“You Have Opened Our Minds” featuring the London Touring Cast – Risen! The Musical at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth

You Are My Rock featuring Lucy Rutherford from the album “For Unsung Heroes” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

Last week I finished by saying that in Genesis, the focus is on the “why” and by “whom” rather than the “how” – so there is no conflict with science. This week I would like to explore this point still further.

Stephen Gaukroger in his book “It Makes Sense” says that science makes observations, carries out experiments, formulates hypotheses, tests them, defines them and then produces a theory which it believes best explains the facts. It is trying to get at the truth as to “how” our world works. But science only offers one aspect of the truth. For example a scientist could say that playing a violin is “rubbing the entrails of a dead sheep with the hairs of a dead horse” and the facts would be described accurately- but not all the facts. You would not be answering “why” the music is enjoyable and “why” the violinist is playing at all. Strictly speaking science can only answer the “how” questions not the “why.”

Gaukroger goes on to say :

This is an important fact to grasp. To the question why is the grass burning a scientist could answer by talking about the presence of oxygen, the combustible nature of grass and so on but this is an explanation of “what” is happening not “why”. The answer to the “why” question could be that a cigarette was carelessly discarded or a farmer was clearing his waste ground. It is precisely in this “why” area that Christianity has so much to say. Science cannot help us with issues such as right and wrong, beauty, peace, joy and love. These subjects do not yield their secrets to the laboratory or the study. God cannot be put under a microscope or the Christian faith examined in a test tube. These things are beyond the scope of scientific enquiry.

Next week I will look at scientists who are also Christian/ Christians who are also scientists. Can I make a start? – Isaac Newton – yes the apple – gravity and all that!

Caption – “Give Thanks To The Lord” featuring the London Touring Cast – Risen! The Musical at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth

“Yours Is A Jealous Love” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Precious” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

Last week I started to consider if there is a conflict between Science and Christianity and began with a look at the issue of evolution. I made the points that evolution is a theory and not a fact and that not all notable scientists believe in evolution. Also that science is constantly being refined and corrected and so it is bad science to regard any scientific theory as anything more than provisional.
What I wish to consider today relates to the story of Creation in Genesis – one of the main reasons why some think there is a conflict between Science and Christianity. There are different interpretations amongst Christians as to what the Bible means by God creating the world in six days, however the point of Genesis 1 is not to answer questions of “How” the world was created but “Why” and by “Whom.”
Nicky Gumbel in “Searching Issues” writes:
The Bible is not primarily a scientific book but a theological one. It offers a personal explanation rather than a scientific one. The scientific explanation does not prove or disprove the personal one; rather it is complementary. Even Stephen Hawking has admitted that “Science may solve the problem of how the universe began but it cannot answer the question: “why does the universe bother to exist?”
Dr John Lennox uses the following illustration:
I show various academics the most magnificent cake ever seen and ask them to analyse the cake for me. A world famous nutritionist talks about the balance of the various foods which make up the cake. A leading bio- chemist is more interested in the basic chemicals that form the cake and the physicist states that it really is about protons and quarks. The mathematician argues that the cake is, in fact, all about the fundamental equations governing the motion of the electrons and protons. After their exhaustive analysis of the cake I then ask them one more question “Please tell me why the cake was made?” And there before them is Aunt Matilda who made the cake. Irrespective of all the amount of scientific analysis she is the only person who can answer the question of why the cake was made. And then Aunt Matilda puts everyone out of their misery by explaining that she made if for her nephew’s birthday party.
The maker of the cake/ the maker of the world is the one who has to speak to explain why the cake/world was made. Aunt Matilda tells us why the cake was made and in the Bible God tells why the world was made. In Genesis, the focus is on the “why” and by “whom” rather than the “how” – so there is no conflict with science.
And now for something completely different! If you are in the London area today or tomorrow it would be great if you could see some members of the cast of Risen! The Musical – Jodie May Quirke ( Mary Magdalene) David Murray ( Thomas ) and Johnny Fitzharris (James) who are performing in “Ordinary Days” at the Hounslow Centre, TW3 IES – 7.30 pm

Hosanna ! featuring the London Touring Cast – Risen! The Musical at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth

What More Could You Do Lord? featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Where Would I Be Without You” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

I have for some time been considering why there is suffering in the world. This is probably the most challenging question to ask of anyone- not just Christians. Is there a conflict between science and Christianity is another often asked question. In order to attempt to answer I will refer to three books which I have quoted in previous blogs: “It Makes Sense” by Stephen Gaukroger- “Searching Issues” by Nicky Gumbel and “The Case against Christ” by John Young.

I think I will grasp the needle right from the start and look at the issue of evolution- as Gaukroger states “Of all the issues which have caused concern about the relationship between science and faith, evolution is the most explosive.”

Gaukroger goes on to say that although the impression may be that the entire scientific world believes in the theory of evolution and only a few eccentrics and religious cranks would deny it, the fact is that there are a great number of notable scientists; Christians and non -Christians who do not believe that the commonly stated evolutionary theory is the best explanation of the facts we have. Creation is a perfectly reasonable alternative to evolution. He goes on to make it clear that evolution is not a fact but a theory and to teach it dogmatically as fact presents an erroneous view of science. Science he says “Is constantly on the move refining, correcting and reviewing its theories… in the past it has held views totally contrary to the views held today.” Indeed Gumbel states that to regard a scientific theory as more than provisional is bad science. He cites the example of Newtonian physics being regarded as virtually incontestable until Einstein and others showed that its laws break down when Quantum Mechanics and Relatively become relevant.

And if I may include a personal note here- I am angry that children are taught in schools that evolution is a fact and not a theory – like Gaukroger I fail to understand how such a dogmatic approach can be defended. It is not just Newtonian physics that shows that scientific theory is provisional – after all it was only months ago that we were told that nothing is faster than the speed of light but apparently there is now evidence that this is not the case.

I believe in evolution of the species, sometimes called “Micro -evolution and can see that the domestic dog has evolved from wolves but to believe that human kind has evolved from fish or apes (Macro- evolution ) is for me much less believable than that we were created as humans by God.

My Beloved King – New Theatre Royal, April 2016

A Time for Everything – featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album The Season of Singing recorded and produced by Ross Gill

Over the past months I have been considering one of the most often asked questions and one of the most challenging to answer- Why is there suffering in the world? Another often asked question is “Can Christianity and Science be compatible? I will start to look at this next week but today I would like to give a short update on what is happening with Risen! The Musical.

The last production was at my brother’s church, St Peter’s in Ravenshead, Notts – I thanked all concerned in the blog of May 19^th. Prior to that there was the production at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth in April. It was at these NTL performances that Risen! was filmed by Global Fire Creative. The visual footage is now being edited by Ross Gill at Global Fire and the audio by Joffy Girling. The intention is to have this finished by the end of this month and then for us to continue to negotiate its broadcast on Christian Cable TV channels, such as Revelation, God TV and TBN.

Furthermore we are hoping for Risen! The Musical to be produced in DVD format with distribution to churches and prisons.

With the help of Martin Wise, a Trustee of Mustard Seed Songs, we are applying to the Arts Council for funding for a UK Tour in Easter 2017. The plan is to perform in up to six different venues all within a 2 hour drive of London. The productions would take place on Saturdays or Sundays between the weekends of Easter and Pentecost .

We are also looking at one- off productions between now and then so please watch this space.

We Can’t Set The World On Fire – featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard from the album “Uplifted” recorded by Bob Ross

Last week I have considered how we should respond to the suffering of others due to, for example hunger, poverty, persecution and imprisonment.

Of course many will say that there is too much hunger, poverty, persecution and imprisonment in the world for us, as individuals, to make any difference. In response I offer the featured song for today “We Can’t Set The World on Fire- (but a candle we can light”) together with one of the many versions of the wonderful “Starfish on the Seashore” story.

Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching.  As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea.  The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning!  May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

Adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

“Shout for Joy “Featuring The Mustard Seed Girls Choir – Director Lucy Stimson- Maynard recorded at Holy Rood Church, Stubbington – unreleased

Thank you so very much to St Peter’s Church in Ravenshead who hosted Risen! The Musical so wonderfully on Saturday, May 14^th. The cast had a brilliant time, loved the cake and food you so kindly provided and most of all were chuffed with the fantastic comments received from you regarding how blessed you were with Risen!

The featured song today is another unreleased track from the “Vaults” and features words taken from Psalm 100.

For some weeks now I have been considering why there is suffering in the world and an aspect of this I would like to consider today is how we should respond to people that are suffering? Suffering can come in many forms and recently I read in the United Christian Broadcast’s (UCB) publication “Word for Today” how we should respond to suffering because of hunger, thirst, poverty and imprisonment (I would humbly suggest especially false imprisonment )

Jesus says in Matthew 25 – 35- 36 (New King James Version)“I was hungry an you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.” The early Church Father Chrysotom pointed out “We do not hear I was sick and you healed me or I was in prison and you liberated me.” So that does away with the excuse “How could I heal a sick person or liberate someone who is enslaved?” Jesus said “I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” These words of mercy are simple deeds and yet in these simple deeds we serve Jesus. So the truth is we serve Jesus by serving needy suffering people. Some of them are refugees or living on the streets. Maybe they’ve made mistakes or been caught up in circumstances they can’t control. You can’t help all of them, but you can help some of them. And when you do you serve Jesus.

All this reminds me of a famous story which I will tell next week.

“Let Every Creature in Heaven” vocals Lucy Stimpson- Maynard and friends – trumpet Jock McKenzie – recorded by Bob Ross – unreleased.

So if you are in the Nottinghamshire area please remember that Risen! The Musical is playing at St Peter’s Church in Ravenshead, on Saturday, May 14^th starting at 7.00 pm. Tickets can be obtained from 01623 478295.

The featured song today is another unreleased track from the “Vaults” and features words taken from the Book of Revelation Chapter 5: 13-14

Last week I began retelling the story of a family’s personal experience of suffering. Katey had progressive MS and through all the ordeal her and her husband placed God and the worship of Him at the centre of their lives. Katey’s husband says “Recently I marked the anniversary of Katey’s death. It was a difficult if glorious day as after 18 years of struggle with MS she stepped into the arms of the rising sun, her saviour and Lord. On reflection I recalled all the struggles, the moments of abject despair, disappointment and anger. Yet, I also was reminded of the sweet way God heard our prayers and those of others who prayed with us, and just how both Katey and I were able to worship in the heart of our hurricane and also to hear God’s voice and grow in our faith and understanding of God and his purpose. Everything is about God expressing the nature and character of his kingdom in the earth; we were fortunate to have a role to play, and like all actors, we were not in charge of the casting! “

Dr Micha Jazz expresses a similar attitude. “I believed that ‘nothing bad can happen to me if I am so faithfully following my God’. Here was a fault line that I had to trip over. Such an attitude reduced faith to a transaction. ‘I do right and God keeps me safe from harm’ – but this isn’t how it goes. God’s invitation is that I follow Him and try to I live out a God-filled life, thereby revealing the nature and character of the God I worship. Perhaps this is best illustrated in the story of Job; bad things happen to God’s good people. Each one of us who chooses to follow Jesus is actually declaring that we volunteer to become a conduit for the grace and love of God to find expression on the face of the earth. Sometimes this is best achieved through what we regard as tragic circumstances. It is relatively easy to sing songs of celebration when life is going well. Yet, the acid test of our faith comes when we are invited to sing songs of celebration in a foreign land.”

I recently read somewhere something like “ It is easy to take the glory but are we prepared to also take the cross?”

We can be asked by God to advance His kingdom in many ways and for some that may mean through their attitude and response to suffering.

St Peter’s Church Ravenshead – venue for next production of Risen! The Musical on May 14th

Patiently I wait for the Lord – featuring Debra Crowe on vocals with Lucy Stimpson-Maynard on piano – recorded by Bob Ross- not released

May I start with a plug for the next production of Risen! The Musical? It is at my brother Jack’s church, St Peter’s in Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire on May 14th starting at 7.00 pm. Tickets can be obtained from 01623 478295.
I have copied an account of one person’s attitude when suffering entered their lives.  The writer first refers to the story of Hezekiah in Isaiah 38: 3
Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.’ Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
He goes on:
Life is unpredictable! How obvious is that, and yet I, like many others, order my life around assumptions that tomorrow, next week, next year will be much the same as today. I plan for what I define as normal, and don’t anticipate changes. You may have heard the phrase, ‘constant change is here to stay’, a mantra that attempts to postpone an attitude of settling for the status quo. However, we still drop roots and establish all the trappings of permanence.
For Hezekiah, having proven faithful if somewhat double-minded, as most of us are, this meant a serious diagnosis of a fatal illness. The shock was real and he took himself off to plead with God for life. He reminded God of the many excellent things he had done in God’s name, and how he had proven faithful over the years.
As I accompanied Katey on her journey with progressive MS, hope for divine intervention, our first port of call, gave way to anger. How could a God of love allow this to happen? Eventually, we began to seek God in the heart of the storm that was rocking our world, and discovered a God who enabled us to approach life from a completely different direction. We were stretched so that we might grow and be better prepared for our eternity with the God who loved us more completely than we had ever experienced or imagined.
You may be faced with the most devastating news. Nothing can immunise you from the shock and the desperate pleading that God might take this from you. And he may. However, it might be that you have to find the tools to embrace this unwelcome reality and discover God in the very heart of it. Losing control over your life is devastating – yet it was never yours from the moment you surrendered it to God. God is at work in the most desperate of circumstances; you have to seek him out and connect. God will neither fail nor forsake you.
The story of Katey continues in next week’s blog.

He is the Image of the Invisible God! – taken from Colossians 1: 15-17 featuring Debra Crowe on vocals and Lucy Stimpson-Maynard on piano – recorded by Bob Ross- not released

The featured song is pretty much out of the “Vinyl Vaults” (a term I picked up from a rare listen to Classic FM.)  It must be at least fifteen years old (hence the odd scratch) and is recorded by Debra Crowe, an ex Crofton student who went on to sing with the D’Oyle Carte Opera Company. It has never been released and another unreleased track by Debra “Patiently I wait for the Lord” will feature next week. Bob Ross recorded the song s with Lucy Stimpson- Maynard on piano.

The featured photo was taken by Ross Gill of Global Fire Creative. It was taken on April 9^th during the performance of Risen! The Musical at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth.

The photo portrays the crucifixion of Jesus – the suffering He most have endured on that cross signifies that God is not indifferent to our suffering, indeed He was prepared to take on human form in order to suffer Himself.

This leads us, in part to consider that life is not just about the here and now – if God does exist then eternity is something real. With this perhaps in mind a story is recollected in Nicky Gumbel’s book “Searching Issues. “ Gumbel says that Gavin Read, Bishop of Maidstone until 2001 refers to a boy in his congregation who had shattered his back and who had consequently been in and out of hospital. When Gavin interviewed him, the boy remarked that God is fair. Gavin asked him how old he was and the boy replied seventeen. “How many years have you been in hospital?” Gavin asked – “Thirteen “ was the reply. Gavin then asked “So how can you think this is fair?” The boy replied “God had all eternity to make it up to me.”

Gumbel continues “God has indeed all eternity to make it up to us and the New Testament is full of promises about how wonderful heaven will be. There will be no more crying for there will be no more pain and suffering. We will change our frail, decaying mortal bodies for a body like that of Jesus’ glorious resurrected body. As Martin Luther once said “I would not give one moment of heaven for all the joys and riches of the world, even if it lasted for thousands and thousands of years.”

Gumbel concludes “We live in a materialistic world which has almost entirely lost its eternal perspective. We need to take a long term view and understand the suffering of this world in the context of eternity.” He quotes Alistair McGrath who states “ If the Christian hope of heaven is an illusion based on lies then this idea needs to be abandoned as it is misleading, but if it is true then it must be embraced and allowed to transfigure our entire understanding of the place of suffering in life.”

So that’s now twelve different jig saw pieces attemting to address this most difficult of questions “Why is there suffering in the world?” And there are more – so please take a look at next week’s blog.

“If You call His Name” featuring Lucy Rutherford from the album “The Season of Singing” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

In Romans 8: St Paul tells us “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

Now I am not suggested that God causes us suffering in order to bring out good from it- no what I am suggesting is that in this imperfect world bad things will happen but that God can bring good out of them. For example if we suffer bereavement we will be in a better position to have empathy for others who are bereaved. It is the same with illness – if we have suffered from an injury or complaint then we are better positioned to help and support others who find themselves in a similar position.

In comforting others we ourselves may find comfort, but can suffering actually help us become better people? When we go through bad times can this, in fact help us learn the importance of perseverance, make us stronger characters and help us appreciate more fully the good times in our lives?

I read somewhere that life is not about what happens to you but how you deal with what happens to you. It is going to be pretty much impossible to get through this life without having to endure some pain and suffering – somethings will happen beyond our control, however what we do have control over is the way in which we react. We can react positively or negatively to the bad things that come our way. On the loss of their baby Matt and Beth Redman wrote the song “Blessed be Your Name”

Blessed be Your Name when the sun’s shining down on me,

When the world is all that it should be,

Blessed be Your Name

Blessed be Your Name on the road marked with suffering,

Though there’s pain in the offering,

Blessed be Your Name

Selwyn Hughes says something similar in Monday’s Every Day with Jesus

The Christian faith is the most joyous faith in the world. It is not a Pollyanna type of religion that sees no evil; it sees the evil and recognises that God can turn evil into good. Buddhism looks at life and says “Life is suffering.” Christianity looks at life and says “Life is suffering- glory Hallelujah. Suffering can be transformed when God is invited into it.

I can appreciate that some will feel that this is unrealistic – it is looking at life through rose coloured spectacles- it is almost patronising to those who are suffering. I suppose it is back to what I said earlier – “Life is not about what happens to you but how you deal with what happens to you.”

One thing I would like to make clear and that is suffering is not easy to explain – there are no definitive answers and all I have been attempting to do in the past weeks is to try and make the issue less black and white – i.e. the only way to look at it is to say “How can there be a God if He allows suffering in the world?