The God I do believe in

After yesterday’s post on the God I don’t believe in, here is something on the God I do believe in:

• The God who created the universe out of his love
• The God who made us out of his love
• The God who cares for us out of his love
• The God who grieves for us out of his love
• The God who has died for us upon a cross, and who does everything possible to lead us back to him out of his love
• The God who is love!

Yet the question always arises in any event like the Norwegian atrocities, ‘How can a loving, caring God allow it?’

Eighteenth Century philosopher and sceptic, David Hume, puts it this way: ‘Is He willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is impotent. Is He able but not willing? Then He is malevolent. Is He both able and willing? Whence then is evil?’

The Bible takes us back to a world that is perfect in every way. God creates the heavens and the earth, the vegetation, animal life and human life. ‘God saw all that he had made and it was very good’ (Gen 1:31). It describes how God set men and women to rule over the earth. Surely, they would obey God perfectly in such a perfect world? Surely, we would do the same in a world without suffering and pain? But no! Adam and Eve in a world without suffering chose against God! The best of all possible worlds ceased to be the best possible world as sin entered in – and all of humankind ever since has been affected.

God created in love, and you may say, ‘How could a loving God allow sin to happen?’ But love involves freedom. What if God forced us to love him? It is a contradiction in terms, because you cannot force someone to love you. You can attract them, woo them, care for them, appeal to them but you cannot force them! If you force them, what they give in return would not be love. God’s love gives us freedom to love him in return and freedom not to; freedom to obey him and to disobey; freedom to choose life and freedom to choose death! A consequence of God’s love is that the freedom he gave has given us includes freedom to sin, and we see the results of that all around us: in Norway, in Afghanistan, in our own lives.

I hope that I would still believe in this God if, God forbid, it were my own children who died in an act of atrocity. A question remains: where was God when 93 or more people were killed last Friday, by the actions of one man?

May be tomorrow ….

Sing for Heroes Concert - More Reflections

I’ve just been looking through the songs that the Sing for Heroes men sang at last Saturday’s concert. I’ve realised that I can’t sing a single one of them!

I’ll rephrase that. I can’t sing a single one of them properly on my own! Although each of them is a complete song, they are divided into four parts: Tenor 1 and 2, Baritone and Bass (my own part). For most of the songs, I don’t know all of the words. I know all of the bass parts, but since the lot of the bass singer is often to sing ‘Ah – Ah – Ah’ in the background, I haven’t needed to learn all of the words. The bass parts sung on their own sound OK, but they are not that good.

There is good reason for that. The songs are arranged to be sung in parts, and no part has the entire melody through any of the songs. We need each other (although Lesley Garrett did say at our rehearsal, and I quote: ‘Lovely basses!’). We can manage without one another, and make a passable attempt, but the song is only complete as others join in.

Again, there is a parallel with the church. We can do things on our own in the church, we can try and survive without other Christians, but it is only as others join in that our acts of worship in service can be experienced in their full tune. I’m reminded of the Message paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 12v27, which is applied to use of gifts in the church: ‘You are Christ’s body – that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything.’

We need the other parts – and others need us!

For those who are interested, you can find a report on the concert here.

For those even more interested, these are the songs that were performed by the combined Male Voice and Sing for Heroes Choir:

· When the saints go marching in

· Bring him home

· Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves

· Old Time Religion

· All about you

· Twenty-four hours from Tulsa

· Portrait of my love

· Anvil Chorus

· You’ll never walk along (with Lesley Garrett)

Singing with Lesley Garrett

Did I mention that I sang with Lesley Garrett last Saturday evening? Oh, I did …

Here’s how it happened.

Last February, I responded to an advert for 40 men to supplement the Peterborough Male Voice Choir in a ‘Sing for Heroes’ concert on 16^th July. I am at least a passable bass/baritone, so I decided to give it a go. For five months, we rehearsed every Thursday evening (not quite every Thursday for this pastor, with meetings interrupting), with a couple of smaller performances en route to the main event. In June, the pressure increased with rehearsals on Mondays and Thursdays (even more of a challenge, but at least I could usually make one of them). We also had a promotional performance in the city centre, giving out leaflets, although by this stage most of the 1200 tickets were sold. By this stage, the countdown to the big day was well and truly on.

The day arrived. We did our stuff. Lesley did her stuff, very polished and professional, as you would expect. We concluded by backing Lesley in ‘You’ll never walk alone’, a performance which was spine-tingling (even though it has been stolen by Liverpool FC as an anthem!) and was rewarded with a standing ovation. It was a great night!

I reflected a little on the ‘Sing for Heroes’ choir in my sermon yesterday. What if we had gone on practising and perfecting our songs? There were certainly some that we could have done better. What if we had gone on meeting week by week, enjoying one another’s company and the singing that goes with it? What if we had done all that, but never actually reached what we were preparing for i.e. a concert?

Church can be like that. We meet every Sunday, and in between. We pray and make plans for the future. What if we never reached the main event that Jesus gives us; that is ‘to go into all the world and make disciples…’?

I don’t think my church is like that, and I hope yours (if you have one) isn’t either. Yet we might all ask: what is the goal of what we do?