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Weblog Archives: April 2002
Tuesday, April 30, 2002
Here's a site brought to my attention by our good friend Wood. The Political Compass is a short questionnaire designed to measure your "political personality". It's a bit of fun, but I reckon it read me pretty well. Give it a go if you've got 5 minutes to spare.
Posted by Richard @ 05:25 PM BST [Link]
Monday, April 29, 2002
I feel another burst of Wesley coming on...
O Thou who camest from above,
the pure celestial fire to impart
kindle a flame of sacred love
on the mean altar of my heart.There let it for thy glory burn
with inextinguishable blaze,
and trembling to its source return,
in humble prayer and fervent praise.Jesus, confirm my heart's desire
to work and speak and think for thee;
still let me guard the holy fire,
and still stir up thy gift in me -Ready for all thy perfect will,
my acts of faith and love repeat,
till death thy endless mercies seal,
and make the sacrifice complete.Only CW could get away with 'inextinguishable' and still have a singable hymn. Great stuff!
Posted by Richard @ 11:12 PM BST [Link]
Sunday, April 28, 2002
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going.
How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
This is the verse that drives so much Christian evangelism. "No one comes to the Father except through me" says Jesus and the proper response is to make sure that as many as possible know about him. It is a simple and unequivocable truth - they need to know about Jesus, and we tell 'em. Is that what it means?
I'm not so sure. The context of the verse is that Jesus is speaking to his disciples as they gather in that upper room for their "Last Supper". The dsciples are frightened and bewildered. They've heard Jesus talk about their betrayal and desertion of him. Worse still, they know he faces death. Jesus addresses their doubt and fear with words of comfort, faith and hope. John, writing his gospel for a beleagured Christian church recalls these words of Jesus because they speak directly to the situation his community faces. They too are uncertain about the future and are in need of the same strength and comfort as those first disciples.
In short, the intention of Jesus, and of John in his record, is essentially pastoral - assuring the faithful of their place in God's house. Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the life. Not religious opinion about him, not statements of faith about him - he, himself, is the way. What is that way?
"You want to know the way?" says Jesus. A farmer sows his seed and casts it everywhere, on good soil and on bad. A father has two sons, one a dutiful, hard-worker - the other a waster. The father loves them both. A shepherd leaves the 99 sheep in the fold to go and serch for the one sheep that is lost - and he does not give up until the lost sheep is restored. A landowner hires men throughout the day - and pays them all according to need rather than by the measure of their service. That, says Jesus, is the way.
How reluctant we are to accept the way that Jesus shows us, the way of uncompromising compassion and extravagant generosity - the way of welcome and inclusion.
Lord, show us the way!Posted by Richard @ 10:27 PM BST [Link]
Saturday, April 27, 2002
Another session of synod today. Two sessions of synod in a week is a bit much by anybody's standards, but if truth be told I've had worse days out.
The big event was the launch of our new district website. See what you think.Posted by Richard @ 09:25 PM BST [Link]
Thursday, April 25, 2002
I'm not a gardener, but I am trying to tidy the garden. If you don't like slugs in your garden (and who does?) ihateslugs.com could be the site you're looking for.
Posted by Richard @ 11:23 PM BST [Link]
Wednesday, April 24, 2002
A funny and true (allegedly!) story I heard at Synod today: A preacher was asked by the lady organiser just before taking a service: "Shall you preach from the pulpit, or will you use the rectum?" !! Many a true word...
Posted by Richard @ 11:57 PM BST [Link]
I attended a lecture today given by Prof Haddon Wilmer under the title Politics & Forgiving. Prof Wilmer is a British Baptist theologian who has been exploring the relationship between politics and forgiveness for thirty years. The continuing struggles in Israel/Palestine illustrate the vital need to make this exploration concrete.
He suggests that the primary task of politics is not the survival of governments, the success of the elite or efficiency of management. For him, politics is first about the creation and sustaining of inclusive communities which regard all people with respect and attention. It is inclusion which provides the link between politics and forgiveness, because the decision to include implies forgiving. This is not a simple task. The process is vulnerable both to a failure to include people as they are and to a failure to accept inclusion as a goal and value.
Prof Wilmer argues that forgiveness is central to the political process because failure is inevitable (that's what human beings do) and it is forgiveness which makes dealing with failure possible. Forgiveness refuses to define a person by their misdeeds, however wicked, but instead opens up possiblities of new life for the one who accepts forgiveness. Forgiveness does not mean merely 'letting go' - it is a creative act which treats wrong with the utmost seriousness.
He suggests that the function of the church is not to be the 'spiritual home' of forgiveness, but to be a witness to the source and wellspring of forgiving, the Living God.Posted by Richard @ 11:53 PM BST [Link]
Tuesday, April 23, 2002
⟨RANT⟩
The internet is a marvellous tool for communication - email, the web, instant messaging: I'm all for all of it. Just today I met someone I hadn't seen in a while, but we've shared several conversations over the last few weeks on different discussion boards. I've made friends in places a long way from here, though I may never meet them. And I've received advice from total strangers on all sorts of things, from choosing software to tinwhistle technique. The internet, to quote 1066 And All That is "a Good Thing".
But there are times when I'm less certain. When I receive the umpteenth warning about some new virus that's going to wipeout my computer, rot my teeth and make my houseplants wilt. (What do you mean, you haven't heard about that one? Email this to all your friends!!!) When the bulletin boards I take part in fill up with stuff that's obviously been cut & pasted from somewhere else by a poster who's got no intention of taking part in a conversation. When I find websites whose owners seem to think they can sanctify the most obnoxious opinions by adding the word "Christian".
What I value about the internet is the way that it make communication and information so open and accessible. But it's that very openness and accessibility that makes the internet so infuriating sometimes. Bah!
⟨/RANT⟩Posted by Richard @ 11:16 PM BST [Link]
Monday, April 22, 2002
Martin Roth writes:
I've got my new Aussie Christian weblog up and runningI'm flattered that anyone should think a plug from me is worth having, so of course I'm happy to oblige. I wonder if we're supposed to thank him or curse him for karoake?
(martinrothonline.com) and I'm hoping I might score a free plug or two
from existing bloggers willing to give a leg up to a newbie. Please check
out the site. If you read my biography you'll learn how I claim
(genuinely) to be the person who introduced karaoke to the English-speaking
world.
The election results in France have been shocking to say the least. I know that the pundits are saying that Monsieur Le Pen has no chance of winning the second round, but hey - they said he wouldn't get through to the second round. That such a near neighbour has even a remote chance of electing a fascist head of state is very troubling. Such a thing could never happen here - could it?Posted by Richard @ 11:31 PM BST [Link]
Saturday, April 20, 2002
This is not an update. It can't be, since I haven't got time to write one. I'm off to visit my brother, so won't be at my computer again until Sunday night. Hopefully the muse will strike between now & then...
Posted by Richard @ 12:37 AM BST [Link]
Thursday, April 18, 2002
A UMNS Commentary
By Kathleen LaCamera"Why are Americans giving money to terrorists to kill our children?"
That's a question I've been asked over and over by people during the nine
years I've been coming to Northern Ireland as an American journalist based
in Britain. Today the question comes out of the mouths of Loyalist
paramilitary members, people who are themselves labeled "terrorists."
This question is about the perception that across the United States -
especially in cities like New York, Boston and Chicago with strong Irish
immigrant roots - Americans are stuffing cash into boxes that fund the Irish
Republican Army's fight for a united Ireland.
Today, my gut response is to wonder: What gives these guys the right to ask
such a question when guns and bombs also have been part and parcel of their
Loyalist paramilitary trade? But then I remember I'm sitting with people who
- no less than their Catholic counterparts - are also fathers, brothers,
sons, uncles, nephews and friends to those murdered and injured in the 30
years of Northern Ireland's Troubles. [more]Posted by Richard @ 11:31 PM BST [Link]
Wednesday, April 17, 2002
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."
(Mark 1:14,15 NRSV)Here is the Christian message “in a nutshell”, announced by Jesus as his ministry in Galilee began.
“The kingdom of God is near”. The Jews had always believed that God was the king of the earth. He made it; it was his. Yet some people refused to recognise his kingship, so they still had to look forward to a day when he would be recognised as king. When Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God, he was speaking against this background. “the kingdom” is not a place or a group of people, bot God’s rule, the situation where he is king and his will is done.Jesus came to bring that situation, and in his ministry this ‘kingdom of God’ had already come into the world.
“Repent”. To repent means to turn around, to change direction. It is much more than simply being sorry. It means a radical change of heart, an accepting of God’s rule within our lives.
“Believe”. To believe in the good news means to take Jesus at his word, to accept that God is the kind of God that Jesus told us about, to believe that God loves us so much that he will make any sacrifice to bring us back to himself. Above all, “believe” means to commit ourselves to the God who Jesus reveals in a reationship of faith and trust.
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news"Posted by Richard @ 11:40 PM BST [Link]
Tuesday, April 16, 2002
Had a few conversations in the last few days on the subject of favourite hymns, and thought it would be interesting to do a 'straw poll' of people's taste in such things. Have your say on Open Forum. Whilst you're there, tell us your least favourite as well - and don't be shy about saying why.
We've been experimenting with "alternative worship" for a wee while in my church, and I have found it refreshing to be able to think about worship in new ways. Here's a site I've found helpful.Posted by Richard @ 11:46 PM BST [Link]
Monday, April 15, 2002
In the Sunday School class (we call it "Explorers", but if I'd said that, you wouldn't have known what I was talking about) a girl complained, "We've heard that one before." It was the story of the encounter between the risen Jesus and his disciple Thomas, the man we unfairly call "Doubting Thomas". And she was right. We do keep telling these stories, year after year. Mary & the Gardener, stones rolled away, upper rooms, lakeside breakfasts ... there's no end to our retelling of them.
But it's more than vain repetition. We tell these stories because they speak to us deep truths. They speak not of a long-dead hero, but of living encounters between a master and his disciples. They are not about events of the first century - they shed light on the mysteries of life in the twentyfirst. We tell these stories, not as fondly remembered fairy tales, but as powerful visions of the presence of the Living God. We tell them and retell them because they touch our experience and enliven our despair with hope. And at each telling the ask the age-old question, "Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive?"
Tell them.Posted by Richard @ 11:24 PM BST [Link]
Sunday, April 14, 2002
Posted by Richard @ 11:37 PM BST [Link]
Saturday, April 13, 2002
Here's a book that'll repay your efforts. Participating in God is an examination of the doctrine of the Trinity. It is not a dry academic text - though it is intellectually rigorous. This is a book rooted in pastoral concerns and experience. I highly recommend it.
Posted by Richard @ 03:43 PM BST [Link]
In case you were worried - the wounds are healing nicely! Blessed relief.
And apparently it's just as well the tree is gone. Things change.Posted by Richard @ 03:30 PM BST [Link]
I've just been flayed alive. Thought I was helping, but got it wrong. I thought I'd been told that the tree was
- dead
- needed cutting down
Evidently I was wong on both counts. What's that saying about the most likely use for good intentions as a paving material? Told you I wasn't a gardener.Posted by Richard @ 11:10 AM BST [Link]
Friday, April 12, 2002
You know what? I can't think of anything to write tonight. Not a thing.
I'm reminded of the saying that goes something like, "A man is wise when he knows he has nothing to say and can't be made to say it." Something like that. Not that I'm claiming wisdom you understand...Posted by Richard @ 11:16 PM BST [Link]
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
It's a well-known fact to all those acquainted with me: Richard is not a gardener. In church on Sunday I even failed to recognise a bunch of roses for what they were, and I'm unlikely ever to be allowed to forget it. I've mowed the grass once this year - I don't see why I should have to do it again. But it keeps growing, along with the weeds. A great man once said, "If God had meant us to be gardeners, he wouldn't have given us concrete." I'm forced to agree.
But even a non-gardening minister turns to the garden for inspiration sometimes. It struck me today just how inconvenient all the new life of this time of year can be. Work and drudgery is what spring brings if you're a non-gardener like me. To the gardener it brings delight and joy. The same circumstances provoke very different reactions, according to the attitude with which they are received. "A glad heart and a merry song" makes all the difference. Perhaps I'll mow the lawn tomorrow...Posted by Richard @ 11:41 PM BST [Link]
From the United Methodist News Service:
Christian communities in the Holy Land have sent an open letter to U.S.[more]
Secretary of State Colin Powell, stressing the urgent need for resolving the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.
Those signing the letter included Bob May, a United Methodist missionary, and the Rev. Mary Lawrence, a United Methodist pastor working with the Christian Peacemaker Team. Predominantly American, the signers were members of English-speaking Christian communities and have been living in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories for periods ranging from six months to 20 years.
Powell is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem on April 12 and with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on April 13.Posted by Richard @ 11:20 PM BST [Link]
Tuesday, April 9, 2002
I'm not a monarchist, but it was hard to be unmoved by the dignity of the Queen Mother's funeral today. I'm preparing to take 2 funeral services myself. They'll be much quieter events than the grand state occasion, but just as important to the bereaved as today's service undoubtedly was for the Queen. When the Archbishop pronounced the commendation, it was "for our sister Elizabeth" - I was reminded that God does not distinguish between people on the basis of their rank, class or status. Neither should we.
These funereal thoughts put me in mind of some verse of Charles Wesley, rarely sung but still powerful:
Rejoice for a brother deceased,
Our loss is his infinite gain;
A soul out of prison released,
And free from its bodily chain;
With songs let us follow his flight,
And mount with his spirit above,
Escaped to the mansions of light,
And lodged in the Eden of love.Posted by Richard @ 11:31 PM BST [Link]
OK. I know web awards are almost entirely vanity. We don't blow our own trumpet. But to quote E. Blackadder, "You might have told us you'd got a trumpet."
Posted by Richard @ 09:27 AM BST [Link]
Monday, April 8, 2002
I spent today in a training session with some other ministers thinking about prejudice and the way it affects belief, thought and behaviour. We were focussed on homosexuality, but were challenged to think about all our prejudices. One disturbing moment in the day was when I was invited to share a role-playing exercise. With some others, I was a member of the "British Union Party", a (fictional) extreme right-wing group. What terrified me was how easy the attitudes of such a group are to get into - the kind of views they present are so widespread and prevalent in the media, it required almost no thought to begin to sound like a fascist. In my defence, I have to say that being 'in character' gave me a headache very quickly, and I'm glad that I seemed to be rebelling against myself, but it disturbed me nonetheless.
Posted by Richard @ 10:26 PM BST [Link]
Here's a site that would be worth your time: antithesis.
Describing itself as "a voice from the emerging Christian counter culture", antithesis is a very stylish site and appears to have some very good content.
Open Source Theology seems to be quite a new site, and they've been kind enough to add a link to theConnexion. Well worth having a look at.Posted by Richard @ 09:51 PM BST [Link]
Sunday, April 7, 2002
What we believe is important, because our beliefs shape who and what we are:
A man found the egg of an eagle. It had been abandoned for some reason by its mother, but as it was still warm the man took it and put it in the nest of one of his backyard chickens along with the other eggs that were there being brooded upon
After a period of time the eaglet was hatched, and along with the other chicks from his nest began to go about the backyard doing what
the other chicks did. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He looked for the corn that the man would throw into the yard. He clucked and cackled as best as he could, and as he grew, he would, like the other chickens, thrash his wings and fly a few feet in the air.
Years passed in this way and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. It glided majestically among the powerful wind currents, soaring and swooping, scarcely beating its long golden wings.
The old eagle looked at it in awe and asked, "What is that?"
"That is the eagle, the king of the birds", said one of his neighbours. "He belongs to the sky and to the high places. We belong to the earth, we are chickens."
The old eagle knew this was true, and so it was he lived and died as a chicken, for that is what he believed he was.Posted by Richard @ 09:49 PM BST [Link]
Saturday, April 6, 2002
From Thomas Merton Thoughts In Solitude
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.Posted by Richard @ 04:09 PM BST [Link]
Friday, April 5, 2002
Preparing a sermon for Sunday night, and I'm struck again by the strangeness of the ending of Mark's gospel.
Jesus is alive - the best news ever! But Mark gives us no account of the risen Jesus, just the fear and silence of his followers.
And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid
I know that there are alternative endings to Mark - at least two of them. But I'm certain that Mark intended to end in this strange way. And I'm glad he did - it's a great comfort to me.
For though Jesus followers fail him even at the resurrection, still the gospel goes on. Despite the silence of those followers, the message gets out. Jesus is alive!
We sometimes talk as though the 'success' of the gospel depends on us. If only we would follow this program, use that prayer scheme, read the Bible in such a way, worship in a particular style - then God would bless us and all would be well. But the message Mark has is that at best, the followers of Jesus are at best only ever playing 'catch up' with him. If a tomb could not contain him, then the failure of his followers will not constrain him either. I find that curiously reassuring.Posted by Richard @ 11:17 PM BST [Link]
Wednesday, April 3, 2002
I suppose all website owners are concerned about the number of visitors they get - not much point doing all the work if no one gets to see it - and I can't claim to be an exception. So I'm always pleased to have a new link. The "webverger" (anyone heard that title before?) of St George's, Gravesend has been kind enough to add a link to theConnexion - the least I could do was to give him a mention here. It's an interesting church with an historic link to Pocohontas - if you drop by, do let them know where you've come from.
If you're thinking of building a new website, the Web Design Guide seems like it would be worth your while visiting. I certainly plan to spend some time there.Posted by Richard @ 11:38 PM BST [Link]
Tuesday, April 2, 2002
If you're a Christian and run any sort of website, you should have a shufti at ACWA, the Association of Christian Web Authors. It's a lively community of webmasters of all abilities, very friendly and very helpful. Recommended.
I must be getting old or something. I still haven't caught up with my lack of sleep at the weekend - I've felt pretty much dazed all day today. Perhaps tomorrow will be better.Posted by Richard @ 11:53 PM BST [Link]
Monday, April 1, 2002
I can't add an entry tonight. I'm too tired after the weekend's exertions. But if you need a smile, wander over to Ship-of-Fools. You'll definitely enjoy the unholy writ column, by our friend Wood.
