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I am hoping to get along to this event, which is in three short months time…
If you fancy getting involved, or just showing your face, check out their site, and get involved. Be the change you want to see…
Those kind people at Zondervan sent me a copy of Jesus for President to review, so here goes…
I regard this as one of the best, most challenging and thought provoking books around at the moment. Despite it’s American target audience (we don’t have a president here – yet) this makes great reading for any reader, as its themes are universal.
This is unlikely to look like any book you have ever read before, it’s got nearly as much in common with a graphic novel as it has with a standard text book. The best comparison I can give, and it is quite inappropriate really given the anti consumerist approach of the authors, is with a Howies clothing catalogue. It has that same earthy, lived in, thoughtful, artistic and engaging feel, but thankfully without the pictures of models wearing expensive clothes.
Put simply, this has got to be one of the most beautifully designed books on the market – working with the writing, the design emphasises the creative, radical spirit of the text, and the provocative joy of the authors. Quite rightly the designers, Holly and Ryan Sharp, are credited at the end of the book along with the writers. The colour is full throughout the book, with design elements interacting with the text throughout, which adds immensely to the value of the content. If you liked the look of ‘Irresistible Revolution’ then this is a quantum leap forward, like as if the publishers suddenly realised what this thing was all about…
In some ways it reminds me of an illuminated manuscript, from back in the day of monkishness, when religious texts were coloured and illustrated by devoted scholars. This fits with the fact that the authors are part of the new monastic movement – and perhaps this could be seen as the contemporary equivalent.
But aside from a fantastic design job – what does the latest offering from our dreadlocked brother actually contain? Well first point to make, there are very clearly two voices audible in this book. Claiborne and Haw have coinciding views, but different emphases, or perhaps just different experiences, which while bringing occasional difficulties to the academic niceties of the text, actually helps lend weight to this book. Actually – if you count the design, then add in one or two more voices as well.
Written throughout in easily digestible chunks, the book begins as a dissection of a theme of radical God politics which the authors show running through the bible. It sidetracks through stories of friends, writings of early Christians and reflections on current affairs.
It’s a book of stories, parables, and prophecy, it is not supposed to be a tome, or a text book, or a prize winning essay – this is a work of love, an object of discussion, a catalyst (for want of a less clichéd term) for renewed engagement with the themes, and an encouragement to live a different way.
Rather than taking an easy option, such as a single standpoint, of a Christian anarchy for example, or an anti war vote, Claiborne and Haw manage to turn the whole idea around, arguing for a radical Christian engagement with politics and society in a way that is at once submissive and subversive. American voters wanting to know who the writers say they should vote for, will find themselves left with the same choices, but hopefully looking at them through new, or perhaps ancient lenses. I suspect also that this will help many bring a new creativity to their decision making.
Pacifism and anti (or non) consumerism are key themes, but they each form only part of the overall principal argument, which is to see God’s people as a people set apart by God, called to live another way, and to follow only one leader. It critiques the philosophy that one can serve God, and walk in the way of the world.
This clarion call to a subversive and renewed people of God is a creative and stimulating read – it’s not without its problems, one cant help thinking that if Claiborne authors another book, he will have come close to being part of the system which he so clearly wants to work against, but at the same time, I like many others would be happy to read anything he writes. One might also question how the authors can happily work with others such as Jim Wallis who argue for a more conventional approach to politics… clearly McLaren is not the only one with a generous orthodoxy these days.
Some readers may find biblical references to apocryphal books troubling or confusing, I don’t, in fact I like it. Some factual discrepancies may exist within the text, (numbers of dead in Iraq, or etc) but these are minor when looked at in context, and can be put down to the issue of dual authorship.
It’s a beautiful, peaceful, challenging, affirming, prophetic, subversive and creative book, well worth reading, sharing, mulling over… likely to become a classic.
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| What’s your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com |
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| You scored as Emergent/Postmodern
You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don’t think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.
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I took this entertaining quiz, what is your theological worldview?
Pretty funny stuff, as probably the two spheres I operate most in are the charismatic/pentecostal and the reformed evangelical… ho hum.
ht: hamo
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the happenings in Florida, Dudley, and closer to home for me, the meetings that have been held in Llanelli recently.
I’ve been around charismatic church for a fairly long time now, I’ve seen a few different waves come and go, all of which doesnt make me any better at discerning between the good stuff and the dross, in fact it may have made me worse, as I am definitely more cynical now than I was, but all in all I hope it has leant me some perspective which is useful.
So my natural reaction when I hear about new revivals or miraculous ministries, is to be catious. The first time I saw Todd Bentley in action was in a video projected in a church meeting. I had never heard of him, and was not particularly taken with his style, or what he had to say. I was most disturbed though when the encouragement was given to: “look at this with the eyes of a child, dont let your brain get in the way” - I paraphrase, I wasnt carrying my notepad.
I think that all of these waves of spiritual renewal/revival etc need to be looked at from two perspectives simultaneously: 1) God can do anything, and frequently works in strange ways through strange people. 2) The bible warns, and experience shows that false prophets are all around, against whom we need to be on our guard.
Assuredly most of those false prophets are those who have so effectively encouraged and enabled us to syncretise Jesus teachings with secular materialism, or empire worship. But some of them are knocking around in the crazy charismatic scene too.
Get where I’m coming from on this, I am part of two different self styled charismatic churches. I’m not anti Charismaticism, I dont think we should all just chant and meditate all the time, I beleive that there is a healthy mix, which involves corporate expression, holy spirit stuff, silence, lots of other stuff too.
I find the ‘post charismatic‘ approach rather sniffy, somewhat too close to looking down the nose at those in a more primitive state. This is just as wrong as the approach that says ‘unless you’re getting slain in the spirit all the time, you arent in the right place’.
So back to Bentley, I have a few points that I dont like about this Florida stuff.
1) I feel like its too close to being a personality cult. There’s a lot of talk about Todd Bentley, I would prefer if there were lots of talk about Jesus, and everyone else involved was of little importance. I know that this is the way it goes of course, Evan Roberts was the big name in the Welsh Revival, but I dont get the impression he was the same kind of character as mr Bentley. From the stuff I’ve heard and read about Todd, he seems an anointed individual, and a damaged individual. Some of the things he writes and says, such as the well referenced trip to heaven where Paul tells him how Abraham gave him the material for the book of Galatians seems out and out nonsense. However, people are getting healed, and apparently even raised from the dead… (If I was wikipedia, I’d say citation needed). (On one video a guy ministering with Todd declares: ‘The moslems have a spirit of infirmity because of inbreeding…’ huh?
2) There is an unhealthy approach to money. This seems to be a major problem in America, and I cant quite get to grips with it. You’ve got people like Joyce Meyer living in vast mansions, complaining about taxes etc, while all over the world people dwell and die in abject poverty… that’s just weird and wrong. On Todd’s website I read that there are three ways of giving to the ministry, if you go for the top level ($500 per month, or a one off payment of $5000) you get special access to Todd, including special ministry sessions and stuff. Euurgh. That is just disgusting. Not what I see as fruit of a truly Jesus devoted life.
3) I have a problem with this kind of phenomena which is that it proves exciting for a while, but then people get disillusioned, and when they find the only place they’re getting the experience is in Todd’s meetings… and perhaps even that’s not what it was… guess what? They pack it in, Christianity is another thing to write off. Hmmm. This is a big problem.
4) It has sparked another gold rush of Christians jumping in planes to get over to Florida in order to be able to catch the spirit and bring it back home. This just makes me uncomfortable… maybe I’m wrong, but I just dont see God working like this. If anything, then what happened at Pentecost, and the 1904 revival, was that people went out from the outpouring to pour out their lives into other places, and that is how the thing travelled. But instead, people who are in the midst, seem just to stay there, desperate for another hit… its a kind of consumerist holy ghost experience, get as much as you can while stocks last.
5) And lastly I’m yet to see any fruit from all of this - and that is surely the biggest proof of what value something has. If we see radical shifts in church, people selling their goods and giving the money to the poor (or Todd B???) then that will be a good sign. That’s the kind of thing we see afterwards, so a bit of hindsight will be helpful on this one.
Here in Llanelli, Antioch Church has recently hosted an event called ’slosh fest’ - subtitle ‘head in the barrel’.
With the help of Emerge Wales, and assorted bods from the charismatic world, they held a few days of meetings where the holy spirit stuff was really emphasised. I have to admit, I didnt go, although I often go to Antioch’s sunday services. I dont like the idea of a ’slosh fest’ - but I’ve been interested to look at the aftermath.
Without a doubt (in my mind) there was some bonkers stuff going on. I’m not convinced that the prophecy of streets full of people in spiritual trances is right (I heard that one from the train station platform!) And I am sorry, but I’m pretty sure some people were just there for an experiential spiritual hit - which I think is a crap reason to go to a meeting.
But here’s the reason I respect Antioch - they are fully and holisitically engaged in their community, which is a rough one. And the outworking of the slosh fest thing is that this engagement has increased. They’re doing more work out on the street, they are not just sloshing up all the time. This is a clear example of fruit - and it suggests to me that there is something genuinely happening here.
I may not like the type of meeting, I dont fall down or twitch, or make funny noises like a lot of the Antioch folk do, but if God is doing something in them with the twitching and what not, which means they will have a greater impact on the poor and downtrodden around them, I’m happy about that.
A few of the Antioch leaders went to Florida, they seem to have been impacted by it - I cant say that it seems to have particularly impacted the rest of the folk there. (On a side note, one lady (not an Antioch regular) came up to me and said she had been to Florida, she told me when she was there, God told her to put her hands on people and make a ‘wooshing’ noise. She wanted to know if I minded… I said ‘no, please go ahead’. Guess what, nothing happened, but at least she didnt try to push me over 
)
So here’s my opinion in a nutshell (after 1300 odd words) Todd Bentley: anointed but flawed, handle with care. Florida revival: probably not a revival, let’s wait and see. New Charismatics: don’t give them a hard time, they might be nutty, but the ones I know have hearts devoted to Jesus, and are living out their faith in a very real way. They are mental though ;) Post charismatics: smacks a little of spiritual snobbery, lets accept our differences and all get along.
“No matter how dangerous the medieval pilgrimage might be, and it frequently was, pilgrims always hoped to return even if they set their affairs in order lest death met them on the way. The Celts set out with no thought of return.”
Rediscovering the Celts, page155, Robinson, 2000. Published by Fount.
Not being brought up in the Church of England and all that, I dont know really very much about liturgy, and proper liturgical ways, but I notice Mark Berry has just posted up his meditation material for tomorrow which is the feast day of St Julian don’t y’know.
He’s got a nifty thing going on with hazelnuts, which looks cool, and is doubtless destined to be deemed a ‘worship trick’ by Jonny B.
In the meantime, and back on the subject of liturgy etc, I’ve just written some stuff for tomorrow too, for the meditational/devotional beginning to our prayer morning. In case you are interested - here it is.
Begin with a welcoming, a corporate chant, and a silent meditation on Bible passage. Then:
The Affirming. (Read this out loud together).
Oh Lord
Our God
We submit again to you today.
Still our hearts
Calm our heads
As you calmed the storm.
Creator, redeemer, companion
Father, prince, friend
Almighty, unstinting, constant.
You who always were
Forever are
Ever more shall be
We who breathe in,
And breathe out,
Know your goodness
*Take some moments to silently resubmit to God – confessing your sins and asking that he takes you forward with him today.
The Asking. (Read this out loud together).
We ask today Lord:
That we would not judge
That we would see beauty in all others.
That we would come before you in humility.
That we would set aside our wants, for the sake of others.
We ask today Father:
That you would provide for your people.
That you would lead us away from temptations.
That we would see the world through your eyes.
That you would raise up more to work alongside us.
We ask today Spirit:
That you would comfort those who mourn.
That you would inspire those whose hearts begin to falter.
That you would remind us of our commitments.
That you would strengthen weary limbs.
*Take some moments to silently ask God for his word for your life today.
The calling. (Read this out loud together).
We call on each other to rise up.
We call on our hearts to stay firm.
We call on our hands to grip.
We call on the Lord – for he is our source, our inspiration, our light.
We call on each other to live today.
We call on our minds to choose life.
We call on our legs to stay strong beneath us.
We call on the Lord – for he is our redeemer, our strength, our all in all.
*Take some moments to silently ask God to be your strength today.
The blessing. (Read this out loud together).
Bless the Lord, Oh my soul.
May this day bring peace to the troubled,
Comfort to the downcast
Clarity to the confused
Joy amidst tears
Laughter amidst pain
Bless the Lord, Oh my soul.
* take some moments to pray for those who are suffering or oppressed. If none come to mind, pray for justice to flow like a river over the war zones of the world.
Closing prayer:
Oh High King of heaven, we worship you.
Have mercy on your children.
Fill us afresh today with your holy spirit.
Revive in us passion for the lost and the least.
That your kingdom may come,
On earth as in heaven,
In Jesus mighty name,
Amen.
I enjoyed the conference on New Monasticism, jointly organised by the Anabaptist network, and the Northumbria community.
Not being part of either of these networks, but interested in both, we went along without much of an idea of what the event would be like. We found it both encouraging and inspiring.
The morning sessions included a time of worship led by the Northumbrians who took us through their morning office. Then Pete Askew of the community introduced Stuart Murray Williams of the Anabaptist network, and Roy Searle of the Northumbria Community. Roy plays cricket with my old P.E. teacher!
There followed two talks - one about Anabaptism, which I went to, and one about the Northumbrian community which Kel went to. I found the explanation of the history of Anabaptism very interesting, and was able to corner Murray Williams at lunch time to quiz him on whether Anabaptists, with their adherence to non violence and peace making, can take an active part in politics outside of anarchism. His answer boiled down to: “there are a number of different opinions about that!”
I also bumped into Mark Berry, the emerging church leader from Telford, who I recognised from his dodgy hair do. It was nice to have a chat, after having commented on his blog occasionally and read a lot about what he’s doing over there.
Other emerging church types knocking about included Ian Mobsby from Moot in London, and Ian Adams from Maybe in Oxford among others.
Brother Samuel from the Aglican order of Franciscans added a touch of gravitas and extra dollops of wisdom. Although he’s not a ‘new monastic’ it is fair to say that his order is less than ancient itself! I really agreed with his remark that one of the key things for a committed ‘monastic’ type community is that they work together manually. His comment ‘there is some very deep spiritual wisdom in making bread’ is so true.
After lunch there was a choice of workshops - I went to a discussion between Ian Mobsby and Brother Samuel - conparing and contrasting the old monastics and the new. Just how monastic are the new monastics? Good question. One of the main themes coming out, and well made by Mobsby and others, was that its more about being frianrs than being monks.
The distinction being that Monks tended to seclude themselves, while friars went out into the community to live out their faith. This is true to a degree, but of course only really applies to certain streams of monkism. Anyhow, I liked the concpet of ‘re-friaring’ the church, but it’s easier to say re-monking!
This session allowed more of a discourse between those in the meeting and the speakers than the first session had - which was very valuable.
More conversations and question and answer sessions followed, with a final session of worship in an Anabaptist style, which included a lovely way of singing the Shema Yisrael among other things.
In all, Kel and I were both really encouraged by what we saw, and the people we met. There were a lot of different types of people there, from the rather posh, to the decidedly not posh - from the emerging church smoothies to the Jesus Army. I’d have liked to have seen some more of the missionary community there, and perhaps some of the 24/7 folk, but that would have just been more icing on an already rich cake.
Well done to all the organisers, I thought it provided a good platform for those who are interested in finding out what others are doing in this area, but arent perhaps able to make all of the connections themselves! Looking forward to more.
The news about Paul Lister, and his determination to ‘re-wild’ his own patch of the Scottish highlands is a classic story of contemporary Britain, and it has a lot to say about the situation facing the church in this fair isle too.
First there is the fantastic story of the multi millionaire businessman, who having bought his own patch of Bonnie Scotland has decided to return it to the way nature intended, spending millions on bringing back boars and moose, planting native trees and plants, and even making desperate attempts to bring back wolves and bears too.
Then there’s the problems - he has fenced his estate in, enraging the walkers and climbers who have the hard won freedom to explore them thar hills. More than that, if his estate is fenced, then it cant be a wilderness, its a zoo, and in a zoo you cant let the nasty animals eat the nice ones!
Its a story that will go on and on until one day the money runs out, or somebody lets Lister have his way. On a personal level, I have a lot of sympathy for the idea of re-wilding the countryside, but in all honesty I cant see it happenning in the UK. The British countryside is a vast money making machine, reintroducing animals like wolves into it would sound a death knell for shooting estates and sheep farms for a start.
And this leads me on to the church.
I would dearly love to see the church re-wilded. Like Scotland, the church has the appearance of wildness. But in reality the wild place it once was, is no more. Just as Scotland has been tamed, its natural appearance transformed, and many of its natural inhabitants hunted into extinction, so the church is practically unrecognisable from what it once was.
Like Scotland and its over abundance of red deer, which many think are beautiful and pretty wild in themselves, the church has become overpopulated with grazers, who roam around looking pretty, fighting with each other and generally just munching up the foliage.
It is the high population of red deer which means that Scotland will be unable to re instate its natural vegetation, the red deer just scoff it. A consistent cull of red deer is already necessary just to maintain the vegetation it has got. The heather that has come to be the symbol of scots mountainside is in fact a weed, a parasite which smothers the growth of anything new, or anything ancient which seeks rebirth.
The venerable scottish thistle can still be found, bristling in its spikyness - but its not a very attractive plant really, not when all those thorns get on your fingers.
In the church we have our own flora and fauna - we might consider our traditions and practises as flora - they cover the church, they appear to be the distinctive feature of the church, and all too often they smother the birth of anything new, or the re birth of anything ancient.
Where a venerable outpost of early Christianity exists, its often too spiky for us to cope with.
What is the answer for Scotland? First bring back boars - we need pigs who root around and stir up the ground. In the church, we too need those who will root around, make a mess, be a bit dangerous - dig stuff up, turn it over, make a noise.
Bring back predators - lets be honest whatthe church needs like a hole in the head (I should know, I’ve got a hole in my head) is more deer. More people to look pretty, but be good for nothing but shooting. We dont need those pew fillers, those ‘Christians’ who refuse to let the notion of discipleship affect their lives in any way other than what social groups they mix in, and what they will watch on tele.
Lets get some wolves in, who will kill these deer, or at least scare them off. Lets reduce the deer number, whittle them down. Lets get some bears in too - big brutes who can really make some impact on the world.
Lets find some of that old vegetation which has died out, and encourage it to grow again. Lets embrace the dirty, the dangerous, the wild.
Lets say no to the sanitised version of church, and say yes to re-wilding.
But lets not put a fence around it - instead of creating a zoo which looks like a wild place, lets create a real wildness - that spreads like a virus over the world. And guess what, that needs the estate managers, those who have grown fat and confortable on the money making activities of the church to change their ways.
Lets accept the fact that making a living out of this is not what its about, this is not an enterprise! Its not a business! This should be a wild place, with wild people and wild ideas - ideas about changing the world, about self denial, about love, about compassion, about God.
Let’s pray that God, who is the ultimate multi millionaire, will re-wild us, killing off those who are having a negative impact, and planting new growthin the old vegetation. I see signs of wildness, shadows of it, pockets of it… I see it in World Horizons, I see it in the Simple Way, I see it in alternative worship, I see it in the new monastics… but I long for the day when the real wildness will break out, and we’ll be back to the way we should be.
(Except now I’m worried that I’m a deer, when I ought to be a moose, or a pig, or a wolf… or perhaps a red squirrel. The red bit is right anyhow.)
I am becoming more and more convinced that one of the most significant problems in our society is money.
The story goes that Jesus told his disciples, ‘its easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’
There’s a lot about that which makes sense to me. I honestly think that one of the pronciple reasons we arent a fairer, more just society is that we are too obsessed with getting and keeping money.
This follows on from my previous post, which groaned about the way our society is totally based upon the need for a growing economy, and the fact that the government exists in no small part to look after the interests of big business, as they are inexstricable from the needs of society as a whole.
My view on this is that we are too rich in our society. We have too much. If we had less, we would still be able to make do. But instead we have a lot, and we tie ourselves in to needing more. To get the nicer house, in the better area, we must work a bit harder, in a better paying job.
As we give ourselves over to work, we abandon the needs of others, who come a poor second to us when it comes to doling out the loot. It was love others AS yourselves, remember?
As we separate, living increasingly isolated lives, out of community with one another, leaving old people alone in their houses until its time for them to go into a home, as more and more single people make home by themselves, as marriages break up and divorcees become single parents, we all find ways of getting what we need to make our lives better.
But in doing so, we are participating in an unjust system, we are bringing war on people many miles away (war over oil, over gold, over collapsing brain drain economies), and we bring misery.
The kingdom of God, we are told, is justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Our rich lifestyles bring the opposite. It really is harder for us to enter the kingdom of God, than for us or a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
Until we can collectively turn our backs on this way of living, we can never exepect to see the Kingdom of God on earth.
I’m following the progress of the freeconomy guy Saoirse, who is attempting a walk to India, using no cash, and looking for the kindness of strangers, and a barter economy, to get him all that he needs on his journey.
He says: “My name is Saoirse and I am walking from Bristol in the UK to Porbandar in India without any form of money because I want my life to be my message. We live in a media packed world, where politicians and corporations market the talk, but don’t walk the walk. So one day I decided to, literally, walk the walk.”
So far he seems to have got as far as Portsmouth, and his site reports that he has been well supported by fellow freeconomy types. His first big challenge will be getting across the channel, and then I suspect his road will become somewhat more difficult, as fewer people will have heard of him, or understand what he is doing. On the other hand perhaps he will find that the kindness of strangers increases as he goes east, as this Guardian blog suggests… as an addendum to that, the writer of that blog talks mistily about the Cambodian buddhist monks who stand and beg, never asking, coughing, or etc.
The writer seems to ignore the fact that most people give to the monks not out of the goodness of their hearts, but rather out of superstition, and/or a hope that it will benefit them in a tangible spiritual way.
Anyway, his blog should chronicle most of his journey, apart perhaps from the wilderness parts…
I like the freeconomy concept, I’m sadly convinced though that we’re too far the other way for this to work in this current age, but we could certainly take some steps towards it.
There’s an interesting article on the LA Times website, which chronicles the ups and downs of a small ‘new monastic’ community experiment.
It makes great reading for any people interested in the practicalities of Early Church or monastic style community living.
At first I thought it seemed a bit bleak, as the reporter grimly recounted the difficulties faced by the occupants, difficulties I might add, which will be immediately familiar to any who have lived in community before - certainly where young children are involved.
But as the end of the article hoved into view, I found that it became far more encouraging, showing how the little group overcame many of their teething problems and began to pull together.
I am sure that they, just like any other similar venture, continue to struggle in one way or another, but the picture painted by the end was certainly upbeat. The cynic in me suggests it was perhaps too upbeat, none of the potential problems had actually occured… for instance there was nothing in the article about betrayal of trust by one of the visitors, nothing about sustained difficult times… and these kinds of experiences are the measure of the strength of such a community.
That said though, it really is a great look at a real experiment in community living - which is totally accessible to any of us. I really hope that this goes on to be a blessed and special place for all those involved.
The Anabaptists have got a great looking conference coming up in May, in the hope that there are still plenty of places, I’ll give it a plug here, they are running it in conjunction with the Northumbria community, and it’s called: ‘New Habits for a New Era? Exploring New Monasticsim.’
I’ve just printed off the booking form and providing we can make the necessary logistical arrangements, Kel and I will head up to Coventry in May, to hear what is said.
I thoroughly reccomend you investigate it…
I have been wanting to get hold of the book ‘The Early Christians in their own words’ for a while, since hearing about it in something Shane Claiborne wrote. Today I found that the book, along with many others is available as a free pdf download from Plough Books.
Plough is the publishing arm of the Bruderhof community, a radical Christian community aligned with Annabaptists and Bretheren types. Bruderhof community members have all their possesions in common, have no individual bank accounts, no salaries and so on. A radical way to live.
Some time ago, 2005 I think their online presence was removed, although Plough books have more recently posted all their books up for free download again. They are a fascinating bunch, well worth getting stuck into a couple of titles. I’m particularly looking forward to reading ‘The Early Christians’ and ‘Why we live in community’.
Well done Bruderhof for following through on your beliefs, and giving stuff away!
I’ve come across this question from two different directions in the last couple of days, it was referred to by the irrepressible Steve Hayes, who blogs at ‘notes from underground‘ in his article looking at Neopagan discussions of Christianity. Following a couple of links led me to this site, which tackles the subject head on. It’s written by a self styled ‘Quaker Pagan’ - a concept which leaves me a little confused to be honest, but the article is interesting.
The second reference was from the remarkable Rob Reeve, who I know quite well, and who you can read more about here. He writes a monthly devotional which is always worth reading, and this month asked: “are you a Christian”
As our Pagan Quaker friend pointed out, its a bit awkward to say one is Christian, when others who describe themselves thusly include Presidents who wage war on large swathes of the world, and bigots who call down hellfire on to anyone who dares to disagree with them on the subject of sexuality!
Rob prefers the idea of being a ‘heaven bringer’ which I have a lot of time for. After, all, Jesus wasnt a Christian…
I think its fair to say that I’m not your classic royalist. What with being something of a republican and all… yeah that means something different in America, I know.
But I was fairly impressed by bonnie prince Charlie’s appearance at the alternative energy summit in Abu Dhabi - where he was beamed holographically! That’s pure star wars!!
I’m all for holographic monarchs, much better than real ones. It is not clear to me from this article whether Charlie (the young Chevalier) was speaking live, or it was a recording (I imagine it was the latter) - but its a jolly good way to avoid the air travel.
Interesting also to note his comments: “Scientists are now saying that the problem of climate change is now so grave and so urgent that we have less than 10 years to slow, stop and reverse greenhouse gas emissions. Common actions are needed in every country to protect the common inheritance that has been given to us by our creator…”
Cant disagree on that score Charlie boy - round one to you.
Gareth Jones is the leader of World Horizons UK - his two week old daughter, Macy Lou is critically ill.
After catching a virus, she grew very ill. She has now been diagnosed as having blood poisoning, and her internal organs have begun to stop working.
She is being flown tonight to Great Ormond Street hospital in London, where there is a unique machine which can properly oxygenate her blood.
It has been a major battle to get her to this point - she has until late this afternoon been too poorly to move. She is currently reliant on heart and lung bypass machines.
Please will you join us in praying for her? She needs the touch of God to heal her body, and her parents Gareth and Helen need all the support we can give.
Macy means ‘weapon’ and Louise means ‘renowned fighter’. These names are significant – Macy is in a fight for her life, our adversary would love to steal her away, and even more he would love to divert our attention from the truth of who our king is.
Our heart’s cry, our desire, our desperate plea is that God would show his great power and heal our little sister.
Please pray for her.
Politics of the environment have long been associated with hippies, ‘new agers’, wiccans and others who combine a reverence for the earth with spiritual aspects - the earth as divine for instance. But many people from many faiths and none recognise a spiritual aspect to care for the physical world around us.
Quite an interesting piece on the Guardian where a former Jain monk, turned anti Nuclear activist, turned enviro spirituality guru talks about his beliefs. I like the suggestion that those who say ‘you’re being unrealistic’ should evaluate where realism has got us all thus far. But I’m somewhat hesitant to agree with the whole of what’s said - mind you that’s true of most things.
I’m not into the gaia type theories, but I am interested in reflection of divinity in all of creation, and this should in my view be one driving force behind our care for the planet.
Did you know that of the World’s ancient forests, 80% have now been destroyed? And half of that amount has been in the last 30 years?
Me neither, until today. Read it on the guardian site of course - fascinating stuff, horrifying too.
Make no mistake, we destroy forests at our peril. Also, as someone who believes in a created universe (without specifying method) I believe that there is something very wrong with destroying our surroundings. Seems like our ever warming earth agrees with me.
Also didnt know that Russia is home to one fifth of the world’s total forest area! Blimey!
I am a big fan of the kind of gypsy punk which shows its face in ‘world music’ circles from time to time. Not sure what I mean? I’m talking a kind of spectrum of music which includes Manu Chao, Les Negresses Vertes, Gogol Bordello, and others.
I find that there is a certain amount of passion, creativity, wildness in this music which goes beyond what we tend to hear in much of our music - especially in the God botherin’ circles in which I sometimes move.
My love for this kind of music takes in my love for punk, especially the Clash, who remain my all time favourite group, and who dabbled in different styles long before it was cool. It is notable that artists like Manu Chao and Rashid Taha cite the Clash as a big influence, formative even.
Strummer of course guested with the Pogues for quite a while, and his latter work, which included Tymon Dogg on fiddle, certainly stepped over genre boundaries with a large stride.
I also love some of the old country artists, Johnny Cash (who everyone loves now apparently), Willie Nelson, and others - who sing/sang songs of pain and love with the gusto of the outlaw, and the loneliness of the travelling cowboy.
And in terms of spiritual music, almost the only music which ever seemed to hold a huge amount of integrity to me was music which was rooted in either reggae or negro spirituals. I never really dug the whole thing of spiritual music dressed up as commercial pop - what’s that all about? I thought you couldnt serve God and mammon?
That’s not to say that there isnt any good stuff around, I like the chill out stuff that’s knocking around, which ties in to the meditative thang - it’s more the sing-a-longa stuff I have trouble with. But I always have, so I’m a bit biased.
Anyway - to get on to the subject in hand… I came across the band called The Psalters yesterday, and man I love them.
Imagine a combination of gypsy punk, negro spirituals, crazy world music, religious chants… oh I tell you what dont bother, listen to this as an example…
and then listen to this…
now you’re getting the picture!
So the story gets better - these guys are nomadic, they live a truly radical life, that seems worthy of their music, and if you want a CD, you write to them, they send you one, and then you give them a donation if you like it, or want to support them! Excellent!
They say about themselves:
“we are the cry of the exodus.
there is no home for us here.
we are a nomadic tribe of psalters,
walking in the footsteps of ancients past
to the far corners of the present,
united as one voice against the
oppression within and without.
one more echo in the eternal song of our
First Love, our Hope, our Pillar of Fire.”
This is the cry of the exile, the leper, the howl of hurt and the shout of war… and it rings true.
Want to learn more about the Psalters? Visit their site, or their myspace, from which you can download the tracks - quite right too!
an interesting thought from Rob Bell, ‘Green is the new seatbelt’… what he means is that a few years ago nobody wore a seatbelt, and nobody thought it was important to! Now it is illegal not to wear a seatbelt, and all of us - save a few die hards - recognise it’s a good idea.
his perspective is that in the coming years green will become the new seatbelt, the new thing we all recognise we need to do/become.
he’s probably right.
if you liked hearing the podcast with Shane Claiborne which I mentioned a while ago, you might like to check this out, it’s called ‘Finding your calcutta’ and it’s available from the Mars Hill church website, along with a load of teaching from the likes of Rob Bell and others.
In fact, if you are so inclined, you can subscribe to a regular podcast from Mars Hill. Currently you can download the last 12 weeks teaching, which include two sessions entitled ‘God is Green’ - which I am looking forward to hearing.
Been working on some stuff for the World Horizons Conference in January - something I’m probably going to use in some way is this rebranding of some of our favourite saints…
So which one do you like the sound of most?
one of the Extremists?
Brendan – Into extreme sports – sailed a boat made of animal skins from Ireland to America.
Aidan – Mad for cross cultural mission – took the harsh Northumbrians the ‘milk of less solid doctrine’ and defied his patron by giving away his horse!
Columbanus – Political radical – denounced the royal court and got exiled for it!
one of the Artists?
Brigid – contemporary artist – founded a school of art.
Columba – the original bootlegger – copied a bible without permission.
or one of the Welsh?
Illtyd – old soldier – after giving up war (he was apparently one of King Arthur’s knights!) he set up a mission training school.
Samson – reluctant abbot – kept trying to hide from people but they kept finding him, planted various churches and a monastery in Brittany.
David – militant vegetarian – lived an austere life and gave no quarter to comfort – his symbol is a leek!
Might go for some video stuff on this I think.
It’s been great reading the guest blogs on backyard missionary from Jarrod McKenna - who has written eloquently about Ghandi - and the outworkings of what he said. The latest addition to the series is no exception!
McKenna seems an interesting an intelligent guy - and I was able to take a few minutes to read more about the work he does in Australia this morning. Seems like he’s in the same line as Shane Claiborne - the prominent activist from the US, and indeed the two reference one another here and there.
McKenna’s thoughts make inspirational and encouraging reading for anyone who wants to embrace the radical nature of the Christian faith - just as Shane’s book provides a good platform for those who want to learn what it means to live a Jesus following life - rather than just ‘be a Christian’. I did enjoy McKenna’s comment that if he were to write a book, it wouldnt be ‘how to live as an ordinary radical’ but rather “A how [not] to”.
McKenna also quips that: “Maybe our book would be called ‘The Resistible Revolution’ or ‘The Very Resistible Revolution’.”
I particularly like the focuses on peacemaking and community which both of these guys espouse - in my view this is integral to Christianity.
I would encourage anyone interested to read more about what Jarrod has to say in his guest blogs on bym, and to take a closer look at both the Simple Way community and EPYC in Oz.
one of the many happy tasks I’ve been plugging away at recently - is planning the UK conference, which we will hold on the 4th to 6th of January 2008, at Cefn Lea Park - nice place - especially if it snows.
so from the look of the graphic below - can you tell we’re devloping a celtic theme this year?
We’d love you to come, I’ll post more about it as time comes along, and you should be able to read more on the World Horizons UK website…
We did a half hour devotional on thursday - based around the idea of journey, and using the voyage of saint Brendan as an outline model - I’ve pasted it below in case anyone would find it useful.
Our guys found this a really useful exercise - good for relationship, good for personal reflection - good fun, worth a try!
As followers of Jesus, we are all on journeys, both as individuals in our personal spiritual walk, and as a group – on an adventure together.
Navigatio…
Today’s devotional time is based around the concept of journey, and we’re going to use as a starting point the story of Saint Brendan the Navigator, who sailed from Ireland to America in a small boat made of animal skins.
To follow the voyage of Saint Brendan, we are going to split into groups to take our own journey. Each group will be given a number 1 to 5, and they will each start at the corresponding station in the journey (group 1 at point 1, etc.) At the sound of the bell, each group will move to the next station on their journey, one person should read aloud to the group whatever is on the sheet found at that station.
At each point there will be a small piece of the story of Brendan the Navigator’s journey, and an exercise to do, either individually or as a group.
After the 5 points have been visited, the groups will return to the meeting room.
Text for station 1) Brendan set sail from Ireland – not knowing for certain where he would end up. He embarked on a journey – desperate to reach the promised land. His desperation led to him setting sail into the unknown, in a boat made of wicker and cow hide.
Reflect for a moment on what lengths you would go to, in order to pursue God’s calling. Are there places you would refuse to go to, or lengths to which you would not extend yourself? Ask God to reveal these to you, and ask him to help you face your fears.
Text for station 2) Brendan chose fourteen monks to accompany him on his journey, but as they were about to set off, three others asked to join them. Two of these were motivated by wrongful thoughts, and were found out.
Reflect and ask God to reveal to you any wrongful motivations for things you are involved in, and ask him to root out of you any pride, selfishness, or desire for earthly gain.
Text for station 3) The story of Brendan’s journey was long regarded as totally fanciful, until someone attempted a similar voyage, and found it is actually possible to sail across the Atlantic in such a boat.
Reflect on the inadequacy of human knowledge – how little we know of the world around us, and how much less we know of God. Ask God to help you to hold your own beliefs in humility, and respect others – even when they seem crazy.
Text for station 4) One of the amazing parts of Brendan’s voyage is a story of finding Judas Iscariot on a rock in the middle of the ocean.
Share with the group the one Bible character (excluding Jesus) that you would wish to meet and talk to today…
Text for station 5) Brendan the navigator set sail with no map, no gps, no rescue service as back up. He relied on the courage of his firm convictions, and a dogged belief in his mission.
If you feel able, share with the group a challenge that you would like the courage to take on. Keep it short, and don’t elaborate too much – allow others to share the burden with you.
Note: If you are interested in reading about the voyage of Saint Brendan yourself - the translation of his famous account can be found here.
tonight we tried a little something with Google Earth,
as a way of reminding us of God’s awesome majesty…
we set a google earth tour running projected on a white wall…
having first marked about 30 countries and cities in different parts of the world.
You can set the tour to loop infinitely, and set the amount of time the tour stops at each place - maximum one minute.
We did the tour for an hour, having first done a kind of text based slide show with a few reminders of God’s awesomeness - phrases like ‘Oh God, we are so small’ and other bits and pieces.
Behind the whole thing we ran a soundtrack of different pieces of music - chosen to invoke certain themes.
Playlist included tracks from Abbess, Terl Bryant’s Psalm, LLS, etc.
Now that its dark at night again, we got a great atmosphere with some candles and incense - I think it worked pretty well - needs a few tweaks of course. If anybody else has been doing this, and has suggestions, I’d like to hear them.
A few people have asked me about the group meditation material we have been using at World Horizons UK as part of our corporate devotional times.
So in case anyone wants to use it, I’ve pasted one of the recent scripted meditations below.
In explanation - this is written by me, but based on what has gone before - visualised meditations that I have read - as written by others. I think its great to share these things, and if anyone wants to mash this one up a bit - please do - I’d love to hear about it if you do. Should say too that its obviously based on the kind of visualisation exercise that Ignatius of Loyola was keen on.
These kind of meditations only form a small part of the wealth of ways of approaching the Bible and Jesus - so use them sparingly is my advice - and be sensitive to who you have in your group - these things will upset some people whose imaginations are particularly sensitive!
You might find it useful to use some quiet ambient music in the background when you do these things - but it must be really unobtrusive to avoid disturbing the multi sensory approach - you could make something in ableton live to do the job - I did that today and it seemed to work quite well. If not - the old Late Late service CD’s may hold useful stuff, as well as the stuff coming out of Grace in London [via proost] - and others too.
I prefer not to use secular material for the following reason - not because I think it is intrinsically bad, but because I think that in this situation it can prove to be a stumbling block to some… they might be wrong, but this is not an appropr