Author Archives: Stephen Sizer

What are you really passionate about?

What are you passionate about? I mean really passionate about? Or put another way, What do you care about most?  It may be a burden we carry, a call we’ve received, a dream we have, or a vision we’ve glimpsed. Whatever you call it, passion is the God-given desire to make a difference somewhere. What you are passionate about? We are all passionate about someone or something.

It might be your wife or your husband, a girlfriend or a boyfriend, maybe its your children, your grandchildren, your family, a hobby, some cause, a sport or maybe the armed forces. Today we are remembering with gratitude those who gave their lives in the service of their country. Passionate about defending our country. Passionate about protecting our democracy. Passionate enough to give their lives. You may not be called to give your life up but if you are a Christian you have been called to invest your life in His majesty’s service. What are you passionate about?  Others can easily tell even if you can’t. When someone asks you about your passion, you come alive, your eyes open wide, your pupils dilate, you raise your voice, you become animated, your skin has more colour, you can’t stop talking about it, you feel energized. What are you passionate about? In John’s gospel we find Jesus encouraging us to be passionate about three things. To develop a passion for God, a passion for the Church and a passion for the lost.

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Evangelical Theology & American Politics in the Middle East

On September 12th, following the tragic news of the murder of Ambassador Stevens, together with members of his staff, sheltering in the US Consulate in Benghazi, a grief stricken Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton asked a simple question. A question that was on the lips of many Americans: “How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction?” Andrew Bacevich, writing in Newsweek, asks,

“Why the Arab anger against the United States? Why the absence of gratitude among the very people the United States helped save, in the very countries Americans helped liberate? The way Secretary Clinton frames the question practically guarantees a self-satisfying but defective answer.”

The question, he argues, is predicated on three propositions that are regarded as sacrosanct by most US politicians and policy makers.

“First: humanity yearns for liberation, as defined in Western (meaning predominantly liberal and secular terms). Second: the United States has a providentially assigned role to nurture and promote this liberation… Third: given that American intentions are righteous and benign (most of the time) – the exercise of US power on a global scale merits respect and ought to command compliance.”[i]

I would add a fourth proposition, assumed as self evident, especially among Evangelicals, that, as God’s ‘chosen people’ the security of the State of Israel is synonymous with US interests in the Middle East and her God ordained role.

The problem is that the Arab world and Muslims, in particular, do not only not share these propositions, they repudiate them theologically. It is not that they do not aspire to political freedom from despotic rulers and oppressive governments. The Arab Spring has shown that many do indeed hunger for freedom. The problem is, observes Bacevich, “that 21st century Muslims don’t necessarily buy America’s 21st century definition of it – a definition increasingly devoid of moral content.”

Freedom of speech is assumed sacrosanct even if it offends those of other religions. Whether the movie, Innocence of Muslims was indeed responsible for sparking Muslim outrage and the subsequent violence against US interests is irrelevant. The promotion of the film by Fundamentalist Christians and their antipathy toward Islam certainly is.  What we tend to ignore, while Muslims cannot forget, it the simple fact is that for more than 100 years, Christians in the USA and Europe have sponsored, defended, funded and sustained the Zionist enterprise in preference to developing normative relations with the Arab world.

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Broken Promises: The Road to Balfour

A paper on the historical link between proto Christian Zionism and the Balfour Declaration delivered at a conference organised by the Balfour Project in association with the Church of Scotland at the Quaker Meeting House in Edinburgh on Friday 2nd November.

Introduction

In this presentation we are going to trace some of the significant events and individuals that led to the Balfour Declaration.

1. Puritanism and the Conversion of the Jews

The road to Balfour began in the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation brought about a renewed interest in the Old Testament and God’s dealings with the Jewish people. From Protestant pulpits right across Europe, the Bible was for the first time in centuries being taught within its historical context and was given its plain literal sense. At the same time, a new assessment of the place of the Jews within the purposes of God emerged.

Puritan eschatology was essentially postmillennial and believed the conversion of the Jews would lead to future blessing for the entire world. In 1621, for example, Sir Henry Finch, an eminent lawyer and member of the English Parliament, published a book,

The World’s Great Restauration (sic) or Calling of the Jews, (and with them) all the Nations and Kingdoms of the Earth, to the Faith of Christ.

By the late 17th Century and right through the 18th Century, especially during the period of the Great Awakening, postmillennial eschatology dominated European and American Protestantism.[1] The writings and preaching of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758),[2] as well as George Whitefield, were influential in the spread of the belief that the millennium had arrived, that the gospel would soon triumph against evil throughout the world. God’s blessings of peace and prosperity would follow the conversion of Israel, prior to the glorious return of Christ.[3]

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Does God have a Purpose for my Life?

Does God have a Purpose for my Life? from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Over the next few weeks we are going to discover God’s plan for his Church and your place within it.

Each week we will ask one question. As we begin the series today, the question I want us to answer is this, “Does God have a purpose for my life?” Yes he does. In fact the Bible tells us that God has at least five purposes for our lives.

  1. We were planned for God’s pleasure – to know him and love him (John 17:3).
  2. We were formed for God’s family – to find a spiritual home and family (Acts 2:42).
  3. We were created to become like Christ – revealing his character (Galatians 5:22-23).
  4. We were shaped for serving God – with a unique mix of talents, skills and passion for serving in the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12).
  5. We were made for a mission – to introduce other people to God’s five purposes for them too – to win, build and send (Matthew 28:18-20).

Without knowing our God-given purpose we can so easily become driven by destructive influences. Here are three of the most common that drive people.

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“We are in the Middle of a World War” says Vicar of Beirut

“We are in the middle of a world war. I tell everyone to read Colin Chapman and Stephen Sizer”.

“He thanked Stephen for his courageous and important work in the Middle East and for his encouragement to his own church in Beirut.”

Revd Nabil Shehadi, RIBA, MA
Vicar, All Saints’ International Congregation
www.allsaintsbeirut.com
Alpha Adviser for Lebanon/Alpha publishing
www.alpha.org
Archbishop of Canterbury’s personal representative
to the Oriental Orthodox Church

 

Jesus the True Emancipator

Nadim Nasser : Jesus is the True Emancipator 1 from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

The Revd Nadim Nasser, Director of the Awareness Foundation, preached at Christ Church on the story of the life changing encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John chapter 4. Nadim is the only Syrian priest serving in the Anglican Church.

His second sermon at Christ Church was a little different so here it is:

Jesus the True Emancipator 2 from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Christianity in the Middle East: Living Faith or Museum Piece?

There will be a special public lecture by The Revd Nadim Nassar, Director of the Awareness Foundation, at Southwark Cathedral on Tuesday 23rd October 2012.

Doors open at 6.30 pm, and the lecture starts at 6.45 pm. After the lecture, there will be time for questions.

Tickets are £10 each (£5 each for Friends of the Awareness Foundation). Tickets are available from the Awareness Foundation or telephone 020 7730 8830.

The Awareness Foundation is an educational, ecumenical and international charity, founded in 2003 in response to the disturbing increase in religious conflict and violence around the world. Our Patron is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

We work to help Christians make sense of their faith and culture in the 21st century, and to increase their awareness of their neighbours’ faiths and cultures, so that they can live in a diverse society without fear and without compromising their beliefs. We believe that greater understanding among religions and among peoples will ultimately defeat extremism, and help nurture an environment where people can live together in peace.

You can learn more about us by clicking here.

Click here to meet our staff..

 

 

 

Jesus is the Bridegroom

Jesus is the Bridegroom from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

The prosecuting lawyer calls his first witness to the stand in a trial—a grandmotherly, elderly woman with white hair. He approaches her and asks, “Mrs. Jones, do you know me?” “Why, yes” she responds, “I do know you Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a young boy. And frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie; you cheat on your wife. You manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you are a rising big shot when you have not the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.” The lawyer is stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he points across the room and asks, “Mrs. Williams, do you know the defence lawyer?” “Why, yes I do too,” she replies, “I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, like you. I used to baby sit him for his parents. And he, too, has been a real disappointment to me. He is lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. The man cannot build a normal relationship with anyone and his law firm is one of the most dubious in the entire county. Yes, I know him.” At this point, the judge raps his gavel and calls the courtroom to order. Asking both lawyers to approach the bench he whispers with menace, “If either of you asks her if she knows me, you’ll be jailed for contempt!”[1]  Three preliminary observations. Continue reading →

Jesus is the Lamb of God

A Highland farmer was overseeing his animals in a remote mountainous pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW coupe appeared out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a white Armani suit, Ray Ban sunglasses, YSL tie, and Mediterranean tan, leans out the window and asks in a perfect Oxbridge accent, “If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?”

The farmer looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing flock and calmly answers, “Sure, why not?” The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Mac Book Air, links by wifi to his iPhone 5. He turns on his Garmin Nuvi sat nav to get an exact fix on his location, uploads his location to a NATO satellite which then creates a series of ultra-high-resolution images of the hillsides around him. Downloading the photos via a real time image enhancing facility in Hamburg, Germany, within seconds, he prints out the full-colour, 150 page report on his portable LaserJet printer. Taking off his Ray Bans, the young man unbuttons his Armani jacket and smiles to reveal two rows of perfect ultra-white teeth. Turning to the farmer he says, “You have 1,586 cows and calves.” “That’s right. Well then, I guess you can take one of my ‘calves’,” says the farmer. He watches the young man select one of the animals.

He looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car. Then the farmer says to the young man, “Now, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf and your sunglasses?” The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, “Okay, why not?” The farmer looks up, scratches his stubble, leans on his stick and says, “You’re one of those non-elected ‘special advisors’ to the Prime Minister working for one of them publically funded Quangos with offices in Westminster but living tax free in Brussels aren’t you?”, says the farmer. “Wow! That’s correct,” says the yuppie, “but how did you guess all that?” “No guessing was required” answered the farmer. “You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I don’t need to ask. And you really don’t know a thing about cows…this is a herd of sheep. Now give me back my sheep dog.”

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