gone live on the lectionary!

I'm ahead of my schedule, which is unusual enough to make video of the event and seal it in a time capsule, let alone simply diarise! My disclosing new worlds blog has gone live, with reflections on the texts for 11 September rather than the first week in October. I'd be grateful for any and all critical comments, please. I want to know whether it's worth the time, and that depends on how effective a resource it proves to be!

a postmodern, neo-orthodox welseyan

Well, I just took the quiz to find out what my theology's like (thanks for the tip, homileo) and discovered that I'm clearly postmodern, alienated from the institutional church, strongly neo-orthodox and pretty welseyan! Only an 18% reformed evangelical. So what am I doing with myself? Working for the United Reformed Church! Actually, I'd say my spirituality rather than my theology is wesleyan/catholic/not reformed. My theology is pretty much neo-orthodox, postmodern reformed (aren't labels fun???? NOT!). Actually, the most satisfactory label I've ever really been prepared to wear is a South African one – radical evangelical. These are people who believe in the vital importance of a personal relationship with God through Christ, and who are pretty well thorough-going liberation theologians. Here are my results:

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

Emergent/Postmodern 96% Neo orthodox 82% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Roman Catholic 61% Charismatic/Pentecostal 57% Classical Liberal 50% Modern Liberal 32% Reformed Evangelical 18% Fundamentalist 4% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

disclosing new worlds

I've started my new blog, disclosing new worlds. Its purpose is to be a resource for ministers and preachers, with a weekly reflection on the lectionary readings. I also want to build up a library of prayers, worship resources and images, so any contributions are more than welcome! If you go to the section on the art of preaching, you'll find the first of a series of essays on preaching entitled dissonance and disturbance – journeying outside the comfort zone, reflecting my conviction that one of the primary and early tasks of a sermon is to jolt people out of their comfort zone to engage and disturb them. In so doing, we create space for God to break into our self-enclosed and self-constructed world and show us the new world of the Gospel. I'd be interested in your comments and criticisms.

different gospels, different christs

One of the most disturbing lessons I had to learn was that there is no one Gospel that is preached and believed by all Christians. Nor is there just one Jesus. There are all sorts of Jesuses – competing Christs. Christs in opposition to one another. I learned that in the South African context. I see it most clearly today in the conflict in Israel/Palestine. My son is out there at the moment (returning imminently) and has had the same shock I had when making this same discovery. I reflect on that in my article for the Carver Calendar this month, entitled When gospels collide.

so why aren’t we all on skype?

Skype’s the way that the whole world can talk for free – or at least, the online world! It turns your computer into a telephone, and the quality is superb! I was talking to the minister from Australia who’s coming to Carver Church on an exchange, and we could hear each other as clear as a bell. Much better than my home phone. And of course, it’s free. So why aren’t we all downloading it? It’s a great way to follow up some conversations. Go to skype and download the software. Then go to “share skype” and you’ll find buttons for your blog (you’ll see mine on the sidebar). Go on – what’s to lose?

if I were you, I wouldn’t start from here

If you're thinking of starting your own blog, I wouldn't start here! Mandy put me on to blogSpirit, a site that, like Blogger, gives you free blogging facilities. Unlike Blogger, it's fully featured. For a start, the interface for editing is far, far more user-friendly. You don't have to play with html coding and templates unless you want to do things like add banners etc (in which case, all the things you've learned through Blogger will be of great help!). You can create categories, allowing you to save your posts under different subject headings. You can add music and books (put in the ISBN number and you get an image of the book from Amazon). You can also put photo albums on the site, with a delightful slideshow feature. Basically, you get all the sorts of features that you'll usually have to go to a hosted provider like TypePad for – and all for free! One natty feature is that you can put a link on your site to another blog, and if you fill in their RSS feed URL (ie for syndication), people can read their blog without leaving your site.

I'm in the throes of constructing a blog there on reflections on the lectionary. I was asked some time ago if I'd do that for URC ministers and lay preachers, so I'm getting round to it now. It's called disclosing new worlds. It's very much under construction, but if you want to have a look at what blogSpirit offers, you're welcome to have a look. I'd welcome comments and suggestions, anyway!

for what it’s worth …

I wrote this as a responsive prayer of adoration and confession, leaving a short silence after each response before beginning the next petition. Fell free …

Our Father in heaven
Come and meet with your children.
Hallowed be your name.
You alone are worthy of our praise and worship.
Your Kingdom come; your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Open our eyes and hearts to your world!
Give us today our daily bread
Nourish our faith as you have nourished our bodies with good things.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Renew us. Restore us. Release us as we release those who have hurt us.
Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil
Lead us to your green pastures and still waters. Restore our souls.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever.
Amen.

read this and be very, very afraid …

Go and look at this page, called The American Taliban. It's a page of quotes from prominent Americans. A number of them are church leaders. Others are politicians, serving in the Bush Administration.

Take James Watt, Secretary for the Interior. He says, "We don't have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand." Way to go, James! So the Church is released from its mandate under the 5th Mark of Mission to preserve the environment!

How about George Bush snr: "I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." One neation, George? Not if you can help it! And which God? Not mine!

But some of the really chilling stuff is about an appropriate Christian response to terrorism. Now I've always bought into the notion that, if women ran the world – particularly mothers – we'd probably have no war. And of course, if they were all Christian mothers, well, that would clinch it! Ann Coulter, a prominent Christian mother who is an attorney, a syndicated columnist and author who would like to run the world, has shown me the error of my ways:

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

"Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims."

"Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity, as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of 'kill everyone who doesn't smell bad and doesn't answer to the name Mohammed'"

So is Tony planning to bar all these people from entering Britain too because of preaching racial hatred? And will rightwing foreign Christians also face deportation? Or is it only if you happen to be Muslim?

rock & redemption

Some of the most suggestive and creative theology is to be found outside religious texts. It's certainly where some of the most insightful and surprisingly rich reflections can be found. Those of us whose professional tools include the Bible and the tradition need to recognise that our theological imaginations are shaped and limited by these tools. That isn't to say anything bad or critical – it is to acknowledge reality. We look through a lens which has been polished by the medium in which we work. Musicians look through a different lens. Theirs is the lens of lyrics, the symbol systems of musical traditions, rhythms, sound, cadence and rhyme. And it colours their theology. That's why find the theology in certain songs to be far more exciting and creative than much of the very worthy stuff I read in theological text books. It's not usually the content so much as the vehicle. There are startling things to be discovered.I reckon few do it better than the (not-very-holy) trinity of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen. That's why I'm running a course at the Windermere Centre on Rock & Redemption (21-24 November). It's an opportunity to do some very serious theological exploration – but also to listen to some good music on the way. I'm not doing it alone.I'll do 3 sessions on Cohen's music. It will be a straightforward case of using songs as an entry into theological areas. So we will look at brokenness & grace ("Anthem"), sex & sacramentality ("Hallelujah") and kingdom & eschatology ("Democracy"). Peter Noble, Moderator of the URC Wales Synod, is looking at Springsteen as a way of exploring the gospel and evangelism. He will look at Bruce's treatment of the American Dream (see my post "The Boss & Gethsemane") as an example of how to understand the gospel and evangelism. He will look at the construction of a redemption narrative which first of all exposes and confronts the present "bad news" prophetically, moves through the evocation of an alternative reality of promise (Hope & Dreams?) and then to a summons to discipleship. It yields an understanding of gospel and evangelism that is prophetic and passionate but not pietistic. It is radically communal rather than individualistic, yet utterly self-involving.Lance Stone, former lecturer at Westminster College, Cambridge, and soon-to-be minister of Emmanuel URC, Cambridge, is looking at Dylan's music as providing an interesting window in the nature and function of the Bible in preaching and faith. Taking some of Brueggemann's insights into post modern, postliberal views of the Bible, Lance sees the open-endedness of Dylan's lyrics and their ever-retranslatable quality as an important parallel to understanding the Bible's function. Because the songs never allow closure, their meaning can never be frozen buit is always able to open new vistas in a different time and place.So if you want to do some serious theology, or if you like the music, or the Lake District, you can't go far wrong. If all three of those are your "thing", you can't fail. Meatloaf was right when he said that "Two out of three ain't bad"), but I reckon any one thing on its own will be a good enough reason to be here! So download the Booking Form and get registered while there are still spaces …

stop the wall!

Homileo pointed me to a photo album of the apartheid wall being erected by the Israelis to seal in Palestinians (yes, I know they claim it's to keep out suicide bombers, but they use it to exclude Palestinians from Israeli territory, regardless of how long they've lived there. I spoke to a Palestinain who found himself and his family on the wrong side of the wall. His business was in Jerusalem, and he can no longer get there. He can't enter the city. Jerusalemites pay high taxes, but get significant privileges as a result. These Palestinians had been cut off from their livelihoods, but still had to pay Jerusalem taxes! Of course, they'll have to sell up and move away. And the only people who'll buy their houses are Israelis's – for a peppercorn price!). Standing in Abu Dis, which cuts that village in half, at the foot of the wall is an incredible experience. Literally unbelievable! A nation that is founded on the memory of the Holocaust and the Warsaw ghetto is creating just such a ghetto in its own borders.

I have become uncomfortably aware of how crucial to a gospel witness opposition to the Wall is. In 2003 American Christians gave the Israeli government $65 million towards its settlement programme. It gave them that money to deprive Christian Palestinians (among others) of their lands and livelihoods! The Christian Right has poured billions into Israel in support of their land grab policies. A combination of the OT texts about land and guilt over the Holocaust has led to an uncritical, vociferous and deadly support for Israeli oppression and terrorism in the occupied territories. What sort of witness is this? Are Palestinians to believe that the God we see in Jesus Christ sanctions this sort of oppression? Christians there are losing their faith. And the Muslims see Christianity as synonymous with American expansionism and anti-Arab policies.

When support for Israel is so loudly and effectively being proclaimed as the gospel, it is incumbent on the Church to preach the Truth, live the Truth and do the Truth! This isn't about particular political dispositions. It is about what the Truth of the God revealed in Christ means today in Palestine.

Go to http://www.stopthewall.org/ – it's a good website.