mustard seeds

Testing

Lawrence — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:38:17 +0000

Testing to see if the new theme works

light candle to raise money for aids research

Lawrence — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 13:58:50 +0000

Until 31 December, Bristol-Myers is donating $1 to AIDS research every time someone goes to their website and lights a virtual candle. Go on - light your candle! It’s something you can do.

advent diary of a destitute asylum seeker

Lawrence — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 13:49:47 +0000

Norbert is a “refused asylum seeker”, living in Wales. He is dstitute, living on the streets. Church Action on Poverty is hosting his daily advent diary on their website. It’s not a uniformly gloomy story - there are some great moments of extradordinary meetings, friendships and colour. But it’s real - and it’s happening now. Read it - and pass the news on.

what are you reading?

Lawrence — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:10:14 +0000

This is my current “read”. It’s good! What’s most interesting about it is the stir that McLaren has caused among the conservative evangelicals who can’t fault his emphasis on grace, but are deeply uneasy at his refusal to inhabit a particular “position”. One subtext among his critics is that he’s too gracious! He blurs boundaries and refuses to be sufficiently judgemental (in their view) about other positions and opinions. The book belongs within the sort of ructions caused by Steve Chalke’s criticisms of penal substitution.

McLaren is a postevangelical. Insofar as I would consider myself defintely post - and postevangelical rather than postliberal - what rings bells with me is the stress on passionate faith, personal encounter with God but the conviction that God doesn’t actually go in for the big, safe, theological systems that we’re far happier inhabiting. For those of us with a Reformed heritage, “system” is strongly characteristic of our theology! Yet Brian isn’t a “system” theologian - which is not to say that he isn’t systematic! It’ a good read - mischievous, deliberately provocative, tiresomely self-conscious, ironic, passionate and faithful. I like what he’s saying - but mainly because he agrees with me! Yet here’s the thing: he has a way of seeing faith andf the missionary and evangelical tasks in ways that will communicate with the millions of people for whom Church as they have known it just doesn’t scratch where they itch.

Here’s another good book that’s on my bedside table at the moment. It’s the Archbishop’sofficial 2006 Lentbook (so what’s it doing on my bedside table, rather than his???). Miroslav Volf is the Henry B Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School. He’s a Yugoslavian.

It’s a great read. There’s much that echoes Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace? He sees western culture as graceless, and suggests that what we need is to relearn giving andf forgiving. Intensely personal and magnificently readable, it would be a good book to have as a discussion basis for a Church group.

what’s a vision?

Lawrence — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 02:22:00 +0000

What’s the difference between a vision, wish-fulfilment, blind optimism, hallucination and derangement? I ask because I’ve run “vision days” for churches in which I know what they’ll come up with: a church full of children, with people dropping in and wanting to join, full rotas, full bible study and prayer meetings … in other words, “Bring back the glory days!” And why is that wrong - if it’s wrong? I think it is. I think that is a case of nostaligia and wish-fulfilment. It’s driven by an inability to cope with the radical changes in society that have seen the Christian Church plummet not only in public affection but in the sense that the Church matters or is valuable. What most church people can’t cope with is that the Church has simply become irrelevant. Oh - and the other thing that makes me doubt it’s a vision is that I know exactly what they’ll come up with beforehand! There’s nothing new, surprising or difficult about it.
So what makes a vision a vision? It seems to me that it is about new possibilities under God. Now of course, that opens up the sense that anything is possible - cos it’s God we’re dealing with! But vision is not the same as “blue sky thinking”. We don’t start with a blank sheet of paper. We start with a particular group of people within a particular context. A vision, then, has to do with possibilities for us - for the people we are. If we’re all over 70, it’s no good having a vision of us starting an enormously successful “camp for Jesus” campaign by having a week’s retreat on a snow-capped mountain! A vision takes account of our limitations. The possiblities that we discover under God may be deeply surprising - but they won’t be outlandish.

For instance, we can’t have a vision of the URC suddenly becoming an Emerging Church. It ain’t gonna happen! People who have been Christians and church members most of their lives aren’t going to be turned on by new, very different forms of worship and spirituality. But the URC might become a place that facilitates emerging forms of church - that funds, resources, encourages and nurtures them. That’s one thing I hope and pray for, anyway.

So what are the possibilities for the URC - or indeed, any mainline churches?

infectious visions

Lawrence — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 00:17:15 +0000

If you had one vision - just one - with which you’d like to infect the church, what would it be? A group of us are meeting at the Windermere Centre from Monday 20 November - Thursday 23 November to brainstorm our vision for the United Reformed Church. We’re doing it in the conviction that the URC has reached a kairos. We’ve got to get this right now, because if we miss the boat this time, there ain’t gonna be a next time. It’ll be an exciting and important time.

The point is that we can’t carry on as we are. If we do, we will simply die - quite literally of old age! We’ll be about half the size we are now in 5 years’ time. It’s noticeable, too, that with an ageing church comes associated issues about energy, physical abilities and capacities for communicating across the gap between church and non-church people.

That’s what we will be doing. So what’s your vision for the church?

urc blogring!

Lawrence — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:10:01 +0000

URC in blogging cybersapce! There are more and more of us. I come across them by accident (as well as design). I’m keen to link us all together to share information and common journeys, so I’ve established a blogring - URC Bloggers. The joining form is at the bottom of the sidebar. If you’re a URC member, and maintain a blog, come and join.

lost innocence - remembrance day 2006

Lawrence — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 14:41:48 +0000

I don’t do Remembrance Day very well. It’s a good thing in principle - an opportunity to remember those who have given their lives on behalf of their country. It’s difficult, though, for those who fought - it stirs up memories of events as well as people. For me, it brings back memories of events and friends who died in a self-serving, grubby defence of colonial robbery on a pretty grand scale!

That’s the story of Rhodesia - and now Zimbabwe. Land grab. Scene 1 is Cecil Rhodes, with his dream of painting Africa red (the colour of the British Empire) from Cape to Cairo. Imagine that - “Let’s own Africa!” Imagine being an ordinary black Zimbabwean. One day a group of white people arrive from a place you didn’t even know existed, heavily armed. They take your land and build a magnificent country (and Rhodesia was magnificent) - a country, though, in which your job is to live as a servant.

Scene 2 - enter Ian Smith. He comes to power in 1963 on a platform of “no racial integration” at a time when Britain is divesting itself of its colonies because they’ve become too politically expensive. This is as much of a land grab as Mugabe’s. It’s no less ruthlessly defended. The only difference is that it’s justified by efficiency - a strong economy, with phones that work and trains that run on time. But it’s robbery. And my generation is sent by my government, my parents and my church to kill and die for it. We’re to preserve Rhodesia for the whites at all costs.

That’s not what we’re told, of course! We’re told we’re fighting to preserve Christian democratic civilisation against the southward march of global, godless Communist expansionism. And so we go to war - bravely, brightly and sacrificially. We give our lives - and our futures. We grow old at 19 - old in things that no human being should have to grow old in. We grow old in memories that haunt those of us who survive - memories that resurface every 11 November.

I survived. I “did my bit”. And they gave me a medal - not for bravery, but simply to remind (as if I could ever forget) that I was there and part of it all. A medal - or an accusation? After all, look whose face is on it: Cecil John Rhodes!

cool photoblog plugin!

Lawrence — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 22:39:46 +0000

I came across a widget that turns your wordpress blog into a photoblog. It’s been developed by Johannes Jarolim and you can get hit from his site here. Not only has he developed it - he has a forum for users. And, ublike many forum owners, Johannes answers inane questions tirelessly, promptly and with good humour! Here’s what the plugin does:

- A non invasive WP-plugin that converts wp into a easy useable photoblog system
- Easy image upload - All wordpress post-features can be used
- On the fly thumbnail generation - Use multiple thumbnail sizes where and when you need them: Â Â Â Â Thumbnail generation gets controlled from the template.
- EXIF data processing and output
- Self-learning EXIF filter - Your own cameras tags can be selected to be viewed.
- Full i18n-Support through gnutext mo/po files
- Ping additional update-service-sites when posting a photoblog entry.
- Nearly every WP-theme can become a photoblog in virtually no time.

new urc blog on the block

Lawrence — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 01:34:39 +0000

Mike Walsh has started blogging. His blog, the unlikely evangelist, is well worth a visit. He’s doing some important things with bible study. Go take a look and leave a comment.