Merry Christmas!

2014 – A Good Year!

Psalm 50 ends: ‘Whoever offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies Me’.
When we thank God for all that He has done, we give Him the glory He deserves. Sitting down as the year comes to a close and reviewing the previous twelve months is an opportune time to do just that.

My year (2014) – to the glory of God:

My verse for the year was – “…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” Ephesians 4: 1-3. I tried to live up to it but not always successfully!

January was notable for a number of reasons: 1. We adopted two cats; one of whom, Sooty, remains with us and has now adopted us. Fluffy preferred her old house! 2. I stopped, at last, the medication I had been taking for 6 months and the post-herpetic neuralgia didn’t come back! Major thankfulness! 3. Mary and I watched the New Year’s Day swim at Barry Island beach and vowed to never, ever be stupid enough to join them. 4. I experienced the joy of candle-lit everything at the Healthcare Christian Fellowship week of prayer in Sweden. Bought a load of IKEA candles as soon as I got home. We’ve still got most of them but these dark days have again sparked a bit of a revival in subdued lighting in the Dyas house.

February must have been boring if the diary’s anything to go by at least it gives me an opportunity to mention all our weekly happenings at Mount Pleasant church. Our Freedom in Christ discipleship course was probably the best we’ve ever run – great fun with a great bunch! Friday’s Life Recovery Group was inspirational with new folk joining through the year – addictions out, new life of faith in! Teen Total youth group still going from strength to strength with numbers attending almost doubled. Small groups have started and, for us, enjoyably filled a gap on Tuesday evenings. Preaching at services on most Sundays proved a real challenge but very worthwhile and enjoyable.

March saw me joining HCF colleagues from Sri Lanka and South Africa at the Prime International (Partnerships in International Medical Education) annual get-together in Manchester. A great event but sadly marred by the death of one of the participants, Dr Olivet Buck, a few months later from Ebola which she contracted from her patients in Sierra Leone. A remarkable and inspiring woman who refused to leave her dying patients even though protective measures were minimal. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2814%2962417-X/fulltext

April The last week of term before Easter saw us ‘entertaining’ kids from five local primary schools at the church where we ran Easter Cracked. A fabulous 2-hour interactive programme using film clips, drama etc. to tell the kids what Christians believe about Easter. It’s so obvious that many of them have never heard it before! Mary gets to play Mary in the story and is loved by everyone. I play Judas and get booed! The rest of April was mostly taken up with marking toxicology papers for the College of Medicine – I like to keep my hand in!

May was an exciting month. I attended the Global Leadership Summit of HCFI in Pretoria, South Africa. We coordinated a prayer programme to compliment the main event which went well. Rushing back to UK I was just in time to take Adam (son) and Lisa to hospital for the arrival of our first granddaughter, Scarlett Rose. Ten minutes sooner and Scarlett Rose would have been born in the front seat of my car!

Two major events took place in June. At the beginning of the month I was very privileged to attend meetings of the Transform World organisation in Geneva and Macon, France. Great to meet old friends from various places in the world and also to make new ones. Together we survived the lightning storm to end all lightning storms! The end of the month saw us closer to home and organising the HCF UK conference at Hebron Hall. A fabulous event at which we concluded our Seven Years of Prayer for Healthcare initiative and launched ourselves off into the future. Friends from partner organisations joined us and added to the richness of the event, already we are seeing fruit from our working together.

July was a difficult month as Mary’s mum became quite ill requiring a lot of hospital visiting and in August she sadly left this life. The day following her passing we travelled to Southampton to attend the funeral of the wife of an ex-colleague. Bob and I were sharing a flat at the Royal Infirmary in Cardiff 43 years ago when he first met his future life partner, Lindsey. Mary and I were glad to be there to support him.

Well September arrived and we felt seriously in need of a holiday. About an hour after arriving at our little holiday cottage in our beloved St David’s I became really unwell with some kind of duodenal flare-up. The leisurely meals in quiet restaurants we had planned didn’t happen and, unable to eat, I lost about a stone in weight over what became ten very miserable days. Poor Mary! On the bright side, she lost weight too.

In October we launched the FOB (Friends of Bethel House care home) with me as the chairperson of our small committee. We have great plans for this Christian home to become a centre of excellence in care of the elderly. We are looking for volunteer visitors! The busyness of this and other things at least took my mind off the departure of our youngest child and only little girl, Jenny, to America for 13 months. 13 months! We waved goodbye to our 18-year old as she entered security at LHR and the truth slowly dawned on us that she would be 20 before she was home again! 20! Oh! We Skype most nights so I’ll still recognise her at least.

November became Prayvember in our church – not a name that will catch on I don’t think! We had a month of prayer. It was a busy time with early morning meetings, late meetings, breakfast meetings, special meetings – all in all quite a lot of meetings. Who knew praying could be such hard work!? At the end of the month some respite came as Mary and I headed to London for a long weekend. We met with Tim (other son) and Sophie for a fabulous meal, had a great walkabout the next morning before boarding our tour bus followed by a tour boat on the Thames and then a magical experience on the London Eye at dusk as all the lights were coming on in the city! Recommended!

December has come! Darkened days and IKEA candles lit. The schools have been to the church again – this time for Christmas Wrapped Up. Like Easter Cracked but this time explaining the real meaning of Christmas to 220+ kids! Busy but wonderful time and our little team from Mount Pleasant were fantastic again.
It’s a wonderful way to end the year. We’ve a few days off now to celebrate Christmas – Scarlett Rose’ first and without Jenny of course, but we’ll manage. Immediately after I have to plan for a trip to Serbia first week in January and then India in February. Two first-time visits for me.

I began my little thanksgiving missive with my verse for the year from the Bible so I’ll end with my verse for 2015. If you have read this far, well done and let this verse be a prayer for you too.

“You will keep him in perfect peace (shalom shalom), whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for everlasting strength is in the Lord” < Isaiah 26:3,4

Good news from the Welsh Assembly Govern

Good news from the Welsh Assembly Government yesterday when they voted against supporting Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill.

Healthcare Sunday – Oct 19th.

Check out this article on United Christian Broadcasters’ Prayer page and encourage your church fellowship to take part this year – http://www.ucb.co.uk/healthcare-sunday-2014

AWAKE, oh Sleeper!

I thought I would post this fabulous blog by Candace Roberts – it says perhaps what many of us don’t know how to say.

Everything Rides on Hope Now

Burdened is the only way I can describe my heart recently.  I have this constant feeling in the pit of my stomach that something is very wrong.  It’s a feeling like one of my children is in danger and I am helpless to protect them.  I go to sleep at night with the feeling and I wake up with it.

Around the world, Christians are suffering for their faith.  They always are, but lately it has been overwhelming to watch and hear about.  The headlines on Christian persecution do not end right now.

• Over 250 schoolgirls were kidnapped by a terrorist group named “Boko Harem”.  These girls were kidnapped because they attended a “Western”, “Christianized” school in Nigeria.  The Islamic extremists forced most of them to convert to Islam, raped some, and sold some as child brides.
• In Iraq and Syria, an evil, twisted faction of Al Queda named ISIS…

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FREE Introduction to Glory in the Church book…

As we are about to begin a new phase in the life and ministry of our fellowship, this extract from the intro of Jarrod’s new book challenged me this morning – what do you think?
(Jarrod Cooper is the author of the well-known worship song ‘King of Kings, Majesty’ and now a pastor in the North of England)

TRIBE

Read the amazing story of an encounter in the African bush that changed me forever. It’s the intro to my book Glory in the Church, now available to download from Amazon for Kindle here

Today was the day my worship ministry would change forever and I didn’t even know it.

I woke at 6.30am to the sounds of zebra and warthogs munching stubs of grass in the garden outside. Peering wearily across the African plain from our lodge, I suddenly remembered we were due at Rita’s morning prayer meeting in just a few minutes. Having downed a coffee and splashed my face, we gathered by the pick up truck, clambered aboard and headed off to the meeting on the dusty, mud road to Rita’s dairy farm.

 Rita was an extraordinary prophetess. The moment I met her she told me all about myself with such grace and humility, you couldn’t be…

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Health of the whole person.

Grateful thanks to Dr Huw Morgan of Prime for this insightful article Healing

Healing  I am not a mechanism, an assembly of various sections. And it is not because the mechanism is working wrongly, that I am ill. I am ill because of wounds to the soul, to the deep emotional self and the wounds to the soul take a long, long time, only time can help and patience, and a certain difficult repentance long, difficult repentance, realisation of life’s mistake, and the freeing oneself from the endless repetition of the mistake which mankind at large has chosen to sanctify. D.H. Lawrence This poem is a powerful expression of the wholistic understanding of illness, and could profitably be used in teaching. “‘I am not a mechanism, an assembly of various sections. And it is not because the mechanism is working wrongly, that I am ill.’ Discuss”; could be a thought provoking and revealing essay question or discussion starter for students and junior doctors! Any good general practitioner will be well aware that it is indeed ‘wounds of the soul’ that are a significant cause of illness – the bitterness, anger, disappointment, sorrow or jealousy that underlie the development of some serious acute and chronic diseases are familiar daily fare to any doctor who takes the time and trouble to listen to his or her patients. But what about the ‘certain difficult repentance’ and ‘realisation of life’s mistake’ and ‘freeing oneself from the endless repetition of the mistake.’? Here we are perhaps stepping outside the bounds of conventional medical treatment (although the principal could well be applied to health education – stopping smoking, taking exercise, eating healthily etc – all perhaps ‘freeing oneself from the endless repetition of the mistake’).  However it’s clear that the author has in mind a deeper form of ‘repentance’, an attitudinal change that determines the end of selfish self-absorption and the clinging onto past hurts (however real), and a moving forward freely into new and better patterns of life. Rarely perhaps does a doctor have the opportunity to address issues of this depth with patients, although I can certainly remember a few that occurred in my time in practice. Unfortunately our so called ‘developed’ societies have indeed ‘chosen to sanctify’ the ‘endless repetition of the mistake’, promoting as they do through media and advertising all kinds of self-indulgent, selfish and destructive attitudes and behaviours. It is interesting that Lawrence, who was a novelist, playwright and poet from a poor mining family and totally without any kind of medical training, should so eruditely put his finger on such a crucial and central aspect of illness causation. I have long been convinced that the key to health, as well as to effective medical education, is all about cultivating the right attitudes. That is why PRIME promotes Jesus and His teaching as our best example of teacher and healer, for He consistently demonstrated and taught that it is our attitudes that are key to spiritual (and physical and mental) health, and explained ‘repentance’ as a change of heart and mind that led to a new, unselfish direction. Why not get your students to read and discuss the poem, and see what they make of it? Huw Morgan

A great article by Prof Richard Vincent of Prime (Partnerships in International Medical Education)

Medical miracles? 

Albert Einstein made some remarkable statements. His most famous expression E=mc²captured the most fundamental law of the universe. From this he predicted, among many things, that waves of gravity from creation’s initial explosion would echo through time. Yet no-one has been able to prove their existence – at least until recently, near his 135^th birthday. By an amazing feat of modern technology the precise solution was found through new observations of cosmic radiation at the South Pole; another startling landmark of modern science – and a final proof of Einstein’s theories. 

In the last 100 years startling technological advances have also exploded into medical practice – from molecular manipulation to neurone-activated robotics; from detailed functional imaging to targeted gene replacement. So it is not surprising that much of the world looks longingly to science to solve its quest for sustained health and longevity; pharmaceuticals, medical devices and modern medical systems must surely provide the best answers, even if costly and a long time coming. As Jeffrey Braithwaite says in a recent article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine¹,‘Most of us believe in the miracles of modern medicine. We like to think that there is always another scientific or technological breakthrough just around the corner promising to save even more lives;’  

But are we safe in this assumption? Is this singular trust justified? Jeffrey Braithwaite also warns that, ‘We maintain this faith despite multiple contradictions.’ He cites the rapidly diminishing returns of increasingly expensive ‘high-tech’ medicine², the growing risks of antibiotic resistance, the adverse effects inherent in all forms of treatment, and the continued lack of evidence for much of the therapy we offer routinely.

In both diagnosis and treatment both patients and health professionals commonly overestimate the benefit of technology and underestimate the influence of non-technical factors to restore and maintain of health. As Jeffrey Braithwaite points out, in spite of longstanding public awareness, ‘patients believe modern medicine can repair them after decades of alcohol, drugs, sedentary lives, and dietary excesses, despite evidence to the contrary’. And not uncommonly, overestimates of medicine’s power, particularly the beneficial effects of drugs, are deliberately promulgated for financial advantage^3,4. 

To underestimate non-technical factors – psychological, spiritual and social – is to reduce people (well or ill) to mere machines; and to miss out on society’s most powerful influences on health. Ample evidence exists for the benefit of addressing these factors, many of which require a new way of thinking rather than high expense. PRIME, while enthusiastically supporting the use of medical science conducted with integrity and wisdom, seeks to draw attention to this whole person approach, exploring evidence for its benefit and promoting its inclusion in daily clinical practice. 

Einstein, considering the challenges faced by mankind, had some similar thoughts, ‘The real problem is in the hearts and mind of man. It is not a problem of physics but of ethics.’ 

Richard Vincent

1 Braithwaite J. The medical miracles delusion. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 2014; 107: 92-3

2 Le Fanu J. The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine, 2^nd Ed. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2012

3 Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 2013; doi: 10.1136/jech-2013-203128

4 See also: British Medical Journal 2013; 346: 1-44

5 Minutes Inside Eternity – by Michael Brown

This recent post by Dr Michael Brown is worth spending some time thinking and praying about. Why don’t we use this season of Lent to ask the Holy Spirit to indelibly imprint the truth of this message upon our souls? We have all eternity to celebrate our victories but only a few, short sunset hours in which to win them! If this message speaks to you as it has to me then do let me know and perhaps we can encourage one another and even more so as we see that Day approaching! Heb 10:25  Shalom! Jeff

Leonard Ravenhill once wrote, “Five minutes inside eternity and we will wish that we had sacrificed more, wept more, grieved more, loved and prayed more, and given more.”

Yes, the moment we step into eternity, we will see the unveiled glory of God, the fullness of the beauty of Jesus, the immensity of the grace that was poured out on us, the massive debt that was paid on our behalf, the endless splendor of the world to come and the horrors of judgment that we have escaped. Yes, at that very moment, just “five minutes inside eternity,” we will wish that we had been more devoted to the Lord.

Who among us will not wish that we had told more people about the Savior?

That we had been less ashamed of Him?

That we had loved others more?

That we had really explored the possibilities of faith?

That we had walked in greater intimacy, greater obedience and greater devotion?

That we had taken full advantage of the opportunities set before us?

Who among us will not think, “If only I had realized how everything I did on earth for the Lord would be so multiplied in heaven, I would have redeemed the time so much better for the Master’s work!”

“If only I had a better perspective on eternity, I would have made my life count all the more for the Lord!”

“If only I had truly grasped the infinite resources of my heavenly Father, I would have trusted Him more, stepped out in faith more and taken advantage more of the promises and power of prayer!”

As D.L. Moody once said, “Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer.”

Yes, “Five minutes inside eternity and we will wish that we had sacrificed more, wept more, grieved more, loved and prayed more, and given more.”

But we will not wish that we had spent more time watching TV, playing video games and surfing the Internet.

We will not wish that we had given our hearts more to sports, fashion and entertainment.

Or saved our lives rather than lost them for the gospel.

Or stored up earthly treasures rather than invested them in God’s work.

Or kept the message of the cross to ourselves even more.

Or read the Word of God less so we had more time to read novels or follow the stock market or master a hobby or exchange meaningless texts.

Or indulged the flesh more.

Or talked less about Jesus.

Or given more time to bodily exercise to the neglect of our fellowship with the Lord.

Or put even greater emphasis on outward appearance while neglecting our inner man.

Or spent less quality time with family and friends so we could devote our time to selfish pursuits.

Or cared more about what people thought than what God thought.

If only we could have the perspective of eternity written on our hearts even now! As Catherine Booth once said, “There is nothing like the light of eternity to show what is real and what is not.”

Of course, we will not make any spiritual progress by beating ourselves up or putting ourselves under a set of man-made rules or trying to pressure ourselves into lasting change. Fleshly efforts will only produce fleshly results, and guilt trips do not produce liberty.

But there is nothing stopping us from meditating deeply on the truths of God’s Word, from asking Him to “stamp eternity on our eyes” (as Jonathan Edwards prayed for himself), from seeking the Lord with holy desperation, asking Him to help us live lives worthy of His name.

There is nothing stopping us from walking in the light that we do have, from dealing ruthlessly with sin, from making a determination to stop making excuses and blaming others, from refusing to waste our time when we could be spending it fruitfully with our Father or with others—all by the help and grace of God.

There is nothing stopping us from asking the Lord to break our hearts with the things that break His heart and imploring Him to shatter our indifference and expose our shallowness.

There is nothing stopping us from praying that He would send His refining fire to burn away the dross in our lives, to prune us of all impurities and to ignite within us a fresh love for Jesus.

In fact, rather than focusing on the regrets you will have five minutes into eternity, why not stop now—even for five minutes—and cry out to God to help you live your life in a way that makes sense in the light of eternity.

And then do it again the next day and the next and the next.

Five minutes inside of eternity, you will be eternally grateful that you did.

My local church

How often have we heard it said – ‘I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian’? Well I suppose technically that is true, but it is equally true that the clear teaching of the New Testament is that God puts believers into fellowships – and He does it for a whole host of reasons that seem good to Him.

Geoff Surratt has addressed this issue in a recent article entitled: ‘Why, unlike Donald Miller, I will never leave the church.’

It’s quite a long article but it’s so good that i thought I’d copy it here in full!

Donald Miller wrote a blog post and a follow-up this week on why he seldom attends church. He says that church no longer appeals to him, that he has graduated from church.

“While I love the traditional church, I love it like a foundational part of my past, as though it were a University I’ve graduated from to join a much larger church those still in the University program are quite suspicious of.”

He isn’t against church, he’s glad it works for a lot of people, but it is no longer a necessary ingredient in his growing walk with God. Miller contends that worship for him is growing his company rather than singing songs and listening to sermons. He says that most of the influential Christian leaders he knows (who are not pastors) do not attend church either; they feel the same as he does.

Unlike Donald Miller I will never leave, or graduate, from the local church. I don’t attend because I have to or because I am paid to, I attend because I believe God calls me to. I can’t speak to Miller’s thought process or church experience, we’ve never met. (Most of the influential Christian leaders I know, however, do attend church. We must know different leaders). I can only explain why I’ve come to a completely different conclusion about church.

I believe the local church is a family. Sometimes when the family gets together it is very fulfilling and fun, other times it is boring and feels like a waste of time. But I don’t attend family meetings because I enjoy them or gain from them; I attend because I am a part of the family. A mistake we made in the past 30 years is believing that church is about the individual; it’s not. Church is about the family, it’s about our Father, our Brother, our siblings. I wouldn’t quit my family, I won’t quit my church.

I believe the local church, as dysfunctional and frustrating as it can be, is God’s chosen method of dealing with man. While God can and does deal with individuals, it is almost always in context of their relationship to the family. 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Colossians, Philippians, Galatians and Ephesians were all written to churches about church relationships. 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus were written to church leaders about how to properly shepherd church relationships. Paul spent his entire ministry establishing churches and dealing with the messes that ensued. It is impossible to understand most of the New Testament without the lens of belonging to a local church.

Peter was part of a local church. Paul was part of a local church. Barnabas was part of a local church. Timothy was part of a local church. Titus was part of a local church. John was part of a local church until he was exiled alone on an island. Then he wrote a letter to seven local churches. No one in the early church graduated from the local church. I do not see myself ever coming to a place that the early church fathers never arrived at. I will never graduate.

Without the local church I tend to only associate with people I like; people who are like me. Within the context of the local church I am forced to love people who are unattractive, unlovable, and unkind. Without the bond of family I can simply sidestep the people I do not want to be around, within the community of the local church I am forced to deal with them. I believe that reflects the kind of community Jesus had in mind when he chose to build his church. I believe that is the kind of community he died for. I choose to live within the uncomfortable community of the local church.

When the church in Jerusalem faced starvation because of a local famine the Asian churches came together and saved them. This is the power of local churches working together for greater good. This is how churches feed the poor, care for the widows, heal the sick. It is exhilarating to know that, even though I can make little difference on my own, in cooperation with the local church I can be a part of massive good. I feel privileged to be a part of the force for good called the local church.

When I focus on what I like, how I am fed, what is best for me I become narcissistic. It feeds my inner teenager who rolls his eyes at the thought of sitting at the dinner table with his oh so uncool family. I do not want to feed my inner teenager, I want to starve him. When I remember that gathering as a church is not about me, it is not about whether my tastes are catered to or my needs are met, it helps me grow into a mature adult. I will never leave the local church because I cannot grow up without it.

Being part of a local church connects me to the past and to the future. N.T. Wright describes corporate worship as a moment when “God’s future and God’s past…arrive in the present-rather as though you were to sit down to a meal and discover your great-great-grandparents, and also your great-great-grandchildren, turning up to join you. That’s how God’s time works. That’s why Christian worship is what it is.” There is a continuity in church, especially in the sacraments, that ties me back to the apostles and connects me to the church my granddaughters will lead. Why would I not want to be at that table?

I do not begrudge Donald Miller and his influential Christian friends their decision to leave the local church. We are each responsible only for our own choices. Theirs, however, is a path I will never follow. I may not always enjoy the musical worship or feel educated by what I hear in sermons, but I will never leave.