course, vice versa. Simply being in a certain place makes preventing runs much easier. For a Christian, being ‘with’ Christ is the aim of our game. In many ways nothing else matters because once we attain to this position our lives will begin changing in so many good ways.
In my family of origin Fish and Chips on Fridays was something of a tradition and Fran and I carried this on to a certain extent (we extend the menu slightly these days!) The point is that everyone in the family enjoyed these meals and looked forward to them and no one had to do
anything to earn them. If you were in our house this was what you got on Fridays (so long as you wanted them.) All you had to do was turn up. In many ways the same is true of Christ. When we are ‘with’ Him then all His becomes ours.
Are you in this position today?

Richard Dawson, 27 January 2015

As I write this I'm watching the first one day-er between the Black Caps and Sri Lanka. It's a wonderful day, very much like the rest of summer this year and about 5000 people are watching with me. They too seem to be having fun and so we will continue having fun together... for a while. You see just like life, cricket has an end point even though some claim this isn't the case! In our case that end point will come if Sri Lanka overtake the Black Caps score, or if they're all out, or if by the end of their allotted 50 overs they don't make our score. And then,  for most of us, no matter how delightful the day, this final reckoning will colour all that has happened throughout the day. You see for most Kiwis here a loss will make the whole a lot less enjoyable whereas a win will make the whole day worth it. And, of course, the opposite is the case for those who are supporting the Sri Lanka team. The point, however, of this illustration is simply this: our life mirrors, to a lesser or greater degree, this same dynamic. The Bible makes it clear that there will be an accounting and this will colour everything about our lives as we live them here and now.  There is no escaping this for Christians. What we earned, what we owned, how well we were thought of or how big and powerful we became, will mean nothing at the end of our days. We will have to give an accounting for our life and nothing will be hidden.  It's worth thinking about at this time of year. Far from being like a box of chocolates, life is like cricket; the whole day will be coloured by the ending.

Richard Dawson, 23 December 2014

A Child. I wonder what you think when you read these words? Most of us imagine a little person, full of hope, full of potential, full of innocence. Someone to be protected. Someone to be treasured and nurtured. But it wasn’t always that way. Certainly in the generation I grew up in, something of an earlier view of childhood still persisted where children were perhaps something of a necessity more than a treasure; where their position was described by that rather laconic saying dating from the 15th Century, children should be seen and not heard. And the attitude behind this is also somewhat reflective of the approach to children at the time of Jesus’ birth. Not that they weren’t valued but that they didn’t really count till they reached adult age. Till they became useful they were really little more than nuisance value in most contexts. Note, however, how the Christmas story turns this on its head for it is full of the importance, the incredible value of… a child. Yes a particular child, but my bet is that the valuing highly of this child began a sea-change in how children have been thought of throughout the Christian world. From schools for children, to orphanages, to specialist health care for pregnant mothers and children, we now highly value that which once had no standing and little value in the world. Something about a child reflects the heart of the kingdom of God for God is with children and is concerned that His people are too. That is why we must value and resource our child and youth ministries and we must work to see these grow and develop, for in them… the Christ child is come… and He will change the world.

Richard Dawson, 25 November 2014

The current generations have been called the ‘Me’ generations in an allusion to their pre-occupation with themselves. I think this is thoroughly unfair. To my mind the opportunity to be self-absorbed has increased enormously with the increasing growth of time and energy saving technology and what has filled the gap has been a behaviour which is as old as humanity itself—pleasing oneself! But this activity has really only arisen because of the opportunity, not because people are inherently any more selfish today than they were 50 or 100 years ago. Indeed I would add that current generations seem less happy with themselves than ever before and a recently released survey of secondary school pupils showing that 20% of female students and 10% of male students had thought seriously about taking their own lives in the previous year, would seem to support this. Within Christian circles we have often added to the problem by creating a piety which is ‘anti-self’ and ‘anti-identity.’ In other words, we have taught that God wants people who are, in themselves, ‘blank slates’ or ‘table raza’ as the latin has it. And God wants people like this so that He can direct them without the interference of a ‘person’ who might have wants and needs of their own. This, of course, is nonsense. God created us with the ability to have wants and needs and while we are certainly not to ruled by these we are also not persons without them. And if God created us like this God is very able to relate to us with all those things intact. Indeed, in a most glorious way God desires us to become persons, to be the ‘me’ we were made to be!

Richard Dawson, 31 October 2014

How important is Sunday and the rituals which are traditional for Christians on that day? Is it that important to maintain Sunday as a ‘Church Day’ or can we, dare we, allow this to change. I suspect Jesus wouldn’t mind a bit of change. After all it was He who said that the Sabbath was made for people and not people for the Sabbath. But just how far should we go with that? Do we do away with ‘church’ altogether citing the greater importance of serving ‘people’ and their needs? I think this question needs at least two answers. On the one hand if we’re talking about the actual day i.e.Sunday then we can afford to be lenient. Although it’s handy to develop a habit of worship on a particular day I don’t think God really minds what day it’s on. On the other hand if we’re talking about the Sabbath and all that attends it then we can’t so easily dismiss it. Jesus never spoke against the Sabbath. The different rhythm of that day, the fact that it meant rest and a chance to worship is, I believe, vital for the health of our churches and the individuals within those churches. Without a regular weekly rest we simply become too tired to make good decisions. This is to say nothing of the fact that God requires that we take such a rest and so blesses this.
Whatever is not done on this day doesn’t become a penalty for the faith community. God promises to make up for it if not in a material way then in health and vigour and spiritual vitality. Our Sunday routine may not need to be on a Sunday but it needs to be weekly and it needs to include worship and rest.