Summer Hours

The Editorial team at the theRubicon extends our best wishes for a safe and relaxing summer to our readership, which we’re happy to let you know, has grown in numbers, diversity and willingness to comment since our launch in early spring. › Continue reading

The Bible in Context

Relevance or Irrelevance?* by Geoff Ryan

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while back I was preaching at my small inner-city church on the lost sheep. I was in the middle of a fairly convoluted background explanation about sheep and their characteristics when my mind split and started running on parallel tracks. Half of my thoughts remained focused on continuing through the sermon. The other half started wondering why on earth I was attempting to explain sheep, shepherding and other specifics of a middle-eastern, agrarian society to a congregation of 21st century, inner-city dwellers. › Continue reading

Soap Operas and Talk Shows

Their Unfortunate Usefulness*, by Geoff Ryan

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friend told me about the small village of 35 homes in Crete that where she grew up. In those days it was isolated and bound in traditions stretching back centuries. Roles of men and women were well defined. The men would congregate in the only café in the village where they would drink and converse and argue. The women rarely got out. › Continue reading

Intentionally Including Illegal Immigrants through Incarnational Ministry

Church walls can keep out those most in need of salvation, by Jason Pope

Revolutionary Mission

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iving in the United States of America, I grew up hearing stories about the American Revolution. We take pride in the way we stood up to the unjust taxation policies of the British Government. We took pride in the way we created a society that would allow us to worship God freely and not be forced into worshipping under a state-governed church. On July 4, our independence day, we celebrate the words of the Declaration of Independence that all men were created equal and thus were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We paint that statement with broad strokes of limited colors. We apply it to those of European heritage, of course, but not quite as much to those of African heritage and maybe not at all to those “illegal immigrants” who have crossed the border from Mexico. › Continue reading

Missional Jesus

Pecking in the Wrong place, Mission and Jesus (Towards a Christology of Mission…) by Gordon Cotterill

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was now looking at death. Seconds before life – now death.

Stood at Denmark Hill train station. I was early for my train. I had a book open but was more interested in the drama that was unfolding before me. The freight train was hurtling towards the station 60, 70 mph who knows – an aggressive pull on the whistle announcing its imminent presence. One or two people took a step back as the train loomed ever larger. › Continue reading

We Are Not Perfect

Looking back won’t bring us forward, by Grant Sandercock-Brown

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he Salvation Army is not perfect, never has been and never will be. There was no ‘golden age’ when we got it all right, nor will there be again. The dream of copying what we once were to become again what we once were just cannot be realised. The once and future Army is a myth. › Continue reading

Crash

From Reflective Mirror to Reflexive Hammer: Film, Multicultural Politics, and the Presentation of Alternative Solutions to Fear and Isolation in Post-911 America, by Steven E.S. Bussey (E.38.2078001, Marita Sturken, Department of Culture and Communication, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University, Introduction: Crashing the Party)

“Art is not a mirror to hold up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”, Bertolt Brecht, (quoted by Paul Haggis during his 2006 Oscar speech for winning Best Original Screenplay

The movie-going world was left side-swept on March 5, 2006, when Jack Nicholson announced that the low-budget film, Crash won the Oscar for best picture. Most projections had pointed toward Brokeback Mountain as being the clear winner. The next day, columnists and late night television hosts throughout America were talking about the film that ‘crashed the party’. › Continue reading

Biker Jesus

The Jesus of my Day, by Jeff Jacobson

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e rides in on a Harley, the Jesus of my day. His hair is long, wild from the wind. He’s been on the road for a while, but his eyes are still bright. He smiles when he sees me. I know he travels light because his saddlebags are nearly empty. › Continue reading

Nightmare on Sunday Street

A poem that describes a place where many have worshipped, by Geoff Ryan

“A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world – and might even be more difficult to save.”
C.S.Lewis › Continue reading

The Call to the City

Jimmy Dorrell asks “Have We Lost Our Urban Youth?”

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tanding on the sidewalks of the city’s largest low-income housing complex, a group of cocky young men chided the elderly woman walking past them on the way to church. “Ya gonna hoot and holler in the pews today, sister?” one said. “Hold on to you pocketbook, cuz the preacher man ain’t lettin’ you out ’til you help pay for his new car!” added another. “Say a prayer for me,” heckled yet another. All laughed at their prowess and fearlessness to ridicule the sacred symbols of religion. Most had only darkened the doors of the church when their moms forced them to go as young boys. None planned on returning. › Continue reading