ifool

Relational Lockdown

2011-09-12T21:59:00.002Z

“When a nation undergoes occupation by a foreign army, for example, some formerly reliable citizens begin to co-operate with the enemy, perhaps for the rewards that such co-operation promises, perhaps out of fear. Especially when the foreign occupation has a criminal character, it becomes exceedingly difficult for ordinary citizens to maintain their customary honesty and sound moral habits. Cynicism is forced upon them; they must defend themselves on all sides, and feel great pressure to narrow their sphere of moral action to life in the family and among trusted friends”

(Michael Novak, “A Universal Culture of Human Rights and Freedom’s Habits: Caritapolis” a contribution to “Making Globalization Good”, John H.Dunning, Oxford University Press 2003)

I have never lived in a nation under foreign occupation, but this phenomenon feels uncannily familiar.

In Novak’s scenario, the citizen-enemy relationship is crisply defined and the relational lockdown is an obvious resolution for becoming neither the perpetrator nor the recipient of further betrayal.

But life in our increasingly globalised world is far less straightforward. We have created technologies that feed our own expectations. We both want, and are expected to deliver, everything, anywhere, right now. Oh, and for a good price. How do we do it? Well we don’t really do we. The confusion and illusions need only last until the robber is out of reach. And when the smoke clears we find ourselves on our backsides in a muddy pool of conveniently ill-defined roles with our own identities left shaken and our relationships feeling at best misunderstood and at worst betrayed.

For the Globalised Citizen it seems we must add to the temptation of reward and the terror of fear, a third explanatory factor:

Not really understanding who the enemy is.

[1759:5489]

Seed and Thorns

2011-09-04T20:30:00.005Z

Some thoughts stirred up by a friend’s blog post, who, in the thick of transition, writes “… he sees a good number of older people who have been in ministry for years, and who haven’t made provision for their older years. They have ‘trusted in God’ to look after them, without having the understanding or wisdom (or help from others) to get practical about it. How sad. How scary. How real”

There is a lot in this post. The Maths Of Mission. It scratches on the surface of the controversial and taboo subject of Christian provision; it rattles the keys to the cells of the ‘free’ church.

When I read this post it reminds me of things that I have read in a bible, or things that Jesus once apparently said - and that I once believed had some personal application, but now wonder if I misunderstood the character of ‘my’ God in what I have read … or if I believe in a different God to everybody else. Though I doubt that.

I remember respecting King David for “… buying the threshing floor and the oxen and [paying] fifty shekels of silver for them, saying “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” (2 Sam, 1 Chr)

I remember reading something about “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it“ and considering both the curiousness and weirdness of those that choose that path.

When I consider those who have ‘trusted in God’ at the expense of their future ‘life securities’ I’m not sure I would call it sad. The reality is that everybody’s reality is different. It is complicated because faith is individualistic and personal, but interdependence is not. And this is a truth that divides the church.

I guess everybody’s reality is also influenced by his or her own macro-political environment. Where I live, my government once told me that if I worked for 30 years that I would be entitled to a state pension. Twelve years on and the goal posts have already moved so significantly that by extrapolation I expect to be working until I die. I don’t mind that. But whenever the state announces disproportionate tax rises, it serves only to inspire me to become more tax-efficient and to further believe that Old Age Criminality will eventually become justified (!) So one could only imagine how I might feel about being asked to give to any ‘charitable’ organisations who add a further burden to the tax bill without returning a proportional service.

If I don’t know how to plan and budget, but I do have faith is that good? I think it's wonderful. Yeah, let's tear down the schools (!). But if I know how to plan and budget but I substitute exercising this knowledge with ‘faith’ is that irresponsible? Maybe. A pension plan is just a business risk, right? Is a ‘faith’ risk any more futureproof than a business risk? If my business risk fails, people seem to care less that I am poorer than they because they know that if I had succeeded then it would be they who would be poorer than I. But if my ‘faith’ risk fails then that just makes me a fool for Christ, right? Maybe.

I remember reading a parable about a farmer whereby Jesus said that “… the seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

If I speak to those OAPs, I mean OAMs, I wonder if they will speak in regret, or with a wise and unswerving faith that reflects depths like a pearl finely honed by a lifetime of abrasion.

[1739:5316]

The Side That We Forget

2011-06-08T19:19:00.002Z

Branding and brand images can be powerful entities. Two logos that I see almost every day remind me of two significant characters from history who we remember for their respective villainy and heroism.

One was a man who had a vision to forge a new future for people within his sphere of responsibility. His Robin-Hood-style plan was to make car-ownership available to average families; something that would open up doors for them, creating possibilities and freedoms within a globalising world. Up until his era, such freedoms had been a luxury affordable only to society’s wealthy; the most an average citizen could afford was a motorcycle. Under the new state-sponsored program a family could make weekly payments into a savings scheme and drive away with a vehicle that could carry up to two adults, three children and luggage, at 62mph.

The other man had a vision to forge a new future for people from distant lands and of alien language and culture. He himself travelled extensively and endured harsh living conditions in order to help people who had been subject to slavery, mostly ruthlessly, and frequently fatally. His plan was to equip them with a means out of their predicament, by trading commodities as an alternative to labour and through faith-based societal teaching. His earlier trips were made together with his family, but as his divine mission increasingly obsessed him, he left behind those for whom he had responsibility where his wife became an isolated and depressed alcoholic.

It is difficult to find Good Intention exercised in one realm that has not had an adverse affect, to some extent, in another.

The latter character was, obviously, David Livingstone, whose surname is printed in bold letters across our kids’ school uniform. The first, Adolf Hitler and Volkswagen whose logo perpetually glares at me from the centre of my steering wheel.

The hero, the villain, and the side that we forget.

[1686:5230]

Submission v Contract

2011-03-16T21:58:00.002Z

I have recently been enjoying some thought-provoking dialogue on Facebook. David Grant in particular writes some very insightful stuff. Below is a comment I made on David Fisher's note - The Economy and the Book of Acts:

"I would say that the manner in which interdependence can be handled by a body of believers depends on which of the two models you subscribe to; one based on ‘submission’ or one based on ‘contract’.

Under ‘submission’, and in the event of disagreement, we ‘submit’ ourselves to the nominated individual(s). Under ‘contract’, we revert to what we had previously agreed.

Even though contracts are a little inflexible and require significant foresight to comprehensively create, my vote goes with the contract model.

Partly because of my struggle to find people with a broad enough biblical worldview and humble enough heart to submit to, but mostly because I believe that the concept of ‘mutual submission’ (i.e. ‘submit to one another’ (Ephesians 5)) is impossible.

Both paradigms are biblical (OK so we can just about justify anything as ‘biblical’). God’s agreement not to flood the Earth again (Genesis 9 the rainbow etc), the covenant of circumcision with his people (Genesis 17) and the new covenant made by the shedding of Jesus’ blood, which is remembered by ‘communion wine’ (Hebrews 9, Mark 14), are all significant contracts.

The notion of submission is a popular subject in the context of husbands and wives, though it is often and conveniently treated as contextually confusing by many. Submission to ‘kings’ etc is also biblical, but God’s attitude towards monarchy seems to be ‘well, you have kings, because you want kings … and everything that goes with them … so don’t complain, etc’.

The beauty of contracts is that they avoid ambiguous relationships, and the disappointments and emotional haemorrhaging suffered due to the steep differences between presumption and reality. I would say that it is actually difficult to ‘love’ deeply without contracts – leaving us with weak smiles and relational indifference in church gatherings.

I have contracts with God, with my wife, with the state, with insurance companies, with banks, with service providers, everybody except my kids(!). Sketchy relational definitions are insufficient in all aspects of current life in the UK, except amongst the church it seems.

I run a small business. What happens if some rich idiot decides to not pay his bill? Assuming the breach of contract is his, and not mine, he becomes my enemy and I fight him for justice in the courts. I cannot ‘turn the other cheek’ when I have dependents, and I cannot exercise ‘divine grace’ unless he acknowledges his wrongdoing before a mutually respected (or not!) judge. A bigger problem would arise if a poor idiot doesn’t pay a bill(!), or if I don’t succeed in obtaining justice in the courts. If I can still love him in my heart, through all this, I have won one for Jesus. That’s hard. What would happen to my family, employees, and suppliers? All the risks are agreed and understood contractually. I’d hope that the suppliers also had other customers. And the rest of us? maybe we’d go out for a Chinese and have a laugh about the fight?

Would I expect the church to bail me out? No. The Lord is my rear guard, not the church.

Contracts clarify any shared ‘risk’ amongst the body, which is important since faith and scriptural interpretation are unique to individuals. Hence my point that if a group wants to genuinely share each others’ loads, there would need to be a common starting point and openness about the baggage that is brought to the body, including debts, equity, investments, commitments (both financial and time), assets and maintenance burdens, number of dependants, etc. It would be a messy business, but how else could giving to the communal pot be ‘equally sacrificial’?

Just thoughts. Not my kind of thing really. All that time spent squabbling about entitlement; meanwhile life goes on for the rest of the unbelieving world. And who would be watching their backs?

For all of it’s flaws, a capitalist ‘free market’ economy is relatively impartial to the belief of the individual and that is important. Personally, I will only accept a biblical economic model as a pattern for global interdependence when someone gives me a coin from the mouth of a fish (Matthew 17).

Maybe we’d do better trying to find something that we can export to aliens?

[1643:5170]

Freedom v Responsibility

2011-02-06T10:12:00.003Z

"... I am not a free, autonomous individual. I am a son, husband, father, grandfather, neighbour, colleague, student, teacher, citizen, friend. I have a very large number of relational obligations and responsibilities, which severely constrain what I do. These responsibilities occasionally frustrate or annoy, they more often satisfy and they are always binding ... And my individuality, if anyone wishes to keep the concept, will come from the specific actions I take in meeting my relational responsibilities."

(Rosemont, H., Jr. (1998) Confucianism and Human Rights, Cambridge University Press)

[1612:5120]

Unconscious Planet

2011-02-06T09:37:00.002Z

"There is nothing that destroys the world and the consciousness of people faster than injustice" (Taymiyyah)

[1611:5105]

World Vision

2010-10-12T22:27:00.002Z

My messed up religio-political-economic worldview works well within the microcosm in which I live. Amongst the community of wider society it works less well. And as a global economic model it is completely hopeless. So this is my conclusion:

Today I will stay at home.

[1566:5000]

Consumer Power(less)

2010-08-03T22:57:00.002Z

A couple of years ago, my wife and I took a trip to London’s West End on a date. We were there to watch a show and we stopped off in a small Chinese restaurant on the way for some dinner. We were quite deliberate in our choice of venue.

It was a small institution, one of many along the street of similar 10ft terraced shop fronts. Inside there was just enough space for the kitchens, a service counter, and eight or nine very small tables. Very little had been spent on internal fittings or decoration.

I don’t write this, in any shape or form, as a call for romantic sympathy, or as a means to raise funds for a charitable cause, but the truth is that people who run establishments like this do not earn very much. They work long unsociable hours, often live in cramped accommodation with young children, speak little English and rely upon help from family and friends because of the relative ruthlessness of both state and market. Because they live month to month financially, they do not experience the simple luxuries of the middle classes; like changing into a second set of ‘socialising’ clothes at the end of the working day; or being able to look far into the future and plan for pensions and healthcare in retirement.

Anyway, our scanning of the menu was interrupted by a mouth-watering chow mein style dish being brought to the table next to us. My wife and I quickly agreed that this was what we wanted, so I asked one of the staff members, who were otherwise chatting those same customers, if we could have “what they were having”.

There was some quiet discussion amongst them until the man finally turned to me with a smile and explained that he was very sorry, but that these customers were actually family friends.

I smiled.

When you graft hard to make a living, and barely have chance to breathe between servicing one customers whim in one hand, one customers complaint in another, and handling state pressures with a third, there seems a sweet smug justice in being able to enjoy something that Money Just Can’t Buy.

[1545:4926]

Sacks (5 of 5): On the 3rd Sector

2010-07-19T20:33:00.003Z

"For several centuries, western political thought has been dominated by two entities: the state and the market. The state is us in our collective capacity as a nation. The market is us in our individual capacity as choosers and consumers. It omits ‘third sector’ institutions like the family, the community, voluntary organizations, neighbourhood groups, and religious congregations which have in common that they are larger than the individual but smaller than the state. Their significance, and it is immense, is that they are where we learn the habits of co-operation, whether we describe it as reciprocal altruism or social capital or trust. Families and communities are not arenas of competition… they are based not on transactions of power or exchange, but on love, loyalty, faithfulness, mutuality, and a sense of shared belonging."

(from Jonathan Sacks 'A Jewish Perspective' contribution to "Making Globalisation Good", Oxford, Dunning, 2003)

[1529:4877]

Sacks (4 of 5): On Dignity And Independence

2010-07-15T22:47:00.003Z

“Moral equality is the postulate that all persons have the same intrinsic worth. They are unequal in talents, in contributions to social life and in valid claims to rewards and resources. But everyone who is a person is presumptively entitled to recognition of that personhood” (Philip Selznick)

“The highest degree, exceeded by none, is that of the person who assists a poor person by providing him with a gift or a loan or by accepting him into a business partnership or by helping him find employment-in a word by putting him where he can dispense with other people’s aid. With reference to such aid it is said, ‘You shall strengthen him, be he a stranger or a settler, he shall live with you’ (Lev 25:35), which means strengthen him in such a manner that his falling into want is prevented. (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Gifts to the Poor 10:7)

(from Jonathan Sacks 'A Jewish Perspective' contribution to "Making Globalisation Good", Oxford, Dunning, 2003)

[1527:4870]

Sacks (3 of 5) : On Market Power

2010-07-07T20:10:00.007Z

“In ancient times, wealth and power lay in the ownership of persons, in the form of slaves, armies, and a workforce. In the feudal era they lay in the ownership of land. In the industrial age they were the ownership of capital and the means of production. In the information age they lie in access to and deployment of intellectual capital, the ability to master information and turn it to innovative ends. The labour content of manufactured goods continues to fall. To an ever-increasing degree, multinational enterprises are outsourcing production and peripheral services and becoming, instead, owners of concepts, brands, logos, images and designs. In such an age, immense advantage accrues to those with intellectual and creative skills."

(from Jonathan Sacks 'A Jewish Perspective' contribution to "Making Globalisation Good", Oxford, Dunning, 2003)

[1517:4837]

Sacks (2 of 5) : On Responsibility

2010-06-26T11:13:00.006Z

“There have been five universalist cultures in the history of the West –cultures that imposed their way of life on others through conquest, conversion… They were the empires of ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Christianity and Islam, and the European Enlightenment. Globalisation is the sixth, the first to be driven not by power or ideology but by the neutral, impersonal forces of the market.

There is a personal dimension to existence. We are not powerless in the face of fate. Every technological advance can be used for good or evil. There is nothing inevitably benign or malign in our increasing powers. It depends on the use we make of them. What we can create, we can control. What we initiate, we can direct. With every new power come control, responsibility, and exercise of the moral imagination. Global capitalism is not a juggernaut that no one can steer. It can be turned this way or that by collective consent. Our aim must be to maximize human dignity and hand on to future generations a more gracious, less capricious world."

(from Jonathan Sacks 'A Jewish Perspective' contribution to "Making Globalisation Good", Oxford, Dunning, 2003)

[1508:4820]

Sacks (1 of 5) : On Co-Existence

2010-06-20T01:18:00.003Z

“Judaism is that rarest of phenomena: a particularist monotheism. The God of Abraham, according to the Hebrew bible, is the God of all humanity, but the faith of Abraham is not the faith of all humanity. So strange is this idea that it was not taken on by the two daughter monotheisms to which Judaism gave rise, Christianity and Islam. These faiths are both universalist monotheisms, holding that since there is only one God, there is only one true religion, one path to salvation, to which ideally all mankind will be converted.

To attempt to eliminate diversity (by conversion, missionary activity, or holy war) is to fail to understand the dignity of difference. Hence the great command in the Bible is ‘Love the stranger', the person who is not like yourself. Fundamentalism –the attempt to impose a single truth on a plural world- is religiously misconceived. The spiritual challenge is to recognise God’s image in one who is not in my image."

(from Jonathan Sacks 'A Jewish Perspective' contribution to "Making Globalisation Good", Oxford, Dunning, 2003)

[1502:4768]

The Ship, the Shoal & the School

2010-05-29T18:28:00.003Z

James warns teaching wannabees how large ships “… are steered by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot wants to go …” [Bible:NT:James3]

My understanding of ‘what God is like’ shapes my personal faith, as well as my role in the corporate church, and also my responsibilities in wider society. This understanding, in turn, is defined partly by my own experiences but mostly by the message that I receive from my teachers.

So James’ ship metaphor is significant. It reflects the sad truth that, even so soon after Jesus’ resurrection, the early church was riddled with the desire for power by the control of the message.

Today we have different problems. The thirst to dominate and control the message is perhaps less common (though not extinct). And yet, even though we live post enlightenment and teachings by the likes of Martin Luther are broadly accepted, our dependency on being 'spoon fed' doctrine is frightening.

Maybe it is because the time-consuming commercial pressures and family responsibilities associated with living in a global capitalist society leave most of us without the time or capacity to challenge and filter sound teaching from the plethora of information bombarded at us. Or perhaps a celebrity-style standard set by charismatic speakers leaves us with unbelief that a small word or behaviour from the backbenches could yield considerable prophetic impact.

The difficulty is that, under the ship metaphor, it is impossible to have common direction in ‘our journey together’, but for a Pilot At The Helm.

But this week my thinking experienced a Copernican-style revolution. And it was by a more organic metaphor of ‘doing the journey together’.

Like when a shoal of fish becomes a school of fish.

It’s amazing. How do they do it ?

[1489:4677]

Wolf Chops

2010-04-21T17:03:00.002Z

One of my favourite quotes is by Benjamin Franklin on the subject of liberty:

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch …”

I have recently been mindful of Palm Sunday and wrestling with the irony of how, in Sunday school classes, our children make ‘palm leaves’ as a craft to learn how Jesus’ entrance was as a triumphant king.

Or was it? The irony being that the Jews who laid palm branches on the road before Jesus were, quite probably, the same Jews later demanding his crucifixion.

And understandably too. Put yourself in their shoes. The hope of a prophecy fulfilled. And then, dramatically not fulfilled. Jesus rode a colt into town, yes, but he did not remove the power of the oppressor. He was clearly not there to bring peace. He toppled their micro-markets and their clever tax avoidance schemes. To replace it with what?

Our own upcoming national elections remind me that, along with hope for a new leader comes hope for a new military strategy, hope for a new financial system, hope for a better system of justice, for a better job or role, for a better way of life for me and my family. For the oppressed, hope for Wolf Chops.

But this is not the Kingdom of God that Jesus brought near as I understand it.

It is not about the Acquisition Of Power, whether for good or otherwise.

In terms of a strategy for service, Jesus teaching is exhausting. In terms of finance, it will leave you penniless. In terms of a social role, it will make you an alien and in terms of military progress it will (to cite Chris Martin’s genius lyrics) leave you sweeping the streets you used to own.

[1454:4544]

Sit Down, Preacher

2010-03-24T11:13:00.002Z

According to Edgar Dale, we only retain about 20% of what we hear, but around 80% of what we say to others or communicate through dramatic presentation.

So with regard to scriptural nourishment and a sound biblical worldview in individuals; the net result of a prevailing ‘auditorium career-preaching’ culture within church organisations is this: Skeletons on the pews and fat cats behind the pulpits.

And another thought. When people wonder why I appear to not listen and insist on learning from my own mistakes, this is why: we retain around 90% of what we learn through experience

- I am being an efficient learner.

[1422:4488]

The Implications Of Your Worldview

2010-03-14T21:43:00.002Z

Bugger. The cerebral gyroscope needs a break on this one. Consider it for a brief moment, then get on with your life.

Anyhow, three things that have interested me this week:

A talk about whether Christians should take anti-depressants

An article called "Detoxing from Church"

A proverb that I heard but cannot find. "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread".

[1413:4471]

Capacity for Grace

2010-03-04T10:29:00.002Z

In cricket, when you are out, you are out. Bowled, run or caught. In football, you’re given a second chance; yellow card, red card. In baseball, it’s three strikes before you’re out.

I wonder if there has ever been a baseball player who switched sports to cricket. And if so, how he coped without all of those second chances.

When you’re familiar with justice, undeserved acquittal can be a life-changing experience. That’s biblical grace.

But when such grace becomes an over-familiar norm, justice can be an awfully bitter shock to the system.

Jesus told Peter that, if a man “sinned against him”, he should forgive him, not seven times but four hundred and ninety times (seventy times seven). [Bible:Matt18|B'rC:OJB|NT:NIV]

In my experience, when young children are receiving discipline for doing wrong, how many ‘second chances’ they are given can depend largely on the ‘capacity for grace’ worn by the discipliner.

And whether those ‘second chances’ are too many or too few will surely shape that child’s expectations for the future.

[1398:4452]

Revived And Restored

2010-02-17T14:58:00.002Z

I am aware that verses, sections and paragraphs from the bible can be read out of their original, or intended, context, and then applied inappropriately, unsoundly, or just very badly.

But recently, Hosea 6 caught my attention.

Over the past few weeks, together with a group of believers, I have been looking at the Apostle’s Creed. And one thing that strikes me is the enormous ‘void’ that occurs between the crucifixion and the resurrection.

On a printed page, it is just a few millimetres of whiteness between two lines.

In the physical, it represents three days that must have been little more than ‘business as usual’ for funeral service sector workers who are familiar with clients living in the public eye.

But in the spiritual, what occurred in this void lies at the epicentre of Christian doctrine.

So I wondered if Hosea 6 might have been a ‘prophetic foreshadow’ of the resurrection. And if so, if it fills in a few of the blanks:

After the second day, God ‘revived’ His people - making us alive.

On the third day, God ‘restored’ His people – bringing us back to his original intention.

1439:4517

Living In The Questions

2010-02-16T15:10:00.004Z

It’s good to wrestle, to engage in creative experimentation, to have multiple conversions and to just show up. These and other helpful thoughts blogged by Mark Scandrette.

Jonathan Brink also explores some interesting insights in his posts about Facing The Lion, Re-Framing The Story and The Responsibility of F***ing Freedom .

[1435:4506]

Building Capacity in Others

2010-01-30T11:56:00.002Z

Fred was struggling to carry his load. So, believing that he might benefit from my experience and extra capacity, I offered to carry it for him.

After a while, Fred became unhappy about the way that I was carrying it.

I tried to explain that the path, both behind and ahead of us, was difficult to pass, and that maybe his expectations were a little unrealistic.

All the same, Fred took it back in search of someone who might carry it in a more satisfying way.

Fred found Jim, who, in the large print, offers to carry the loads of others. Jim is a pretty popular guy. Fred also now feels much better about the way that his load is being carried.

If he had read the small print, Fred would also know that, due to a binding covenant with Jim, most of his load is actually being carried by me.

Beginning to feel a little exhausted, and desiring to pray for neither rest nor strength, I resolve that the most worthwhile thing to do is to try and help increase Fred's capacity to carry his own load.

Although this is not the kind of help that Fred is looking for.

[1411:4462]

Voluntary Alienation

2010-01-15T12:37:00.002Z

The idea of choosing to be an alien is, paradoxically, alien.

But the notion fascinates me, primarily because it is what I have done.

I didn’t realise that this was what I was signing up for in the beginning. Being knee deep in it was fun. But further in, it seems less fun, if more rewarding.

I am not alone; there are others at various stages of realisation and exploration, but we are not the same.
From where I stand, not only am I an alien; so is everybody else.

Though there is little correlation with geographical movement, alien travel itself can be exhausting. Sometimes I am the visitor and sometimes the visited. These phenomena occur both when I am at home and away.

Sometimes I am gripped by the land formations or the climate. Occasionally I become drawn to the people. And there’s so much to learn from aliens. But layers of protocol, tradition, language and presumption are thick; taking time and energy to shed if an understandable core is to be reached.

Being misunderstood is a garment that I wear. Few see beneath it because the fastenings are complex and there are few hosts who provide adequate facility to hang it up.

Others can adorn lenses to shield themselves from undesirable barriers and boundaries, but that is not a freedom that I have. For me, all are passable. Seeing uncharted thresholds brings me hope and the varied perspectives that I experience lead me towards necessary Copernican style revolutions in my thinking.

Being in this state has so widened my view of others, deepened my understanding of myself and thickened my experience of the God that I believe in.

Looking ahead, I often wish that I wasn’t one, but looking back I wouldn’t have it any other way. For a believer, the self-admission of voluntary alienation is incredibly freeing. If you can handle freedom.

A few thoughts, stirred by James Cameron’s movie Avatar which, amongst other things, touches on the matter.

[1372:4406]

Freedom Makes You Work

2009-12-22T17:25:00.004Z

Last year I spoke to some believers from a former ‘eastern block’ country. They talked about how life had changed for them during the transition from communism to ‘free market’ economy.

One thing that they had said was how, under the previous regime, people like themselves had enough money, but that there were insufficient commodities to buy with it. And they said that, now, there is plenty to buy, but they just don’t have enough money to buy with.

So this article in the news especially intrigued me yesterday.

About the theft of the “ARBEIT MACHT FREI” sign from Auschwitz by our Polish neighbours.

And about how it had been cut into three pieces.

It made me wonder if they were planning on rearranging the sentence.

And if so, what they might want to say.

[1313:4301]

Individual Body Parts

2009-11-14T20:45:00.002Z

I was quite concerned about the ‘life choices’ that a fellow believer was making, so we had a conversation along these lines:

“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I believe it’s what God wants me to do.”
“Oh… Well, there’s no arguing with that then is there.”
“No.”

Or is there?

I mean, to say that I disagree with them has little authority since they believe that they are simply a part of the body that has a different function to mine.

Maybe they have an Immovable Faith or maybe they have a Foolish and Misguided Pride.

Is there a frightening implication of untamed prophetic belief amongst liberal apostolic Christian movements in that people can, by and large, do what they want in the name of God?

If we are of One Spirit, shouldn’t there be a means by which the Individual Faith and the Corporate Faith collide and align?

[1251:4202]

Diversity

2009-11-06T10:24:00.001Z

“ We don’t see light until it hits something …”

“ The church is to display … to equip and release others to display God’s manifold wisdom in diverse ways, through diverse characters …”

“ ‘metanational’ … instead of ‘multinational’ … expressing a desire to bring the contributions of the many parts to the whole, rather than just bringing a single approach to the many ..."

3 thought-provoking blog excerpts from a conference delegate.

[1232:4152]

Tools, Weapons and Toys

2009-10-08T16:50:00.005Z

Sometimes in my line of duty I have to use a gun.

Almost everyday I carry a knife.
My high-carbon steel blade is so sharp that last week it sank deep into my thumb like a warm knife into butter.

I'm not in the security industry.
But the engineering fascinates me.
And engineers need something to engineer.
But whether a device is considered to be ‘a tool’ or ‘a weapon’ or ‘a toy’ is less about the engineering and more about 1) the application and 2) where you are standing.

Here is a prophecy worth pursuing; read the ‘Isaiah Wall’ across the street from the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, USA. [Isa 2|Yesh 2]

When weapons turn into tools.

Swords into ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks, military Land Rovers painted white, blades for spreading, guns for building, and nuclear science for freezing our peas.

I suppose that my education and qualifications could be considered to be tools. Except when they have no application, and so they become toys.

[1188:4068]

Salt

2009-09-26T19:19:00.002Z

I have been looking for the ‘best before’ date on the box of table salt in our cupboard.

Does salt really lose its saltiness and if so how?

I know a lot of wonderful ‘salty’ people. Degrees of saltiness might be a concern for the individual, but I see a much greater danger afoot. The salt mine.

“It is always clean and comfortable down here.”

There is a magnetic appeal of church meetings and programs for the like-minded. Where the taste in music and sense of humour are common, where the people will make me feel good and my prejudices will largely go unchallenged. Where my time, energy and resources can be expended outside of the secular reality and all of this attractively marketed in ‘cool’ packaging or religious sensation.

Church group leaders who seek to be responsible hired hands must tread carefully.

[1173:4034]

Rest Or Strength ?

2009-09-19T19:21:00.002Z

“… those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary [OJB|NIV]

“… He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. [OJB|NIV]

“… Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest [OJB|NIV]

I am weary.

Do I ask for rest or strength ?

[1162:4001]

Jesus And Stress

2009-09-11T23:06:00.001Z

In what order would Jesus recommend the following as being suitable remedies for stress?

A. Withdraw from stressful responsibility
B. Consume more alcohol
C. Inhale more tobacco
D. Digest prescription narcotics
E. Digest non-prescription narcotics
F. Do a lot of shouting
G. Hit inanimate objects
H. Other

[1150:3969]

Sustainable Worldview

2009-09-11T22:56:00.001Z

If I do what my parents did, will my kids be able to do what I did?

[1150:3969]

Mates Rates

2009-08-02T17:09:00.002Z

Aristotle wrote, “Usury is detested above all and for the best of reasons. It makes profit out of money itself, not for money’s natural object … Money was intended as a means of exchange, not to increase at interest" (Aristotle 20-1 ‘Politics’ translation by John Warrington for Everyman’s Library London: Dent and Sons)

John the Baptist / Yochanan Ben Zecharyah taught "The man with two tunics (kaftans) should share with him who has none, and the one who has food (okhel) should do the same." [Bible:NIV|B’rC:NT:Luk3]

Lal writes about market advantage in terms of ‘transactional costs’ (p42) “… costs of relations between people (citing Matthews) … and how … institutions are par excellence ways of controlling or influencing the form, content, and outcomes of these interactions.”

So this is why the Baptist guy at the tool hire store won’t give me a drill, even though I have none and he has nine, right?

How clever we have become. Christian Branding, Christian Companies and Corporations, Christian Commercial Charities. The institutions which harbour our iniquities.

[1112:3914]

Evolutor God

2009-07-25T14:42:00.002Z

Creation v Evolution. But they’re not really opposites at all, are they?

Creationism offers 'who' but not 'how'. Evolutionism offers 'how' but not 'who'.

[1100:3894]

Bridging the Bridge That We Burnt

2009-07-05T21:34:00.003Z

Understanding, historically, at what point our paths divided feeds my desire to live appropriately amongst our Glocal neighbours.

Deepak Lal has recently scratched some of my proverbial itches. He writes (p45) " The Great Divergence of Western Europe from the other Eurasian civilisations occurred because of a change in cosmological and material beliefs, mediated by the Catholic Church … by Pope Gregory I in the sixth century on family matters (Goody 1983) and the second those by Gregory VII in the eleventh century on property and institutionally related issues (Berman 1983) … to put the west on a different economic trajectory than its Eurasian peers ".

Was organised Christian religion really the root of the individualism that separates the West from more communalist cultures?

Is the notion of exporting the Pursuit of Jesus and the kingdom of God across this divide, without exporting Western Individualism, an atavistic fantasy?

[1083:3846]

Entitlement

2009-06-07T21:10:00.002Z

They are principles that we try to impart to our children from an early age: “Your turn, his turn, her turn, give it to him, give it to her, share it, it’s hers, it’s his, it’s mine”.

I have found excerpts from a recently discovered book to be quite enlightening on the subject.

“… A free society cannot be built on mishpat, the rule of law, alone … Tzedakah, by contrast, refers to distributive justice … from the theology of Judaism, in which there is a difference between possession and ownership … all things are owned by God …”

“Making Globalization Good: The Moral Challenges of Global Capitalism” John.H.Dunning et al. Oxford University Press, 2004

I’m looking forward to reading a hard copy this summer.

[1063:3782]

Google Church

2009-05-26T22:12:00.004Z

I often wrestle with the apparent tensions between ‘local’ and ‘global’.

Last November we arrived home from a bonfire night party to find a man lying motionless in the road with his head covered in blood.

I discovered retrospectively that the assault had followed an argument in the local bookies. Anyway, it was late and raining and it seemed that all other characters lurking in the dark were either ‘turning a blind eye’ or were unaware of the situation.

Less because I am a good Samaritan and more because he was lying in my parking space, I attended to the man finding him drifting in and out of consciousness due to several blows to the head. I called the emergency services on his behalf.

The swiftness with which they arrived to nurture his recovery reinforced my appreciation for both the global technologies - like the mobile/cell phone - that we have at our fingertips, as well as for those who persevere stressful or lonely global lifestyles to bring them to us.

But in another respect, the episode reminds me that ‘local’ can mean responsive, hands-on, tactile and connecting in a way that ‘global’ cannot.

Global definitions of friendship - like as the veneer of a one-click-covenant according to one popular 'social networking' website - are a far cry from the teachings of Jesus/Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.

I am unconvinced of the idly used notion of loving our ‘global neighbours’ from afar. Would our passions not be best exercised by moving into their neighbourhood?

If the church is confident in her identity, is our best response to globalisation that of riding the waves of global capitalism as a bunch of shallow virtual networks?

[1030:3694]

Prisoner Or Free ?

2009-05-22T11:27:00.002Z

Today I reached a wall.

I cannot get over it. I cannot get under it. I cannot get around it.

There is not much to see on either side of the wall, except a few people. Some are on this side (us), and some are on the other (them).

How do I find out if it is them or us that are free ?

[1017:3660]

Justice v Grace

2009-05-08T21:06:00.003Z

These days I work as a barber. Today a long-haired customer walked in and asked for a short cut. So we chatted and I snipped. Snip snip. Anyway, suddenly he said “stop!”. I said “what’s wrong?”. He said “it isn’t short enough”. I said “I know, I haven’t finished”. He said “and it’s wet”. I said “yes, I had to wet it to cut it straight, your hair was all ruffled”. He said “this is not good enough, I’m not paying”, stormed out of the shop and slammed the door.

The trouble is, right now, I badly need that revenue.

So here is my dilemma:
From my standpoint in the marketplace I want justice.
I think he is in the wrong and I want to make him pay.

From my standpoint in the church, I wonder if I should exercise grace, and this is why:
Jesus said “… if someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also …” [B’rC|NT:Luk6]
Paul said “… why not rather be wronged? why not rather be cheated? …” [B’rC|NT:1Cor6]

So justice or grace?

If grace, then must the perpetrator first be shown his error?

[988:3581]

Calvin v Arminius

2009-04-26T11:07:00.005Z

This post from a theology student:

Calvinism sees the atonement as limited, while Arminianism sees it as unlimited. Limited atonement is the belief that Jesus only died for the elect. Unlimited atonement is the belief that Jesus died for all, but that His death is not effectual until a person believes.

Calvinism includes the belief that God’s grace is irresistible, while Arminianism says that an individual can resist the grace of God. Irresistible grace argues that when God calls a person to salvation, that person will inevitably come to salvation. Resistible grace states that God calls all to salvation, but that many people resist and reject this call.

Calvinism holds to the concept that a person who is elected by God will persevere in faith and will not permanently deny Christ or turn away from Him. Arminianism holds to the notion of 'conditional salvation' - where a believer in Christ can, of their own free will, turn away from Christ and thereby lose salvation.

Which are you ?

[939:3384]

Signing My Life Away

2009-04-11T09:50:00.002Z

Agreements, contracts, covenants. Sometimes they are written, sometimes they are verbal.

They are sure to constitute two aspects: Content, and A Sign.

Regarding the content, we cannot exercise justice (claiming ‘rights’) without it because this is where ‘what is right’ is defined. We cannot exercise grace (showing undeserved favour) without it because this is where ‘what is deserved’ is defined.

Once the content is defined, a sign is required to show that the agreement exists:

In business it can be a signature, or a handshake. In marriage, a ring.

In the Torah, God first used a rainbow as a sign for the ‘I will not flood the earth again’ covenant [Bereshis9|Genesis9]

The sign of the ‘covenant with God’s people’ was circumcision. [Ber17|Gen17]

The sign of the ‘new covenant’ is blood - Jesus’ blood - because “… without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness …” [B’rC:MJ9|NT:Heb9]”. Jesus tried to explain this to his disciples with the cup of wine [B'rC:Mark14].

So when I drink communion wine, what is the agreement that I am remembering?

[912:3319]

People Or Human Resources ?

2009-04-04T09:52:00.003Z

I observe how the church is robbing our town. How, as eager ambassadors of our charitable God, we romanticise the trampled-on through well-marketed programs, and then fund these same programs by piling heavy taxes on the trampled-on.

A convenient circle of piety.

Well, people will only squash to a certain thickness and still remain human. So what was our town is now one enormous care-home. It is run by people who do not live here and it is full of people who either will not, cannot, or believe that they cannot, fend for themselves.

In order to fund the care home we are to build a new, adjacent, income-generating town.

One difficulty is to find products and services that will actually make the new town a net contributor. The town will provide jobs, products and services for all; healthcare, security, education, energy and communication, multimedia, opportunities to both serve and be served, opportunities for mission, preaching and taxation.

I am responsible for recruitment.
With the right team we can pump our profits into the old town.

I was struggling to find employees who were both willing and able to meet the incredibly challenging demands facing us, when I stumbled across this advertisement:

… recruiting workers who will work 24/7 … never on sick leave … never absent … do not require a pension … will not join a union … low maintenance costs … see them in action …

It works for me. But here lieth a challenge for both preacher and taxman.

[895:3268]

Family Adoption

2009-03-28T09:28:00.005Z

“… just as He picked us out to be part of Hashem's Bechirim (Chosen Ones) before the hivvased tevel (foundation of the world), that we should be Kadoshim and without mum (defect, VAYIKRA 22:20) before Him in ahavah [VAYIKRA 11:44; 20:7; SHMUEL BAIS 22:24; TEHILLIM 15:2] Having provided the yi'ud merosh (predestination) for us to be chosen as adopted bnei brit through Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua to Himself, according to the chafetz (good pleasure) of His ratzon (will) …” [Bible:OJB:B’rC:Eph1]

I am of gentile descent.
Is this adoption available to me?
Who are the host family that I am ‘adopted’ into?

1. My local group of believers
2. Jews
3. Christians
4. Messianic Jews

Should my behaviour reflect that of my host family?

[876:3200]

£25000 Down The Drain

2009-03-24T17:30:00.002Z

"... he was in Beit-Anyah at the bais of Shimon the leper, reclining at tish, and an isha (woman) came, having an alabaster flask of costly perfume, pure nard, and having broken open the alabaster flask, she poured [it on] the head of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. Now some were there who in ka’as (anger) said to one another, for what reason has this waste of ointment taken place? For this was able to be sold for more than three hundred denarii and to be given to the aniyim ..." [Bible:OJB:B’rit Chadasha:Mark14]

300 denarii was considered to be over a year’s income. Today, the equivalent might buy a 20 second commercial advertisement on prime-time TV. Or it might make a significant contribution to a charity for the homeless.

What would you spend it on?

[Thread courtesy of Nemo, thanks.]

[863:3177]

No Net Burden. Really?

2009-03-12T12:00:00.004Z

Paul wrote to followers in Thessalonica “…Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you …” [bible:niv:nt:1thess2]

If he really worked both day and night, when did Paul find time to ‘preach’? Did he have any time to ‘prepare’? Or was this a different kind of ‘preaching’ to that which is familiar to western middle class Christianity?

If he was a ‘self-sufficient’ visitor, how did Paul abstain from receiving hospitality without robbing his host of the ‘gifts’ of giving and of community?

Did he work for money, and if so, what was the hourly rate of a tent-maker relative to that earned by his hosts, in the services that they provided? Or did he trade his services directly with his hosts, and if so, was a day of Paul’s labour equal to a day of their labour?

If he did tent making for the Roman military then was Paul actually contributing to the tax burden on the people?

After fending for the needs of my dependants, and for myself, and after contributing my tax obligation, how hard exactly do I need to work in order to ‘not be a burden’ to my community?

[835:3117]

Jesus Is The Dot. What ? (Part 2)

2009-01-17T22:43:00.005Z

Thanks to a gift book from my brother, my attention has recently returned to the helpful perspectives associated with ‘bounded sets’ and ‘centred sets’ as expounded in this discussion with Dave Schmelzer:

http://www.nycvineyard.com/training/Schmelzer_MinistryInOurCulture1.mp3

I firmly subscribe to this way of thinking. I understand that any kind of corporate believers’ meeting is ‘bounded set’, and I am increasingly aware of the presence of various ‘set perimeters’ which exist amongst groups that I either meet with or know about. This is of continuous annoyance to me.

I consider many aspects of ‘the kingdom of God’, as described by Jesus in my NIV bible, and indeed the nature of my personal journey of faith, to be best modelled as ‘centred set’.

Now this is something that gets me down;

I live in a culture where, for sanity’s sake, progress has calibrations, performance is measured and success is awarded. By very nature, bounded sets are highly measurable and there is a 'feel good' factor associated with the measurement of growing head-counts or of reaching fund-raising targets.

But if faith and the kingdom of God are centred set, and if progressing in the pursuit of God/Jesus is calibrated by ‘motion towards God/Jesus’, then how can that be measured ? Is it not depressingly subjectively immeasurable ?

[763:3002]

Christmas Dilemma

2008-12-31T12:03:00.002Z

A neighbour knocks on our door late one night. He tells us that he needs some kitchen foil to roast a chicken. What better a time of year to give cheerfully from the excesses of our kitchen cupboards?!

The stocky fellow grins at me on the doorstep through his gold-capped tooth. As a character whose community is by and large on the streets, and whose lifestyle is entwined with prison, squats and the drugs economy, I wonder if it is wisdom, or just a sign of my messed up state of heart and untrusting mind, that I doubt his motives.

Throwing caution to the wind, I head for the kitchen where my wife intercepts me to remind me of the double usefulness of tools like candles, metal spoons and foil to people who dabble in such circles. Or maybe there's just a naked chicken down the road, sitting in a tray.

I wonder what Jesus would have done?

[738:2943]

Sons of Isaac and Ishmael

2008-12-10T11:34:00.003Z

We could debate endlessly on Who should control the purse strings on God’s behalf. Or whether a piece of land declared ‘holy’ under one covenant remains ‘holy’ indefinitely. Or who should own it. Along with any associated artefacts. Or if God cares.

But it is true to say that, in order to understand where we’ve come from, we need to look down the path behind us.

BBC2: After Rome : Boris Johnson

This is, quite possible, the most unifying and trustworthy synopsis that I have heard from a political figurehead since September 2001. The series on the ‘clash of civilisations’ should be compulsory viewing to all westerners; Christians, Jews and Muslims alike.

[707:2852]

Dignity v Pride

2008-12-01T22:45:00.002Z

Before the time when his problems started choking his self-esteem, Geoff worked in The City in the banking sector. He was familiar with receiving high levels of customer service. Recently, when appearing reluctant to share a room at the local homeless shelter, Geoff was told that he was being “a bit too proud”. Later that month, however, his picture was used in fundraising literature for the same shelter - to depict the type of client whose “dignity” they were trying to restore.

So what’s the difference between Pride and Dignity?
Are we supposed to retain them or shake them off?

[691:2805]

Commerciality

2008-11-15T17:26:00.002Z

The most compassionate thing to do for a world that cannot believe in God is to create substitute purpose and reason for living.

True or False?

[667:2745]

Adam and Eve and Friends

2008-11-15T17:20:00.000Z

Who were the parents of Cain’s wife?

[667:2745]

Teenage Messiah ?

2008-11-09T11:59:00.002Z

According to the Bible, he told Caiaphas that he was ‘the Christ’. He told a Samaritan woman that he was ‘the Messiah’. He told a Canaanite woman that he was ‘the Son of David’ and he told countless others that he was ‘the Son of Man’.

But when did Jesus have these realisations?

[Thread subject courtesy of Nemo, thanks]

[658:2704]

Gentiles For Jesus

2008-10-26T11:54:00.004Z

Below is an interesting dialogue between two organisational leaders. Their respective movements represent diametrically opposite views on whether Messianic Jews should practice Torah.

http://ffoz.org/blogs/2008/07/jews_for_jesus.html

If the Jewish church cannot agree, what hope is there for the Gentile church?
How should a Gentile believer behave?

[627:2633]

Taxing Robots

2008-10-05T12:09:00.011Z

I have joined a self-sufficient ‘sharing’ community. At the outset, community functions were divided equally and tasks allocated to everybody. Community ‘credits’ are earned based on the completion of tasks and debited when the services of another are consumed.

My role, like that of a few others, is to wash and dry dishes. I love it. Normally, I could turn around about 240 dishes per day, which is a few more than what my counterparts can do. However, on Tuesday I finally commissioned my new invention that washes and dries 5000 dishes in 12 hours.

So now I do all of the dishes. I have far more credits and free time so I have launched a few initiatives. I have opened a bank for people who want to borrow credits to also work on inventions. I have started a charity for ex-dish-washers and others who no longer have enough work in their specialised fields. I am also opening a psychological advice practice to help the spiralling number of problems arising in the community.

These days, community life sucks. Relationships are abrasive and tensions are high. If I could turn back time to that Tuesday and make different decisions I would. Should I have shared the benefits of my automation in another way?

[576:2501]

Dodos and Dragons

2008-10-04T16:14:00.004Z

One ate grass like an ox and lived amongst lotus plants, marsh reeds and willows. The other had powerful limbs, airtight scales, smoking nostrils and a fiery breath [Bible:OT:Job40-41].

Some theologians and scholars interpret Behemoth and Leviathan as symbolic mythical beings which denote power and invincibility. Maybe. Or is this intellectualism to distance our pride from simple, yet unbelievable truths?

Some bible translations speak instead of the hippo and the crocodile. I have seen both, but I have never seen a crocodile billow smoke nor breathe fire. They are ferocious yes, but not invincible.

Is it really too difficult to believe that these were tremendous beasts which have simply become extinct?

Leviathan. Myth, Croc or Extinct ?

[575:2482]

Jesus and The Credit Crunch

2008-07-24T13:03:00.006Z

Ok, so the final product was a little short lived, but the process was commendable. Around 15,000 people were involved with the design and build and almost 900 served on board. She was a wage earner for the skilled and the unskilled alike, and she was a common focus for believer and unbeliever to work shoulder to shoulder.

Wherever I have been in the world amongst people who are poor or caught in unhelpful lifestyles, I hear cries for the creation of sustainable employment, cries that have mostly been answered only with acts of short-lived charity.

In an age of The Wise and Frugal Church of I’m Alright Jack, where are the visionaries who will take a foolish business risk to create meaningful work for people who are short on cash and purpose?

And if we are to create neither dens for gambling, nor tools of war, then what should such projects look like?

[416:2168]

Christian Scabs

2008-06-30T09:18:00.005Z

In my country, council workers have recently voted to take strike action.

Is this a conflict of interests, creating inner turmoil for the believer?

Surely the God of the bible is a CovenantKeepingGod, and so to respect the contract of employment between the employer and the employee is a kingdom value.

Didn't God remind us, in the first instance, of what working conditions we could expect from living under monarchic rule [bible:niv:ot:1sam8]?

Dilemma. Who should I be; striker or scab ?

[380:2104]

Did Adam have a Belly Button ?

2008-05-11T16:02:00.006Z

... and 5 of the quotes that give me reason to read Shane Claiborne's books this summer:

"... We wrestle to free ourselves from macrocharity and distant acts of charity that serve to legitimise apathetic lifestyles of good intentions but rob us of the gift of community.

It’s a beautiful thing when folks in poverty are no longer a missions project but become genuine friends and family with whom we laugh, cry, dream and struggle.

[citing the late Catholic Bishop Dom Helder Camara] “when I fed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry they called me a communist”.

I used to think you were all missionaries bringing the gospel to your neighbourhood. But now I see that it is in your neighbourhood that you have learned the gospel, and that you are actually missionaries to the church.

We have never considered ourselves a ‘church plant’ … I’m not sure we need more churches. What we really need is a church … I have tried to remove the plural churches from my vocabulary."

Here is the sample excerpt from "The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical"

[329:1995]

Dream Employee ?

2008-03-17T21:25:00.005Z

Joseph's story is a well scripted tale of family reconciliation and forgiveness.

But what came of his nation-saving-dreams? Was the wisely-stored-grain distributed amongst the people with mercy and compassion? No, they paid for the grain with their savings, and when they had no money left, he took their cattle. And when they had no cattle left, he took their land. And when hardship and poverty was rife, he imposed a 20% taxation on all future production [bible:niv:gen47].

Did the Prophetic Dreamer become a Ruthless Capitalist or just any government's Model Employee ?

[305:1965]

Freeze Dried, Vacuum Packed, Cryogenically Stored ?

2008-03-12T17:25:00.003Z

It resembled coriander seed, was white, and tasted like wafers made with honey.

Manna.

"... two quarts of it are to be preserved throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt ..." [bible:niv:ot:exo16]

So where is it then ?

[297:1954]

My Parents, My Kids and Jesus

2008-02-19T18:03:00.002Z

I want to be like my parents.
I don't want to be like my parents.
I want my children to be like me.
I don't want my children to be like me.

http://vcfcaudio.bostonvineyard.org/080203-bostonsermon.mp3

I found some of this talk interesting and helpful.
[The ILoveYouSong is on YouTube]
[267:1913]

SuperDad ?

2008-02-02T10:12:00.000Z

Among other roles described throughout the bible, God is identified as the 'father' of both Jesus and of those who subsequently believe in him.

In this respect, should modern-day fathers in our society be taking cues from the character of God in their relationships with their own children?

[237:1865]

To Meet Or Not To Meet

2007-12-24T16:24:00.000Z

The organisations, programmes, events and personal ambitions, which arise from the notion that 'church' is anything more than a collection of believers, are great distractions to my pursuit of God.

My difficulty is that, except for my understanding of Jesus' message, I cannot find a party line to toe, an authority to submit to, or a vision to passionately pursue.

Attending most church meetings feels either inappropriate, painful or hippocritical. Not meeting with other believers feels wrong, isolating and not a good way to head a family, which I believe to be one of my responsibilities.

I don't have anything better to offer except that which I do now.

Meeting: Is it better to do the wrong thing than to do nothing?

Churchworld

2007-12-24T16:17:00.000Z

I have found a forum where my thirst for corporate preaching is quenched and my hunger for corporate worship is fed. But there seems to exist, in the subconscious of the believers there, an old-covenant-style belief that this is the place, and these are the meetings, where the Spirit of God can be found.

The notion that the Holy Spirit is with an individual, in them, on them, wherever and whenever they are, seems long forgotten. Instead, out of a heart to share their experience of God with others, astonishing programs and events are formulated and invitations distributed.

In desire and words, they are passionately missional, but so much time and energy is spent creating attractive meetings, that I rarely see the believers outside of their churchworld and in the village.

When our paths do cross in the village, their behaviour is often unfortunate and their language sometimes alienating to villagers. 'Acceptable' thinking and behaviour has been taught over a number of years such that, although oblivious to it, the community has developed its own segregated culture.

The corporate desire for God is great. It is wonderful. But in the absence of true prophecy and power manifest in tangible happenings, people-pleasers leave false prophecy unchallenged and nobody has the courage to wait.

The organisational calendar dictates that fifty-odd sermons be preached in any 12 month period and that the timetable of any single meeting be filled with an enriching schedule.

The mechanics of the meetings are religious and traditional. To some they feel modern, embracing societal changes and all that is new, although much is as it was 15 years ago. Old songs of substance have been replaced with last weekend's rock trivia and some nonsense of yesteryear was chosen preferentially over a recent revelation because someone didn't like the tune.

I agree with today's message, that being 'fishers of men' is a family activity, not an individual sport. But when I bring my village friends to meetings on subsequent occasions, most people don't even remember their names, never mind take a further interest in their lives.

I would rather sit in a hall of silence for 90 minutes than fill a meeting with the zillionth sermon searching for a relevant life-application from one of Paul's letters addressing somebody elses problems.

The God I believe in does not perform on-demand. His speech is not a constant flow of drivel. Excuses and cover stories do not need to be made on His behalf. I'm not a cynic. I want to be part of something better but I don't know how.

Great Expectations

2007-09-22T21:11:00.000Z

Some people plan their entire lives around finding the ‘best’ schools and educational establishments for their kids.

1. How do I best help prepare the ‘next generation’ for the future marketplace without placing unspoken expectations on them?

2. Does this question matter any less to a Christian parent, given that wealth and asset accumulation have no significance in the kingdom of God? What if our kids grow up as unbelievers and place more value in these things?

Jesus and the ASBO

2007-09-22T21:09:00.000Z

Across the street from our house are three car parking spaces. It is a corner of town, hidden from CCTV and the accountability of society. Every day I see guys loitering there; drinking beer in the street, throwing their cans on the ground, urinating up the walls. All of these are illegal where we live.

From a MarketPlace point of view, we could lose less money in our mortgage on the property if these people would go away and ‘devalue’ somebody else’s ‘front yard’. Getting them ‘moved on’ would probably take a month of daily phone calls to the local police.

From a Church point of view, Jesus talked about loving neighbours and casting out demons. My only contact with these people is to ask them to use a bin and to not p*** up the walls please. So my message is that Jesus likes streets that are clean and stench free.

Should I ‘live and let live’ or do I pick up the phone?

Tinker Tailor Soldier WorshipLeader

2007-07-20T15:26:00.000Z

Who I Am. Ten Questions.

1. Do I have a role to play in the church (the believers collective)?
2. If I do, how do I know what it is?
3. Does it need to be defined? Or recognised? Or authorised?
4. Does it change depending on where I am or whom I am with?
5. Is it most like a family role, a bodily function, or a job position?
6. How does it relate to my role in the marketplace?
7. Does it have anything to do with my character?
8. Can my character be changed or only my behaviour?
9. Does it have anything to do with my abilities or skills?
10. Is it dependent on, or independent of, the role of any other believer?

The Wheels On The Bus

2007-07-10T07:14:00.000Z

So I alight a public transport bus, which is almost full, and take the last seat. At the next stop, the doors swing open and several people climb aboard, including a friend, a member of the church, an unbeliever, a family member, a Muslim, a traveller from a distant land, a poor man and a neighbour.

A small sign on the bus says “please give up this seat to a pregnant or elderly person”.
In my culture, the rule is “first come, first served”.
Jesus said to “love thy neighbour” but loved those who were given to him.
Paul said to care for the family.
Peter said to love believers.
The evangelist says to love the unbeliever.
The missionary says to love the foreigner.

I only have one seat to give up. Who should I give it up to, if anyone?

XYZ: The Maths Of Mission

2007-06-22T16:13:00.000Z

There are X missionaries in our church group.
The cost of sending each one to their ‘mission field’ is Y.
The total amount of money that our church group receives from one another is Z.

What calculation between X, Y and Z should be used to decide who to send where?

When they reach their respective ‘mission fields’, what should the missionaries teach the local church about the relationship between X, Y and Z?

Born Again ?

2007-05-27T20:19:00.000Z

When Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus that "... no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again ..." [bible:niv:nt:john3], was he referring to the Jews, who believed that inheritance of the kingdom had already come to them through birth ?

If Jesus had the same conversation with a Gentile, who would not hear the same message since their own birth implied no spiritual favour, would he have used the 'birth' analogy at all ?

Put another way, should believers be telling Gentile unbelievers that they must be 'born again' ?

Certain Uncertainty

2007-05-27T20:07:00.000Z

Change, Embracing Wobbles, The Importance of Being Right, Beer, Defining Theology, Christian Worldviews, Conceptual Idolatry, Defining The Gospel, Escatological ('end times') Understanding and Confidence.

http://www.allelon.org/media/files/MPMC_mclaren_01.mp3

This guy was recommended to me by TTW. This interesting talk is about 40mins long, and part of a series of forums which are downloadable from here.

Money Money Money

2007-05-11T11:47:00.000Z

True Or False ?

1. Except for a Watchmaker, the secular proverb “Time Is Money” is true only when interest is charged on a debt.
2. Regardless of how much or how little we think we have, we usually spend it all.
3. Wise Stewards invest an excess where it will bring the greatest return, the Charitable distribute it to the most worthy cause, but Jesus’ message on giving is not about stewardship, or charity, but Generosity.

Theoretical Situation III

2007-05-05T15:59:00.000Z

Janet and John are at home, enjoying an evening in with some visiting friends, Betty and Boris. They hear a disturbance outside, including raised voices, violent language and the crash of rubbish bins (trash cans).

Boris and John go outside to find a young woman fearfully curled up against a wall, and a loud man pacing, threateningly, around her. To anyone listening in the neighbourhood, the man explains in an angry boom that the girl is the mother of his unborn child and that he has just discovered she is using crack cocaine.

What would you do?

a) Invite the girl in for a coffee
b) Tackle the man to the ground
c) Go back into the house and try to talk a little louder, so as to drown out the noise outside
d) Hang around and intervene in the event of physical violence
e) Call the cops
f) Invite the man in for a coffee
g) Other ...

The Power of Invitation

2007-04-26T16:22:00.000Z

Invitation to contribute can demonstrate interest.
Invitation to a party can demonstrate care.
Invitation to carry responsibility can demonstrate trust.

Joining a party without Invitation is called Gatecrashing.
Helping a person without Invitation is called Meddling.
Entering a house without Invitation is called Intrusion.

1. When does a Prophet need an Invitation to speak?
2. When does a Missionary need an Invitation to go?
3. Who does a Leader expect an Invitation from?

Demons and Drama Queens

2007-04-11T20:46:00.000Z

Being vulnerable. Exercising authority. Helping those in need.

They could be seen as attributes of a Christ-follower.
They could also be seen as roles under Steven B Karpman’s triangle theory.

Is there a place for psychiatry, psychology and psycho-analysis in Christianity? Does it provide us with useful tools or is it an industry that meddles with our souls?

Under the marketplace rules of supply & demand, does a skew towards education, therapy and charity, breed a generation of clever, ill-minded beggars?

Guilty Of Hubbub

2007-04-11T20:41:00.000Z

At Vanity Fair

Mrs. Jesus ?

2007-04-11T20:36:00.000Z

At the wedding of Cana, Mary (Jesus’ mother) tells the servants, ‘do whatever he tells you’. This implies that Mary may have been ‘mother of the groom’ and that indeed the wedding at Cana was Jesus’ wedding to Mary Magdalene.

If Jesus’ was married does it impact on his deity?

[Thanks Nemo]

Pins In A World Map ?

2007-04-01T14:09:00.000Z

Some missionaries are coming to my town from overseas.
I doubt they will introduce themselves as missionaries.

So, other than them being ‘the polite bunch with the sketchy dialect’, how will we recognise them as missionaries?

Theoretical Scenario II

2007-03-31T21:11:00.000Z

Janet is a Christian landlady. She rents out two rooms of her house to a couple of young brothers, John and Fred. Fred has a well-paid job and always pays his rent on time. John, however, has a poorly paid job and makes different lifestyle choices. John’s rent payments have become later and later. For a while, Fred paid on John’s behalf, but recently John’s portion has completely stopped.

On explaining that the brothers risked eviction and court action, Janet comes home one day to find the rooms empty and the brothers gone.

With a substantial debt owed to her, what should she do?

God's Fragile Creation

2007-03-17T09:23:00.000Z

"... More earthbound Christians, though, are beginning to ponder on the biblical creation story, according to which, God says that humans should 'have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth' ..."

http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/can_you_believe_it/debates/green.html

Does 'dominion' mean that we are entitled to blow the tops off mountains to get at the coal beneath?

[Thanks for this post Apoc29]

Not Enough Explanation

2007-03-11T12:07:00.000Z

Thanks for all the threads, they are in a queue (a line) ready for posting.
I have modified the blog rules on the right hand side.

Are these rules necessary?
Can any be deleted?
Does any more explanation need to be added?

Church vs MarketPlace

2007-03-11T11:53:00.000Z

‘The marketplace’ - where we buy and sell. Products, services, religion, education, entertainment, media, arts, security, law, etc. Food for thought:

1. If the church (the believers collective) is not in the marketplace then it cannot be ‘missional’.
2. The church can shape the marketplace, but cannot expect to pull the marketplace into the church, or under its values, since ‘belief’ is a choice.
3. Everybody (believer and unbeliever) must be, and in fact is, in the marketplace, because everybody has bills to pay and/or responsibilities to carry.
4. If the church claims to be a non-marketplace entity, it still remains in it, confusing believers and unbelievers, and continuing to effect competition, supply, and demand, in the areas that it touches.

Here’s an interesting chap, and what he believed, but hey who wants to live in a village with no pub these days?!

Multiple Choice

2007-03-11T11:43:00.000Z

What did Jesus say?
(A) "be like me"
(B) "follow me"
(C) other

Book Worms

2007-02-24T17:30:00.000Z

There are loads of interesting books out there, some excellent and encouraging, some not so much. Which, if any, books have you found useful and/or inspiring on your journey?

[Thanks DontQuoteMe - ironically, I could not post the question without quoting you!]

Please remember the blog rule that adverts will be deleted. Which, in practice, means that you can name a book's author, and say how the book has influenced your journey, but you can't name the book.

True Or False?

2007-02-24T17:08:00.000Z

1. An unbeliever, who has no previous knowledge of Jewish Law, cannot be expected to understand the words 'sin' or 'sinner'.

2. A believer is a sinner.

Jesus vs. Paul

2007-02-24T16:38:00.000Z

Paul writes "... what fellowship can light have with darkness? ..." [bible:niv:nt:2cor6]

Luke writes how Jesus "... welcomes sinners, and eats with them ..." [bible:niv:nt:luk15]

Is this a contradiction?

If I believe Paul over Jesus, does that make me a Paulian, rather than a Christian?

The Church Iceberg

2007-02-11T01:25:00.000Z

Have a look at this link. The guys from 'ship of fools' send out 'mystery worshippers' to measure church services and write reports. This one they describe as the world's smallest church.

http://ship-of-fools.com/Mystery/2005/1117.html

Surely the church service, like the iceberg, is only the proverbial 'one tenth' that you can see.

ShipOfFools have an interesting list of standard questions for the visit. But what about the other 'nine tenths'?

What are the questions that we should really be asking? How should we really be measuring the church?

Being a People Pleaser

2007-01-27T14:36:00.000Z

I used to work with a very lovely girl. I would always know when she was about to tell me something which (she presumed) I would not receive well, because she would start by saying two or three things about me or my character that she thought was positive.

It was a very cute mannerism, but did she think that I would find the truth hard to swallow and so just ‘dressing it up’?

Paul said that we should “… build up the church …” [bible:niv:nt:1cor14]

But I don’t see Jesus giving a soft, encouraging word when he turns the tables on the people trading in the temple area [bible:niv:nt:john2].

What does this mean for the ‘prophetic’ church. Is ‘building up’ the same as ‘saying positive things’?

Friend or Fo? llower

2007-01-13T16:11:00.000Z

If I move town, for a new job, away from my current ‘church plant’, it is very likely that I will lose touch with many people in my church community.

The ones I keep in touch with, were they my ‘real’ friends, and the others just fellow believers?

Jesus said “… greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends …” [bible:niv:nt:john14]

We all have different ideas and expectations about friendship.

Should ‘discipleship’ include ‘friendship’?

Theoretical Scenario

2007-01-13T15:42:00.000Z

Janet is a Christian who does a job for John for an agreed price. The job is too big for Janet alone, so she gets a friend, Mark to help. Part the way through the job, Janet goes on holiday, leaving Mark to finish up.

While Janet is away, John realises that he can get the job done a lot cheaper by doing a deal with Mark, who is happy to work for less money. When Janet returns from holiday, the job is finished. Unfortunately, John refuses to pay Janet anything, saying that he was unhappy with the work, and that he asked Mark personally to finish the job for an agreed fee.

Neither John nor Mark reply when Janet tries to call them.

Janet has spent a lot of money on the job and, feeling robbed, wonders what to do. She reads Jesus’ teaching:

" … and if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well … " [bible:niv:nt:matt5].

So should Janet give more money to John?

Jesus Is The Dot. What ?

2007-01-13T15:13:00.000Z

“ … most churches are bounded set …”
“ … most of us don’t want to join somebody else’s bounded set …”

Here's a link to a couple of talks that my father-in-law sent me. Each talk is about 2 hours long so you might need to listen over several sessions.

http://www.nycvineyard.org/resources/resources.php?page=schmelzer

It’s slightly abstract, but is there any value in looking at life through these lenses?