see-through faith

This isn’t my photo, so am only providing a link to it here. This art work (Probably by Banksy -and a more recent photo shows it now under a perspex/glass protection) really does make me think

All round the UK bunting and union flags are starting to be used to decorate the villages and town centres … to celebrate both the Diamond Jubilee (in June) and the Olympic torch relay which has already started and will culminate in the opening ceremony in London’s East End (in July). But something that perhaps should be of more concern is where the bunting and union flags come from, and the conditions under which they have been made.

Just before Christmas I was blessed to visit Liverpool – my first proper visit ever. I was shocked to learn that Liverpool was founded on the wealth of the sugar plantations and the slave trade. Today there is still slavery – and sometimes the cheap imports in shops such as the one Banksy did this art work – are guilty of selling products made under inhumane conditions just so we can buy cheap. (That said there is also evidence of expensive branded products being produced in equally slave-like conditions)

Much to think about.
Much to act upon ….

It’s the end of yet another phase in my life … another chance at a ‘new’ beginning or a returning depending on your viewpoint. At the end of June I’m heading back home to Finland after an academic year here in the UK. I have mixed feelings. Transition isn’t bad – but the not knowing what next is.

I get an automatic update from MINemergent every now and then. Today’s was entitled Going home. Totally out of context of course, but here’s the chorus. It spoke to me.

Going home

Without my sorrow

Going home

Sometime tomorrow

To where it’s better

Than before

Going home

Without my burden

Going home

Behind the curtain

Going home

Without the costume

That I wore

PS the time on Linsfarne was wonderful. Photos here

I’m leaving my laptop behind.

Let’s see what God shows me ….

Back in a week.

Who?

Athanasius … it was his feast day earlier this week and I joked with my friend over at MyPatch that he was probably a heretic. And now – quite unexpectedly – I’m challenged to find out more …

Here’s what CS Lewis said about Athanasius work On the Incarnation.

When I first opened [On the Incarnation] I discovered by a very simple test that
I was reading a masterpiece, for only a mastermind could have written so deeply on
such a subject with such classical simplicity.

I don’t know about you but that makes me want to read it. It’s available as a free download from Renovare here.

If you want to join me in reading it, that would be fabulous. Let’s try to have it read by May 15th  (that’s approximately a chapter a day. I am on retreat and so have put it on my kindle – from amazon for 77p!). Renovare posts some study questions at the end of the online booklet (link above). These can help guide our thinking. I’m putting the first one here to get us started.

Which heresy that Athanasius takes on do you think is most present today? The
Arian idea that Jesus was subordinate to God, the Platonic idea that God created
the earth from preexisting matter, or the Epicurean idea that no Mind was behind
creation?

Also ask yourself, why is this important at all today? Why does Renovare think this is one of the 25 books Christians today ought to read. What does it say to you?

Helpfulness is the best resort for anti-socially minded persons.

There’s an element of truth in that for me. As an undegrad many moons ago, you’d have been more likely to find me in the kitchen serving, than in the midst of the hub of the party.

Wondering what this means in the context of church and mission though. Helpfulness IS a gift from God, the mission of God requires an attitude of servanthood … but do we use our helpfulness (often behind the scenes) as a cover up for being anti-social. And is that one reason that it’s easy to go to church, serve in church, but so much harder to be – and become – a body of people sold out on Jesus and reaching OUT to those we would otherwise happily avoid or serve rather than engage with.

I wonder ….

PS this quote is taken from an interesting debut novel by Sophie Cooke, called The Glass House.  (p. 177) Nothing churchy about it, but a book that lead to a lot of questions.

I think I might have found the lens through which to start looking at Christian Formation for my PhD

The Renovare  Leadership (including Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Phyllis Tickle, Chris Webb, and a diverse editorial board of leaders) have come up with a list of 25 books,every Chistian should read.

Missional Musings asks

is small always beautiful?

It’s written on the back of the spate of closure of small, uneconomically viable Methodist chapels here in the UK, and the drive towards smaller units -think cell church, cell groups – within larger churches.

I like what’s written.
My 2c worth is that small groups are very fashionable, and it’s easy to meet with like-minded people that we want to be in relationship with – but unless that meeting point is a) truly a place of accountability and b)brings being mission-mindedness to the table it will fail in our own Christian formation making, and  we will fail to make disciples. The small groups need to be linked together and networking and sharing spiritual resources and giftings if meeting the small group is to be an effective tool for mission.

You can read is small always beautiful here

This weekend I was privileged to be part of an Inspire retreat for Christian leaders, called Longing for God.

I could write loads about this (and probably will) but the number one revelation I got from this weekend was the revelation that when we say we want to be more like Jesus, all too often we might mean things like we want to do things that Jesus did, say things that Jesus said, or even feel the things that Jesus felt .. but actually what is really, really needed – the core of it all – is to want the same relationship with God as Jesus had.

If that’s our starting point, spirituality looks very different doesn’t it?

My PhD is a bit stuck right now -so I thought I’d do a bit of novel reading instead. It doesn’t get the PhD going but it does stop me staring at blank walls and fretting or watching mindless stuff on the beeb!

This is the book I chose (from a range of books gathered during the year from charity shops and secondhand church stalls)

Sister: you’re missing I’m coming to find you by Rosamund Lupton. I really liked it.

This is what the Radio Times had to say about it

This superb debut novel has so many twists and turns as to cause dizziness — it’s the literary equivalent of ‘scream if you want to go faster’ — and just when you think things are slowing down to a peaceful, settled resolution, there’s one more stomach-churning final turn in store

Debut novels aren’t always the best (there are exceptions of course, it’s hard to believe that Harper Lee could ever have improved on To Kill a Mocking Bird, and perhaps that’s why she never tried, and I think JK Rowling’s early Harry Potters were tighter without a superfluous word – though of course with fewer characters and a less complex plot); nonetheless Rosamund Lupton’s novel does the job superbly. There are twists and turns, and the climax is unexpected … but I am not sure that’s what makes it so good.  What is really good is the self-awareness of the main character Beatrice and the careful exposure of what her sister’s life – and death – means to her as a person.

The twist at the end is a real sting … I think I started to get an inkling of it only in the last few pages!

As an aside, Sister  was published in 2010. It’s set in a very snowy London and I found myself smiling as I remembered that after almost twenty snow free years in London in 2007 there was plenty and it caused great winter chaos.  What’s more in Dec 2009 I got the last plane out to Finland before Gatwick airport closed for three days! England still struggles and we’ve had a few days here this winter when things have more or less come to a standstill.

In today’s Sunday Times India Knight writes of children’s beauty pagents and concludes ‘It’s not a million miles away from abuse, and I can’t believe it still goes on.’

These Princess parades are light years away from the village fete/county fair’s bonniest baby contests (photographs) and according to Knight the Miss Mini Princess UK title was won by a 3 year old wearing eyeshadow, lipstick and mascara – and dressed in ‘a bikini-style two-piece’ with heels. That’s a far cry from dressing up (which I think almost all kids enjoy) to posing in front of judges and cameras isn’t it? I think so.

Knight asks the provocative question

The little children stand there half-clothed, simpering. To whom do their parents think the look appeals, exactly?

At a time when, again according to Knight, ‘politicians are grappling with the question of s-xualisation of our culture, of young women’s growing problems with self esteem, eating disorders, loathing their own bodies and so on’ isn’t it time that this abusive practice was stopped? Honestly, if we have to have beauty pageants – and I’m not sure we do- at least restrict entry to those who have reached the voting age, and who can determine for themselves whether this is something they really do want to do (or not).

(The Sunday Times is available on-line by subscription here)