Jesus said...

To one man Jesus said you must be born again

To one man Jesus said give everything to the poor

Both sayings challenge me more each day

Climate Justice - Act Now

Mind your language Timothy

Just read this on divine nobodies as I had referenced the site in my last post.


I was recently talking with one of my “divine nobody” friends who reads this blog regularly but does not comment. he mentioned that sometimes he feels like it’s too complicated for him. so, just let me ask the question: do you have to have a PhD in Philosophy from Harvard or spend two years at the Institute of Metaphysical Studies in order to grasp and live the simple truth? i hope not!

I know for me, i tend to steer away from using typical Christian language to identify or describe things i’m experiencing because for many years i used this language and it either reinforced error (at least the way i was using it) or it was just nice-sounding words or phrases that sounded good and Christian but did not correspond to anything real i was actually experiencing in life. so, i became more descriptive and at times replaced words like “flesh” with alternatives such as “ego-mind.” but then the way it goes, the new language can also become nothing more that just some new, progressive, more enlightening-sounding language that still may not have any connection with the reality of your life.

It really made me think:

We have posted before about not wanting to alienate people by being.... well....'up ourselves' and its a good reminder. There was a french guy called Foucault who talked a lot about how different vocabularies can be real power games. Take for example the way a dodgy car mechanic looks under the bonnet, draws a sharp intake of breath and pronounces that "the cosset flange has spilt the oogeewotsit bracket". I, not knowing that world, that language, have to take his word for it and shell out £300 for a new fan belt! Surely religious words and phrases can function like that, excluding those who would describe things in there own way and making sure only proper insiders can talk the talk. Sadly this doesn't really protect 'the truth' - it limits our expression of it and many everyday people's access to this wonderful conversation we are engaged in about God

I have recently been totally bemused by some things that Christians have said. Not the content or the beautiful, gracious intent but the way things are said. The words sounded like they came from a specialised vocabulary based on more in the King James version and the 1900's Keswick convention rather than the pithy sayings of a 'chippy' (carpenter) from Palestine never mind people living in 2008.

I think the challenge is to find our own words to describe the realities of God and God in us and the world, like the the first followers of Jesus and Jesus following writers did. Surely that didn't fix language, nor did the various bible translations or all the waves of tradition. Every retelling of our story is an interpretation. That's nothing to be scared of, in fact its a reason to be yes careful and responsible but also brave, embracing and adventurous.

Surely the example of the previous generations of saints is to 'tell out our souls' in all their technicolour, 21st century, digital, glolocal, post modern glory - and also as validly (or more validly as the information economy puts power in the hands of the guardian reading digi pomo guys) people telling out their souls with no stupid privileged white middle class garbage buzz words and 'ain't I clever' overtones (he said in double irony!).

Basically - tell it as it is for you in your way cos that's what I reckon God wants us to do. Not for the sound of our own voices and the glory of our ideas but so we and the rest of the world gets a chance to listen to how God loves and lives and what he is up to in and amongst us.

Engage Podcast 1 - Pop Goes Shuffle Worship

Welcome to the first ever engage podcast - just click the image above to get it or go to our podcast page http://engagesheffield.podomatic.com/

Nothing high brow to kick off with just a quick journey through some recent books, ipod contents and a crazy pop new monasticism idea called 'Shuffle Worship'.

It's under 30mins so grab a listen and let me know what you think and what we should do for the next one? Enjoy.

References:

Jim Palmer (see 'divine nobodies' link on blog) -
Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God (and the Unlikely People Who Help You)

Wide Open Spaces: Beyond Paint-By-Number Christianity

Shane Claiborne (see 'the simple way' link on blog) -

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

Empathy is not an easy answer

Empathy is not an easy answer but a painful process - ask (asbo) Jesus

Liberation Theology comes to Engage

In Engage we don’t just want to take action, we want that action to arise out of our spirituality. See previous post on this.

To do this I suggest we experiment with the method of Liberation Theology. Liberation Theology has its critics (and some of those criticisms are valid), but one of its real pluses is the way it has transformed the way we read the Bible.

Before the innovation of Lib Theol people approached the Bible first and sought to draw insights from it. Then Liberation Theology came along and started with our experience. This experience led to theological reflection, which itself led to action. This action created a new experience upon which to reflect theologically and so the cycle goes on.

Here’s my proposal:
1. We choose a topic of contemporary relevance:
This could be guantanamo, the sex trade, debt, the global financial crisis, the emerging church, being honest with yourself – anything that floats your boat.

2. We ask someone (Schof!) to blog about it - giving us a brief but not superficial overview of the issues.

3. We meet up in late October and bring with us any biblical texts or other aspect of Christian tradition that resonates with the issue we are thinking about.

4. We explore these texts and traditions. Some will be more useful than others.

5. We seek to end with some action points.

The hope is that the action we take arises out of our experience and theological reflection.

So, three questions for you: Is this something you would like to be involved in? Is it a good idea – can it be tweaked? What issue would you like to tackle?

Why I hate the C**** word and don’t use E’s

As practically anyone who knows me will attest, the first maxim of Engage for me is – never use the C*** word. It is not a church, never will be a church, don’t want it to be a church…

…Of course, I hope it will, in time, be a place of action, spiritual reflection, worship, prayer, Biblical engagement – but it is not a church – don’t use that word! Whatever idea enters your head when you hear the word ‘church’ – rest assured, Engage will not be it!

And just in case you are one of those people who never thought for one minute that it was a church until now – banish the thought from your head forever – it never will be!!

This, for those who know me, is pretty standard stuff but I’ve also been wondering about the ‘E’ word too. Should we even use the ‘Engage’ word?

Of course, I understand the practical difficulties I am creating for many people – banning almost any name for what we are and what we do! I also understand that it goes against the branding instincts of our culture. But, please hear me out. Here’s my reason: I really don’t want anyone to serve or be loyal to, or show commitment to Engage. But I do want people to be loyal to, show commitment to God, each other and God’s kingdom. However, no sooner do you set up a group and give it a name – be it Engage, a church or something else – it takes on an identity of its own. It becomes one to whom loyalty is shown and commitment is made. In the process, we become a group of people (almost trapped) in a commitment to keeping the thing going, but are not really serving the gospel – our energy and time goes into propping it up and much of its original life is lost as we settle for routine and structure.

I think it is similar to what Weber called “the routinization of charisma” in which he describes the process whereby the original charisma is lost in the routinization process and as a passivity sets in a subversive gospel becomes status quo.

So, my suggestion is that we do not talk about Engage events, but we talk in terms of actually describing what we are doing – eg. An event to raise awareness and take action on Guantanamo.

Please, please don’t mishear me - I really, really, really don’t want to start setting up rules about what people say and don’t say. Please hear this in the spirit that is meant – a provocation to stop Engage becoming something we maintain, and an encouragement to keep it fresh and dynamic.

My hope is that sometimes someone will suggest going for a drink together or eating together, sometimes someone will suggest reading a part of the Bible together, or worshipping together or doing an event like the Guantanamo one. But we don’t do anything out of routine. We make every effort to ensure that what we do is always and only functional – Engage serves us, we don’t serve it.

Christmas!

I love this cartoon of the Christmas story. It has inspired a competition to retell the Christmas story in 30 seconds for radio. See here. Anyone got any 30 second versions?

Hope

"With the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains,

And only the heavenly father can ease the hurt,

Just let it go and keep prayin on your knees in church!!

And let's HOPE!!

Cuz I'm hopeful, yes I am, hopeful for today,

Take this music and use it

Let it take you away,

And be hopeful (hopeful) and He'll make a way

I know it ain't easy but that's okay.

Let's be hopeful!"

Welcome / Nick off!

Timely words from Naked Pastor here. Engage or anything we are all involved in must surely be non violent in every way towards people. No 'emerging/emergent/whatever naff label' or personality/celebrity cult, 'trendy wendy radicalism' fascism please. It's not about being against, its about being for. Its about accepting, loving and benefiting not reconforming people to a particular model. Jeepers I can do without models right now. If you want to humbly explore what it might mean to try and follow Jesus and lean into the future that the Christian story envisions, or just want to kick around your questions in a safe environment, or just benefit in any way at all from us falteringly working all that out then you are most most most welcome. If you want to start a movement to remake everything in our image, with all respect, nick off! - just being honest, its best that way :-)

Asylum Stories / Parliament Protest / Us?

This is a great site telling the stories of destitute asylum seekers click the pic to check it out

And these guys are putting their tent where their mouth is -

Ben and Ben the Protest Men are upset, really upset.

They’re upset about the way Britain treats asylum seekers and have decided to do something about it.

They have decided to go and live at Parliament Square (outside the Houses of Parliament) for 2 weeks in October to campaign to end the destitution of refused Asylum Seekers.

Click here to find out more from the blog they are doing during the protest and why not send them some encouragement.

It's nearly a year since some of us did our DIY adventure and climbed all c14,000ft of Mt Toubkal in Morocco to raise money for AssistSheffield. I want to do another challenge next year so let me know if you are up for it?

Action for the poorest is possible!

Sentamu’s done it again -a particularly germane comment on our present economic crisis that merits a post in its own right:

“the President of the United States recently announced a $700 billion bailout plans for banks and financial institutions. One of the ironies about this financial crisis is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable. It would cost $5 billion to save six million children's lives. World leaders could find 140 times that amount for the banking system in a week. How can they now tell us that action for the poorest on the planet is too expensive?"

God's reply?

What do you think God's reply would be?

Thanks to naked pastor - see links for more of his great stuff

The Long View

The Long View

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

Attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero

STAND UP

If we do a meet in Oct then maybe we could make it a STAND UP event.

Stand Up and Take Action is a global mobilisation to end poverty and inequality. Last year, 43.7 million people joined Stand Up worldwide, setting a new world record.

This year, help us break that record and send an even louder message to governments.Join the global movement of people who refuse to stay seated or silent in the face of poverty and broken promises to end it!

This year, we are asking people to Stand Up and Take Action between Friday 17 and Sunday 19 October 2008.

I am up for helping organising it if anyone fancies it?

Click the logo above for more details.

Look'in Good

Just a bit of fun, just a bit of fun

A surprising poem of hope

Perhaps this is in part a response to Mark's post below. It was on Jesus Manifesto (good guys good guys) and was inspired by NT Wright's book Surprised by Hope (I have a spare copy if anyone wants to borrow it?).

The Kingdom of Heaven has captured my heart

the more I feel it’s power take root

the more I yearn for Beauty and Justice

Today, I thought about buying a building

something old, abandoned, ugly

and turning it into a castle for the Kingdom

A sanctuary

stain glass replacing iron bars

a hedge of roses instead of the fence that everyone expects in this neighborhood…

I want to see a sick person get well again

not so they’ll listen to me, or attend my church, or go to heaven

but so they can know, like I know - the kingdom of heaven is near

I want to be a portal to an alternate universe a stitch where the fabrics of heaven and earth are sewn close
I want to write the most beautiful words I can imagine

and paint them on a billboard over ads for beer and cheeseburgers

I want to walk these city streets till all the walls crumble

build porches for all my neighbors

and sit and talk about how great the Kingdom is starting to look.