Barca too strong for tired United

So it was a big anti-climax from a United fan's point of view. Nine minutes of promising, free-flowing football and half a dozen speculative shots from Cristiano Ronaldo. That was the sum total of United's attacking enterprise which has been their hallmark.

After Samuel Eto'o's opportunistic strike in the tenth minute, Barcelona took a grip of the game and simply never let go. With the superb Iniesta and Xavi running the show from the middle of the park, and the mercurial Messi popping up all over the place to irritate and mesmerise the United back four, the football they played was simply irresistible, even to this United supporter's eyes.

Put simply, they gave United a lesson in ball control and possession football. As Michael Carrick attempted to find the Hollywood pass from his 'quarterback' position, Senors Iniesta and Xavi were playing the simple ball, rarely more than ten yards and never to an opponent's feet.

When the smallest man on the pitch, the 5 foot 6 inches Lionel Messi, leapt between Ferdinand and Vidic to double the lead, there was no doubt where the trophy was heading.

Gracious in defeat, Sir Alex Ferguson conceded that they had been beaten by the better team. He will now spend the summer making big decisions on players' futures and wondering how he could add to his own squad as he attempts to bounce straight back and launch another trophy hunt in 2009/2010.

As far as Barca go, they will enjoy this victory for a long time. Winning is always nice, but winning by playing sexy football is the stuff of legend.

THE WEEKEND THAT WAS:

Because of the Bank Holiday weekend this seemed a fairly relaxed weekend. Numbers were significantly down across the board; youth club, both church services on Sunday. The evening may also have been affected by the crucial Premier League matches taking place on Sunday afternoon. In the end, most people around here were ecstatic with Sunderland preserving their place in the Premier League and local rivals Newcastle being dumped into the Championship.

I had a sense of holding the fort on Sunday with both of my colleagues being away. David is in Angola training church leaders there and Alistair is in Hungary at the European Leaders' Forum with Wayne Grudem, Michael Green and John Lennox. Sounds good. We had an excellent time of worship and teaching on Sunday with David Wallace on 'Unanswered Prayer'. I had a good session with the young people and we had fun roleplaying some unjust situations (linked to Luke 18:1-8). In the evening, because of numbers, I had the youth join with the main service where David Neil taught on 'Being Subject to Authority'. It was interesting to consider the line that we must draw between obeying the law of the land and obeying God's law. God's law must take precedence, but we should then still be subject to the laws of the land and bear the consequences. We were reminded of people like MLK who showed a great example in this. Funnily enough, I had just watched an interview with Martin Sheen on Friday night where he said he'd been arrested on 87 occasions, mostly as part of civil protests. Made me wonder, what would I be prepared to be arrested for?

I spent Bank Holiday Monday in Scotland on a flying visit to see Mum and also to visit my elderly aunt who is in hospital as a result of a very unstable bout of diabetic hypo episodes. It was a beautiful day to drive and I enjoyed listening to the sport on the radio as I gobbled up the miles.

WHERE I AM AT THE MOMENT:

in the office

ON MY TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Create a comprehensive form for all attending our summer trip to the Lake District.

Organise insurance for our missions trip to Romania in August.

Write up my Youth ministry vision and strategy and send it to my trustees.

Prepare two teaching sessions for Sunday on:

1) Luke 18:9-14 The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

2) I've just realised that Sunday night's teaching is sorted as I didn't use it this week! Result! On 'A Servant's Heart'

PROCRASTINATING ABOUT:

tidying my office and having a good purge of books that I'm never going to pick up again

BOOK(S) I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF:

I want to make time this week to look at Erwin McManus' book 'Soul Cravings'

MUSIC PLAYING AS I TYPE THIS: Best of The Pretenders

NEXT TRIP: same as last week

HOW I'M FEELING ABOUT THE WEEK: Great. Should be a week of high productivity as most activities are on hold as it's half-term week. My door won't be knocked as much, my phone won't ring as much and the email intray shouldn't overflow.

Looking forward very much to indulging myself tomorrow night with the Champions League Final between Manchester United and Barcelona. Come on United!

Humility

I have heard humility best described by Chick Yuill of the Salvation Army as ‘rejoicing in my brother or sister’s gift as if it were my own.’ Humility is at the other end of the spectrum from arrogance and showiness. Humility does things for pure motives, serving others without desire or expectation of reward or recognition.

When the truly humble person receives praise they are quick to deflect it, either on to others, or in the case of the Christian, to God. A humble person recognises that every good thing they do or achieve is done in the strength of God and for his glory. Humility serves.

In every church up and down the land there is a lack of servants. A faithful band of servants do most of the work most of the time. But that cannot be right. Servant hood is not just for the chosen few. It’s not an optional extra for just a few Christians. Servant hood should be the Christian’s way of life.

A Christian’s love for his or her fellow Christians will be the most transparent thing to onlookers. When you serve one another, you advertise what God is like. (John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.")

Checked your spark-plugs lately?

Maybe carrying out something of a spiritual audit on ourselves from time to time might help us to recognise the areas of our lives where we need to allow God to move. I was recently looking over some old college notes from the late '90s and stumbled upon a 'spiritual MOT'; a sort of self-awareness exercise. Asking ourselves some searching questions such as these can only cause us to be more alert to those areas which need attention, a bit like a mechanic running a checklist on a car;

• Am I content with who I am becoming?

• Am I becoming less ‘religious’ and more spiritual?

• Does my family recognise the authenticity of my spirituality?

• Is my prayer life improving?

• Have I maintained a genuine awe of God?

• Is my humility genuine?

• Is my ‘spiritual feeding’ the right diet for me?

• Is obedience in small things built into my reflexes?

• Do I have and display joy?

• Is God at the centre of my life?

Revenge, karma and grace

Revenge is a symptom of a sinful heart. It has no place in the vocabulary of the Christian. Or at least it shouldn’t have a place.

In Judith Viorst's children's book, "I'll Fix Anthony" the younger brother complains about the way his older brother Anthony treats him:

"My brother Anthony can read books now, but he won't read any books to me. He plays checkers with Bruce from his school. But when I want to play he says, "Go away or I'll clobber you." I let him wear my Snoopy sweatshirt, but he never lets me borrow his sword. Mother says deep down in his heart Anthony loves me. Anthony says deep down in his heart he thinks I stink. Mother says deep deep down in his heart, where he doesn't even know it, Anthony loves me. Anthony says deep deep down in his heart he still thinks I stink. When I'm six I'll fix Anthony...When I'm six I'll float, but Anthony will sink to the bottom. I'll dive off the board, but Anthony will change his mind. I'll breathe in and out when I should, but Anthony will only go glug, glug...When I'm six my teeth will fall out, and I'll put them under the bed, and the tooth fairy will take them away and leave money. Anthony's teeth won't fall out. He'll wiggle and wiggle them, but they won't fall out. I might sell him one of my teeth, but I might not...Anthony is chasing me out of the playroom. He says I stink. He says he is going to clobber me. I have to run now, but I won't have to run when I'm six. When I'm six, I'll fix Anthony.”

Well, the problem with fixing Anthony is that he will probably want to pay back and the thing will escalate. On a human personal level, vengeful attitudes and actions lead to betrayal, resentment, hurt and grudges. They knock down relationships, sometimes fatally. On a wider human level, vengeance leads to mistrust between people groups, escalations of tension, and outbreaks of war and ultimately carnage.

Do we cultivate a vengeful spirit towards our fellow men and women? Even within the church? It’s a shameful character trait, but it’s one we can all be tempted into. Whatever it is that our ‘Anthony’ figure does to wind us up, our default position can kick in...

‘I’ll sort him. I’ll pay him back. Double. He won’t know what’s hit him by the time I’m finished with him.’

No! Resist. Because you won’t win.

Sure you might beat Anthony. You might even derive some misguided pleasure out of seeing him squirm and suffer. But you’re strangling your own heart in the process. Sin leads to death. A vengeful spirit is a sinful spirit.

“Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath”

Romans 12:18,19

A popular saying has entered our popular culture over the last few years and it has come from the Eastern philosophy of karma. You’ll have heard it. ‘What goes around comes around’.

Sooner or later, they’ll get what’s coming to them. It’s only slightly removed from the old saying, ‘he who lives by the sword dies by the sword’.

Now I don’t, you’ll be relieved to hear, believe in karma.

I believe in grace.

I also believe in a God who’s plenty big enough to deal with my enemies if he so chooses. That’s where my security lies. Not in plotting and hatching schemes. What a waste of time and energy that would be when there’s a world that needs Jesus.

A few years ago U2 recorded the song ‘Grace’

Grace, she takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace...
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that, changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

She travels outside... of karma

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings...
Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace trumps karma.

U2 - Magnificent

Check out the great new video from Ireland's finest.

The week starts here...

Well, I'm a day behind already!

I want to nick this idea from uberblogger Mark Oestreicher of Youth Specialties and focus in each week on what's gone, what is, and what is to come, by using some fairly obvious observations. As much as letting people glimpse my usually impenetrable mind, it will also help me home in on what's important and what areas of my life are just joyously frivolous.

THE WEEKEND THAT WAS:

Friday night was all about The Loft, the youth club for 11-16s. Had to deal with an irate neighbour whose Friday evening peace had been rudely interrupted by some of our more energetic boys who'd kicked their football over the fence into the garden. Needless to say they took the direct route to recover the ball (over the fence) and prompted some neighbourly discord. My mediation and conciliatory skills were called upon. Saturday morning I spent on a pastoral visit to a lovely family and then in the evening we enjoyed/endured the spectacle that is the Eurovision Song Contest. I picked Malta, Iceland and the eventual winners Norway as the top 3, so 2/3 isn't too bad. Sunday was a busy day for this boy. Teaching the teens about Prayer in the morning then preaching in church at night on Romans 12:16-21 'Living in harmony with one another'. Then a final meeting of the day to plan a fundraiser in June for a missions trip we're doing to Romania in August. Day of rest, gimme a break!

WHERE I AM AT THE MOMENT:

in the office

ON MY TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

I'm working through the results of my most recent appraisal with my trustees looking at future plans for developing youth and families ministry. Want to have it done by the end of the month. Ambitious. Last night we had a very positive youth team meeting which is always a real encouragement. Tonight I have a cluster group meeting with 6 or 7 ministry leaders that I give oversight to. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we have a youth small group that meets in our home. Thursday I have the day off then I have an early start (4am!) on Friday to run some colleagues to the airport who are heading off to Hungary for a church leaders conference. Friday will be the last youth club till after half-term. Saturday is as yet unspoken for and Sunday I have two teaching slots; one on The Persistent Widow from Luke 8 and one on A Servant's Heart from Philippians 2. Oh and I'm leading the morning service worship.

PROCRASTINATING ABOUT:

forms and insurance for summer trips

BOOK(S) I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF:

Enjoying Mike Yaconelli's 'Getting Fired for the Glory of God' and am about to begin 'The Lovely Bones'. Also, having quoted the children's book 'I'll Fix Anthony' by Judith Viorst last weekend, I am inspired to get a copy!

MUSIC PLAYING AS I TYPE THIS:

Right now I'm listening to an old Stoneleigh Bible Week album on Spotify. The song currently playing is 'Jesus, Lover of My Soul'

NEXT TRIP:

Looking forward to a half-day retreat in a couple of weeks with 4 other pastors. We go to a really beautiful place in the middle of nowhere called Shepherd's Dene and it gives us all the space we want as well as a lovely lunch. Most important!

HOW I'M FEELING ABOUT THE WEEK:

Very positive. My stepdaughter Laura is in the middle of her GCSE exams and is keeping calm and doing her best. I'm very proud of the work she's done in preparation and have given her and her mum a gift of a two day trip to Dublin when the exams are all over. She deserves to succeed.

Relaunch

Hi all

I've decided to try and relaunch my blogging activity after a few false starts in the past. My hope is that it will help me crystallise my thinking and also give me a discipline of throwing some thoughts out there to hopefully create some interest and discussion from time to time.

Mostly it'll be observational, laconic and self-deprecating, but also I hope it gives an insight into my world. There will no doubt be downs as well as ups, but I will try to be honest throughout.

I'd love you to join me on the journey and throw in some comments and insights along the way.

I've got a busy few months ahead so I need to know you're out there...

Thanks, and please sign up as a 'follower'

Gordon