This weekend I am going to see my beloved football team....Southampton. They are playing Leicester City at Leicester. I have been invited by the Chaplin of the Club to go with him in the main Leicester stand. The question is "do I wear my saints shirt or not????" Is is right to do so? Is it appropriate? Will i offend someone? Will I get beaten up?(Probably not as Leicester folk are a bit soft!!!) What do i do?
The church struggles with this diliama! How can we be in this mad place we call earth yet still hold firm to our beliefs and values as Christians? Do we just give in and accept that the world is the way it is and we need to "move with the times? Or do we hold firm regardless and just keeping doing what we have always done.
My gut feeling is neither! We need to realise that God is in the world, he craeted it after all! Why worry about where He is not(even though He is everywhere) and start to worry about where He wants us to be! Rob Bell "knocked me for six" this moring as i read these words; "I don't follow Jesus because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follw Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality." Life is reality, infact "ultimate reality." This is it, no more no less, why get hung up on what we think it should be but what it actullay is at this very point in time. Being in the world does not mean that we confirm to it but converse with it.
But,what does it look like???? What ever it needs to, so that the Gospel is expounded to people who have yet to hear it. Once you have found your context, breathe it for a while then start to allow God to shape you in it so that it makes sense to you and you make sense to it!
Matt
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Oh well, a summer off!!!!!
What can i say! I feel lost already! What am I going to do next summer with England not qualifying for Euro 2008.
Actually, have to say that I really am not bothered!
Next summer will be one of the best as it will be the Commissioning of the "God Fellow Workers" session as Officers in the Salvation Army. This is far more exciting than watching England getting knocked out on penalties!!! It is the next chapter in our lives as we(Lizzy and I) seek to live out our callings. We have no idea how it will work out, even if it will work, but we believe it can through Gods guidance. We have got this far after all!
"Believing" is difficult but not impossible, it is crucial in allowing the church to be free in it's context without being defined by it! So will will just wait and believe that Gods plan will be worked out and that we will embrace it.
Matt
Actually, have to say that I really am not bothered!
Next summer will be one of the best as it will be the Commissioning of the "God Fellow Workers" session as Officers in the Salvation Army. This is far more exciting than watching England getting knocked out on penalties!!! It is the next chapter in our lives as we(Lizzy and I) seek to live out our callings. We have no idea how it will work out, even if it will work, but we believe it can through Gods guidance. We have got this far after all!
"Believing" is difficult but not impossible, it is crucial in allowing the church to be free in it's context without being defined by it! So will will just wait and believe that Gods plan will be worked out and that we will embrace it.
Matt
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Ice berg anyone......
As I was preparing to come back to the WBC college, I looked out of the window to see that snow was desending. I shouted to Lizzy "hey, it's snowing", but she seamed to ignore this until we stepped outside when she said "hey, it really is snowing."
In reflection to my question in my previous post, I have begun to realise that the church would benifit from a similar experience. It easy to hear from people what the world is like, we can pigeon hole people as modern, post-modern, new-age, townies etc but until we get out and amongst it we will never fully realise just what it all means.
That is all very well but how does that answer my question about the effect context has?
On the train the image of an iceberg popped in to my head. Usually only 10% of the beautiful Iceberg is visible and the rest is under the surface. The church is similar; we need to be in
context (the 10%) but the rest of it underpins who we are and what makes us distinct. It is obvious to say that the church should not be submerged or top heavy but finely balanced between the needs of the world and the life that we are asked to live out but Jesus in it!
So how does that work? How can we be " in the world but not of the world"? (John 17)
Matt
In reflection to my question in my previous post, I have begun to realise that the church would benifit from a similar experience. It easy to hear from people what the world is like, we can pigeon hole people as modern, post-modern, new-age, townies etc but until we get out and amongst it we will never fully realise just what it all means.
That is all very well but how does that answer my question about the effect context has?
On the train the image of an iceberg popped in to my head. Usually only 10% of the beautiful Iceberg is visible and the rest is under the surface. The church is similar; we need to be in
context (the 10%) but the rest of it underpins who we are and what makes us distinct. It is obvious to say that the church should not be submerged or top heavy but finely balanced between the needs of the world and the life that we are asked to live out but Jesus in it!
So how does that work? How can we be " in the world but not of the world"? (John 17)
Matt
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Who said there is no such thing as a miracle!!
I have just shouted at the top of my voice to the amazing news that England are still on course to go to the Euro's next year!!!! Bless Israel! Can't wait to wednesday, another night of nail bitting, Shouting at the TV and trying to hold off going to the loo incase Croatia score!
Who said there is no such thing as a miracle!!!
Matt
Who said there is no such thing as a miracle!!!
Matt
what is it all about??
I am really bad at saying lots (to much some would argue) but never writing it down for future reference. I tried to blog in the past but my life seam relatively boring and lost interest.
So with a fresh lease of life and bit more time to do so I am once again attempting to write down what's on my mind.
To assist me in achieving to blog at least once a week, I am focusing on a question that has haunted me for a very long time; "What does it mean to be a church in context?"
It has taken me a while to get to this point. Having spent 5 years living out my faith in a local church leadership position i find myself not at the Salvation Army college away from the reality of being the local church. This is a struggle as I am wired to be "out there, doing stuff." Sitting in my flat writing assignments does not make me tick. However, it has got me thinking about what happen in July 2008 when they let me back out into the world, probably with a Church to lead on my own. What are the truths, tools and issues that i need to discover, develop and question of these next few months.
So what has that got to do with context? We have no idea where we are going next year but there are certain things, issues and debates that will have an influence on my leadership of the and way in which Lizzy and I will live out our faith.
The question I leave (and will come back to next time) at the end of this introductory ramble is;
"What is the role of context in the life of the local Church?"
So with a fresh lease of life and bit more time to do so I am once again attempting to write down what's on my mind.
To assist me in achieving to blog at least once a week, I am focusing on a question that has haunted me for a very long time; "What does it mean to be a church in context?"
It has taken me a while to get to this point. Having spent 5 years living out my faith in a local church leadership position i find myself not at the Salvation Army college away from the reality of being the local church. This is a struggle as I am wired to be "out there, doing stuff." Sitting in my flat writing assignments does not make me tick. However, it has got me thinking about what happen in July 2008 when they let me back out into the world, probably with a Church to lead on my own. What are the truths, tools and issues that i need to discover, develop and question of these next few months.
So what has that got to do with context? We have no idea where we are going next year but there are certain things, issues and debates that will have an influence on my leadership of the and way in which Lizzy and I will live out our faith.
The question I leave (and will come back to next time) at the end of this introductory ramble is;
"What is the role of context in the life of the local Church?"
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