FRYING PANS, FISH AND YELLOW EGGS….
Maybe you had to be there…..
It was Wednesday night and another Firelighters prayer gathering. We met and started chatting. I shared a story about my frying pan. I had made a curry the week before. It was rather more detailed in the range of pastes and spices that went into it than my normal Korma like recipe. But it did include a generous portion of turmeric.
The next time I came to use it, a couple of days later, I made a couple of fried eggs. And they came up a bright yellow colour! Unsure if I had washed the pan properly I scrubbed it and put it away. Next time, same again, yellow eggs!
I was sharing this story partly because it’s funny, but also the illustration it provided. Faith needs to be sticky, like the turmeric colour to the pan – a faith that can just be washed off is no faith at all. It important that we build one another up in that sticky faith, that can’t be washed off.
The conversation progressed and developed in interesting areas. We were sharing various stories about a rise in interest in matters of Christian faith. Especially amongst Generation Z. Tik Tok church being accessible to people across the country and the leaders then being able to direct them and plug in to a local (in person) fellowship. Stories of young adults walking into churches and asking “Who is this Jesus?”
We talked about what would be the answer they would get from us? How confident are we to answer that direct a question? It got me thinking that maybe there is a course there – Who is Jesus?: Exploring our answers to give when asked directly! (Watch this space).
Playing with this idea some more we noted some approaches. How the response might be not to give an explanation but instead to ask a question in response – Who do you think he is? What have you heard? The principle is that you then know what question you are asking. Bishop Barron, a Roman Catholic evangelist, says that in conversation with an atheist he would always let them speak first about the God they don’t believe in. Because you can probably say “Yes, I don’t believe in that God either”, and proceed to proclaim the true God of the Bible and or experience.
We then spent some time waiting and listening. Psalm 121 was shared:
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Meanwhile I heard “a voice in the wilderness” which is quoted in Marks Gospel related to the ministry of John the Baptist (Mark 1:2) and quotes Isaiah 40
A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord[a];
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.[b]
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Something more about looking to mountains, but that the charge was to prepare for what the Lord will do. Preparing for the revelation of God’s glory.
How prepared are we? Do we need to be discipling in answering the questions when they come?
Or is it discipling in trust in the Lord – for the early church were promised “12 The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say at the moment when you need them.” (Luke 12:12)
Or is it a bit of both?
Then a bit more waiting, a bit more silence.
At the end of which there was a picture. It was of water seeping up outside the church entrance at the bottom of the ramp. Further discussion led to the story of a young man in the youth group on the previous evening who had an alternative response to one of the questions. The topic was Jesus: The Good Shepherd. Having read Psalm 23 and some of John 10 the opening questions were:
-
Who is the shepherd? (A: God)
-
Who are the sheep? (A: we are)
At which, this young man piped up “I’m not a sheep, I’m a fish!”
He was quite insistent that he was going to be different and while it was amusing at the time I didn’t think much of it. Until…..the words of Jesus came to me in our gathering , when he called the first disciples, he said to them “19 Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19)
Well fish need water! Maybe it’s a sign that the water picture this time was outside rather than the usual one of water going out from the church. This time the water is outside the church – transporting the fish (people?) in?
It felt like one of those times together where all the conversations were connected in some way.
Even if it was frying pans, fish and yellow eggs….
Every blessing
Doug
ARE WE LISTENING?