Give yourself a Monday laugh and read this:
Offbeat News :: Jesus changes name
Technorati Tags: Jesus
Is it biblical to speak of a ‘personal relationship with Jesus’?
Challenging article here:
Leadership Blog: Out of Ur: Pimping Jesus 2: Is the language of “a personal relationship” biblical?
Not quite sure what I think of this on a first read – it has implications for all the ‘intimacy’ language so beloved of the Vineyard movement and others, some of which is based on a dodgy reading of the Song Of Songs.
But I suspect the article is a hyperbolic over-statement in some respects: it’s not entirely fair to speak of the ‘absence of Jesus’ in the light of the Pentecost, for example. The silence of Jesus, maybe. Which is not to say I disagree completely with the call to recover the language of lament from the Psalter. The writer is making an important point, but maybe the pendulum has swung too far.
What do you think?
Technorati Tags: faith, Jesus Christ, Vineyard, Song Of Songs, Pentecost, lament, Psalms
Is it biblical to speak of a ‘personal relationship with Jesus’?
Challenging article here:
Leadership Blog: Out of Ur: Pimping Jesus 2: Is the language of “a personal relationship” biblical?
Not quite sure what I think of this on a first read – it has implications for all the ‘intimacy’ language so beloved of the Vineyard movement and others, some of which is based on a dodgy reading of the Song Of Songs.
But I suspect the article is a hyperbolic over-statement in some respects: it’s not entirely fair to speak of the ‘absence of Jesus’ in the light of the Pentecost, for example. The silence of Jesus, maybe. Which is not to say I disagree completely with the call to recover the language of lament from the Psalter. The writer is making an important point, but maybe the pendulum has swung too far.
What do you think?
Technorati Tags: faith, Jesus Christ, Vineyard, Song Of Songs, Pentecost, lament, Psalms
Forgiveness: Lesley Bilinda
I’ve just received this email and am happy to publicise it:
Hi,Came
across your blog the other day, and noted that you quoted from the Sunday Times
article on forgiveness.You may be interested to know that the DVD featuring Lesley Bilinda’s
story – Hunting My Husband’s Killers – is now available. It follows her story,
as she returns to Rwanda 10 years after the death of her husband in the
genocide, to try and find and forgive the killers of her husband. The DVD has a
number of extras, including short scene extracts with discussion points to get
groups (such as church housegroups etc) talking about issues of forgiveness, a
response to genocide and the church’s involvement in the
atrocities.Details at: www.purpleflame.com/hmhkFeel free to pass this link on!Warm regardsphil knox
Technorati Tags: forgiveness, Lesley Bilinda, Rwanda
Miroslav Volf, Free Of Charge, chapter 3
Tonight was full of ‘aha’ moments. Two in particular: firstly Volf’s treatment of the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 2 and 3. His idea that the withholding of the fruit is actually a sacrament of giving, because it reminds us that all things are from God was felt to be like switching a light on a difficult text.
And when he discussed the sins behind the reluctance to give, selfishness and pride came as no surprise. Indeed they came up in our discussion before I introduced his teaching. But sloth – that one hit us. And it made perfect sense. We wondered why we hadn’t seen it before. It was terrific also to connect the work of the Spirit in several ways with the conquest of sloth.
Technorati Tags: Lent, Miroslav Volf, Free Of Charge, Genesis 2, Genesis 3, giving, sloth, Holy Spirit
Miroslav Volf, Free Of Charge, chapter 2
Second meeting of the Lent group tonight. Big question from the group: if God is so generous in his giving, does Volf adequately deal with the problem of suffering? Not that we expect complete answers, but we wondered how Christians in the developing world might read his eulogy to God’s generous giving. Granted, he has all the stuff about how God sometimes gives through others in order that they may learn how to give – you might invoke that a little bit – but the issue wasn’t directly addressed and needed to be.
Big plus point to this chapter: near the end where he talks about how giving equalises between giver and receiver, as opposed to the way our culture elevates the giver and humiliates the receiver. We thought of TV telethons – Children In Need, Comic Relief, etc, where organisations proudly parade their giving. Yet as Volf points out, Christ who was rich became poor for our sake so that we in our poverty might become rich (and not in the prosperity gospel heresy sense of this verse).
Technorati Tags: Miroslav Volf, Free Of Charge, Lent, suffering, Children In Need, Comic Relief
The Wind And The Trees
In a recent Abductive Columns email entitled ‘eFriends of Abductive Columns (3)’ Fred Peatross interviewed Leonard Sweet. The interview ends with this quote from Sweet:
the fundamental heresy of the modern world is the notion that the trees move the
wind . . . that the most powerful forces in the universe are physical, material,
“solid” forces (as trees) rather than invisible, spiritual resources (as wind).It’s the wind that moves the trees. The most powerful forces in the universe
are invisible, spiritual, that’s why I call disciples of Jesus
“pneumanauts” (sailors of the Spirit: nauts=sailors; pneuma- wind)
Technorati Tags: Abductive Columns, Fred Peatross, Leonard Sweet, Jesus, Holy Spirit
The Cross Is An Advert
Dudley Wood Methodist Church will have to pay a planning permission fee for erecting a free-standing cross, since it counts as advertising:
BBC NEWS | England | West Midlands | Church is cross over £75 charge
So in what sense is the Cross an advert for the Church and the Gospel? The old Lenny Bruce comment that if Jesus had been born ‘today’, people would not wear crucifixes but jewellery shaped like an electric chair, reminds us of the offensiveness of the Cross. It is the offence of the Cross rather than its attractiveness that is at the heart of the Gospel. We advertise Christ crucified, a stumbling-block and a foolishness to all except those who are being saved. If we’re not advertising the offensive Cross, we’re not proclaiming the Gospel. We need to embrace the offence.
Technorati Tags: Dudley Wood, Methodist Church, Cross, planning permission, advert, advertising, Lenny Bruce, jewellery, electric chair, Gospel, Christ, crucified
The Reopening
At last I can get round to writing up something of our reopening ceremony last Saturday for Broomfield Methodist Church. The one-line summary is that it far exceeded my expectations, I was thrilled, and it has given us a launchpad for where we go from here. For those who want more than one line, here is a little more detail:
We began the afternoon with the choir from Broomfield Primary School. Nineteen youngsters sang their hearts out. None of their songs was religious, which didn’t matter in the slightest, but more than one had obvious biblical resonances. There was one about the tongue that quoted from the Letter Of James. There was another about the need to do all things in love, and it didn’t matter what talents we had if we didn’t show love.
They were followed by our magician, David Gardner. Timing him straight after the children was great for some of them and their parents staying. He seemed particularly good with the youngest children. David stayed for the whole afternoons, making balloon animals. He made a balloon halo for me. I have since lost it – in more senses than one.
The magic show and the choir meant we started to address the demographic problem in the church of missing young families – the first thing we need to build on.
The formal reopening service was a treat, with even seats in the balcony taken up. (Never did our numbers on the day dip below eighty, and we probably had about a hundred and twenty for the service.) The Mayor of Chelmsford, Cllr Duncan Lumley, unveiled a plaque and proved to be a warm and unassuming man both publicly and privately.
Tom Stuckey, The President of the Methodist Conference, preached up a storm on John chapters 2 and 3. He observed that the stories were about transformation. The cleansing of the Temple is a transformation of a building. We may shape buildings, but they shape us. You cannot stop with a building refurbishment. The water into wine miracle during the wedding at Cana is the transformation of a community. The transformation of the building must lead to community transformation. And the story of Nicodemus shows the need for individual transformation by the Gospel. Is Christ at the centre of our lives? Without individual transformation by Christ the rest cannot happen.
Do I hear an Amen?
Technorati Tags: Broomfield Methodist Church, refurbishment, reopening, Broomfield Primary School, David Gardner, magic, Mayor of Chelmsford, Duncan Lumley, Tom Stuckey, President of the Methodist Conference, John 2, John 3, cleansing of the temple, water into wine, wedding at Cana, Nicodemus. building, community, individual, transformation
The Reopening
At last I can get round to writing up something of our reopening ceremony last Saturday for Broomfield Methodist Church. The one-line summary is that it far exceeded my expectations, I was thrilled, and it has given us a launchpad for where we go from here. For those who want more than one line, here is a little more detail:
We began the afternoon with the choir from Broomfield Primary School. Nineteen youngsters sang their hearts out. None of their songs was religious, which didn’t matter in the slightest, but more than one had obvious biblical resonances. There was one about the tongue that quoted from the Letter Of James. There was another about the need to do all things in love, and it didn’t matter what talents we had if we didn’t show love.
They were followed by our magician, David Gardner. Timing him straight after the children was great for some of them and their parents staying. He seemed particularly good with the youngest children. David stayed for the whole afternoons, making balloon animals. He made a balloon halo for me. I have since lost it – in more senses than one.
The magic show and the choir meant we started to address the demographic problem in the church of missing young families – the first thing we need to build on.
The formal reopening service was a treat, with even seats in the balcony taken up. (Never did our numbers on the day dip below eighty, and we probably had about a hundred and twenty for the service.) The Mayor of Chelmsford, Cllr Duncan Lumley, unveiled a plaque and proved to be a warm and unassuming man both publicly and privately.
Tom Stuckey, The President of the Methodist Conference, preached up a storm on John chapters 2 and 3. He observed that the stories were about transformation. The cleansing of the Temple is a transformation of a building. We may shape buildings, but they shape us. You cannot stop with a building refurbishment. The water into wine miracle during the wedding at Cana is the transformation of a community. The transformation of the building must lead to community transformation. And the story of Nicodemus shows the need for individual transformation by the Gospel. Is Christ at the centre of our lives? Without individual transformation by Christ the rest cannot happen.
Do I hear an Amen?
Technorati Tags: Broomfield Methodist Church, refurbishment, reopening, Broomfield Primary School, David Gardner, magic, Mayor of Chelmsford, Duncan Lumley, Tom Stuckey, President of the Methodist Conference, John 2, John 3, cleansing of the temple, water into wine, wedding at Cana, Nicodemus. building, community, individual, transformation
Big Circumstance 