Author Archives: Stephen Sizer

The Cross

When a hospital consultant reveals a serious medical condition that will probably shorten your life without a major operation, it can be a little unsettling. The imminent risk of a stroke is like a living death sentence. It changes your outlook on life. Your priorities. Then, just as suddenly, to be given the all clear is like being given your life back again. Although from now on, whether due to a mis-diagnosis or a miracle, you are grateful. Life feels good. That is how we should feel because of what happened that first Good Friday.

The Cross. It struck fear in the hearts of the world. It was Rome’s means of control. Excruciating torture. Prolonged agony. Humiliating death. According to Roman custom, the penalty of crucifixion was always preceded by scourging. After this initial punishment, you carried your cross, or at least the transverse beam of it, to the place of execution.
Besides the physical pain there was also the psychological torture. Because crucifixion was a public form of execution.

The crosses were located by the roadside or at a crossroads. There was no hiding. You were exposed to the jibes and insults of the people who passed by. Stripped naked, you were bound to the cross with cords and fastened with nails like these here.
Roman nails, 2000 years old. You can place them in your hands after the service.

Finally, a placard called the titulus bearing your name and your crime, was placed above your head. You would not die of hunger or thirst, but might hang on the cross for several days. To breathe, you must stretch upward and stand to take the weight on your legs and off your arms and chest. So if your legs were broken, death would come mercifully swift with asphyxiation. In this way it was possible to take down the corpse on the very evening of the execution such as a Sabbath. But your corpse could not be taken down, unless specially authorized in the sentence of death. Permission would also be necessary for a burial. It is remarkable that all of this the Bible records with the simple words, “Finally, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified.” (John 19:16). This morning the children have had their own activities. They were finding out why today is called “Good Friday” Now it is our turn. Lets examine John 19:16-29 and draw out three simple reasons why today is indeed a good day. Continue reading →

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: 21st-30th October 2011

A comprehensive 10-day Pilgrimage based in Jerusalem and the Galilee in Half Term, 21st-30th October 2011.

In the Middle East, the reality on the ground is often far removed from what we see and read in the news. Places of pilgrimage are open and welcoming visitors. We have planned our programme for late October during the half-term holidays, which is considered to be a lovely time to visit the Holy Land. We will have the opportunity to worship with the local Christian community in Jerusalem on the Sunday morning and on our journey through the Holy Land to seek them out and to offer our support and encouragement.

Visits will include Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and Qumran, as well as allowing free time for relaxation and private exploration. We will walk along the Via Dolorosa, sail on the Sea of Galilee, float on the Dead Sea and ascend the Mount of Masada by cable car. The Holy Land is unique in offering so many highlights and contrasts in such a compact area. Each day of our pilgrimage will be very different from the previous one.

The pilgrimage will include opportunities to meet with the Living Stones, the indigenous Christians of the Holy Land, as well as Jewish and Muslim peacemakers. We hope to meet with ICAHD (Israel Committee Against House Demolitions) or World Vision. We will also encounter the Separation Wall and possibly a Jewish settlement, a Palestinian refugee camp and staff of the Bethlehem Arab Rehabilitation Centre in Beit Jala.

We stay in two family owned and managed hotels. In Jerusalem, the three star Golden Walls Hotel overlooks the Old City walls and is walking distance of the Holy Sepulchre. In Tiberias, we stay at the four star Ron Beach Hotel in a wonderful situation right on the lakeside. The tour is on a half-board basis with buffet breakfast and table d’hote evening meal included daily. Touring is in air-conditioned coaches and we will be accompanied by a local guide who will share leadership responsibilities and look after the formalities of hotel check-ins etc. All entrance fees are included. Flights are with EL AL Israel Airlines between Luton Airport and Tel Aviv and returning from Tel Aviv into London Heathrow.

For more information download the brochure from here If you have any questions please contact Stephen

The Grace of Giving

“Look at your hands. When you were just an infant, you came out with your hands closed. And every time somebody put their little finger in yours, you would wrap your hand around it, hold on tight, and not let go. As a toddler, you started grabbing rattles and little toys. When another child came in your direction and wanted to take one away from you, you said, “Mine,” and held on tight.

When you were in junior school, you hung on tightly to bicycle handlebars and pencils and other things. In senior school you hung on to the hand of Sarah Jane, and you were not about to let that go. In college you hung on to a lot of different stuff—maybe some stuff we don’t even want to talk about here—but when you left, you were clutching a certificate with two hands.

When you started a career, you grabbed the lowest rung on the ladder and you hung on. Then you reached for the second one and you hung on, and then the next one. Since then, you have been climbing ladders, clutching rungs. Someday retirement will come and you’ll hang on to golf clubs or gardening tools, pension funds, and social security. When you get near the end of your life, you’ll start hanging on to canes and zimmer frames.

And then do you know what happens to some people in the final moments of their life? They clutch the edge of a hospital bed. They hang on tightly as if to life itself. And then they die and finally, they relax their grip. By nature, you and I are clutchers. We scrape and we claw and we work and we fret, and if we get ahead just a little bit, we hold on. It doesn’t matter who or what tries to convince us to relax our grip. We have a reflexive response to giving up something that’s dear to us – especially when it comes to our money…For most of us, clutching is like breathing. It just comes naturally.”[1] This morning we are going to learn why we need to loosen our grip on money. We are going to consider an example of another church and how they learnt to give with open hands. Where ever the apostle Paul planted a new church, part of their discipleship training included teaching on stewardship. John Stott observes,

“Paul did not see it as a mundane matter. On the contrary, he saw it as relating to the grace of God, the cross of Christ and the unity of the Spirit. In fact, it is very moving to grasp this combination of profound Trinitarian theology and practical common sense.”[2] Continue reading →

Help Dig a Well for Goshen School, Uganda for $6,000

Help dig a well for Goshen School.

Remember the last time you drank a glass of cool, clean, refreshing water? It tasted good didn’t it? And if you are like me, you probably didn’t even think about it.

For the last three years I have spent two weeks each January based at Kiwoko Hospital in rural Uganda helping to promote Christianity Explored and train local clergy and pastors to use the course. Kiwoko Hospital is situated at the centre of the infamous Luweero Triangle where hundreds of thousands of civilians were massacred in the 1980’s. It has literally brought life and hope to thousands of people.

Shadrach Luwago is the pharmacist at Kiwoko Hospital. He pastors a local church and also leads the hospital mission team. He helped translate the Christianity Explored course into Luganda and Swahili and trained thousands of pastors to use the course. He and his wife Nora also care for around 30 orphans in their own home.

A year ago Shadrach founded a much needed school in the nearby village of Nkondo. Goshen school has already proved very popular with 240 children registered. Besides needing additional permanent buildings (another story), their most pressing need is for clean water, and that is where you come in. The nearest safe water supply is 3 kilometres away.

Pastor Shadrach Luwago talks about Goshen School in Nkondo, Uganda

I need your help to build a well for Goshen school and Nkondo village. It is going to cost £3,750 ($6,000) to survey the ground, dig the well and install a pump. Providing safe clean drinking water will significantly reduce mortality rates as well as sickness and disease for hundreds of people. Within a day we have been promised £1,200 which is a third of the way there.

A Ugandan based charity called Fields of Life which helps build schools in East Africa has the necessary drilling equipment. So all we need is £6,000 ($10,000). I have promised Shadrach I will raise the money by the end of August. I feel so strongly about this, I am prepared to take out a bank loan to cover any shortfall. Shadrach sent me this news update recently.

Dear Stephen,

Greetings from Goshen family. Thank you very much for the email. I am sorry for the delay to reply this email. I have had problems with connections and many days after work i had to go to school to collect water for the kids with the pickup. The nearest water source is approx. 3 kilometres. Because at the school now we have 240 kids, it becomes very difficult to fetch enough water for all of them, especially during lunch time when it is very hot and every child after having lunch is thirst for some water. It is difficult for them to run 3 kms. to the well and 3 kms. back for the afternoon classes.

This is why i have to fetch for them some water for drinking and also for cooking, but because I go after work in the hospital, time does not allow me to fetch enough water for them. It is in the evening and everybody in the village is coming to fetch water so we have to queue. You can find over 50 jerry cans in a line. By the time they finish getting their water it is already dark. After class all the kids get their jerry cans and walk with a teacher to fetch their own water to wash.

Whenever it rains we use gathered water in the ponds but this kind of water is very polluted and makes many kids sick. right now we are looking for ways of getting drugs to deworm all the kids at school. Most of them are sick with worms.

We have even decided to buy a donkey as you can see in the photo with a plan of making a cart for it to be able to pull the cart with some jerry cans of water to bring to the school. Thank you very much for considering to support Goshen school and the people of Nkondo village as well.

God bless,
Shadrach

So, will you help me? If you wish to make a contribution to provide safe clean water to Goshen school and Nkondo village, you can do so through Christ Church, Virginia Water, which is a registered charity. You can give via a Bankers Order Form or by cheque payable to PCC EPCCVW and send it to Revd Dr Stephen Sizer, Christ Church, Virginia Water, GU25 4PT, headed “Goshen School Well”.

You can watch a short video I made of Shadrach talking about his school. I also interviewed Craig Dyer of Christianity Explored and Jim McAnlis of Fields of Life about their involvement in Shadrach’s work.

You can also download a copy of this article for wider distribution.

P.S.

Charities like Christ Church are able to reclaim basic rate tax (22%) on your donations if you are a UK taxpayer. This equates to approximately 28% of the gift you give us out of your taxed income. If you pay UK tax and have not already done so, please download and return the Gift Aid Declaration. If you are a US/UK dual taxpayer, please be advised that Christ Church is registered with the CAF American Donor Fund enabling you too to give tax-efficiently claiming Gift Aid in the UK while still benefiting from a tax deduction in the US. Click here for more details.

Jesus on Marriage

The secret to newlywed bliss? Irrational optimism about your spouse. If marriage is about compromise, as they say, then happy marriage is about self-delusion. So found scientists at the University of Buffalo, who followed 222 newlyweds through their first three years together. The ones who went into marriage idealizing their partners ended up happier together than those who went in with clearer eyes. …

The study is published in the April issue of Psychological Science, Dr. Sandra Murray, a professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York recruited 222 couples as they applied for their marriage licenses in Buffalo, N.Y. They were, on average, about 27 years old, with family incomes of about $40,000 to $70,000 a year. One hundred and ninety three couples “finished at least three of the seven waves of evaluation, she said. (Eleven separated or divorced.) Participants completed surveys about themselves, their partners and their marriages every six months for three years.”

A less-than-ideal partner can be seen as a reflection of one’s ideals predicted a certain level of immunity to the caustic effects of time. The couples who initially idealized their partner extremely experienced no declines in satisfaction in their partner. As long as both spouses have a positive attitude about their partner, they have likely to have a successful marriage and be very happy together.” (Source: Contracept.org)

Is there an alternative to irrational optimism and rational cynicism in relationships? I believe there is. In our series on the privileges of church membership the last sentence reads:

“To uphold the standard of marriage entrusted by Christ to his Church and to care that children are brought up to love and serve the Lord.”

Upholding the standard of marriage does not mean wearing rose tinted glasses any more than reinforcing Victorian stereotypes or giving in to more contemporary secular prejudices. When we address such a controversial subject as marriage, we have to acknowledge we bring a certain amount of excess baggage. In any church family there will be singles who are content and those who are not. Some will be happily married and others not. Some may be living together, some will be separated, some divorced and some widowed. We also bring with us the subconscious baggage of our parents marriage, happy or otherwise. And we may already have witnessed in the marriages of our our children or grandchildren, sadness and heartache for the same reasons. We each come to God with different needs, different hopes and longings, for ourselves and for those we love. So let us invite the Holy Spirit to speak to us, to teach us how, whatever our background, whatever our past experience, we can start again and live in right relationships as God intends. Please turn with me to Mark 10:6-9 and lets discover how Jesus speaks into our contemporary debate about marriage.

Jesus on Marriage from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Continue reading →

How to Receive Communion Faithfully

Receiving Holy Communion Faithfully from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

The Privilege of Church Membership: Receiving Communion Faithfully
(1 Corinthians 11:17-34)

Whenever I travel abroad I empty my wallet of all my extraneous plastic – there’s my Boots Advantage card, my Tesco Club card, Shell garage card and Nectar ‘you deserve it’ loyalty card, my Starbucks card, Costa Coffee Club card, my Caffe Nero card, my Halifax Ultimate Reward Card, Automobile Association card, Dry Cleaners loyalty card and of course, my Wentworth Club card.

Into my wallet depending on who gave me the best flight deal, goes my British Airways Executive Card, my American Airlines, Delta or United Airline card, and of course my Passport.

We are probably all members of one or more club, trade union, professional association, community group, society or charity. Membership is important. It gives a sense of belonging.

What you may not realise however is that ‘Membership’ is actually a Christian word. In Paul’s letter to the Romans he writes, “in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:5). That means ‘the Church’ is the oldest and largest club in Britain. Continue reading →

Women in Episcopacy: Runnymede Synod Calls for Legal Protection for Traditionalists

Supporters of Women Bishops failed to win a majority following last night’s Runnymede Deanery Synod debate.

The motion “Runnymede Deanery encourages Guildford Diocesan Synod to approve the proposals embodied in the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure and in draft Amending Canon number 30” failed to win a majority (12 for, 12 against and 2 abstentions).

A Following Motion calling for legal protection for traditionalists won a majority (14 in favour, 11 against and 1 abstention). Advocated by the Church of England Evangelical Council the Following Motion stated:

This synod:

Desires that all faithful Anglicans remain and thrive together in the Church of England; and therefore
Calls upon the House of Bishops to bring forward amendments to the draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure to ensure that those unable on theological grounds to accept the ministry of women bishops are able to receive episcopal oversight from a bishop with authority (ie ordinary jurisdiction) conferred by the Measure rather than by delegation from a Diocesan Bishop.

Guildford Diocese will decide its response in June.

You can view my Power Point presentation here or in PowerPoint 2007 here) and listen to an audio recording here.

I commend this article in the Guardian by Rob Thomas of REFORM.

The news from Synod is that the Church of England may begin to consecrate women bishops in the next few years, with little provision for those who feel less comfortable with the idea. While this can be portrayed as a victory for equality, the position of traditionalists is simply that the draft measure (pdf) as it stands doesn’t provide for a secure future for us in the Church of England, a future that was promised in 1993 but now appears to have been rescinded.

Our problem with women bishops is not to do with equality, but theology. In the case of conservative evangelicals, we believe that the Bible recommends a particular order in the church which allows us to bear witness to the wider world about something that is true of God.

The Bible insists on the absolute equality of men and women, but gives them different functions in the church, so that men can show leadership through self-sacrifice and thus reveal the character of God, and women can demonstrate Christian discipleship to the wider church, thus helping us all follow Christ better.

These are theological issues, not ones to do with justice or fairness. If we are to continue to be able to demonstrate these different functions within the church, we need to be able to do that via legislation. A code of practice such as the one now proposed cannot be enough, because its provisions are not binding. They only have to be taken into account. This means that it would for the future women bishops themselves to decide how much security to provide for traditionalists. That cannot be a satisfactory solution to the problem.

Experience of what has happened in Canada and the US shows that over time, people become less and less tolerant of traditionalist positions. That is why a clear statutory provision needs to be made, not the half-baked, half-hearted approach that the draft measure currently contains.

Read the whole article here

In the words of Dr Ann Young:

During the past 3 years, I – like many of you and many others in the church – have had to ask myself ‘am I opposed to this because of habit or perversity or reluctance to change?’

If the leadership role of men rested only on one or two verses in the letters of St Paul, then I might be convinced that it was a practice for that time, but not binding us now. However, that is not the case. As I read it, the consistent teaching of Scripture is that men have the responsibility under God to take these roles. It was so in the Old Testament times, with a few rare exceptions. There is no doubt that Jesus gave new and unheard dignity to women, and they were key supporters of his ministry. Yet he did not appoint any women as disciples. Was this just because it would have gone against the demands of social norms. The Holy Spirit ‘brought to mind all that Jesus had taught’. Yet the apostles led by Him chose no women, only men, to fill the leadership roles in those decades of the church.

I will vote against the principle canon. I cannot set aside my conviction

That Jesus Christ established His church on a pattern that is eternal,

That the Bible plainly places the responsibility for leadership of God’s people on men,

And that the Holy Spirit’s guidance has maintained and continues to maintain the church according to the will of God.

If the canon passes, it becomes less to do with theology and more to do with practicality and the weight we give to tradition. Whether the canon passes or not, we will need to show one another respect and care if we are to honour God rather than act as a group engaged in political debate.

Supporting the Church Abroad (Matthew 21:1-17)

Matthew 21 from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

The Road from Jericho to Jerusalem is just 14 miles long. A day’s journey on foot, uphill all the way. Bethany is on one side of the Mount of Olives. A natural place to stop and rest before the final ascent and panoramic view of all Jerusalem. But it is not the road that should capture our attention. Dusty roads through dramatic scenery were as common then as now, indeed little has changed. Israeli checkpoints, barbed wire, military settlements and the Separation Wall have replaced the Roman garrisons but it is still Occupied Territory. It is ironic that if Jesus were born in Binfield he would have no problem getting from Jericho to Jerusalem today. But because he was born in Bethlehem he would not be able to make the journey to Jerusalem. Like thousands of West Bank Christians he would be turned back at any one of the 400 military checkpoints that clog Palestine. Each one acts like plaque narrowing the arteries – constricting the flow of Palestinian life.

The Right Revd Suheil Dawani is the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem. He was born in Nablus but serves at the Cathedral in Jerusalem. At least he did so until this week. He too has just had his Jerusalem residence permit revoked. Under international law he has every right to live and work in his own country but the Israeli government is seeking to empty East Jerusalem of Palestinians and so under it is illegal for the Bishop to visit his Cathedral in Jerusalem. Pray for your brothers and sisters today in the Holy Land who are denied the most basic of human rights – freedom of movement, freedom to worship, freedom to live in the land of their birth. Sadly they are haemorrhaging, as they are in Iraq and other Middle East countries.

Last week, for example, the most prominent Christian in Pakistan was murdered. Shahbaz Bhatti, 42, was shot outside his mother’s home in Islamabad Wednesday morning. He was the only Christian serving in Pakistan’s government. As Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz was well known for campaigning against the nation’s strict blasphemy law and lobbying for the rights of religious minorities. Last year Shahbaz made a video to be released in the event of his death. You can view it on my blog and also Christianity Today. We need to do more than pray and give financially to mission.

That is why I travelled 7,000 miles to speak at Taylor University in Upland and Indiana University in Fort Wayne earlier this week. If we want to break the log jam in the Middle East we need to challenge the mindset in Middle America. Taylor maybe a small Christian University of only 3,500 students but everyone is challenged to go on mission trips, and boy were they fired up about the Middle East. So, on Tuesday night, when the University had invited Alvin Plantinga, described by Time magazine as the “leading philosopher of God,” to give a prestigious lecture, the students themselves organised a viewing of With God on our Side and at least 250 students showed up. We hope to have a recording of the Q&A online soon. On Thursday just before I flew home, I gave a 50 minute lecture on the Middle East to students at Indiana State University, that was also broadcast live by the local TV station. Continue reading →

Dancing in Church? (the Story of David & Michal)

David and Michal from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Do you like dancing? Hands up if you like dancing. Hands down. Hands up if you have never danced in your entire life? We all dance when we are children don’t we? Its natural?

But what happens when we begin to grow up? We begin to get self-conscious. We think we have two left feet. We worry about what other people might think. And we say “I can’t dance” which roughly translated means “I won’t dance.”

When do you feel like dancing? When you have something to celebrate? When there is some dance music playing? When other people are dancing? When you come to church? Hands up if you are comfortable with dancing in church? Any kind of dancing or only some kinds of dancing? Dancing is popular in many different cultures isn’t it?

Would you be comfortable with this kind of dancing at Christ Church? Hands up. How about this one? And this one? We all have different opinions don’t we? What matters? Why we are dancing? Are we dancing for the Lord? Or are we drawing attention to ourselves? I’m a little embarrassed to show you this picture, but I wanted to prove that I can dance too. Do you want me to show you? Maybe not… I don’t know what Joanna thinks, because she hasn’t seen the picture. It doesn’t really matter now because we have all our children …

In our Bible story David and Michal couldn’t agree on dancing either could they? What was the difference between King David and his wife Michal? Verse 16. He was dancing. She was despising. Why was David dancing? Why wasn’t Michal dancing? See verse 15-16. The text says “the entire house of Israel were bringing….” But they weren’t were they? David was worshipping. All the people were worshipping. But Michal wasn’t worshipping. She was watching. They were worshipping. She was watching. That is why she was bitter in her heart.

What was David thinking of? What God had done. What was Michal thinking of? What David had done. Who was David thinking of? The Lord not himself. Who was Michal thinking of? Herself, not the Lord. See how David replied to Michal when she criticised him when he came in for supper.

Read 2 Samuel 6:21-22. David was willing to humble himself before the Lord his king, in order that he be honoured by his subjects. Michal did not honour God or humble herself and that is why became sad and bitter. How can we apply this lesson? And that is why it doesn’t matter what kind of dancing we have at Christ Church. Or if we do dance or if we don’t.

It doesn’t matter if you do like dancing or don’t like dancing. It doesn’t matter if you do like singing or don’t like singing. It doesn’t matter if you do want to raise your hands or don’t want to raise your hands. What matters is our motive not our moves. What matters is not what other people think but what God thinks. The lesson here doesn’t only apply to dancing. It can apply to what we wear? Who did you get dressed for today? Who will you go to school for tomorrow? Who will you be working for tomorrow?

Who do you relate to most in our story? With David or with Michal?

The Apostle Peter learnt this lesson the hard way, after he boasted about what he would do for Jesus, before he understood all that Jesus would do for him: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6)

Let’s make it our prayer today and maybe our memory verse for the week. So that whether we are dancing with praise to the Lord on the outside, we are dancing with praise to the Lord on the inside.

How to Read the Bible Carefully (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

How to Read the Bible Carefully from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Do you remember your very first Bible? Mine was a gift from my grandfather. I must have been six or seven years old. It had a hard red cover. It was small, had very thin pages and tiny script. But that didn’t matter because it was unreadable anyway. On the occasions I tried, I had absolutely no idea what I was reading. It was a closed book. King James could keep his Bible. At senior school, I encountered the Revised Standard Version (RSV) in RE lessons, but I was more interested in the line drawings and maps than the text itself.

At University, when I became a Christian, the Bible really came to life. And I wanted a copy just like the guy who led me to Christ. It didn’t do much for my spelling because it was the New American Standard Bible (NASB) but at least it had a readable font, the sentences went right across the page like a real book and it had cross references that kept me occupied for hours. This was around the time of Woodstock and the fashion in Christian circles was to cut off the hard cover of your Bible and glue on a piece of off cut leather. So we could walk around campus, bare foot, carrying the kind of Bible John the Baptist must have had. I thought it would be cool to underline passages that spoke to me and I also used a highlight pen. The only problem was it bled through to the other side and pretty soon I was underlining most of the text.

Then I discovered my pastor had a wide margin, loose leaf Bible, so he could add his notes and make it look like he was preaching straight from the Bible. So I wanted one too. I bought my very own loose leaf Bible and added my notes in the margins and on extra pages. But I gave up because my writing wasn’t that good and there wasn’t enough room anyway.

Eventually I upgraded to an all leather New International Study Bible (NIV) and decided not to write anything in it. And that’s been my companion for the last 25 years. If you don’t own a Study Bible and you are serious about growing in Christ, I recommend you invest in one. I’d go for the TNIV or the ESV Study Bible. The Life Application Study Bible is also good. And if you want a Bible for daily devotions, go for the One Year Bible which provides you with an OT, NT, Psalm and Proverb for each day, and you can read the whole Bible in a year.

In this series on the Privileges of Church Membership, today we are thinking about how to read the Bible carefully. This morning I want us to answer 3 questions:

1. Why should I read the Bible carefully?

2. How can I read the Bible carefully?

3. What will reading the Bible carefully achieve?

[You can download a study outline here]

Continue reading →