Voyeurs Anonymous?

It made me sad this week having to explain to my 9-year-old son that his pin-up hero Steven Gerrard was back in court on charges of assault. But the media loves airing the dirty laundry of these fallen celebrities.

Examples this week include headlines about singer Amy Winehouse punching someone, David Beckham getting in a debacle with a jeering fan, a 112 mph speeding nun, and the expense scandals of the BBC executives and even the Equalities and Human Rights Commissioners.

Jacob, after whom the nation of Israel was named, had undeniable celebrity status. His story continues in our Bible readings this week as more of his dirty laundry is apparently aired.

We read the grisly details of how he double-crossed his brother, exploited his father’s disability, had a bigamous relationship, and ended up with the family silver. But this is no reveling in the indiscretions of the rich and famous. This is gospel truth. So how should we react?

This week the news headlines took on personal significance for me. The deaths of children from swine flu, the hospitalised sufferers and the emergency H1N1 website which crashed because of demand on its launch became part of my story as my 3-year-old daughter and disabled 9-month-old foster daughter were diagnosed with the virus.

This is how it should feel as we read the story of Jacob. The story takes on personal significance as we struggle with all our bizarre family and work relationships.

Whether we are dealing with hopeless romantics, manipulative bosses, desperate housewives, sibling rivals or fallen heroes we can find our story in Jacob’s story, and our hope in God’s grace to a dysfunctional family.

Krish Kandiah

Krish Kandiah is Executive Director Churches in Mission at the Evangelical Alliance. He runs Slipstream the Evangelical Alliance's leadership e-letter and podcast. Sign up this month to win one of ten copies of Tim Keller's "The Prodigal God- recovering the heart of the Christian faith." http://www.eauk.org/slipstream
http://krishk.wordpress.com

WordLive - The Sequel

I’m delighted to announce that we have launched a new version of WordLive. You will see a few changes, including:

• A new simplified splash page (you’ll need to log out and type in http://www.wordlive.org/ again to see this).
• A new welcome video on the splash page to entice people to dive right in.
• A new visual way in to the content for each day. You’ll see a photo as part of the Pray First activity
• The content that is common for the whole week is now moved to the side of the page reducing some of the busyness of the wheel.
• If you click on ‘Give’ you will see some exciting new icons and some simplified procedures around donating. It is now possible to donate via direct debit.
• The blog (woohoo, that's this) is now pulled through directly on the main page.
• A newly created section called ‘About God’. This is a set of introductory items on the basics of Christianity. This section is ideal as a way in for those who are new to the Christian faith.
• There are also changes in the email making it a lot easier to read.
• You can also share content from WordLive using the Share button at the bottom of the activity. This can link through to key social network sites such as facebook etc.
• We’ve also radically revised the text in ‘About WordLive’. I recommend you read that through – it will equip you to talk about WordLive!

There are also a host of other changes which you won’t see which do various things such as making the log in process easier.

But don't take my word for it, take a look yourself.

Grab a God moment at WordLive.

The Bible is full of lies…

Did the British backpacker Jamie Neale really get lost in the Australian outback and survive an unprecedented 12 days on wild kangaroo berries and ‘large sheets of bark’?

Did the Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov really order the abduction and murder of a prominent human rights activist, Estemirova?

Did media baron, Rupert Murdoch, really know about the use of private detectives and phone tapping against Max Clifford, Alex Ferguson and members of the royal family?

Did Michael Jackson’s doctor really use Propofol to murder his pop legend employer?

Did the banks really expect to get away with paying out extravagant bonuses to its executives, despite having lost billions of pounds?

Did the media really hype the statistics regarding the swine flu pandemic?

Stories of secrets, lies and deception have filled the pages of our newspapers this week and they also fill the pages of our Bible reading this week. Jacob was born apparently biting at the heels of his hairy twin brother’s birthright, and his story fills dysfunctional families everywhere with hope.

From this ancestry comes Jesus Christ, who shows us a different way to live. Authenticity, integrity and honesty are those rare virtues that he models to us perfectly as the truth of God incarnate.

When we are tempted to be economical with the truth this week, let us turn in worship to our God who can never lie (see Numbers 23:19), who can work through liars and who can even redeem liars. Yes, really.

Krish Kandiah

http://krishk.wordpress.com/

Gr8 expectations…?

The bungling antics of Silvio Berlusconi looked set to hijack the G8 annual summit this week. As the world watched our key global leaders discussing the economic crisis, hunger, war and climate change, the Italian President’s broken promises and supposed night with a prostitute threatened to disrupt the whole proceedings.

But Berlusconi is not the only disappointing leader in the news this week. Nearly a month after alleged rigged elections in Iran, protesters are still facing bullets, teargas and clampdowns.

In the world of sport, head of Formula 1 Bernie Ecclestone sparked controversy ahead of the German Grand Prix by expressing admiration for Hitler’s ability to ‘get things done’. At a more local level, a secondary school teacher sent shockwaves through the Mansfield community after apparently assaulting three teenagers.

So how does Jesus measure up to our expectations of a leader? Is Jesus guilty of expense scandal and spending time with prostitutes? Some felt he was in this week’s Bible readings, after being anointed with a lavish amount of expensive perfume by Mary.

Is Jesus an embarrassment like Berlusconi, as the Life of Brian film would suggest – a film crowned this week as the most controversial film of all time?

Taking a closer look at John 12 this week we see a leader willing to arrive not on a warhorse but on a donkey; a leader willing to affirm, not abuse the powerless; a leader willing to face scandal and the cross for the sake of others. This is our King, worthy of our costly worship.

Krish Kandiah

http://krishk.wordpress.com/

One small hoax for man…

Death has dominated the headlines this week.

Michael Jackson’s death continues to haunt us as the media has focused on the custody of his children, his gold-plated coffin, and what to do with the million tickets sold for the 02 arena.

We have heard news of a senior soldier downed in Afghanistan, while swine flu statistics and reports that the virus could become uncontainable in August – with over 100,000 cases a day – bring the fear of death even closer to home.

Our Bible focus this week looks at death too: specifically the premature death of Lazarus and the premeditated murder of Jesus. These passages go hand in hand with what some would see as the hoax of resurrection and others see as the hope of resurrection.

The rumours of hoax and conspiracy have already begun to surround the death of Michael Jackson, and it is surely only a matter of time before someone reports seeing Jackson walking the streets of Neverland.

Some people still believe the moon landings were a hoax, and it does seem ironic that in a week that Michael Jackson’s autobiography Moonwalk is being sold on Amazon for £80 a copy, the papers are turning their attention to the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landings.

In Jesus’ day, many people could not accept the reality of the death of Lazarus, and responded with their own conspiracy theories which led to their conspiracy to assassinate both Jesus and Lazarus. Even today some people still dismiss the resurrection of Lazarus and Jesus as an almighty hoax.

But the hope of the resurrection is as real as Mary and Martha’s tears, and the stench of Lazarus’ body rotting three days after his death in a hot climate. The hope of the resurrection is founded on Jesus’ mastery over life and death, when his voice commands Lazarus to make one small step for a man, and one giant leap for mankind.

A leap that blazes a trail for all of us who will one day receive a call from beyond the grave to meet the risen Jesus.

Krish Kandiah

http://krishk.wordpress.com/