Carol services all over these islands will take a hit as millions stay glued to the telly as Olly and Joey battle it out in the final of the X factor. From an alleged 200,000 entrants the numbers are whittled down by a combination of judges’ decisions and the volume of calls from the fans in favour of their chosen performer. Tonight its either Olly or Joey. The programme to tap into the latent desire of people to achieve fame and fortune. The lure of a fast ascent to stardom, coupled with the chance that it could be your favourite who succeeds, draws in both contestants and viewers. So far show was spawned six number one winner’s singles, two number one charity singles and in total 14 number one singles by contestants including winners and runners up. In Sunday night’s final, multiple advertising breaks will bombard the 20,000,000 viewers netting multi-million revenues from companies wishing to reach the largely young audience with their products. It’s a win/win situation all round as the cameras pull in the home crowd and a celebrity career beckons for all the finalists. According to the shows own definition of itself, the “X Factor” of the title refers to the indefinable “something” that makes for star quality. The Bible’s X Factor is Jesus. He too drew the crowds but not the cash. His fame was not in singing but in that definable something which separated him from everyone else who ever lived. He was, is and always will be the living God. In the words of St John, “He has made God known”. This knowledge, St John tells us is eternal life. The fact that Joey beat Olly will soon be forgotten by all but the keenest fans. The fact the Jesus triumphed by his cross to demonstrate God’s love for his own will never be forgotten. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” St John chapter 3 verse 16.

There seems to be no end to the story of Thierry Henry’s foul deed on the playing fields of Paris. He was caught, red handed so to speak, by the ever watchful TV cameraman. The referee was unsighted and the linesmen were no help to him. The goal that put us out of the world cup was allowed and the injustice fixed indelibly in the Irish psyche. Henry is a professional and knew what he had done. After a brief celebration he told the referee that he had handled the ball, a kind of confessional statement which helped his conscience but not the result. The referee’s reaction, assisted by the jubilation of the home crowd, was to tell Henry that his job was to referee and Thierry’s was to play football. A somewhat ironic reply as the referee had just learned that Thierry had been playing handball! In some respects a Church leader is like a referee. He has to know the rules in the Bible and how to interpret them. He will try to get into the best position to make a decision, taking advice from his colleagues if they are in a better position. One thing he must not do is to pay attention to the crowd. They are biased in their support and passionate with their advice. This is evidenced by the fact that for a substantial portion of the crowd the referee is always wrong! St Paul gave Church leaders an abbreviated job description when he wrote to the church at Colosse, using his ministry as an illustration, “Christ we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” Colossians chapter 1 verse 28. Sadly fouls do happen in church life. Some are premeditated others happen on impulse. God has equipped his leaders with yellow and red cards to be used in love with the ultimate restoration of the offender in view. May the living God guide us all as we try to follow his injunction….”speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ”. Ephesians Chapter 4 verse 15.

When St Peter was promised the Keys to heaven at Caesarea Philippi it was never imagined that his successors would use them to lock up so many childhoods as has been revealed in the Dublin diocesan report on clerical child abuse. The devastation caused to so many young lives by an organisation alleging to control the toll road to heaven reveals again the corruption that stems from a flawed theology. The inability to accept that one may be wrong is fairly universal but when an organisation claims to have a handle on the moral authority in the land it becomes doubly difficult to make amends. Looking into the abyss of ones self-righteousness is not a pretty sight and it is not surprising that people recoil in denial at what they see. After all St Peter reacted in denial to the accusation that he was a follower of Jesus. It needs the grace of God to produce the repentance which he showed when in reply to Jesus he said, “You know everything, you know that I love you”. St Peter’s reinstatement shows that failure in God’s economy need never be final. But note the reinstatement followed repentance which led to a changed life. Never again did St Peter deny his Lord. So what about the keys? (St Matthew ch.16 v 19). St Peter seems to have used them to unlock the door to the Samaritans (who were a mixed race of Jews/Gentiles) and then to the Gentiles. (Acts ch.8 and 10). With the Gospel now global the keys had done their job. But what about the authority to bind and loose that seemed to go with the keys? This was given to all the disciples by the risen Christ (St John ch.20 v 22) and mightily used by them and their fellow workers to proclaim the saving work of Christ throughout the known world. St Peter never forgot the lessons he had learned and was able to write to the churches, “God wants you to be …eager to serve, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock”. (1Pet.ch.5 v 2) We need a life changing repentance today in Ireland.

Rural Ireland descended on the Ploughing Championships at Athy in large numbers making the event the largest outdoor agricultural show in Europe. Aided by the dry weather and numerous cups of tea, business was brisk in the Baptist Associations Marquee which was our “home” for the 3 days. Some things never change and again we found the almost universal view that you will get to heaven by being good. Of course there are religious observations, mass going and pilgrimages but these seem to be more the props in the theatre of salvation. Basically you get there by being and doing good, of that there was a general air of certainty. Here was solid ground. It was bred into us. If we are going to be saved it will be on our record – and that record, we were told, was not all that bad. The Bible cuts a furrow through this type of thinking. It buries the weeds of our own ideas and performances under the coulter of the plough. In their place it reveals the fact that we are all sinners. There are no exceptions.  Any righteousness we may think we have the Bible likens to filthy rags.  God’s standard is infinitely higher than ours. How then can we be saved? Jesus said God’s word is the seed. Where it lands in good ground it becomes fruitful but first it must die. Jesus likened himself to that seed which had to die to bring forth life.  Out of his death for sinners is born new life for believers. Who are these believers? They are those who have died to self and turned to Jesus to receive this new life. They love him and as his Spirit enables them, they live for him. As one old-timer said, “less would not satisfy and more is not desired”. He is the incomparable Christ. What sort of furrow are you ploughing? Is your eye fixed on the marker which is Christ? Have you died to the old life of self effort and performance and put on the new life of serving Jesus? The change happens at the cross. The life of service begins not by returning to the rags of “good works” but by his transforming grace making everything we do an offering to him. As St Paul said to the Church at Colosse it was not a different furrow but having put our hand to the plough we do not look back, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

There is an old joke of the Australian lad who asked his father where he came from. His father sat him down and tried to explain about the birds and the bees. When he was finished the lad said, “that’s interesting Dad but my mate Patrick says he is from Ireland and I was wondering where I came from!” We all want to know where we came from, so much so that the RTE TV is running a popular series called “Who do you think you are?” In it celebrities are assisted in the task of tracing their forebears on both sides of the family. The uncovering of family secrets under the eye of the camera makes the unscripted show compelling viewing. Last year we gave a lift to a young American student who had fallen asleep on the bus and ended up a few miles from her hostel. She had come from South America where she traced her father’s roots and now she was in Ireland to see where her mother came from. The fact that her parents had separated in no way lessened her desire to know where her family originated. What light does the Bible throw on family trees? We find that Scripture has a high regard for lineage. In particular the human ancestry of Jesus is well documented. It is as if the human writers of the Bible were looking for the promised One who was to bruise the serpents head, Genesis Chapter 3 verse 15. As the years rolled by prophetic predictions sharpened the focus till the arrival of the Christ child came as foretold. Then the question was articulated by John the Baptist, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” In reply Jesus identified himself by the miracles and the preaching of the gospel as the Messiah – God had visited earth. So when was the mortal blow delivered to the serpent? It was at the cross where the last enemy, death, was defeated by the resurrection. As the poet put it:- The reign of sin and death is over, And all may live from sin set free; Satan has lost his mortal power It is swallowed up in victory. In the end of the day our earthly roots don’t matter. What matters is whether we are rooted in Christ. St Paul’s description of the Christian’s new family relationship says it all: “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians Chapter 3 verses 17/19.

This was the week when the sun began to shine! It had had a couple of months off and so the Met office’s announcement of stable areas of high pressure was greeted by a mixture of relief and jubilation. The land, so long soaked in rain, began to firm up. Drains that had been blocked were now accessible and cleared to hasten the departure of the surface water. The sound of the combine harvesters could be heard as they gingerly made their way into the soft ground of the grain fields. The heads of the grain, threatening to sprout if left any longer, were speedily carted off in high sided trailers to be checked out for quality, moisture content, etc at the mill. In the meadows, where hopes of a late crop of hay had looked unlikely, the mowers were out and the hay bobs were spinning the wet grass in the autumn sunlight in an effort to have it dried for the bailer before the fine weather ended. Not that there is any sign of it ending as I write. The swallows, who were lining up on the wires getting ready for their long flight to Africa, seem to be putting off the departure date to enjoy the sunshine. We too can enjoy it remembering God’s promise, given after the global flood; “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” The promise is confirmed by the rainbow, the covenant sign given by a covenant keeping God. But this is not the way it seems to be for a lot of people with famine and flood reported in many lands. The promise of seedtime and harvest gets overturned by vicious weather patterns. Some might put these down to global warming but the Bible says the over-arching reason is that God has subjected his creation to frustration and decay. Rusting cars, sick bodies and the universal aging process all testify to it. We are not here forever! St Paul, writing to the church at Rome, says there is a parallel between the struggle in creation and the struggle against sin in the life of the believer. He writes, ”We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies”. The awaited new heavens and new earth he sees as mirroring the believer who is described as “a new creation” awaiting the complete transformation when he will really be like his saviour Jesus Christ. As St John puts it:- “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Seedtime and Harvest point us to that great harvest day when the angels will be the reapers and all those in Christ will be gathered in the heavenly home. Make sure you are there. Trust Jesus.

In an earlier era Castor Oil was deemed to be the panacea for all ills – at least those of the sore stomach variety. It tasted foul! But in those days this was evidence that it would do you good. “If it’s not hurting it’s not working” was the notion. The Castor Oil bottle was the most dreaded item in the medicine cupboard but it had one virtue – it worked! Following our years of profligacy, the Government has prescribed a dose of NAMA as the cure for our financial ills. It will not taste good. “No gain without pain” appears to be the appropriate slogan. The anticipation of it has sent the Government ratings down to an all time low and the naive media men wonder how this could be! The balancing act is due to begin in the middle of the month. On the one hand there has to be a realistic valuation of the loans made on foot of grossly overvalued assets; a valuation which will not put the taxpayer in hock for generations to come. On the other hand if the value of these assets is too low the banks will fail, business will grind to a halt, the International Monetary Fund will take over and we will become the serfs of Europe. In Bible times, Israel was under Roman occupation, taxes were heavy and unjustly applied. The Pharisees and the Herodians who were the religious separatists and politicians of their day, questioned Jesus on the vexed question of paying tax to Caesar. “Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” they asked. It was a loaded question. If Jesus answered “Pay your taxes” he would have been unpopular with the people. If he answered “Do not pay your taxes” he would have been in trouble with the Roman authorities. What would Jesus do? Jesus asked them to bring him a denarius – a Roman coin worth approximately a day’s wages – and asked, “whose likeness is this on the coin?” “Caesar’s they replied. Jesus said, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Jesus had two worlds in view. The one we call the “real” world where we have to pay taxes and bail out bad banks and the Kingdom of God. The question for you and me is “who is in God’s likeness?” The Bible says we are created in his image. The implication for us today is that we are to give our lives to God, who made us in his likeness, to live for him under his rule. Jesus invitation remains open today: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

There can be few examples of the misuse of power that exceed that of an adult kidnapping and abusing a child. The helplessness of the victim illustrated by Jaycee Dugard, kidnapped at age 11 on her way to school, contrasts strongly with the power of the kidnapper, Philip Garrido and his wife Nancy. Philip Garrido was first charged with kidnap and rape at the age of 20. He was convicted and appears to have been imprisoned from 1976 to1988 when he was released on parole. This did not deter him from kidnapping Jaycee in 1991, 3 years later. The case bears some resemblance to that of Josef Fritzel who went to elaborate lengths to imprison his captive in specially constructed cells under his house. Garrido appears to have relied less on incarceration and more on creating a physiological prison for his victim. Comparatively speaking Jaycee was permitted some liberty. She seems to have had access to fresh air and the “freedom” to move about the secured back garden. This has left her feeling guilty for “bonding” with her abductor and not attempting to escape. It is likely that the two daughters, now aged 11 and 15 fathered by Garrido, occupied her time and complicated any escape plans she might otherwise have made. Garrido has some sort of religious streak where, according to his blog, God had given him the ability “to speak in the tongue of angels in order to provide a wake-up call that will in time include the salvation of the entire world”. What is even more alarming is the reaction of the hundreds of “bloggers” who have left comments on the site in the last few days. This has become something of a lightning rod attracting vicious remarks of a uniformly merciless variety. What does the Word say? Let’s start with the portion Garrido partially quoted. It reads, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” The absence of love in Garrido’s actions and in the comments on his blog show that love is in short supply. The sort of love the Bible speaks of is seen most clearly in Jesus. St John defines it for us, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”. Jesus had the ultimate power position on the cross. He could have come down from it as the priests suggested. Instead he showed the ultimate love for sinners in providing a way for all who repent to get right with God.  This is the message of salvation that has been already provided for the world.  It is for Garrido and it is for you.

Give something a bad name and it sticks! The more benign medical term H1N1 has been superseded by the user friendly but more sinister “swine”. It is as if the characteristics of the pig go along with the sneezes! The one who sneezes, without using a tissue and, as the HSE campaign shows in a lift full of people, has merited the name! Flu’s come and flu’s go but health is always a major topic. Our very salutation “How are you today” is a friendly way of expressing our interest. The phrase “Bless you” related to more ominous times when a sneeze often heralded the onslaught of the “Black death”. The articulating of the blessing was intended to enlist the protection of the Almighty. Indeed the Bible recounts the tragic story of King Asa who, when he took ill, did not seek the Lord but relied solely on his physicians. The fact of illness as a present reality in a fallen world is acknowledged in Scripture just as there is healing in Christ’s atonement. As Matthew, quoting Isaiah put it in Chapter 8 verses 16/17, “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” The perfect health that Christ’s healing ministry points to will be the condition of the believers’ resurrected body. At present God is pleased to graciously grant, from time to time, a foretaste of the complete healing that awaits his people in the glory. These blessings come from answered prayer and themselves point to the complete healing, both spiritual and physical , that St Peter spoke about, in 1 Peter Chapter 2 verse 24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” The wonderful message for those who place their faith in the work of Christ on the cross on their behalf is that H1N1 or any other ailment is temporary, may be cured here and now but certainly will be in the hereafter. For those who have not yet committed themselves to Christ, may I commend that you turn to him and commit your life, health and future to him in prayer. He will answer and the promises in his Word will be fulfilled.

There is an undercurrent, seldom expressed but often implied, in our society that when a person “gets religion” he should do the decent thing and enter the church. The honest thing to do is surely to join with the like-minded. To be suitably labelled with reversed collar or other distinctive garb ensures the safety of normal people from dangerous trends in conversation. In fact not to become one of the “religious” is most disrespectful of ones fellow creatures. Without the dress code to give the game away normal decent people are at risk!  There is the possibility of them getting under the radar so to speak and ask the awkward question or go where no man has gone before and utter the startling words “are you saved?” Of course decent people don’t need to be saved – the very idea! Have we not been through the ceremonies? Has there not been a whole plethora of clergy involved to say nothing of the might of the church already?  Any notion of a possible lack in my religious armour is laughable. Let the “born again” ones bang their heads against the might of my defences! I have been conversion-proofed!  I have the certificates to prove it! So what to do when they bring up Jesus? I tell them my story. How I come from a long line of religious. I’ve been up the mountain, round the lough, down the catacombs and into the relics!  And don’t bring up that original sin business; I got rid of that long ago. But the Bible teaches that the reason we die has to do with sin[1]. The reason Jesus died proved that he was bearing our sin. The reason Jesus could rise from the grave proved that he had made atonement for our sin and was himself sinless[2].  To be saved from our sins, especially our unbelief[3] is why Jesus came to earth. Believers are called to be witnesses to Jesus[4]; who he is; why he came; what he did; and how simple faith in him, in God’s eyes makes a sinner into a saint[5]. So if you are a believer – be what you are, a witness. If you are not a believer trust in Jesus who calls you to your true vocation to witness for him where he has placed you. [1] Romans Chapter 6 verse 23. [2] 2 Corinthians Chapter 5 verse 21. [3] St John’s Gospel Chapter 8 verse 24. [4] Acts Chapter 1 verse 8. [5] Philippians Chapter 4 verse 21.