My first Blog from work! Lunchtime. Sandwiches...inevitably from Marks and Spencers...
Easter is upon us. It is Holy Week. And the shops are full of Easter merchandise hoping that the sun and the temptation of copious quantities of chocolate will spur people on to spend their hard earned reddies.
But what's it really about?
M&S have a series of signs up:
Easter is...
eating together
Easter is...
giving gifts
Easter is...
all good things
Easter is...
simply chocolate
OK, so the first three probably redeem themselves by bearing a passing resemblance to things that actually happened at Easter. After all there was the last supper; probably the most remembered meal in history; and Jesus is the greatest gift of all and a very good thing! Yet the symbols of fancy wrapping paper and gravy-coated beef don't quite cut it.
Easter is a celebration of the greatest life ever lived and the greatest death ever died; a chance to remember the meaning of life and to celebrate the man who brings us reality and eternity.
Easter is...the best celebration ever. Hallelujah!
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Sunday, April 06, 2003
Community in Teams
I'm in a band! Not a very big or good band, we're just starting out really playing once a month, rocked up versions of contemporary Christian songs to God ("worship songs" for the uninitiated). I love it, I'm passionate about it, I have fun doing it, it's just great and it's just me.
But I've found an unexpected benefit. I feel like a part of a real community.
Community is a huge thing. The Bible's quite clear about relationships and community being essential to life...it's a Christian cliche but we were made to be in relationships with other people.
I also believe that community is very difficult to find in a society like ours which is incredibly transitory. I've not lived in one place for more than 2 years since I left in University and I still don't have a clear idea of where I will settle. Jobs, girlfriends, family and ourselves all contribute to make us move on quite often. Christians in particular are often faced with the guilt trip of being in a "comfort zone" that they need to move out of.
The band is just one example of something that achieves relationship, community and closeness through having common passions, aspirations and goals.
I also play 6-a-side, an activity which I only started a few weeks ago but which has already made me a lot of friends.
These things (and many others like them) should be examples to us of how to form community. Christians should exist in community with each other because they share a common passion for Jesus and a common goal of seeing his kingdom on earth. But we should also exist in community with people who don't believe in our faith.
We need to engage with those around us and that will require finding common ground. Let us get out there and find what we have in common with out neighbours. God wants us to and we might be surprised - maybe there are close friends waiting to be made.
But I've found an unexpected benefit. I feel like a part of a real community.
Community is a huge thing. The Bible's quite clear about relationships and community being essential to life...it's a Christian cliche but we were made to be in relationships with other people.
I also believe that community is very difficult to find in a society like ours which is incredibly transitory. I've not lived in one place for more than 2 years since I left in University and I still don't have a clear idea of where I will settle. Jobs, girlfriends, family and ourselves all contribute to make us move on quite often. Christians in particular are often faced with the guilt trip of being in a "comfort zone" that they need to move out of.
The band is just one example of something that achieves relationship, community and closeness through having common passions, aspirations and goals.
I also play 6-a-side, an activity which I only started a few weeks ago but which has already made me a lot of friends.
These things (and many others like them) should be examples to us of how to form community. Christians should exist in community with each other because they share a common passion for Jesus and a common goal of seeing his kingdom on earth. But we should also exist in community with people who don't believe in our faith.
We need to engage with those around us and that will require finding common ground. Let us get out there and find what we have in common with out neighbours. God wants us to and we might be surprised - maybe there are close friends waiting to be made.
Saturday, March 22, 2003
Preaching Backwards
Just some thoughts on biblical teaching.
My WebLog doesn't show yet that I'm a Christian so, well, there it is! :-)
I'm a 4-year old Christian who loves God, and, as a thinker, I love to use my mind in my worship; and so, I'm often thinking about my faith and drawing (possibly wrong and possibly judgemental) conclusions about it.
Today I've been reading a book and listening to a tape both of which, I think, preach backwards.
Some people have a tendancy to approach biblical teaching starting with what they think and working back to what the Bible says. My flatmate Mark rightly comments that:
"You can make the Bible say pretty much what you want".
A statement that I would refine to:
"You can select parts of the Bible and interpret those parts in such a way that you can make them pretty much whatever you want".
(This is a slight tangent but I believe that God's word as a whole and interpreted correctly is not inconsistent - though I'm still working on that)
The things I've been reading and hearing seem to take this approach. On the tape I was listening to a woman was explaining a Biblical view of Gender differences. I confess to being immediately sceptical of a woman talking about gender difference. I'd be equally sceptical of a man talking about the same topic though so you can't really win.
This woman, in my view, had an agenda that she wanted to tackle. In fact, she started her talk with a "hypothesis". So much for coming to the God's word with an open mind! She then proceeded to perform a very academic analysis of this hypothesis before turning to the Bible to see what it said. But she could only ever teach from a limited part of the Bible and she chose to focus on things which supported what she was talking about.
The book was even worse, making huge statements (most of which I did agree with by the way) and then backing them up with a single verse (or less) of scripture.
Grrr.....
I think that the Bible is quite clearly split up to cover various different topics. Genesis is about creation, the fall, and the history of Israel. Sure, some of what it says applies to gender differences but surely we should turn to a book of the bible that's specifically talking about that topic for God's advice on it?
Biblical inconsistency seems to happen when people take things out of context...I'm guilty of it myself. We need to recognise this and make sure that we use God's word to mould our view of the world, not to support our own hypothesis about the world.
Lord, help us all to be rooted in your word and to think about what people preach. Help us to back-up what people tell us with what you tell us. Help us not to be naive about what people preach us, but, respectfully, to think for ourselves too.
Just some thoughts on biblical teaching.
My WebLog doesn't show yet that I'm a Christian so, well, there it is! :-)
I'm a 4-year old Christian who loves God, and, as a thinker, I love to use my mind in my worship; and so, I'm often thinking about my faith and drawing (possibly wrong and possibly judgemental) conclusions about it.
Today I've been reading a book and listening to a tape both of which, I think, preach backwards.
Some people have a tendancy to approach biblical teaching starting with what they think and working back to what the Bible says. My flatmate Mark rightly comments that:
"You can make the Bible say pretty much what you want".
A statement that I would refine to:
"You can select parts of the Bible and interpret those parts in such a way that you can make them pretty much whatever you want".
(This is a slight tangent but I believe that God's word as a whole and interpreted correctly is not inconsistent - though I'm still working on that)
The things I've been reading and hearing seem to take this approach. On the tape I was listening to a woman was explaining a Biblical view of Gender differences. I confess to being immediately sceptical of a woman talking about gender difference. I'd be equally sceptical of a man talking about the same topic though so you can't really win.
This woman, in my view, had an agenda that she wanted to tackle. In fact, she started her talk with a "hypothesis". So much for coming to the God's word with an open mind! She then proceeded to perform a very academic analysis of this hypothesis before turning to the Bible to see what it said. But she could only ever teach from a limited part of the Bible and she chose to focus on things which supported what she was talking about.
The book was even worse, making huge statements (most of which I did agree with by the way) and then backing them up with a single verse (or less) of scripture.
Grrr.....
I think that the Bible is quite clearly split up to cover various different topics. Genesis is about creation, the fall, and the history of Israel. Sure, some of what it says applies to gender differences but surely we should turn to a book of the bible that's specifically talking about that topic for God's advice on it?
Biblical inconsistency seems to happen when people take things out of context...I'm guilty of it myself. We need to recognise this and make sure that we use God's word to mould our view of the world, not to support our own hypothesis about the world.
Lord, help us all to be rooted in your word and to think about what people preach. Help us to back-up what people tell us with what you tell us. Help us not to be naive about what people preach us, but, respectfully, to think for ourselves too.
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