Baker's Blog ... Nov 2008

Depending upon the sources and definitions used, I'm either the last of the Baby Boomers or the first of the Generation X'ers! Whichever it is, as a child of the 1960's, my first decade was punctuated by history-defining moments. The first moon walk by Neil Armstrong, the first heart transplant by Christian Barnard and the first global TV satellite broadcast by the Beatles.

To this sequence of firsts, I can now add in my fifth decade, the election of an African - American to be President of the USA. Like Lewis Hamilton's Formula One triumph, only at a far more profound level, Barak Obama's victory will change history.

What all these history-makers have in common is that they were the first. They are traiblazers. Others follow in their footsteps. Before them people say "it can't be done", while after them people say "if they can do it, then so can I!'

The great thing about pioneers is that they make possible what was previously regarded as impossible. Today organ transplants are two a penny, we're so bored with moon walking that no one bothers anymore, and as for global TV, well you can watch it 24/7!

The sceptics, the doubters, those who give up easily, rarely make it across the line or up the mountain or into the Whitehouse. But those who do, tend to be filled with what Obama, in the title of his autobiography, calls the 'audacity of hope'.

But while all such individuals are inspirational ground-breakers, they are not even in the same league as the Lord Jesus. Here's how the writer of Hebrews reflects on Him: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb 12:2).

Jesus was literally a ground breaker. The first man to die a death as substitute for all. Then the first man to defeat death. He has blazed a trail between this world and the next so that all who trust in Him will never die.

And here's the thing, Jesus fills us by His Spirit with the audacity of hope. The courage to believe that we can't, but God can. The invincible confidence that if, in Christ, God is for us, then who can be against us. The unshakeable conviction that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God.

When we come to nail the applications down to a church like ours and a life like ours, the same values shape us. We may look at despair, doubt, difficulty and wonder if things could ever be different and say "Yes Jesus they can!"

Here are just some of the situations in Highfields where maybe we can't, but Jesus can: A Christianity Explored Group where 35 people have so many different questions. A Missionary struggling to love the people among whom they live. A financial budget in a credit crunch that just wont balance. An illness that doesn't improve. A broken relationship that is beyond repair.

For sure we'll hear people saying "it'll never work!" or "we've tried it before and it was hopeless!" or "you can't do that it's too risky, you'll fail!" But the man who says it can't be done is normally passed by the man who's already done it!

So let's approach the coming weeks of opportunity and challenge with the audacity of hope in Jesus. Peter

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