Press X To Respawn

We all know the feeling; you've been beat down, burnt out, lost your drive, ambition and heart....any casual gamers out there know what to do when this happens to video game characters in the virtual world...'Press X to respawn'...the characters get back up, start again and keep moving forward!

So when we feel like this in the real world, and in our spiritual lives why not use the same principle?

I'm a relatively casual gamer, and if I'm honest, I usually cheat...like the great Captain Kirk once said "I don't believe in a no win scenario" I like to avoid the hard stuff, change the rules when I can and generally never get stuck in to the nitty gritty...but that's no way to live... it's a half life, a wasted life, a life lived too cautiously to really shine...

you've got to get stuck in, give it your all, make no excuses and hold nothing back...and you'll always succeed...wait a minute...scratch that last bit...you won't always succeed...in fact often you'll fail, and be left battered and bruised, unsure of yourself or where you went wrong...that no win scenario, your own personal Kobayashi Maru (if you don't understand that reference congratulations, you're not as big a geek as me) that Captain Kirk didn't believe in, is alive and kicking...but somehow you've got to learn how to kick back!

So how do we kick back?
Well we learn that defeats and disappointments will come, we acknowledge the pain that often comes with them...and we embrace surrender...not surrender to the pain or to our situation but surrender to the one who holds everything in his hands...we accept that we have taken a hit, we even accept that we can't keep going the way we are...we put all our cards on the table, open ourselves to God (however impossibly hard that feels) and we put our trust in the God of restoration, and of second chances. We allow ourselves space to grieve and to feel...but ultimately we get back up again in the strength of God himself.

God is no stranger to respawning and restoration both physically and spiritually...let's take a head count:

The dry bones (Ezekiel 37)
Jonah (book of Jonah)
Lazarus (John 11)
Zacchaeus (Luke 19)
St Peter (John 21)
The nation of Israel (Nehemiah 7)
Add to that many, many others including, of course Christ himself (Luke 24)

Our God has an extensive background in raising people up, people who are down, and feeling useless and just about spent in every way; emotionally, physically and spiritually...but it isn't the end, it is an opportunity to become stronger, to grow and become closer to God by allowing Him to take control and rebuild, refocus, rengerise and of course respawn us...and unlike that great scene in the movie 'ready player one' (if you haven't seen it, it's really worth a watch) you won't lose your experience or skills, you will only become a better and stronger version of yourself...there is always an extra life when you trust in God...

Through setbacks and defeats you will become a better person and a better disciple if you do the hardest thing...get back up and keep moving, keep growing and keep trusting... essentially you're going to level up maybe even evolve to the next level, where the stakes are higher, the rewards are greater, the fall is further...and where you need God more than ever...

And sometimes there is no point to suffering and defeat other than the lessons we choose to take from it and the responses we make...it's easy to stay down, to take the hits and curl up in a ball and never come out... it's takes so much more to get back up and keep going and trusting... all of us who play video games even occasionally will become stuck at a certain point...you need multiple save points, multiple lives, and multiple respawns (I'm looking at you Sonic the hedgehog 2!).... sometimes we give up, sometimes we don't and we eventually succeed... sometimes we get angry and frustrated and use  some unfavorable words (I'm looking at you again Sonic 2!) but until we give up, there is always hope, always a chance to respawn and succeed...if we give up; well, then obviously we are never going to succeed, we will fail and what's worse we will hold onto that failure and defeat, probably for the rest of our lives.

William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army, a man renowned for fire, and vision and passion went through a stage of feeling useless, worthless and defeated before he respawned and found his purpose and mission...he even mentioned it in the now legendary founder's song 'O boundless Salvation'

"Now tossed with temptation, then haunted with fears,
My life has been joyless and useless for years;
I feel something better most surely would be
If once thy pure waters would roll over me."

He went on to recount his respawning:

"The tide is now flowing, I'm touching the wave,
I hear the loud call of the mighty to save;
My faith's growing bolder, delivered I'll be;
I plunge 'neath the waters, they roll over me."

If you've ever felt like all this you're obviously in good company...saints, prophets and leaders...you are not alone...

So look, here's the truth... failing sucks, defeat sucks, it can be heart wrenching, painful and embarrassing, it can feel like your whole world is falling apart... believe me, I've been there...but it isn't the end...it is an opportunity either to wither away or to rise up to your greatest height...the difference between the two? Whether you will put your trust in God and allow him to take control, to stand up when you want to sink down... ultimately whether or not you choose to quit in frustration or...to press X and respawn.





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An Army at War: Part 2 (1939 - 1945)

Here is Part 2 of 'An Army at War' hope you enjoy.
(Here's a link to part 1 '1914-1918' http://inspiredbyfaith88.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/an-army-at-war-part-1-1914-1918.html?m=1 )

In 1939 The World was once again plunged into war. This time however, The Salvation Army would find itself fighting it's own personal battle for survival. Persecuted, divided and attacked like never before.

The man to guide the Army through this crisis was the 5th General, Australian George Carpenter, who took office on 1st November 1939 as the world and the Salvation Army was dragged into the Second World War.

The worldwide Army was torn apart, as communication with International Headquarters in London became almost impossible, conscription severely diminished it's active adult manpower, evacuation effectively ended children's work in the UK's urban areas, and many older members in the UK took on voluntary service in the Home Guard, Air Raid Precaution Wardens etc. Blackouts, destruction of Corps and other wartime constraints and protective measures devastated what was left of congregations.

On the night of May 10th/11th 1941 tragically, and almost symbolic of the Army's problems; International Headquarters itself was almost totally destroyed in an air raid by German bombers.

The Army in the UK was down but not out, continually on the streets doing what they could to assist emergency services and all those affected by the devastation. This was an Army damaged, hurt and weakened, but still committed to 'Serving Suffering Humanity' wherever and whenever they could.

The Salvation Army in mainland Europe faced an even more direct and imminent threat as the third Reich marched ever onwards and nation after nation fell under Nazi occupation and ongoing devastating conflict, as Europe continued to tear itself apart.

In order to keep this post relatively short here's just a short breakdown of how the Army fared in occupied Europe and the East. Please feel free to join the conversation with stories, context, opinions and any additional information in the comments section.

- Finland was devastated by a long and bitter war against Russia, joined forces with Nazi Germany but ultimately fell to Russian occupation. The Army continued it's work as best it could until early 1942 when the Finnish government officially advised the Army leaders to evacuate.

- Norway and Denmark were occupied in 1940, Army work continued but hampered by buildings being requisitioned for military purposes, curfews, blackouts, arrests and so on.

- Belgium and Holland saw arrests, the suppression of 'the war cry', deportation of Salvationists to Germany for forced labour.

- France was split in two by the capitulation of compiègne in 1940, communication between occupied and unoccupied France was forbidden, serving Salvation Army officers were imprisoned. Major George Flandre was betrayed and shot.

When the rest of France fell, the Salvation Army was effectively disbanded; meetings and uniforms were forbidden, Army properties were seized and sold by the state.

There was some hope though. Monsieur Marc Boegner president of France's Federation of reformed Churches allowed Army meetings to be held in his own Churches and incorporated the Army's social services programmes into their own Churches.

- Estonia, Latvia, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Italy, Germany: all suffered from arrests, buildings being seized, etc
Ironically Germany's Territorial Headquarters was severely damaged in an air raid by allied forces.

- Switzerland remained neutral but did everything it could to support the suffering and displaced, with financial aid and the housing of refugees, even at the cost of severing it's own ties with International Headquarters in London.

- Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, China and Korea all suffered harsh treatment, arrests, subjugation, attacks, formal dissolution and amalgamation into a state run, controlled, monitored and regulated, religious organisation.

A brief word about my home city of Coventry, known today as the city of peace and reconciliation.
On the night of 14th November 1940 the German air force devastated this city including the heartbreaking destruction of our Cathedral and most of the city centre. It has left a permanent scar on our city and identity.

(Here's a link to an old blog post of mine with more information about this event: http://inspiredbyfaith88.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/a-phoenix-from-ashes.html?m=1)

A German newspaper of the time apparently described Coventry as 'the hate filled, victory assured symbol of the absolute destruction of an enemy city'.

Reconciliation of nations, families and our broken Army was vital after the war ended, scars ran deep, pain and suffering had devastated the entire world

How could anything survive what the Salvation Army went through during the Second World War? How could this damaged and broken Army ever march as one?

But by the Grace of God, it did.
It returned, it healed, and it grew.
The words of the worship song 'In Christ Alone' by Stuart Townend springs to mind:

'No power of Hell,
No Scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand.'

The Salvation Army pulled together, in every corner of the world. Relief teams from Britain, America and Sweden flooded Europe, Corps were rebuilt, Flags donated, Salvationist brothers and sisters from around the world lifted each other up in love, kindness and fellowship.
Coventry City Band visited Germany shortly after the War a sign of forgiveness and reconciliation from a city that had every right to hate and despise everything about Germany. This friends, is forgiveness and family. This is what we mean when we talk about 'One Army'

If such darkness and evil can be overcome, then anything can. In these times, when hatred and suspicion seem to be on the rise, take heart in this reconciliation, rebuilding and hope that whatever the future holds, this Army and the God it serves can and will endure.

In this spirit, let me end today's post with Romans 8:38-39

'For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'






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Friends of Happiness, Soldiers of Grace (What is the Salvation Army?)

If I was to ask you what is the Salvation Army, what would you say?

I guess it depends on your experiences of the Army or the context in which you have encountered us. To some we are a social services organisation, others a church, some people even see us as simply a musical group appearing on the streets at Christmas.

I suppose we are all of these in different ways and in different contexts. My favorite description of the Salvation Army is from our founder William Booth; this is from a speech which if anyone is interested can be found on YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AA0pCYKGbYI
(The audio is a little fuzzy due to the age of the recording but clear enough)

The description that Booth gave us at the start of this speech is "The Salvationist is the friend of happiness"

He goes on to talk about serving the Lord with gladness. I love this idea, the media and sometimes even other Christians would have us believe that Christianity is something to be mourned when in fact it is something that should bring great joy, we are forgiven and sanctified by God, we are His people and His friends surely this is something to be celebrated that should spur us on to a life of contentment, joy and ultimately freedom.

However, the Christian life does not end with our own happiness, but must continue with our service to a fallen world. Another quote from William Booth from his book 'in darkest England and the way out' published in 1890. This is a truly remarkable book, which although now out of print is available to download to tablets, phones and E-readers for free. if you want to know why Salvationists do what we do and what we believe, it's in these pages, as well as the foundation for modern social services.
So to the quote, the nature of Salvation service:

"We want a social lifeboat institution, a social lifeboat brigade, to snatch form the abyss those who, if left to themselves, will perish as miserably as a crew of a ship that founders in mid-ocean." 

I hope you will forgive a second quote from the same book on the nature of our fellow man:

"Let us recognise that we are our brother's keepers, and set to work, regardless of party distinctions and religious differences, to make this world of ours a little bit more like home for those whom we call our brethren."

This is the point of the Salvation Army, and really of the whole of Christianity, while we may fall and fail often, as we are all   imperfect human beings, this is what we aim for; to be joyful in our knowledge of and relationship with God, but to also be servants, without prejudice or judgement an Army that brings out the best in ourselves and in our fellow man. To be both: 'Friends of happiness and Soldiers of Grace'







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Is the Church damaged beyond repair?

This post is perhaps a little heavy... But unfortunately we, the Church, the entire Church, in almost all of its expressions, are facing some very serious challenges, particularly traditional western denominations. I have been thinking about this subject for a while and hopefully you'll appreciate my thoughts and opinion on this issue... I would love to hear others opinions on this, it's only by talking about and discovering our faults that we can face them and truly heal.

We are an ancient institution, founded 2000 years ago, as I'm sure we all know, since those early days we have picked up some strange traditions and quirks, divided ourselves into factions and in some cases become bitter enemies. We are fractured and hurting. The church today is so different to it's beginnings...and yet I suppose somehow very much the same..l

We have become social activists, moral guardians and sometimes politicians; of course these can all be great and positive things; which have made us more diverse and effective. But have we, as the secular world would tell us, become irrelevant? Some would say we've passed our prime, that we're showing our age and perhaps it's time to put the old horse down... Not a chance! I say we're here because God ordained that we should be here, perhaps we have lost something of our identity, our place in the world, but don't dismiss that as irrelevancy or uselessness.

We are damaged, there is no getting away from that. we often fail, sometimes through genuine mistakes; sometimes through more sinister and deliberate actions. Sometimes we are stuck in the past; held back by intolerance and prejudice. Whatever it is, and in whichever way we fail, whether that be a large issue or seemingly inconsequential, we still fall short of God's glorious standard. We still risk damaging prospective disciples and, by our actions turn them away from Christ.

The unfortunate truth is that the Church (meaning us as individual Christians) Probably spend just as much time (if not more) fighting amongst ourselves than we do fighting injustice, and intolerance, spreading the gospel, loving and supporting each other. Just take a few moments to visit a Christian forum, Facebook discussion page/thread and you'll see exactly what I mean.

how do we overcome the fears, failures and challenges that currently (and probably always have) plagued the Church? How do we reach the lost without compromising our integrity or mission? How do we minister to a hurting world without diluting the gospel or pandering to societies 'don't ask, don't tell' attitude to religion?
Well I can't really answer that, or come up with some new secret formula or groundbreaking idea...my opinion; if it counts for anything is that our success lies in doing a really hard thing, perhaps too hard...we must learn to LISTEN;
listen to the gospel, to the cries of a world in need, listen and learn from each other and most importantly listen to the heartbeat of God. Then everything else will become clear; maybe some will say that is a nonsense statement or impractical or just words, but I stand by it.

Are we damaged? Have we fallen short, and worse fallen asleep? Do we fail? Are we fractured and wasting time fighting each other? Unfortunately the answer to all those, is yes!

But are we finished? Are we beyond repair? Are we past our best? Should we just give up and disappear into the night?
Never! We believe in a God of second and third chances, a God of redemption, a God of healing and a God who takes the damaged and the broken and the hurting and calls us His friends... but we can no longer afford to stay asleep, or to keep our heads firmly in the sand. 

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Rebuilding a world at war... (Nehemiah 2:2,3)

"so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." I was very much afraid,
but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" - Nehemiah 2:2,3

I'm trying not to politicise this blog, but after recent events in Paris, Nigeria and Beirut among others I've felt the need to say something about the things that have happened, the horrors of war and what I think is the appropriate response from Christians when faced with such unbridled and unrestrained hatred and destruction.

Syria and particularly the city of Aleppo currently face a humanitarian nightmare, the city is in danger of complete destruction as it suffers attack from Isis, the Syrian government and western bombing strikes and drone attacks. Destruction not seen since the second world war. I wrote in a previous blog about the destruction of Coventry cathedral during WWII and how it was rebuilt and became a symbol of hope and rebirth; this is all well and good looking back after the reconstruction, but where does that leave us when faced with the destruction? How do we pick ourselves up and carry on?

We pick ourselves up, not because there is a secret formula or magic spell to moving forward, we pick ourselves up because we have to...
We choose to allow hatred and despair to spur us on to further hatred or violence; or we choose hope to spur us on to goodness and grace...but regardless we still must pick ourselves up...

During the clear up of Coventry cathedral after it was destroyed during world war 2, two metal nails were found together in the shape of a cross; this 'cross of nails' has become an international symbol of peace and reconciliation.

Now I am not going to give an opinion on solutions for the current refugee crisis currently facing Europe, but I will say that these people are just that... People, they are not 'animals' or 'cockroaches' as I've heard them called. They are ordinary people fleeing war and chaos, and I will not allow hatred and fear to erase my compassion for my fellow human beings, I accept that not all are innocent and I understand people wanting checks and controls etc but that is another debate for another time and not the purpose of this blog.

Returning to the bible verse, we see the prophet Nehemiah serving as cup bearer to king Artaxerxes, while Israel lies in ruins, Nehemiah feels weak and powerless to do anything about it; this leaves him completely devastated and obviously very sad. This is how I believe the refugees and citizens of Aleppo must be feeling, but this could equally apply to anyone distanced from friends and loved ones, but there is hope...out of the ruins of Coventry cathedral came peace, reconciliation and rebirth, out of 9/11 came unity and now the one world trade centre as a beacon of hope, Jerusalem was rebuilt and restored...there will be an end to hatred and war but the road may be long and full of hardship, but our God is equal to the task, if we trust and hope in Him, we will not be disappointed.

'And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelations 21:3,4

Please don't forget those in your lives and communities that are struggling... It may be big things like the dispossessed refugees or anything that those around you are struggling with; they need you to be God's hands and hearts in their lives, that is our challenge and our mission; even more so when faced as we are, with the current climate of fear and hatred...






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