Realm: a field or domain of activity or interest (Oxford Dictionary)

Realm is a descriptive word usually associated with Kings of Queens, or sometimes Presidents. Those of us that live in the British Commonwealth, formerly the British Empire, are with under the ‘realm’ of the Queen, our head of state. Historically, realms are defined politically – but there is one realm in particular which now exists on a global scale that the majority of people on this planet, almost 100% of the population of the Western world most likely, have access to, is the digital realm. The realm of the internet.

Vicky Beeching posted an excellent blog post today on the issue of how real this realm is, I read it with a twinge of irony, as I’d written this post a few weeks back and had been pondering when to post it – and given Vicky has started this discussion now seemed an appropriate time.

I want to examine the issue of the reality of the digital realm  - but I want to go further, and discuss how we find a healthy balance in our relationships in both the physical and digital realms, without making it an idol and letting it take the place of God – which, we have to acknowledge, is a big temptation, in the age of smartphones, i-pads and laptops, a time where we’re constantly online. (more…)

There’s been a lot of debate and discussion on the role of women on the Twitter/blogosphere recently, most of it healthy. All the time as I have been reading – and there have been excellent posts in the last week by both Vicky Beeching and Anna Blanch on this subject, amongst others, and indeed I myself posted on the Biblical role of women earlier in the week.

But to me there was something missing.

I felt a man’s perspective on gender issues was just not there. You see, I think we should all absolutely be championing women in leadership, and that the Bible is pro-women, and it’s absolutely right that women find their voice. I made that clear in my post earlier this week, with some theological background.

I just know, from my own experience as a man, that one danger of going to far with feminism can be that men no longer know what it is to be a man. They grow up without a clear definition of masculinity. We are told to ‘get in touch with our feminine side’, and then criticised for not being ‘man’ enough, all the time trying to be men and be positive about masculinity, without being anti-women or sexist in any way.

I think this is a serious problem, especially in church where people have different perceptions of the role of both men and women. I’m an egalitarian, I believe the question isn’t gender when it comes to leadership and teaching, it’s about character, gifting and calling. If you have those, then your gender, although part of who you are, is not relevant.

Your gender should never preclude you from any role.  (more…)

Earlier this week I posted a short blog post promoting a new book of Advent reflections I’ve contributed to. But even before beginning writing the blog, I felt an inner conflict. A conflict I’m sure many of the creatives reading – and many more of us – have experienced at some point or other.

A conflict between wanting to share something I’d helped create with people, in order to help bless them – because I genuinely believe the book can and will do that in so many ways – and my own pride and ego, which is desperately wanting people to read it and give me great responses to boost my confidence.

It’s a conflict between healthy ambition and selfish ambition.

A conflict between that part of me that wants to honour God with what I create and see it help others in their walk with Him, and my own ego which wants success for selfish reasons.

It’s also about my own insecurities – that I can’t quite believe that I have had even moderate success at something I love doing and might actually have a gift for, because some part of me just won’t accept that I can be successful, or that God might actually have made me for a purpose and that this might a pointer to what that might be.

Promoting something you’re a part of or have helped create feels a bit selfish, and not very Christian – and certainly, it’s very tempting, especially in the self-centered ‘i-culture’ we live in, to simply promote things for those reasons.

We all want to be loved, and something we often do is look for that in people, rather than simply embracing the unconditional love & grace of God, which doesn’t value us according to our achievements, but sees us in all our nakedness, all our fear, doubt and all our sin – as well as our achievement – and loves us anyway.

A love that would love the same if we lived our whole lives and achieved nothing and got it all wrong every single moment.  (more…)

Hi people! As many of you will know (some of whom because I met you there), I attended a conference a couple of weeks back on Christanity and social media. It followed an awards ceremony the previous day so the whole weekend was called ‘Christian New Media Awards & Conference 2011′, or more simply, CNMAC11. At the conference were several guest speakers from the Christian, digital and creative realms alike, speaking on many different issues around how we as Christians deal with the digital media, how it can impact our lives & culture and its power to change the world. There were seminars on how to navigate twitter, to write code for your blog, how to do handle self-promotion and balance that with being a Christian and pointing away from yourself, and about the importance of retaining a balance between interaction in the digital world and non-digtial world.

One thing that became crystal clear to me is that there no such thing as the ‘virtual’ and ‘real’ worlds, because the online space, the digital realm, is part of the real world – it’s just as real, although different, from physically interacting with someone – and that was abundantly clear by the number of ‘Twitter-friends’, who I’d only known online, that I met and felt like I’d known them for a long time.

There’s a lot to discuss coming from this conference and I have a lot more to share. But for now, I want to share with you a little audio recording I made whilst at the conference with Dr Bex Lewis of the Big Bible Project and #digidisciple (more on that in a future post!). There will be a link down the sidebar eventually but I wanted to share it with you here first, so listen (carefully, the beginning is a bit muffled!) and enjoy me talking about the conference!

I seem to have developed a habit of wrestling with God.

It sounds like a ridiculous idea on paper, perfectly preposterous. A six foot tall marginally overweight man against the creator of the universe isn’t very good odds is it?

But I seem to be doing it a lot more lately. I have spoken about how we need to acknowledge the battle in order to grow in intimacy with God, and deal with the issues behind the battle. This post is more about going the process of beyond the battle into the reasons for it. You see this battle is not a one-off that happens and then it’s done. It’s an ongoing battle. But occasionally you have significant ones – and I’ve had one recently.

One habit I have developed over the years – and I’m not sure disclosing this is going to make me come across so well – is when I’m waiting for a train or bus, and away from the majority of people, I tend to pray under my breath. Not quite loud enough for anyone to hear clearly, but not quite enough that no one will hear. I have a conversation with God.

I’m pretty sure if I did it loud enough and often enough in front of the same people I’d soon be moved off to the local mental asylum, but I’m smart enough to keep it quiet so that people don’t hear too much – and of course often I play the new trick crazy people use, by sticking an earpiece in my ear so it looks like I’m talking on the phone to someone.

Which actually isn’t too far away from the truth, in all truth. I’m talking to God. Occasionally I give Him some space to reply, and open my mind up to hear what His response might be.

I might be the only person that does this, I don’t know. I’ve done this since I was a teenager. I’ve always been a bit of loner to be honest, very shy and content in my own company. (My good friends are laughing right now, wondering where that person has been all these years…).

In all seriousness though, when I was a teenager getting bullied at school and unable to talk to my parents about my problems, as they were too busy with theirs, God was actually the only person I could talk to. (more…)

“James, you look like you’re fighting against yourself all the time.”

I was told this once by a friend in my home group. I knew the moment he said it – and beforehand in all honesty – it was true. I seem to be fighting with myself a lot at the moment.

Someone said to me the other night that as I was a man I needed to learn to think more, especially when entertaining women, as her husband didn’t know the date of their wedding anniversary.

I argued back that not all men are bad at thinking. Some of us – like me – think way too much.

It’s not up for debate. Honestly, I have lost count of the number of times people have said to me I over-think things and I need to slow down and relax. Admittedly, I do need to slow down and relax sometimes – a sabbath for me definitely will involve no deep thinking, no writing and no stimulus to deep thinking – films like The Matrix are definitely out.

But one of the results of being a deep thinker is over-thinking, and being very self-aware. I notice that in my head I know all the right things, even the deeper arguments and the uncomfortable questions, beyond the normal, but that something in my gut is saying no, and not happy about what this means. Something in my gut is just not wanting to join in, is angry about how his life is and frustrated with God, and no great words are going to change that.

Because of this I have noticed in my journey with God I have often found myself fighting with myself – and with God, trying to come to some place of peace and wholeness. (more…)

Whilst away at Greenbelt two issues that raised their heads were the issue of sabbath and its role in my life, and also social networking and worship. I went to a good discussion between four prominent Christian tweeters including @vickybeeching and @drbexl, and just today I was involved in a debate on Twitter, ironically enough, started up by @vickybeeching, on the role of Twitter and social networking in church, and whether it’s appropriate or not to Tweet in church.

I think the issue of social networking and how we engage and use this tool in our worship, as it becomes an increasingly big part of our daily lives, is one that desperately needs addressing and discussion. As ever, I don’t think any of us has a final answer, it’s a discussion that will go on for years to come with good arguments on every side.

To me it opens out bigger questions – what do we mean by church? What do we mean when we use the word worship? How do we see God – and how would Jesus use Twitter? These are all very important questions, which we need to be reflecting, and pondering on, which aren’t all going to get answered in a short blog post here. But it’s important to engage with the discussion and be part of it, it’s one of those balancing acts of faith, and we need to be participating in it, not standing on the sidelines, so here’s a little look from my own perspective and a few thoughts. (more…)

I’ve now been back from Greenbelt for three or four days, and had sufficient time to digest what happened over that weekend and what God was doing. Greenbelt was the first time I’d really been away on my own. Although whilst I was there I was blessed to meet loads of people I knew completely randomly – thanks God for the divine coincidences that I prayed for! – I travelled and went through the whole experience on my own, very deliberately. I have to confess there was a slight fear in doing that for the first time, but more the kind of fear which I knew I had to embrace, rather than one I was really scared of.

I have to say as I went around the site and heard such amazing speakers as Brian McClaren, Rob Bell, Peter Rollins and Phyllis Tickle, and experienced the whole Ikon experience on the Saturday evening – which was without doubt the most edgy, creative and innovative worship/liturgical experience I have had – I saw and experienced a freedom in God I had not felt before. I felt alive in new and fresh ways and saw God moving in dynamic, creative and energetic ways which I’d not seen before. There was real discussion about issues that mattered without any fear, even between people that disagreed, there was a sense that we were all participating in this big discussion, a bigger movement that was going on, and this was merely a marker point in that.

At Greenbelt it felt like the shackles of religion and ‘the church’ were down – and in its place we had real community, real freedom and real honest and frank discussion concerning faith and how it relates to the world we live in, and how God is a reality in the world we live in right now, rather than something separate from it.

To me that is how faith should always be – church is important and what we believe is too, but it needs to be about a God who is part of the whole of creation and active, participating in it, and has set us free through death & resurrection, not an imposed set of rules and structures which hold us down.

That freedom is what I experienced at Greenbelt. (more…)

I’m off to Greenbelt tomorrow, for the first time. If you don’t know, Greenbelt is essentially a Christian arts festival held at Cheltenham race course over the August Bank Holiday in the UK. Greenbelt’s slogan is “Where arts, faith & justice collide” and the theme this year is ‘Dreams of Home’, which is sure to be interesting. At Greenbelt there is a strong focus on issues of social justice, creativity, art, social media, theology and as such there are seminars and discussions on varying themes relating to this.

This year there is an amazing line up, with speakers such as Rob Bell, Shane Claiborne, Peter Rollins and Brian McClaren. My former life coach, worship leader/blogger/writer Vicky Beeching, is going to be there too.

But it’s not just speakers from the Christian world that they have on the agenda, there’s also an appearance this year by the likes of Billy Bragg. Greenbelt are well known for always pushing the boudnaries, which is something I love – there is a freedom of expression in faith, an openess to finding God wherever you look for Him.

In conjunction with the speakers they have several music acts/bands, such as Kate Rusby playing, show films and also have space to reflect, pray and receive spiritual direction. They also have a pub on site called the ‘Jesus Arms’, which will be worth a visit I’m sure.

It’s going to be a great experience for me and the first time I’ve been away this year. I’ve been praying and reflecting a lot on what’s to come and asking God to really speak to me and challenge me, and to be honest I just can’t wait to get there. If you are going, I hope you have an amazing weekend, if not, I’d definitely recommend it to you.

If you are going however it would be great to connect, so let me know via my Twitter or Facebook, or just with a reply below, with contact details, and it would be great to get together & connect.

In the meantime, here’s a message from a brother in Christ who’s also going to be there:

As some of you know, I occasionally write blog posts for other sites. Not long ago I was asked to write a blog post for Christine Sine on the theme of ‘Worshipping God in the real world’. I was struggling as to what to write and it was about the time for me to write it, and then we had the riots, looting and violence in London and the rest of the UK last week.

As I prayed and reflected on those events God really spoke to me and it became very clear precisely what I had to share. It also became clear it wouldn’t be easy to share.

So I wrote the post anyhow, and sent it off, and today is published a blog post on Christine’s site entitled ‘Worshipping God in the reality of riots’. It’s one of the most uncomfortable and challenging posts I think I’ve ever written, and I would love you all to read it.

Christine and her husband Tom live in Christian community in Seattle and head up an organisation called ‘Mustard Seed Associates’, and I’ve met them and heard them speak a number of times, their blog is worth a read in its own right. I would recommend to you all that you add it to your blogroll, they have so much to teach us about what it means to live intentionally before God, and a lot to contribute to the ongoing discussion of what means to follow Jesus in the everyday.

Anyhow, my blog post is now up on their site and you can find the post here, go have a look and reflect on it – and let me know your thoughts. I’d love to hear your responses…