Deeper shade of grey | Faith House 4

Who has seen Christ?

“I’ve tried churches before, we sing songs and then no-one wants to know you afterwards…”

“That’s a shame Tyronne…”

I’m talking to Tyronne who has opened up to me about how his faith was shot through and how Faith House over three years has been there for him.

“I used to come for the free handouts“, Tyronne continues, “not now, this ….” he looks around at a room of assorted humanity “… is my church, my family, there is something special here…“.

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What I am in the church?

Vadim Hurin looks at how we do church

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hen was the last time you were in church?  Perhaps it was just recently, or maybe a lot of time has passed.  For some, attending church meetings is a valued tradition; yet for others, it is mere formality. Different people have various reasons for coming to church.  In principle, it is not so difficult to answer the question: “Why am I coming to the church?”

But another question is not that simple; it makes us look beyond standard answers and accepted clichés.  And this question is, “What am I for in the church?”  Me personally, and not anybody else?  Not my neighbor on the right, not a friend from small group or choir, but me.  Me as a father, me as a son or a friend.  Worker or unemployed, nervous or aloof.  We are all used as church members, brothers and sisters, deacons and priests, singers in the choir and Sunday school teachers.  All these services and roles are good.  But we are more than our social names and designations.  We are different, and each one has individual gifts, skills, character, strengths and weaknesses, sins.  That is all we are.

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Ragamuffin: great awakening

… a broad social agenda

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e heard Jim Wallis at the USA National Pastors Convention in San Diego in February. He has a heart for justice issues. He was there promoting his new book. He has been a controversial voice for social justice since his early-’70s days. But, he says “There is a Religious Left in this country, and I’m not a part of it.” His newest book is called, The Great Awakening. He says that theologically conservative evangelicals (especially young ones) are flocking to his message and are “deserting the Religious Right in droves” because it attempted to “restrict the language of ‘moral values’ to just two issues — abortion and gay marriage.”

“For years I have been called a progressive evangelical, but people said that was a misnomer,” says Wallis, who turns 60 in June. “The misnomer is becoming a movement.”

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Thinkaloud | Earth Day bandwagon

… the old heresies will not do

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hristians should beware of embracing any plans and great schemes to save the planet, which do not have their roots in biblical faith. Much earnest prayer for spiritual discernment needs to be made before believers in Jesus Christ as Lord jump on environmental bandwagons. This is not to say that concerns at the assaults on our increasingly fragile world should not be taken seriously. It is to assert, rather, that there is possibility of great spiritual deception through many questionable ideas that have become attached to the noble and worthwhile cause of making the world a better place.

A case in point is Earth Day, which was welcomed uncritically by millions of people around the world. A careful reading of the literature as well as media reports generated by this celebratory event reveal an astonishing alignment with New Age thinking and concepts of spirituality. The old paganism, the fertility rituals, the worship of the elements, the occult mantras and similar expressions of non-biblical approaches to spirituality were dominant. This was, in many ways, a return to the old Nordic paganism of earth worship.

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Double~take | fitness

… limping spiritually

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went to the physiotherapist this week, after knee surgery three weeks ago. “Lift your leg, and hold for ten seconds. Make sure you keep your foot straight, and your quads tensed…”

“Do three sets of 15 lunges… make sure your hips don’t twist, keep your knee and foot in line, make sure your knee is moving straight up and down and keep your quads and gluteus maximus tensed…”

The list continues. Fiddly exercises, where I have to look at three different things all at once to make sure this is straight and that’s not twisting.

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Vox populi | moving officers

How would you mobilize our Army?

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am not getting moved today.  Oh, I’m sure Hillary Clinton will say something that I will find moving, but I mean in the sense The Salvation Army is not moving me today.  It is appointment day in the Canada and Bermuda Territory.  Some people will be thrilled their officers are moving while others will be devastated by the news.  Some officers will be surprised at their move while others will be thrilled, and some will looked surprised while being secretly thrilled by the news.

In our territory there is a consultation process with officers, consultation in the sense a discussion about a possible move would take place with an officer while in other territories a consultation between officers, the congregation and DHQ takes place long before the move is made.

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The real world

Areopagus #35

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t wasn’t a reality TV show episode when Capt. Jay Davis recently appeared at Asbury College, in Kentucky, USA. During the chapel presentation he outlined the three things the world needs for real… not for the tube. The real world needs learners, leaders and lovers. In clear teaching Jay unpacks each need and tells us how we can be people who will go out into the world and be change agents for good and for God.

Find out more in this 15:35 Areopagus episode from Ragamuffin, theRubicon’s Monday columnist. Click on the arrow below, visit the Areopagus podcast widget in the right sidebar or download the talk from the Areopagus podcast on iTunes.

Shade of grey | Booth on mission

How did this dualistic sense of mission creep back in?

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stumbled across an interesting article from 1889 written by William Booth; called Salvation for Both Worlds, William Booth charts an interesting journey. Booth acknowledges an initial, seemingly straight-forward and unsurprising theology that reflects a familiar understanding of salvation, from which there should be no distraction. ‘Temporal modification’ was in his mind ‘trivial, almost contemptible.’

“What were the sorrows of earth when compared with everlasting damnation? Their temporary comfort or discomfort was as to nothing compared with the business of their rescue.”

Booth goes on to outline how he became increasing impacted by the brokenness of society and the ‘earthly miseries’ he saw around him - but seeing no remedy, Booths’ concept of mission remained concise and to the point “if we cannot save them for time, we will save them for eternity”.

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The Bible says…

Homophobia isn’t in the Bible says Jason Davies-Kildea

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ome thoughts on using the Bible to maintain prejudice…

I love the Bible. I know how that sounds, but it’s true. In the first couple of years after I became a Christian, I read the Bible from cover to cover three times and the New Testament an extra four times for good measure.  I’m now quite a few years older, have studied the scriptures formally at a post-graduate level (in Greek and Hebrew) and I still immerse myself in the Bible for hours every week.

So, although I know that I shouldn’t, I can’t help but be somewhat annoyed when people try to tell me what ‘the Bible says’ - particularly when it’s to try and bolster their own prejudices.

Unfortunately, our holy scriptures have been used in this degrading way for centuries. The crusaders used them to justify violence against Muslims. The Bible was quoted to justify ‘divinely-appointed’ slavery for black people only a few decades ago.  Scripture is still used in many churches to keep women subordinate to men and to justify discrimination and vilification against gay and lesbian people.

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Ragamuffin: stop the violence

Words still needed after 40 years 

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ecently my lovely wife, Sally, and I watched the movie Bobby. It deals with history of Robert Kennedy. In Chicago we have been having some sad situations dealing with violence. Black on black shootings. Bullets going through walls hitting innocent children. It seems to be on the rise. It seems to be on the news every night - each day brings new violence. Here is the following long quote from Robert Kennedy that sadly still applies today…

Stop The Violence:

The victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed….

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