Happy Christophermas

On this day a child was born, at this time a son was given and his name was called Christopher Luketon John Dryden.

Up until last night I wasn’t particularly bothered about putting together a blog about a day like today. I don’t think I’ve done it in the past. That all changed when I got the package from my sister which turned out to be my birthday gift. On the back of the packaging she put on a greeting that I couldn’t ignore. The text on it basically said Merry Christophermas! I’ve never had that before and it got me thinking about how good it is to celebrate someone’s birthday on his birthday! That’s a novel idea, might work in other areas as well if it was called for.

Anyway on this Christophermas Day I give God thanks for all the contributors to the life of Christopher Dryden. Thanks to my wonderful parents who invested their lives into making me a man who feared God and understood that without Him I would not make any progress in life. Thanks to two precious siblings who kept me sharp and have stuck by me, encouraging, scolding, rebuking, consoling, inspiring and sharing life with me.

Thanks to the church in which I grew up in Wellingborough which was a reliable stalwart of faith during those crucial formative years and brought a lot of smiles to my face and grounded me with an appreciation for the Bible.

Thanks to those schools that kept me occupied in those crucial formative years of my life – Croyland Nursery, Hardwick Infants, Victoria Infants and Victoria Junior. Thanks to those teachers who oversaw what educational development I made in those years. Thanks to the neighbours in Minerva Way and others in that Queensway estate who for me made my first seven years of existence appear in mind’s eye to be rather idyllic.

Thanks to Wrenn School for the years spent from naïve youngster to naïve know-it-all teenager. Thanks to the great teachers who irrevocably impacted my life not just with their love of education and teaching, but their obvious delight in helping people. Thanks to the other pupils whose engagement with me over that time was memorable for one reason or another.

Thanks to Essex University for the essential growing up years that needed to take place in exposing me to the big bad and good and indifferent world. Thanks for the people who opened my eyes to the fact that people don’t fit easy boxes and life is so wonderfully messy, diverse and complex. Thanks to the Windsor Fellowship and the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (at the time) that also significantly gave so much in terms of work-life

Thanks to the folks at the church in Peckham who took me in during the university years and made me feel a part of them. Thanks to the love and grace of some people who took me under their wing and tried to help cultivate someone still very rough around the edges. Thanks to the care, attention and wider perspective of fellowship and church than I had previously known.

Thanks to the people on the CAMP Committee and in the CAMP Choir for years of insight into worship and offering God the best in song and through music. Thanks for the lessons of voluntary team work and administration – commitment and being at your best giving all you can and not performing to impress others.

Thanks to the British Conference of the Church of God (Seventh Day) that has given me the foundation of the faith in which I grew up. Thanks for the many characters who over my time on earth so far have made this journey so eventful, rich in incident and fascinating in its insight in religion, spirituality, culture, fellowship, worship, organisation administration, leadership, communication and building corporate identity.

Thanks to those who have journeyed with me in my years in Stoke-on-Trent – UCB/Cross Rhythms, Blue Mountain Housing Association, Staffordshire University Library and Learning Resource Services, MA Broadcast Journalism at Staffs University, North Staffordshire Racial Equality Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Manchester Metropolitan University Education Unit, North Staffordshire YMCA, North Staffordshire African Caribbean Association, Saltbox Christian Centre and the various partnerships made with individuals over that time. Thanks to the various individuals I’ve come across in this time who have tremendously enriched my life through their example, conversation and inspiration. Thanks to the friends that I’ve made over this time who have really impressed me with the love they share and the way it has changed my heart and head.

Thanks to the members, associates and friends past and present of StokeCOG who have all played their part in affecting my whole understanding of what it is to be church. Thanks to that faith network that has made life so rewarding even in its darkest hour. Thanks to the exciting journey of church development and walking and talking the faith.

Thanks to all those people who popped up on the journey in those one shot moments of life never to be seen again but whose input has undoubtedly help write the story thus far. Thanks to the characters, personalities and figures across various media – books, magazines, web-sites, blogs, music, TV, radio, movies, etc. who have imprinted their creativity into my psyche.

Thanks to two delightful daughters who give me the honour and privilege of fathering. Thanks for their uninhibited love and smiles which they unfurl to melt my heart. Thanks for their stubbornness and insubordinate behaviour that hardens my resolve to let them know how out of love I need them to change their ways. Thanks for their capacity to learn and grow and their infectious spirit of life that reminds me that the purpose of life is to live so that others may enjoy their purpose to life.

Thanks to the partner of days that changed my life and my whole way of seeing the world around me and showing me that true love is more costly and more rewarding than could possibly be imagined. Thanks to the lover of my life who has such a huge heart that overwhelms me in its manifold expressions of that love. Thanks to the companion on life’s journey who loves to offload the issues that oppress and depress as well as excite and delight. Thanks for this supporter of her husband who has dedicated the rest of our days together to love in all of its fullness.

Thanks to the Heavenly Father who has allowed this wayward son to blunder from mishap to tragedy and been there to console and pick him up. Thanks to Him for calling me His son and marking an identity for me and giving me a purpose with gifts and abilities to assist but an innate dependence on Him for all that He is and does. Thanks to the Son who stands as a role model and focus of faith whose self-less life, passionate ministry, dynamic teaching, engaging healing, solid companionship, brutal death, triumphant resurrection, magnificent ascension and glorious return gives more than hope for life lived now. Thanks to the Servant King for showing grace and truth and equipping me with that desire and ability to keep that Kingdom agenda going in all of my life.

I have been a noted loner, but as already evidenced in this abbreviated roll-call of times and places, there are so many different faces that have been a part of the story and made it what it is today. Thanks to those and so many others who may have been overlooked. Thanks for your input good and bad. Thanks for making this a happy Christophermas.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

It's All About The People

I was watching a faithful biblically accurate movie version of the book of Acts. I love the way the producers and filmmakers have turned out something that I can follow in the scripture and see presented. It’s one thing to have an audio version of scripture, but to watch it and follow along gives different perspectives on understanding something so significant.

Previously I had read Acts 7 in context and been fascinated first of all by the charge made against Stephen in the first place. He is charged with the great offense of suggesting the downfall of the temple and change of Moses’ customs by Jesus (Acts 6:13, 14). Maybe one day I’ll be able to memorise the entirety of Stephen’s speech. In the meantime reading it, imagining it and then seeing a version of it dramatised captured my imagination as to what Stephen was really saying. Crucial to note in the off that the accusation made against him was by false witnesses. That is to say, the charge itself was never made by Stephen. The speech by the angelic looking Stephen though, is rich in history and a perspective on the history of Israel and its place in the global narrative of God. One of the key portions of the argument is towards the end,

Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, "'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?' (Acts 7:48-50)

This is not an exegesis. This is not a sermon on the verse, what it is however is a springboard for one of the greatest bugbears that’s plagued me ever since I took church attendance almost seriously. For a considerable time I’ve knocked about in church circles where the impression is that the building is it. To keep up with the Joneses, to be ready for ‘church growth’, we need the multi-thousand seat stadia, large facility with offices, crèche, multi-media studios, community resources and the like. Those who do not own a building of their own pour their resources into renting a facility and doing it up just right. It’s all about the venue and in their quest to make things feasible for visitors the location is key.

Please don’t get me wrong. I am in no way suggesting that there is something inherently wrong with a facility and a gathering place to meet as a group. I am not suggesting that at all. Yeah that costs money. Yeah it’s good to have those kind of things in mind for the gathering of the saints. The problem is when the building becomes the focus and in all the fuss of things we become more bothered about the building and a single meeting a week (maybe two, hey maybe three) rather than the real brass knucks of the real building project God is interested in – people. God is interested in people. He is interested in working through people to help other people, serve other people and essentially get it into His creation that He has moved on from the shadow of things to come to actually dwell in His people and then His people will live in Him.

It’s all about relationship and God is all about His glory being revealed through people. Now I’m no expert, but I’ve got a good feeling that if we took this seriously, then investments would be more in people than it would in buildings. If that was the case I’m fairly sure church as we know it and live it would be radically different.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Fast and the Curious: Hunger and Thirst for God

So this is blog entry 150 for the year. One short of equalling the year’s record set in 2007 and thus only two short of exceeding that record and at the rate of entries on course to break that mystical 200 barrier. Not that it’s about idolising minutiae of blog entries, but it is about having a target if I hope to be a more consistent writer. I mean how much more can you get in consistency than surpassing one every two days and so to less than every two days. That would be tremendous for me and give hope for the future.

As ever an update on how we go to where we are now. First has been the ignorant start that led to an awareness of why fasting is so important. Relationships play a vital role in growing in fasting and there are great benefits found here. This was typified in a most remarkable episode that should have had lasting implications for me. Yet the last entry should just how busyness can lead to a downfall even from the heights that had been reached personally.

In any case a scripture to get on with things.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)

In many ways the timing for this entry on the Fast and the Curious series is most apt. The other night I was part of a church gathering which looked at Psalm 34 which says in verse 19 that encouraging piece of news for all believers – many are the afflictions of the righteous! Yeah, yeah, the Lord delivers us from them all, but did you see that first word – many. That sounds like quite a lot. As in that’s not a cheap and easy quick burst of affliction and that’s your lot, oh no, many. It’s in the contract. It’s a part of the deal. Now sure later on it would also go onto mention that the wicked gets lots of afflictions as well almost as if life comes with lots of afflictions but I’m sure some of us would prefer to join a side where afflictions aren’t in the ‘many’ category. I mean that’s what a lot of life is geared to isn’t it – stress-free, trouble-free, minimising pain, etc. etc. Yet here in God’s beautiful and glorious Word we’re told that this is not the path of the Christ-follower.

It gets worse (or better depending on your perspective). Jesus spends a considerable amount of his time telling potential followers that the road is not a glamorous one and is fraught with persecution, rejection, misunderstanding and trials. Just in case you think the New Testament writers would ease up on us Jimmy, Pete and even John give the impression that this journey is not for the faint-hearted.

Then just when you think it’s safe to emerge from the barrage of just what a hard life it is we come across, Paul lays on the above verse, which was mentioned in the same service. We rejoice in our sufferings? We do? Really? Rejoice? Well apparently this is where the rest of the verses provide the assurance that there is a purpose to the suffering even if an understanding isn’t always clear. That purpose is character building that reminds us of the hope we have evidenced by the reality of the Holy Spirit given to us.

The hope, the character building and the very presence of the Holy Spirit in life, points unmistakeably to Jesus. For some reason that still astounds me to this day, despite the fact that the label says Christian and we have come because of Jesus it seems only too easy once you get in there to forget the place He plays in the whole business. No we don’t forget Him completely, we still sing the songs about Him, we still talk about Him from time to time and we definitely hear about Him every time we’re in a church context. Yet a real heart devotion to following Him and becoming like Him gets lost in the shuffle of other life priorities – family, work, money, self, etc. It’s as though we love Him one minute and the very next we’re back to loving ourselves. One of the most loving things then about suffering is that in building character it reminds me often on whom I rely, on whom I trust, on whom my very existence and all else is dependent. For I have two options when I suffer – withdraw from God into myself, or draw out from myself and get closer to God.

I never knew that until 2004-05 when circumstances conspired to thrust me to the place of God being everything to me and meaning everything to me. The whole point of loving God, desiring God came through in a powerful from outside my box. It’s connection to fasting should be obvious, but to draw it out, there is nothing to rings out a more desperate cry for God than abasing our very human nature to hear from God, to experience God, to declare our ultimate desire for God above all else – including the very food and drink that others would suggest is fundamental to life.

As God drew me out of the hard season of 2004-05 He reminded me of some key inspirations to getting to know God and love Him and hunger and thirst after Him. First of all there was the ministry of John Piper which you can follow through the Desiring God web-site. To this day I do not know how I got into Piper. I think it may have been around a time I was getting a Bible database which included documents by different Christian writers, Piper being one of them. I was then fascinated by what he had to say about church and this went further into the core of his ministry which he defines as Christian Hedonism. Well he couldn’t have put something more provocative to someone like me who was already aware of the negative connotations of hedonism. Reading it and finding out that our greatest pleasure and desire is found in God and so it makes sense to make much of Christ. From the end of my university days until around the time of my marriage I didn’t pay too much attention to Piper after discovering him at university.

Yet coming out of my dark times I realised just how important desiring God really is to existence. Since then Piper’s ministry has had a profound influence on my passion and desire for God and teaching and writing and speaking. It was nowhere near my cultural and Christian background. What I was getting from Piper was not like anything I had experienced before and not because he wasn’t from a setting that was jumping and shouting. I laugh at the thought of someone like Piper ever being able to come and speak oat our church, but I would love it. I admire the way he is passionate about Jesus and the gospel. That was simply infectious and to know that his ministry had been relatively successful for over two decades of hard service was also very instructive. To see such passion and enthusiasm matched with such a diligent approach to study caught my attention. To hear his call for deeper relationship with God brought me closer to committing myself further to prayer and fasting. The God that Piper mentioned was the same that I’d heard for some 20 years at home, but there was just something insistent about the presentation. Something that said Jesus is so much more worthy of my entire life than any other ministry I had come across before.

The heart of fasting has been to feast on God and I’m grateful for this first remarkable character who helped develop that desire. Yet that was not enough and there would be another significant other who would nudge me in a certain area. That will be outlined in the next blog episode.

What I do want to finish this entry with, though, is an encouragement to go beyond your own way of knowing in exploring God. Be prepared for God to speak to you outside the conventional circles, so that just in the same way that Abram was called from his cultural norms and to come out to engage with the living God. Fasting plays a crucial part in the call of Christ to come out of what we know to what He knows. That is an exciting journey and very daunting, but lo He is with us always …

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd

That's A Wrap

So today was a packed, packed, packed day. Community Cohesion Day featuring pupils from Mitchell High School. Engaging with them at a lunch held at NORSACA where I got to appreciate a lot more what it was to be organised and what it is not to be organised. Then off to a partnership meeting with youth leaders from across the city putting on events that engage young people both in and out of the Christian business. From there I collect my beautiful daughter from school and settle her to watch the new line-up of CBeebies. I’m off back to the YMCA to engage in an interesting conversation about driving with Her Majesty and our friend Gyaps. This was the prelude to a wonderful Chill, Chat and Connect session where topics ranged from relationships to Charmed to single parents and loads of quality stuff in between. To wrap things up neatly in this packed day I enjoyed a superb cell group session where testimonies of God’s goodness in trying times was the order of the day and again we get so much beautiful awareness of God’s goodness. God’s really busy doing good stuff in people’s lives and it’s almost though He wants me to be part of the action. There’s so much that could be said, but I’ll leave it at that for this blog post.

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd

Perceptions and Reality

Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

It’s always good to have certain conversations that highlight how people perceive you for various reasons. One it at least lets you know where they stand. Two, it also reveals the opinions of others regarding your position. Thirdly it highlights what stereotypes and perceptions people have of a person in a particular position. There are others but those will do for now.

One thing it reminds me of, which is a lesson I’ve been taught on a number of occasions, is that it’s all about perceptions. You could very well be doing a lot of essential groundwork, research and toil on a given subject, but if that’s not the perception and if the one received is rather different then it’s all for nought.

When I worked for the then Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions in the summer of 1997 I was first expressly taught the lesson. At the time it was a work placement over the summer holiday as part of the Windsor Fellowship scheme of which I am an honoured graduate. The time was spent working in a particular department given various rather mundane chores to complete. My supervisor at the time, the underrated and respected Janet Albon (yeah Mr. Spell-check & Ms Red-Line-Under-Word, not Albion, but Albon) knew she was giving me projects and tasks that were a bit beneath me. This was evident in the speed and diligence with which I completed the tasks – it’s not being big-headed, it’s just stating facts.

Being new to the world of office gossip and politics I was very naïve to the importance of appearances. So at the time I was given a desk and a computer and to while the time away I would engage in everyone’s favourite office pastime of beating my score on Minesweeper and eventually moving up the levels and attaining quick scores on them. My problem was that I was very indiscreet, so it was the prerogative of those who couldn’t be bothered to talk to me about it to my face to gossip behind my back about this dude who just spent his time playing Minesweeper while others were doing such earnest and honest hard work as paid by Her Majesty’s Appointed and Elected government. Thankfully word got round to Janet about it and she had a discreet word in my shell-like to alert me of those haters that would seek to bring me down with faint praise and the kisses of the enemy. So from there I was taught my first lesson in perception. It doesn’t really matter what you actually achieve and what you contribute, it’s how things appear.

Subsequent lessons would bring my attention that earnest long hours of slaving away at things is not as prudent as selectively choosing the times to maximise the effort whilst conserving energy at other times and not killing yourself. So more than working hard it’s about working smart. Now for the Jacobs and Labans among us – we know who we are – before it comes across as though I’m promoting being dodgy and tricky in how you approach things, that’s not quite what I talking about. Hard work is still a part of the deal, intense effort will be called upon and to an extent there’s a feeling of justifiably giving your all when you feel as though it’s cost you something. Where the brain bit comes in though is to be aware of what perceptions are required to give people the necessary impression to keep things ticking along. It’s not about compromise and especially in a Christian context it’s not about fitting into the status quo to be men-pleasers. It is about thinking things through and being aware of the impact it will have on the audience – being wise as serpents and harmless as doves to give it a scriptural peg to hang it on.

As well as this, sometimes if it appears as though you’re doing the work and you’re actually doing the work then people have one less thing to criticise you for, something that Peter was at pains to encourage fellow-believers in his first letter. It’s a good lesson to learn and one that’s come up again and again in subsequent years – as politicians realise sometimes to their own downfall appearances can be costly even if the smoke is not an indication of a fire. The reality of the opening scripture is that people run off perceived appearances without always looking to get to the heart of the issue. Indeed, only God can get the insight on the heart, being the Creator and everything. That’s why it’s crucial to bear this in mind when people come to the wrong conclusions about appearance and reality, and to be sensitive to this in whatever we display. I thank God for the reminder of this lesson and hope to apply it to this degree to His honour and glory.

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16)

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd

Daily Thoughts - Core Values: Supporting People

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

We provide the appropriate levels of support and guidance to help people sustain their live choices.

Doing good is one thing – maintaining good-doing is another. It is not easy for people to continue doing good when it’s easier to do bad. Often people are expected to continue doing the right thing, when there are so many convincing forces at work suggesting it easier to slip into bad habits. It is important then, in realising we’re not islands on our own, to have the framework in place to ensure that however we’re feeling we are encouraged in well-doing.

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
da man cd

Daily Thoughts - Core Values: People

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

People are made in the image of God and have an intrinsic value in themselves. No one has any higher value than another.

Stressing our differences can sometimes lead to hostility and division. Recognition of what makes us the same can be the base for flourishing relationships. The Creator establishes that as you are human you have the image of the One who created. This is a good reason to value life. It is knowing this that brings peace not only in valuing each other, but also seeing that Someone far greater than us considered us creatures worth creating.

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
da man cd