Posts Tagged ‘Evolving church’
Spilling The Blood Of Our Wounds (#OutOfSortsBook)
Do you ever feel out of sorts?
The feeling that underneath the veneer of ‘togethered-ness’ you give to the majority of the world around you, you are ready to fall apart.
And that sense that all the certainty of what you believed – whether atheist, agnostic, or someone of faith, something doesn’t make sense? That there’s more than the certainty you once knew.
Or maybe, if you’re a Christian like me, that all the rigid rules, doctrines and beliefs you once held sacred just don’t fit with the material reality of your life?
Me too.
I’m pretty good at the whole, “I’ve got it sorted” routine. Sometimes, even, it’s a little true. But in the last few years the veneer of certainty has gone.
The more I’ve spoken about the way my faith is evolving, the more voices of disagreement I hear.
Read MoreTogether At The Table: A Glimmer Of Heaven
It’s been a privilege these last few weeks sharing this series on LGBT and faith. I’ve shared my story, we’ve heard stories from a gay Christian and bisexual Christian, and I’ve shared some resources to help you on your journey. And after this series is over I’m going to continue advocating for this issue, on social media and occasionally here.
But I want to finish on a positive note, with a story of hope.
You see it’s been a long time since I’ve been truly hopeful about the church, and the Christian faith. I often stand back from both of these and see such brokenness, such fear.
I’ve seen fear controlling much of the Christian faith and Christian church. This fear we all have of the unknown, the unseen, the mysterious. Circumstances and forces outside our control. And it’s perfectly human to feel this way – most of us do. I do, much of the time.
This I see most of all in relation to the issue of sexuality and faith. So much fear. But I also see a lot of hope too.
Read MoreKnow your Sabbath, know yourself
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4] I watched the film ‘The Social Network’ last night (see the trailer above), a film which tells the story of the early years of Facebook, how and why it came about and how as things developed it affected the relationship of the two guys who began it. Its a brilliant film and I’d recommend…
Read MoreSabbath & Creativity
Recently, whilst examining the principle of the Sabbath, I realised there is a link between Sabbath and creativity. And that, in fact, Sabbath at its best is at the heart of what it is to follow Jesus – and should impact every single part of our lives.
Read MoreDiscipleship & Sabbath – Two sides of the same coin?
The more I think and research the idea and concept of sabbath, the art of rest, how we need to get rhythms in our lives in order to be fully productive and properly rested human beings, the more I am beginning to see there is a bigger story at work here. I guess I should…
Read MoreResurrection
Today I saw a brand new film by Rob Bell, simply called ‘Resurrection’, which you can see below. And no better day to share it than today, Easter Sunday. The text for the video is shown below the video itself, and is worth a read all on its own. Take a look, you won’t be disappointed.…
Read MoreThe Creative Impulse
Not often have I talked about non-theological or non-ecclesiological (non-church) related topics here – and what I am about to talk about is church-related in one sense – but today I want to speak a bit about one of my other passions, creativity. All of us are creative in our own way. Some more obviously…
Read MoreSeasons of an evolving church?
I am constantly amazed how the physical patterns in creation,nature and in our lives often reflect spiritual truths. Little things which we don’t really pay attention to that much but when you look deeper there’s something profound. There are many examples. First, look at food. On a vey basic level, food comes from plant seeds…
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