I love reading biographies about interesting people and have recently been loving reading this book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. For those of you who don't know who he is, he was a German church minister who was involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler. I've found the book fascinating on several levels.
Firstly, hearing about how his parents raised him has given me inspiration for how to raise my children to follow Jesus and make their mark on the world in a positive way.
Secondly, I've really enjoyed reading about the events surrounding the Second World War from a much different perspective that year 7 history lessons. I've gained a better understanding of how Hitler pulled the wool over everyone's eyes until it was too late and Germany's fate was sealed. Reading Bonhoeffer's journey towards involvement in the assassination plot has also shown me that ethics are not always black and white and that obedience to God's calling moment by moment is more important that obedience to a moral code.
Lastly, reading about the things he did while running 'illegal' seminary schools reignited in me a desire for regular times of prayer and reflection. At his seminaries the students were all encouraged to meditate on a Bible verse and spend time in prayer every morning and evening at the same time. Taking time out to hear God speak daily is vital to building a relationship with Him. Also, the practice of doing it daily at the same time as other brothers and sisters in Christ builds a great sense of community.
When I was working for a Christian charity many years ago they too taught a lot about 'spiritual disciplines' and daily rhythms of work, prayer and praise. Back then everyone in the organisation, located all across the UK, would take 2 minutes to pray at the same time every day. We also were encouraged to cultivate daily Bible reading and times of reflection as well as learning about Celtic Christians and making use of ancient Celtic prayers. I found it so refreshing and it brought new life to my relationship with Jesus. As time has gone by I've lost those rhythms and my life and relationships are worse for it. It's been great to be reminded of those things again and at the same time I've discovered a great book of Celtic prayers with Bible verses, prayers and reflections designed for every morning and evening. I'm excited to find a new and better rhythm to life again but struggling to get started and wish I had others doing it with me to encourage me.
Will you join me? Will you hold me accountable and give me a kick up the bum if I don't stick to it?
Showing posts with label ordinary radicals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ordinary radicals. Show all posts
Saturday, October 05, 2013
Thursday, January 31, 2013
We are all women of valour
Today I read this great article about celebrating what we do as women instead of beating ourselves up over not being superwoman. Have a read and I hope you will be encouraged woman of valour:
Okay, I’ll admit it. I never loved the Proverbs 31 Woman.
Actually, that may be an understatement. Truth be told, I secretly hated her.
The subject of a twenty-two line acrostic poem found in the last chapter of the book of Proverbs, the “wife of noble character” is cited at nearly every Christian women’s conference as the ideal to which all godly women must strive. The bad news for the domestically-challenged among us is that the life of the Proverbs 31 woman is like a Pinterest board come to life: She rises before dawn each day, provides exotic food for her children, runs a profitable textile business, invests in real estate, cares for the poor, spends hours at the loom making clothes and coverings for her bed, and crafts holiday wreaths out of coffee filters. (Okay, so that last one was straight from Pinterest, but you get the idea.)
Growing up in the Church, I sat through many a sermon explaining how domestic exploits like these represented the essence of true womanhood, and over time, I began to see myself as less-than, falling short of God’s ideal each time I turned to Sara Lee for dessert or called my mom to help me hem my own slacks.
So when I decided to commit one year of my life to studying (and at times, practicing) everything the Bible says about women as part of my “Year of Biblical Womanhood,” I knew I’d have to come face-to-face with the Proverbs 31 Woman in a way I hadn’t before.
I started by attempting to turn the poem into a to-do list, which resulted in a 16-item list that included everything from lifting weights each morning (“she girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong”), to making a purple dress to wear (“she makes coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple”), to knitting scarves for my husband (“when it snows, she has no fear for her household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet”), to making a homemade sign and literally praising my husband at the city gate (“her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land”).
I had a bit of fun with that last one, but the rest proved exhausting. Within a few weeks, I’d started and unraveled at least two scarves, broken the old second-hand sewing machine I’d dug out of my closet, cursed at the picture of Martha Stewart smiling glibly from the cover of my cookbook, and embarrassed myself at Hobby Lobby by crying in the fabric aisle.
Finally, I consulted Ahava, an Orthodox Jewish woman I had befriended during the project.
“So do Jewish women struggle with this passage as much as Christian women?” I asked.
Ahava seemed a bit bewildered.
“Not at all!” she said. “In my culture, Proverbs 31 is a blessing.”
Ahava repeated a finding I’d discovered in my research, that the first line of the Proverbs 31 poem—“a virtuous woman who can find?”—is best translated, “a woman of valor who can find?” In fact, the structure and diction employed in the poem closely resembles that of a heroic poem celebrating the exploits of a warrior.
“I get called an eshet chayil (woman of valor) all the time,” Ahava explained. “Make your own challah instead of buying? Eshet chayil! Work to earn some extra money for the family? Eshet chayil! Get promoted at your work? Eshet chayil! Make balloon animals for the kids at a party? Eshet chayil! Every week at the Sabbath table, my husband sings the Proverbs 31 poem to me. It’s special because I know that no matter what I do or don’t do, he praises me for blessing the family with my energy and creativity. All women can do that in their own way. I bet you do as well.”
I looked into this, and sure enough, in Jewish culture it is not the women who memorize Proverbs 31, but the men. Husband commit each line of the poem to memory, so they can recite it to their wives at the Sabbath meal, usually in a song. (The astute reader will notice that the only actual instruction found in the entire poem is that a husband celebrate his wife for “all her hands have done.”) The praise is meant to be unconditional.
But the blessing goes beyond the family. Ahava explained that her Jewish friends cheer one another on with the blessing, celebrating everything from promotions, to pregnancies, to acts of mercy and justice, to battles with cancer with a hearty “eshet chayil!”—woman of valor.
The biblical heroine Ruth is called an “eshet chayil,” in fact. And she is called that at a time when her life looked nothing like the life of the Proverbs 31 woman, when she was a poor, childless, widow, who, far from exchanging fine linens with the merchants, spent her days gleaning leftover grain from the fields.
“All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character (eshet chayil),” Boaz says to her.
I liked it.
No, I loved it.
So I set aside my to-do list and began using Proverbs 31 as it was meant to be used—not as yet another impossible standard by which to measure our failures, but as a celebration of what we’ve already accomplished as women of valor. When my friend Tiffany’s pharmacy aced its accreditation, I congratulated her with “eshet chayil!” When my sister beat out about a million applicants for the job she wanted in North Carolina, I called her up and shouted “woman of valor!” When my mom overcame breast cancer, I made a card that said “eshet chayil” on the front. When I learned that three women had won the Nobel Peace Prize, I shared the new with my readers in a blog post entitled, “Meet Three Women of Valor.”
As I saw how powerful and affirming this ancient blessing could be, I decided it was time for Christian women to take back Proverbs 31. Somewhere along the way, we surrendered it to the same people who invented airbrushing and Auto-Tune. We abandoned the meaning of the poem by focusing on the specifics, and it became just another impossible standard by which to measure our failures. We turned an anthem into an assignment, a poem into a job description.
But according to Ahava, the woman described in Proverbs 31 is not some ideal that exists out there; she is present in each one of us when we do even the smallest things with valor.
And that’s worth celebrating…with or without a Pinterest board.
Why You Don't Need Pinterest to be a Proverbs 31 Woman
Okay, I’ll admit it. I never loved the Proverbs 31 Woman.
Actually, that may be an understatement. Truth be told, I secretly hated her.
The subject of a twenty-two line acrostic poem found in the last chapter of the book of Proverbs, the “wife of noble character” is cited at nearly every Christian women’s conference as the ideal to which all godly women must strive. The bad news for the domestically-challenged among us is that the life of the Proverbs 31 woman is like a Pinterest board come to life: She rises before dawn each day, provides exotic food for her children, runs a profitable textile business, invests in real estate, cares for the poor, spends hours at the loom making clothes and coverings for her bed, and crafts holiday wreaths out of coffee filters. (Okay, so that last one was straight from Pinterest, but you get the idea.)
Growing up in the Church, I sat through many a sermon explaining how domestic exploits like these represented the essence of true womanhood, and over time, I began to see myself as less-than, falling short of God’s ideal each time I turned to Sara Lee for dessert or called my mom to help me hem my own slacks.
So when I decided to commit one year of my life to studying (and at times, practicing) everything the Bible says about women as part of my “Year of Biblical Womanhood,” I knew I’d have to come face-to-face with the Proverbs 31 Woman in a way I hadn’t before.
I started by attempting to turn the poem into a to-do list, which resulted in a 16-item list that included everything from lifting weights each morning (“she girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong”), to making a purple dress to wear (“she makes coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple”), to knitting scarves for my husband (“when it snows, she has no fear for her household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet”), to making a homemade sign and literally praising my husband at the city gate (“her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land”).
I had a bit of fun with that last one, but the rest proved exhausting. Within a few weeks, I’d started and unraveled at least two scarves, broken the old second-hand sewing machine I’d dug out of my closet, cursed at the picture of Martha Stewart smiling glibly from the cover of my cookbook, and embarrassed myself at Hobby Lobby by crying in the fabric aisle.
Finally, I consulted Ahava, an Orthodox Jewish woman I had befriended during the project.
“So do Jewish women struggle with this passage as much as Christian women?” I asked.
Ahava seemed a bit bewildered.
“Not at all!” she said. “In my culture, Proverbs 31 is a blessing.”
Ahava repeated a finding I’d discovered in my research, that the first line of the Proverbs 31 poem—“a virtuous woman who can find?”—is best translated, “a woman of valor who can find?” In fact, the structure and diction employed in the poem closely resembles that of a heroic poem celebrating the exploits of a warrior.
“I get called an eshet chayil (woman of valor) all the time,” Ahava explained. “Make your own challah instead of buying? Eshet chayil! Work to earn some extra money for the family? Eshet chayil! Get promoted at your work? Eshet chayil! Make balloon animals for the kids at a party? Eshet chayil! Every week at the Sabbath table, my husband sings the Proverbs 31 poem to me. It’s special because I know that no matter what I do or don’t do, he praises me for blessing the family with my energy and creativity. All women can do that in their own way. I bet you do as well.”
I looked into this, and sure enough, in Jewish culture it is not the women who memorize Proverbs 31, but the men. Husband commit each line of the poem to memory, so they can recite it to their wives at the Sabbath meal, usually in a song. (The astute reader will notice that the only actual instruction found in the entire poem is that a husband celebrate his wife for “all her hands have done.”) The praise is meant to be unconditional.
But the blessing goes beyond the family. Ahava explained that her Jewish friends cheer one another on with the blessing, celebrating everything from promotions, to pregnancies, to acts of mercy and justice, to battles with cancer with a hearty “eshet chayil!”—woman of valor.
The biblical heroine Ruth is called an “eshet chayil,” in fact. And she is called that at a time when her life looked nothing like the life of the Proverbs 31 woman, when she was a poor, childless, widow, who, far from exchanging fine linens with the merchants, spent her days gleaning leftover grain from the fields.
“All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character (eshet chayil),” Boaz says to her.
I liked it.
No, I loved it.
So I set aside my to-do list and began using Proverbs 31 as it was meant to be used—not as yet another impossible standard by which to measure our failures, but as a celebration of what we’ve already accomplished as women of valor. When my friend Tiffany’s pharmacy aced its accreditation, I congratulated her with “eshet chayil!” When my sister beat out about a million applicants for the job she wanted in North Carolina, I called her up and shouted “woman of valor!” When my mom overcame breast cancer, I made a card that said “eshet chayil” on the front. When I learned that three women had won the Nobel Peace Prize, I shared the new with my readers in a blog post entitled, “Meet Three Women of Valor.”
As I saw how powerful and affirming this ancient blessing could be, I decided it was time for Christian women to take back Proverbs 31. Somewhere along the way, we surrendered it to the same people who invented airbrushing and Auto-Tune. We abandoned the meaning of the poem by focusing on the specifics, and it became just another impossible standard by which to measure our failures. We turned an anthem into an assignment, a poem into a job description.
But according to Ahava, the woman described in Proverbs 31 is not some ideal that exists out there; she is present in each one of us when we do even the smallest things with valor.
And that’s worth celebrating…with or without a Pinterest board.
This was written by Rachel Held Evans, a popular blogger and the author of A Year of
Biblical Womanhood, which recently released.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
I wanna walk like you.....
Just read this Bible verse that hit me smack between the eyes. Check out 1 John 2:6...
Woah!!! What a challenging statement!?! Take some time to think about it and really digest it.
Here's a few things to consider as you do...
1) Do you claim to live in God? Do people know you are a follower of Jesus or do you keep it quiet?
2) The verse says that those who claim to live in God MUST walk as Jesus did - it's not just a suggestion, it's a necessity!
3) What does it look like to walk like Jesus? Take some time to read the gospels and see for yourself. How did Jesus treat people? Who did he spend his time with? What was his relationship with God like?
4) One of the main things that stands out about Jesus is the miracles he did. If someone was sick he didn't just wish them well - he healed them!! He raised the dead, turned water into wine, calmed storms and walked on water!!! The thing that challenges me most about this verse is that I don't see many signs and wonders like that in my life. Why? Because, unlike Jesus, I fail to put to use the power and authority that has been given to me by God's Holy Spirit. If I am to properly walk as Jesus walked then I need to make some changes.
What about you?
"Whoever claims to live in Him (God) must walk as Jesus did".
Woah!!! What a challenging statement!?! Take some time to think about it and really digest it.
Here's a few things to consider as you do...
1) Do you claim to live in God? Do people know you are a follower of Jesus or do you keep it quiet?
2) The verse says that those who claim to live in God MUST walk as Jesus did - it's not just a suggestion, it's a necessity!
3) What does it look like to walk like Jesus? Take some time to read the gospels and see for yourself. How did Jesus treat people? Who did he spend his time with? What was his relationship with God like?
4) One of the main things that stands out about Jesus is the miracles he did. If someone was sick he didn't just wish them well - he healed them!! He raised the dead, turned water into wine, calmed storms and walked on water!!! The thing that challenges me most about this verse is that I don't see many signs and wonders like that in my life. Why? Because, unlike Jesus, I fail to put to use the power and authority that has been given to me by God's Holy Spirit. If I am to properly walk as Jesus walked then I need to make some changes.
What about you?
Monday, October 20, 2008
Time for a revolution?
Been doing a lot of reading and thinking recently and thought I'd share some of it with you over the next few weeks. I'm gonna start with looking at the topic of 'Babylon'.
In a lot of religions, Babylon is used in a symbolic way. What does it symbolise? Check out http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2018;&version=51; and see what you think it symbolises. I would suggest that it's symbolic of western society/materialism/capitalism. Revelation makes for interesting reading in light of the current financial situation don't you think? Could it be that God's had enough of our greed and corruption and 'Babylon' is about to fall?
One line that stood out for me was...
"come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins..."
So, how do we do that? How can we seperate ourselves from this crazy money hungry, unjust, materialistic system that the western world seems to be caught up in?
Buy fair trade and local produce?
Grow our own food?
Refuse to be employed by large capitalist companies?
How do we avoid being brainwashed by media and advertising? How do we escape a financial system that seems set up to make the rich richer and the poor poorer? Is there a way we can avoid using money and go back to swapping goods and services?
I hate the money grabbing culture we have and the ethos of companies trying to make the highest profit instead of trying to do the best for their customers! I'm tired of seeing prices go up and quality go down. I love the idea of doing whatever I can to stick two fingers up at companies like Tesco! I'm tired of advertising trying to tell me that I can't live without a certain product or that I have to buy from a certain large store instead of going to local producers.
Ever seen 'A bugs life'? The grasshoppers bully the ants into getting food for them. But at the end the ants begin to realise they have more power than they thought. One of them turns around to the grasshoppers and says "we don't need you - it's you who needs us!!" If only we would realise that it's not us who needs big companies - they need us!!
We live in a culture that's motivated by greed, selfishness and materialism. But God tells us we should be motivated by love for our fellow man.
Romans 12:2 says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
AMEN!
In a lot of religions, Babylon is used in a symbolic way. What does it symbolise? Check out http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2018;&version=51; and see what you think it symbolises. I would suggest that it's symbolic of western society/materialism/capitalism. Revelation makes for interesting reading in light of the current financial situation don't you think? Could it be that God's had enough of our greed and corruption and 'Babylon' is about to fall?
One line that stood out for me was...
"come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins..."
So, how do we do that? How can we seperate ourselves from this crazy money hungry, unjust, materialistic system that the western world seems to be caught up in?
Buy fair trade and local produce?
Grow our own food?
Refuse to be employed by large capitalist companies?
How do we avoid being brainwashed by media and advertising? How do we escape a financial system that seems set up to make the rich richer and the poor poorer? Is there a way we can avoid using money and go back to swapping goods and services?
I hate the money grabbing culture we have and the ethos of companies trying to make the highest profit instead of trying to do the best for their customers! I'm tired of seeing prices go up and quality go down. I love the idea of doing whatever I can to stick two fingers up at companies like Tesco! I'm tired of advertising trying to tell me that I can't live without a certain product or that I have to buy from a certain large store instead of going to local producers.
Ever seen 'A bugs life'? The grasshoppers bully the ants into getting food for them. But at the end the ants begin to realise they have more power than they thought. One of them turns around to the grasshoppers and says "we don't need you - it's you who needs us!!" If only we would realise that it's not us who needs big companies - they need us!!
We live in a culture that's motivated by greed, selfishness and materialism. But God tells us we should be motivated by love for our fellow man.
Romans 12:2 says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
AMEN!
Friday, March 28, 2008
The true Jubilee!!!
When I saw this story I was totally blown away and inspired - what a great way to make a point about poverty and inequality...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Making the world a better place
So, we may not be able to change the world or our whole town but let's start with what we can do. How about we all make the effort to change the street where we live - to build community and make it a pleasant place to live.
Last night I sat and wrote a few ideas for how to do this:
1)Welcome new neighbours by going round and introducing yourself and taking cakes or something. Perhaps give them leaflets on useful information about the area.
2) Invite neighbours round for open house, a coffee morning, a meal
3) If someone is ill offer practical help with chores or childcare or take a meal round for them
4) Celebrate together and mourn together (births, death, marriages etc)
5) Organise a street party
6) Save energy by sharing machines and doing your washing together - and hang out and chat together while you wait for your washing to be done
7) Set up a co-op. Swap items of furniture, borrow tools, offer skills, share childcare... It could be in the form of a website or a weekly newsletter through everyone's door?
8) When you go to buy groceries, ask anyone who's stuck at home (eg elderly, single mum, ill) if they need anything from the store.
That was just a quick list I came up with. Please add your ideas to the list.
Last night I sat and wrote a few ideas for how to do this:
1)Welcome new neighbours by going round and introducing yourself and taking cakes or something. Perhaps give them leaflets on useful information about the area.
2) Invite neighbours round for open house, a coffee morning, a meal
3) If someone is ill offer practical help with chores or childcare or take a meal round for them
4) Celebrate together and mourn together (births, death, marriages etc)
5) Organise a street party
6) Save energy by sharing machines and doing your washing together - and hang out and chat together while you wait for your washing to be done
7) Set up a co-op. Swap items of furniture, borrow tools, offer skills, share childcare... It could be in the form of a website or a weekly newsletter through everyone's door?
8) When you go to buy groceries, ask anyone who's stuck at home (eg elderly, single mum, ill) if they need anything from the store.
That was just a quick list I came up with. Please add your ideas to the list.
Who've you robbed today?
The other day I read this really challenging quote from Basil the Great...
"When someone strips a man of his clothes, we call him a thief. And one who might clothe the naked and does not - should not he be given the same name? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat in your wardrobe belongs to the naked; the shoes you let rot belong to the barefoot; the money in your vaults belongs to the destitute."
And then I was reading Luke 3:10-14 and read John the Baptist expressing the same sentiments. He was preaching and baptising people and crowds came flooding to see what was going on and join in. I'm guessing a lot of people who came to be baptised by John were just doing it cos it was the latest thing and everyone was doing it. John pulled no punches in challenging the people's wrong motives. He challenged them about their heart attitude and about allowing themselves to be transformed by the gospel. So the people began asking what they should do, what should a transformed life look like? How did John respond? Did he tell them to go to church? Read the Bible every day? Pray 5 times a day? No. What was his first response?
"If you have 2 shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry."
None of John's responses had anything to do with religious rituals. Instead he talked to them about treating the poor right, about acting with justice and about being content with what they have. Today, when the Christian church encourages people to be transformed and follow Christ we often begin by telling them about religious things they should do and don't even mention the things John the Baptist taught. We appear to have got a mixed up view of what it really means to follow Jesus and have given others the wrong idea too and for that I'm very sorry. Thankfully, the church seems to be beginning to rediscover the heart of what Jesus taught and the importance of justice and loving our neighbour over performing religious acts.
Children of the revolution?
In church, a lot of people seem to have the view that doing God's work is the job of the guys up the front, the 'pros', the pastors, teachers, apostles and prophets. But check out this verse...
"Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work..."
It says that their job is to equip God's people (aka the church) to do his work - not to do it all themselves! Doing the work of God is the job of us everyday ordinary people in the pews and the 'pros' up the front are just there to help us.
So, when you go to church, what's your reason for being there? Do you go to be trained, equipped and inspired ready to go out and do the work of God and build his Kingdom the rest of the week? If not, maybe you should just have a lie-in on a Sunday morning instead - seriously, just don't bother coming. Ok, maybe I'm being a little harsh (or perhaps not?!).
God didn't design church to be just some comfortable social club. If that's all you want then go join the gym or take up golf. And God's not interested in us performing a bunch of empty religious rituals once a week. The way I read the Bible, it seems to me that God designed his church to be a bunch of rebels and revolutionaries who are willing to take risks to build his kingdom. I was reading some stuff last night about the early church and the radical way they lived. For example, if they couldn't feed the hungry people in their community, the church would fast until they had enough food for everyone to sit down and have a meal!!! And many of them were persecuted and even killed for pledging allegiance to Christ and to God's Kingdom instead of any earthly kingdoms. How did something that started out as a radical, dangerous community become so safe?!!
So, when you go to church, what's your reason for being there? Do you go to be trained, equipped and inspired ready to go out and do the work of God and build his Kingdom the rest of the week? If not, maybe you should just have a lie-in on a Sunday morning instead - seriously, just don't bother coming. Ok, maybe I'm being a little harsh (or perhaps not?!).
God didn't design church to be just some comfortable social club. If that's all you want then go join the gym or take up golf. And God's not interested in us performing a bunch of empty religious rituals once a week. The way I read the Bible, it seems to me that God designed his church to be a bunch of rebels and revolutionaries who are willing to take risks to build his kingdom. I was reading some stuff last night about the early church and the radical way they lived. For example, if they couldn't feed the hungry people in their community, the church would fast until they had enough food for everyone to sit down and have a meal!!! And many of them were persecuted and even killed for pledging allegiance to Christ and to God's Kingdom instead of any earthly kingdoms. How did something that started out as a radical, dangerous community become so safe?!!
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Selective blindness
As you sit comfortably in your nice warm home or office in front of your computer screen, take a moment to consider those who don't have a home or a job. These people are so often forgotten and invisible. Well, no, not invisible actually - it's more that we're blind, we refuse to see!!
So often as we read the Bible we interpret it through the eyes of our own experience; we see things how we want to see them and interpret them in the way that we feel most comfortable with. But when read properly the Bible should make us feel distinctly uncomfortable about our comfortable lifestyles. Let's not forget that Jesus was a homeless bloke!! So how is it that so many Christians (myself included), supposed followers of Jesus, are often so oblivious to the poor in their community.
Why not spend sometime allowing God to show you the poor, oppressed and forgotten people around you and allow you to see life through their eyes for a little while. Check out sites like http://www.slumsurvivor.com/ or http://www.geezmagazine.org/affluence/ and take some action!
So often as we read the Bible we interpret it through the eyes of our own experience; we see things how we want to see them and interpret them in the way that we feel most comfortable with. But when read properly the Bible should make us feel distinctly uncomfortable about our comfortable lifestyles. Let's not forget that Jesus was a homeless bloke!! So how is it that so many Christians (myself included), supposed followers of Jesus, are often so oblivious to the poor in their community.
Why not spend sometime allowing God to show you the poor, oppressed and forgotten people around you and allow you to see life through their eyes for a little while. Check out sites like http://www.slumsurvivor.com/ or http://www.geezmagazine.org/affluence/ and take some action!
Friday, February 15, 2008
I'm giving up Christianity!!!
Before you all think I've gone nuts and started backsliding allow me to qualify that comment!!! I've just started reading the Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne and it's AWESOME. If you're comfortable with your form of Christianity then don't touch this book with a barge pole but if you're ready to be rocked to the core of who you are and challenged about what a real Christian looks like and whether you actually are one then read it.
At the start of one chapter entitled 'In search of a Christian' the author talks about a friend of his declaring "I gave up Christianity in order to follow Jesus". The author continues by pondering "I wondered what it would look like if we decided to really follow Jesus. In fact, I wasn't exactly sure what a fully devoted Christian looked like, or if the world had even seen one in the last few centuries...it looked like some time back we had stopped living Christianity and just started studying it."
Soren Kierkegaard wrote this on the subject...
"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any word in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."
After reading these things, here's what I wrote in my diary...
"I want to give up Christianity and follow Jesus. I want to stop studying Christianity and start living it. I want to stop just reading about God and trying to gain knowledge about him - I want to actually know him personally. I want to see the face of God (I think - probably be quite scary. Maybe I'll regret saying that's what I want!). I want to be an ordinary radical and to find other ordinary radicals to do crazy things with. I want to go in search of true Christianity and to find real Christians - and I want to learn to be one myself!!"
At the start of one chapter entitled 'In search of a Christian' the author talks about a friend of his declaring "I gave up Christianity in order to follow Jesus". The author continues by pondering "I wondered what it would look like if we decided to really follow Jesus. In fact, I wasn't exactly sure what a fully devoted Christian looked like, or if the world had even seen one in the last few centuries...it looked like some time back we had stopped living Christianity and just started studying it."
Soren Kierkegaard wrote this on the subject...
"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any word in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."
After reading these things, here's what I wrote in my diary...
"I want to give up Christianity and follow Jesus. I want to stop studying Christianity and start living it. I want to stop just reading about God and trying to gain knowledge about him - I want to actually know him personally. I want to see the face of God (I think - probably be quite scary. Maybe I'll regret saying that's what I want!). I want to be an ordinary radical and to find other ordinary radicals to do crazy things with. I want to go in search of true Christianity and to find real Christians - and I want to learn to be one myself!!"
We can be Heroes?!
So, who's been watching Heroes? I was determined to try to avoid getting hooked on yet another TV series so tried to avoid it but accidentally caught the end of an episode my housemate was watching and have been hooked ever since. It's an awesome show and has so many inspiring quotes and spiritual themes - I love it!
Perhaps I'm a little too into it cos now when I read the Bible I find myself relating it to Heroes episodes! For example, as I read through the gospels I see Jesus healing people with just one touch (like Linderman), reading people's thoughts (like Matt Parkman), commanding stuff and it just happening (like Eve). And then in the Old Testament you have the prophets seeing glimpses of the future that they don't fully understand - just like Isaac Mendez!
One of the big questions raised by Heroes is this - do humans really have hidden potential, is it possible for us to have powers like that? As I read about Jesus in the gospels it seems the answer is 'Yes'. But Jesus is special right - God in human form and all that - of course it makes sense for him to have these special abilities. But what about you and me? Well, just before heading back to heaven, Jesus tells his mates that the same Spirit that's in him will be in them and will give them the same abilities that he had. He also promises that ANYONE who believes in him will also be filled with that same Spirit and have the same abilities!!!! WE CAN BE HEROES!! The book of Acts describes Jesus mates getting these special abilities and in 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul talks about the kind of special abilities we might get and how we should use them.
One thing that stood out as I was watching Heroes was how they each dealt with their powers. Nathan Petrelli didn't really use his - he just tried to carry on life as normal and pretend he was like everyone else. He didn't want to be labelled a freak. But Hiro Nakamura instantly recognised the significance of his powers and the responsibility that came with them. He believed that he had these powers for a reason and that he had a responsibility to use them to benefit others whenever the opportunity arose. At first his powers were very unreliable and he didn't really understand how to use them but he was determined to put in the effort to hone them. And when an opportunity arose for him to use his powers he didn't think about his own personal safety. He saw it as destiny calling him and said that he had to answer that call no matter what.
So, I believe in Jesus, the same Spirit that is in him is in me, I have access to the same power. How do I react to this? Do I take time to explore these special abilities and hone them? Do I take every opportunity to use them to benefit others? When I see a bad situation do I see it as an opportunity to use God's power to change things? Or do I try to act 'normal' and fit in with everyone else and pretend like those abilities aren't real cos I don't want to rock the boat?
What about you? Are you more like Nathan Petrelli or Hiro Nakamura? Who do you want to live like? Is it time to make some changes?!
Perhaps I'm a little too into it cos now when I read the Bible I find myself relating it to Heroes episodes! For example, as I read through the gospels I see Jesus healing people with just one touch (like Linderman), reading people's thoughts (like Matt Parkman), commanding stuff and it just happening (like Eve). And then in the Old Testament you have the prophets seeing glimpses of the future that they don't fully understand - just like Isaac Mendez!
One of the big questions raised by Heroes is this - do humans really have hidden potential, is it possible for us to have powers like that? As I read about Jesus in the gospels it seems the answer is 'Yes'. But Jesus is special right - God in human form and all that - of course it makes sense for him to have these special abilities. But what about you and me? Well, just before heading back to heaven, Jesus tells his mates that the same Spirit that's in him will be in them and will give them the same abilities that he had. He also promises that ANYONE who believes in him will also be filled with that same Spirit and have the same abilities!!!! WE CAN BE HEROES!! The book of Acts describes Jesus mates getting these special abilities and in 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul talks about the kind of special abilities we might get and how we should use them.
One thing that stood out as I was watching Heroes was how they each dealt with their powers. Nathan Petrelli didn't really use his - he just tried to carry on life as normal and pretend he was like everyone else. He didn't want to be labelled a freak. But Hiro Nakamura instantly recognised the significance of his powers and the responsibility that came with them. He believed that he had these powers for a reason and that he had a responsibility to use them to benefit others whenever the opportunity arose. At first his powers were very unreliable and he didn't really understand how to use them but he was determined to put in the effort to hone them. And when an opportunity arose for him to use his powers he didn't think about his own personal safety. He saw it as destiny calling him and said that he had to answer that call no matter what.
So, I believe in Jesus, the same Spirit that is in him is in me, I have access to the same power. How do I react to this? Do I take time to explore these special abilities and hone them? Do I take every opportunity to use them to benefit others? When I see a bad situation do I see it as an opportunity to use God's power to change things? Or do I try to act 'normal' and fit in with everyone else and pretend like those abilities aren't real cos I don't want to rock the boat?
What about you? Are you more like Nathan Petrelli or Hiro Nakamura? Who do you want to live like? Is it time to make some changes?!
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