James Alison on Forgiveness

Quotation of the day on forgiveness by one of my favourite Girardian theologians:

..this is what acting out forgiveness in the world looks like: it looks like knowing that you are dealing with dangerous people, who are more than likely to be deeply destabilized by your innocence and because of that to seek to lynch you.

I also recommend the Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary website from which this quotation is taken.

Feeling a Bit Proud

We had a bit of a panic at one of my small churches because many of the usual collectors for Christian Aid week were away from home for various reasons. In the event, we were able to recruit a few new collectors at the last minute.

It turns out that we raised as much money from door to door collections as a number of churches with 3 to 8 times our membership.

I'm very proud of this church. Out of small acorns mighty oaks can grow. 'Even' small churches can make a difference.

(I wanted to give a link to Christian Aid but I don't appear to be able to do so at the moment.)

Alum Rock

Here is a very interesting post on the subject of Christian/Muslim relations at Alum Rock by Richard Sudworth. Hat tip to Richard Hall at Connexions.

Richard Sudworth gives us some vital local information. His church stands across the street from the mosque in Alum Rock. He says:

Let me fill you on on some extra information:
1. the local Anglican church had a Good Friday walk of witness this Easter, singing choruses and handing out leaflets explaining the Christian faith. The local majority Muslim community welcomed this event and the police were informed and had a minimal presence as part of the gathering
2. every year, the local Roman Catholic convent and church parade a statue of the Virgin Mary, handing out flowers and rosaries as prayers. This is an annual part of local diversity expressed and hundreds of Muslims stand out on the streets to welcome the parade.

What we have here is some additional local information about the every-day context of real Christians and real Muslims living together in their own community. This sort of information is vital before Christians start repeating stories about the existence of 'no go areas' for Christians. 

In fact, I would assert that it is most certainly a violation of the commandment to not bear false witness to start making such accusations before having all the facts. As Christians, we are duty-bound to defend the truth. We may have theological differences with Muslims but those theological differences do not permit us to jump on the bandwagon of scapegoatting.  

Kiva

I have just had a Kiva loan repaid which reminded me that I had never blogged about Kiva.

Kiva is a microlending organisation that lends money at 0% interest to small business owners in a variety of countries. The lending is done through local agencies who develop relationships with the small businesses involved. You can lend as much as you like and Kiva aggregates the individual lenders until the borrower's target is reached. You can choose the person and business to whom you lend.

For instance, I just had $25 repaid by a lady in Latin America who borrowed $400 from Kiva for a year. I can now relend this money to someone else. I could also withdraw the money if I wanted to.

What I love about Kiva is that the money can get reused and recirculated. Although I also give money to charities, I try to initiate a new Kiva loan regularly and over the years my 'pot' of money to lend others will build up. And because the money is lent at 0% interest, there are no issues of exploitation. Kiva also give lenders the opportunity to contribute an extra 10% of the loan to Kiva's administration, but you can choose not to give to Kiva if you don't want to.

Leading Worship

Stuart Blyte makes some good, sensible observations about leading worship on his thread 10 well in fact 5 Thesis on the Worship Leaders Door.

Surprised by Hope

I've been travelling on a short break over the last few days and I finally had a chance to finish Tom Wright's latest book Surprised by Hope

I'm not even going to attempt to give a 'book review' as I'm still processing the experience of having read it which feels like one of those instances when a whole range of thoughts and experiences have converged. Ever since I had what I've called my 'Aldersgate Experience' I've been on a journey where I have been seeing 'the Good News of Jesus Christ' as being more and more of an event. No less a 'personal experience of salvation' but much more of a cosmic event: Jesus as someone who not only died to save me but whose life, death, resurrection and ascension are somehow events that really truly ('ontologically'[1]) changed the fabric of creation.

For me, Wright's book conveyed 'ontological salvation' in a way that I can get my brain and my heart around much easier than I could before. Hugely simplistically, I read the book as saying that scripture paints a picture of a Creator God whose purpose is to bring all of history to the point of New Creation (this is a very Wesleyan theology, by the way).

Jesus' own resurrection is the first of a general resurrection and is the sign that The New Creation has been inaugurated. The eschatological conclusion of history will not be some sort of calling of believers to a spiritual heaven, but it will be a 'heaven coming down to earth'. The reality in which we are living now is but an incomplete shadow of the reality of The New Creation, where heaven and earth will meet.

The Good News of the early Church was not only that the New Creation had been inaugurated, but that we can be part of it in the here and now as well as in eternity. In baptism, we die to the 'old Creation' and are raised with Christ into the New Creation. As his followers and disciples, we will not be held responsible for building the New Creation, only God can do that. But every good work that we do out of love and self-giving will be used by God in the building of the New Creation. Even actions that we might think have been futile.

Try reading the bible with this overlay: God's Kingdom - his New Creation - has begun, heaven and earth will unite in a new, more real reality and all believers will be raised to share in this Kingdom forever. This overlay makes much of the bible make a lot more sense.

===

[1] 'Ontology' / 'Ontological'

I try to write simply most of the time, but sometimes I feel that I have to use 'jargon'. 'Ontology' is one of those jargon-words that is hard to replace with one simple word. It means something like 'the core of one's being', 'what is really real'. To change something 'ontologically' is to change the very core of it's being and meaning; it's not just a cosmetic, temporary change, but a real, permanent change.

Mind My Own Business?

If you are an Anglican layperson or an Anglican clergyman and you support women as bishops, there are two petitions that are circulating. Links to both can be found at Thinking Anglicans. That's all, folks.

Update: Dave Walker has posted one of his wonderful cartoons on this subject at The Church Times Blog

Ban Cluster Bombs

Avaaz.org is sponsoring a campaign to ban Cluster Bombs.

Here is a link to send a letter urging the banning of cluster bombs to the appropriate person in your country.

Thanking God

On a few other blogs I've shared the fact that someone I love very much has been struggling with excruciating pain due to a deteriorating spine with arthritis. I realise that I have not shared that information here.

After a month of pain that was almost literally unbearable despite the doctors' efforts at pain relief, it seems that my loved one has got some small relief and, whilst still in very bad pain, is able to concentrate on everyday life. (The pain was so bad before that this person couldn't actually hold a conversation or concentrate on anything.)

I'm thanking God for this mercy and I've been impressed with my loved one's ability to see God at work even though their prayer to take the pain away completely was not granted.

(N.b. this post is a genuine expression of thanksgiving and should not be construed as an expression of opposition toward healing ministries; thank you for your understanding and diplomacy.)

Sermon Blogging - God's Good Gifts

I've posted today's sermon over on my Sermon Blog: God's Good Gifts

Service of Public Testimony

Service of Public Testimony

for Revd Pam Garrud and Revd Samuel Uwimana
will take place at
Trinity Methodist Church, Kidderminster
on Friday 6th June 2008, 7:30 pm
This is an open service and everyone is invited.


The Service of Public Testimony is a District event
held in the Kidderminster and Stourport Circuit
for these two ministers from
the Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury District.


Pam and Samuel will be received into full connexion
at Methodist Conference on 6th July 2008
and Pam will be ordained in Beverly later that day.
(ordination by ticket only)

Here, Teacher, Here!

Someone on another blog asked where I am. I've reached a point of mental and emotional weariness. I haven't had a proper day off in awhile. It's one of the casualties of ministry and it's totally my fault. When your office is at home it's easy to think that you have the energy to do just one more task. But going for many weeks without 24 hours off catches up.

I'm looking forward to a number of days off soon. The Kidderminster Choral Society is going to be sending a contingent to our Twinned Town, Husum Germany, where we will be singing with the Theodor Storms Chor.

I didn't realise until doing a web search that the women wear liturgical stoles! :-)

I'm looking forward to the time off and the singing.

Sermon Blogging

Catching up on my sermon blogging:

A sermon for the 6th Sunday of Easter: Not a Private Kingdom

A sermon for Pentecost Sunday: Pentecost Mission

A sermon for Trinity Sunday: Trinity and Community

Pentecost Thought

A Pentecost thought from Goldie Milgram as cited in an old issue of Living Pulpit: 'Pentecost is asking God how we should be with our freedom.'

Also thinking about 'Pentecost as initiation' 

and 

'Pentecost as that which happens when you know you have to change or die'.

Theology - What is it Good For?

It's not uncommon to hear Christians claiming that theology is irrelevant and that they just want to be ordinary Christians who don't have anything to do with theology.

I remember some years ago an advert on television with Maureen Lipmann exclaiming to her grandson - who was preparing to graduate from university - that he was getting and 'ology' degree. It went something like 'Oooohhh! An ology! My grandson is getting an ology!!!'

But 'theology' simply means 'talk about God'. And we all have a theology and we all talk about theology.

Here are some 'theologies' that I disagree with:

* God wants to bless you. Send $100 to my ministry now and God will bless you.
* If a snake bites a true believer, they will not be harmed; it says so in the bible.
* If your terminal cancer is not cured by prayer, it's because you don't have enough faith.

I hope and expect that most people reading this post will whole-heartedly disagree with these theologies. This is my short argument for 'studying theology'. Do we want ideas like the above passed on to people in church or passed from Christian parents to their children? No, of course not.

I do agree that sometimes theology feels like arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin and, when it gets to that stage, we've probably lost any kind of plot that is going to help us be Christian disciples. Nonetheless, I think there is a strong argument for studying theology, not the least because we'd want to be able to explain why we don't agree with the above theologies.

Debate

I'm getting old.  

I was taught in both school and university that debate between people of different ideas is a good thing because it sharpens one's thinking.

I was also taught that, if you are going to engage in a debate, that you should address the ideas with which you disagree and not ridicule the person holding them or attack his/her character.  For example, calling a New Testament scholar 'a clown' or 'a comedian' and otherwise ridiculing him is not a proper process for debating theology.

But some time during the last 50 years, this process of discourse has become outmoded.  Apparently, it is now acceptable to launch a character-attack on someone if you don't like their ideas.  

The Church Universal has degraded into a place where the communication tactics used by Rush Limbaugh in the US and The Mail and The Sun tabloid newspapers in the UK are legitimate ways of discussing theology.  Don't like someone's theology?  Ridicule him or her.  Attack his or her character.  Start your argument with 'This person is a clown, so you shouldn't listen to a word s/he has to say';  address some of the ideas if you must, but continue to sprinkle your argument with character-assassination to let your readers know that your oponent's ideas are as worthless as s/he is.

The Church has discarded the commandment to not bear false witness against one's neighbour.  I'm assuming that it must now be outmoded in the 21st century.

[Addendum:  Whilst this post is addressing a particular incident, I'm generalising it because I do believe that this process of 'debate' is being used on a regular basis within the Church.]

Offensive to Vegetarians!

I came across a book entitled Hitler was a Vegetarian by Ron Ferguson

I am a vegetarian. I am deeply offended. I reckon that Mr. Ferguson wrote this book in order to compare me and all other vegetarians to Adolf Hitler. Never mind about all other vegetarians, even. I'm pretty certain he has it in for me.

I plan to ridicule him and his book tomorrow morning. I reckon he's fair game.

[To those who are tempted to take me seriously: Tongue in Cheek alert!]

Day of Prayer for Zimbabwe

I have just received this from a Zimbabwean friend:

ON SUNDAY 27TH April, 2008.

A desperate cry from the hearts of Zimbabwe screams across the world.

It calls upon all Christians of every denomination in every nation to focus their prayers, in churches, halls, homes or elsewhere, on Sunday 27th April, 2008 on the critical situation in Zimbabwe, a nation in dire distress and teetering on the brink of human disaster.

Let the cry for help touch your heart and mind. Let it move you to do what you can immediately to ensure this DAY OF PRAYER takes place in your country and neighbourhood.

Please pass on this message right now to all the churches and Christian organisations known to you and to the media as well as to everyone anxious to rescue Zimbabwe from violence, the concealing and juggling of election results, deceit, oppression and corruption, and to bring about righteousness, joy, peace, compassion, honesty, justice, democracy and freedom from fear and want.

May a continual strong stream of prayer and supplication flow up to the Lord on behalf of all the people on this DAY OF PRAYER, exhorting His divine intervention throughout the nation.

"It is by making the truth publicly known that we recommend ourselves to the honest judgment of mankind in the sight of God." ( 2 Corinthians 4:2)

SOME ADVICE TO ZIMBABWEANS
"Who so putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." (Proverbs 29:25)
"Stand fast, and do not let yourselves be caught again in the yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)
"Make no mistake, you cannot cheat God." (Galatians 6:7)
"Do not be overcome by evil but overcame evil with good" (Romans 12:21)

Bob Stumbles. Chancellor, Anglican Diocese of Harare. 19.04.2008.

Good for a Laugh

With apologies to all my many friends in London.

Hat tip to Richard at Connexions

Zimbabwe

From the Church Times blog:  Archbishops issue Zimbabwe Statement

I recently read a letter from someone serving as a missionary in Zimbabwe who claims that houses in their area are being razed to the ground and food is extremely scarce.