Directory — Religion — Blog Details for "Nick's Sanctuary"

Nick's Sanctuary

Nick's Sanctuary
Nick Payne is a Christian living and worshipping in central England. His website is an ongoing personal testimony that wrestles with matters of faith, the news, relationships and the media.

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3

Articles

Bad Questions
2008-01-28 13:09:00
I've been pondering.Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you knew if you asked a question, you would get an answer that would irritate/upset you... and stick in your craw? In fact you would know the very answer that would come back to you. Going on from that have you found yourself being inexorably drawn into asking that very question regardless anyway?I've done this very thing recently. Why do you suppose we do it? I can't believe I'm the only person who would do it... or is it just me after all?I think it's a combination of things that leads us to act in this manner. Firstly I think we want to be proven wrong... we ask the question knowing full well what we expect the answer to be and we want to be surprised and not disappointed. Perversely our flawed human nature also wants us to be proven right and provokes us to ask the question just so our subconscious can say:"Well? What did you expect?!"I think the worst thing is that I don't necessarily disagree with the ...
More About: Questions

Holocaust Memorial Day
2008-01-27 15:40:00
It is Holocaust Memorial Day .I usually try and write something on my blog in an effort to encapsulate the aims and spirit of what the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust are trying to achieve. However, for 2008 the trust has released a video which I think says enough in itself. It's a few minutes long... but you should check it out -maybe not here and now, but when you have a quiet moment to reflect:There's a lot to take on board... I hope it leaves you feeling challenged.The principles at the heart of Christianity require us to stand up for all the oppressed. We cannot stand idly by and observe man's inhumanity to man. If we truly love our neighbour as ourselves, it requires us to go the distance for them. It means speaking out when someone is picked on for being different. Whether that's addressing an evil dictator or the school yard bully... it's all the same.One of the things that disturbs me the most is our tendency to separate ourselves from people like the Nazis... as if they w...

Cleaning Up!
2008-01-25 13:35:00
Apologies if you've come here and found loads of old articles.I've been tidying up some of the tags to my older posts as I have realised they contain a few typographical errors. I know it's a bit anal of me, but I like to have them all filed correctly... I find it useful especially when someone is searching on a particular theme. One thing about blogger that is quite annoying is that it tries to second guess your tags. For example... I naturally (given the blogs overall theme), post a lot about God on this blog, but on one occasion I blogged specifically about "armour of God". Now, whenever I try and tag something with God, the armour tag comes up first; I had about 9 entries misfiled under "armour of God that needed correcting.I find it very useful to browse other peoples content when it is covered under the same tag. Admittedly there are a lot of "one off" topics/keywords that don't get used again. However, being able to open up a whole selection of a blogger's thoughts on a ...
More About: Cleaning

Angelic Graffiti?
2008-01-23 00:26:00
Strange things are afoot in Town Square,Stratford-upon-Avon.For the past couple of weeks I've noticed up high where nobody can apparently get to... there is some graffiti... and it's apparently scriptural (at least in part). Here are some snaps I took with my camera phone:Here's a passage for at least three of them:"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."Matthew 7:7-8and a potential contender for the fourth:"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."John 7:37-38Is there an rogueish angel scribe out there? I think we should be told.... well after all... it has happened before!Yesterday things took another bizarre turn and I discovere...
More About: Graffiti

Where are you?
2008-01-22 02:15:00
In my last post, whilst reviewing Lady in the Water, I spoke of what I considered to be the saddest question in the Bible:"Where are you"?It comes from Genesis 3, picture the scene if you will:Mankind has just fallen... but doesn't know it yet. Adam and Eve have gained the knowledge of good and evil... but have done so at a terrible price - they have severed the relationship between themselves and God through disobedience. God enters the Garden and calls out to his beloved friend - his precious ones... and they are nowhere to be found. Eventually he finds them cowering in a hedge and they are cast out of Eden.Now God is omniscient and he knows exactly where Adam and Eve are hiding (I bet he isn't much fun at hide and seek, Ackey 123, or sardines), therefore the question is not a geographical one.So why does he ask it?I believe he asked it because he was challenging Adam and Eve to be honest about what they had done. However, I believe the question carries a deeper significance and...

Review: Lady in the Water
2008-01-20 00:08:00
"Never listen to critics."That's what my closest friends have often told me... they believe as I do, that you should make your own mind up with regard to what you consider good entertainment. So what am I going to make of the largely panned 2006 M Night Shyamalan film, Lady in the Water ?I actually enjoyed it and got a lot out of it... I have even gone back and watched it several times. It's not a perfect film by any means... but I found myself sympathising for the characters quite a lot, especially Cleveland Heap - a man who was once a doctor but who "checked out" of life and became an odd job man at a block of flats after his life was struck by personal tragedy. Into his life and the lives of those around him, comes Story - a water nymph. In a scene reminiscent of the opening of Watership Down, the film's prologue (viewable below), tells us of the relationship between her people and humankind:I very much saw that opening segment as a parable of the Fall of Man in Genesis. I felt...
More About: Review

Costs, Benefits and Obedience
2008-01-11 21:27:00
I've been away from my blog for a few days whilst taking time to procrastinate over thoughts about life in general.I have noticed lately that people I care about seem to be being challenged to go forward into a situation... and then have all the things that made their choices "easier" stripped away, either prior to or just following them making a commitment to press on in their lives. I guess you could include me in that assessment too.That's just it though... isn't it? It's easy to pursue a course of action when everything is going your way, when things are looking up. The real test of a person's character comes when everything comes crashing down around you and you find yourself knocked to the ground; when the only two choices available to you are to stay on the floor... give in and go back home, or get right back up on your feet and press on ahead anyway... win or lose, live or die.I want to look at two instances in scripture where characters from the Bible are faced with t...
More About: Benefits , Costs , Obedience

The 'F' Word
2008-01-05 22:27:00
No I'm not talking about cussing... I'm not even talking about food, I'm talking about something far more important than that.Fun.It's occurred to me that it's been ages since I just wrote something light hearted and fun, and that's a little frustrating for me. Every now and then we all need to just blow the lid off our overindulged sense of importance or seriousness and let it all out in a good bout of smiles and laughter.That's not easy round these parts, people are spread out far and wide and it's not so easy to hang out with them.Hopefully in a few months I will be mobile again and I will be able to see some of the faces I have missed. I also have a bit of a madcap idea to loop the nation in a "tour" of people I know... both friends I have made in the flesh... and a few people online too.I went down the town centre to hang out at a pub disco the other night, but the town is largely dead. I think this is a combination of things - people having to tighten the belt in the ...
More About: Word , The F Word

Happy New Year
2008-01-02 19:30:00
Happy New Year folks... I realise I'm a little late, but I've been away from my keyboard celebrating and procrastinating in equal measures.I was thinking yesterday about a friend who I gave a scripture to, towards the end of last year. They had been convicted about something in their life that God was calling them away from and hadn't been taking it seriously (I myself had a similar experience just prior to that, which is why I felt burdened to share the scripture).The passage was from Haggai. God sends his prophet to the people of Jerusalem and urges them to rebuild the temple; however, he also warns them to "give careful thought" about doing it. You see, this wasn't the first time the people had begun to rebuild the temple; they had attempted it previously but had abandoned their efforts at the first sign of adversity and had divided up the resources they were going to use for God's house and decorated their own homes instead.The reason I've felt compelled to write about it ...
More About: Happy , Happy New Year

Flirting With Your Fortress
2007-12-30 19:53:00
When I started blogging back in 2005 on my (now pretty much deserted) MSN Space, I originally called the blog "Nick's Sanctuary and Fortress of Solitude". It wasn't long before I realised this was actually a bit of a mouthful and dropped the "Fortress of Solitude".However, that didn't change the original reason I created my blogs - neither this one, nor it's predecessor. They were intended to be a place where I could explore my beliefs in my on head. It's there right before you in the blog description - "A safe haven for sharing my thoughts about my faith, my life and the universe in general". It's still very much a fortress... but I think I need to actually come to terms with what a fortress... a stronghold is actually for.It occurs to me that maybe sometimes I've sat here and thrown witty remarks or missiles out at my targets from the battlements... but that's little better than the French in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It doesn't deal with the wolf outside the door,...
More About: Flirting

Christmas Presence
2007-12-26 15:14:00
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas . We had a bit of an interesting situation for ours. To explain, let me take you back a few days to when I was wrapping my presents. Most of them were done except for a few main ones that had no real bulk... I'd left them in a small carrier bag by the pile of wrapped presents and intended to wrap them last on Christmas Eve.When I came home from work though,I discovered to my horror that they were missing. I searched high and low... I completely trashed my room looking for the bag. I had a familiar suspicion in my mind as to what had actually happened to them but I tried not to entertain that thought.Fast forward to just after the Midnight Eucharist in the early hours of Christmas Day; the bag still hasn't shown up and I'm really bothered now.Now my mother has a certain reputation... and my father is very quick to point it out. She has a habit of throwing out important things like ooh I don't know, cheques, bills and cold hard cash... into...
More About: Presence

Christmas Conundrums
2007-12-24 22:45:00
I decided to write this blog in response to the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent comments on BBC Radio 5 as reported in the Times, with regard about the level of truth in the Christmas stories.Before saying anything, I should point out that Rowan Williams actually does believe in the Virgin Birth himself, so his aim was not punch holes in the bottom of his own boat. His intentions were good - he was aiming to make the gospel message less hard to swallow for people on the outside.Dr Williams is quite correct in his assertions about the Magi, we do know very little about them... and we have embellished who they were somewhat - but I do not doubt they made their accredited appearance; their gifts would have provided the resources necessary for Joseph, Mary and Jesus' time of refuge in Egypt. I also know that one of the reasons Matthew included them in his narrative, was that he was aiming to point out right from the very start that Jesus had come to be the Gentile Messiah as well as...

Way Beyond the Red Line
2007-12-23 23:19:00
Various things have happened to me over the weekend which are leading me to conclude that God is totally putting me through the ringer at the moment. I've been contemplating what my calling should be and the direction my life should be heading in for a while now; all of a sudden though, it's gone completely mental.... like riding a horse you thought was tame but then explodes off into a gallop at breakneck speed unexpectedly. I decided to write it down here, partly to share but also to make sure I do not forget.It started off subtly. Earlier in the week, I had a dream where a deceased friend gave me a lift in his car to somewhere random... and upon waking it reminded me of a blog entry I had written - a blog entry that I discovered had been accessed later that day by someone who was searching for that friend's name on Google. It was this entry.Then over the weekend,for reasons I don't need to go into, I was reminded very strongly of another post; one where I adapted a philosophi...
More About: Line

Hidden Wisdom
2007-12-20 12:35:00
A couple of things have got me thinking lately about the difference between our opinions and God's sovereign choice. I know I've often reflected on this subject on my blog... but just recently it's come to the forefront of my mind.In the Old Testament, the Israelites wanted a king and God though not happy with their wishes decides to provide them with one. So he pointed Samuel in the direction of an obvious candidate - Saul, son of Kish; a man without equal. Samuel anointed Saul as king and gave him the mission of delivering his people from the Philistine invaders. Yet Saul's reign is a troubled one and eventually God rejects him.So did God make a wrong choice? I do not believe so; I believe he was making a point about the difference between his choices and our own. As I already pointed out, Saul was the obvious choice... however, he was not a man after God's own heart. He was not God's final choice. Some time after God rejected Saul as king, he sends the prophet Samuel to a l...
More About: Wisdom , Hidden

Look What I Received in My Email Today!
2007-12-16 15:40:00
Dear Nick,Thank you for writing such a wonderful letter! We have had a great year at the North Pole. The reindeer have been playing reindeer games to get in shape for the long trip Christmas Eve, and the elves have been busy getting my sleigh packed with lots and lots of toys.Once my sleigh is packed and ready to go, I'll be off on my journey around the world. I'm reading your letter right now, and it looks like you've been a very nice boy this year. That makes me so happy. Keep up the good work!While you are asleep on Christmas Eve, the reindeer will land my sleigh on your rooftop so I can hop down your chimney.I see that you like cars and trucks. I like cars and trucks, too. They are lots of fun to play with, and we have some very exciting new cars and trucks this year. The elves have been very busy this year making many new and different cars and trucks for Christmas!Well, I must get back to my workshop now and help the elves finish up the rest of the Christmas toys. We have t...
More About: Email , Today

Am I a "Cultural Polytheist"?
2007-12-12 21:55:00
I have a confession to make.As a child, I started to develop an interest in the myths and legends of the the ancient world - Greek, Roman and Norse. I used to love the stories. So I wonder... am I actually a cultural polytheist?It should be pointed out that my love of these stories has not really shaped any of my mainstream beliefs. OK, so I have an outlandish theory that the ancient myths might in some way be related to the passage in Genesis that refers to the Nephilim... but I certainly don't believe in the pantheon of false gods from ancient polytheism.For the record I don't consider myself a cultural polytheist, nor I am certain did C.S. Lewis or Tolkien (despite their great love of mythology), and neither did St. Paul (who actually quoted a few Greek hymns and altered their meanings... applying them to Christ). These people were all immersed in diverse cultures that they drew inspiration from. For Lewis and Tolkien, that was looking at how mythology worked as a precursor for...
More About: Cultural

Venting in Advent
2007-12-07 16:30:00
I caught a little bit of Question Time last night, specifically the "Christianophobia" debate.It was Ken Clarke's comments on the subject that first drew my attention. He rightly pointed out that there are fringe groups of fundamentalists in every religion (he did not include atheism or secularism in that assessment - he should have), but that the vast majority of followers of a belief are actually not unreasonable (essentially, religion and belief are not the problem... but sometimes those who practice it are).However it was the subsequent discussion on the "radical fundamental" side of Christianity that really grabbed me. First, Clarke himself suggested that Christians who reject Darwinism are among this group. Now I am a Creationist (though not in the stereotypical sense); I happen to think the ideas expressed by neo-Darwinism (i.e life without God) are foolish... I certainly don't disregard people for holding those views though. I also don't feel that we have to adhere to a l...
More About: Advent

UnBEARable
2007-12-03 02:15:00
I've been following the news with regard to the plight of Gillian Gibbons, with some interest this week.It is utter madness.I understand that in Islamic law, it is wrong to portray anything as Mohamed; we've been through that episode in Europe last year with the furore concerning the Mohamed cartoons. I recall commenting at the time that the principle difference between Jesus and Mohamed over personal slander, was that Jesus endured it... whilst Mohamed legislated against it (in my view, to preserve his public image).We could talk theology here... but what is the point? The root of this argument is less about theology and more about the nature of children. Reports suggest that Ms Gibbons merely facilitated the discussion about what to name the "offending" teddy bear; the children drew their own conclusions.The children no doubt chose to name the teddy after character they were familiar with... and why not? After all, we live in a culture where the name Mohamed is charting in the t...

Enter the Dragon?
2007-11-27 12:58:00
According to the BBC, an interesting debate has been sparked off in the House of Commons. It appears that Wrexham's Labour MP - Ian Lucas, has called for the Drago n of Wales to appear on the Union Flag.Peterborough's Tory MP - Stewart Jackson has opposed the idea and labelled it as "eccentric" and unpopular.However, I'm all for it. The intellectual legalists will argue of course that Wales is technically a principality and not a full blooded country... so there is no need. Crusty traditionalists will be opposed because "it's been like this for 207 years and hasn't needed changing, so why change now?" However, we refer to Wales as a "home nation" in our sports... and most people seem to culturally identify Wales as a country if you talk to them. So surely this weakens the former argument. The latter argument against - the traditionalist one, isn't even a supported one. It's just an opinion based solely on personal feeling.I actually think sticking a dragon on the front of our ...
More About: Enter , Enter The Dragon , The Dragon

Unlearning
2007-11-26 01:00:00
"You must unlearn what you have learned."Yoda - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes BackOn several blogs in the past,I have explored the issue of conformity. I didn't just talk about the need of Christians to avoid conforming to the pattern and nature of this world, I looked at it in terms of personal development - for myself and for anyone else reading these pages who might benefit from my musings.There were times when I'd told you of my exasperation at being the odd one out... about how I felt different to the people around me (even Christians), how my natural instincts were frowned on and I felt a great strain to comply with certain social expectations.At the moment things feel very different from the stark days of last March. During the past year and a half I have found myself able (by God's grace) to close the book on a few situations that were burdening me and causing me distress. It's not to say the situations have necessarily been resolved... but God has taught me to unlearn...

Spirit of 164 (BC)
2007-11-21 20:30:00
Today... is my birthday.33 years ago... just prior to the IRA attacks in Birmingham... I was born at 6:40pm.The 21st of November marks another anniversary though.According to wikipedia in the year 164 BC, Judas Maccabeus overcame two armies of the Seleucid Empire and liberated Jerusalem. This led to the Second Temple (which had previously been defiled), being purified and used for sacrifice and worship once more.So at midnight... as we passed over into the 21st, I went into a quiet place and I set about getting my own house in order. I gave thanks for the dawn of a new day and a new year in my life... and I gave them both these gifts back to God. There are things I really want to achieve this year, there are places that spiritually I need to go and there are ways in which I need to grow.I have been waiting for God... but a few things recently have made me wonder whether actually the ball is really in his court... or whether it is actually in mine. There are several possibilities... ...
More About: Spirit

London Redux
2007-11-16 10:11:00
I'm off to London and other mystical destinations this weekend.My journey begins in a couple of hours as I board the train on a mission for work. I'll be visiting an organization that is just across the road from Mi5 headquarters... so if you hear nothing from me for the next 28 days, you know what has happened - heh heh!I'll be staying at my sisters and I have no idea what we'll be doing (although I'm reliably informed I'll be playing Lego on Saturday night). Mys sister and Ron are looking at moving to Egypt, so I suppose it's possible they'll want to take me round the Tutankhamun exhibition. I'm not sure how I'd feel around that. It's nothing to do with superstition... and I'm actually pretty keen on studying the culture and history of ancient civilizations... I just feel a bit bad about the manner in which his corpse was treated, when Howard Carter's team went about stripping artefacts from the tomb.Keen as I am to study the past, I think we should treat what remai...

Sacrifice
2007-11-11 16:15:00
I've been absent from my blog for the past week, because to be honest... how do you follow news like that covered in my last post?Now seems an appropriate time to reflect on other things, whilst still bearing in mind the events of the last week.Today is Remembrance Sunday... the day when we traditionally call to mind the horrors of the last century's wars (and of course, more recent and even current conflicts). We think about those who laid down their lives, those who suffered due to the loss of loved ones, and those who came back and somehow tried to put the pieces of their lives back together in the aftermath of the harsh events they had witnessed.For me remembrance is less about the war itself, and more about showing respect for people who had the courage, conviction and willingness to sacrifice their own lives (in life or in death), to preserve the freedoms and relative well being that I can experience in this country today. Today for the first time in my living memory, Alcest...
More About: Sacrifice

Fire and Tears
2007-11-04 17:20:00
This blog entry is dedicated to the brave firefighters who have been tackling the recent warehouse blaze at Atherstone... and the grievous aftermath that has followed. One fireman has died and three others remain missing after over 24 hours. Two of the four come from my hometown... which is understandably in a state of some shock. Alcester's firefighters are retained and not "full time".If the worst case scenario proves to be reality, this will have been the worst loss of life in the fire service for over thirty years. It is a testimony to the skill, teamwork and dedication of our fire and rescue teams, that this figure has remained so low for so long; especially when you consider the quantity and frequency of call outs they receive... and the variety of hard situations they willingly put themselves into and jeopardise themselves on our behalf. None of this can be much comfort to the families, friends or colleagues of those men today; however it is important we recognise those sacr...
More About: Fire

The Focus of Repentance
2007-11-03 15:45:00
"Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge."Psalm 51:4The above words are taken from a famous biblical psalm that was written by King David after he was convicted by God with regard to his sin. Whilst I was at home group on Wednesday studying Ephesians 4, we were discussing repentance... and I was reminded of a truth about it, which I feel I should share.Too often we focus on the things we have done wrong... we wallow in them and make it all about us. In a perverse way... is it possible that sometimes our "repentance" can be self centred?Think about when you have let one of your friends and family down, or hurt or disappointed someone who is very important to you. At such times, which was more important to you? Making up for your actions... or restoring your relationship with the affected person?I want to take you back to my blog of September 9th. During that time, I experienced ...
More About: Focus , Repentance , Penta

Called Forward
2007-10-26 23:45:00
I've recently felt a call to start stepping forward a bit more.It's quite a daunting prospect.However I believe God is challenging me not to hide behind the shelter of other people's ideas and beliefs... no matter how much I respect and value them.I believe he's stirring me up to be at least a little bolder and assertive about my own walk. I'm not the same as the people who I stand behind, I'm no less right or wrong than any of my brothers and sisters. I am not dependent on their approval... and I should know this by now. I have to be prepared to stand next to my own God given assertions and be accountable for them. I have done it here... and I need to learn to do it in the physical world.That means not clamming up if someone I respect disagrees with my viewpoint. It doesn't mean I should be arrogant and ignore them... it does mean that I show a bit of courage in my own convictions, and not just those of others.For the most part, this is about standing side by side and shou...
More About: Forward

More articles from this author:
1, 2, 3