You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August, 2007.
Last night at our church we were looking at the end of Hebrews. The writer challenges his readers to live out the ‘new perspective’ (that should get some google hits!) they have. Looking to Jesus, suffering as he did, looking to the new city will mean we’ll do crazy things like entertain strangers and associate with the outcasts of society (in Hebrews, those in prison).
As we were talking it struck me how much of a ‘big’ thing it is for us in our culture to really follow this through. Clearly it was a big enough thing at the time Hebrews was written too, or else the writer wouldn’t have needed to encourage them to do it. But in our very individualistic culture it is a MASSIVE thing!
To entertain family is one thing (and for some suffering enough!) but to entertain strangers is something no sensible person would do. Imagine if the person turned out to be a drug user and stole some money. Well that is indeed a danger. Some people in one of the other TCH congregations took in a fella who was on the street and a drug addict. And he stole someones wallet and disappeared. What did those people do? Read the rest of this entry »
I was quite struck by this blog entry by Samuel McWhirter about his recent trip to Iraq. The blog is well worth reading – but be prepared to have your heart ripped out and then put back again, but renewed…
“Whilst Fiona remained at home teaching the girls the song ‘My God is so Big’, we went with the two brothers and Mam Zirrar to the city centre and to the park I had previously visited. Even busier than before we weaved our way through all the crowds and came across a memorial marking the bombing and death of 98 people on 1st February 2004. This memorial was grand and as such seemed to convey a confident finality that this kind of atrocity will not happen again. Seeing all the names written on a towering marble book was sobering and depressing in light of the bombings that occurred in this city earlier in the year. Will another memorial have to be constructed for these recent deaths? Read the rest of this entry »
This is a very clever blog entry I got off Alan Hirsch’s blog site. As you read it through you’ll see the obvious links with our churches…
So, without further ado, here’s how to stop Al-Qaeda in it’s tracks…
1) Complexify the message
Right now, it’s so simple, it can pass from one to the next, and be easily grasped by the uneducated, the young — everyone. This is dangerous, because it’s highly contagious, and people on the street feel capable of enlisting others in the cause.
2) Construct a less “flat”, more hierarchical structure
Currently, small, underground groups can move nimbly and autonomously, complicating efforts to thwart them. A more regimented, stratified approach, where some members are left thinking, “I can’t know enough to do anything” would bring the movement to a halt. Read the rest of this entry »
The Arctic Monkeys.
Who are they?
They’re not a rare breed of the ape family who survive at very low temperatures.
If you haven’t heard of them before the Arctic Monkeys are a band who are topping the charts, and amazingly enough, they’re from Sheffield.
In fact they’re thoroughly Sheffield.
The great thing about them is they don’t feel any need to sing in an American accent and that endears me to them.
They use words like ‘owt’, ‘alreyt’, and phrases like ‘you’ve got a face on’…
They also don’t feel that to be artistic they have to use long, fancy sounding words, strung together in such a way that no one really knows what it means, except, for that very reason it must be clever…
No – the Arctic Monkeys do what musicians worth anything (at least in my opinion) will do – they sing about life.
So what do the Arctic Monkeys tell us about life? Read the rest of this entry »
Summer is normally a quiet time for churches – students go home for three months, families go on holiday…
But as with most things, that’s not the way we do it in the Crowded House. Not that we’ve particularly planned it that way. Over the summer months at the larger congregation of Sharrow Vale we’ve been getting more people than is comfortable, but that’s another issue.
At TCH South View tonight we were missing 7 of our normal church (out of 16). But there were still 12 people there! (not including my brother who was visiting)… you can do the maths. What was really encouraging was that of the 7 people who were away only 2 were students. Our 3 other students are around most of the summer (the other two should be back by mid-August). It’s been such a privilege to see God working in so many of our church and giving them a real passion for each other and desire to be with each other.
As some of you may have read, during Summer in the City we spent time with some of the alcoholics and drug-addicts who hang out near where we meet. I’ve been trying to spend time with them over the past few weeks since as well. On Friday, we helped one of them, Pete, to move his stuff to his new accommodation. He then came back to our house for a meal and we watched a film together.
Tonight Pete came to our meeting. It was great to hear him asking questions. He was very honest about his fear of death. And then he prayed. In his prayer he apologised for asking questions (he really didn’t need to!), doubting and not understanding. He thanked God for the kind people he had met and then he said to God ‘I apologise for not believing you. I want to believe, and I do believe. I know what’s wrong and what’s right. I just wanted to apologise.’ It was great to hear him just talk to God. We’re going to try and meet up next week to start looking at the overall picture of the Bible using ‘The World We All Want’ course. Hopefully that will help him work through some of his questions.
It’s just so wonderful to see God working in so many ways – in the lives of his people, young and old as they are captured by the gospel and grow in love for him and each other, and in the lives of people of such broken backgrounds, as they see their desperate need of a saviour, and they speak so openly to him.
We will indeed glory in our redeemer.
Just read this on a blog about caring for pastor’s wives. The entry has some very helpful advice on how churches can care for their pastor’s wives better. However it did strike me again that although great advice is given, once more the fundamental structures on mordern western ministry are not being questioned.
“There is also the reality that the pastor and his family works, lives, breathes, relates, ministers, etc. in the church. There is no ‘escape’- and this is fraught with pressure, fear, and unrealistic expectations.”
Surely there is something wrong, not just with how the congregation are treating the pastor’s family, but with the very structures themselves when thoughts of ‘escape’ from our church families even enter our minds. Read the rest of this entry »
