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No Jesus Party At The End PDF Print E-mail
Reviews - Mars Hill
Thursday, 25 June 2009 13:08

This is taken from the first in Rob Bell's series "Learning To Lament In A Culture Of Denial".  Bell has shown that you can fill a Church and touch thousands by going serious with the tricky parts of the Bible.  He once spent over a year in Leviticus (disgracefully downgraded to one of the battle grounds in the same-sex debate, too often dismissed with glib comments about polyester shirts and boiling goats in their mother's milk).  This quote from Kathleen O'Connor captures the essence of what he says.  

 

“Lamentations names what is wrong

What is out of order in God’s world

What keeps human beings from thriving in all their creative potential

Simple acts of Lament expose these conditions,

Name them

Open them to grief and anger

And make them visible for remedy.”

Click on "Read more" or the title for a fuller exposition.

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Being Woven Out On The Web PDF Print E-mail
News - News
Saturday, 27 June 2009 08:45

WebThis is going to read as a highlight package from the Guardian website, one of the least favourite newspapers of Doncaster's new mayor Peter Davies (check out the transcript of the poor guy getting verbally mauled here)

The New Atheist God debate has another significant contribution from Terry Eagleton.  Eagleton famously savaged "The God Delusion" in the London Review of Books, saying it was like someone holding forth on biology whose "only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds".  Mark Vernon has a review of Eagleton's new book "Reason, Faith and Revolution".  "Reason, Faith and Revolution" advances some fresh arguments including the idea that the greatest traditions also contain their own best critique.  In other words, we're big enough, and we believe God is big enough, to admit to the bits we find tricky.  This echoes Yancey who claims there is no argument against the existence of God that you won't find in the Bible.

Polly Tonybee has some great stuff today about our dissatisfaction with politics

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Valuing Perseverance PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - Affluenza
Thursday, 25 June 2009 07:15

One study presented Chinese and American four to six year olds with two stories, as follows:

1. Little Bear watches his Mommy and Daddy catch fish.  He really wants to learn how to catch fish by himself.  he tries for a while but he cannot catch any fish.  Then he says to himself, "Forget it, I don't want to catch any fish!"

2. Little Birdie is learning how to fly.  He jumps off a tree but falls down to the ground.  Daddy Bird and Mommy Bird bring him back up again.  He tries again and again, and he falls down again and again.  After trying many times, Little Birdie finally learns to fly.

Asked about these stories, the American chidren showed much greater interest in the methods by which Bear or Birdie could improve their performance, in the creative strategies that might work.  By contrast, the Chinese children focused on the virtue of concentrated persistence.  Nearly all the children in both groups liked the Birdie, after his valiant efforts.  However after the Bear story, nearly all the American like him despite his failure, whereas nearly two-thirds of the Chinese said they disliked him, critical of his lack of perseverance.

(from page 132)

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On Pilgrimage PDF Print E-mail
Writings - Sermon In Progress
Thursday, 25 June 2009 14:21

PilgrimagePilgrimage

When I originally prepared my thoughts for today, I thought this evening would be for stories about Iona and Abernethy; about Lindisfarne, Whithorn;

 

Places where people go to receive something special in faith

To use the language of George McLeod, this would be an evening about thin places

Places where the boundary between heaven and earth is very thin.

 

So if we are Catholic then we might want to talk about Lourdes and Carfin

That place in Spain that so many folk go to.

 

Places that are a Mecca for spiritual enthusiasts.

 

As a fan of Iona and Abernethy, I am not going to dispute the value of such places,

But this idea of a pilgrimage as a place you go to receive a special dispensation of grace is not the idea that the old Celts had.

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Fighting For A New Place To Talk PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - Faith Beyond Resentment
Friday, 19 June 2009 21:11
Faith Beyond ResentmentJames Alison is on the other side of the same-sex debate from me.  At least I think he is probably going to be, but I haven't got to that paragraph yet.

I'm working through his "Faith Beyond Resentment - Fragments Catholic And Gay" which include his reflections on the healing of the blind man inJohn 9 (with an analysis of violent mechanisms of exclusion, and how the excluders become the excluded) and Elijah's crisis on Horeb (the place of the cracking of the heart).

What I love about Alison is that he is strict with himself, he lets the text tell him where to go, rather than co-opt and batter it into his own agenda.  He is nakedly personal, writing as the "much-loved queer".  I trust his reading, and he uncovers some deep treasures.

Here's a section where he's asking for a new sort of dialogue:

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Phyllis Snodgrass on Galatians PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - No Book
Thursday, 18 June 2009 06:42

PaulThanks to James who showed me this yesterday.

It's a selection of letters to Christianity Today after they "published the letter to Galatians in last month's magazine."

They include complaints that Paul "tears down fellow believers over petty doctrinal matters?" and that his "attitude makes it difficult to unify the Church." 

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Johnny and June PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - Sex God
Monday, 15 June 2009 22:18

Johnny CashJohnny and June

Johnny and June is Rob Bell on Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash – a couple who loved each other more the older they became.

For Bell, this can only happen through one-ness and true nakedness.

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It's In The Eyes PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - Affluenza
Saturday, 06 June 2009 21:15

AffluenzaI was with a family recently who live do not live in the wealthiest part of our parish.

They were talking about the father of the family, who had recently changed jobs because he “had all the money he needed, and he only needed to earn enough to tide him by.”

I couldn’t imagine going into wealthier homes and hearing about someone who "had all the money they needed".   This is an irony that you get the gospels – the poorest have learnt a certain contentment, whilst the richest grasp for more.  This is not to romanticise poverty, and but to highlight one of the diseases of wealth.

Oliver James, in his devastating critique of consumerism, Affluenza, talks about the increased agitation, depression and dissatisfaction of the wealthy, of their failure to connect emotionally and their inability to appreciate beauty.

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A Wonderful Stroke Of Luck PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - A History Of Modern Britain
Friday, 05 June 2009 20:16

Given the current crisis, some words from Andrew Marr on the need for politics

Politics is coming back as a big force in our lives, like it or not.  It will require more frankness, less spin, and a more grown-up interest in policy, not scandal.  Without this frankness, without trust on each side, what hope for a sensible settlement between Muslim and Christian, incomer and old timer?  Without a rebuilding of strong local structures, what hope for better-run schools, council or hospitals?  Without level-headed politics, how will the future shape of the UK, if it continues, be negotiated?  In the course of this history [since 1945] most political leaders have arrived eager and optimistic, found themselves in trouble of one kind or another, and left disappointed.  Such is the nature of political life.  (Indeed, perhaps it is the nature of life).  But the rest of us need those optimistic politicians, the next leaders, the ones whom we’ll laugh at and abuse.  And we need them more than ever now.

The threats facing the British are large one.  But in the years since 1945, having escaped nuclear devastation, tyranny and economic collapse, we British have no reason to despair or emigrate.  In global terms, to be born British remains a wonderful stroke of luck.

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Jesus And Politics PDF Print E-mail
Writings - Sermon Archive
Tuesday, 02 June 2009 06:05

Jesus and Politics

It is one of the interesting features of Jesus' life

that he never joined a political party.

 

Jesus had options.

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On silence PDF Print E-mail
News - News
Friday, 29 May 2009 13:02

SilenceThere seems to be a bit of talk here about the Church's self-imposed silence on the ordination of ministers in same-sex relationships.

I voted for the moratorium, and don't see too much of a problem.

We need more quietness on this.  We can't be off running campaigns and movements which distort each other's opinions, which launch attacks far from the hearers they wound.

The advice is a little vague, but it was quite clear in the debate that:

1. We are still allowed to preach about this

2. We are still allowed to talk to the press about human sexuality, just not as it applies to the ordination of ministers.  And in particular, not as it applies to the ordination of particular ministers.

3. The wording doesn't explicitly cover blogging, but we should keep to the spirit of things

4. We can't take to the airwaves or write pamphlets to condemn each other. We'll have to do it face to face.

There seems to be a hysterical thing that we have to be able to speak to the news media all the time, say what we think, all the time.  This is the argument that leads to 24 hour news, instant reaction and reality TV.  It's the argument that says the press can distort and mislead and report what is private, all because the public "has a right to know."  Here is a world where subtlety is weakness, where there is no smoke without fire, and the first duty of every columnist is not to be right but to be read.  Is this world going to get us through the next couple of years? 

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Thinking Like Katherine Esther Jackson PDF Print E-mail
News - News
Friday, 26 June 2009 13:21

Michael Jackson

Jackson's tale is a fable of the ultimate emptiness of victory, even in the supposed winner-takes-all world of showbiz. - Guardian Editorial

I am writing on the day that news of Michael Jackson’s death is being digested by the world’s media.

Some are eager for another “Diana moment”, some of his fans are distraught, and the critics are attempting to assess Jackson’s legacy.

What we can’t escape is that there was another side to Jackson.  He was never found guilty of child abuse, but allegations dogged his last years, and there were some very dubious things he admitted to in his 2003 interview with Martin Bashir.

How should we remember Michael Jackson, the King of Pop with frightening demons?

We could pretend that none of the bad stuff happened, but that does no justice to those who were hurt by him (as apparently Anne Diamond did the morning after).

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Praying for the Jihadists PDF Print E-mail
News - News
Thursday, 25 June 2009 21:32

TalibanTonight we prayed for the Taliban.

One of our folk had been praying for British soldiers in Afghanistan and felt God speak to him - "I love the Taliban as much as I love you Robert"

So we prayed for our enemies.

Which is never comfortable.

It feels like treachery.

You want to add lots of caveats ("...of course we don't agree with them" - as if God doesn't already know that),

It's odd.  We care for the ones we agree with.  Breaking that link doesn't happen often enough. 

The "People we agree with" = "People we care for" link.

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Faith As Vaccine PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - Affluenza
Thursday, 25 June 2009 06:42

AffluenzaWherever I went (writes Oliver James) I found that religion seems to be a powerful vaccine [against the 'Affluenza virus'].  I should not have been surprised: because the scientific evidence has long been there: much to the consternation of social scientists, on average, regular churchgoers suffer less depression or unhappiness than unbelievers.  This is regardless of the kind of religion, or of the nationality, gender, age, social class or ethnic background of the believer.

Almost by definition, religious people are less likely to be materialistic and to have Virus goals or motivations and more likely to be preoccupied with things spiritual.  One study, of 860 young American adults, showed this very clearly.  Those with materialistic values, such as wanting money or prestige, were far less likely to be religious, and they were unhalpier, drank and smoked more, and, in the case of the women, were at greater risk of eating disorders.  Compared with non-believers, the only sort of religious people who are not protected against depression are the ones whose involvement in faith is guided by self-seeking ends (known as 'extrinsic religious orientation'), seeing belief as an investment, such as hoping that prayer would be instrumental in making them successful in work or love. 

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We are here - where are you? PDF Print E-mail
Writings - Opinion
Friday, 19 June 2009 20:58

If you had to produce a 5 minute DVD about your Church, which could be dropped through the letterboxes of your community and successfully make it to their DVD players, what would you come up with?

This is the challenge that Langside Church set themselves.  I watched the film today and was seriously impressed at the light touch, David McLachlan's introduction, the questions at the beginning and the way that the congregation found so many of their members who could talk to a camera and not sound stilted.

The video's here:

 

We Are Here, Where Are You? from Langside Church on Vimeo.

Less happily, the Langside building had a fire a few weeks ago.  This was a terrific new sanctuary which has now been lost (I'm not up on whether it can be repaired).  The congregation are currently worshipping across the street, with the hope that God will create something positive out of such a negative situation.

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Killing The Monsters PDF Print E-mail
Writings - Sermon In Progress
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 15:39

David and Goliath

The Oldest Kind Of Story

The story we are hearing this morning is the oldest kind of story that we know about.

 

It sometimes called a “Killing the monster” story.

Where there emerges a great, seemingly unassailable monster

And the monster exercises terror over whole populations

The innocent, the righteous have no chance

Against this weaponised beast

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More Balloons Please PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - Sex God
Monday, 08 June 2009 21:01

BalloonsThis is from the end of Sunday's forthcoming sermon here, and also almost verbatim from the last chapter of Rob Bell's Sex God.

New Creation

I want to pick up on something that Paul says here “he says in Christ, new creation, the old has gone, the new has become.”

That you are a new creation, the new has become, the old has gone.

 

This means that the old is loosening its grip,

It still haunts

It can still wound,

But there is a new creation that is bigger, brighter, that has the last word.

The old is temporary.  The new is permanent.

 

Rob Bell tells the story of a wedding he once did.

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"In My Father's House" - a whole new angle PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - Sex God
Saturday, 06 June 2009 07:41

Rob Bell brings you to passages in stunning new ways.

“Whooppee forever” is his exploration of singleness.  Not in the slightly condescending tones that marrieds sometimes provide (“those who live with the realities of singleness” was one quote I heard).  His reasons for why sex might be redundant in heaven are elsewhere.

His final section is about ancient betrothal speeches.  These show again how for John the primary metaphor for heaven is marriage (how sterile was that sentence?  – “whoopee forever” as the chapter title puts it)

So anyway the betrothal happens when the girl of the house reaches her early teens.  The Mum will give Dad a nudge (that’s the way it was in India, I guess that men often need female prompting to attend to domestic necessities) and the Dad will begin to suss out suitable candidates.

Eventually one will be found and everyone will come to the bride’s house to agree the engagement.

Up until this point the bride still has a choice.  The moment that everything depends on is when the husband-to-be (hesitant, barely shaving, shaky and wobbily in adult things) gives his possible future partner a cup of wine.  If she drinks it, it’s a yes, she’s dancing, the marriage can go ahead.  If not, then the things off, and he’s the guy who just got the most public knockback that anyone came up with before Cilla and Graham hosted “Blind Date”.

If the cup gets drunk, then the groom will clear his throat, try not to mumble and give a speech.

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It Is The Labour Party Or Nothing PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - Ferguson, Ron
Friday, 05 June 2009 20:19
Nye Bevan - Letter to Jennie Lee, 1931

As for you, I tell you what the epitaph on you Scottish dissenters willl be - pure but impotent. Yes, you will be pure all right. But remember, at the price of impotency. You will not influence the course of British politics by a hair's breadth. Why don't you go into a nunnery and be done with it? Lock yourself up in a cell away from the world and its wickedness ... I tell you it is the Labour Party or nothing. I know all its faults, all its dangers. But it is the party that we have taught millions of working people to look to and regard as their own. We can't undo what we have done. And I am by no means convinced that something cannot yet be made of it.
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Too many people under the Chuppah PDF Print E-mail
Quotes - Sex God
Sunday, 31 May 2009 20:41

ChupahThis isn't an obsession at the moment, but as a result of reading Rob Bell's "Sex God."

Bell talks about a celebrity couple that filmed the first years of their married life together (this sounds like Jessica Simpson), and then shortly after split up.  Bell's response was "too many people under the Chuppah."

The Chuppah is a the prayer shawl under which a Jewish wedding ceremony, and then the consummation occurs.

The Jewish wedding ceremony borrows Exodus language (from Exodus 6) for the language of betrothal

"I will take you out"

"I will rescue you"

"I will redeem you"

"I will take you to me"

It is striking that the language of the Exodus is also the language of marriage. 

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Top Assembly Moments PDF Print E-mail
News - General Assembly 2009
Wednesday, 27 May 2009 20:50

That's me back now.  I have been trying to think of my top moments from a week that has affected me far more than I had imagined.  There is something curiously transforming about ascending that Mound each day, being thrown together with a group of folk you would never have chosen for yourself, the whole intention being that their opinions will rub against yours, and that through that, somehow the Church will be richer.

At lot of the best moments were over coffee, Chinese or on the Glasgow-Edinburgh train.  But on the floor of Assembly it was:

5. Speaking with my Dad - this was when I moved the motion on growing Churches.  I couldn't understand why the moderator called Mr. Glover to speak after the motion had already passed. It turned out it was my Dad lending some support from the balcony (it's at about 3 mins here)

4. The Youth Reps - a particular thrill was Andrew Rooney (from Flemington) and William McIntosh (from Cambuslang Parish) speaking on behalf of the youth assembly.  It's at about 4 mins, also in the same place.

3. Walk In My Shoes - a movie based on stories from the Poverty Truth Commission

2. Desmond Tutu - inspirational from a man who embodied the hard won truths of which he spoke

1. And I have asked George Whyte to second this motion Jim Stewart made the speech which felt like it allowed folk like me to come back in to the Assembly.  In asking for a two year moratorium on the ordination of ministers in same-sex relationships, he turned to the affirmational wing of the Church and said "I know this is big, but I am asking you to help me." 

I had heard that Jim might be making the speech.  I didn't know that George Whyte, Presbytery Clerk of Edinburgh and the man who moved the motion which upheld Scott Rennie's appointment, was going to second Jim's motion.  Some have suggested that it was a cop-out, that it won't change anything in the long run.  I am still hoping that what we were witnessing was pure grace.  The best kind of grace.  The kind you don't see coming.

 

 

 

 

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