I want to share something quite personal, that I alluded to a couple of posts ago, about why it was that I stopped doing 'mission'. But, by way of introduction...
At the moment, I'm living with a mission. No, not the Christian one... yes, all right, that one too... No, my mission is simple. It is to cycle to work and back. Am I getting fit you ask... well, that's a side effect... and thinner too, gradually. But the real motive is more mundane... with an unfettered addition for books threatening to bankrupt the Môme household, The Wife has imposed a rule... I'm not allowed to buy any books unless I can find extra money.
Goodbye comfortable daily 10 minute train journey... hello daily 6 mile cycle... and then again to get home.
That's how much I need to buy books...
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Revelation
I have to admit to having always been intrigued by the question of how our Bible came about. Despite the various tongue-in-cheek parodies of the KJV in previous posts, it's something that I actually think about... and have some kind of vague academic interest in, what with having been involved in some historical and translational study at points in the past...
Which is why I'm particularly puzzled by a few questions... not least of which is how the three main families of Christianity (Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox) have ended up with three different bibles, all with a different number of books in them...
Which is why I'm particularly puzzled by a few questions... not least of which is how the three main families of Christianity (Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox) have ended up with three different bibles, all with a different number of books in them...
Monday, 28 March 2011
It ain't where you live...
One of the reasons that I think I struggle with my current church experience is that I can't help comparing it to the experience of living in pretty close Christian community. This isn't something that I've done recently, but every couple of years from 1989 to 1999 I swapped 'normal' life in the UK for an overseas placement with a number of different Christian organisations. Ostensibly, I suppose, I was a missionary... but, to be honest, I don't really remember much 'missioning' going on. Most of what kept me busy was spending time with other Christians... and looking after some pretty broken buildings.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Several weeks...
As the blog by my friend Pop reaches its one-year anniversary (congratulations Pop, by the way... no-one doubted you'd make it... and you have, provoking much thinking on the way... thank you!) ... in a torturous 'tedious link' I think I have to comment that a year is 52 weeks...
Pipe smoking, ex PM Harold Wilson famously suggested once that "A week is a long time in politics".
The Barenaked ladies too, took time to point out that a week can be a long time...
The former was a political heavyweight... the latter ended up singing about Sushi and Chinese Chickens... but they've both got a point.
Pipe smoking, ex PM Harold Wilson famously suggested once that "A week is a long time in politics".
The Barenaked ladies too, took time to point out that a week can be a long time...
The former was a political heavyweight... the latter ended up singing about Sushi and Chinese Chickens... but they've both got a point.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
A glass full of ice-cubes
Pop's comment to my previous post prompted some thought. Clearly there's something wrong with my relationship with the Church 'event' that happens on a Sunday... But is it Church, or is it my heart-attitude?
let's get back to the source... what did Jesus do?
He attended Sabbath Synagogue. New converts to Christianity also continued to meet at the Jerusalem temple, and local synagogues albeit in the gentiles court, and Paul usually started at the local synagogue as he travelled around.
Clearly then, there's clearly nothing wrong with a weekly meeting...
What about the content...?
Well, Synagogue was a relatively short meeting that began with a standard call to worship, readings according to a set programme, and a short (or very short - see what Jesus said after reading the scrolls in Luke 4) sermon often given by the same person who did the readings. The service ended with a blessing.
Sounds like our services are kind of based on what happened at Synagogues, so - again - nothing much wrong with the ingredients that go into it...
So, should I just put up and shut up? What should I think about my instinct that there's something about it that's just not working... at least for me?
let's get back to the source... what did Jesus do?
He attended Sabbath Synagogue. New converts to Christianity also continued to meet at the Jerusalem temple, and local synagogues albeit in the gentiles court, and Paul usually started at the local synagogue as he travelled around.
Clearly then, there's clearly nothing wrong with a weekly meeting...
What about the content...?
Well, Synagogue was a relatively short meeting that began with a standard call to worship, readings according to a set programme, and a short (or very short - see what Jesus said after reading the scrolls in Luke 4) sermon often given by the same person who did the readings. The service ended with a blessing.
Sounds like our services are kind of based on what happened at Synagogues, so - again - nothing much wrong with the ingredients that go into it...
So, should I just put up and shut up? What should I think about my instinct that there's something about it that's just not working... at least for me?
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Funny way to feast...
I confess to being a little cheesed off...
Sunday past, church was - frankly - poor.
Imagine you turned up at the family home for Christmas hoping for hugs all round and a chance to celebrate being together to catch up on a year's worth of life around the table... to find that, rather than a feast of family and food... you were solemnly seated, but were then obliged to sit in silence (unless instructed to greet each other) at a table dripping with the most tastiest edibles, whilst notices were given, hymns were sung, prayers were said, sermons were delivered, more songs were sung, solemn moments were had... Then, just as you were allowed to finally tuck in and talk, the table was cleared and you were sent off to bed.
Sunday past, church was - frankly - poor.
Imagine you turned up at the family home for Christmas hoping for hugs all round and a chance to celebrate being together to catch up on a year's worth of life around the table... to find that, rather than a feast of family and food... you were solemnly seated, but were then obliged to sit in silence (unless instructed to greet each other) at a table dripping with the most tastiest edibles, whilst notices were given, hymns were sung, prayers were said, sermons were delivered, more songs were sung, solemn moments were had... Then, just as you were allowed to finally tuck in and talk, the table was cleared and you were sent off to bed.
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
The Whole Gospel...
I've realised that my thinking about the Kingdom has taken a dangerous turn recently...
Having grown up in a church-system that (if I'm honest) was about as toothless as the Stones' bearded hag... I find the image of a revolutionary social justice type Kingdom movement very exciting... I'm not quite up there toting a machine gun in his name in the way that some liberation theologians would suggest, but my feeling about how broken the world is and how much it needs fixing by a just God gets me pretty close...
Having grown up in a church-system that (if I'm honest) was about as toothless as the Stones' bearded hag... I find the image of a revolutionary social justice type Kingdom movement very exciting... I'm not quite up there toting a machine gun in his name in the way that some liberation theologians would suggest, but my feeling about how broken the world is and how much it needs fixing by a just God gets me pretty close...
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