Drunk and blind?

Some wise words from Irish singer Brian Houston have been running round my head today as I continue to try to make sense of my new role as a Fresh Expressions pioneer minister with the Methodist Church.

You know the truth is like gold it’s so very hard to find
And the past is like riches if you cling to it
It don’t bring you peace it just makes you drunk and then it makes you blind

These Days from the album Sugar Queen

It's so easy to cling to what Church used to be like and believe in the Good Old Days. The only certain thing about them is that they were old!

I remember my grandparents telling me about facing starvation during the 1926 General Strike - about literally having enough in the house for one cup of tea until friends arrived to share a food parcel. What's good about that?

I remember someone telling me about a Sunday School with 160 pupils where everyone was so frightened of the man in charge that no one dared to move! Well I bet that brought people closer to a loving God!!

My task is to help people on the edge of church find something in Jesus and his people that can draw them into a relationship with him. I'm excited by the challenge and more and more I go back to the Old Testament story of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness as I try to see how to avoid making stupid mistakes and failing to catch God's vision for this opportunity.

For the next few weeks I'm preaching on the story of Numbers 13 and 14 - the people hovering on the threshold of the Promised Land and refusing to believe that God actually intended to give them the good things he had promised. Have a look and see the outcome - it's scary.