Looking up.

It's good to sit down in front of my computer screen!  I have been out, this evening, delivering material from Scotland for Marriage to another one hundred plus homes.  Including the walk to where I started (the point at which I had finished on Tuesday evening, when I delivered to about 180 homes!), and the walk back, that took me a little over an hour - about four miles of walking.  Thus my delight at being able to 'take the weight off my feet'.

As I've been walking around so much, I have been impressed by some of the front gardens that I have seen.  Some are genuine works of art, and are obviously the result of much planning - and not a little effort!  This evening, however, my favourite garden was the one that had a number of flower pots along the side of the path with, in each, a pithy saying.  The one that immediately struck a chord with me was the one that read "When things look down, look up"!

I have no idea whether, or not, the occupant(s) of that home is(are) in any way religious.  But I like that sentiment expressed below the front window.  When things look down - when things aren't going the way I expected, or hoped, or believed; when all I seem to receive is bad news; when there appears to be sign of the end of the tunnel; when things look down, look up!  For the disciple of Jesus, that certainly indicates that activity in which each and all may participate - prayer.  There is another well-known saying: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."   Maybe so.  However, when the going gets tough, the disciple of Jesus gets praying (or ought not that to be  "praying even more"?!).

As I have mentioned in most of the recent posts, the result of the vote in the British House of Lords, on Tuesday evening, on the Marriage (same sex couples) Bill, was a source of great disappointment to those of us who support traditional marriage, as between male and female.  I suspect that many were crestfallen - they were looking down.  The antidote to the depression that such an attitude can, all too easily, engender is to look up - to uphold Lord Dear and the other peers who opposed the Bill on Tuesday as, during the Committee Stage into which it has now passed, they seek to point out its potential pitfalls to those who are not yet ready to oppose it, but who wish to look at it more carefully.

Much of the popular media, as well as organisations such as Stonewall, are giving the impression that all is done and dusted.  Permit me to emphasise (yet again!) - THIS IS NOT THE CASE!  As I was delivering this evening, I was listening to some music on my 'phone (as one does!).  I have it set at "shuffle" and one of the tracks was a Christmas one from Larry Ford, family, and friends.  In one song, entitled "Strange way to save the world" is the repeated line "Now I'm not one to second-guess what angels have to say".  It is equally pointless to try to second-guess what Father God is going to do.  What I do know is that He calls all who claim to be His to be faithful - not successful (that's His responsibility), but faithful.  So let's keep on delivering cards and leaflets; let's keep on encouraging the folk in the Coalition for Marriage, and Scotland for Marriage; and let's keep on looking up - "... looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 12:2).

Marriage - still under attack!

"His only motivation was money and he treated the marriage ceremony as nothing more than a financial transaction." These are the reported words of a member of the United Kingdom Border Agency's Immigration Crime Team, regarding Mr.Abdallah Magezi, a Ugandan national, who was convicted on Thursday at Basildon Crown Court of conspiring to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law.Magezi was described by the UKBA as the "Mr Fix-it" of an operation to hold bogus nuptials at St John's Church in Dock Road, Tilbury. 

This week, I also received some election material from the Christian Institute regarding a call by the (tax-payer funded!) Equality and Human Rights Commission, that the next Scottish Parliament legalise homosexual/lesbian 'marriage'.  At the Westminster level of UK government, it is claimed by one prominent homosexual news website, that both David Cameron and Nick Clegg (Prime Minister, and Deputy P.M., respectively) would like to "allow homosexual marriage and heterosexual civil partnerships".  The hold-back would appear to be, not moral, but financial, with even the homosexual lobby group, Stonewall, estimating that the cost would be in the region of £5 billion!  The Coalition Government is currently 'consulting' on allowing same-gender couples to register their civil partnerships within church buildings - something that they are not, at present, legally entitled to do.  It is claimed that this would only be 'permissive' legislation - but one wonders how long it would be before it became compulsory for clergy to perform such ceremonies!  Certainly, recent events have shown up something of the deviousness of the homosexual lobby and, if given an inch, they seem, very quickly, to be demanding a mile!    

Added to all of this is the promotion for primary schools, by Stonewall, of books such as King & King, Daddy's Room-mate, and Hello, Sailor - all written to promote a homosexual lifestyle as not only acceptable, but even commendable!

The traditional definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman, for life, and to the exclusion of all others, is not something arbitrary that was dreamed up by some Victorian evangelical Christians!  It is a definition that spans every culture, at every time.  True, there have been (and are!) some cultures in which a man is permitted to take to himself more than one wife.  But the general 'male/female within set boundaries' situation still holds.

Jesus made the situation perfectly clear when, having been asked by some Pharisees about the legality of divorce, He replied: "... from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh." (Mark 10:6-8; RSV).  In addition, there is the simple, biological fact that in order for a new life to be produced, a female egg must be impregnated by a male sperm.  There is no other way!

I hope that anyone who is approached by a candidate over the remaining two-and-a-bit weeks before the election, or who has the opportunity to attend a hustings, will ensure that such matters are raised, and the candidates' views sought.  We owe it to our children, and our grandchildren - and to the Lord.