Silent in the Background

 This blog moved at the start of 2023 to www.silentinthebackground.org.uk . See you there!

This yea r’s   John Lewis Christmas advert   shows a fa mily preparing to welcome a teenager into their home as foster carers. The foster father’s attempts to learn to skateboard are part of his preparation for the arrival of a teenager into their home. This focus on the foster  father  is welcome. Approximately 40% of foster carers are male, but research shows that male foster carers are often seen in a negative light in contrast to female carers. Negative experiences The experience of male foster carers is that negative assumptions are often made about their ability to care for children and possibly even keep them safe. Male carers report being treated like a ‘risk to be regulated’ [1]  and feel that ‘the stigma of being a male foster carer runs deep… you are often portrayed as someone to fear.’ [2] Male carers also experience being seen as secondary to their female partner carers, who are assumed to be the main carers of the children. Even social work profess...

Here are a few thoughts on the final chapter of this lovely short letter of 1 John. Like the gospel of John, this letter rewards a fairly quick read with encouragement about life with God. And it also has depths which can be found with more time and attention to what John is saying. So, I encourage you to read it through again as a whole, stopping along the way to think and pray when something grabs your attention. In this final chapter, John sums up his thoughts about his main themes. He refers to the assurance that everyone has who believes in Jesus, that we have the Spirit of God and participate in God’s victory over the world. He contrasts this with those who are against God and make God out to be a liar. As disciples, “we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true” (v.20). John refers again to sin, and, perhaps confusingly (see my earlier comments on chapter 3), to Christians’ inability to sin. He refers to the assurance we have that God always hears us when we ask “a...

This letter of 1 John has themes that come around again and again. So in chapter 4 we read again about the opponents of Jesus (which John calls antichrist), the love of God, our sins, and the idea of abiding with God. In this letter these themes are intertwined, and John seems to be saying that they can’t easily be separated. We can’t look at one of these and then move onto the next. To gain a fuller understanding we must keep turning the ideas over and over. So, thinking about others people John gives a simple test: what do they think of Jesus? ‘Every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God.’ Perhaps you’re starting to think about Christmas. What happened at the first Christmas is really important, John says. Baby Jesus was God born in human flesh, and that is really important to who Jesus is and what he did. John goes on to say that this sending of Jesus into the world was a revelation of God’s love, and through Jesus we have life because Jesus was ...

Have you been reading 1 John with me the past few weeks? I hope so! And I hope you’ll stick with it through this somewhat confusing central chapter. If you haven’t read 1 John 3 recently, click the link and read it through before reading on. (I’ll wait…!) Verse 1 includes one of those great statements of the Bible that we can hold onto in the toughest times. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God. Another statement about God’s love, here emphasising that God’s love draws us into a family and means that we become children of God. In case we miss it, John emphasises, and that is what we are! Again ideas about love run through the chapter, and again it is very practical. Verse 18 exhorts us to love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action . Thinking about CCC I’m always encouraged when I see examples of love in action, when individuals help each other out, getting on with the business of loving one another. The chapter ends with a ...

1 John 2 is much longer than 1 John 1 which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, and it contains a wide range of themes and ideas – sin (again), forgiveness (again), light & dark (again), warning of anti-Messiahs, and encouragements to abide in God. It’s well worth reading and meditating on. But as we’re thinking about the love of God, I want to highlight the first half of verse 5 – Whoever obeys Jesus’ (or God’s) word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection (that’s one translation, click the link to see a couple of others). This verse, and actually quite a lot of this chapter, is quite striking and challenging, because it links our actions (obedience to God) with the perfection or completeness of the love of God. How, we wonder, can God’s love depend on what we do? Aren’t we supposed to be saved by faith, through the free gift of God, not by our own works? I think we can say a couple of things. First, ‘love of God’ here probably does not mean God’s lo...

Continuing our thinking about the love of God I was reading Romans 5.5 this week, which says that "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." (NRSV) 'God's love' is the translation of ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ (he agape tou theou) which is in the genitive case - 'the love of God'. As it happened, in my beginner NT Greek class last week we were discussing how the genitive case has a wider range of meaning that simple possessive or ownership. (This was new to me, as a very beginner linguist.) My teacher pointed out the genitive can be understood in several ways: the love God has for others the love that another has for God (as in 'I have a great love of books') 'of' can imply authorship, as in 'the gospel of Mark' Translating the phrase above simply as 'God's love' seems to me to give it the first of these meanings. However, perhaps the original text (also?) carries the second...

We recently began a new series on Sundays exploring the love of God. I encouraged our church to read the book of 1 John, which is a very short book near the end of the Bible.  It’s a lovely book (actually a letter) with a lot to say about God’s love, as well as how that is demonstrated in Jesus to take away what would separate us from God (sin). To encourage you, here are some quick thoughts about 1 John 1 . Reading this chapter (which is only ten verses long), I have been caught by the very opening. Look at the verbs in the first three verses – declare, heard, seen (with our own eyes), touched, testify. The writer is talking about something very real, something experienced with our physical senses, something which can be seen, heard and touched. This is the writer’s experience of God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which he is declaring in order to have fellowship with his hearers and readers. The letter goes on to speak of joy, love and sin, all of which we m...

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Righteousness I’m getting to the end of my study of Joseph, which I’ve really enjoyed. There are valuable things we can all learn from this man called by God to care for Jesus. Matthew 1.19 describes Joseph as righteous or upright . The basic meaning of this word is ‘obedient to the law’ which perhaps does not sound very exciting! But righteous and righteousness are key words for Matthew – they appear more than twenty times in this gospel, more than in the other three gospels combined. Most of the occurrences are on the lips of Jesus where he challenges received ideas of what it means to be righteous. Sometimes Jesus refers to ‘the righteous’ meaning those who would be perceived, by others or themselves as righteous. In Matthew 9.13 Jesus was confronted by some who did not approve of the company he was keeping. He replied, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners”. Elsewhere, Jesus specifically states that he is not abo...

Last week I started from a verse in Galatians 4 reflecting on our relationship with God. On Sunday I made a link with what Paul wrote later in Galatians 5 about our relationships with each other. There, Paul quotes from the Old Testament: “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’” So, here’s a question: How many times is this Old Testament verse quoted in the New Testament? Perhaps most memorably, it prompts the question which leads to one of Jesus’ most famous parables. In Luke 10 , Jesus approves a lawyer’s summary of God’s law which includes loving your neighbour. The lawyer, ‘wanting to justify himself’, asks, “And who is my neighbour?” In response Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, challenging his hearers (and readers) to broaden their understanding of who are our neighbours. Jesus speaks of loving your neighbour when discussing the law with the rich young man in Matthew 19 and when tested by the...

Returning to preach at CCC after my sabbatical (study leave) I pulled my thoughts together around six questions, under the title “You’re Only Human”, borrowed from Kelly Kapic's book . Where have I been? I’ve been reading, thinking and writing about the very human relationship between Joseph and Jesus, and questions like: Who was Joseph, the man? What did it mean for the human boy Jesus to experience having two fathers? How does this relate to the experience of contemporary foster fathers and children in their care? The set word count for my MA dissertation is 18,000 words and I've written about that number, although I've not been working at the strict 200 words per day suggested by someone in my card as I started the sabbatical ("not too hard" they said!) I’ve got more to write, and it needs putting together as a whole, but I’ve done the main work, which was my main aim, and I’m confident that I will finish it in the time allowed. …but what about CCC?! Who are yo...

Do you pray? Have you thought about the way you pray, and how you address God when you pray? Have you listened to the ways other people pray? One Bible passage that I’ve been reflecting on during my recent sabbatical prompts these questions: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. ( Galatians 4:4-7 ) This is one of Paul’s summaries of the gospel – the good news – of what Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection achieved. There is a lot packed into this short passage, but we can note Paul’s emphasis that (because of our adoption as children , and as siblings of Jesus) we relate to God as our Father . One way that we experience and demonstr...

A couple of weeks ago the Sunday morning theme at church was 'Why Study the Bible?'  As I'm currently on sabbatical from church to enable me to study the Bible, I was asked to record a video contribution to the discussion.  Here are the questions I was asked, and my answers, probably a little more polished than in the video... Why did you decide to study theology at an academic level? * I've always been interested in what the Bible says, right from Sunday School!  I've always enjoyed learning more about the story and stories of the Bible, and how they point to God. In 2011 there was space in my life for study, and it seemed a useful thing to do, so I very tentatively - very part-time - started a BA course at Spurgeon's College which I completed in 2017.  In 2018 I started a part-time MA in Contemporary Missiology at Redcliffe College, which I am due to complete this summer. What did you gain from the course? I remember the first course I did - it was called Read...

Freedom... for what? "Let my people go" is the well-known refrain of the opening chapters of Exodus, which BiOY has reached early in February. In Exodus 3:16-18 God tells Moses to assemble the elders of Israel, tell them about the promise of deliverance to a "land flowing with milk and honey", and to go to Pharaoh to ask permission to go on a three journey to offer sacrifices to the Lord.  These words seem to carry the implication that the Israelites will then return, and so are a bit misleading, but that's what God said to do. In  Exodus 5:1 Moses and Aaron make their first request to Pharaoh: "Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness." This is a two faceted request.  "Let my people go" - a call for a release from the oppression they are experiencing, from the demands of the slave drivers, and from the restriction to live only where the Egyptians permit. But also: "...that they may hold a festival to me...

By happy coincidence my Bible in One Year plan has been taking me through Job at the same time as I have been reading Tim Davy's The Book of Job and The Mission of God ,  a Missional Reading of Job. I have read Job previously, and have usually found it hard-going.  The long poetic speeches have tended to drag (why don't they just get on and say what they want to say?) and I've not really understood how Job, the man, is seen as blameless and upright when he spends so much time questioning God. This time, however, the text came to life.  At a surface level I particularly enjoyed some of the insults that Job uses in response to his supposed-comforters' speeches. In chapter 13 Job bursts out, "if only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom."   Aren't there a few people we think need to hear that?! Chapter 21 sees Job demand that his friends "Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on" and ask "So how can...

Today I start a three month sabbatical from CCC.  My main purpose during this time is to research and write the dissertation for my MA course in Contemporary Missiology, with a focus on Vulnerable Children. As I begin my studies today I start by taking time to read the Bible in One Year passages for today. In Proverbs 3:1-10, verses 5-6 stand out: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. In Matthew 16:21-17:13, verse 23b says: you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. In many ways, reading, research and writing will be based on my own thinking and understanding.  What, however, does it mean not to 'lean on' my own understanding? In the midst of my reading around issues in contemporary foster care it will be easy to get into 'merely human concerns'.  My hope is that, as I study the person of St. Joseph, I will also keep in mind the con...

A reflection on Luke 2-4, based on the talk for CCC 2 January 2022   In 2022 we’re aiming to grow in ‘living like Jesus did’ (1 John 2:6), and we’re starting the year thinking about the Bible – what it is and what does it mean for how we live? In the early chapters of Luke we see that Jesus knew the Bible, Jesus trusted and used the Bible, and Jesus saw himself in the story of the Bible. Know the Bible Chapter 2 of Luke , seeing beyond the details of the Christmas story, paints a picture of a family who knew the requirements of the Torah, the Old Testament laws, and lived accordingly.  Eight days after Jesus’ birth, Mary and Joseph named and circumcised him.  Just over a month after his birth they took Jesus to the Jerusalem Temple for the rites of purification, where they met Simeon and Anna. After returning to Nazareth Jesus grew and became strong within his family.  Over the next few years the family regularly attended the Passover celebrations in t...

The Making of Biblical Womanhood : How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth A deconstruction of complementarianism showing how it is not a recovery of a historical or scriptural understanding of the role of women in the church and family. Barr tells something of her own story of growing up and ministering, with her husband, in complementarian churches, and of suffering abuse as a result of this teaching, as well as her change of mind and walking away. Barr's approach as a historian is interesting as she focuses on historical material, especially her specialism of medieval history, to show that for much of church history women have preached, and have been accepted as so doing.  She identifies the Reformation as a downturn for the recognition of the calling of women to ministry, as well as the mid-20th century with world wars and the rise of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. This latter Barr links to the rise and hardening of the inerrancy movement in relation t...

  I wrote this two and a half years ago.  I don't know where all the Whacks pieces are now, but teeth brushing can still be an issue. A Ball of Whacks This morning one of our foster children is in a strop.  Nothing is right for him.  Last night there was a row about whether he should clean his teeth and he went to bed declaring that he would not go to school today.  Now he is keeping to his word; he did not get out of bed for an hour after our waking him, has not dressed, and sits in the lounge not engaging with any of his usual routine – no breakfast, no TV, no jokes. I go and sit next to him on the sofa to ask, again, if he wants his breakfast, and how he wants to get out of the situation.  Apparently it’s all my fault and I don’t know what I’m talking about – I’m too old.  He can’t explain why he’s feeling what he’s feeling, nor what might need to happen to resolve things. When he can’t speak any more he picks up the Ball of Whacks that is on the co...

I have never knowingly quoted Playboy magazine before, and I have no expectation that I shall do so again, but it turns out that, in my blog a couple of weeks ago , I did. I referenced a John Updike quotation and mentioned that I had asked Nigel Rees of Quote... Unquote for help in tracking it down. He included the query in his latest newsletter and from there it was picked up by the Quote Investigator website in USA, where it received further attention. It turns out that the Updike quote about creativity came from his contribution as one of 13 writers invited to contribute to a Playboy piece "On Creativity".  This appeared in the December 1968 edition (which had in excess of 300 pages so clearly a substantial publication), in which Updike wrote: "For one thing, creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity; the ditchdigger, dentist and artist go about their tasks in much the same way, and any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, ...