But I’m Trying to Help!

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It’s Fair Trade Fortnight and in amongst it I’ve noticed how many of us think that it is OK to exploit one person as long as we are doing it to help another person.
A vague example: Church A is doing good for poor people M by supplying them with useful thing T. In order to do as much good for poor people M as possible, Church A is buying useful thing T as cheaply as possible. However, this means that Church A is participating in the unfair exploitation of poor people Y.
Hmmm. This is actually incredibly entrenched in our lifestyles and is not just true of the establishment called church, but is also true of the people called church.
I can’t give a pet solution to this, as the only thing we can do is to be 100% sure that we are doing God’s will. Hopefully an awareness of this issue will help us hear…

In Memory

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I heard over the weekend of David Sheppard’s death. It is with sadness that I reflect on a man, a bishop and lord who helped me be me. A champion of the poor, FYT and the city, his words matched his life, unafraid to speak out. A man of his day who in many ways was ahead of his time, but whose life and words will continue to influence many for decades to come. If you don’t know about him read some of the blogs and tributes but better still read his books.

Is church the rich young ruler?

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I have been doing quite a bit of follow up work on Off the Beaten Track, and as ever when I start doing talks and workshops my thinking develops. I am thankful for community as it helps me think and grow. However I have had a thought that just won’t go away and the more I chat about it the more angles I see.

When I was reading the parable of the rich young ruler the other day I was struck by how Jesus’ word in verse 29 and 30 resonated with John 10v10 “life in all it’s fullness.”
This was my start point for the question Is church the rich young ruler? I could argue the similarities throughout the passage. One issue for me is that like the rich young ruler the church has sought to keep the commands all it’s life, but still we know something is missing, and if we are not demonstrating life in all it’s fullness by keeping these, what is it that is hindering us? What do we need to take off?
Will we get through the eye of the needle as we are?
Do we need to the challenge to go away disappointed for a while so we can recognise where we have gone wrong?
Does our wealth and new initiatives that come and go hide our disappointment to well?
The Rich Ruler
18A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone. 20You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”
21“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
26Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
27Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
28Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
29“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”

In and out of Context – Denmark

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I had a great time in Denmark, the cultural differences were a challenge and I enjoyed the dialogue. It was strange to be speaking in a context where I knew little about the culture but am always on about the need to contexualise the message and methods. If you were at the SALT session and are after resources, most of the stuff is on the right and if you hover the mouse over a dialogue will expalin what is what. If you want to continue the conversation about new forms of church, or have any other issues you want to raise, feel free to post a question in the comments space below.

Gentile Church

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Well (in response to the question I posed at the end of my last post) I reckon we have plenty of Jewish traditions (adapted):
1) The worship leader (High Priest).
2) We come into the House of the Lord.
3) We come into God’s presence.
4) We come into the Holy Place.
5) Worship narrowed down to singing instead of it being our whole lives.
6) Ecstasy – no, not that ecstacy!
7) Lots of singing.
So I’m ready for a remodel! 🙂

Now, what is a sensible attitude to existing tradition?

I think that if we are going to learn something from the OT it is more
likely to be in the realms of justice and community incorporating economics,
social care, empowerment, etc.

Snowed in by God

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Quick post as I am off to Denmark to do some stuff with youthworkers over there. Hoping I get there as there is heavy snow at the moment. It seems that where ever I travel I run the risk of getting snowed in at the moment. Last week I woke up to several inches of snow in Rugby where I was speaking. Maybe it’s connected but I have been thinking a lot about believing in God, and whether it is actually possible to believe in God and does that imply if you don’t believe He ceases to be, if so our current concept of believing in God is a bit of a non starter (feel free to comment or slate me on this). As God is fact in my view, maybe it is more about making space for Him in our lives (an old pre-Christian idea). This space may not be about the Christian ideas of inviting Him in, but more about the recognition of Him in all and through all. When we don’t don’t make the space does He snow us in so we can’t miss Him?Serenity film

Is this about me, or is this about you?

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Hi, just thought that I would post a quick intro, seeing as Richard has introduced me.

Twenty years ago my Dad told me to judge whatever I heard in church as it wouldn’t always be right. So, now I’m 33 years old and I’ve tried to live with my eyes wide open and I know that all is not well. Is the problem with you and is the answer with me? Well, that’s really the wrong questions – we need to think in terms of us. We are the problem and you know Who is the answer!

So it isn’t about me or about you – it’s about us, and ‘us’ includes Him, you and me.

I’ll try to be careful, but remember, I’m only human too – we can grow together, if we watch our pride and know love.

Moulin Rouge! hd

Something to think about until next time:
I heard someone say that the ‘gentile’ churches needed to recover it’s Jewish roots and put into practice it’s Hebrew forms and holidays…

Getting it right

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Mark has joined Sunday Papers and will be posting from time to time. However it also means that as I have tried to change some of the settings the formatting has gone a bit wonky, please stick me whilst I work it out. For some reason the blogs have moved to the right any suggestions on how to get it back welcome.