A Swedish designer has put together a new range of clerical clothing CasualPriest.com for women that aims to express stylish and confident femininity.
Is it just us ... or does this look suspiciously like a Star Trek uniform?
This weekend will be filled with street parties, the magnificent spectacle of the royal flotilla sailing down the Thames, and a joyful celebration of a British tradition, and a wonderful woman who has served her country so well over the last 60 years.
But, as we have seen over the last few days, the idea of Jubilee in the Bible is filled with a much richer meaning.
The Bible is one book, one story. And at its centre is Jesus, who is the fulfillment of all the law. Yes, even of the law of the Jubilee celebration. How?
Rest: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11 v 28
Rejoice: “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven…" Luke 6 v 22-23
Reliance: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6 v 31-33
Restoration: "In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." John 14 v 2-3
Release: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down ... And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4 v 19-21
So let's join in the praise for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, but reserve our full passion and joy for the One True King - Jesus our Lord. He's our real Jubilee.
From all of us at The Good Book Company, have a great weekend.
As the Queen's Jubilee celebration approaches, we've been looking at the origin of the Jubilee festival and made some fascinating discoveries.
The trumpet blast that started the Jubilee 50th year was the sign that anyone who was a slave was released. But there was another important economic aspect of the Jubilee as outlined in Leviticus 25. The land itself as restored to its original owners. In other words - there is no such thing as freehold.When someone sold a field or a plot of land, they were only leasing it for the time until the next Year of Jubilee. Why? As a reminder that: "The land is mine, and you are to reside in my land as foreigners and strangers." (Leviticus 25 v 23)
This whole economic system of land ownership has some very interesting implications for the way that business was conducted - not least that relationships and families became more important than money. But did you get the spiritual dimension of the command for restoration? It was a constant reminder to remember that the land they lived in was not theirs at all - but held as a gift from God.
It was the Lord who had rescued them from Egypt. It was the Lord who brought them through the wilderness to the land of Milk and Honey. It was with the Lord's strength that the Canaanites were driven out. It was the Lord's promise to Abraham that was fulfilled by the Lord's hand. The Jubilee enshrined in the rhythm of life the reminder that what they have comes as a gift to them from a gracious God. They must hold onto it lightly. They must live in it and enjoy its blessings with gratitude.
Many people admire the hard work and dedication to duty that has marked the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. She has worked hard to fulfill her role. She deserves to be celebrated this weekend. But I am sure that Her Majesty would echo the sentiments of the original Jubilee. That it is a time for recognising that all the good things we enjoy come from the hand of God. Your house, our country, your work, your bank account, your stuff. It's all his really.
Tomorrow: the real Jubilee!
The name Jubilee has a couple of possible derivations. It's either from the Hebrew term Yobel meaning a blast on the trumpet (the Jubilee year was announced by the blowing of a Shofar - a ram's horn - during Yom Kippur); or else it is from the Latin Jubilo - meaning shout.
Either indicates a celebration of enormous importance and joy. English words like "enjoy" and "Jublilation" come from the same root.
We saw yesterday how the Sabbath years were part of the way God built the principles of Rest, Reliance and Rejoicing into the life of his people Israel.
But the Jubilee, the 50th Year had another important function. In addition to the above, it was also about Release and Restoration.
Because in the Jubilee year, it wasn't just the land and the farmers that were released from having to do any work - anyone who was indentured as a slave was also released.
We tend to think of slavery today in absolute terms. Someone who is completely owned by another for life, and has no possible means of escape. Slavery in ancient Israel, and in much of the ancient world was practised in a very different way - more like the practice of bonded labour, where you effectively sign up with an employer for a period of time. In Israel, this time period was intended to be calculated from the Jubilee that came round every 50 years.
So if I got into debt or some kind of economic trouble, I could "sign up" as a slave, knowing that when I heard the blast of the trumpet that marks the start of Jubilee, my contract is over and I am free to go.
This release from slavery mirrors God's great saving act in Israel's history in Egypt. He put an end to their slavery and released them for a life of freedom under his loving rule.
Fast forward 1500 years to a hillside outside Jerusalem, and we see what the Exodus and the Jubliee year is really pointing to. God's ultimate act of salvation, as the Lord Jesus dies to set us free from the penalty of sin, so that we can live a life of freedom under his loving rule.
Jubilee is about celebrating the reign of the British Sovereign, Elizabeth. During here reign the UK has known a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity. But the Jubilee ultimately urges us to celebrate the reign of the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus whose brings peace with God and whose service is perfect freedom.
Call back tomorrow for some thoughts on Restoration...
Bunting? Check!
Cucumber sandwiches? Check!
Union Jack hat and Umbrella? Check!
Britain is preparing for a big party that will kick off a summer of celebration, starting with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration this coming weekend, and culminating in the Olympics in August. We're all looking forward to having a fantastic Summer of Fun - and the good weather has arrived just in time!
But behind it all the excitement, the niggling worry about how we will afford it all in this time of economic austerity never quite goes away.
Which is a little how the people of God must have felt about the original Jubilee celebrations commanded by God in Leviticus 25.
As part of his instructions to his redeemed people, the Lord ordained that the weekly pattern of 6-days work one-day rest was to be repeated with years. So people were to sow their fields and reap a regular harvest for six years, but the seventh year was also to be a sabbath year. They were to let their fields lie fallow - to plant nothing. They were to live from the things that grew naturally in the fields, and from crops stored from previous harvests.
But in addition to this there was another Mega-sabbath to be kept. After seven of these sabbath years - 49 years - they were to celebrate a special year of Jubilee on the 50th year.
These seven-year farming sabbaths model good land management in ancient cultures. Leaving land fallow allows it to "recover" and remain fruitful over time. When land is overworked it's productive value drops over time.
But it wasn't pragmatics that drove the Sabbath rule - they had a spiritual purpose. It was to teach them that there is more to life than work, work, work. It was to teach them to trust God for provision. It was to reflect the character and nature of God as a worker who rested and rejoiced in his handiwork.
Every time a sabbath year came round, no doubt they would be looking forward to having a "sabbatical". It was a chance to rest and to celebrate. But what would they eat? What would they live off? As well as planning for it with the storage of crops, they would also have to rely on God's provision to see them through the year. In order to be obedient to God's law, they needed to trust that He would supply their needs. They needed to trust in Jehovah Jireh - The Lord our Provider (See Genesis 22 v 14)
But in addition to Rest, Reliance and Rejoicing, the Jubilee was designed to model and show one other really important thing.
Call back into the blog tomorrow to discover what that is...
Have you ever been asked this question? On one level, it’s asking something very simple – have you responded to the Gospel by turning from your sins and putting your trust in Christ?
But as you dig into the way the Bible talks about salvation in general, it becomes less easy to answer. Because in general, the Bible speaks of three tenses to salvation. Past present and future. It is, at one and the same time, a past event, something with is currently going on in me, and something which I am waiting to receive in the New Creation.... continue reading
There's another rainbow I regularly see in the Good Book Company offices. And it's not welcome!
As we are an über-cool organisation, we work on Apple Macs - the Ferraris of the computing world.
Mac users are known for being loyal evangelists of the brand, but at the risk of being branded a hardware heretic by the Mac-zealots , there are times when I could happily throw mine out of the window. There are times when, inexplicably, it just seizes up, and instead of a wristwatch ticking round, or a progress bar creeping across the screen, you get what is colloquially known as "The spinning wheel of death".... continue reading
If you’ve ever found it hard to keep your priorities right or your diary tight... If you’ve ever wondered how to stay engaged and enthusiastic in whatever ministry God has equipped you to serve... then you have experienced a struggle that is common to most of us who are active in the local church. A struggle that, if not addressed carefully and biblically, can drag us down.
At a seminar at the Christian Resources Exhibition last week a group of church administrators and I spent 45 minutes looking at how we could use the principle of purposeful pairs to help us persevere in the face of such difficulties.... continue reading
I blogged a few days ago about my visit to the Picasso exhibition that’s running at Tate Britain in London. Each room explored Picasso’s influence on a modern British artist, one of whom is Francis Bacon. I’m not a huge fan of Bacon’s work, so was scanning the paintings quite quickly – until I came across one that literally made me recoil with a shudder. I hated it. It was a triptych – the three paintings displayed side by side – each as horrible as the next.
Intrigued to know why I’d reacted so strongly, I went closer to read the blurb, and discovered that the three images were of people at the foot of the cross. That explained my revulsion. Bacon had cleverly taken the hate, spite, cruelty and self-righteousness of those who had crucified Jesus and were now watching, perhaps even gloating, as He died. “Yes”, I thought, “that’s the sick, evil rejection of God’s King”. And I felt the same revulsion for those wicked people that I had felt for the paintings.
And then I paused. Because it was my sin that held Jesus on the cross, just as much as theirs. The revulsion I felt is a slight glimpse of how we should respond to all sin – not just the obvious, the cruel, the violent – but all my “little” sins as well. The truth is that I have rejected God’s King every bit as much as those jeering onlookers. And it is only through His loving death for me that I now have the privilege of knowing Him as my Lord and Saviour. So now I’m really pleased that I hated Bacon’s work so much. Because through it I have been reminded of the blackness of my own heart, and the wonderful forgiveness made possible, and offered freely, by the one who died and rose again.
It’s a safe bet that at a significant number of evangelical churches last Sunday, the service leader said something like:
“Now Sue’s going to come and read from the Bible, and then our pastor Steve is going to explain the passage to us.”
When I lead, that seems to be my default for explaining what a sermon is: I usually find myself saying that Steve (in our case) is “going to explain the passage to us”.
But I’m not sure that’s a good thing to say—certainly not a good thing to almost always say. A couple of reasons why:... continue reading
