Yesterday, I went to meet with the King. Well, technically I attended an event where King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands was present, but as I did manage to shake the King’s hand and exchange a few brief words with him, I suppose I honestly can say I did meet him.

The occasion was the opening of ‘De Noordkaap’, a new expression of The Salvation Army in the northern part of Amsterdam. As you can imagine, there was quite a lot of excitement around the King coming to do the opening. Mails were sent out beforehand to make sure we all knew where to sit, how to address the King (‘Your Majesty,’ by the way), and what would and would not be appropriate to say. As the invited congregation sat and waited for the King to arrive, you sensed the excitement. It was, however, nothing compared to what one experienced walking behind the King through the crowd gathered outside, as we made our way across the grounds to the front door of the new centre. People were waving, jumping, shouting and the parents of the children that the King stopped to greet could not contain their joy – the King had chosen to talk with their child among all the other present.

It was in every way an extraordinary and memorable occasion.

Tomorrow it is Sunday and many of us will gather for a worship service of some kind. Here we are also invited to meet with the King. We do not gather just to remember King Jesus, we actually believe, because he promised it would be so, that he will be present in our midst. Are we excited about it? Can we contain our joy? And if not, why not?

Could it be we no longer expect Jesus to actually be present? Could it be we give him no room to manifest his presence? Paul had a lot of admonishment for the church in Corinth, but when talking about how it would be if a ‘stranger’ walked into their service, he commended them because the stranger might be a bit confused as to what was going on, but his conclusion would be ‘God is really among you’ (1. Cor. 14:25). Oh, for our services to be like that, confusing, a bit un-ordered, but a clear experience of the presence and power of Jesus.

General John Larsson, in our training college days, used to remind us that when Jesus said to the two blind men that ‘According to your faith let it be done to you’ (Matt. 9:27-29)it could be understood as it will happen as you expect it to. Oh, Lord, fill our hearts with expectations of you and your working among your people gathered in your name.

Yesterday, I not only went to see the King, I also polished my shoes. That is also quite a rare event, but it felt the right thing to do. I wanted to prepare to meet the King.

In the Natural Church Development survey people are asked to react to the statement ‘I prepare myself to participate in the worship service’. Interestingly, even if the church scores reasonable high in ‘Inspiring Worship Service’ often this point scores quite low. Apparently, we don’t prepare, maybe we don’t know how to prepare, or maybe, because we do not expect anything, we see no reason to prepare.

What would happen if we stopped up, spent a few moments in prayer and silence before we left for the service? Stopping up to become aware of the Holy Spirit, asking what we should bring to the worship service? Maybe a word of encouragement for someone, maybe a word from the Lord, maybe specific prayer for someone going through a difficult time, maybe sharing coffee with a visitor, rather than with our friends, maybe placing ourselves at the altar?

May we, as we get ready for meeting the King tomorrow prepare to come into his presence, filled with expectancy, may we prepare to meet the King, may our worship be passionate and vibrant, and may King Jesus be manifestly among us.

Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Yesterday I found myself in a bar. Well, truth be told, I had consciously walked into the bar, looking for something I could not find anywhere else. My nerves were in shambles and as I sat down at the bar (in the bar) I gave in to the urge for a strong drink. I knew I shouldn’t, and even the bartender suggested I didn’t, but I could not help it. I have never done light, zero was in this situation out of the question, so I went for the real thing – calories and all.

The reason I was in the bar was because it was the only place in the airport showing World Cup football, and Denmark was about to play their opening match against Peru. The reason I needed a drink was to have an excuse to sit at the bar and watch the game, and the reason zero was out of the question was that the time for clean sheets was over, goals were needed too.

The game was a bit tenser than I would have preferred. Denmark did not play well at all, to the point of conceding a penalty – which Peru treated as a Rugby field kick – and at half time it was still 0-0. Apart from a man sitting next to me in the bar it did not seem like anyone else was watching the game, but they certainly realised something was happening when Denmark scored.

I punched the air several times shouting rather loudly ‘yes, yes, yes.’ I did not think about, it came very naturally, and honestly, I couldn’t care what people thought about me. Looking around I realised I had drawn some attention and smiles from the other customers. I looked around, held my hand up as apologizing and said ‘I’m sorry, but I am Danish’

Sitting in church this morning as two soldiers were enrolled and three adherents accepted, I felt the urge to punch the air and shout ‘yes, yes, yes,’ but I didn’t. When the gospel was laid out simply and clearly by our corps officer with an invitation to place your life in God’s hands, I wanted to punch the air and shout ‘yes, yes, yes,’ but I didn’t. As we left the corps, after a service full of blessings and encouragement, maybe I should have punched the air and loudly shouted ‘yes, yes, yes,’ but I didn’t.

Wonder what would happen if I, and maybe others with me, stopped behaving so nicely and well trained, stopped trying so hard not to cause offence, and rather gave room for expressing enthusiasm and joy over Jesus, what he means to me and what he does in people’s lives? 

Wonder what would happen if I began to just let it out, not first thinking about the situation and surroundings?

Wonder what would happen, if I more often would live in such a way, that I would have to look around the room, hold my hands up and explain my actions by a simple ‘I am sorry, but I am a Jesus follower?’

Wonder if not people might smile a bit at me, and yet find it appealing and maybe even attracting?

Wonder what would happen, if we began behaving in such a way, that would demand an explanation?

Easter is over.

This is not really disturbing question, but it is an important one. 

For many of us, church (or corps in a Salvation Army context) is part of our lives. Often, we are painfully aware of the shortcomings and faults of our local church and at the same time realise the importance of belonging to and engaging in the church.

So, it is there, but what it is – or I suppose what I am really asking, what is it supposed to be?

To what degree could a local church be defined as a

Christ-centred

Spirit-empowered

Missionary-focused

Community

A quick read of that might cause the reaction that that could also be the definition of a small group and I would agree. I guess one could say, that every church should be a Christ-centred, Spirit-empowered, and Missionary-focused Community, but not every such community will necessarily be a church.

Anyway, what do you think? How would you define a local church? What is missing in the above? Is it even necessary to consider it, or should we just get on with the mission?

Comments, ideas, critic, suggestions are very welcome.

My Dad used to tell a story, which supposedly is true, of a Norwegian officer visiting a corps in the UK. It was the days of Salvation Meetings, and during the prayer meeting the officer felt led to approach a young lady in the hall and enquire as to the state of her soul and asked: “Are you shaved today?” The story did not say what happened afterwards, partly because my Dad always was laughing heartedly at this stage.

It could appear that the heading of this blog falls into the ‘Are you shaved?’ category – when one, with the best of intentions of saying something good, relevant or even clever, makes a mess of it and even displays one’s own ignorance. However, that is not the case. I full well know, although not from personal experience, what circumcision is, and my questions still is “What is the date of your latest circumcision?”

The question actually is not mine; it popped up in my mind as I was reading my Bible. I am reading through Acts and this morning it was chapter 7 which tells the story of Stephen – reciting the story of Israel to the people, who responded not with throwing rotten apples and tomatoes, but stones at Stephen. It was not the story that provoked the reaction, Stephen was sharing what every Jew knew and had heard many times, but his conclusion: “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!”

They knew the story, they lived and re-enacted it as they gathered for their religious celebrations during the year, and yet, for all their observance of rituals and rites, Stephen, ‘full of the Holy Spirit’, saw right through it and looked at their hearts. All the males present ‘wore’ circumcision as a sign of the covenant between the Jewish people and God – and yet they were ‘uncircumcised’!

It is so easy to fall into the rot of religious routine, to have gone through all the right events and stages, to ‘wear’ the right clothes, badges or even trimmings, and yet be ‘a stiff-necked people’ or, and that was how I was challenged this morning, a stiff-necked person.

Stephen specifically pointed out the hearts and ears of the people as uncircumcised: Not open to listen to the Spirit nor willing to be moved by his love, compassion or purpose. It is so easy to end up resisting the Holy Spirit, when we have ‘un-circumcised ears and hearts’. The danger is that it is not so easy to realise it is happening – because we are not open to listen or be moved.

Physical circumcision is a one-time event, spiritual circumcision must be a re-occurring experience – we must, as Paul encourages us in Ephesian ‘Continually be filled with the Spirit’ or else we risk becoming a people with a glorious history, smart and good looking and gathering for wonderful celebrations – and yet stiff-necked and unmovable.