Developing disciplined habits of devotion

Turmoil on the streets, in schools and in matters of state: what has gone wrong?

Two chaotic scenes shown on television this week speak volumes about the state of the British nation today. One was a short film about a school for excluded pupils showing young people whose behaviour was so disruptive they had been banned from mainstream education. They were some of nearly 50,000 dysfunctional or ill pupils taught in alternative provision schools.

The second was Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons with 600 representatives of the people all shouting at the same time and no-one listening to anyone else. This was the Mother of Parliaments in action – the oldest and most respected political institution in Western democracy. Brexit fever had spread its pernicious toxin across the House and sanity had fled the building. Chaos reigned supreme.

I went into my study and wept. What has gone wrong with the nation I have loved and served throughout my working life? Is there any word from the Lord? Isaiah 31 came to me. The Assyrian Empire was at its height and many in Israel feared invasion. In Jerusalem there was a strong pro-Egyptian party who had persuaded the king to send emissaries with lavish gifts to sign a treaty binding them with Egypt. The word of the Lord came to the Prophet Isaiah,

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strengths of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord…But the Egyptians are men and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, he who helps will stumble, he who is helped will fall; both will perish together.

How apposite this is for our current situation! When do we ever hear any of our political leaders ask if there is any word from the Lord? Of course, it should be obvious that if M. Barnier and the European Union are happy with the deal, it must raise doubts as whether it will be good for Britain. But the greatest need among our Members of Parliament is for spiritual discernment, which is woefully lacking at present.

When do we ever hear any of our political leaders ask if there is any word from the Lord?

Facing Turmoil

No-one, however, could fail to admire the resilience of the Prime Minister facing a baying pack of critics in the House of Commons with insults and jibes thrown at her from all sides, yet she answered each one with dignity and confidence. At the end of the day she held a televised press conference in the full view of the nation and defended the deal she had struck with Brussels, saying that her major objectives had been achieved and Britain would be leaving the European Union on 29 March 2019.

Her objective has been to seek an arrangement that would ensure frictionless trade with the rest of Europe while at the same time taking back responsibility for our borders; but safeguarding the position of EU workers in Britain and British citizens resident in Europe.

Her objective has also been to get out of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fishing Policy which have favoured foreign producers. Above all, a major objective has been to ensure that Britain is free from the rules and regulations of the European Court of Justice and all the other legal impositions of Brussels. This is where there are major doubts among those who have fought for many years to be free from the EU and return sovereignty to the British Parliament.

Anti-Brexit protestors in Westminster this week. NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA ImagesAlongside all these objectives has been the complication of the border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. No one wants to return to a hard border, but the DUP, whose 10 votes in the House of Commons are needed for a Government majority, do not want Ulster to be treated any different from other parts of the UK.

Most of the politicians shouting abuse at Theresa May had not read the 580-page document jointly agreed by the negotiators from Britain and Brussels. It will no doubt be argued over for a long time and there will still be hardline Brexiteers who will prefer Britain to leave the EU with no deal than one that keeps Britain tied to European laws and customs-regulations for an ill-defined period.

The weakness of all those opposing the EU deal is that they have no rational alternative. They all appear to be a bunch of individuals peddling their own political ambitions - in contrast to the statesmanlike conviction of the Prime Minister.

The greatest need among our MPs is for spiritual discernment, which is woefully lacking at present.

Nation Under Judgment

The turmoil in the House of Commons and out on the streets of Westminster is something never before seen in my lifetime. There is a simple reason for this: we are a nation under judgment. Since the 1950s, one law after another has been passed in our Parliament that violates biblical values and teaching. The final red line was the passing of The Same-Sex Marriage Act in 2013.

This was not only directly against God’s act of creation in making human beings male and female in his own image, but it also further undermined the central importance of marriage and family in the social structure of the nation. This, together with all of the other laws which have enabled and encouraged family breakdown, is why we are now seeing so many children and young people who have no understanding of right and wrong and whose behaviour is uncontrollable. And this is why so many young people are dying on our city streets in a wave of knife crime, drugs and gang warfare.

Our politicians are infected with the same spirit of rebellion that we see among young people. Once you reject the word of God, ultimate standards of truth and righteousness disappear from the nation. If Parliament rejects the deal offered by the EU and agreed with the Prime Minister, the only alternatives are a ‘No Deal’ or another referendum. But a second referendum would only increase division and bring utter disaster, releasing uncontrollable anarchy on the streets.

It is important to remember that the European Union is also under judgment for having rejected the word of the Lord and scorned its centuries of Judeo-Christian heritage. In the near future, I believe we will see one nation after another enveloped in turmoil across Europe with rising nationalism tearing aside the false unity created by Brussels with their one-size-fits-all, secular-pagan politics.

The turmoil in Westminster is for one simple reason: we are a nation under judgment.

Pray for Mercy

If Britain were a godly nation we should simply leave the European Union, with or without a deal, and put our trust in the Lord, who would undoubtedly respond with protection and prosperity. But without faith we are likely to be driven by spirits of darkness.

The future of Britain is at greater risk today than at any time since the darkest days of Dunkirk in 1940. Will God have mercy upon us for the sake of our godly heritage and the faithful remnant of believers who are still interceding at the throne of grace?

Christians: Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong (1 Cor 16:13). And pray: pray for a spirit of repentance to fall among our politicians. Pray for eyes to be opened to the realities of what has gone wrong. Pray for prophetic voices to arise to call the nation back to God. Pray for mercy in the midst of judgment.

Three books from the well-known Rector of St Aldate's Church, Oxford.

Charlie Cleverly is the Rector of St Aldate’s Church in Oxford and has authored several books. Here we feature three that are highly recommended by some of our reviewers.

The Passion That Shapes Nations (Victor, 2005)

Although written some years ago now, this book is timeless in terms of its subject matter and relevance. The author contends that in times when the Christian faith is under fire, what is needed is “a resurrection of the spirit of the witnesses/martyrs” (p17). His book is a contribution towards the ‘unforgetting’ of those who have gone before, whose stories of courage and conviction can easily be overlooked and yet have so often founded a stronger Christian witness in the nations where God has placed them.

By operating within the principle of sacrificial love and often paying the ultimate price of a martyr’s death, their passion for Christ has indeed helped shape nations.

In a sense, this book follows in the tradition of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and at times Cleverly quotes from it, but this is no repetition of material found elsewhere or just a catalogue of those who have died for their faith. The author dwells on their lives, not just their deaths, knowing that this will inspire us far more to serve God faithfully in our own circumstances.

This is a contribution towards the ‘unforgetting’ of those who have gone before, whose stories of courage and conviction can easily be overlooked.

Inevitably, selecting which martyrs to include from “so great a cloud of witnesses” is a difficult task. It is no surprise to find chapters on Polycarp, Wycliffe and Tyndale, Latimer and Ridley, Bonhoeffer and Schneider. But there are others, less well known, whose stories also deserve to be told.

The author focusses on James Hannington and the Uganda Martyrs, the Chinese Church (one of the longest chapters) and those suffering under Islamic persecution, which is described as the “third most prolific cause of martyrdom of Christians in history” (p144).

Each chapter tells its own story; it might be that the best approach to the book is not to read it all at once but to consider a chapter a day over a period of time. That way the individual stories can stand out in their own right rather than being lost in a larger wave of information. Each one calls out to us today - their voices still speak across history. We would do well to listen.

The Passion that Shapes Nations (176pp, paperback) is available on Amazon.

The Discipline of Intimacy (Kingsway Publications, 2002)

This is a book on prayer and its principles, written for those who know that prayer is meant to be easy and yet who find it difficult, and for those who need inspiration and encouragement to pursue the deeper levels of intimacy which make prayer more of a joy than a duty.

The book is written “with the conviction that every Christian is called to pray” (p16) but that we do need to be taught (or, rather, disciplined) in order to become more effective in prayer.

The book is in two parts, the first being based upon the letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. In this section the author outlines several steps to intimacy as part of the process of developing a more disciplined prayer life. There is also a chapter on the Lord’s Prayer, entitled ‘The Master Plan of Prayer’ - a much better title than simply calling it a ‘model’ prayer!

The second part of the book is much longer and starts by asking ‘what is intercession?’ Each chapter in this section is prefaced by a ‘story of…’ based upon a biblical character such as Abraham, Hannah, Joel, Isaiah. This keeps the Bible continually before us as a guide to prayer.

This book is written for those who know that prayer is meant to be easy but find it difficult, and for those who need inspiration and encouragement in their prayer lives.

The longest chapter is reserved for praying for the nations, and within this is a very well-balanced and informative section on praying for Israel. The aim of praying for a nation is to see its divine destiny fulfilled. The author usefully includes an appendix containing some well-known prophecies for certain nations to help us understand that God does have plans for nations.

Other chapters in Part II include praying for the Church, and the seven prayer burdens of Christ. The latter is based upon John 17 and encourages us to enter into a ‘school of prayer’, with Christ as our Master. There are also reflections on the prayers of Jesus from the Cross - perhaps his shortest prayers to the Father but certainly some of the most deeply felt. He could only pray these prayers at that time because he had learnt the discipline of intimacy during his life. As he lived, so he died, in intimate prayer with his Heavenly Father.

The final chapter tackles the issue of prayer in times of barrenness, when God is silent. The book ends with a useful study guide with questions and reflections on each chapter.

This is not just another book on prayer but one that will last a lifetime, for those willing to engage in an unending journey of discipline and discovery.

The Discipline of Intimacy (238pp, paperback) is available on Amazon.

The Song of Songs (Hodder, 2015)

Charlie Cleverly has also written a detailed commentary on the Song of Songs, subtitled Exploring the Divine Romance. Drawing on a wide range of literary and theological sources, he presents a clear rounded understanding that combines the two different aspects of the Song: a sexually-charged love story and a metaphor of the relationship between God and his people.

A very helpful book for those who have previously neglected this portion of Scripture or who have tried to come to terms with it but found it rather puzzling or off-putting.

The Song of Songs (336pp, paperback) is available from the publisher for £9.99. Also on Amazon.