Evangelism 3.0 in Praise of the God of 2nd, 3rd and 104th Chances

I have a confession to make, and the clue is in the time elapsed between posts. No, I didn't run off join a cult and come to my senses just in time for Pentecost Sunday (which is today - Happy Birthday Church!), but I did do a spot of  doubting, burying talents and straight up wondering what was the point of it all if it wasn't trending and going viral....You see, this insta-everything is an insidious thing, and can gnaw away at the purpose, intent and put it simply, joy of sharing what it is to live with Jesus in the centre of your life (when you are not admiring and loving the beauty of his creation, in my case, principally via loving connection with family and friends, jaw dropping admiration of all things fashion and a healthy interest and participation in food). But here is the thing, because God is a God of umpteenth chances and in the Great Commission asks us to:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing then in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

I can give this blog, another for the I-don't-know-what-number's time, another go at regular posting and maybe, in the process, evangelising. So what does Evangelism in the present age we live in, look like? Do you need to be shouting on a corner (placard and megaphone optional), getting hectic and terrifying people with the exact temperature of the Lake of Fire as described in Revelations 20:10? Is it a case of hiding away from the world, because, wow, the scope and scale of the mess, misery and torment is too much for one individual to add their feeble voice to? Or do we 'do church', you know rock up each week, grab a 'prayer seasoned' brunch/drink/dinner with friends and family afterwards, and slip smugly back into our relatively comfortable lives, having not really done much?

Personally, I think there are some clues in that first Pentecost bible passage (see Acts 2:1-13 for the full story). However, in the spirit of brevity, as no one likes a verbose post I shall distill:

"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them" Acts 2:4

The key factor is plugging into the Holy Spirit, as it is the Spirit equipping you guiding you and as it explicitly says in the verse here 'enabling'. For swotty perfectionists like myself (and I am hazarding a guess others reading this might relate) it is not about slogging in your own strength. Just show up, with open and honest intent and God will do the rest.

"Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?" Acts 2:8

All of us want to be heard and understood, it's a basic human need. For the evangelists in this passage, the Holy Spirit gives them the gift of tongues, and literally, foreigners from across several countries could fully understand one another, courtesy of the Holy Spirit. However, let's also think of language more than words and utterances. Language can also be described as 'vibe', it's energetic: think about how much non-verbal communication we all do in one day, from wide eyed joy to side eye sarcasm, and so too it is with evangelism. The Spirit will equip us all to relate and vibe with others. This does not mean we should put on a cloak of piety unless of course one likes rolling with the sanctimonious. If we want to understand everyone's 'native language', here those messages within messages, even the ones left unsaid or said in a sigh, a slumped shoulder or crossed arms, then we need to care, have compassion. Do that and we will connect and apologies if this is getting a bit call-and-response-tastic, God will do the rest.

Finally be ready for  the shade, mockery and the double eye rolls, from all sorts as you carry on doing you, with Jesus at your centre, and in your enthusiasm it gets interpreted for something else:

"Some however, made fun of them and said, 'They have had too much wine.'" Acts 2:13

We live in a world where judgement is a swipe or tick away: and thus it is easy to either chase the affirmation; whether it's via the filter,  strategic placement of those limited edition Golden Goose trainers in frame or just going along with current norms and trends. It is equally hard to persevere in light of ambivalence and mockery. But let's be frank here, Jesus suffered far worse.  Too much wine whether it is a glass extra of Château Léoville-Las Cases, or as indicated in the passage his supernatural power, is nothing to be ashamed of, keeping quiet or not wishing to rock the boat more-so.

So on this Pentecost Sunday I am very excited, not least because, God by the grace of keeping me alive and well on his wondrous earth, has given me yet another chance to do a spot of evangelism. If you are expecting prim and proper and posts that keep a lid on controversy and uncomfortable topics, this is not the space for you. If you think fashion and faith do not belong in the same sentence, or that random testimonies are precisely what people need to hear to see a living God on the move, this too is not the place for you. But if you are up for the adventure and an evangelist who is happy to admit to being neither a theologian or infallible, I welcome you to this new and invigorated blog.

Finally, all of the pictures today are my favourites depicting this seminal event: The Stained Glass window is in Rome's St. Peter's Basilica, and the paintings are in order of appearance Giotto's Pentecost, painted circa 1310, El Greco's Pentecost painted circa 1600 and finally Van Dyck's Pentecost painted in 1620.

Seasonal Adjustments

September has always felt when the real ‘new year’ actually commences: from the beginning of the academic year with its deluge of first day at school snaps (the joys of Instagram – one can partake in all my little friends’ first big days!), through to the fashion week footage I scroll through each day and all the email drops from websites I have no business subscribing to with enticing titles such as ‘Your Most Stylish Season Yet’, ‘Beautiful Coats and Outerwear Just Added’ or the more to the point ‘Just In: Erdem, The Row and Prada’ (hey, why waste valuable click consideration time when you can just put the key ‘key words’ right up front?).  Add to this the fact that if one is anywhere in the northern hemisphere the weather takes a distinct change both in shortening days and increasing chill factor, and you have the perfect storm for considering making changes be they in clothing, activities or attitude. No matter that technically it’s the fourth and final quarter of the calendar year, here’s one final signpost to try, do and be something new with vigour and more critically, purpose.

Purpose is one of those topics like love, faith, money and destiny that appear in the bible plentifully. Call them season perennials (like denim for instance) but they are riffed upon, extrapolated upon and in prayer and fellowship groups debated over at length. The fact that purpose probably gets as much consideration time as it does is because it goes to the heart of the matter of who we are, why we’re here and what we are meant to do in the interim between birth and eternity:

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21

This particular verse, landing in the latter part of Proverbs 19 is both a cautionary warning and encouragement all in one. You see, no-one can cover all bases quite like the word of the Lord as this verse reveals. The first part: ‘many are the plans in a person’s heart’ resonates because here is the thing; even when we have a clear idea of the direction we wish to take and the pace at which we want to do it, things can still go awry. We can have so many ideas, maybe even too many plans and thoughts of both ways forward and exactly what our end destination looks like. Even when we know a lot, we still do not know it all, as the second part of the verse reveals pertinently, ‘but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.’ Humility in approach is critical to living dynamically in the Lord. An appreciation that however fantastic our own self generated ideas and plans are, to truly flourish they must be rooted in and directed by an eternal agenda cannot be underestimated. Rather than diminishing our role, making us mere pawns in our Almighty’s already pre-destined master-plan, it elevates all of us to the role of co-creator, participating actively and intimately in God’s work – being utilized in our own unique way to manifest his glory, to solve problems, to sow love, hope and joy.

As I type this, I am going through quite the transition season of my own, as I step into fully what I am meant to be doing in my life and with no lingering sideway glances or worse yet, backward ones into what was or indeed, could have been. To say such seasons are not filled with trepidation would be gratuitous mendacity on my part. I oscillate between fearing that this is mad-cap postulation of my own design, to querying that if this is exactly what I am meant to be doing then why the flip was I not doing it sooner?  But because God is kind and gracious I have been receiving  signs aplenty that this precisely where I am meant to be and what I am meant to be doing, and guess what maybe sooner would have actually been a hot mess and later is actually, just right. Obviously, not all is in place: sartorially, I am still searching for the perfect coat (among other things), and there has been a mentalist sweep in terms of how I spend my time, who I spend it with and how I use my particular gifting, but if like the author of Proverbs implores, I remain focused on the Lord’s purposes prevailing in my activities, these seasonal adjustments can actually be more fun than stressful. If  as you read this things are resonating and you are having a bit of a moment in this new season and final quarter of the year, look no further than Proverbs 19:21 to keep you hope filled, excited and poso as you work towards being all that you are called to be. Because this blog is called Cool Chic and in Christ I end with, my (so far) winning look from the Fashion Week Season, courtesy of the one and only Tom Ford. If the good Lord had gifted with me the legs to do this ensemble justice (or helps me with the discipline to do the necessary lunges and squats to transform what I currently have in time for Spring Summer 2018), I will be wondering next summer dressed like this.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Ascended and Still With Us

Today is my birthday. No need for confessional of age, the Good Lord knows my number, but as with any year that comes there is always a sense of review and assessment. In fact I often take the promises, goals and prayers I make on my birthday with more gravity than I do the standard New Year’s Day intentions. There is something about commemorating when you truly began your journey on God’s earth and using that as a marker that feels more potent. This year, my birthday falls on Ascension Day itself (more of my personal story later) and I get to share it with the commemoration of Jesus’ last, until he returns again, appearance on the planet.

 (Painting: Ascension, Jesus Mafu, 1973)

Luke Chapter 24 is a redux of not being aware that Jesus is not only presently present in our lives but is already walking with us and working through us; if we would only pause and allow our unbelieving hearts to be opened and our dulled spirits to be enlivened. The chapter commences with the resurrection, and the women coming to the tomb, seemingly to improve the scent of what would have now been a putrid body. But the tomb is empty with two angels asking the women:

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ Then they remembered his words.”             Luke 24:6-8

Three years of living with God incarnate, of hearing him preach and witnessing miracles, had vanished in the tumult of a week in which they had seen the authorities of the day, try, condemn and murder Jesus. The fact that they had returned to the tomb expecting to see a dead body, implies they  had maybe only half-believed Jesus’ claims, even when accompanied by signs and wonders.  It was only when the angel offered a quick reminder of what Jesus had said verbatim, that they responded and had their faith reignited. As I consider my own walk, I realise I too often go into auto-pilot mode especially when results to the contrary seem more fantastical and unlikely by the half minute or even the passing year. If this is in any way you, press in to the verses above that indicate Jesus is alive and with him all of our hope and prayers are too. 

However, the story does not end there, as the men, when the women shared what they had seen did not believe. On the road to Emmaus we are given a classic example of the average believer’s walk:

“One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked.“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.” Luke 24:18-21

On some levels, Jesus must have been tickled at the ‘quick update’ provided by Clopas, but again the lack of faith, even when faced with Jesus walking among them having risen from the dead (as promised,/prophesied/talked about – delete all or none), must have been a tad annoying.  When I think of Jesus joining the disciples on the way to Emmaus, I am reminded of the truth that we serve a Lord who is both creator of the universe and a companion. He is interested in being with us on every step of the journey, witnessing the drudgery and the mundane, asking questions  but more to the point reminding us that everything is in hand,  because as Clopas himself says Jesus is ‘powerful in word and deed before God’. Today, I am reminded that as I type, double checking verse references, hoping the tone in this post is the perfect combo of ‘profound but not too preachy’ that Jesus is walking right beside me.

“While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven” Luke 24:51

The Ascension itself is swift in this account, a more fulsome passage in Acts gives the occasion more situational details and is clearly the inspiration for many of the artistic representations that have been produced since:

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.  “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:7-11

However, in both accounts there is a suddenness in activities but with Jesus dispensing love, favour and comfort to the end. In Luke he ascends whilst blessing them; in my mind’s eye, I picture a steady stream of heavenly blessings flowing forth even as he fades from physical sight, and, in the passage in Acts, Jesus promises the receiving of the Holy Spirit. However, more importantly he imparts a strong decree that it is not the job of the believer to know the exact whys and wherefores of his return, but rather it is our job to be witnesses in our present circumstances until he returns.

So as promised some Ascension Day happenings that I can be thankful for right this minute: I submitted my final full manuscript of my first book, Heaven In Your Handbag for editing and publication on Ascension Day. I had the pleasure and privilege of dining with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the simply stunning Traveller’s Club in Pall Mall, again on you guessed it, Ascension Day. I got a new job after over year being jobless.com and fearing this would always be my lot, on Ascension Day and finally, random, but this one’s for the fashionistas out there,  found and bought the last size 38 at the final store I visited of Gucci of a sandal I had spent two months saving for. 

Try doing your own Ascension Day record and be marvelled at the wonders of His Grace. And to all those looking up to the sky for Jesus to come through big-time in your life on certain long prayed for issues: Know that he is both seated at the right hand of the Father and right next to you, counseling, guiding, interceding and best of all loving you every day to eternity.

Celebrating Spring, Celebrating You

May is oftentimes depicted as the month in which spring is truly sprung: from Shakespeare’s ‘darling buds of May’ to the romantic raptures offered by ‘Springtime in Paris’ not to mention for those who are fashion inclined the month that Spring/Summer collections are available in their entirety, and not just in exciting but potentially frustrating, weekly ‘drops’. 

For readers in the northern hemisphere the longer evenings with balmier weather give ample opportunity for al fresco socialising with friends and for those of us living in the tropics, as I now do, the rainy season also brings with it verdant expectancy. As the raindrops drum a rhythm on my rooftop that is entirely of God’s composition, I am struck by how we are still, tech driven life aside, so intrinsically bound to nature, its seasons and its promptings for renewal.

This May will also see the conclusion of Eastertide; the Christian season most closely connected to new life and beginnings. Whilst Christmas heralded Jesus’ arrival, it is at Easter that his purpose and indeed his Divine nature are unequivocally revealed.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” John10:10

Since, beginning my very sporadic, but (promise) heartfelt journey into blogging about my faith, time, one’s end destination and one’s purpose in one’s lifespan on earth have often preoccupied my mind. I have written previously about the feeling of having ‘missed your purpose’ or taken ‘too many wrong turns’ for anything vaguely resembling a harvest to be reaped. But as the verse above reveals this is a lie of the Enemy. The theft of moments when one could have been most productive, the death of hope and inspiration and the destruction of trust and joy are all Team Red specialties. The trick and it is a life-long one for all believers, is to focus on the second part of this verse when Jesus proclaims both his mission and purpose: he came that we may have life and not any old life either, but one that is lived to its fullest.

So what does this life to the fullest look like? As with everything it is particular to our individual purposes. I recently started a CCC Instagram page for people to post and share their Christo journeys. As the posts grew in number one of the posters (the brilliant and multi-talented Ijeoma Ogbechie – check her out on IG at @ijay_og or @letslens) created two beautiful video montages in the posts below. The songs chosen to accompany both videos are also significant and speak to the Easter Season. ‘Ordinary People’ by the Grammy Award Winning Gospel Superstars Mary Mary, speaks to the fact that Jesus, came for regular people. Not special, just ordinary; and it is through his divine love that these individuals both experience and realise their true potential. The only caveat is that we are open to his love and to receiving it in all of its fullness. The second song, ‘Love’ is by Musiq Soulchild, an RnB superstar, whose secular hit has often been used in ministry sessions. All of us believers know that God is Love and if one listens to the lyrics one can see how they translate both to prosaic romantic love and the divine, without end love.

I am fortunate to know all of the extraordinary ladies who have participated so far. In some instances I have witnessed both their challenges and triumphs but what I also see in all of them is real-life witness to a God led life, beautiful shots aside. I hope these posts allow readers to not only celebrate them, but participate in articulating and living out our beliefs. Please join us and comment below as we continue to create a vibrant, honest, non-judgmental space for people of faith to just be.