Please prayerfully consider participating in the Global Day of Prayer event here in Dubai? It’s not only a city-wide event, but we are joining with brothers and sisters from all over the world to pray for this city and this country where the Lord has brought us to be a blessing. Please feel free to pass this invitation on to others you know who might like to worship and pray with the wider Church in our city.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

WHEN: Saturday 26th of May 2012 at 6:30 pm

WHERE: Sheikh Rashid Auditorium, Indian High School Dubai.

Graham Kendrick and team will lead us in worship.

COME PRAY for the needs of the people and the nation. Entry to the event is FREE.

This Global Day of Prayer is initiated by Regional Transformation Network (Bur Dubai) and House of Prayer Ethne (DECC), coordinated by Voice Middle East. For further details call : 056 1057891 or 04 2384240

Global Day of Prayer Website

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I have just finished reading ‘In the beginning’ – The story of the King James Bible, by Alistair McGrath. It’s a very interesting story and I can recommend the book as a presentation of it. I would have liked to have read it before I read the KJV itself last year ().

I certainly had not expected that the publication of the KJV ‘caused scarcely a ripple to pass over the face of English society at the time’ given the idolising praise for it in some quarters. I laugh that the KJV was considered a bit to frank in its translations sometimes, McGrath quoting from Matthew Gregory Lewis’s novel, The Monk (1796) talks of a mother convinced that reading the bible would lead to all kinds of sexual dysfunction: ‘the annals of a Brothel would scarcely furnish a greater choice of indecent expressions…[it] too frequently inculcates the first rudiments of vice, and gives the first alarm to the still sleeping passions’. Why didn’t someone tell me this as a school boy?! All the people I knew thought it was a holy book which you were SUPPOSED to read, and it was therefore of little interest to me.

I like McGrath’s book as much for its history of the English language as of the KJV – a complement to Bill Bryson’s Mother Tongue perhaps. I finished the KJV wondering if I would start another unfamiliar version to complement my journey through the King James – I’ve not read any version newer than the NRSV which in today’s newest-is-best society puts me way behind the times. I’ve used several of the newer translations of course, but none of them grabs me with that ‘aha, now THIS is my language’ feeling any more than any other so I’m not inspired to do more than refer to them at best. The main thing about a book of course is to actually read it, in the sense that we normally read a book i.e. cover to cover (why do we say we have ‘read the Bible’ when we only mean we have referred to it?) Our pew sheet carries the readings for Evening Prayer for the week so that people who want to follow it can read, essentially, the whole bible in two years, but even in serialised bite-sized installments it is SO HARD to keep up with it,  WHATEVER VERSION YOU USE!

Perhaps I should rather follow my KJV series with a complementary series of blog entries not on a modern version of the bible, but on how to sit still long enough to read and if not to read then how to otherwise receive the message the KJV translators wanted you to know.

Tell me your tips, after praying in church on Fridays 9.30am, Sundays 7.30pm

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It’s a standard thing in church to tell people that ‘belief in God’ in the church context does not simply mean assent to or acknowledge the existence of God, but implies also a trust in him. I was thinking about this the other day as I was preparing for another baptism service – how to make clearer to the visitors what it means to believe in God. It seemed to me that I had an illustration right in front of me in the baby with its parents but that this illustration gives such a full image of ‘belief in God’ that it rather changes the meaning of the word more than is justified, but still, it seemed good to me:

You may believe in my parents – I can show you pictures and so on, telephone them, webcam/skype them. But you saying it is different somehow from me saying that I believe in my parents because though the umbilical cord was cut years ago, somehow the connection has never been severed. Between you and to me there is little practical difference in the sense that we both live ‘independent’ of my parents and they are thousands of miles away, and even without communication (which we tried for 4 years in Nigeria) somehow there is an  attachment, a living reality of relationship which makes my belief in them different from yours. But as I looked at the little baby ready to be baptised it seemed to me that there was a further level of ‘belief’ that the baby was exercising in its parents that I no longer need in mine. It could neither talk nor understand and yet it turned instinctively to its parents for  its peace and provision. It had no choice in some ways, but it still nevertheless  showed a completeness of trust, belief, faith, even if of necessity, in its parents that seemed to me to add something more than words can express to what it means to believe in God.

I cannot speak any more than that baby can in the language of God my father – I can cry out in shallow words, my soul reaching out to him at levels I am unable fully to discern, my words but vain attempts as adept as a baby’s cry at articulating what is going on inside. But as the baby knows when it held and carried around, ‘in company’ as it were though it knows not yet what ‘company’ is, so I believe in  God and walk with him. That ‘belief’ is not mere mental assent, nor conscious relationship, though it includes both of those as enriching characteristics, but a companionship with God in the depths of the soul.

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I’ve always enjoyed doing something a little unexpected but sometimes it takes a while for plans to come to fruition. God takes his time sometimes in getting on with something - hundreds of years to decide what to do about Israel’s failure, but then He did something unexpected that first Easter Day - quite a lot more unexpected than we have managed, and His event will have an impact infinitely more wonderful than what we’ve ever done. But with God setting such a precedent it seems only fitting to do something surprising to celebrate Easter and so we did it.

I first heard The Easter Song (by Glad) years ago at university and loved it, but more recently, a few years ago, I heard it again and thought “hmmmm, I’d like to do a flash dance to that” (they hadn’t been thought of when I was at university). It seemed that an Easter Day service would be a good time. And this year’s Easter blessing was the moment! The video does not carry the surprise of the congregation – you really should have been there!

Still, it’s never too late to celebrate – come every Friday at 9.30am or Sunday at 7.30pm

Alleluia, The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

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Last year we had the Bishop here and he led us each evening of Holy Week in a series of reflections. It was the first time I’d had a Holy Week in the way I’d set the whole week apart rather than just half that week - you can see what was going through my mind here (http://christchurchjebelali.com/holy-week/). I found it such a rich experience that I decided to do the same thing this year.

It’s been a menace again for those who see an Easter break as simply a holiday, but I find my heart drawn closer to God the nearer I get to it – it’s a special time, like a holiday yes, but specifically with God. I am used to going away for retreats, for special times to be with God, but this is a special time with God with my Christian family in my normal office/work environment and my normal gathering place. Normally I travel to meet him, but in Holy Week he comes to my place. (Need I show how God in Christ comes to us more deeply even than this?).

And so I invite you to join me in a Holy Week. Do come for the services of course, and add more: find a way at home and at work to make it somehow a week set apart from all other weeks.

30th March: 9.30am Palm Friday
1st April: 7.30pm Palm Sunday
2nd April: 7.30pm Tenebrae – Hall 5
3rd April: 7.30pm Taize Night – Hall 6
4th April: 7.30pm Stations of the Cross – Hall 6
5th April: 7.30pm Maundy Thursday
6th April: 9.30am Good Friday
8th April: Easter Day
- 4.30am Meditation – The Watch
- 5.30am Early Service
- 9.30am if you missed the early rise
- 7.30pm for the late crowd

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Yesterday we went to the dedication of the new St. Luke’s Church in Ras Al Khaimah. It was a wonderful occasion. Seeing the small music group I know from my visits to the portacabin church building they had getting a chance to shine  in front of such a large gathering was lovely. Seeing everyone there from all the different churches, familiar faces from all accross the northern emirates, was fun too, though I do wish I was better at remembering names!

The most moving part for me was as we moved around the building dedicating different areas of it for specific purposes – the Bishop getting particularly moved at the dedication of the altar or communion table. He walked round it anointing it, marking it with a cross in each of the four corners, smearing oil in the middle of it, and then, having anounced the peace, went round it again, focussed on it as we shared the peace together. It’s a big thing, dedicating something for such a purpose. As he walked round it it reminded me of a visit to the church in Nazareth where an Indian Orthodox priest in our party asked if he might enter the sanctuary, and once in, walked round the altar in much the same way, kissing each corner, where I presume it had been anointed in it’s day with four crosses, before going to the cave at the back. It left a strong impression, brought back by the Bishop’s anointing yesterday.

I like the idea of holy objects, though I’m not so caught up on them as some. I am not comfortable using the baptism font as a flower stand or a stand for the Advent wreath, I can’t see the communion table as an ordinary table to rest speakers on, or to use simply as an extra table or whatever for a church function, though I am content to put the church collection on it. It’s a holy, set apart table.

Holiness can be forgotten, and also lost. The Spencer Reredos in Norwich, which I like for one figure in particular in it, was painted in 1380 and then someone turned it into a plumbers table to save it from destruction during the reformation. Nobody looked under the table until a more conscientious cleaner in 1847 looked up while cleaning under it and saw the guilded pictures of Christ’s story. The missing plank with the top of the picture was replaced, Jesus head and arms painted in the style of a 14th century, and the painting restored to being a holy object to inspire prayer and communion with God.

I could go on to a nice point about our own holiness as creatures of God being lost, but the possibility of restoration being possible in Christ – do think of that if you wish – it is a deep point much to be meditated upon in this season overshadowed by Holy Week. But what I’m pondering on today is the holiness of objects themselves. There are some objects I regard as not ordinary, set apart, and though it’s not a word I’m wholly comfortable with because of it’s size, as holy. Normally we think of this with regard to God, but it’s there in the marriage service too – we pray that a couple may be joined in holiness, amongst other things, to each other. It is a big thing, a deep thing, a communion with God thing that we should have objects which we set apart and regard as holy.

Is it modern to live without this? Without this we are as the beasts that perish.

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Don Moen back in Dubai for an unexpected concert!

23 March 2012

Dubai Tennis Stadium
The Aviation Club

Gates open 7:00pm
Show starts: 8:00pm

Tickets: AED 60, AED 100, AED 250

Click on the image to see the poster and where to buy your tickets

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Join the congregations of the Chaplaincy of Dubai and Sharjah with the Northern Emirates for the

Consecration of the new St Luke’s Church in Ras Al Khaimah         

Friday, March 9, 2012 at 4:30pm

Bishop Michael Lewis, Bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf will preside, dedicating St Luke’s Church and opening the facilities to the public.

We have arranged a bus to take people to Ras Al Khaimah for the dedication service, leaving Christ Church at 2:00pm for the 4:30pm service.  If you would like to join us (there are some spaces available) contact Roy Stephen by email rastephen[at]gmail.com.

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Let us gather together to offer thanks to God.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

7:30-8:30pm

Bishop Michael Lewis

at Christ Church Jebel Ali

We look forward to seeing you at Christ Church on March 8, 2012
(download the 10th Anniversaray announcement to share with your friends)

Archdeacon Bill Shwartz will preach at Christ Church on Friday, March 9 at our 9:30am service. Please join us as we worship God together, giving thanks for all He has done in and through Christ Church and His people who gather to worship there and go out to be salt and light in the city.

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The Roman Catholics were off to an early start this morning with cars streaming down the rough track to the Jebel Ali Church complex as I walked here to work. Our service isn’t until evening (7.30pm) so perhaps I could have another dose of pancakes in the mean time – does Lent start with the service or the dawn?

When I signed up for the Christian way of life I knew it wouldn’t be easy, though Lent was part of my spiritual heritage. I don’t think I thought I was entering on a great adventure in the style of sailing over obstacles like Jesus in the fridge magnet picture here (which fits our gospel in three weeks time – magnets for sale at the Bible Society Shop in the church next door to ours), nor did I think I was giving up such joyous life for miserable respectability (which is what had put me off for some years). I was making a serious decision about where my loyalties lie. I might have been a bit behind my youth group friends who had been praying for me for years, as I am behind those RC folks today, but once on the road, I was serious. Some of those youth group friends have lost their way but I’m still walking it – I wish so much that they were still in touch with God, still on the walk with him. I signed up in firm allegiance to the army of Christ, signing up in nervous anxiety about the consequences (initially embarrasment with non-christian friends, and even worse, Christian parents and sisters), signing up for a life-long walk with God.

Jesus tempted to jump from the temple in a demonstration of faith and glory is a far cry from where he ended up, in a way. But he emerged from the desert trials with an optimism that the time was fulfilled, the Kingdom of God had come near, and had found a positive motive to repent – that here was good news. I need that positive motive to entice me to repentance, and get back in line in the army of the Lord.

We will sign up again tonight.

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin, and be faithful to Christ.

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