The last couple of months have been very busy  -  working for LICC, writing my book, speaking engagements, doing all the Christmas stuff, and for the last week we've enjoyed a family re-union with our younger daughter Jeni who's been over from the States and our older daughter Catriona who came up from London with her husband Chris.

Which is all by way of explanation for the fact that I haven't blogged for such a long time.  I just didn't realise so much time had passed since my last offering.  But I'm back  -  and there's a few things to say.

The first is an apology for the fact that the video clips have gone down.  I'm not quite sure what's gone wrong, but we're looking at it and hope to have them up and running again as soon as possible.

And the second thing is to let you know that we've updated the calendar right through to the end of 2010.  So for those folk who check what I'm doing and want my services you can see at a glance when I've got a space in the year.

Thirdly, I want to thank everyone who supports my ministry  -  and that of Margaret, too,  -  by your prayers.  We really appreciate that.  Please don't stop.  We are very much aware of God's goodness and very grateful for all the opportunities for ministry that we have.

I'll follow this up with anothetr posting soon. 

Until then,  if you have been, thanks for reading this.

‘The English Marriage’ is the title of a new book by Maureen Waller.  But if you’re thinking that this is a story of blissful unions, then you’re sadly wrong.  The book’s sub-title  -  ‘talesof love, money and adultery’  -  gives some idea of its tone and content.  One reviewer describes it as ‘a collection of marital horror stories from 1465 to the present day’, and adds that ‘like all good horror stories, it runs an icy finger down your spine’. 

Here’s just one example of the kind ofmarriages the author examines: 

In 1785Mary Eleanor Bowes, the great-great-great-great-grandmother of the present QueenElizabeth II, applied for a divorce from her second husband. 

The grounds on which she made her application included ‘adultery, beating, scratching, biting, pinching, whipping, kicking, imprisoning, insulting, provoking, tormenting, mortifying, degrading, tyrannising, cajoling, deceiving, lying, starving, forcing, compelling,and...wringing of the heart’.

Even at this distance in time you can’t help feeling sorry for this poor woman and angry with the selfish, fortune-hunting con-man who abused her so terribly.  Thisis not a book designed to strengthen your trust in the goodness of humanity or in the sanctity of matrimony.

But that is certainly not the whole picture,thank God!  

I know many happy and healthy marriages; I am myself the product of a happy and healthy marriage;  and, of course, I have enjoyed a wonderfully happy and healthy marriage for these past 41 years.  It just keeps getting better, so Margaret and I are really looking forward to the next 41 years!

That’s why I’m delighted when people discover for themselves that there is no better way to live and raise a family than in marriage. 

I was reviewing the newspapers today for the Sunday Morning programme on BBC Radio Manchester and I picked out this story from ‘The People’:

Soccer ace Rio Ferdinand has revealed how turning 30 beat his fear of getting MARRIED.

Rio had vowed never to wed Rebecca Ellison, 28, despite being together for nine years and having two kids.

But the England and Manchester United defender finally tied the knot with pretty Rebecca this summer.

Rio, brought up in Peckham, in South London, said: "I'd always warned her I was not the marrying kind. I just hated the thought of a wedding. It terrified me.

"My own parents never married and they split up when I was 14.

"I didn't know anyone who was married when I was growing up in Peckham. Or, if they had married, it was already over.

"It was accepted that people just moved in together and went their own way if the relationship wasn't right.

"But once I turned 30, I began to grow up. Hitting the big Three-O changed everything.

It made me realise I was missing out."

Good on you, Rio! 

I just hope and pray that Rio and his wife have as much joy and pleasure in their marriage and family as Margaret and I have.

Just one thought...

If a talented footballer who’s been as famous for his partying as for his exploits on the field can settle down to marriage, do you think there’s any possibility of me fulfilling a life-long dream and becoming a professional soccer player? 

Hmm...maybe not.  Probably too late for that!

If you have been, thanks for reading this.

You might notice that the title of this blog posting is also the title of a new page on which  -  because of the interest it seems to have aroused  -  you'll find the text of my message at the service for the Conservative Party Conference.

The main thrust of my message was simply that the church has both the right to be heard and the responsibility to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. Let me comment briefly on both of those things...

We have the right to be heard because of the truths we hold dear and because of the involvement of Christians in working to bring the reality of God's kingdom into every aspect of life.  But that means that the opposite is also true:  if we fail to live out the truths of the gospel and if we retreat from practical involvement in the world, then we have no right to be heard.  So the challenge is to continune to be both thinking and active disciples of Jesus engaging with the prevailing culture and responding to human need.

And we have a responsibility to speak for those who might otherwise not be heard.  The gospel has a bias to the oppressed and marginalised.  It is good news for the poor.  It is all about setting captives free.

This afternoon I took part in a debate on radio with Adam Harbinson.  Adam is a writer and journalist from Northern Ireland who is a follower of Jesus who has given up on church.  He just doesn't go any longer.  He says, 'I don't have to, I don't want to, and I don't need to.'  In all honesty I had more than a little sympathy with some of his criticisms of the church.  But I think he's wrong.  We can't give up on it.

Why?  Because it's the body of Christ on earth, called to do his work, called to live out the gospel, called to declare the truth in word and deed.  Of course, it's not exempt from the central condition of following Jesus  -  the church  -  just as individuals have to do  -  must die in order to live.  It must die to everything in its culture and its practices that is unlike Jesus.   But that isn't the death of rejection and abandonment.  It is the death that lays everything on the altar of mission and discovers resurrection and renewal.

And only insofar as the church is willing to do that will we win the right to be heard by politicians and the world at large.  But, as Bill Hybels has said, when the church is truly to the body of Christ it is the hope of the world.

But it's late and I must sleep!

If you have been, thanks for reading this.

I was intending to tell you about my retreat in Madrid.  It certainly was an interesting time.  Three things stand out:

• we had hours of great theological conversation sat in street cafes drinking coffee in brilliant sunshine
• we did the tour of the Bernabeu Stadium  -  home of Real Madrid  -  and even got to sit in the home team dug-out
• we got thrown out of a monastery when my mobile went off!

But I'll have to return to that later, because something very surprising has happened.  I've got a mention in the Daily Mail!  (For those readers who are not familiar with English tabloid newspapers, the Daily Mail is  -  well, it's the Daily Mail.  It's pretty far to the right of centre, it's not the most reliable source of news in the UK, and if you're ever seen with a copy you lose a lot of credibility with a lot of your friends!)

Quentin Lett's political column in the issue of the paper for 26th September, '09 has picked up on the fact that I've been invited to be the speaker at the service to mark the opening of the Conservative Party Conference which is due to be held in Manchester next week.  The headline for the article gives a fair idea of the standard of penetrating journalism that follows:

Holy moly,  the Tories have gone all happy-clappy

The happy-clappy thing is bad enough in itself.  But the article gets worse.  The bit that refers to me reads as follows:

The preacher will be a shavenheaded, ex-Salvation Army stalwart, Chick Yuill (his books include And God Created Sex).

As everyone who knows me is aware, I've long since lost my hair, and what's left I keep fairly short.  But to describe me as 'shaven-headed'  makes me sound like some kind of skinhead!  He probably thinks I'm a soccer hooligan.  And the reference to the fact that I've written 'And God Created Sex...' says everything about the kind of stories in which this newspaper delights.

But the bit that really annoyed me was the reference to Hannah Atkins, an intelligent and gifted young musician and social activist, who is taking part in the service:

Worshippers will be helped towards prayer by a 'social justice artist' called Hannah Atkins. Blonde cutie Hannah specialises in folktronica music, 'achingly simple and never easy to describe'

I'm tempted to ask when this sad man last visited planet earth!  What kind of journalist writes sexist garbage like that and what kind of responsible newspaper would publish an article that describes a woman as a 'blonde cutie'?  The bit about me makes me laugh.  The bit about Hannah is just downright insulting and makes me plain mad.

(If you want to check out the whole article just Google   Daily Mail  Chick Yuill)

But here's the point of telling you this.  The article says so much about how some people view the Christian Church.  So I'd value your prayers that at the service I will speak courteously but courageously about the responsbility of the church in a democracy and about the relationship between the gospel and politics.

I'll let you know what happens.

And, as always  -  if you have been, thanks for reading this.

For those who don't know, the title of this blog posting is the opening line of a popular song of yesteryear.  However, I'm not taking a nostalgic trip down memory lane.  It's just a way of telling you that in the morning I'm off to Spain with three good mates of mine.  We're part of a group called THINK that meets monthly to do just that  -  to  think about some of the big issues of Christian faith and practice.

It's a really stimulating group to which we feel very strongly committed.  So, in order to try to discern a little more clearly what God might be saying to us about the future, we've decided to take three days away to think and pray together.  OK, I admit it.  We've chosen Madrid because it's a great city, because the airfares are cheap, because the food is good, and because we'd like to take a look at the famous Bernabeau Stadium  -  home of Real Madrid.  So I'll own up straight away and confess that we might do more prayer and feasting than prayer and fasting!

But that's OK.  Of course, it's important that in all things we remember that we are stewards of the good things God has given us.  It's important that we remember our responsibility to those who are less well off than we are.  It's important to remember that giving is more important than getting.  But it's also important to take time to pray in an atmosphere of celebration. 

I take my cue from Jesus on that.  The Pharisees accused him of being a wine-bibber.  They complained because he seemed to find a lot more fun in life than John the Baptist.  He wasn't their idea of a spiritual leader.  How wrong they were!  And how wonderfully right he was.  He loved two things above everything else  -  people and parties!  Check out the gospels if you think I'm exaggerating that.

So this week four people are going to pray together in a party atmosphere in Madrid.  And I for one hope more than anything else that we constantly sense the presence of a fifth Person  -  the one who makes every party complete.

And just one thing more, for the benefit of all my Salvation Army mates.  I'll be partying with water and soft drinks.  I'm as tee-total as ever!

If you have been, thanks for reading this.

How time flies!  If you check into my website regularly and if you look at my calendar, then you'll know that, apart from a few engagements, I've taken the last couple of months as a sabbatical in order to get on with some writing.  I did mean to keep my blog up to date with regular postings, but I'm afraid that my head got so stuck in the book I'm trying to write that I just didn't realise how long it had been since I wrote something here.

However, I'm alive and I'm back.  The book's coming along not too badly, although there's still a lot of writing to be done and one or two things to resolve with the publishers.  But hopefully, all will be well. 

And, I need your help.  Here's the deal.  The book is all about discipleship and I want to include with each chapter some brief testimonies/reflctions from people on what disicpleship means to them.  So how about it?  Have you something burning in your heart that you want to get off your chest?  (Wow, there's a mixed metaphor if ever there was one!)

I need contributions around 200 words long.  To stimulate your thinking, here are some angles you could come at it from.  How does discipleship for you relate to:

• being part of the church
• living prophetically
• getting involved in politics and public life
• taking part in protests
• evangelism and mission
• the resurrection of Jesus
• the kingdom of God
• the return of Jesus

Obviously, you'll appreciate that I can't promise to include every contribution, but I certainly will look at every one very carefully.

Are you up for it?  Hope to hear from you.

And, as always  -  if you have been, thanks for reading this!

The news of the death of Michael Jackson has reminded me of the January day in 1993 when for the first and only time our paths crossed.  Margaret and I had an 8 hour lay-over at Narita Airport in Tokyo on our way to New Zealand where I was speaking at a Youth event.  Eight hours is a very long time to kill, so after I'd drunk my coffee and read my book I went wandering round the airport to see if I could find anything interesting.

That's when I came on an enormous crowd of people and an excited buzz of conversation  -  all in Japanese, of course, which meant I couldn't understand a word of what was being said.  But it looked too interesting to miss, so I took a chance on an official looking person wearing some kind of uniform and asked him what was happening.  Fortunately he spoke enough English to understand me and quickly informed me that Michael Jackson had just landed and was about to pass through that part of the airport.

Now one of the really good things about being in Japan was that, for the first time in my life, I was above average height.  So I made use of my height and weight advantage and pushed my way to the front of the crowd just in time to see Jacko pass in front of me surrounded by half a dozen minders.  The whole thing lasted about thirty seconds and then he was gone.  We've never met since!

But here's the thing that's set me thinking today.  Here in Britain  -  and I guess it's been the same around the world  -  his death has had an enormous impact.  Serious news programmes are not only making his passing their headline story, they're also devoting the greater part of their scheduling to an analysis of the man and his music.  Even more significant in many ways is the outpouring of grief from thousands of people, the vast majority of whom have never had the opportunity I had to see him in the flesh.  The latest BBC news programme I watched less than an hour ago was suggesting that his passing has had a greater impact even than that of Princess Diana!

And I can't help asking 'Why?'  Why has this enormously talented  but deeply troubled and confused human being had such an effect on the lives of so many.  No doubt much of it is due to the fact that his music has been the sound track to the lives of an entire generation of people.  But there's more to it than that I suspect.  Here is a man who has not only spent millions of dollars on empty trivia but whose reputation has been sullied by accusations of child abuse which he was never able to shake off.  And yet he is admired and even loved by millions.

It is 'way too soon for anyone to make a full assessment of his life and legacy.  But I wonder how much of the grief that is being felt relates to the fact that for his entire life Michael Jackson remained a vulnerable child.  There's something terribly poignant about those early clips of his singing with the Jackson Five, something very moving about the images of a sweet little kid dancing and singing with an abandon that still touches the heart.  And there's something deeply disturbing about those stories of his Dad who never told young Michael that he loved him, who pushed him mercilessly, and who told him he was ugly.

Maybe, just maybe, there's a lesson to be learnt here.  We're all vulnerable little kids really.  We all need to be loved and encouraged and hugged.  Which is probably why Jesus always spoke of God as his Father and insisted that the secret of success in his Kingdom is to become like a little child again.  Maybe,just maybe, the talented, flawed, disturbed Michael Jackson can help us to rediscover the meaning of life.  And, if the gospel is true, it's not too much to hope that, at the last, he too has discovered that secret for himself.

Well, once again it's been 'way too long since I did my last blog posting.  I've been on the road for most of the last couple of weeks  -  two days in the Lake District presenting three sessions at a writers' school, one day speaking to a group of pastors from the Nazarene Church, two days in London meeting the staff at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, three days in Oxford leading a church retreat week-end, home for just one day, then three days at a church planting conference back in the Lake District, home for a couple of days, before leading a week-end in Ripley!  All of which I relate, not to impress you  -  honest!  - but just to let you see that I've got an excuse (well, kind of!)  for neglecting my blogging duties.

Having got that out of the way, let me return to the issue of discipleship.  And first of all, I ought to acknowledge the comments of the good Mr Little!  I know exactly what you mean about the danger of dsicpleship becoming a kind of moral assault course.  Or, to change the analogy, an exercise in ticking off all the boxes.  I think the issue hinges on this:  discipleship is so often understood as fitting in with a church culture.  In truth, however, it is really all about following Christ, getting to know him, modelling my life on his, living and loving as he lived and loved. 

To face the question head-on:  How do you measure progress in that following?  It isn't easy, partly because the moment you start measuring your progress you've taken your attention away from Jesus and focussed on yourself.  I think the best one can do is to hold to those three things I listed last time  -  stay committed to following Jesus, stay committed to a company of Jesus-followers, and stay committed to intentional spiritual formation.  Be a life-long learner and leave the judging of your progress to the Master and to others.

And I'll add just one thing this time:

committed to a discerning engagement with the prevailing culture

Discipleship is not withdrawal from the world.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  Disciples must be constantly discerning  -  they must never lose their heart to the world around them with all it's confused values;  but disciples must also be constantly dying  -  dying to self, dying to personal ambition.  They do not lose their heart to the world;  that belongs to Jesus;  but they may well give their life for it in service and sacrifice.

Discipleship  -  to use John Stott's memorable phrase  -  involves a 'double listening':  listening to God's word and listening to God's world in order that we can understand God's will for our times.  We must be like the Men of Issachar in the Old Testament who 'understood the times and knew what Israel should do.'

And finally,  check out the new section on LICC (The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity)  and you'll understand one reason why I'm thinking so much about discipleship.

If you have been, thanks for listening

For all sorts of reasons  -  the teaching I've been doing at Spring Harvest, the stuff I've been reading, my own faith-journey  -  I've been thinking about what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus.  I'll come back to this in my next posting, but here are my first three dynamics:

committed to following Jesus

This might seem so obvious that it doesn't need saying, but I'm not so sure.  The whole point of discipleship in first century Palestine was that the disicple became the apprentice of his rabbi.  He didn't just learn great truths from his teacher; he modelled his life on his teacher  -  he wanted to be like him in every way.  So it seems to me that, if we are serious about discipleship, then we need to take the gospels more seriously than we have done: we need to read them carefully, we need to read them imaginatively, we need to get under the skin of what the gospel-writers have to say about Jesus, and we need to make him the pattern for our lives.

What would Jesus Do? needs to become a guide rather than a glib mantra

committed to a company of Jesus-followers

We use the word 'fellowship' very glibly in Christian circles.  Often it means little more than a handshake at the door of the church or a cup of coffee at the end of a service.  Real discipleship demands much more than that.  Jesus called 12 men who walked with him and shared their lives together.  The gospels reveal the best and the worst about that little company, their victories and their failures, their insights and their stupidities.  But they hung together and they grew together and they were the first building blocks of the church. 

Disciples need to be part of the kind of group that will appreciate them and hold them accountable for their progress or lack of it.  One of the most significant developments of our time is the rise of the 'new monasticism' in which men and women who are serious about following Jesus commit to share their lives together.  Full blown monastic communities will not be the way for most of us, but it seems to me that something of that ilk is necessary if we are serious about discipleship.

committed to intentional spiritual formation

I think we've abused the great doctrine of justification by faith.  Sure, we've rightly emphasised that we cannot earn God's favour, that God loves us simply because he loves us, that we are accepted and forgiven purely because of his grace.  But, all too often, we then make the assumption that spiritual growth and progress in discipleship happen automatically.  Anybody who has been involved in any kind of local church knows that that just isn't true!  Most of the problems in churches centre around the fact that too many Christians never grow up in grace.

I guess there's an analogy between grace and a God-given talent.  I may be a naturally gifted pianist  -  I'm not, of course, but you know what I mean!  -  but how good I become will depend on how hard I practice and whether I learn from the best teachers and the most gifted performers.  In the same way, God gives us his grace so that we might co-operate with him, 'walk in the Spirit' as Paul puts it in his letters.

The great spiritual disciplines  -  prayer, fasting, study, meditation, worship, service, solitude  -  they're all part of the pathway we follow.  The great saints across the centuries  -  from Benedict to Booth  - are all guides from whose wisdom and counsel we might benefit greatly.

OK that's as far as I'm going for the moment, but I'll come back to this.  In the meantime, I'd be glad to have your response on this.

And...if you have been, thanks for listening!

This is a quick posting...

I've just been home a couple of days after Spring Harvest.  A great week and a great experience.  And now I'm off to London for a meeting of the Chapel Street Community Fund trustees this evening followed by a couple of easy days before I run the Marathon on Sunday.  So I'll let you know how I get on as soon as I get back home on Monday.

For the moment, I'll content myself with answering the question that people sometimes ask when they know you're running the Marathon:  Why on earth do you do it?  There are several answers...

• Because I can!  I just feel so fortunate and blessed to be able to do it.
• Because it feels great when you've done it.
• Because it's the ideal event for people like me who love sport but who've never been any good at it.  Anyone can run the Marathon who can put one foot in front of the other and keep doing it.
• Because there's no other sport in the world where they'd let me take part in the same event as the really good people.  I'll be runing with (well, I'll be running a long way behind, actually) some world-class athletes.
• Because people give me money for good causes when I do it.
• Because I get to do it with lots of other people.
• Because the crowd cheers me on.

Now, if you read through those bullet points again.  You'll discern another reason.  It's the ideal event for a preacher!  It's full of parallels with the Christian life.  But I'll let you work those out for yourself.

If you have been, thanks for listening...