Category: CR Experience

I am a great believer in ‘collaboration’, and its definition which says “to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavour.” Our great city of Plymouth is going through some amazing challenges. Like much of life, some of these challenges are good opportunities and some are more difficult. In terms of opportunities, one of the biggest is an opportunity to work together for the good of the city.

We are still facing tough national and global economic issues, which challenge the more vulnerable within our society. Employment, especially for the young, is vital. Plymouth’s ‘1,000 Club’ initiative is a fine example of collaboration between Plymouth City Council’s Employment Sub Group, and a wide range of local employers, aiming to recruit 1000 companies in the Plymouth area to commit to support young people into employment. The success of the 1,000 Club is essential for the future.

Elsewhere in the city, almost £200 million is being invested from the private sector. Over £60 million has been invested into the Royal William Yard. However, we are a city with a strong reliance on the public sector. Whether we work in the private or public sector we all live in the same town, and we need a strong vision for ‘Britain’s Ocean City’.

It wouldn’t cost us a lot to invest some goodwill and just say ‘well done’ to everybody involved in governing these opportunities and challenges – our politicians, councillors and council officers, major employers in both the public and private sectors and to everyone who makes a positive contribution to Plymouth. Encouraging those who have responsibility for the welfare and prosperity of our city doesn’t mean we lose our convictions and opinions on issues, but it can be helpful to communicate gratitude with respect and maturity – ‘less heat and more light’ goes a long way to making for better communication.

We may have lost our bid to become city of culture in 2017, but from a positive perspective we now have a focus on the sailing of the Mayflower in 1620 and its 400th anniversary in 2020. Cross Rhythms, in collaboration with Cornerstone Vision who publish this newspaper and the Plymouth Magazine, have started a new programme called ‘Destiny Plymouth’ every Wednesday between 10.00am – 12.00 noon. This programme is created to celebrate some of the encouraging developments in Plymouth, and to see these opportunities through the perspective of being ‘a glass half full, not half empty.’

My family has been connected to Plymouth for many generations, but it is amazing how negative we locals can become about our city. New arrivals seem to possess a more upbeat attitude towards Plymouth and don’t understand why some of us, (I think it is a minority, at least I hope it is), have a ‘downer’ on the city.

I can see Plymouth attracting people from West Devon and East Cornwall as an amazing city of opportunity and experience. I can also see people coming from all over the world as the GOD TV plans take root to broadcast from Plymouth to the globe.

There is a principle that impacts the ‘spiritual heart of man’, which I believe in as a Christian. ‘You reap what you sow’. If you sow negativity, you will reap negativity. As someone once said with reference to negative criticism, “if you point your finger, you have three fingers pointing back at you.”

Instead of pointing fingers in tough times, a hand extended in friendship, appreciation and collaboration may be worth considering as a better alternative in tough times

The Bishop of London, the Right Reverend Richard Chartres, has been an amazing communicator at key moments of pageantry in our nation during the last decade or so. In 2011 he was the Bishop who married Prince William and Kate, (then Middleton), and delivered a sermon which has been described as inspired, opening with the words “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire” and going on to describe the generosity of God towards us.

So I was really interested to see how he would address the 2,000 assembled guests at St Paul’s, and a global TV audience of millions, for Lady Thatcher’s funeral. Once again, he focused on some of the essential values of the Christian faith, contrasting the value of human relationships and joy, against the ‘stuff’ of our material world which can sometimes seem more ‘real’ but in the end is probably not what we all think about most in our deepest moments of reflection, especially when considering life and death issues.

For me, some stand-out moments from Bishop Richard’s memorable sermon include “…the funeral service is a place for ordinary human compassion, not debate over legacy…” and “The storm of conflicting opinions centres on the Mrs Thatcher who became a symbolic figure – even an ‘ism’. Today the remains of the real Margaret Hilda Thatcher are here at her funeral service.”… “Lying here, she is one of us, subject to the common destiny of all human beings.” … “What, in the end, makes our lives seem valuable after the storm and the stress has passed away and there is a great calm?”… “The questions most frequently asked at such a time concern us all. How loving have I been? How faithful in personal relationships? Have I discovered joy within myself, or am I still looking for it in externals outside myself?”

I was interested in his statement about being ‘faithful in personal relationships’. This can be a real challenge to us all in today’s increasingly secular society. When somebody that we trust violates that trust, we are not only hurt, but we then have to find healing for that hurt. It can create mistrust in forging other committed relationships and sow seeds of bitterness. By grace, we can forgive, hopefully. But the consequences of any violation of trust may be just too hard to completely overcome, and lasting damage can occur.

Our society has so devalued faithful relationships that many people are wounded, hurting and withdrawn after multiple, short lived and broken encounters where they were not properly loved as they deserved. Yet they often have no understanding of why, no voice for their pain. The simple facts are that devaluing the most intimate of physical expressions, reducing them to a level of self-gratification in the here and now, has scarred many of our consciences and hindered many of our abilities to form lasting, nurturing bonds for the care and development of people who depend on us. In other words, family.

Separating sex from faithful love has produced some of the most destructive consequences within our society over the past few decades. It is these consequences that many church leaders find themselves trying to help people through. There is no judgment here, just a desire to heal ‘broken hearts’ and restore ‘good conscience’, which is the process of finding true peace and joy.

Faith can be defined as to ‘trust in, cling to and rely on’. Being faith-ful to each other is really important because when an individual isn’t faithful other people close to that person get hurt.

Faithfulness is the foundation the Bible says that leads through a process of hope to real love. When an individual allows God in Jesus Christ, through faith, to heal the ‘inner man’, then a human being can go through life with a healed and good conscience.

At the end of our physical lives, we will need a good conscience to face the next step of our journey.

My family and Fellowship friends know I am a genuine fan of films. Perhaps it is because in growing up in a relatively lonely environment, I found healing through the emotions that good films generate. Stories embodied in film can move us from relational detachment to relational attachment, and good films can inspire us to understand that in loving God, we need to love each other, sincerely and deeply. Films, and the ‘therapy of art’ which my wife is very good at, can be great opportunities for discussion of the ‘big questions’ about life and the day to day themes of living. Regular listeners to Cross Rhythms will know that my favourite films are the Lord of the Rings trilogy and my favourite authors are JRR Tolkien and C S Lewis.

Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables, was not necessarily a friend of organized religion. His religious beliefs changed throughout his life. It seems he became frustrated with the suffering of the people and the inactivity of organized churches in response to this suffering. Some have pegged him as a deist, though a bit of exploration turns up hints that he may have maintained theism through his life. Theism is defined as a belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in one god as creator of the universe, intervening in it and sustaining a personal relationship. Regardless of Hugo’s own spiritual state, it is clear from the film Les Miserables that Christianity is largely beneficial. Not only that, but the story is such an epic tale of redemption with Christian themes interwoven throughout that I can’t help but think (having, admittedly, not read the book) of the extremely positive overall impression the film gives of the power of Christianity to change people.

Les Miserables is a stunning film. Its impact will last for years. Perhaps the most exciting thing about the movie, however, is the way it tackles worldview questions head-on. Humanity is found even in the darkest pits, and God’s work continues to be done even in the most desperate of hours. The movie is not for children, but it will serve as an inspiring foil from which to start discussions about Christianity. The beneficence that comes from the Christian worldview is very much on display, along with Christian themes of God’s sovereignty and plan of redemption. I encourage readers to see the film and realize the way it can be used to discuss issues central to Christianity.

God isn’t angry at His creation; on the contrary, He ‘so loved’ the world that He sent His ‘own heart’, Jesus into the world as the ultimate freedom fighter to rescue humanity from itself, sin and the devil. God broke His Heart on the cross, but this was the cost of real freedom. The death and resurrection of Love on the cross has been shaping the world for centuries.

Organised religion must have the humility to be open to scrutiny, to see that we are endeavouring to ‘walk the talk’ and delivering what it says in the manual. Religious attitudes which do not fully understand the nature and purpose of God as outlined in that supernatural book the Bible, have a tendency to ‘have a form of Godliness, but which denies its power’.

There is some good news again for Plymouth, but it is based in Who Jesus is, not what organised religion fails to deliver. I am committed to Church communities as a leader of one of these communities. I don’t believe the Holy Spirit can set the ‘living stones’ free without being in relationship with each other, but a house isn’t necessarily a home without all of the members of the household knowing their value and worth to the rest of the family.

As it says at the end of the film: “To love a human being is to see the face of God”.