Coffee Theology

I'm still in the Christmas zone where it's okay to sit on the sofa, watch films and eat junk food all day.  Yesterday evening we sat down to watch one of our favourite films on the TV (even though we have the DVD and could watch it any time we wanted, and frequently do).  I saw The Bourne Identity for the first time only a couple of years ago and it became an instant favourite.  I like action films; I grew up with a brother who was better than I at wresting control of the remote.  But I'm discerning - I won't just watch anything with guns and car chases.  The  Bourne trilogy combines a very strong plot, script and soundtrack with fascinating psychological elements.  While the first film is probably a fail on the aforementioned Bechdel test, I'll forgive it that because Marie is a resourceful and less than stereotypical love interest, and the second and third films have Pamela Landy, my favourite example of a strong female character who is strongly femi...

So yes, I've been living under a rock for the last year and hadn't seen Frozen until we watched it as a family on Boxing Day.  It was great to find out what this movie phenomenon was all about.  I have to say, I was really impressed.  Quite apart from the fact that the script is funny, the characters loveable and the music really gets in your head, it sends lots of really good messages to young women. Their eyes might be huge and their waists impossibly tiny, but the heroines of the film, Anna and Elsa, are not your typical Disney princesses.  I particularly like the moment when Anna wakes up with her hair in a mess and dribble on her cheek.  She does fall in love (twice), but the love interests are not central to the plot of the film.  The central love relationship is between the two sisters who are estranged because of Elsa's magic powers. The most interesting moment occurs at the climax of the film when (SPOILER ALERT) Anna is trying to find the man sh...

The eternal Son  lives in loving union with the Father and the Spirit, one God in three persons in perfect unity.  God hears the cries of the people he loves, the ones he created, and his heart goes out to them in his Son.   The weather is bleak and cold; the wind is biting; snow has fallen.  The earth stands hard as iron, water has frozen in the puddles.  Or perhaps it all takes place in a warm Spring.  Whatever the weather, it was long ago.  The Son, the eternal Son, is born in a cramped room shared with animals, and placed in an animal’s feeding-trough.  Heavenly beings gather to see the marvellous sight, themselves unseen by the human mother lovingly kissing her tiny baby. The eternal Son becomes mortal. Almighty God becomes weak and vulnerable. The Son exchanges the riches of heaven for life in a humble Jewish family. The one who dwells in unapproachable light becomes ordinary. He empties himself of all but love and comes to his people. ...

A famous concert pianist travels the world giving magnificent performances which win her rapturous applause.  Tickets for her concerts sell out weeks in advance; critics fall over themselves with praise.  Sometimes she thunders away powerfully; at other times she plays quiet pieces with incredible gentleness and sensitivity.  One night she is playing at a grand venue in New York for the great and the good of American society.  Tickets have been going for four times the face value on ebay.  It is a sole performance; she needs no other name on the programme in order to fill the house. During a particularly quiet piece there is a strange noise in the auditorium.  A bizarre groaning sound, it seems.  At first, the concert-goers all think they are imagining it; but it persists.  Suddenly there is a loud shout, and another, followed by a desperate shushing.  People turn round, irritated, to see what the commotion is.  A young man with ...

A talented young man inherits the family building firm and doubles its annual gross profit within five years.  He has always been comfortably off; now he can live in unqualified luxury.  He buys a penthouse flat in Knightsbridge and a mansion in Cornwall; instead of battling through the London Underground he hires a chauffeur to drive him to business meetings and wait outside until he is finished.  He buys his suits in Savile Row and takes his girlfriends shopping in Harvey Nichols.  The 100 th anniversary of the founding of the family firm arrives and a lavish party is planned at a London hotel.  After a five-course meal, champagne and dancing, the young owner steps outside to get some fresh air and enjoy a cigar.  Comfortably full and pleasantly tired, he goes for a short walk around the block.  His stroll takes him under a bridge, where he sees piles of cardboard and bundles of cloth.  The cardboard moves and he realises there are men sle...

A successful model has made a career for herself with her immaculate physical perfection and ethereal beauty.  Her hair is long, dark and perfectly straight; whenever she is doing a photoshoot or due to appear in public her hairdresser trims, dries and styles her locks.  She has her nails done weekly and all excess hair is waxed off.  Rather than eating meals, she nibbles.  Daily trips to the gym are essential to ensure there is not an ounce of excess fat on her frame.  While all this takes effort, she has a tall and willowy figure she was born with, regular features and striking green eyes.     One day she is invited to a benefit dinner for a charity which works with young women with mental health issues.  Sitting opposite her at the table is one of the charity’s service users, a painfully thin young woman with skeletal hands and dark shadows under her eyes.  Her cheekbones and shoulder blades are sharply defined and her simple bla...

The CEO of a multinational fashion retailer is invited to take part in the TV show ‘Undercover Boss’.  He is a demanding employer, known throughout the industry for his efficiency, keeping down costs and firing anyone who puts a foot out of line. With a film crew, he travels to the Philippines where many of his company’s clothes are manufactured.  He works on the factory floor as a machinist, stitching jeans which retail at more than $100 for less than $1 per hour.  After a few days, the camera crew return to the UK but he stays on.  He obtains a permanent job in the factory, working 14 hour days.  Sometimes by the end of the day he is so tired he struggles to stand, his hands cramped from repetitive strain and his mouth dry from lack of refreshment.  Sometimes he gets up from his machine only to be told that there is a large shipment which must go out the next day and everyone must work overtime without pay. Gradually he picks up the local languag...

If you were in Southend town centre today you may have seen this unruly mob: http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/11680652.Flashmob_halts_shopping_for_real_meaning_of_Christmas/?ref=fbshr

While having a lovely meal in a local restaurant today with family, I spotted this card on the table.  I love Stephen Fry's comments on saying grace.  

After reading this great blog post, I'm definitely tempted to wear my Santa hat to preach in on Sunday morning... http://www.threadsuk.com/joy-to-the-world/

Two days ago I shared that I've been having a bit of trouble with my sermon this week.  This is generally my approach: I choose the text and read it a few times; I put in a bit of work reading commentaries; I pray and ask God what he wants me to say about the text; and then I wait.  Some people describe this as letting it all 'percolate'; as an enthusiastic coffee drinker I heartily concur. Sometimes the waiting goes on far longer than I'm comfortable with, however. This morning (having still not written the sermon, which is for this Sunday morning), I had a highly entertaining breakfast with some of the other local Baptist ministers, during which we covered a range of topics, which I will not reveal otherwise they won't let me come any more.  Or at least they won't talk about interesting things in front of me.  Just before we all realised we really had to get back and do some proper work, we got on the subject of the journey of faith.  We talked about the tensi...

https://www.facebook.com/emma.maggs1/posts/10154922087780632 On Sunday morning, as part of the all-age nativity service, we reflected on the three gifts brought by the wise men to the infant Jesus.  Mine was myrrh.  Using a trick I'd seen before, I filled a tall vase full of a mixture of tinned tomatoes, minestrone soup, refried beans and old teabags.  My willing volunteers, bribed with the promise of chocolate, had to plunge their hands into the disgusting mess to retrieve a coin and win their prize.   Our world really is a disgusting mess much of the time.  Christians worship a God who gets his hands dirty; who was born a human in poverty and humility and who experienced the mess himself.  His homeland was occupied by foreign troops; his enemies accused him and his friends rejected him; he suffered humiliation, torture, even death.  Myrrh was an embalming fluid; a gift which offered a clue to what would come later. The thing that really gets me, I th...

Our advent sermon series is inspired by Christmas carols.  I spent the morning and half the afternoon preparing to preach on the beautiful carol 'In the bleak mid-winter'.  The biblical text I've chosen is Philippians 2.5-11: You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NLT) This passage is mind-blowing; I mean, it's one of the most beautiful passages in the New Testament.  So preac...

Let's have another look at what those famous atheists had to say in the Huffington Post.  Polly Toynbee: [P]lacing moral laws and rules in the hands of a book written by some external creator, judge, father, law-maker, infantilises us and makes us less responsible for creating a society around us that benefits everyone. Goodness is a social value, the effect you have on all around you and the wider society, not a secret personal matter for the sinner to be privately weighed in the scales by a God after death.  Humanism is not a mere absence of religion but a positive value that puts people and their societies at the heart of life. Interesting stuff.  I think Toynbee makes a good point when she talks about goodness being a social value rather than a private matter.  Christians have sometimes emphasised the importance of recognising one's personal sin and seeking God's forgiveness to such a degree that they have overlooked social sin.  When the Rana Plaza building...

I spent this morning wrapping two empty Haribo boxes in Christmas paper (more tricky than you might think) and tying sparkly thread through 'Christmas starts with Christ' gift tags.  This literally took me about two hours.  More than once I wondered if it was a good use of my morning. The Christmassy boxes and the gift tags were for a prayer activity to offer to customers, devised by one of our managers.  People could write a Christmas wish or prayer on a tag and hang it on our Christmas tree.  A nice idea, plus I should really have got on with it a couple of weeks ago.   While I was sitting a table with scissors, sellotape, Christmas paper and sparkly thread, basically having a great time and reliving my youth, one of my colleagues came in and told me someone had just donated £100 for suspended meals.  Wow.

In Christmas 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono bought billboard space in 12 cities throughout the world, filling them with large posters declaring in huge capitals: WAR IS OVER! And then in smaller text underneath: If you want it.   Happy Christmas from John & Yoko This was in protest at the war in Vietnam.  I used to have a t shirt with this slogan; complete strangers used to comment when I wore it.  I bought it in the early 2000s just before the war started in Iraq. Someone once shouted: "that's not very appropriate in the circumstances!"   Had they read the small print, or understood the irony, they would have realised it was completely appropriate. By declaring 'WAR IS OVER!', John and Yoko made a distant future possibility, something so wonderful and yet seemingly so unattainable, a joyful statement of fact.  "It's now!" they declared, "it's here!"  Although the wonderful statement wasn't yet true, they exhorted people to look ...

I came across this article on the Huffington Post site a couple of weeks ago and have been meaning to blog about it ever since.  Actually I think I might get a few blog posts out of it.  It's part of their 'Beyond Belief' series.  Here it is: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/11/27/famous-atheists-believe-values-richard-dawkins_n_6231968.html?utm_hp_ref=beyond-belief It's a fascinating article which raises lots of really interesting issues.  I would have described myself as an atheist until I was in my late teens; then probably an agnostic until my early twenties.  I'm glad the HP spoke with atheists as well as people of faith. For tonight I'll just briefly consider this comment by Dan Snow: [Religion] is a comfort to people wrestling with the imminence of death, loneliness, deeply traumatic events, or personal loss.  It must be nice to think there is a sky father who loves you unconditionally and will welcome you at his side for eternal life.  It's...

One of my colleagues sent me this link today, which contains a harsh assessment of 'Away in a manger': http://servicemusic.org.uk/spoofs/away.htm The Docetic heresy was the belief that Jesus Christ was simply God in human form, rather than being truly human (as well as divine).  In other words, this heresy states that Jesus was a bit like Superman: he looked human, until he opened his shirt and you saw the big yellow S.  Superman wasn't an ordinary human being, he just looked like one.  Christians believe, however, that Jesus didn't simply look human, he actually was human.  He felt fear, pain and joy; he wept; he had a frail human body and lived within human limitations.  How he was also divine is perhaps the central mystery of the Christian faith. (When I found out what the Docetic heresy was a couple of years ago, I realised I'd been an accidental Docetist for years.  Superman Jesus is just easier to get your head round). My favourite line of David Lee's...

1. Someone else who can't afford to eat out will have a nice meal. 2. You will feel good.  Not that that's the point, but hey, it's a bonus. 3. You can show love and concern to someone who's having a hard time - that might be just as nourishing for them as the food. 4. You could do it as a protest against the inequality which means that some of us can afford to go out for cappuccino while others rely on food banks and homeless shelters. 5. You could buy a suspended meal in place of a present for a person who has too much stuff already. If you do, I'll make you a lovely certificate to give them on Christmas Day!

Back in April I posted a poem called 'Abou Ben Adhem'.  My husband and I printed it on the orders of service at our wedding. It tells the beautiful story of a man who wakes up to find an angel in his room, writing in a golden book the names of those who love the Lord.  Abou's name isn't there, so he asks the angel to put him down as someone who loves his fellow men.  At the end of the poem the angel shows him the book, with Abou's name  first among those who love God.  There seems to me to be something profoundly true in this.  Consider these words from 1 John 2:  And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. (1 John 2:3-6 NLT)....

In my work as a coffee shop evangelist I carry a message.  An evangelist is literally someone who brings good news.  I used to assume that meant simply telling good news.  But I have come to realise that the gospel - the good news - is not simply a set of propositions to be communicated. It is a story to be narrated, a way to be walked; the gospel can be lived and practised and shared as well as told.  This time last year I got together with two colleagues to brainstorm evangelistic ideas for Christmas and 'suspended meals' was born.  You may have heard about 'suspended coffees', an idea which popped up on social media a couple of years ago.  Starbucks, Lord love 'em, even ran a neatly corporate version of the suspended coffee scheme last Christmas.  In Starbucks you could add an extra £2.25 to your bill which paid for 'a coffee' for someone else.  The proceeds were donated to Shelter.  This is good as far as it goes, but the original idea wa...

I was about to write my daily blog post when I read this, which is brilliant.  Read her words instead! http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/persecuted-christmas-2014

A friend posted this link about being a woman in pastoral ministry: http://jeremiahgibbs.com/2014/11/29/women-pastors-and-male-privilege/ My first reaction was: "how true, I always wear a dress with no pockets when I'm preaching".  I've had to dash into the ladies' loo many a time to try and find somewhere to hook the battery pack.  Usually under the dress, over the waistband of my tights, which creates a very oddly shaped bump in my clothing... Then I thought about all the times since beginning my training for Christian ministry that I have become conscious of being 'other' when in a room full of older white men.  I'm fortunate enough to work with two very affirming male colleagues and to have trained alongside many men who never made my gender an issue.  But the contrast between Baptist ministry and secondary school education, which is my professional background, is very striking.  I can totally relate to the woman who said that when she was in a mee...

Now I'm not proud of myself, but I have started watching Christmas films.  Yes, I suppose they would be more special if I saved them till Christmas week, but I just don't have that much willpower.  I've already seen two adaptations of 'A Christmas Carol' (a zany '80s interpretation called 'Scrooged' starring the magnificent Bill Murray and, yes, 'The Muppets' Christmas Carol'.  Don't judge me).   The story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, like some stories from the Bible, is so well known it's comfortable, familiar and often fails to shock in the way it originally did.  'A Christmas Carol' has been adapted, tamed and set to heart-warming sentimental music.  The original story, by Charles Dickens, is beautiful and beautifully written.  Read it for yourself - it's a very short novel. One of the most spine-chilling scenes comes when Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley, who tells Scrooge of the great chain he carries in death...

I described Advent yesterday as an opportunity for the fun to start early, but for some people it's not much fun, for all sorts of reasons.  Below is a picture of our improvised 'advent candles' used during an interactive Dwell service last night.  Traditionally you light one of the outer candles each Sunday during Advent, and the large one in the middle on Christmas Day.  Instead we lit all the candles to help us pray for people who needed hope, joy, love and peace this Advent. Advent can be a really powerful time of waiting.  We're waiting for the coming of Christ - he's not here yet.  We need hope because things look bleak.  We need joy when we've been crushed by life.  We need love, full stop - none of us can live without it.  We need peace in the midst of worry.  We need Jesus to come.  Why won't he hurry?

I've been so looking forward to Advent.   One of the great things I've found about being part of a Christian community is that the joy of anticipating Christmas starts on Advent Sunday, four Sundays before Christmas.  Growing up, any attempts to celebrate Christmas before the start of the school holidays were frowned on.  (I would never have been able to get away with watching 'Scrooged' in November).  The Christian calendar observed by most churches allows the fun to start early, however.  Today is Advent Sunday.  It's official: Christmas is coming. This is a photo of the fun and games that were had in the church garden on Friday during the switching on of Leigh on Sea's Christmas lights.  I had very little to do with the planning and setting up and wasn't even able to be there on the evening.  My small contribution was towards the crib you can see in the foreground.  Propped on a display of autumn leaves and branches (artfully arranged by a...

This is a really tricky one for me.  On the one hand, I'm a woman.  Cases of sexual violence against women upset me on a visceral level.  I started reading Laura Bates' 'EverydaySexism' book and it was so depressing I stopped reading.     Women are often physically weaker than men (though I imagine Jessica Ennis is pretty strong) and if a man decides to do something a woman doesn't want him to do, unless she has had some effective self-defence classes, all she can do is scream. Of course, if she's blind drunk, she can't even do that.   On the other hand, I am a follower of Jesus and so by definition I believe in forgiveness and redemption, both for me and for those who hurt me.  Christians are not especially moral people; they are people who recognise their own imperfection and frailty and put their trust in one who knows them intimately and accepts them completely.   Like Jessica Ennis-Hill, I don't want Ched Evans to receive another lucrative co...

One thing utterly puzzles me on The Apprentice - how do they get ready in 20 minutes, having been woken up in the middle of the night?  I never look as coiffed and immaculately dressed as the Apprentice candidates, even when I've had a normal amount of dressing time.  Seriously, do you want to wear three-inch heels when you'll be running all over London trying to sell boxes of candles? Interestingly, this week [SPOILER ALERT] there's an Apprentice first, when a candidate effectively fires herself.  Lindsay didn't do very well this week, and when accused of not doing well, she agreed.  She made no arguments; she mounted no defence.  She just agreed that she wasn't up to it and said she shouldn't be in the process.  I admire anyone who's willing to be that honest.  I imagine it was a relief. But the real question this week is... Who pays £35 for a scented candle?  Seriously???

"My absolute worst nightmare is getting to age 40 with a 50 grand salary and a four-year-old Toyota. It's just not going to happen".  - Robert Goodwin Gosh, Robert, that really would be awful, wouldn't it?  But, you know, even if the worst happens, there are things you could do.  Sell the Toyota and buy a bicycle.  Give away £37,500 a year and live on the minimum wage.  Even if you are cursed with riches, you don't need to let them drag you down.

Last year I conducted some research for my final year dissertation at college.  I wanted to find out whether people coming to Christian faith today saw themselves as sinners in need of forgiveness from God, or whether other factors were more significant in their faith journey.  The message of forgiveness is often seen to be at the heart of the Christian faith; evangelical Christians in particular emphasise the fact that 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God'.  The cross of Jesus Christ removes our sin and leaves us free to commune with the God who loves us. This script, so familiar to those from a particular stream of Christian spirituality, doesn't always make much sense to those who have never been to church, however.   As an evangelist I wonder: who am I to tell people that they're guilty and need to ask for forgiveness from God?  If they don't feel guilty, why should they ask to be forgiven?  Is it my duty as a Christian evangelist to make...

In chapter 10 of 'The Pioneer Gift', Andrea Campanale reflects on the impact of a theology of shame on the community of spiritual seekers with whom she ministers.  In her words: ' I have observed that the concept of sin is largely irrelevant.  However, the people to whom I minister often have chronic feelings of unworthiness and a massive fear of rejection because they believe themselves to be basically unacceptable in some fundamental yet indefinable sense.  I have... sought to understand what the hope is Christians have that can free people from these crippling notions of self-loathing.' Rather than a distressing affliction of the women in her community, however, Andrea argues that chronic shame is widespread in western, post-industrialised societies.  Many of us fail to live up to our 'ideal selves' - the self we would like to be or feel that we should be - and live in constant fear of being 'found out' and permanently diminished in the eyes of those ...

In the introduction to 'The Pioneer Gift', Jonny Baker, the founder and leader of the Pioneer course at CMS, considers the problem of defining 'pioneer'.  This definition is taken from the Fresh Expressions website: A pioneer minister is someone who has the necessary vision and gifts to be a missionary entrepreneur: with the capacity to form and lead fresh expressions and new forms of church appropriate to a particular culture. 'Fresh Expressions' is the name given in the Church of England to new ways of being church, and the term arose out of the Mission-Shaped Church report of 2004.  The report was an Anglican-Methodist collaboration which sought to describe and reflect upon 'fresh expressions of church' which had popped up around the UK.   It's available online as a free download and is definitely worth a read.  One of the conclusions of the report was that 'pioneer ministers' should be recognised, trained and released to take the gospel o...

  Is pioneering a gift or a curse?  Are pioneers a gift to the church or a royal pain in the backside (or both)?  What on earth is meant by 'pioneer' anyway? 'The Pioneer Gift' is a new book written by teachers, students and friends of the Pioneer course run by CMS (Church Mission Society).  CMS is an Anglican mission agency based in Oxford; 'pioneer' is the name given in the Church of England to those called to some form of Christian ministry, which may or may not be ordained ministry, whom God has called to do things differently.  I've had the opportunity to audit several modules on the course as part of my ministerial training and to get to know pioneers whose experiences and questions resonate with my own as a Baptist evangelist.  And they've let me collaborate with them on this book!   'The Pioneer Gift' is published by Canterbury Press and is available on Amazon.  I'll be blogging about the various topics covered in the book in the comi...

I've just had a week's holiday, and holidays always involve a stack of (mostly trashy) books.  After the latest highly enjoyable but pretty brainless Dan Brown novel, I started on 'The Storyteller' by Jodi Picoult.  It's about the Holocaust, so it's pretty grim, and includes a long narrative from the point of view of the heroine's Jewish grandmother, a survivor of Auschwitz.  It was the ending of the novel, set in the present day, which really shocked me, however - SPOILER ALERT - if you want to read this novel, look away now. The novel's present day heroine, Sage, befriends Josef, a retired German teacher in his 90s.  Josef is a a much-loved local character who has served his community well and has many friends.  Knowing that Sage is from a Jewish family, Josef tells her his terrible secret - during the war, he was a member of the SS who served in Auschwitz.  He does not feel that he deserves the long life he has had and wants Sage to help him die. In t...

About ten years ago I came across Sister Helen Prejean's book 'Dead Man Walking' in which she tells the story of her friendship with two death row prisoners in the United States.  This unassuming Roman Catholic nun began writing to prisoners and eventually to visit and talk with them - as well as with the families of their victims.   Both men described in her book were guilty of unspeakable crimes; there was nothing sympathetic about them in human terms.  And yet Sister Helen offered them friendship as human persons loved by God and spoke of his mercy.  I read the book before I began to explore Christianity and, despite my lack of Christian faith, found myself profoundly moved by one memorable passage.  One of the prisoners is due to be executed, and Sister Helen asks to be present at the execution.  He doesn't want her to have to see it, but she says that she wants him to be able to see her face.  "I want to be the face of Jesus for you," she explains...

More thoughts inspired by reading Dave Tomlinson's book.  On the subject of God's love he says: 'I have seen many, many lives transformed by the realisation of God's unqualified love.  This, I think, is the real power of the Christian message, so often buried under tons of religious dogma that has nothing to do with the teaching of Christ.  Knowing that God loves and values us can enable us to value ourselves better, to develop self-respect.  And this provides the basis for making better choices in life, for strengthening personal integrity, and for empowering us to decide who and what we wish to be, instead of being pushed around by the whims of others or by the fashions and fads of the wider culture.' God's unqualified love is absolutely the heart of the Christian message.  God made you, God loves you, God's son died for you, God wants you to love him too.  But the 'real power' is not simply that we know God loves us and therefore we can live bette...

I liked the title of this book by Dave Tomlinson so decided to give it a try.  It's certainly making me think, though I can't say I agree with everything in it. From what I've gathered so far, the book's basic argument is that being a Christian is not about going to church or believing certain things, but about living your live in a certain way.  It's about living in the presence of a God who loves you; making good choices ( I guess Christians would call that 'holiness'); and loving others.  OK, I'm on board with that. Tomlinson goes on to argue, however, that living in this way is natural - that humans instinctively know that love is what it's all about and that we 'bump into God' in everyday life all the time.  I'm not so sure I agree with him here.  Examples he gives of loving God include: enjoying our gifts and living life with gratitude; breathing in fresh air and feeling glad to be alive; living fully in the present moment.  These d...

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/04/07/seven-stanzas-at-easter-john-updike/

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel tells the harrowing story of watching a boy hanged in Aushwitz.  As the boy gasped out his final moments, Wiesel heard someone in the crowd ask: "Where is God?  Where is he?".  And then again, as the boy's death throes went on and on, "Where is God now?".  The answer which came to Wiesel as he watched the dreadful scene was: "God is there, hanging on a gallows".   When Christians speak of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, they mean not simply that he was an especially holy man (though he was), but that in Christ God becomes a human being.  And so when Jesus suffered fear, pain, abandonment and even death, some have argued that here God himself learns what it is to suffer, to be abandoned, and even to die.  When Jesus cries from the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", God himself becomes, paradoxically, Godforsaken.  And if God has identified so completely with broken humanity, submitting himself ev...

An artistic interpretation of the stations of the cross set up by Hannah (the marvellous Methodist minister at large) and some friends in the Royals Shopping Centre, central Southend: 1. Jesus receives the red carpet treatment 2. Jesus throws the moneylenders out of the temple.  (All we have left of the temple today is a wall, into which people push their prayers). 3. Jesus anointed with expensive perfume. 4. Judas agrees to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. 5.  The last supper. 6. The cross. 7. The empty tomb... coming soon.

Let's say you do something stupid and selfish and it hurts someone else.  What do you feel?  I guess in that situation most of us would say "I feel guilty".  So what would take that guilt away? In our legal system we atone for our crimes by doing a punishment, after which we have "paid our debt to society".  But does that work in everyday human interactions?  If I have hurt someone, do I ask them to name a punishment, and when I've done it, do they feel better?  Do I?   Some have argued that what we often feel when we do stupid, selfish things is shame rather than guilt - or perhaps as well as guilt.  Shame is a feeling of badness - not that I have done something bad, but that I AM bad.  It's not focused on what we've done but on ourselves.  When I hurt someone else, I don't focus on the thing I can do to make it better; I agonise over the damage I have done and feel diminished as a person.  Doing a punishment doesn't change...

As Jesus entered Jerusalem, people waved palms and shouted: 'Hosanna!' - save us.  Save us from what? When Christians say that Jesus saves, usually they mean that he saves us from sin.  In an earlier post I suggested that sin was basically selfishness  and self-centredness, a lack of attention to others and to God.  I guess most of us, whether we consider ourselves to be Christian or not, would accept that we're not perfect and often selfish.   We spend most of our time with other imperfect humans, so this isn't usually seen as a huge problem (though it would be great if we could all be nice to each other for a change).  But God is holy, and says to his people, 'be holy, because I am holy' (Leviticus 11.44).    Christ's death on the cross, which we will remember on Good Friday, deals with the problem of human sin.  The way this works is ultimately a deep mystery.  But we have a few theories.  One way of understanding the cross is th...

The word we cry as part of Palm Sunday worship is 'Hosanna'.  Hosanna to the King of David!  Hosanna to the king of kings! Hosanna is a cry of praise to God.  The Brenton Brown song 'Praise is Rising' puts it well: 'You are the God who saves us/worthy of all our praises'.  When I was an atheist teenager I really loathed the idea of praise and worship - if God wanted people to worship him, didn't that make him a bighead?  I wasn't into subservience to authority and didn't like the idea of this ultimate authority figure demanding obedience and worship. But hosanna is also a cry of petition - 'O Lord, save!'.  It recognises that we need salvation, and that Jesus can save us.  As a teenager I didn't think I needed salvation.  As teenagers we have the world at our feet; it all belongs to us and we could make it all better if only people would listen to us.  Now I know someone who is wiser than me - and who actually has the power to save.

It's important to take a break from time to time.

I've been reflecting on spiritual disciplines in the last two posts.  One discipline which is not perhaps so obvious as prayer and retreat is the discipline of community.  There are lots of things I love about community - having people to talk to and share life with; being able to work and play together; having so many different people's talents and perspectives on life.  But there are things which can be really hard too.  In a small community, and most churches are fairly small communities, if you fall out with someone, you can't get away from each other; you have to deal with your issues.   I have often reflected on Paul's words about the body of Christ (i.e. the church): If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you he...

Perhaps surprisingly for an extrovert, I have found going on retreat to be an extremely helpful aid to prayer.  'Retreat' usually involves being somewhere quiet (eek) without any other people (aagh) or alternatively with people you aren't allowed to talk to (gasp).  Every time I've been on a retreat which has involved an overnight stay I have always arranged to meet with a retreat guide - i.e. someone you are allowed to talk to while you're there, but only for a set amount of time, and then you have to shut up and go away. The best retreats I've experienced have been at St Cuthbert's Centre, a United Reformed church on Holy Island.  They have a bothy (that's a very small, simple room or flat designed for one person) which you can book, and basically hole up for a few days.  Holy Island is packed with tourists when the tide is out, but there are very few places to stay on the island, so they all go home before the tide comes in, and then you're on y...