Category Archives: faith

step OFF the path

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10 days – that’s a pretty long time for me not to blog!

Lots has happened. We’ve been adjusting to a having a dog in the home. I’ve lost 7 kg in 10 days just from dog walking – thats a faster rate than in the gym last year (and it’s a lot cheaper!). I’ve also met with the Suffragen bishop to start to talk about my future: that did not go s well as I had hoped, but I am not yet worried or despondent! I also met with the person responsible for my ongoing training and we have some stuff that looks good ahead of me.

I have done a lot of walking recently with Skye. A great advantage of walking is the time and space that it gives to reflect. For example, I have started to see the beauty of creation once again in my own back yard as it were. I have started to see that (even) Medway can and does look good!

One reflection I have been mulling over as I walk is the routes that we take. When walking Skye I generally stick to the path that leads from A to B. Skye does not. She criss crosses the path, led by the interest generated in her nose. Whichever scent she picks up she follows. Skye and myself start at point A together and arrive at point B together. We both spend the same amount of time moving from point A to point B. I stick to the path, but Skye just goes everywhere. A conservative estimate is that Skye probably covers, at speed, about ten times the amount of space that I cover.

That got me thinking. I’ve lived near the Darland Banks for around 14 years. I have walked them many times with the family, always sticking to the path. Skye has been with us 10 days but has already covered more of the area than I have in the last 14 years.

Skye does not know that protocol means you stick to the path, which means she has discovered stuff that others have not and that she has explored things that mere humans like me did not even know were there. In 10 days she has acquired a better understanding of the lay of the land than I have in 14 years!

In faith, in theology, in life … it does seem that there are rules that we are supposed to follow. We are told that there are paths that we should sick to, depending on what particular flavour of Christianity we come from. But, I have noticed in the last few days while observing Skye that if we stick to the paths things can remain undiscovered. If we stick to the path we are in danger of staying oblivious to stuff that is ‘out there’, stuff that is useful, edifying and created by God for our pleasure, enjoyment and education and, yes, even to challenge us. If we stick to the path we run the risk of missing out on 90% of whatever it is that is around us.

I guess some people stick to the path through fear of injury or getting lost whereas others stick to the path because that is what they have always done, and it has become a habit. Others stick to the path, because using common sense, it is usually the quickest way to get from A to B. Whatever the reason, if we stick to the path, we will not receive all that is out there to receive.

So as people, as Christians, as people of faith …. maybe we need to stray off the path and discover more of what God has put out there. I mean …. really …. imagine the exciting discoveries ahead of you …

Jesus messes you up!

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Went to hear Shane Claiborne the other night in Bromley Baptist Church. Shane was an excellent communicator and I found him both inspiring and challenging. It was refreshing to hear someone on a Christian platform saying it as it is, reminding us that as Christians we are called to be involved in making the world a better place (that’s, after all, what building the Kingdom of God is all about).

I particularly related to Shane’s comment along the lines of; ‘My life was fine, I met Jesus and he really screwed my life up!’ To be perfectly honest I feel like that a lot of the time.

Maybe I am jaded or becoming cynical in my old age; but I am really tired of hearing people say from the platform that Jesus will make everything better and that if you follow Jesus your life will be ok. These people forget there are Christians starving in the Horn of Africa, that there are Christians dying from war in Iraq, that there are Christians persecuted in Zimbabwe by other Christians!

Jesus does not take the crap away. Jesus dwells in the crap with you … that is, actually, what I find quite exciting. The fact that the world is in a mess and yet, rather than washing hands of us, God says … ‘okay, if that’s the way they’ve made it I best go experience it with them!’

Following Jesus, for me has been weird but exciting. I’ve got involved with ome wacky events, some crazy people. Sometimes I have felt at risk of my life, other times I have laughed until I cried. I have done things, seen things and felt things I would never had done seen or felt otherwise. I have never known what is coming next and at this very point in time most of my life I don’t even know what I should be doing now let alone next! Following Jesus is an adventure!

So – yes I agree with Shane, Jesus messed my life up in the choices I have felt led to make since becoming a Christian.
Do I regret this – no!
Would I change any of this – no!
Do I feel sorry for myself because of this – no?
Would I do anything else with my life – no!

I love my life and my role and the family and friends that Jesus has brought around me.

But … it’s still true to say …. if you choose to follow Jesus, he’ll really mess your life up!

what do I believe?

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Over the last few months I have had some very interesting conversations on my travels both within and outside Medway.

In particular I have found myself in ‘debate’ with Christians who have a very legalistic view of our faith. I guess I am on sensitive ground here as I don’t want to berate or get into the whole ‘I’m right and you are wrong’ crap that flies around Christianity far too much. But I do, somehow, want to start a dialogue over how we live out our faith. It seems to be that there is a significant section (I have not researched enough to be able to say significant ‘minority’, significant ‘majority’ … so ‘section’ will have to do) of Christians that will excuse any behaviour by simply saying ‘well it is scriptural’ or ‘it is in the bible’.

The Bible is important. The Bible is the word of God. In that sense I am still a good evangelical; but we still need to ask what does that mean. I mean, when we say this is the word of God, what do we actually mean by that?

Do we mean that these words come direct from the mouth of Creator God and so cannot be altered in any way and are totally, irrevocably 100% to be adhered to the the exact infinite letter? Well … if we do there is a slight problem of age and culture to get around there. The most recent parts of scripture are some 2000 years old … and a lot more is older. This means this whole question is not as easy as some people would have us think.

I want to share a little incident from home that is relevant here. Around the dinner table recently one of my children said ‘that’s sick’. In translation he meant ‘it was brilliant, or cool, or amazing’. Only  few years ago, ‘that’s sick’ would have meant ‘gross, horrible, or maybe ugly’. In the space of just a few years one word ‘sick’ is being used in a totally different, and maybe even opposite, way than it used to be used.

If we were to write down that conversation and it was read in a few hundred years, let alone thousands of years, would the people have any idea what we were talking about? Would they have to try and second guess what was being said? Would they understand that ‘sick’ meant ‘amazing?’

There are plenty of other word we can use that we may or may not know what people were saying when they wrote them: cool, gay, yellow, slate, slag, waste, ace, acid, dabs, deck, dipstick, pad …. the list can go on and on and on.

I do believe the Bible is the word of God … but I do also believe it was written by humans who had only the language of their time and culture to be able to express what God was telling them. So, our task in discovering what it means requires that, first, we try to work out and consider what was being said at the time it was written – and that only comes after the complicated process of translation because (shock horror!) the Bible was not written in English ….. not even in 1662 BCP type English!  Here a knowledge of the culture and history of the time becomes very helpful, and I would say vital.

For me, as well, there are some clear standards and attributes that go with God and so I believe that what the Bible ‘says’ should mirror who God ‘is’. Surely that must be the case … mustn’t it?

I believe Jesus came to earth and that we can look to Jesus to see what God is like. Jesus being God in flesh is a pretty orthodox Christian belief (100% human and 100% God – too big for my brain to get around … but God is God!).

From the gospels we that Jesus is compassionate, loving and inclusive. So it follows simply that God is compassionate, loving and inclusive. It then follows in my mind that any interpretation from the bible for relevance today that is not compatible with those values does not fit with who God is. If biblical interpretation does not fit with the character of God then I query whether we have interpreted correctly.

So … it is not as straight forward as it may seem. I do not believe we can simply say ‘the bible says x and so we have to do y’ and then believe we are ok and right. I think it is more about finding out what the bible said then in a particular time and culture and why and then bringing that same practice into the here and now and living a way that displays the compassion, love and inclusivity of God. After all … there is no point being ‘right’ if the way we live is crap, discriminatory and abusive!

But saying all that … I refer to my opening remarks … I could very well be wrong … and I’d love to know what others who come here think …

the upside down kingdom tour

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A little while ago I blogged about Shane Claiborne and his book, The Irresistible Revolution.

I’ve just found out that Shane Claiborne is touring the UK on the Upside Down Kingdom Tour.

The nearest tour date to me is Bromley on Wednesday 31st August at 7.30pm so I will be trying hard to get along.

I loved what Claiborne writes in his book and I am interested in hearing what he will say at these events …. certainly the ‘billing’ sounds like it will be a challenging evening:

The prophets have said,
The last will be first and the first will be last.
The mighty will be cast from their thrones and the lowly will be lifted up.
The hungry will be filled with good things and the rich will be set free of their riches.
The people will beat their weapons of war into farm tools. And war will be no more.
If that’s what’s coming… why not start now?
Join a movement to re-imagine the world. Join a revolution that has been reeking havoc on empires for a couple thousand years.
Upside-Down Kingdom Tour coming to a city near you soon. 

Anyone else fancy coming along with me?

a blessing to others

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The gathering got together on Sunday and we considered Heaven. 
We started by looking at our images of heaven, and what we thought heaven was like and what heaven was all about. Nick led us into thinking about if we could describe heaven as a colour, what colour would we choose and why. This was an interesting time as we could see a cross section of colours and reasons … it’s seems we all think very differently about heaven. 
Following this we looked at the video of Brian McLaren and his interpretation of the Lords Prayer and heaven. This is a challenging video … not so much for it’s content, but more for its consequences of taken it seriously. 
Certainly the concept of heaven coming to earth, and our role being involved in that, certainly sits a lot better with us that thoughts of being whisked off to another place. In the gospels we noticed that John the Baptist spoke of the kingdom of God coming; whereas Jesus says the Kingdom of God is here. That’s a pretty distinct difference. Right at the beginning of Mark’s gospel (v15) Jesus asks his listeners to believe the good news. I have always blindly read the ‘good news’ to mean the resurrection story … but we are 15 chapters away from that still in Mark.
I think the good news that Jesus talks of is that the Kingdom of Heaven is here, that we don’t have to wait to be whisked off into another place, and (this is I think really exciting) that we have a role to get involved with God in bringing the KIngdom of God (aka heaven) as a reality in the lives of those we meet. If you watch the video clip that is essentially what a part of the Lords Prayer is saying.
AS the gathering we struggled with what we do in light of this. There is mystery here, the Kingdom of God is here and we can see evidence but it is clearly not ere fully – there is more to come. The kingdom of God is here but there is more to come … and we have a role in working alongside God in bringing in more of the Kingdom.
Clearly we cannot get involved in every single issue or area of need that we see. But … we could get involved in those that we feel God prompt us to. I think how this outplays in our lives as individuals and as the gathering will be a reoccurring question. Yesterday we left with two statements which give us a challenge:
to be involved in the kingdom of God would mean that we will be a blessing to those we meet (Luke 4)
and
if we bring in the kingdom with God it would be like leaving a sweet taste in the mouths of those we meet (Psalm 34)
In our daily lives, how can we be such a blessing to others so that it is like leaving them with a sweet taste in their mouth – that’s not a bad aim for life!

politics and faith

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Yesterday was an end of an era as KCME, our formal post ordination training program, came to an end. We are the final year of the course in its current format and we ended in style with a tour of the houses of parliament, eucharist in The chapel of St Mary Undercroft and lunch with Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the chaplain to the Speaker of the House.

I have been happy to complain about KCME, but credit where credit is due – this was a great and well planned day to end the course with – so thanks need to go to Chris, Chris and Trevor.

It was a fascinating day, and the experience fo eucharist in St mary Undercroft was amazing – even for a pioneer like me that usually is pretty oblivious to grandness of the surroundings in which I do my ‘stuff’.

It was also a pleasure to meet Rose who became Speakers Chaplain just over a year ago. It was interesting to hear her story and her commitment to be unembarrassed and pro-active about the gospel in the setting of politics and parliament.

I believe Christians need to be involved in the politics of our country (that will not surprise any of you!) and it is great to know that Rose is there, leading our MP’s in prayer each day and getting alongside all those working within Parliament. Please remember to pray for her as she develops this exciting ministry.

Oh yeah … I wanted to make a quip at those leaders and organisations that say our faith is being persecuted in this country …. and yet the Houses of Parliament have a chaplain …. but to bring that up would be shallow and cheap of me !!

protect it .. or live by it?

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I finally got around to watching The Book of Eli the other day. It’s another apocalyptic film, a film that depicts the regression of humanity when the bubble of technology bursts.

Without spoling the film too much, Eli (played by Denzel Washington) is carrying the worlds last copy of the Bible which another character, Carnegie (Gary Oldman) is fairly desperate to get his hands on by any means. Some of the scenes are fairly brutal as he attempts to find ‘the book’.

There comes a time in the film when Eli seems to give the book away, and his new found friend, Solara (Mila Kunis) expresses her surprise , saying that she did not think anything would be able to make him give up the book. I think Eli’s response could be a challenge to the church of today:

‘In all these years I’ve been carrying it and reading it every day, I got so caught up in keeping it safe  that I forgot to live by what I learned from it’

Do we, as church, get so embroiled in protecting scripture that we forget to live by its teachings. Have some people become more passionate for protecting the word than they have for the message? I would suggest that some parts of the church have fallen into this and in doing so have lost the central message of the book they protect.

Without wanting to be repetitive …. that would be ‘love’.

apocalyptic adbusters

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I don’t read many magazines, but by far my favourite, which I subscribe to, is Adbusters. I love the style of writing, the feel of the mag and the challenge. I love that it’s not just a mag like other mags full of adverts from companies we pretend are doing us good when we all know that they are ripping us off and harming the world in the process.

This issue has the theme of ‘apocalyptic boredom’ taking a theme that has been the subject of many a film that seems to have been around recently.

This quote from page 7 grabbed me:

‘very few people know that the original greek translation of ‘apocalypse’ means ‘lifting the veil’ or ‘revelation’ … a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception.

Far from being a horrible experience, apocalypse represents the revealing of the true nature of things. It ushers in an era of forgotten freedoms and unprecedented clarity. This ‘lifting of the veil will set us free from the misery that has been the result of our ignorance.’

It strikes me that the greek definition is a definition of hope, a definition of freedom and definition worth looking forward to. The other night at pub theology one thing someone raised was a question of why Christians are so obsessed with who, at the end, will be kept out of heaven and who will be included.

I believe that comes from a misunderstanding of what ‘apocalypse;’ is about …. a revealing of the true nature of stuff …. maybe not the apocalyptic subject of films like The Road, The Book of Eli, Daybreakers or Red Dawn which give us concern for the future …. but the lifting of the veil that will set us all free

something worth looking forward to then!

mystery

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Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday, and I was on the rota to preach.

I have heard endless sermons that have tried to explain the Trinity. I have heard the Trinity described as something like a jaffa cake, or something like steam, water and ice; or like one person who can be mum, sister and daughter.

I guess there is something in each of those analogies (well maybe not the jaffa cake one!) but I think that sometimes they, and we, miss the point.

God being three and yet one does not make sense. God being three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is mind boggling. It’s a mystery.

In our limited human understanding and vocabulary we are trying to describe a life that is totally outside of our experience or even our wildest dreams. In short, we are trying to describe what is indescribable for us. God is Trinity … and that’s that!

I shared on Sunday a visit I made a spart of my training with SEITE to the Chatham synagogue. We met the person in charge called Gabriel. I had developed a question during the week but now I cannot remember the question; but his answer has stayed with me for nearly 6 years now! He looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said ‘God will be God.’ As he said it he gave a look that simply said ‘why are you bothering to even ask that? It’s a mystery … it’s meant to be a mystery … God is God!’

Within church, and maybe even in society, I wonder whether we have got bogged down in trying to explain everything. I guess this comes from a need or desire to be in control. In our pondering over trying ‘to work it out’ we are in danger of missing out on simply enjoying life and being who we were created to be.

AS an illustration I have noticed a big difference between children and adults at art exhibions. In particular I remember the Shibboleth of Doris Salcedo in the Tate Modern a few years ago. Adults looked and tried to explain it, wondering whether it was a trick and how it was made. Children played in it, stuck their hands and legs inside it, and enjoyed it. Adults tried to explain while children accepted the beauty of the mystery.

There is a tension in accepting mystery when you live in a 21st century technological world – but I wonder whether it is a tension we need to relax into so that we can ‘enjoy’ rather than miss the beauty as we attempt to ‘explain’.

change!

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I love change.
Change is what I am about.
Change encompasses the thrust of my role.
For the last 20 years or so I have always had roles where change has been central to what I’m about.
So … not only do I like change, but I think I cope well with change.

Or so I thought!

It has been an interesting few months. I have found certain things a bit of a struggle but I have not been able to place my finger properly on why. It’s not been anything desperate or worrying, but I have been aware that things have not been ‘quite right’. I have been unsettled.

While having coffee with a friend the other week she asked me a significant question that resulted in an immediate answer but later resulted in a type of epiphany moment where I saw things differently.

The question was simple, ‘Do you cope well with change?’ I immediately answered yes but then this thought came into my head which said something like ‘yes, that’s true I cope with change well and have done over the years because I have been the instigator of change, I have been the person steering change. I have moved from teams and left them to cope with change. There is a lot of ‘I’ there and I think that is what my friend was causing me to think about.

There is a big change afoot with Adrian leaving to become bishop and for the first time in two decades I am experiencing a change that I have no control over. I have always been the person that has moved on to something new. I have never remained in the same place to experience change as part of a team that I do not lead.

It’s an odd feeling, I guess, and I am not sure it is a feeling or situation I can say I enjoy. But … now that I am aware of it life is back to ‘normal’; whatever ‘normal’ happend to be for any of us.

Being aware of my unsettledness has allowed me to express this through my relationship to God and I guess serves as a reminder that it is God we rely on, God we follow and God who enables us to do whatever it is that God calls us to do.

The next year or so is going to be strange, worrying, uncomfortable and quite exciting …… as I said; I love change! (but if you are the praying sort – please pray for us all as we go through this transition)