Life in a Blue Suit - the Royal Navy (1)

LIFE IN A BLUE SUIT

It is not what you do that makes you who you are.    But who you are that makes you do what you do.

They say who we are is determined by a mixture of genes and culture.    The genes come from a unique mix of our biological parents genes which are implanted at conception.     They are added to and moulded into a unique person in our mother’s womb.     Who we are is then shaped by our culture and experiences,  first in childhood and then adulthood.      Our basic nature is fixed by our genes and early childhood.     The skeleton as it were is fleshed out as we grow,  moulded and shaped by the culture we are brought up in and the experiences we go through.      Culture can though change, awareness of early experiences help correct the harm done earlier on.   Or reinforced and made worse by subsequence experiences. 

And so in 1965 I joined the Royal Navy,   the introduction to which was at HMS Raleigh where the adventure began.   From the basic training and square bashing I went off to HMS Pembroke in Chatham to do my professional training as a Store keeper.    I had started my working life as a trainee electrician for the Coal Board and wanted to continue in that profession.   Little did I realise at the time by running away to sea God had set His face against my calling as a Salvation Army officer and was to make me a watchman over the house of Israel  (Ezekiel 3:17  "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.”   This I was not to know until 20 years later when I had come out of the Navy and become a Management Accountant.    A Management Accountant is different from a Financial Accountant in that he is employed by a firm or company to keep watch over the affairs of the organisation.   To give account on a daily basis to the Board for the financial well being of the firm.   To advise it on the best use of its resources.    A financial accountant in the main someone outside the organisation,  to represent the finances in the best possible light to the outside world.   But as I said I knew nothing about all that,  my plans were clear.    I would serve for 9 years in the Navy,   gain the experience and the confidence  which comes with experience.    Save up and go into the Salvation Army Training College on my 27th birthday.   So much for the plans of mice and men.

Life in the Royal Navy was great,  full of life and adventure.   First posting after my training was to RNAS Culdrose in Helston Cornwall and my real first taste of girls,  wine and roses.   I went into the Navy fully determined to maintain my witness as a Salvation Army Christian.    No drinking,  no smoking and definitely no women until I was married.    Well the no smoking part I have kept to this day.   No sex with my girl also made it but not for the lack of trying.    The problem there was all the “nice” girls that love a sailor didn’t go to church and I did.    The trouble was I tried running with the hare and the hounds.    Jolly Jack tar on a Saturday and the Salvation Army on Sunday.    After 18 months of that jolly jape I was posted to my first ship HMS Jaguar based in Chatham, Kent.  The Jaguar was a small Anti-submarine frigate with a crew of just under 200.    Shortly after joining the ship God confronted me and said “Choose.    You can run with the hounds or with the hare.   You either enjoy being a jolly Jack Tar and all that the men in blue suits get up to or follow me.    You cannot do both”   I chose Him

The ship left shortly after that encounter for a cruise around the world or at least half way round then back taking just under two years before returning to the UK..   First Gibraltar and then down the African coast to South Africa to make our base in Simonstown,  the South African Naval base 10 miles or so from Cape Town.  At each port of call I found a local Salvation Army or if there wasn't one,  a local church.    In Cape Town I had the strange experience of going around the streets and market place playing “carols” in shorts and short sleeved shirts.     Until then I had only played wrapped up in heavy coats, scarves and thick woollen mittens,   Deep snow crisp and even one year hot blazing sunshine the next.     I still not sure which one I prefer.    As for Christmas day.    After the Army in the morning, a bar-be-que on the beach in the afternoon.    

From Cape Town we sailed into the Indian Ocean,  calling first at Port Elizabeth then Durban South Africa.    There I met and fell in love with a beautiful young girl called Brenda and from that moment on, started scheming of ways to leave the Navy,  return to South Africa and marry her. But in the meantime Jaguar continued showing the flag and reached the Seychelles before turning round and heading back to Cape Town via Durban.   Yippee.     In Cape Town Brenda came down and spent a week with me before we sailed off to South America and  Rio de Janerio.   From there the Antarctic  round the Cape and up the other side to the Panama canal,  calling on all ports on the way.  Once through the canal,   Bermuda and then home.      I may have chosen to follow God and no more wine, women and song but the trip around the world was great and I had the best time of my life

God's call to full time ministry in the Salvation Army

GOD'S CALL TO FULL TIME MINISTRY  IN THE SALVATION ARMY

Give me a child until he is 7 and he is mine for life may well be a misquote of the Jesuit Francis Xavir.   I don’t know how true that is but I was a member of the Salvation Army for 25 years from spiritual birth then both Julie and I worked for them for several years and despite no longer being a Salvationist I still feel deep down I am part of the Salvation Army.    You may therefore ask why I am still not a member of the Salvation Army.     I don’t know,   you may need to ask God about that.   I would though ask “how do you know what’s God’s plan for your life.     How do you know where God wants you to be.    Of the 70 or so churches in the area,  which church does He want me to serve in.    This is the purpose of this blog.    Since returning to Plymouth I have tried to serve Him in 3 churches believing that was what God required of me.   On each occasion I gave it a good 12 months or more,  except the Engage church in Whitleigh  which closed down after only 5 or 6 months.    But to continue with my early life in His Kingdom.

After my “baptism” of the Holy Spirit I was keen to go and talk to someone about it.     I therefore sought out Salvation Army office in Worksop but was given a brush off with “Umm Let put it down to a second blessing”   There were no more talk of the Holy Spirit or an infilling and nothing changed.   I was a 14 year old boy who knew nothing about God or His Kingdom.    Seems nothing has changed I may now be 68 but I am still seen as the 14 year old boy who knows little about God or His Kingdom.    In February 1961,  I was now old enough to become a ”Senior” soldier,   signed the Articles of War and became a Salvationist.    A few months later God called me to become a full time Salvation Army officer.     You could not become a candidate and enter the Salvation Army Training College until you were 18,  so I became a Junior candidate.    From now I put all my efforts on preparing for College and doing “candidate” lessons.    Studying the bible,  the Army’s history, doctrines and beliefs ete., etc.     I also lead more “Open Airs”.    Took meetings and preached at the local Salvation Army halls in the area.    Despite all this I lacked confidence in my calling and continually cried out to God for reassurance and asking that He would give me someone to go with me.     I reminded Him of  Moses and the burning bush.    How Moses asked God to provide someone to speak  Ex 3v 11 “But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?....... Ex 4 v 10 "Moses said to the Lord, "Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue....." v14 “ Then the Lord 's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you”    Ignoring the bit about Lord being angry with Moses I kept pressing for an Aaron to go with me.    Sadly nothing has changed I am still seeking someone to go with me.      A year or so later I had the mad cap idea of joining the Royal Navy and get some experience of life before going to College.    There I would have to learn how to stand on my own two feet.    To witness alone and just as importantly save the money needed to pay my way through College.   So in 1965 I joined the Royal Navy,  not realising at the time much as His call remains with me until this day God would not allow me to fulfill that call,  although there as been 4 or 5 occasions when I tried.

First encounter of the Spirit kind (2) .... baptised with the Holy Spirit.

Baptism of the Holy Spirit

It was on one of those weekend trips to my grandmother’s that the Holy Spirit first met with me and answered my cry.    Although the encounter is seared in my memory the date alas is not.    It was though a Saturday night around 10 or 11 o-clock at night,  six months or so after I had found Jesus and became a Christian.    The word found is not strictly true for in all these encounters it is God who found me.    First God the Father at the little Anglican church.    Then Jesus his Son who became my Saviour at the Salvation Army  hall and now The Holy Spirit at my grandmothers home in Oldham.    The Godhead three in One found me and despite all my wanderings.    My attempts throughout the subsequent years to give up and go my own way.    Despite the numerous times I have told Him how to do things my way or I won’t play.   God said He will never leave me or forsake me and He never has but again I digress.

It was late and grandma had gone to bed.   There was no T.V.  those day,  only the radio and that was not that exciting a choice for a 14 year old boy,  so I passed the night away reading a book.     After a while I picked up the bible and again found myself reading Acts and praying that God would baptize me with the Holy Spirit.   Suddenly the coal fire seemed to burst into flames from the dark dying embers of the fire that was going out.   The fire seemed to become very bright and the room filled with light.   Although I was praying for the Holy Spirit to come upon me I didn't know what to expect.    I wasn't in a church meeting with people around me praying for me.   Shouting and praying out loud for the Holy Spirit to come as I had seen it several times before.   I was in my grandmother’s living room,   my grandma sleeping next door and everything still and quiet.    I sensed though through the peace and quiet the presence of God and I found myself talking to Him.    I wasn't too fussed or bothered about the gifts of the Spirit or wanting to speak in tongues but I knew everyone says the first thing that happens when you are filled with the Holy Spirit,  you speak in tongues.   So I said to God "I don’t particularly want to speak in tongues but if You have heard my prayers and I have been baptised in Your Spirit, could I just speak a few words,  a sentence or two in tongues as a sign I have really been filled with Your Spirit."    A moment or so later I was speaking in tongues which lasted for 5 or so minutes and then the words came “Take my yoke upon you,  for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”     Suddenly it was over,   As quickly as He had come He as quickly went.    The fire in the hearth went out and the room was again dark apart from the small table lamp which I had been reading by.   Only a strange,  warm comfortable feeling was left behind and I was in no doubt I had had my first encounter of the Spirit kind.   I had been baptised with the Holy Spirit.    After a few moments as there was nothing left to do,  I got up,  turned off the light and went to bed.

The next morning I had to get the train back to Worksop and there were no opportunity to meet up with my Uncle or go to the Pentecostal church with him.   I needed to get the train home and so I did.

Mum's family brought back together

The Wider family is brought together

Unknown to me at the time,  my two uncles on my mother’s side had become Christians at about the same time as us.   Derek the youngest of the two brothers, having joined the Regular Army was at the time in the Tank Regiment at Bulford Army barracks on Salisbury Plains.    The eldest  (Jim) and my mother’s older sister (Irene) still lived in Oldham,  where we had all been born.    All four,  in all the moving around,  had lost touch with each other and so when Derek became a Christian he decided he wanted to get in touch with everyone again.   He therefore contacted the Salvation Army Missing Person’s Tracing Service to see if they could trace his family.     None of them knew that 3 of the four of them had now become Christians,   Or that we were in the Salvation Army when he contacted their Missing People’s department.    It was therefore quite a surprise when their tracing service found first our family then the other brother to only discover we were now Christian howbeit in different denominations.    Jim in the Pentecostal church,   Derek in a local chapel and we in the Salvation Army.      The tracing service also found the other sister and put all four in touch with their mother.    The whole family was again united and one could not but see God’s hand in it all.

Although it was difficult to keep in close touch with my Uncle Derek due to the distance and lack of transport at the time,  we regularly exchange letters from then on and during the main school holidays I occasionally went to stay with them in Bulford,   getting a taste of Military Army life in the process.    Oldham was a lot easier to get to as it was only 30 or miles or so  away and there were regular bus and train services to and from Sheffield and Manchester.   Both Oldham and Worksop were only a hop skip and a jump from the city so I soon found myself regularly spending weekends at my gran’s and thus meeting up with my uncle Jim.   During those times together we talked of the new found excitement through our encounters with the living God and I occasionally went with him  to the local Pentecostal church.   Although these encounters fueled my seeking after the Holy Spirit and despite constantly being told both by the Salvation Army and now my uncle that if I wanted to be

baptised by the Holy Spirit I would have to leave the Salvation Army and join the Pentecostal church,    God was saying otherwise and I was to remain in the Salvation Army another 25 years,   even after 6 months from my search began I was baptised by the Holy Spirit.

First encounter of the Spirit kind (1)

FIRST MEETING WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

They say a new convert is the most radical of the group and I would add a teenage new convert is the most radical of all.    Looking back at my teenage years I must be proof of that and I bet I was a real pain in the neck.    Nothing new there I hear you say. "You still are".   The Salvation Army at time was most evangelical of the evangelical of churches.   Open Air meetings,  two on a Sunday,  often one or even two on a Saturday if they had say a visiting band.  Going into the pubs to sell the War Cry’s”  every Friday and Saturday evening and in December going round the streets,  standing on the market squares playing carols.   Yet that wasn't enough for the newly converted teenager.   There must be more.   Funny how I still haven’t “grown up” I am still saying “Is that it.   Is that all there is to church”     But in fairness to me,  most churches now only have one meeting on a Sunday morning and no outreach.  To though continue.    Despite all the evangelical activity there were not hundreds of people rushing into the church,  even the ones and twos seem few and far between.   Yet when I read the bible,  especial Acts there were converts almost every other day, sometimes even hundreds or more when like  Peter, the early disciples preached   Acts 2 v 41 “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”      Even in the early days of the Salvation Army similar stories could be told.    There was at one time so many converts that the pub landlords and brewery owners stirred up riots and paid gangs to attack the open air meetings and even the indoor meetings as so many people became teetotal and pubs losing so much money they were going out of business.   So what had changed.     What was different from those early days of the church,  the early days of the Salvation Army and now.    God had not changed.    I am told over and over again that God is the same today as yesterday and He will never change.    But He has or has He?   If He had not changed then we must have or else something is missing.    Something we don’t have to day which the disciples had.     The Holy Spirit?  Or as people would say, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.   The Salvation Army in the sixties were totally against  baptism of the Holy Spirit and I was told over and over again if I wanted to be pursue that line then the Salvation Army was not the church for me and I should join the Pentecostal church.   Strange I am still being told that today.    Not necessarily about being baptised in the Holy Spirit,  the power and the gifts He brings  (Gifts of the Holy Spirit) or from the Salvation Army but it seems from the churches I try and join.    Like for instance the church I was asked only a couple of weeks ago  not to attend again.    That I should go and find another church where I would be more happier for I kept asking “Is this it.    Is this all there is to church” and the email that prompted the summons to meet the elders started with:-  

“Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."  Matt 9 v 37.   This is the driving verse that makes me tick and such a pain for the leaders of any church which I would belong to.     I see out there in the world great need which only Christ can meet and my constant prayer is that He sends out the workers.     The question of course is what is the definition of “harvest”    Is it as evangelists see it outreach and  making Christians   Or hurting souls whose lives are in a mess which only Jesus can put right and in the process may become Christians.     I believe it is both although I would major on the needs which scream out for the church to be meeting.       The problem though is,  I see the great needs out there and I want to run out into the field and as the old song says  “Rescue the perishing  care for the dying” whilst the leaders want to walk or even dawdle.”

But I digress.   But the more I studied the history of the Salvation Army the more I read about how they went out in the power of the Holy Spirit.    Likewise the story of the early church was of how people were being baptised by the Holy Spirit and so it seemed what was missing from the church was the power of the Holy Spirit.    Somehow with the passage of time the church decides this was only for the birth pangs of a new church and not needed when the church becomes established and “respectable”   but the more I studied the bible and the early days of the Salvation Army,  the more I began to disagree with the leadership of the day and started to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit

But before I go on there is another story running in parallel with these early encounters of a spiritual kind.

First encounter of a spiritual kind

FIRST ENCOUNTERS OF A SPIRITUAL KIND

In Thorpe Salvin my dad was a stockman for a reasonably sized mixed farm with about 100 or so pigs.  Alright he was a pigman.    (Shortly after dad left this job and  I had joined the Royal Navy,  the farm went over to factory style pig farming and got rid of all the other stock).    As is the usual custom we were sent on a Sunday morning to the local village church whilst dad sat with his feet up reading the paper and mum making the dinner.    On this particular Sunday morning we were sent as usual to the church.   It was a sunny Spring day which I took no particular notice of and as kids do just wiled away the time during the service.    During the sermon I suddenly looked up and started to take notice as it seemed the vicar was talking directly to me and listing out all the crimes I get up to as a 12 year old child.    Who told him about all the things I was up to I wanted to know.   He ended by talking about Jesus and how he died for us and would forgive us if we asked him.    A lump seemed to stick in my throat and found myself asking Jesus to forgive me as the vicar suggested.    Suddenly everything seemed lighter and brighter and I left not really knowing what I had done but really glad I had.      One thing I did though notice as I went out of church and set off home,  the sun seemed a lot brighter,  I could clearly hear the birds singing and I was feeling light on my feet as I skipped along.

6 months later, my mother came across the Salvation Army and at the same time I came across a Salvation Army open air meeting in the local park by the library in Worksop.     I followed the band back to the hall and stayed for their afternoon meeting.   I only have a vague memory of the weeks that followed but my mother and I started to go to their meetings.    In those days 5 miles were a camel ride away.    Maybe there were no camels but a rickety old bus or chara-bang which took half hour or so to get anywhere.    On a farm labourer’s wages the fares were expensive and we could not afford to go every week.   In those days there were 3 meetings on a Sunday,  5 if you counted the 2 Sunday schools.  We therefore took a packed lunch and either had a pic-nick in the park or the Salvation Army hall if the weather was bad.     One thing though that did stick in my mind was,  we couldn’t always afford the bus fares and often couldn’t go to the meetings   If we hadn’t been for a couple weeks or so,   someone from the Army normally the bandmaster or Army office would come out to visit us.    A few days later an envelope with a small amount of money would mysteriously drop through the letter box.   In those days no one had a telephone let alone mobile phone,  facebook or any other social media.    Also only one or two people owned a car,  so to come out to see us entailed the same rickety old chara-bang.   This really impressed  dad and eventually overcame his resistance to church especially the Salvation Army who didn’t allow drinking or smoking.      One cold November night  he happen to be passing the Salvation Army hall and out of curiosity  pop in to see what was happen.    In the hall was the YPSM (Sunday school leader) the officer and a couple of other people preparing books to be given out at the Sunday school prize giving.   He was so impressed with the love they had showed to him and the children in the Sunday school he started to come on a Sunday with us.    Shortly afterwards he too had an encounter with God,  became a Christian and gave up smoking and drinking.

In the meantime I was starting to learn more about this God I first encountered at the Anglican church.    Learnt what it was to repent and received the forgiveness of sins and accepted Jesus as my personal saviour.    Became born again.    My mother and three sisters followed shortly afterwards and at Christmas that year so did my dad.    1960 started with all our family now “born again” Christians and in February 1961 I became a Salvation Army soldier and as they say,  the rest is history

Not wanted by man. Wanted by God

WANTED

As a therapeutic counsellor I know from papers, books and experience that we are shaped by our early life experiences and most of my clients’ psychological and emotional issues find their roots in early childhood.   Paediatricians say that babies can hear sounds (words?) whilst still in the mother’s wombs  and much of what they hear they retain long after they are born, so mothers are encouraged to regularly talk to their unborn babies.     Feeling of not being wanted or loved can therefore be picked up in the womb and remain with them long after they have been born,  especially if subsequent experiences reinforce those feelings.   Something a person may have for the rest of their lives.    So it is not surprising voices echo round and round in one’s head saying you are not wanted.   You are an abomination and should be got rid of.

By the time I was 10,  I had had 3 fathers,  none of whom were my biological father and a voice buried deep within me which occasionally can just be heard,  saying  “Get rid of him.  He is not wanted and you have to choose between him and me.   This feeling reinforced by my mother saying she refused to have me aborted and she married the first husband in order that I would not be born out of wedlock.     That I would not have “illegitimate” on my birth certificate or called a “bastard.”   A scandalous thing in the late forties.    So my first name was Jones.    My mother would never talk much about my early days or how her first husband accepted another man’s child as his own but it wasn't a happy marriage.   Shouting and rows predominated and after 3 or 4 years they separated but not before they had had the first of my three sisters.   Shortly afterwards she married again.   As far as my memory goes,  the next few years were a happy time for my mother,  me and by now 2 sisters until the police appeared on the scene and took him away,  charging him with bigamy.   It transpired he was still married to his first wife and he was subsequently sent to prison.    On his release,  although he wanted to come back my mother wouldn't have it.   She had been badly hurt by the shame and sense of betrayal because of the bigamy.    At the age of 10 my mother married again to the man I now call my dad,  Stan Noble.   A third daughter was born shortly afterwards.    Stan then decided he wanted to adopt us so that all four of us would be his children and all would be call Noble.    And so he did and Noble I have remained ever since.    The eldest son to Stanley Noble with 3 younger sisters.      Stan died 20 years later whilst I was stationed in Malta on a Royal Navy wireless station.    (RNWS Zebbugge).

Shortly after my mother had married for the third time we moved to Thorpe Salvin,    I lost track of the many times we moved in my early years but I believe I went to 13 schools by the age of 16.   Thorpe Salvin is a small village about 5 miles from Worksop, Nottinghamshire,    30 miles from Sheffield and close to the borders of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.    2 miles from where we lived is Shireoaks where the three borders meet.    My mother a Lancaster mill lass,   the man I call dad a Yorkshire man and we lived in Nottinghamshire.    No wonder I am a mixed up kid,   Wearing on one foot a Lancaster mill clogg,   a miners boot on the other whilst chasing the sheriff of Nottingham.     But it was there my Heavenly father found me and said  “I am your Father.     I will never leave you”     And He hasn't .    Since the age of 13 until now He has never left me and I know He never will.    No matter what I do,   no matter where I go He will never leave me.    At the age of 10 my earthly father adopted me,   at the age of 13,   my Heavenly Father adopted me.    So no matter what happens,    I know I am a Noble man and a son of the Most High God until the day I die  

Purpose of Church

Everything in life has a purpose and without purpose life does not exist.   If this is so what is the purpose of church.   The immediate response is “to worship God” but is that truly the reason church exists or is that like saying we exist to breathe rather than breathe to exist.   In like manner we can not help but breathe, we cannot help but worship and the only question is what or who do we worship.   The intensity of that worship and do we “worship” singularly or as a group.   Do we get together to Worship or worship alone.  However we do it we cannot but worship    Which therefore brings us back to the question what is the purpose of church?

To find an answer to that question we need to go back to the scriptures and look at what the founder of the Church had to say as to why he did it and in particular why did Jesus come.    The answer to that was very short and succinct.    He said in John 10v10 “I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.   A very good and succinct sound bite but what does it mean.   How can we have life and more abundantly that we have ever had before.    The whole of his ministry and teachings expanded on it  and cannot be better summed up than when in Luke 4 v18 he read from Isaiah 61:-

“The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed”.

Is this not the purpose of the church:-

·        To preach good news to the poor  and the good news  -  that life does not have to be like this and something can be done about it (and help them do it)

·        Bring freedom for the prisoners – whether literally in jail or psychologically

·        Recovery of sight to the blind – physically or figuratively

·        Release the oppressed – by injustice,  hunger, poverty

Isaiah 61 goes on

·        proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and

·        the day of vengeance of our God,

·        to comfort all who mourn,

·        and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. (NIV)

Which I presume Jesus also read out that day and was included when he said "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."   For in the day of judgment when the sheep will be separated from the goats (Matthew 25 v 31-45),  what distinguished the sheep from the goats,  were not the physically (sheep are different a animal – one was Christian the other not) or one went to church and the other didn’t,  but

 I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat,

I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

I was a stranger and you did not invite me in,

I needed clothes and you did not clothe me,

I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

There was no mention in this list which condemned them to eternal punishment of not worshipping God, going to church,  reading the scriptures,  or praying even.

If we open up the scriptures and read all that Jesus said,  the parables he taught they were all about doing,  of one way or another demonstrating what he meant when in Luke 4 v18 he said  “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me……….”   In the story of the Good Samaritan for instance,   the point of the story was stopping and helping the person in distress and who was (implied) condemned.  the priest rushing to worship in the temple and the lawyer needing to get back to studying the scriptures. 

And last but not least  “the great commission”  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, ………teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.(Matt 28:19-20).   What was we to teach them but to obey everything Jesus had commanded us to do.    Surely this is the purpose of church  to make disciples of people who will do what he has commanded us to do…..  feed the hungry,  show hospitality to the stranger, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick or in prison,  comfort those who mourn and proclaim the good news that life can be much better than this.

What therefore is the purpose of church 

For some considerable time the church as been retreating into the ghetto of church and creating “Worship Centres” rather than Christian Centres and the world is seeing that we are more and more irrelevant to their needs or life.   They are not interested in our worship,  they have found other things to worship,  things that are more relevant to their needs is it not time the church refocused on the purpose they came into being and the purpose Jesus came.   Jesus came not to die but to give us life and called us not to build big worship centres but to also die if necessary in the process of bringing life more abundantly to all who will listen and become his disciples who will obey all He commanded us to do.   How many disciples have we made,   how many are going into prisons and helping them to be free of their chains.   How many are bringing comfort to the sick,  the grieving.    How many are feeding the hungry,  clothing those who have none,  helping the widows, the families of those in prisons,  those who have no work.    Freeing those who are oppressed by debt, poverty, violence and injustice.   How many children,  wives, vulnerable are being released from violent, abusive husbands,  partners, carers.    How many disciples are proclaiming the good news that life does not have to be like this and helping the alcoholic, the drug addict to be free from their prisons.     How many people in church are Christians following their master and doing as He commanded or just there to worship.    The ironic part of it is that we proclaim we worship a Servant King and say we want to be like Him but do not see that to be like Him we too have to become servants.   Instead we seem to preach that the more intensive we worship the more the King will serve us by making everything alright

Can we turn this around,  can the church re-capture it’s early days.   I believe that if we did and each church or fellowship re-looked at the purpose of their existence not only would it be once again be seem as relevant but would again start to grow.

CHURCH MANIFESTO

The role and purpose of the church is to give life to the people more abundantly than they have ever known and therefore does everything in it’s power to overcome everything that would stop that from happening

What is stopping people from having Life?  What is spoiling life?  Even if people think life is good now what is stopping it being more abundant than it was before?

Family breakdown; debt;  lack of job;  lack of money;  lack of friends;   low self esteem;

The purpose of the Church is to be Jesus on earth.   To serve the community.   Help people from the gutter.   Help people to a better life.   I want to see people seeing that their needs can be met by the church.  

People needs:-    (Maslow hierarchy of need)

Basic need  -  food and water

Safety – protection from danger  - a safe place.   .

Social -  sense of belonging, acceptance, friendship and love

Self Esteem – independence, confidence, achievement, status, recognition and respect

Self actuation -  realising one’s potential.

No-one can reach their full potential without knowing Jesus; i.e being a friend of Jesus.

A Christian Centre or church should be meeting the needs of all the people in the area.

A place where they can talk about the things that are troubling them without feeling judged or condemned and have the help and support needed.

e.g. the distraught parent,  child afraid to go home (abuse),  chap up to his neck in debt and doesn’t know where to turn,  got no job,  got no friends.  Those with problems with alcohol or drugs, anger, violence or not knowing how to cope.    The list is inexhaustible and I could spend hours listing out all the ways the Church is somewhere or other meeting need.  My experience of the Salvation Army during my time as an auditor for them is that somewhere in the UK they are meeting every need we could possibly think of.

In my experience in any area you care to go to you would find the following needs and I would consider that is no area where which is an exception therefore I would want to see each church a Christian Centre in which the following needs are being met :-

Homelessness                                                 Food Bank

                                                                        Housing Advice

Elderly                                                            Luncheon  Club

Stressed Parents                                              Parent & Toddler Group

                                                                        Parenting Courses

People with money problems                         Debt Counselling

                                                                        Credit Unions

People with drug & alcohol dependency        Substance abuse help

People with marriage problems                       Relationship counselling

Lonely people                                                  CAMEO Club

                                                                         Visiting

Unemployed people                                         Job Club – CV writing – Internet access

Young people with nothing to do                 “  Community Service”

                                                                          Mentoring

People with benefit problems                           Help with form filling etc.

              

The list goes on and on to include everything and anything that stops people having life and life in abundant.    Christ can and does in His own mysterious and supernatural way all of these in what we would describe as miraculous way but until He does with every one we come into contact with we should be doing within our natural abilities, resources and miraculous ways for that is the purpose of church and every person who claims to follow Jesus

Edward Noble

27^th April 2008  

Searching for the God of my youth in church

After being a Christian for over 55 years,  the first 25 years of which I was an active member of the Salvation Army. During that time I served for 15 years in the Royal Navy and as part of the Naval Christian Fellowship, met and shared my faith with Christians from all denominations and none.  I now find it difficult to find a church to which I feel I belong and more importantly am accepted.    My wife Julia with whom I have been married now for 40 odd years and have 3 grown up children all Christians attending churches in Plymouth,  also now has no interest in church saying she finds no friendship there.

The disenchantment with church started in  2007 whilst living in Stroud Glos., First I had to put down my Labrador after 18 years as a family pet.   Shortly afterwards my father became ill and in March of that year died.  In June my mother did likewise.     5 months later (November) a very close aunt of Julia’s died.   A week or so later her mother died and 10 days later her father (just a couple of days before Christmas.)   Just to add to the fun of it all both Julia and myself lost our jobs when we were made redundant.    All in all 2007 was quite traumatic time and by the end of it we had put down our beloved dog Saffrin;  lost both mine and then Julia’s parents and in the middle of it all, lost our jobs.

And the church in all that time......., nowhere to be seen.    In fact we later found out, they were annoyed that when we got home after it was all over,  we did not go and visit them so they could comfort us.    Not one of the congregation in the church in Gloucester  where we had been active members for several years,  could travel the 10 miles to Stroud to comfort us.    We were though repeatedly assured we were in their prayers.    A Salvation Army Officer though dropped everything and travelled over 100 miles to spend an hour or so to pray with Julie the same day that he found out.    It was then I began to ask what was the purpose of church and began to say  “don’t pray for us,   pray with us.”

One thing the year did tell us though.    The church was right    Jesus was all we need.    For without God’s hand upon us.   His support and at times divine intervention how we would have got through 2007  I still don’t.   As for the church,   well.............................

Having now no reason for being in Stroud,  we returned to Plymouth and looked around our old stamping grounds for a church we could join.    This time though we were keen to find an answer to the question 2007 had thrown up.    What was the point of going to church if when it’s needed,  it is not there.   What is the purpose of church,  the answer to which no one is willing to tell me except to say the bible tells us in Hebrews 10 v25 not give up meeting together.    No one though is prepared to put it in context for v24 starts with “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, encouraging one another —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”    The other thing they tell me is “ in order to worship God.” But where? there are at least 70 churches I know of in the Plymouth, Tavistock area.    And is that all there is to church.  An hour or so a week coming together to sing a few songs and worship God.    After 6 years of searching for an answer I have to agree with Julie.   There is no point.......   maybe one of you know different and could tell us why we are wrong after all these years not to go to church.

Man from Macedonia

Paul’s second missionary journey

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.  Acts 16 v6:9 NIV

For sometime now since returning to Plymouth I have struggled to find a church in which I can serve God and continue to use the blog to explore possible explanations which make sense to my understanding of scripture.    One was Lev 16 v7:8.     A secular alternative is the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.     A third is Paul’s second missionary journey and his vision of a man from Macedonica saying "Come over to Macedonia and help us” for I am longing for God to not give me a vision but an actual person who will say “Come to ....... and help us” as I don’t seem able to trust “visions” any more    One major problem with my story and that of Paul’s is he had people to help him.   Such as Ananias.   In Acts 9 we read how Paul obtain authority to arrest and drag back to Jerusalem any Jew who had become a Christian   and despite Ananis being fearful of Paul’s reputation went and restored his sight.    In Act 16 Paul had a number of followers with him including Luke so he no doubt discussed it with them before v10 says ... we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia.   Much as I have tried to discuss with people that which I believed Christ was saying no one seems to be prepared to discuss it in anything but a superficial way.   I therefore had no other option but to step out in faith,  trusting that if I was right God would bring it about.     

The Ancient Mariner

For sometime now since returning to Plymouth I have struggled to find a church in which I can serve God and am using the blog to explore possible explanations which make sense to my understanding of scripture.    One was Lev 16 v7:8.     A secular alternative is the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.     The mariners ship is blown way off course and gets lost in  the Antarctic.   An albatross appears and guides them back on course only for the mariner to shoot it dead with his crossbow.     The other sailors outraged force him to wear it forever around his neck.    The death ship then appears and all of them except the mariner dies leaving the mariner alone.   He is thus forced to sail alone in his ship forever unable either to die or land.   The tale end when he meets an holy man who removes the bird from his neck and sets him free of the curse.

A person who is on the national team of Lydia and is known for having a great spiritual inside and gift of discernment has apparently said that God as shown her I have no spiritual connectivity and I should not be allowed within a group leadership structure.    I don’t know what spiritual connectivity means but it kinda makes sense for no one seems to connect with me or allow me to have any connectivity with them.   Maybe she is therefore right but what do I do to make or restore that connectivity.     Maybe like the ancient mariner I have shot with my little bow and arrow the little cock robin.   Or some other form of sacred bird and now am destined to sail the seven seas forever with it around my neck.    Never again to land but continue until maybe I find a holy man  who like in the story of the Ancient Mariner will remove it from around my neck.    This then is the search for that man.

Scapegoat - Lev 16 v7-28

SCAPEGOAT

Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. 9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat. Lev 16 v7:28

Wikipedia,

The scapegoat was a goat that was designated (Hebrew לַעֲזָאזֵֽל ) la-aza'zeyl; either "for absolute removal" (Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon) or possibly "for Azazel" (some modern versions taking the term as a name) and outcast in the desert as part of the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement, that began during the Exodus with the original Tabernacle and continued through the times of the temples in Jerusalem.

Throughout the year, the sins of the ancient Israelites were daily transferred to the regular sin offerings as outlined in the Torah in Leviticus Ch 16. Once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement, the High Priest of Israel sacrificed a bull for a sin offering for his own sins. Subsequently he took two goats and presented them at the door of the tabernacle with a view to dealing with the corporate sins of God's people — the nation of Israel. Two goats were chosen by lot: one to be "The Lord's Goat", which was offered as a blood sacrifice, and the other to be the "Azazel" scapegoat to be sent away into the wilderness. The blood of the slain goat was taken into the Holy of Holies behind the sacred veil and sprinkled on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark of the covenant. Later in the ceremonies of the day, the High Priest confessed the sins of the Israelites to Yahweh placing them figuratively on the head of the other goat, the Azazel scapegoat, who "took them away" never to be seen again. The sin of the nation was thus "atoned for" (paid for) by the "The Lord's Goat" and "The Azazel Goat".

In Christianity this process prefigures the sacrifice of Christ on the cross through which God has been propitiated and sins can be expiated. Jesus Christ is seen to have fulfilled all of the Biblical "types" - the High Priest who officiates at the ceremony, the Lord's goat that deals with the pollution of sin and the scapegoat that removes the "burden of sin". Christians believe that sinners who own their guilt and confess their sins, exercising faith and trust in the person and sacrifice of Jesus, are forgiven their sins.

As Christians we know that Christ is our scapegoat and there is now no needs for a scapegoat     It is hard to therefore contemplate that I could be a scapegoat but a couple of things stand out from the story of the scapegoat which seems to fit with my experience over the past few years.     

One     The goat is driven out of the village

Two     The scapegoat is marked in such away that everyone will know what it is and

Three   The scapegoat is never to be allowed back into the village

It is obvious that somehow or other and without realising it I have offended the church in Plymouth and word as gone out to everyone in the Plymouth / Tavistock area.    Whatever it is though no one will tell me what it is or let me repent and make things right    Marked in someway as everyone iseems to know in one way or anothers something is wrong and I am not allowed be again a member of the flock.     Sit in the congregation but never again to be part of it's inner workings.

Of course I am wrong but maybe someone reading this blog may show me another explanation

Fields are white unto harvest

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."  Matt 9 v 37 & 8

 

The above is the driving verse that makes me tick and such a pain for the leaders of any church which I would belong to.     I see out there in the world great need which only Christ can meet and my constant prayer is that He sends out the workers.     The question of course is what is the definition of “harvest”    Is it as evangelists see it outreach and  making Christians   Or hurting souls whose lives are in a mess which only Jesus can put right and in the process may become Christians.     I believe it is both although I would major on the needs which scream out for the church to be meeting.       The problem though is,  I see the great needs out there and I want to run out into the field and as the old song says  “Rescue the perishing  care for the dying” whilst the leaders want to walk or even dawdle.   

 

Leaders constantly  keep saying I need to spend time with Jesus and listen to what He is saying.   This I constantly do although they don’t seem to believe me.      Although I have to ask my heart's yearning is something which God has said is not for me.     Or something God has commanded and now He just keeps saying “I have told you what I want you to do so why do you keep asking me. 

 My desire is to be part of the workers in His harvest field but the leaders will not let me be sent out as as part of their workers.   Or they see the needs of those outside their “cabbage patch” not of any of their concern.      God I believe has heard our prayer and provided the workers few as they may be in the grand scheme of things and I want to send them out into the harvest field.     Mighty men of God come regularly to church to worship Him and study His Word and yet do not see the men around them    Men crying out in pain and despair which we can be trained to reach out and draw into the church so that God can heal them.”     Men are suppressing anger and do not know why.    Relationships have broken down or on the verge of doing so,  who need help in repairing.    Men who are lonely but do not know how to talk or if they do,  who would listen.     Do you not know the UK has the highest suicide rate for men in Europe whilst we sit in church “worshiping” God    Yes I know we go out regularly with Street Pastors but where do you send the people you meet out there,  especially the men macho and tough but broken inside

Scars by Amy Carmichael

 Scars 

by Amy Carmichael from her book “Gold Cords”

Has thou no scar?

No hidden scar on foot,  or side or hand.

I hear thee sung as mighty in the land

I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star

Hast thou no scar

Hast thou no wound?

Yet I was wounded by the archers,   spent

They leaned me against a tree to die and rent

By ravening beasts that compassed me,  I swooned

Hast thou no wound?

No wound?  No scar?

Yet as the Master shall the servant be

And pieced are the wounds that follow me

Are thine whole?

Can he have followed far

Who hast nor wound or scar

Having followed the Master for over 50 years now I must have followed far for the wounds and scars are many. The saddest part though is the deepest scars and wounds have been this last few years since returning to Plymouth and caused by those who say they are pastors to the church. Who say they care and I am wanted in the church. Yet when I say don't talk of love show me they draw back in horror and ask me to not cross their doors again.     The question therefore is twofold (1)  Why.?    What great sin have I commited that so greatly offends in this way.    (2)   What is the purpose of church?    The answer to which this blog is set up to explore.