The hazards of pastoral ministry – Christmas

-->

The hazards of pastoral ministry – Christmas

Christmas is a wonderful time of celebratory services, a relaxed mood with strangers and neighbours, holidays, happy family days, feasting and leisure – right?

That’s what it is supposed be anyway. Even if we look beyond the indulgent cultural Christmas of the west, surely this is a season when serious-minded Christians can take advantage of the public holiday to sneak somewhere quiet to reflect on why the saviour needed to come, the fact and manner of his coming and the wonder of it all.

There are many for whom Christmas is something very different. For starters there are those who have no choice but to work at their employment or at unpaid care-giving duties for the aged, ill or people with disabilities. Then there are those with the empty and aching hearts in which there is a space for a loved one lost, for a lost love, lament at what was but is now not and regret at that which could have been but was not. And those for whom the daily struggle just to stay alive is made more painful by the sight of those awash in plenty.

Christmas brings special hazards for those in pastoral ministry. This is widespread. I felt it during my pastoral years and know of many many with similar feelings about Christmas.

So what is the pastoral hazard of Christmas?

It’s not the fact of working while others rest and party, for that is a weekly event for those whose heaviest work is routinely on weekends. Nor is it the 2am Christmas Day call to a hospital bedside, for that is a privilege of those with a pastor’s heart.

In some part it may be that the pastor’s family is far from their kin and cannot join the family gathering until a day or two afterwards. That can hurt, especially for the spouse and children and for unbelieving parents or in-laws.

I wonder if the larger hazard lies in the contrast between what lies on the true pastor’s heart and the demands of a typical church Christmas. A true pastor of God’s people will share the compassion of Jesus for the lost (Mrk 6:34-35) and the desire of Paul to present people mature in Christ (Col 1:28) by so ministering God’s word that people grow from fickle spiritual infancy to the likeness of Jesus (Eph 4:11-16). A church Christmas typically swamps these desires as a superficial religious goodwill takes the stage. It’s hard to keep the focus on striving for Christ and Christ-likeness amidst candles, camels, cards and the rest.

And so the hazard. The pastoral worker is expected to lead the church Christmas and tries to do so with genuine goodwill, while yearning for the Christ-centred calling in their heart. These two things can overlap, but often are in tension.

Thank God for pastors who live with this hazard rather than run from it!

Review: "The Silk Roads"

-->

Review: The Silk Roads – A New History of the World, P Frankopan (Bloomsbury, 2015) – 521 pages (in paperback), with notes, acknowledgements and index.

This is a book to take time with as Peter Frankopan attempts the double challenge of writing a world history and of writing it through a different lens.

Firstly, the challenge of a world history. History occurs at the intersection of space and time and so they give the scaffolding of a world history. This book starts with the laws of the Babylonian King Hammurabi (c. 1810 BC - 1750 BC) and ends in the year of its writing. That’s a big temporal scope and gives the writer a dreadful problem of inclusion / exclusion. Every reader will find omissions to bewail!

Despite the vast temporal scope, the book is not quite a ‘world’ history as proclaimed in the sub-title, for it is spatially limited. Frankopan self-consciously writes from an Asia-centric view (more on that below). Regions such as Europe, Scandinavia, Africa, the Americas and the Pacific only appear insofar as they impact on or are impacted by Asia. Even within Asia, there are limitations. For example, a major Asian nation like Indonesia is only mentioned once and that as a colony of a European power in its old guise of Batavia.  To see this is not to offer a criticism, but rather to note a limitation and perhaps to suggest that others write parallel world histories from other spatial lens.

Secondly, the book offers a world history through a different lens to most English language books of similar intent.  The standard English language history writes through the lens of western tradition as developed under Greek and Roman culture and then as flowering in Western Europe and North America. In these treatments, the rest of the world appears only insofar as it impacts on or is impacted by the western tradition. Frankopan’s scholarly base is in a small island off the north-western European coast, but he writes as a Byzantine specialist who knows the area east of the Mediterranean and through to the eastern shores of continental Asia. That being said, north Asia and South East Asia are somewhat under-represented in the book – with the notable exception of China. Russia presents another definitional challenge – is it Asia, Europe or something else again?

The result is a very different way of looking at the world. For me, the experience of reading was like seeing a world map drawn from an alternate physical perspective (such as a southern-centric map). Things that once seemed all-important are reduced in perspective. For example, western Europe and the Americas appear as late influencers on world history and ones whose present apparent demise risks them being seen as ‘easy come and easy go”. The flip side of this is that things that are footnotes in western-centric historical writing take centre stage. The book introduced me to empires, movements and people of whom I knew little. That’s welcome.

Frankopan contends that Asia is again on the rise, that new silk roads are being forged and that present-future world history cannot be understood outside an Asia-centric lens. That’s a more than plausible contention, as a glance at the nightly news shows day after yet another day. It would be quite wrong to read the book as a future guide, but it certainly sketches the spatial/temporal scaffolding of the present world scene.

This is why this is a book with which to spend time. It gives a different view of the past and an insightful view of the present.

Mercy at the margins

Mercy at the margins

Farming is a marginal activity. Is the seed of good quality? Will it germinate? Is it weed and bug resistant? Will the rains come when it is time to sow and time to water the growth. Will the rains stop as the field is white unto harvest and not spoil the crop? What will the yield be? What is the market like? What is the profit margin?

Farmers make their profit (and family income) at the margins. It’s the bottom field and the corners of the paddocks that make the difference between bankruptcy, survival and thriving.

What a challenge then to hear God speak about those margins: When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God. (Lev 19:9).

Mercy was to be shown at the margins of the fields.

Why this? The answer lies with God and with the history of his people.

God has a particular eye for the widow, the orphan and the stranger:  “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless (Ex 22:21-24).

He expected his people to remember when they were the stranger and to act accordingly: You shall remember that you were a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today (Dt 15:15). And again: You shall not deprive the foreigner, or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s cloak in pledge; but you shall remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you there: therefore I command you to do this thing (Dt 24:17-18 and see also 19-22).

It gets worse! Even the land that was promised to Abraham and which so vital to a farming community was not really theirs. It was always ‘borrowed’ from God and was to be used for him: ²³ “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. (Lev 25:23). Israel was an exile nation even at ‘home’ in the promised land.

Israel’s farmers were to leaved the margin of their crops for the marginalised people because that’s where God’s eye was.

God’s people after Jesus are likewise called to remember that we are exiles and strangers who don’t really belong (1 Pet 2:11). We too, are to remember that true religion consists (at least in part) in caring for marginalised widows and orphans (Jas 1:27). We too are to show mercy at the margins.

And so it is good for each to ask who are the people at the margins that are within my ability to show God’s mercy? Who is my ‘orphan’, my ‘widow’, my ‘foreigner’ and my ‘stranger’? Who is on the road to my ‘Jericho’? Who are the losers, battlers and those whom the passing world does not see or hear with mercy’s eye and ear?

Mercy at the margins – that’s what God expects from his people. And that’s what he showed in sending the child who was born in a barn to unmarried parents from up-country Nazareth and who was rejected by those at the centre and hung out to die outside the city wall.

Grace, like farming, is mercy at the margins.

Where are the odd-shaped people?

-->

Where are the odd-shaped people?

This church had old pseudo-gothic buildings with sunlight streaming through the stain-glass windows. Up front was the band that is now standard in evangelical churches, pumping out the usual range of contemporary Christian songs. Their work was competent, well-rehearsed and well-presented. Likewise for the worship leader and preacher. However, something jarred. Everyone up front was youngish, healthy, trim, bright-eyed and Caucasian. That was not true of the congregation who were of “all sorts and conditions of men (and women)” as the old prayer book puts it.

Another church had modern purpose-built facilities with an expansive foyer that included an information booth, video displays of current information, comfy lounges and a full-on café. Bravo! The auditorium had a theatre-like feel with sloping floors focussed down to an expansive stage with all the latest in A-V facilities. Again, the music team, worship leader and preacher were well prepared and competent in execution. But once again they were youngish, healthy, trim, bright-eyed and Caucasian.

Here’s another church. It meets in space rented by the hour from a public school, which means a weekly rush to set up and adapt to compromised physical surrounds with patched-up A-V arrangements that sometimes work and sometimes don’t. The music team had some young adults of mixed origins, an older man and was good enough for purpose. A grey-haired Asian man led the service and the Caucasian preacher had an obvious physical disability. The thing is, the people up front reflected the congregation of mixed age, ethnicity and ability and also reflected the surrounding community.

I get it that churches want high standards for those up front in order to lead well-presented and smooth-running worship gatherings.

However, where are the people who reflect the normal range of human beings in age, ethnicity, ability and body-type? Where are the foolish and weak of the world who are not wise and not of high birth, but who instead are lowly and despised (1 Cor 1:26-28)? Where are the people who reflect the Noah’s ark range of God’s church and human society? Where are the odd shaped people? 

Speaking the gospel in life and word

-->

Speaking the gospel in life and word

My wife and I recently took a lakeside walk. Along the way we passed a campsite run by a Christian organisation that caters to the sons and daughters enrolled in expensive church-run schools. We could hear teenagers doing as teens do by having fun as they played outdoor games. On our return walk we could hear them singing familiar songs of faith.

Then we noticed the litter. Some was concentrated in the public area just outside the campsite. We collected some to take home and dispose of through the garbage bin in the place where we were staying. I thought “kids will be kids” and (more darkly) "these are the sons and daughters of privilege, who know not what they do”.

Further along we passed and greeted some locals who noticed the litter that we carried and who remarked how the people in that Christian campsite didn’t bother to dispose of their rubbish properly.

Ouch! 

I can’t assess whether or not it’s a fair comment. However, I hear the words of Jesus: In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt 5:16) and of Paul: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col 3:17).

And so I am reminded that a wordless expression of the gospel is to consistently speak the gospel with my life as well as my words – and especially before the sons and daughters of unbelief before whom I profess my faith. Yes, that means picking up my litter – and so much more.

What’s on your sheet? – a study in prejudice

-->

What’s on your sheet? – a study in prejudice

It was near lunchtime. Peter wanted to pray, went to Simon’s rooftop and was soon both hungry and napping (how very human that the nap takes over). Oh yes, that’s the rooftop of Simon the tanner and its likely that he was surrounded by drying animal skins – something that made a Jew like him ‘unclean’.

Then came a vision of heaven opened (always a sign that God is doing something big). And the sheet. Its contents were disgusting to a Jew – a host of unclean and forbidden creatures. Although Peter was hungry he resisted the call to eat - for he had never eaten anything unclean.

Three times that sheet descended (things in Peter’s life tended to happen in patterns of three) and three times he refused.

As Peter pondered he received word of three (!) men asking him to go to the home of a Roman Centurion (not only unclean but also an enemy occupier). Cornelius also had been praying and at 3pm (!) he had a vision to send for Peter.

Finally the penny dropped and Peter 'got it'. And so this Jewish church leader realised that God has no favourites and that his salvation in Jesus was open to everyone who repents and believes in Jesus. That was to change the world as Peter led the church to embrace God’s long promise that through Abraham ‘all people’s would be blessed (Gen 12:1-3).

What’s on your sheet? For Peter it was a collection of animals forbidden to the Jews. I, like many of us, have eaten many of the creatures on Peter’s sheet without a qualm. However, there’s still a question. What’s on my sheet? Who are the people that disgust or repel me? Who do I avoid and think God would have nothing much to do with except to announce judgement?

 For some it may be a person of a different skin colour. Or different gender. Or someone waving a rainbow flag. Or wearing a hajib.

Who are the people to whom I say ‘no way’ but to whom God says there is one way: Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 6:11)?

And if God says that to them, who am I but another unclean and now forgiven one who should also extend God’s welcome?

(This post is inspired by a sermon on Acts 10 from Alistair Bain of St John’s Presbyterian Church Hobart)

What did I miss?

-->

What did I miss?

 Early one evening I went for a walk through local streets. There were houses old and new, trees in stark late winter beauty and a man walking a pony on the path (oh yes indeed).

Then I came to a park with its old trees, sprawling grass and well-tended shrubs. Behind me was a view to the Sydney Harbour Bridge with its familiar shape. To the west - a beautiful sunset that halted my steps as I gazed at the rapid fade from bright orange to twilight pink.

There were others in that park - a cluster of 20 or so people poking about at the augmented reality game that was the flavour of the month. Their eyes and fingers were glued to the artificial reality of a screen. The beauty of the sunset came and went unseen by their eyes.

It's easy to criticise the Pokemon players and feel superior. However, there is also a question.

What do I miss seeing because my attention is on clamorous immediacy? What do I miss of earth's offerings, let along those of realms unseen? How much do I miss of God's fingerprints?  How can I better open my inner and outer eyes to see ponies on paths, sunsets in parks and more? How can I avoid being one of the seeing blind?

Taking choices (seriously)

-->

Taking choices (seriously)

Think about our daily choices. Even before leaving home for the day we have decided when to get up, what sequence to follow for our morning, what outfit to wear, what to have for breakfast, what words to say … and on it goes. Many of these early morning choices are matters of habit, but even habit is a choice and it builds on earlier choices.

Some choices are always inconsequential. Nothing much will change if I wear the blue work shirt  or the pink. Other choices are inconsequential at the time but their cumulative effect may matter. Today’s choice for a muesli breakfast instead of toast with jam matters not, but a thousand such choices may affect my health in later years. Other choices may appear inconsequential but turn out to be life changing. What if I have equally convenient bus and train options for getting to work but the day I choose the bus leads to an apparently random meeting of the love of my life?

How do we take such choices? A recent opinion piece draws attention to the power of randomness, even in major choices. Freakonomics author Steven Levitt says it's best to toss a coin (Peter Martin, Canberra Times 14^th August 2016): http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/freakonomics-author-steven-levitt-says-its-best-to-toss-a-coin-20160812-gqr5se.html. We’ll come back to that later.

Some people seem obsessed with getting their choices perfect, even if the matter is of small consequence. This is the person who does endless research to find the best price on a bag of carrots and then outspends the savings in opportunity and transport costs to get to the venue where the deal is good. It’s the person who spends 15 minutes changing from one clothing combination to another until heading out late to miss that bus that may have changed their life.

Some find it useful to use the following in their decision-making process:

·       How important is it?

How important is the issue is on a scale on 1 to 10? (Of course, that ranking will reflect our underlying values and they are worth thinking about). If it has very low importance we may as well toss the coin or do the first thing that occurs to us. Let’s save procrastinating anxiety for things of high importance!

·       Use your head

What are the available options and what are the dimensions and implications of each? What’s the case for and against each option? Which case is the most persuasive for you? Note again that that our underlying values will be on view here. For example, you may be buying a household appliance. One option has all the extras that you want and comes in at a competitive price. Another is more expensive, but was produced in a factory that pays fair wages and is more environmentally friendly. The one you prefer reflects what you value.

• Listen to your heart

Our heart intuitions reflect our deepest us – that’s the real ‘me’. Of course intuitions need to be examined and tested, but they are worth attention. This is especially so for the more head-orientated person who may be prone to the procrastination of perfectionism.

• Listen to others

It’s often wise on important issues (or ones where we are stuck) to listen to others. Find the friend who knows you and the person who knows something about that matter being chosen. Ask for the views and probe them. We wouldn’t normally ask someone else to take a choice for us (that’s an abrogation of responsibility), but the words of others can be handy as advice.

Its time to go back to the article cited above. The writer comments on an argument for the randomness of tossing a coin to take decisions. Many of us would agree with that when it comes to the choice between the blue and pink work shirt. The article goes further. It examines tossing a coin for the big decision of life such as choosing jobs, having a baby, getting married and such like. It reports a finding that people doing this report great happiness levels in taking choices that way. The article attributes this happiness to the fact that the coin tossers tend to make more changes in their lives rather than be stuck in confining ruts of change resistance. We could also guess that the tossers are happier because they have spared themselves the agony of procrastinating angst.

This is worth pondering. I just faced a choice of which shirt to wear for a speaking opportunity today. A choice between a plain blue and striped pink shirt was available in the wardrobe. I could have agonised, discussed with my wife, prayed or drawn up a spreadsheet to decide. Three coin tosses later and the blue it is. (Of course that could also have been done with one toss, but being a cautious Presbyterian I wanted to be sure.) Now that that’s done I could give my time to more important things like finishing this blog piece.

However, its one thing to toss a coin on a low-consequence choice but another on a high consequence matter. Coin tossing on matters of importance presupposes one of two opposite views of life. The first is determinism and the second is random meaninglessness.

Consider determinism. Some hold to a view that the universe is a machine that runs itself.  (That is called determinism and is often paired with naturalism- the view that the physical is all that there is.) If so, we may as well toss a coin. On that worldview, the coin toss will make no difference because the predetermined result will happen anyway (whether through or against the coin toss). Tossing the coin saves time, because you were always going to finish up there anyway.

Now the other view. If nothing really matters, and all is random, then a coin toss is as good a way of deciding things as considered thoughtfulness. ‘Why not, it makes no difference’ is the mantra here. On this worldview, a toss may seem to validate the tosser and give significance for just that moment and before returning to the insignificance of no-choice.

The Christian worldview points us in another direction and its no toss of the coin.

The Scriptures teach that the God who made the world remains actively involved in its affairs. This is so much so that everything is moved according to his big plans (Eph 1:11). Fortunately for us, his big plan is wondrously good – its nothing less than uniting everything in the created universe together in Jesus (Eph 1:9-10). In doing this God gets up close and personal. He works everything for good in the lives of those who love him (Rom 8:28). It’s a question for another day what that good is – but suffice to say that it’s a good that is better than our wildest imaginations.

Doesn’t this sound like divine determinism? Has God pre-taken all our choices and we are back to the pointless toss of a coin whose fall makes no difference?

No! We were not made as cogs in a machine, but as people in God’s image whose choices make a difference. Our Biblical ancestors had a choice to eat or not to eat the forbidden fruit and their choice made an earth-shattering difference for them and us (Gen 3; Rom 5:12-21). Joshua set a choice of religious loyalties before his generation (Josh 23:14-15), as did the prophet Elijah (1 Kngs 18:21). Judas had a choice (Lke 22:22,48) as did Peter (Lke 22:33-34, 61-62) and Pilate (Lke 23:1-16). Their choices changed Jesus’ life, their own and that of others.

However, notice something else. These real choices fell out within the plan decided by God. Jesus’ death was for salvation was according to a plan that had been there in the Bible all along for those to see (Lke 22:22; 24:24-26, 44). The Bible calls this providence. We take real choices that make a difference, but are choices are already woven into and serve God’s big plans to units all things in Jesus and to do good to his people.

This is a profoundly practical and reassuring teaching!

We should care in our choices because our choices change things for others and ourselves. My shirt colour is well-decided by a coin toss or the whim of the moment, but that’s not true for other things. As a husband, father, grandfather and friend, my life choices affect those whom I love. Will I choose for me or for God and others? Will I choose wisely (and according to the importance of the matter) or foolishly? Will in I choose in a way that shows love of God and others or love of self? How will others be affected by my choices?  These are some of the value questions that lie behind the process above.

Now for the reassurance. Sometimes we take bad choices whether from ignorance, bad values or base motivations. The encouraging thing is that this is not the end of the world. Some of our choices will self-correct as events pass or there will be a later opportunity for us to chose a different path. But even in our worst choices God is still there, weaving things into his big plan and working for good. And so Peter could later take another and different choice and come back into God ‘s plans (Jn 21:15-19. Even in the case of Judas who carried his bad choice to fruition, God still worked for good. Judas was eternally stuck with the consequence of his choice (Matt 27:1-10) but through it God sent his Son on the Cross to save. Those who chose to embrace him with faith are saved, while those who choose not to believe are left under a self-made condemnation (Jn 3:16-21). Our choice here changes our destiny for eternity.

Some choices deserve no more than the toss of a coin. Others deserve far more attention and none more so than our choice about Jesus.

If I were a pastor in France tomorrow

-->

If I were a pastor in France tomorrow

On Bastille Day 2016 (July 14^th) a man intentionally drove along the delightful promenade at Nice, intentionally killing people with his vehicle and with gunfire. This is the latest of several such events in France in recent times.

How could a pastor in France preach on Sunday 17^th July?

Here’s how I’d do it:

·       Introduction

o   Rehearse the several recent terrorist attacks on French soil and ask the questions: what is going on? How can we understand this? What can we learn? How should we respond?

§  Note that such events are the normal material of life in the ebb and flow of a fallen world in which we and the whole creation groans as we await the return of Jesus to put all things right in his new creation (Matt 24:6-8; Rom 8:20-23).

o   Remind France of her Christian heritage. The 177 martyrdoms at Lyon are testimony to very early Christian beginnings, after which there has been a continuous Christian presence.

o   Observe that France is now one of the most secularised post-Christian nations, at the several levels of her intellectual, cultural and popular life.

o   As a nation that has had gospel light and chosen to walk in darkness, France does not deserve God’s kindness (Heb 6:4-8). Her only hope is in his gracious mercy.

·       Teaching

o   Point upwards to God working from a passage that displays the many-sided richness and depth of God’s being and deeds (eg: Ex 34:1-9; Ps 103).

o   Urge people to consider the kindness and sternness of God in the double-edged gospel (Rom 11:22). Salvation is offered to all and extended to all who believe in Jesus, but judgement is on all who refuse God (Jn 3:16-21).

o   Remind people that the present events are not outside of God’s control, are being used by him to achieve his big plan to unite all things in Christ (Eph 1:11) and are specifically being used for the good of his people who will never be separated from his love in Jesus (Rom 8:28-39).

·       Applications

o   Urge that people look to him for peace, comfort and meaning in these troubled times.

o   Call on hearers to reach out to their neighbours and strangers (especially those of different race, culture and religion) in the common nature that we share in God’s creation.

o   Call people to repentance and faith, resting on the overflowing faithfulness and mercy of God and calling on his gospel promises.

o   Urge all to readiness for their death through a living personal faith in Christ, because we too know not the day or hour when we return to the Lord or he returns to us (Matt 24:36-51).

Book Review: C Ash on ministry burnout

C Ash, Zeal Without Burnout, The Good Book Company, 2016. 123 pages.  

This is a book which can be read in a single sitting. However, don’t be deceived – it’s an important book on the important topic of ministry burnout.

Many sources report on high levels of burnout among ministry workers resulting in resignations, physical and mental illness and many just struggling on in their roles with diminishing usefulness. This is especially so in pastoral leadership where a combination of impossible expectations, poor governance, family pressures and low recognition take high casualties.  The keen 30 year old who takes on a pastor’s role too often finishes up as a tired, cynical time-server in his 50s and unable to do other than slog out it out to pension age.

Christopher Ash writes into this situation from his own and other’s experience and from a Scriptural perspective. He reminds us of the difference between sacrifice and needless burnout and the underlying truth that we are dust, not God. As dusty people we need sleep, Sabbaths, friends and food and we neglect those needs at our peril. We are prone to the danger of wanting to be celebrities and of rejoicing in our ministry and not in grace.

Much of the book diagnoses burnout and shows its dangers, but it also points readers to some preventative and therapeutic measures  - all within big calls to recognise our dustiness and to cultivate delight in God.

Are you too busy to read 123 small pages? Then start with the questions on pp112-113 and they may lead you back to page 1. If you do read the book in a single sitting, you may just be the keen 30 year old who is in danger of becoming a menace to your family and your church later on. It’s a no-brainer to read it now and save yourself from trouble later.

Chance or providence?

The chances of life

From a journal entry: I am attending a conference of 3,000 and more people in a foreign city and know very few people here. I arrived late for something because of traffic problems and grabbed the first available seat, not noticing those around me. I then discovered that my neighbour was someone who chaired a conference that I spoke at on the other side of the world five years ago. Chance or providence? Later that day I gazed out the widow of my conference hotel where I am settled in comfort. Below me was a rank urban river alongside of which people live in slum conditions and barely eke out a living? Chance or providence that my whole life is what it is and that of others is what it is?

Each of us can repeat these stories a thousand times over. Our lives are full of events and circumstances that could have been otherwise.

 Chance or providence? The way we answer that reflects our underlying view of life. From where I come, there is no chance, accident or mere coincidence. There are only divine coincidences – also known as providence. This comes from the Bible’s teaching that God works all things according to his purposes (Eph 1:11) and that he works all things for the good of those who love him (Rom 8:28). Behind that is the Bible’s big view of God as the one from whom, through whom and to whom are all things (Rom 11:33-36).

So, what to do with the providence that results in my life of privilege? That’s the providences that meant I was born where I was, of the parents that I had, and with the opportunities, experiences behind me and the choices and resources that are at my disposal.

Three themes emerge.

Firstly, making the most of my providential opportunities. The Bible does not call God’s people to lazy self-indulgence (Eg: Prov 6:6; 6:9-11; 13:4; 20:4; 2 Thess 3:10).  Our calling is to a wholehearted commitment to whatever God gives us to do (Eccles 9:10; Col 3:23) and this is especially so with gospel work (Eph 5:16). We are to work, even if we don’t need to from the necessity of survival.

Secondly, embracing the responsibility that goes with opportunity. My life is not to be lived for myself but for the Lord from whom all comes and by whom I will be judged (Rom 14:10,12). The parable of the talents is also instructive here (Matt 25:14-30). The servants are not judged by what they started with (life’s providences?), but by what they did with it. The more that is given, the more that is asked (Lke 12:48). So instead of indulging in my various privileges I am to ask what responsibilities to God and others arise from them.

Thirdly, being content with my providences. It’s both easy and dangerous to make comparisons. A comparison with those whom I perceive to have more favourable providences can so easily leads to envy and despair. Neither of these is healthy. On the other side, a contrast with those having less favourable providences can lead to arrogantly thinking that I am somehow better than them (as though God’s providences are a matter of my deserving). A better way is to accept the life that God has given me and to follow Paul’s secret of choosing to be content in God in all circumstances (Phil 4:11-13).