Ann outdoes herself again!

Well my beloved sister outdid herself again this year. Last year's pants were pretty amazing - this year she continued her long tradition of misspelling one of our names in a fairly permanent way. Jono spent some time as a child wearing a Tshirt with a brilliant original Anne design featuring what was nearly his name ("Jonathen").

This time she managed to mis-spell my first name - a real achievement! The wrapping was pretty cool I have to admit - and I smell nice today (I think).

Got my own back (pre-emptiveley) by giving her a bag of pigfood for her present. The deal is we pay a couple doing an amazing job among the Aeta Indians in the Philippines (Pam & Martin Scott) and we give a card to people (like my sister) so effectiveley Ann&Renzo (& Phil/Gabrielle & Bal/Noodle) have supported this brilliant work!

The pigfood was because I gave my brother (featured in flourescent yellow lycra pants on last years Christmas blog) a pig. We named the pig Peppa (Phil is the producer of "Peppa Pig").

Spent a lot of Christmas day watching Dave Gilmour's "Remember the Day" DVD (thanks Jono) - even my mother liked it.

This article in "The Inquirer" from the Philippines puts Pam & Martin's work in context brilliantly. Doing Jesus stuff in Jesus' way - wholistic - body, and soul.

Missed This... Missional Church & Communal Salvation

A great piece on the relationship of Mission to church. On Glens blog. (sorry - that sounds sooo patronising!!!!)

Must confess to having uncritically taken on board the idea that salvation is communal - and that is (as with a lot of good ideas) partially true.

I suspect that the communal dimension to salvation is very culturally conditioned. Reading Vincent Donovan's excellent "Christianity Rediscovered" a culture that is very group oriented responds village by village - the whole village accepts or rejects the gospel. And we individualistic westerners think - "I wonder if some of them have decided that the gospel is true?"

Answer: "Does not compute" And for some X / Y (whatever) gen people it seems to compute less.

Cherish the contradictions is perhaps a better reponse!

What Would Jesus Buy Trailer

Love this....

Post Religious?

I heard this phrase used on Radio 4 this week - on Michael Burke's "moral maze". He used the phrase it as if it were a given. This is nothing new - it has been heard quite frequently for a while now, mostly on the lips of "evangelical" Atheists. (They are so unattractive in their fervour - maybe we Christians need to learn from that.) Ironic then that the programme was peppered with quotes from the Bible.

I also took a look at an article in today's Independant by Bruce Anderson. However good the article is (very in my opinion) the assumption is actually untrue - if our local cemetery is anything to go by, to say nothing of the ever increasing number of roadside shrines.

A peripatetic liturgy

My opening hymn of praise on today's cycle ride (with apologies for appalling singing to those whose gardens are alongside "The Lines" cycle path in Allerton Bywater) is from Sting.

You could say I lost my faith in science and progress
You could say I lost my belief in the holy church
You could say I lost my sense of direction
You could say all of this and worse but

If I ever lose my faith in you
There'd be nothing left for me to do

(My latest favourite recording - a Radio 2 concert featuring Mr Ben Castle on Sax). Funny how woship songs can sound like love songs (and vice versa) - or is it?

I think I have lost my faith in some aspects of Church. We had a debate this week in our Church about allowing alcohol "in the building". As some helpfully pointed out the place we need to be talking about is the mouths of the members! - in the building or anywhere. Some people sadly didn't get that joined up sort of thinking. (No wonder Kez is depressed)

After a stop for a crappychino at RSPB Fairburn Ings (Hey they stock Divine Chocolate now - last year I suggested they stock it and now they do!) - time for the communion hymn (alcohol free)

"Grace" from Jonathan Elias's Prayer Cycle complete with brilliant memories of Viki Hannan's dramatic communion prayer set to the music.

Closing hymn on the HiFi at home - Pulse from Floyd in very loud Dolby 5.1 (Flora still not in from church and Jono out overnight with his arty meatalhead mates)

chained forever to a world thats departed
its not enough
its not enough

Post everything

Post Christendom - post evangelical - post modern - yes I am that groovy (?) - but post religious - no - on reflection I think not. After all - those who ignore the lessons of history....

And no - I dont only do church (or religion) on my own - I'll be in the building this evening - oh joy unconfined - Jeremiah again.

He is a bit depressing isn't he.

Signs and reality...

On my regular sunday ride (wearing the aforementioned shirt) I was returning mud spattered (my front mudguard fell off which didn't help) to Sunday lunch when I saw this sign.

"Go throw yourself into the sea" (it was pointing roughly to Blackpool I think).

I briefly considered it as a piece of advice and rejected it - October is a bad time of year for doing that, and Blackpool is probably a bad place to do it at any time of the year.

A bit of Googling revealed the following:

1. It is a quote from the bible (Jesus actually)
2. It is an art installation from Pippa Hale and Stuart Tarbuck.
3. It has moved (was in Victoria Gardens)
   

I nearly fell of my bike taking the picture (see I suffer for my art too).

Actually though I didn't recognise it as from the Bible, it sparked a train of thought about signs and what they point to.

We often confuse pointers to the truth (does this sign qualify?) with truth. I've been tempted to equate the Christian metanarrative with the Bible - where maybe the Bible is more a sign pointing to it.

I believe that the Christian metanarrative is not a book but a person. Not the Bible (which is what some people call the "word of God" - but The Word - i.e. Jesus (John's Gospel chapter 1). Both God, and God expressed. Suspect him if you will but I find him trustworthy and true.

I wonder if one of my theologian friends will set me right.

Frightening small children (and others)

I can think of little that is as scary as an ageing bloke in a Lycra top.

Just be glad that the photo hides the worst angle.

It's all my beloved sister's fault - Ann very kindly sent me a wonderful cycling shirt - in the style of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon". If you look inside the rear carry pouches/pockets they read "the lunatic is on the grass", "the lunatic is in the hall", and perhaps most aptly in my case "the lunatic is in my head".

As I say - wonderful shirt - until of course I am wearing it.... When I first got it I put it on late one night after everyone else had gone to bed so I could see it in the mirror in the hall.

I couldn't stop giggling.....

I wore it for my Sunday ride, happily I got tangled up with a charity bike ride and found myself among loads more middle aged men in colourful Lycra.


One thing I like about the shirt - it is worth 3 times what my bike cost!

(The bike was 15 quid on the supermarket noticeboard)

Bet I enjoyed posting this a lot more than you enjoyed reading it!

Time off in Shkoder (Albania)

We have a 10 day job in Albania and today we got a day off (for good behaviour??)

Church this morning was great - a privilege to break bread with a fellowship in the town. Singing sounded enthusiastic and felt "local" in style. Though we were made welcome I was heartily glad that the service was as usual - the only concession to us was someone pointing out which number we were singing. I hate it when the foreigners are made a fuss of!

Cycling down the lake it was a beautiful day - I guess about 20 degrees and blues skies. A one and a half hour bike ride to a little restaurant near the end of the road (after the end of the road is the Montenegro border)

Lunch with some of the team here, on the terrace overlooking the lake, a leisurely affair. I had kofta and salad (and chips!) Then eventually back for ice cream and expresso in the city.

Blowing God's Trumpet

Sometimes PR is easy...

Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell;


I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.

C.T. Studd

It cost a fair chunk of our budget - but when this slogan was worn by about 80 recovering addicts at an event with about 10,000 Christians - it was one of the high points of my summer.

I could have sold a load of the T shirts - but it would have killed the message. (something cynical about naked money-grubbing commercialism in the church springs to mind....)

I was giving out postcards - this is what they said:

CT Studd, founder of WEC International, knew that he risked his life and his reputation when he sailed for Africa in 1913. But he believed that it was a risk worth taking. Studd worked within a yard of hell; workers joined him knowing they may not return home alive. Studd was buried in the Congo where he worked.

To follow in the spirit of WEC's founder is a continual challenge. WEC's Betel ministry, in UK and elsewhere, still epitomises that same radical, passionate, vision.

Begun in Spain, Betel is a community that demonstrates the reality of God's activity in the lives of people on the margins of society. Within a yard of hell are those whose lives have been destroyed by addiction, they live on the streets of cities in the UK, and across the world. Betel runs a rescue shop right there. The lives of Betel members demonstrate vividly the love and power of God in places some would be tempted to call ‘God-forsaken’ - they are not.

Betel communities demonstrate the power of God over addiction. They are a church which knows the cost, but pays it anyway. Many are rescued every year.

WEC International continues to reach out to the last, the least, and the lost. It is WEC's intention to demonstrate the life-giving power of God and see churches started all over the world - wherever there is no church.

Job done...

Shock and sadness

A dear fellow worker and his wife killed in Pakistan. I've stayed with them each time I visited Pakistan.

Links:

• "Thin end of the wedge"
• Daily Record (Morris County New Jersey)
  
• Pakistan Christian post

Even more shock to see how some seem to "want" this to appear to be about terrorism (Islamic I think they mean) when it appears that the suspects are "christian". Particularly because I see echoes of that in myself - not wanting one of "ours" to be to blame - how sick is that?

Playing with words

I quite like playing with words. It can be a great pastime, it can be good communication (an underrated activity in my view), and it can occasionally be a teeny bit self-serving (as illustrated in Kez's blog on the Ikon service at Greenbelt).

I read these words in Brian McLaren (Generous Orthodoxy):

language can be a window through which one glimpses God, but never a box in which God can be contained

McLaren also quotes my "favourite human author I almost understand" - C.S. Lewis (who is not trying to be clever, he just is a lot more clever than me).

Is this irony?

I was reading Brian McLaren again over the weekend. Love this quote he gives:

"the most stubborn heresy in the history of monotheism is the belief that God chooses people for exclusive privilege, not for missional responsibility"

Leslie Newbiggin

I've spent a bit of my time over the weekend biting my tongue - why do I always find myself working right by the exhibition stand promoting a view of Israel that is so pro-zionist it is just untrue, - or is it spin (same thing)? That's what dodgy eschatology gets you. And don't get me started on prosperity...

But I was reading - and aspiring to be generously orthodox. Sting and McLaren - a heady mix, in a strange context. Me - generous? - big ask. Maybe I'm the dodgy one?

Seriously - I am dodgy. I confess - I'd have loved to be with my friends at Greenbelt - but that would have been a copout.

Look again at the gathering where I was - 10,000 plus Christians - and the demographic was the big wake-up call. Loads of tattoos - obese people - handicapped people - in short not a middle class doctor to be seen (well not by me) - the demographic was - normal! The stewards included 90 recovering addicts (from Betel) - fantastic people! (great to see them all wearing the tshirts I made last week) Betel (a WEC ministry) epitomises missional responsibility for me.

OK - so very little fair trade - not much recycling. But a whole load of normal people.

The Irony - the exclusive privilege gospel.

Sadly that can be found pretty well anywhere.

Spiritual Refreshment

A recipe for spiritual refreshment (only guaranteed to work for me)

Take a nice ride

From Rothwell to Salts Mill (Saltaire). In fine sunshine with not too many competitors for the towpath.

See a great picture

David Hockney's Salts Mill. I like his landscapes - the vivid colour emphasises the beauty of the scene. The picture is on the centre of the far end wall of the first floor in Salts mill. I also recognised some cubism (this is a big achievement for an artistic pleb like me - thanks to the WBC art evening a few years back)

Have a good cappuchino

In the expresso bar in Salts Mill (next floor through the Café turn left and through the jewelery maze)

Listen to Good music

Apart from the obligatory Floyd / Rick Wright / Lowground - I enjoyed The Prayer Cycle by Elias. (Thanks to Vicky for playing it at WBC)

Do I need all this?

No - because I worship a God who does stuff from nothing - I was reading Ezekiel 37 (The valley of bones) this morning - God can do just anything - in fact he has. How blessed am I? - and how will I pass that on? (because that is what blessings are for after all).

Shallow?

Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.

Oscar Wilde

(Seen on iGoogle quote of the day)

Missional balance

Moi balanced? (silly idea)

Sorry about the bad mix of languages - but I've been thinking for a while about the whole idea of missional balance as it relates to church - particularly "modality" (what we often call "local church"). Because whilst I don't think there is a need for "sodality" (so called para-church in some quarters) to be missionally balanced - in fact I think their(/our) job is to be missionally specialised. There is a need for balance at local church level.

The balance is two-fold in my opinion.

Word - Works

One of Kez's first memorable sermons (and she has given us several) was on this Word/Works balance - we cannot simply swan about being nice people and expect people to get this salvation lark (I think I paraphrase her reasonably accurately). Glen in one of his wedding blogs puts a little more flesh on the word side of this. Neither does this salvation lark make any sense unless we live it out and make a difference (works).

Local - Global

This is a longer standing issue - the church has historically always tended to myopia on this - and I am not just talking about distance in miles. I would see Local / Global as cultural & homogenous group related.

A scale

I like pictures so I find this graph useful:
My agency (WEC International) is a specialist mainly in the Global Word quadrant - not that we or anyone can split up the work of the kingdom so easily and neatly. In fact some of our neatest frontier church planting projects are a blends of word/works. (Children in crisis or Ex addict Church planting for example)

Brilliant Wedding!

Well done Mel & Rick - and all of the folks involved. I mostly only saw the preparation and the clearup because I was on the road all day - but the bits I saw (tinted a bit by 4 glasses of red wine on an empty stomach) were excellent.

Good to see Glen's new Blog with a few posts reflecting on it.

New markup - ACML

File this under trivia.

I came up with a new markup language. ACML "Anti Corporate Markup Language". The two initial tags are <ugh> and <aah>. They are used like this....

<ugh>Microsoft Word ™</ugh>

<aah>Open Office</aah>

OK - so I lied....

I was saying how the canal towpath is so easy because it is flat. Well of course it isnt...

This is really a thinly disguised opportunity to brag - I made it to the Bingley 5 rise locks for a cup of crappychino - the stuff made in a machine made (probably) in Warrington.

Back home by 1.30 for lunch - not bad!

Took all afternoon to recover - not good!

Still it was 40 or 50 miles (not sure which - speedo broke)

Long time no blog

Kez pointed out that I had stopped blogging. I was thinking to myself that maybe I'd stopped being profound - but that assumes I ever was...

I did enjoy this from Simon

No excuses.. except laziness.

A challenge...

Watch this and remain untouched.

4 years on...

BBC news tonight is covering Iraq, 4 years on from the invasion.

On Gods politics is this.

Great evening out

Thanks to my brother-in-law Nigel (at the back of the photo somewhere in 2nd violins) I got an excellent seat Saturday night to see the RSNO.

They were playing a fave of mine - New World
along with a bit of Korngold (which I enjoyed) and some Stravinsky (which I expected to like & wasn't so keen)

How should we do church?

Rasberry j2o flavoured.........

A unique and brilliant get-together this week. A couple of hours in the Castle with some excellent folks - chatting about how we would like to be as a group. I hesitate to use the "Church" word. These notes are based on a little list I was scribbling down with a little help.

Things we don't want.

As I suspected we gathered a list of things we dont want, but the list was really revealing and in some ways exciting:

1) No to being passengers , visitors or observers. Brilliant - yes that is an excellent place for us to be starting.

2) Linked to that - no talking of the group in the second person. We take collective responsibility for us.

Other things we want to get free of:

3) History - now that is generally regarded as being a bad idea - "those who ignore the lessons" etc... What people want is a clean slate. Is it wrong/unrealistic to want that? - Well probably yes and no. forgiveness - possible, consequences - inevitable. Which leads neatly on to...

4) Dogma. - that's difficult too. This is probably because almost everyone in the group would tend to be a bit of a post-modern. What I want to be free of is faith in a set of dogma, as opposed to faith in a person. Faith doesn't have to be dogmatic.

Things we love and do want:

1. Genuineness - authenticity. We live in the right county for this - Yorkshire folk call a spade a spade.
2. Community - mutual commitment. (I was surprised to hear that some 30's singles enjoy a link to families with kids.)
3. God expressing himself through us. Christ centered (recognising that our community will normally have people in it who don't experience or want this)
4. Generosity - grace - in the widest sense.
5. Vulnerability
6. Uncomfortableness - challenge.
7. Open to grow by including others.
8. Commitment to spiritual journey. I would say "pilgrims, not settlers"

I wonder if the others are as scared of messing it up as I am?

Theology Group: Vincent Donovan

We talked around the second half of Vincent Donovan's "Christianity Rediscovered" at theology group tonight.

Most stimulating - notes here...

Brilliant how relevant this guy is to truly emergent church - church that is an authentic expression of Christianity in the tribal context. (I prefer the word tribal because I suspect it expresses well the contemporary UK scene)

Hope to see "The Mission" tomorrow night in our Lenten film series.

A`week in Germany

At our German HQ:

Nice place for a walk - but not much time for it. We were comparing notes on "mobilisation" (recruiting).

I love the fact that my work is recruiting people for a task I believe is the most brilliant thing a person can do.

If my God is the true God, and mission is his purpose (introducing others to him and his ways), then I am most privileged. Which of course I am.

But with privilege comes responsibility. The plan of God in the bible has always been that he blesses his people, that they may bless others. Easy to forget the second bit...

As usual I come away embarrassed that I have so many facilities and so many people to work alongside in the UK.

We did walk down to Lidl on the last day - walked back clinking (wine is €1.99 instead of £2.99).

Today Flora joined me for a bike ride. So the distance was easy for me - but it was her longest ever at 16miles. We got to Fairburn Ings great for coffee & a loo half way...

Jono (youngest at 21) got a Wii on Satuday - so loads of over-repetitive jokes about Jono having a wii in the lounge. I've made a nice Mii (avatar) but it is rubbish at all the games. Can't think why.

Grace again...

I was watching/listening to this again:
I just love the fact that for the event Floyd demonstrated grace in such a way as to cover old differences. Maybe I read too much in - maybe not. It was good to see the 4 of them arm in arm the first time for years.

But as Simon says: (quoting U2)

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things.
Grace finds beauty in everything.
Grace finds goodness in everything.

U2, Grace

I was chatting this week to Ben & Mel - sorting out church.... (a bit like the sorting-out-the-wrongs-of-the-world-discussion but a lot more parochial).

Church doesn't do grace very well - we can do law really well. Ironic really - God moves us from lawlessness through law to grace, and we always seem to get stuck one step back.

Church so easily becomes about law. Whether that is law about "received dogma", or law about "this is how we do it".

My son says I have my blogging face on again - so better lighten up and log off...

Cynicism is the pits

Every time I listen to a news bulletin today I feel like crying. Its the "friendly fire" incedent that killed L/CoH Matty Hull . Read it on the BBC here.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not anti-war - I just don't think we should do war in cases like the last (or current) Iraq war. It was always wrong - and some British politicians are still in denial.

My big problem here is the way in which the west cynically manipulates its so called "citizens of democracy". I have worked with military secrets (I worked in defence), I know they fulfil a function - but that function is not to provide the correct "spin" in order to dupe the very people that the military claim to protect. That I believe is a cynical manipulation of power.

Within hours of a "good news" event gunsight camera tapes are released to the media. But when they get it wrong (as is sadly almost inevitable in war) they "bury" the bad news. As in this case. Were it not for a leak (which will make the american security services even more keen to control "bad news") we would probably never have heard that tape of the pilots who slowly realise they have just killed a soldier on their own side.

Good news - it's not secret.

Bad news - it is.

And some think our society is worth exporting.

The worst thing is that there are a whole bunch of people who think that this is a "Christian" way to behave - some of them are American & British, some of them are Muslims - in my view all of them are wrong.

I can understand why many Muslims don't think much of Christianity - if that is all they see.

What's on my iPod?

Nothing - I dont have one - not that I'm complaining - shouldn't after reading Simons excellent piece on how tough it is to be rich. You need to read the comments to get some balance though. I am cross that I never heard that the "eye of the needle" is NOT a gate into Jerusalem. (here and here) - what crap we sometimes hear from pulpits! (makes mental note to stop talking crap in pulpits but realise it is a vain hope)

In fact I am very rich compared to most of the world (otherwise I'd not have spent £1.80 on a bar of fair trade chocolate in Saltaire on my bike ride this morning).

And I do have an MP3 player (Creative Zen Nano + 1GB) It's great! - I can listen to music all the way from Rothwell to Saltaire & back - 38 miles with no repeats.

John Mayer: Continuum

My brother suggested him to me (with the aid of a thumb drive) - I like his bluesey style, and the fact that he likes Hendrix ("Bold as Love" has lovely Hendrix references)

Sting: Brand New Day

I've been enjoying this for a while now - "Fill her up" is a story of a man for whom love gets him turned around, and resisting the temptation of an easy way out. "Tomorrow we'll see" is the touching story of a prostitute. Jesus understood people like that too.

Lowground: Long Way from Home

A great band that my son Andrew played in when he was in York - soft jazzy style with a super female vocalist - Emi.

Lowground: EP

More great stuff from Lowground!

The Beatles: Love

When I was a lad you were either a Beatles fan or a Stones fan - looking back I'm sorry I was such a wimp - I like both. My favourite is the vocal track "Because".

Opeth: Damnation

Son Jono suggested I try them because he thinks my musical tastes are too narrow - I don't try enough new stuff - true. Judging by this I should try more new stuff - It is ok.

Porcupine Tree: Stupid Dream

More via Jono. They do seem to have Floydian influences. Enjoying getting to know them.

Tenhi: Maaaet

Jono again! - The band name sounds like an Ikea whitewood hatstand - but actually they are Finnish - and they sing/chant in Finnish - bit wierd - will try them a bit more.

Pink Floyd: The Division Bell

One of my all time favourite albums from my favourite band. Best track is a lament about the loss of youth's simple pleasures "High Hopes"

Pink Floyd: Pulse

Arguably one of their pinnacle gigs (thogh it is post Roger Waters)

Delirious

Some friends eschew listening to "christian" music - I sympathise, but I do love these songs - some are uplifting - some challenging. A selection of favourite tracks include: "History Maker" and "What a friend".

Keep talking...

Cycling again - (33 miles today). Thinking all the way - what will I blog next? No inspiration, - maybe it was the music. Then Floyd came round (as they do quite often on my MP3 player).

The song: "Keep Talking" from Division Bell - a favourite album.

For millions of years mankind lived just like animals
Then something happened
which unleashed the powers of our imagination
We learned to talk.

The song uses Stephen Hawkins' voice from the BT advert. Hawkins proposes a "new world order" based on the idea of talking, and using internet technology to facilitate that. It is an enticing vision.

My first reaction was - no that is not all that separates us from animals. What about imagination, emotion, creativity, the sense of the numinous (the "other", the divine, the spiritual). But then I thought about my favoirite creation narrative -The Gospel of John chapter 1:

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life,
and that life was the light of men.

Here communication is at the heart of creation - in Genesis creation is a direct result of communication - IMHO the only thing we really do or can understand about how creation happened is that it is a result of God speaking.

Communication is important - but as the floyd song illustrates we shouldn't confuse it with talking:

I think I should speak now ____ Why won't you talk to me
I can't seem to speak now ____ You never talk to me

As the dialogue between the vocals and chorus indicate, communication has to be 2 way.

I talk a lot - but I'm not so strong on listening...

Talking of creation - try this from Kez...

Five things you didn't know about me

I was happily reading "English Hen" and "God School" (brilliant post on Hermeneutics) - both of them writing a fascinating "Five things you didn't know about me" - only to find myself tagged!

1) I used to be young. Really - I may be 55 next month, but I was young - in the 60's & 70's. OK so I'm cheating - but you may not have known my age now...

2) I got one "A level" - Physics grade E - that is the lowest pass grade... OK so I did go on to get an electronics degree (just).

3) I used to run a Hearse (with a mate) and we used it to operate a mobile disco called "The Undertakers" It was (partly) a rather naive attempt at evangelism. We used it for a grand day out to the Essex coast - the back filled up with friends from the church youth group "SPYF".

4) In my 20's, at one point I owned 2 cars:

• a Reliant 3 wheeler van - (Trotter style) - 600 ccs of pure masochism. (In UK)
  
• A Plymouth Fury coupe - 5 litres of unreliable tyre-squealing power. (In California)

5) I was nearly arrested for planting paper flowers in a roundabout in St Albans (don't ask why - I've forgotten - and I probably didn't know then)

I'm supposed to tag five people - but I can't think who to tag...

Maybe Rob - (he'll never read this anyway)

Why I don't go to church on Sunday morning

It's that time of year - another Sunday - another photo of a muddy bike. It was so bad today I had to hose it down when I got home.

Every Sunday I can I cycle in the morning. It's fun (if sometimes cold & wet), it is good for me (not so good for Flora's sense of humour when I traipse in - in more muddy gear), and it gives me space to think.

I used to go to church on a Sunday morning. Now I don't - and this is why...

1) I discovered to my horror that Sunday morning church had become a "duty". I felt guilty for missing.

2) The community I worship with (Wakefield Baptist Church) now have a "menu" system. We call it "Portfolio Church" - where we are encouraged to chose a balanced diet from a variety of "options" - For worship & ministry I choose the Sunday evening meeting as it fits me better. I look forward to going - most times - and that's how it should be I reckon. Most times I am asked to preach it is at the evening meeting too.

3) My cycle ride is good for me (keeps me a bit fit)

4) I enjoy the ride and feeling a bit more a part of God's brilliant creation.

5) I have time to reflect. (very occasionally profound - but sadly those bits don't seem to make it to the blog!)

Mark 2 vs. 27: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath..."

Wisdom...

Well I was going to talk about the nature of church and the place of worship & preaching - because I'm in Switzerland and had a fascinating chat with one of our WEC "Ethnodoxologists" (Ethnomusicologist specialising in worship & music).

Then I read this...

"A fool finds no pleasure in understanding
but delights in airing his own opinions"

(Proverbs 18 verse 2)

Thank you Lord!

Serving the Servant King

Had a very muddy bike ride today (25 miles by the Aire & Leeds-Liverpool canal), dodging the new-years-resolution keep-fit-new bike or jogging-gear people.

Floyd on the MP3 player (A Momentary Lapse of Reason) - the title that is (you could be forgiven for misinterpreting that).

These words:

The dogs of war don't negotiate
The dogs of war won't capitulate,
They will take and you will give,
And you must die so that they may live
You can knock at any door,
But wherever you go, you know they've been there before
Well winners can lose and things can get strained
But whatever you change, you know the dogs remain.

One world, it's a battleground
One world, are we going to smash it down
One world ... One world

After lunch and the obligatory falling asleep and drooling for a while I read two fascinating articles.

This one on Alleon by Tom Wright on Jesus as Servant King. Insightful as always.

This one on God's Politics by Jim Wallis on "How many deaths will it take"

Tom Wright was making the point that Jesus Servant King option is neither to follow the dogs of war, nor to take the opposite passive non-involvement option.

To my shame I have tended to do the latter. I'm happy to say my wife is a good example to me (and I know I dont listen to her enough!) - she was marching to say "Not in my name" in London before the Iraq war.

This Iraq situation is getting worse not better. And OK so maybe the Neocons have realised the error of their ways (some of them anyway - the chillingly evil "Project for the new American Century" seems to have packed up shop or gone bust).

I know WWJD was naff - but the idea was right on. What would Jesus the servant king do?

Certainly not nothing.

The chosen white van man

The chosen white van man, originally uploaded by ßlϋeωãvε.

There was a booming voice from above: "You! Yes, you in the white van, L421 WVM. Turn your radio off and listen carefully. You have been chosen to lead all white vans, to teach them driving skills and good manners on the British roads. Yes...I know it will be a challenge, but I have chosen carefully. I am confident in your abilities."

There was a pause and then a roll of thunder. "What? NO! You won't be able to claim triple overtime!"

(Quote from Tim's Flickr page)

Cool! I love Tim's photos.

It's sometimes good not to be needed

I was reading this magazine from New Frontiers, it is just amazing! The whole issue is about world missions. The picture painted is of a network of local churches that really have got being "missional".

There is a wonderful thread running through of curches intentionally planting multiplying churches, and aiming to do it where there is no church. There is passion for working at the frontiers (what we in WEC aim to do), and for establishing multiplying Churches (what we in WEC also aim to do). For caring ministry related in to church and church planting (what.. you get it).

There is a fantastic article on reaching oral communicating cultures. This is something I've been banging on about for a while since Phil Booth (founder of Radio Worldwide and of Oral Communicators Worldwide) told me about it.

Looking at the magazine I was thrilled! - And how do we in WEC fit in - well I don't think we do much! Do I care? (After all my job is to work on the relationship between UK church and WEC) - not a lot!

In fact if all churches were as this magazine portrays I'd be taking a long holiday.

(as if).