Rollicking religion

Last night there was a packed hall for a gathering under the title, 'The Musical Salvationist'. It featured the kind of music which characterised The Salvation Army in its early days. Before the constraints of copyright law the Army took hold of music hall tunes and set them to distinctive Christian words. Many of the results were upbeat and rollicking. Some of those 'oldies' were featured last night. The musical idiom may have been that of another age but the message was timeless. Some people seem only to have enough religion to make them miserable. Last night we knew what it was to have enough to make us happy.

Caring for kids

The good Lord is full of surprises! Before I retired nearly fourteen years ago I would have ridiculed any suggestion that I should teach children in schools. But God led me to do just that on a voluntary basis and I am still teaching Christian RE in a state school. Among seven or eight hundred children who have passed through my hands are two who have become RE teachers themselves. Praise the Lord! I think that 95% of the children do not attend church and so the little I do is likely to be all the Christian teaching they get. I pray for grace and wisdom for the task. Amen.

The old time religion

It was good to share an 'old time Army' meeting with a fine company of retired Salvation Army officers. Of course, there was some looking to the past but there was also a keen awareness of the challenges of the present and the future. The chosen text was, 'Raise a banner for the nations' (Isaiah 62.10) and account was taken of the trinitarian significance of the Salvation Army flag in which the blue border symbolises the character of God the Father, the red ground the sacrifice of God the Son and the yellow star the empowering of God the Holy Spirit.

The scourge of alcohol

Recently the media have covered many problems triggered by alcohol - abuse: road accidents, brain damage, violence etc. Of course, no-one intends to become an addict but many do for all that. I have yet to meet anyone who seriously regretted not starting to imbibe but have known many who have rued the day when they did start, often because of peer pressure or fear of being regarded as a wowser. Personally I am a total abstainer as a matter of principle and for the sake of example, apart from anything else. (I would hate anyone to follow my example of even moderate drinking and then develop an addiction.) So am I my brother's keeper? To some extent I am - and so are we all.

What price holiness?

Yesterday I went to the launch of a book entitled, 'Authentic holiness'. The subject of the book may not appeal to some who have got wrong ideas of holiness and think it means being humourless or imprcticable or both. But hang on, some of the most holy people I have known have had a twinkle in the eye, been very down to earth - and not a bit dotty! Essentially to be holy means to be set apart for God - a bit like great athletes are set apart for their sport - and that doesn't mean being 'elbowy' or offputting. On the contrary, saints alive don't have haloes but they do have hearts and warm smiles and there are plenty of them about.

Saving time - for what?

Nowadays we have so many time saving devices. I remember that mother did her weekly wash with a scrubbing board. Now we have washing machines to do the job. As a young manI
had to buy myself a bike to get me around. Now a car is deemed necessary. Again this should save a lot of time. Fair enough! But although we have so many means of saving time we always seem to be short of it. How come? What do we do with the time we save? Do we ask God to bank it for us assured that he knows how to get the best interest on it? That sounds like a good idea.