Today has been something of a busy day! Whilst the alarm went off at the usual time I was on a train before 8:00am up to London for the Incarnate conference at the William Booth College. I was only booked in for the one day, but now wish that I was able to go for the next two days. Unfortunately it won’t be possible as I have other commitments this week. Still the time that I spent there was great and has given me a lot of food for thought, even though I only managed one full session.
It was also great to catch up with some old friends, some going back the best part of 20 years, as well as meeting a couple of people that I’ve only met through my online activities.
The reason my time at the college was so short was that I had to get down to Southern DHQ before 5:00pm for a Candidates Interview, along with Zoe. This was the final one before our Assessment Conference, which is scheduled for the last weekend of March. It seemed to go very well and it was great to get a sound endorsement by both the Divisional Commander and our Support Officer.
… is what I was thinking as I headed out of the house at just before 7:30 this morning. You see Abigail is sick and spent most of the night in with Zoe and I taking up a ridiculous amount of bed for a 9 month old baby! She’s wheezing and coughing and crying and is generally feeling lousy, which isn’t very easy for her to understand. After maybe a maximum of 4 hours sleep, split into several segments, the alarm went off and I dragged my uniform on in a semi-comatose state.
As I walked down the hill from the area we live to our hall in the town centre, I was fortunate enough to see a gloriously red sky with the clouds being painted by the not long risen sun. The beauty of it started to burn away the fog that had collected in my head.
The reason I was up and out to the hall so early this morning was actually because today we hosted an Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast. Whilst the numbers there were relatively few, just 13 of us, we could count several different denominations, plus a Sister from the local convent. After spending fellowship together, I can honestly say that it was a real privilege to lead this group as we dedicated the rest of the time to praying into situations here in the town.
It was only as I was waiting for a family to arrive for a later meeting that I realised that all the tiredness I had felt as I started off down the hill this morning had fled. Time in the presence of God refreshes us in ways that we can’t begin to understand!
It was a couple of months ago that I picked up a book by Bishop Graham Cray called Disciples and Citizens. Having in the past worked for what was then called the Movement for Christian Democracy and having a considerable interest in how Christians can impact politics for the good, there was something about the book that piqued my curiosity and made me take it off the shelf. The blurb on the back says:
Many of us find integrated, whole life discipleship very difficult. It is easier to live, not so much a double life as a dualistic one, where faith is a personal matter with little impact on work and other spheres of life.
Graham Cray shows that there are profound gospel reasons for taking seriously both our national life and our call to be Christian citizens. A nation’s social health is a matter of Christian action and concern because it matters to God.
So far I’ve read the first two chapters and I’ve not been disappointed. There are various highlighted passages so far, but the following stood:
…God’s kingdom is his reign over all things which cannot be limited to his inner reign in the hearts of those who believe. ‘Neither in Judaism nor elsewhere in the New Testament do we find that the reign of God is something indwelling in men, to be found, say, in the heart; such a spiritualistic understanding is ruled out both for Jesus and for early Christian tradition.’
Of particular importance is this idea that we need to get away from a dualistic faith, which creates a division between our church persona and our ‘real-life’ one. Its that Christian Schwarz of Natural Church Development fame calls ‘radical balance’ where our lives don’t sink down to some sort of lowest common denominator in each area, but instead strives to achieve the highest Christian standards in all areas of our lives. Only this sort of attitude will see Christians being lights in the darkness of this world.
Joe Noland (see Slightly Irregular links to the right) highlighted an interesting article dating back to 2000 which he recommends as important reading for “every discerning Christian leader”.
On my Assessment Conference last year I had to read the first chapter of Eddie Gibbs’ collaboration Ian Coffey, ‘Church Next’. Having read that 1 chapter I’m not surprised that Gibbs used his installation speech as Chair of Church Growth to send a challenging message to the Church about changing the way we think about Church Growth!
Earlier today I received an e-mail giving information about a new BBC Drama that will be aired during Holy Week: The Passion.
It’s going to tell the story of Jesus’ last week from the perspective of Jesus and the disciples, the Romans, & the religious authorities. The cast seems to be high quality and the press release I got says that the Director of the Churches’ Media Council was “profoundly moved” by the early versions of the series.
There’s already a website that has been set up by the Council which is well worth a visit.
I’ve got to say this is something that is exciting me as an opportunity to talk about the events of Holy Week and its bound to spark many conversations that will lead to people getting saved and becoming disciples!
Over the last couple of days I’ve been listening to an interview between Shane Claiborne and Krista Tippett that I downloaded from the American Public Media section of iTunesU. It’s well worth downloading if you get a chance as Claiborne is truly inspiring in the outworking of his faith.
The interview is full of sections that would be great to quote but the one that struck me most was something that Claiborne attributed to Mother Theresa:
In the poor we see Jesus in his most distressing disguises!
Whilst still listening a thought immediately popped into my head:
… and far too often we turn our faces away from him.
Why, despite everything that the Bible says about God’s particular regard for the poor, do so many of us find it difficult to put our belief into practice when it comes to this particular area?
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