Author Archives: Richard Passmore

Theology and Control

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I have been at the IASYM conference for the past few days and whilst hearing some good stuff and having some great conversations, it has raised issues for me around the academic paradigm and theology as a tool for control and reinforced some questions I had around Grenz and Franke model for re-imagining within a triangle of Tradition, Culture and Scripture. Andrew Root presented a paper looking at christopraxis, and how this takes place within a bracket – on one side Theological and Biblical Norms and on the other side a cultural perspective (that any action must not do harm to another person) so you seek to work out the will of God for a given situation swinging between the brackets. You can download the papers here. Whilst I agree in part with the brackets (the cultural perspective which I link with orthopraxis) the question for me is how these models can restrict change through a restriction of the heretical imperative or the surplus in the theological text, because this is outside the theological side of the bracket. Can we widen the bracket as there is no one theological norm or tradition. How can we protect the imaginative practice and creativity and give this space and do theology?

I know this may be a slightly confused post but I hope you get the idea

Chaos to refuge and beyond

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The advent reflections James posted helped me prepare for Christmas and now my thoughts move the the birth of our baby due in March. I am left thinking thinking how do I prepare myself for this event. The practicalities seem to dominate, not least because we are having an extension built on the house, loosing the kitchen for a while, so the house is in chaos. In many ways this disorder provides me with impetus to find peace and solace, yet this is a place of refuge for me rather than a place to explore my feelings, to think how to prepare myself for the birth of our baby, or to confront my inner life and break up my fallow ground. To find the inner reserves to move from the chaos through the place of refuge towards the fallow ground, is a challenge that I will need all three months till March to confront.

mobiles and detached

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I have been working on a project with some skaters and bikers in chard around getting lights and a path put in at the skate park. Yesterday at short notice the local paper wanted pictures. Whilst I dont keep record of young peoples mobile numbers, the fact they did have them made life easier. As soon as I saw one young person on the street they sent the word around and we had a good crowd within 20 minutes. The idea of being front page helped but it also meant I wasn’t going around rounding people up, and if I had not seen anyone we would have missed a really good opportunity.

As a rule I have not kept yp mobile numbers as recommended by some recent good practice guidelines, but it would make life easier. I amwondering if we should change the policy and am considering asking for consent to have the details once the young people are at stage 6 in the detached process. I wonder if with the ad hoc nature of detached projects there is more of a case. If there are other detached workers out there it would be know your policy.

IASYM

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Is anyone going to, or knows anyone going to IASYM in Cambridge from the South west that I could share a lift with, I am happy to drive but thought a car share may be good. I am in Somerset so could meet up here if someone was coming from Cornwall, Devon or Dorset, then I am travelling via A303 and M3?

Where did it start?

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I have been having a conversation with Louis Krog who is doing some work on the history of the emerging church movement in the UK. I gave him a copy of some notes I put together for Denmark and some talks in the UK about the links between youth work and EC. He is trying to establish a time line and has put up a slide from me and and an alternative timeline here

Center Stage: Turn It Up full

and would like your comments. My contention is that a lot of the EC has some roots in different strands of youth work and developed through different expresions of youth work into altworship as the youth workers got older. Let us know what you think!

Advent – How do you wait?

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We did an advent reflection in a the lift for a youth work training event last week. Below is the story we used but you can find the whole card here

The Waiting Room – How do you wait?

In a hot crowded waiting room full of noise and bustle you find yourself a seat. Do you sit away from people or next to them? Or do you sit near the exit, watching as people enter and leave? Perhaps you pick up an old magazine and leaf through it, idly looking at the pages but not actually seeing, always being alert to those around you. Or maybe you sit and think, running through lists or things to do when you leave. You might worry about the future or what lies for you behind that closed door.

You may wait expectantly, anticipating the answer to come soon, or you may know that your wait is a long one, maybe with no answer at the end. So how do you wait? As the world passes by you and round you, what is in the stillness of your mind, how is your spirit stirred?

Whether you find waiting easy or difficult we all have times in our lives where we just have to—wait.

Red and White

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Great post from Tony on red and white poppies. Whilst I would support the families of those through buying a red poppy I would usually wear white in the hope of dialogue. When I was 17 at the local college this caused a real issue with the pre services course (those training for army etc but to young to enter) who didn’t hang around long enough for me to explain that I had supported the poppy appeal and ended up with me getting 7 bells knocked out of me, so I found the comment from David Cockburn who wears both a good idea, and maybe give more chance of dialogue.

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