CLAN

CLAN  – Churches Linked Across the Nation – 2010

Clan, which is an annual conference event for Christians in Scotland, was held in St Andrew’s during July 2010.   CLAN was established by a group of Scottish ministers in 1994, linked to the “New Wine” organization.   Its purpose is to provide an event for Christians from all over Scotland, (and England and elsewhere) to come to have teaching and fellowship and (loud) worship.
David and Louise Logue attended from North Knapdale this year.
About 2,500 people from churches across Scotland and some from England, as well as further afield attended for the week.   Daily sessions included main speakers, a choice of seminars, and worship and teaching events.   This is supported by children’s activities in a range of age groups from crèche to young adults.
The main speaker this year was Jackie Pullinger-To, from Hong Kong, whose work with street gangs and addicts in the Walled city was brought to the attention of the world through the book – “Chasing the Dragon”.   While giving some insights into the patient, demanding and miraculous work she and her team undertake, her main topic for her four talks was “The four faces of God”.
In this she explored the personality of God through the four faces of the being described by Ezekiel in his vision – (Ezekiel Chapter 1):-
“v2 On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.
Then I looked and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.   Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures.   And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man……
….V 10, as for the likeness of their faces each had the face of a Man; each of the four had the face of a Lion on the right side, each of the four  had the face of an Ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an Eagle…”

The Lion, the Ox, the Man, and the Eagle.   These four beasts have different strengths and characteristics and they re-occur in John’s Revelation – Ch 4 verses 6 and 7.
They can symbolise four characteristics of God.
Jackie’s talks were centred on the way these characteristics of God are reflected in the four Gospels.
Matthew is the gospel which most proclaims the Kingship of God – Jesus is the King – he rides in majesty, he is born humbly but receives royal gifts – the theme of Matthew is the Kingdom.   Matthew shows Jesus as God, the Lion, the King of all beasts
Mark concentrates on Jesus as the servant – the suffering servant – the Gospel records Jesus serving others, there is attention to humble detail, seen as though through a servants eyes.   The birth of Christ is not mentioned – but straight into His ministry, His service –  the gospel rushes from one thing to another, as a  servant rushing to please his master – all flowing towards the cross and His ultimate sacrifice.    Mark shows Jesus as God – as the Ox – the beast of service – pulling the carts and the plough, and also the animal of sacrifice – on the altar, its blood flowing, its life given up for the sin of others.
Luke presents Jesus as the man – the perfect man without sin – living as we do but without the blemish of sin.   He is the Son of man –his genealogy reaches back to Adam – Luke gives the detail of ordinary lives touched by an ordinary man –but a man who is perfect.  Luke presents a joyful life – humanity, caring, hospitality, taking meals together – Luke’s gospel shows Jesus’ relationships as very important, he connects with people and He cares.    Luke presents Jesus as God – as the perfect man.
John’s gospel soars high above – John starts from heaven and comes down.  John accentuates the supernatural, the creation, takes Jesus back to the beginning, the Word.   John shows the revelation of God in Christ.   John is the eagle flying high and lifting us up into heavenly places.    John’s gospel cries out for us to worship, to seek revelation and mystical understanding of God in Jesus.   John seeks to show us the Glory of God in Jesus – soaring from heaven like an eagle.
These are four aspects of the one God -   They are not in competition, the perfect man aspect is not better or more important than Christ the King, the sacrificial Ox is not a better model for us to emulate than the soaring Eagle.   All are important in equal measure, and in our fellowships and churches we should not concentrate on one as being “our thing” and leave the other models to other places.   Nor should we curb our attention to one aspect of our service to God in order to give space to another.    A balance is not a compromise – we can be extreme in each direction but be held in balance because we are equally extreme in our desire to serve and give ourselves for others, in our ambition to soar high in worship to Glorify Jesus, or to live as well as we can to emulate Jesus the perfect man, or to work and teach and try to live within the Kingdom of God – proclaiming Christ’s kingship over all.
We should welcome enthusiasm by some in one direction and ensure we equally value the actions of others in concentrating in another aspect.   We should recognize our strengths and weaknesses in each area and try to work on those areas where we are missing out.   If we enjoy singing songs and hymns about the Kingship of God, we should explore songs about service and sacrificial love.    If we concentrate for a while on the Glory of God and His heavenly nature, we should then look closely at Jesus the man.
These are rough notes on Jackie Pullinger’s talks and she referred to learning much of this from a book by John Bickersteth and Timothy Pain
On her final evening she gave an earnest plea for the church in the “West” to recognize our relative comfort and affluence and to do all we can to help Christians who live in serious deprivation and persecution in countries across the world.    “Where are you?  We are waiting, we are waiting” is their cry.   What can we be doing to assist them in their poverty and persecution?
David Logue- September 2010

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