Praying…

“If you believe and I believe, and we together pray,
The Holy Spirit must come down and set Zimbabwe free…”

(traditional Zimbabwean hymn dating from the War of Independence)

Thoughts on Change and Reform

I don’t do “change”.

But not because I’m living in the past, or tied to tradition, or blinkered, or a coward. I don’t do “change” because “change” inherently makes claims about my initiative, my ingenuity.

I don’t even do “reform”.

But not because I’m convinced my way is right, or confident I already have all the answers, or stubborn, or unimaginative. I don’t do “reform” because “reform” inherently makes claims about past ways being incorrigibly wrong ways.

I am reformed. Because God has claimed my past, my present, and my future. I rejoice in the wonders the Father has wrought in my history and the history of my forebears; I watch and listen for the movement of the Holy Spirit today; I seek to place my trust in Christ who leads me onward towards things I don’t yet know.

I am reformed; and by God’s grace I’m not through with being reformed. I am a member of the Body of Christ, the ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda.

Thanks be to God for such profligate grace and mercy.

Divine intervention?

In a short but helpful post, Jonathan hits an important nail on the head:

So, there can be no good answer to the question, “Does God intervene in history?” because the question is so badly framed.

Find out why here.

More on mission and ‘relevance’

There’s some animated discussion on our missional/sociological response to church decline here and here on Connexions, whilst over at Faith and Theology there’s another take on theology and ‘relevance’.

It’s been suggested to me that the point of the missional ‘relevant worship’ strategy is not to deny or lessen the enormity of discipleship’s demands, but rather to attract and draw people in before then inviting them, in effect, to ‘take up their cross’.

But I can’t help observing that the fishermen whom Jesus called, telling them that he would make them fishers for people, worked with boats and nets rather than a line from the shore. They knew nothing of the ‘baited hook’ approach.

Obiter dictum

BBC News reports that a man has been convicted of assaulting two cousins, one of whom had founded a “Jedi church”, while they were playing with light sabres in their garden. The villain posed as Darth Vader (well, he wore a bin bag), jumped over the wall and whacked the victims with a crutch.

Earlier, when [the accused] failed to arrive on time, District Judge Andrew Shaw issued an arrest warrant, adding: “I hope the force will soon be with him.”

Classic. Who says judges don’t do pop culture?

Spam and Jerusalem

So Southwark Cathedral has blackballed ‘Jerusalem’.

Quite right, IMHO. Sure it’s poetic, but the hymn is (a) a load of old twaddle, and (b) dangerously liable to be taken seriously.

I mean, can we just quit please with the silly superstition that the boy Jesus was brought to Glastonbury by Joseph of Arimathea? No, those feet didn’t in ancient time walk upon England’s mountains green.

And as for the second verse – what an astounding marriage of Enlightenment nouveau-Pelagianism with Christendom-flavoured nationalism. Look, we’re not going to build the eschatological Jerusalem anywhere, let alone in England’s green and pleasant Land (sic).

If you want a good sing (and who doesn’t?), try the rather wonderful Iona Community setting of Philippians 2.6-11, “Though one with God”.  Tune: Parry, ‘Jerusalem’

Yesterday I went to London

“Bit of politics, ladies and gentlemen, yes indeed”