Spiritual versus Secular

On the lack of fit between wordly hierarchies and discipleship, by Captain Rick Zelinsky

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n the not so distant past I made a comment that caused a person to question my spirituality, and desire to be filled with the Spirit. I didn’t “desire” to have “all that the Holy Spirit had for me” because I didn’t desire or seek after the gift of tongues. I did offer, “I’m with Paul on this one, and prefer to go after wisdom and discernment.” While desire for tongues was the bottom line, the criticism focused on the fact that I’d rather have people talk to each other in the church than have them speak in tongues. › Continue reading

Pride

Is it really as bad as everyone says? (the sixth in a series of articles on each of the seven deadly sins* to be published on each Friday until Labour Day), by Geoff Ryan

When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bustling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity. (Dale Carnegie)

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ride is a paradox. It is at one and the same time the worst of all the seven deadly sins, the granddaddy of the lot, and yet the only one of the sins that is not immediately and obviously considered bad when mentioned in the same way that envy or greed or lust would be. › Continue reading

Around one common mercy seat

On the contemporary usefulness of a Biblical concept, by Bruce Power

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he mercy seat. This term Salvationists sometimes use translates a biblical term employed infrequently. What is the mercy seat? Can the biblical concept of the mercy seat enhance our use of the symbol? › Continue reading

Lust

Confessions of a Teenage Adulterer (the fifth in a series of articles on each of the seven deadly sins* to be published on each Friday until Labour Day), by Geoff Ryan

“Yes, man lusts but in a way that is different from…primates. Man is not simply a body with added emotional and intellectual capabilities; he is a spirit dwelling in a body. In a truly “natural” man, the spirit rules the body and not vice versa. Perhaps because such men are abnormally hard to find, we tend to mistake what seems normal for what is natural.” (Graham Simon, Yokohama, Japan. “Letters”, Time. September 5, 1994)

“Of all the worldly passions, lust is the most intense. All other worldly passions seem to follow in its train.”
(Buddha – Siddartha Gautama)

“Society drives people crazy with lust and calls it advertising.”
(John Lahr)

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rom the ages of 11 to 16, I lived in London, England because my officer parents had appointments on International Headquarters. At the age of 13, I secured myself a paper route. These things work a little differently in the UK than they do here in Canada. › Continue reading

Holiness Remembered

An officer struggles to reconcile practical everyday living with a Wesleyan notion of holiness, by Grant Sandercock-Brown

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long, long time ago when the Army and its people were young we longed for holiness. We were defined by a deep personal and corporate conviction that the Spirit of God could fill our hearts with ‘love divine’. We knew that we could be a transformed people. And we believed that through this transformation we would do great things for God › Continue reading

Greed

No Rhyme or Reason (the fourth in a series of articles on each of the seven deadly sins* to be published on each Friday until Labour Day), by Geoff Ryan

“Greed is a sin directly against one’s neighbour, since one man cannot over-abound in external riches, without another man lacking.” (Thomas Acquinas).

“Suppose everybody cared enough, everybody shared enough, wouldn’t everybody have enough? There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.” (Frank Buchman: Remaking the World)

“What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

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ere are a few of the more uncomfortable facts and figures comparing the world’s “haves” (us) with the world’s “have-nots” (most of the rest of the world). › Continue reading

Call for Submissions

From the Rubicon Editorial Team…

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hope that you have been checking into theRubicon from time to time?

We really need writers - submissions from all and sundry. We look at school papers, previously published articles and essays, brand new stuff, poetry, letters… we’re not picky with what we will look over (however, we do get a little “pickier” when it comes time to post items - controversy we enjoy, quality we demand). We are happy to provide editing services - reworking what you submit and then sending it back to you for final approval, before it goes live. Whatever you have, whatever shape it is in - we’ll look it over. › Continue reading

Liminals and Emergents in the Contemporary Church

A review of A. J. Roxburgh’s The Sky is Falling: Leaders Lost in Transition* (Allelon, 2005), by Gordon Cotterill

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oxburgh’s book on leadership is worth a read if you find yourself trying to make sense of an alien set of attitudes within church and leader ship, when faced with what he calls ‘discontinous change’.

He suggests that when faced with ‘discontinuous change’ leaders choose one of two responses in order to maintain stability and control. Some ‘attempt to return or recreate the organisation’s prior traditions, habits and way of life’ and others abandon the old and create a new future’. These two alternatives he terms Liminals and Emergents. › Continue reading

Gluttony

“Eat and drink…for tomorrow they die!”(the third in a series of articles on each of the seven deadly sins* to be published on each Friday until Labour Day), by Geoff Ryan

“Wise temperance of the stomach is a door to all virtues. Restrain the stomach, and you will enter Paradise. But if you please and pamper your stomach, you will hurl yourself over the precipice of bodily impurity, into the fire of wrath and fury, you will coarsen and darken your mind, and in this way you will ruin your powers of attention and self-control.” (Ignatius Brianchanov - 19th century, Russian Bishop)

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recently watched the film Super Size Me. It is one of a recent spate of first-person socially conscious documentaries. The hero of the film, producer and director, Morgan Spurlock, tackles obesity in America through the paradigm of fast-food culture, specifically the McDonald’s corporation. After a check up by doctors (who continue to monitor him throughout the experiment) Morgan embarks on a month-long ‘study’ in which he exercises as little as possible and eats all his meals - three times a day - at McDonald’s. › Continue reading

Are We the Church of the Poor?

The body of Christ is more than the sum of its parts. All Christians are called to embrace the marginalized, by Rick Zelinsky

William Booth took Bramwell on a field trip to a local pub and told his son, “These are our people”

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ecently I had coffee with a local pastor and the topic turned to Salvation Army ministry. According to him, we are the church that takes care of the poor. I wasn’t sure if I should warn him about my strong convictions on this topic. › Continue reading