Yarns of a Youth Worker

Christmas Speeches

2011-12-25T20:56:00.000Z

One of the major traditions at Christmas in the UK is the Queen's speech. I have never watched it before, but as it came on TV my dad (somewhat jokingly) said, "Quick, come, it's the Queen's speech." So we sat down and watched her do what she has been doing every Christmas since 1952.

She spoke of the importance of community and family, recognising the significance of the "God given love" in the two marriages of her grandchildren, Zara Phillips and Prince William.

She also noted the fact that Christmas is not easy for everyone. It was at this point that she really bought the meaning of Christmas home. I have to be honest at this point; I was expecting her to take a mainly secular line with her speech and to add some twee, but non-committal, Christian terms that have as much religious punch as Christmas Crackers. However, she really went for it.

She spoke of "finding of hope in adversity" is the meaning of the season, and how Christmas is a celebration of the power of redemption, hope and forgiveness. She also told us how we need the salvation bought through Jesus:

Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves - from our recklessness or our greed.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed her speech. She spoke of who Jesus was, the need that we be saved, the Godly power of forgiveness and told us it was her prayer that we should all find "the love of God through Christ our Lord." Amen to that, sister.

For the full text of the speech, click here.

The Queen's Commonwealth address seems more upbeat than other speeches this Christmas- especially if you go by article headlines. 'Lament' seems to be the mot du jour, as both the Archbishop of Canterbury 'laments "abuse of trust"' and the Pope 'lamented the enduring presence of violence in the world', according to this article.

taken from Guardian.co.uk

Rowan Williams commented on the riots and the economic problems this country faces at Canterbury Cathedral. He had some points to make, as well, about the rich within this country and whether they are sharing in this economic downturn. The Pope called for the end of violence in Syria, in his Urbi et Orbi this year. Like the Queen, he spoke of how Jesus "brought to the world a universal message of reconciliation and peace". In his Christmas Eve speech he also condemned the commercialisation of Christmas, and asked people to look past the glitter.

To read the Pope's Urbi et Orbi, click here.

What did you do this Christmas?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T01:00:00.000Z

Merry Christmas, folks! I hope you all have a lovely day.

If you have missed any of this year's eAdvent Calendar click here to catch up.I'm off to Israel tomorrow, and will hopefully blog about it. As I'm away for the last week of December the December Round Up may be a bit later than usual.

But for now, tell me in the comments what you did for Christmas and what presents you got.

So, for now, Happy Christmas and have a great New Year. See you in 2012.

Advent Calendar: Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T01:00:00.000Z

This year I thought I would give you all a digital Advent Calendar! Each day in December, come along and see what's been put up. Some days will be thought provoking. Some will be to bring you joy. Some will be just silly.

Day 24

Quick Questions

Are you excited by Christmas?

Advent Calendar: Day 23

2011-12-23T01:00:00.000Z

Quick Questions

Who will you be missing this Christmas?

Advent Calendar: Day 22

2011-12-22T01:00:00.000Z

Quick Questions

What inspiring Christmas stories do you have?

Advent Calendar: Day 21

2011-12-21T01:00:00.000Z

Quick Questions

Do you leave cookies out for Father Christmas?

Advent Calendar: Day 20

2011-12-20T01:00:00.000Z

Quick Questions

What Christmas traditions do you have?

Advent Calendar: Day 19

2011-12-19T01:00:00.000Z

White Christmas from Henning Sandström on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

Do you enjoy winter sports
Can you say 'Happy Christmas' in any other languages?

Advent Calendar: Day 18

2011-12-18T01:00:00.000Z

North Point's iBand from North Point Web on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

Wasn't that awesome?

Advent Calendar: Day 17

2011-12-17T01:00:00.000Z

Gift a Stranger from Happiness Brussels on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

How can you bring joy to someone in an unexpected way?

Advent Calendar: Day 16

2011-12-16T01:00:00.000Z

A Social Network Christmas from Igniter Media on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

Do you use social media/the internet to celebrate Christmas?

Advent Calendar: Day 15

2011-12-15T01:00:00.000Z

What Do You Want for Christmas? | A Short Film from Andy Miller on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

What do you want for Christmas?

Advent Calendar: Day 14

2011-12-14T01:00:00.000Z

Befriend a Geek from White October on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

Who could you befriend this Christmas?

Advent Calendar: Day 13

2011-12-13T01:00:00.000Z

Wasn't that just amazing?

Identity Issues

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000Z

This was previously posted on my old blog. I rediscovered it, saw it was good (even if I do say so myself), so I thought I'd post it here.

For my dissertation I have been reading essays on how certain characters have fictionalised others (usually the male fictionalising the female, as this line of argument is often found in feminist discourse), and this got me to thinking. To what extent am I just a figment of society’s imagination? How is my identity as an individual determined? Fortunately, I came to a reassuring conclusion, but you’re going to have to wait for that.

The question of identity is one that is an issue that is existent in our lives since about the age of two. In fact, it is the arrival of the question of identity that makes the twos so terrible. For the first years of a baby’s life they are under the impression that they are merely an extension of the primary care-giver (as it usually the mother, that is what I shall continue to call it). Their existence is bound by their mother's; the child is alive only because their mother is. Come two, however, and the baby realises that when the mother is not there they still are, and it suddenly hits them, they are an autonomous being (Not quite like that. I doubt any two-year-olds have thought ‘Hang on a second, I’m an autonomous being. I have an identity to formulate’). Then boundaries must be established and the terrible twos have begun.

But what exactly is our identity? If I were to write down who I was we would hit problems. I would have to make use of flawed and problematic labels in order to define me. I would write something along the lines of ‘I am a: twin, brother, son, grandson, boyfriend, cousin, nephew, student, blogger, citizen of the United Kingdom, inhabitant of both the New Forest and Aberystwyth’, you get the picture. These are the slightly less transient ones. However, identity is always fluid. When I enter a shop I am a customer; when I visit another country I am a tourist; when I take the bus I become a passenger. So we can already see that identity is a very complex notion.

Also, there is a question of who’s me am I? Everyone who knows me has a slightly—or sometimes drastically—different opinion of who I am exactly. My friend Kaylee, who I know from my secondary school will think I am ‘a friend, from secondary school, who is not that organised’. However, some of my friends at University (where I have had to take responsibility for myself) will say that I am one of the most organised people they know. To be honest I think that I am quite organised, but have my silly moments. But which am I: am I Kaylee’s disorganised Thomas; my university friends’ organised Thomas; or my middle-ground Thomas? You would probably tend to say that my opinion of myself is far more accurate than those around us. Kaylee hasn’t seen my new-found skills in time-management, and my friends in Aberystwyth do not know what poor Kaylee had to put up with whilst in secondary school—however I have seen it all.

Yet, it is unlikely that we have the best knowledge of who we are. Freudian psychoanalysis has dismantled that idea well enough, but I shall discuss it anyway. Mental illnesses are the most extreme instance: the delusions of grandiose that schizophrenics suffer and the distorted body-image of those with eating-disorders are two examples of how an individual’s view of themselves can be mistaken. However, there are less extreme ways this occurs. Words such as ‘arrogant’, ‘selfish’, ‘egocentric’ are there for those who believe themselves to be better, more worthy or more important than they actually are (as denoted by social standards). To use myself as a case-study, yet again, there have been numerous times that I have realised my view of myself was wrong. I believed for a good part of my life that I was born in the year of the dragon, according to Chinese zodiac. I was quite proud of that, despite not believing in its implications. However this was dispelled when I realised that Chinese New-Year was quite late in 1988, and I was born before it. This made me a rabbit. Yes, a rabbit—quite a jump (or should I say hop. Sorry, that was terrible). This is just a small incidence compared to those you hear about in trashy magazines (‘My mother was actually my father’ type headlines). So it appears that I can’t rely on myself to form my identity. This is especially difficult with the Freudian idea of denial. You could say I was just about anything, and if I tried to refute it the most effective retort is that I am in denial.

So it appears as if we have come to a brick wall. I can't form my identity, or really know what it is. Nor can anybody else I know. So it appears that I will never know who I really am. That is quite scary. I am now an undefinable entity, and impossibility, so to speak. However, we have come to my positive conclusion. I must warn you, I have been leading you all so far to a testimony of my faith, a reason why I feel I must believe in Christ. Hopefully that will not deter you from reading on.

I have an assurance of identity in my faith. I have a God that knows everything that can be known about me. He knows how many hairs there are on my head (Matthew 10:30). God created me and knows all about me. In Psalm 139 it says

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
...
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

God created me and knows all about me, even before I was actually born. So my identity is formed through my belief in God, and through Christ. Colossians 1 tells me that Jesus is what holds the universe together, so it is him that holds my identity together. It is not my view of myself, it is not my friends' opinions of me, or who I think I am, but it is through Christ that I am made. This means that I must live in Christ, to have any complete identity:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,
rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the world rather than on Christ.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ.

Colossians 2:6-10

So there it is. The fullness of my identity is found in Christ. I am free from the despair of existential philosophy (which indeed leaves me hollow), or the denial of Freudian psychology, as long as I continue to be rooted in Christ. As my sense of identity depends on it, I think I will.

Advent Calenday: Day 12

2011-12-12T01:00:00.000Z

What was the worse Christmas present you ever received?
What was the worse Christmas present you ever gave?

Advent Calendar: Day 11

2011-12-11T01:00:00.000Z

Frosty the Snowman 2008 - Holdman Christmas Display from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

Do you go crazy with your decorations?

Advent Calendar: Day 10

2011-12-10T15:45:00.000Z

200 Christmases In 2 Minutes from Cinefamily on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

When do you start getting tired of the Christmas season?

Advent Calendar: Day 9

2011-12-09T01:00:00.000Z

Sherbet Christmas Card 2010 from joseph Pelling on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

Do you send e-cards?

Advent Calendar: Day 8

2011-12-08T01:00:00.000Z

Furoshiki gift wrapping from RecycleNow on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

What other tips do you have for an environmentally friendly Christmas?

Resource Wednesday

2011-12-07T13:00:00.000Z

It's another one for the boys! Usually I do websites, and sometimes books, and sometimes eBooks. This week, it's going to be a podcast.

Christian Vision for Men is a movement for believing men and seeks to engage men across this country. Beechy and Willmott, from CVM, have a podcast, the Beechy & Willmott Drivetime Show.

A bit like Mark Driscoll, they call guys to become tougher, more robust Christians. They're happy to talk about the common sins in men's lives and call them up on it.

Quick Questions

What podcasts do you listen to?

Advent Calendar: Day 7

2011-12-07T01:00:00.000Z

Happy Holidays from DANIELS on Vimeo.

Quick Questions?

Wow, I think that was worse than yesterdays. Do you?

Advent Calendar: Day 6

2011-12-06T01:00:00.000Z

39 Degrees North: Christmas Card 2010 from 39 Degrees North on Vimeo.

Quick Questions?

Wasn't that really creepy?

Advent Calendar: Day 5

2011-12-05T01:00:00.000Z

What surprised you about this retelling of the nativity?

Advent Calendar: Day 4

2011-12-04T01:00:00.000Z

How would you react if you flash-mobbed?
What's your favourite Christmas Song?

Advent Calendar: Day 3

2011-12-03T01:00:00.000Z

Who could do without presents this year?

Advent Calendar: Day 2

2011-12-02T01:00:00.000Z

Quick Question

What is the true story of Christmas?

November Round Up

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000Z

November has been quite an exhausting month for Thomas. It's whooshed away and now Christmas is nearly upon us.

But what has been going on in the world wide web relating to faith and Christianity?

In the Guardian

The worship of mammon is perhaps today's prevalent religion, suggests Savitri Hensman;
Julian Baggini poses an answer to "what would a 21st Century religion look like?" (Not much, by the sounds of it.) But what do others thinks?
A transcript on Rowan Williams celebration of the King James Bible can be found here.

Elsewhere

Some blogging tips
Tim Hutchings tells us how not to do online evangelism

And lastly, from reallifemoron.com via Church Sofa:

What have I missed?

Advent Calendar: Day 1

2011-12-01T01:00:00.000Z

Quick Question

What's so special about Christmas? Do we sometimes forget to remember Jesus throughout other times of the year?

Helpful things to say when someone is grieving

2011-11-30T16:00:00.000Z

Although I've been trying to keep up to date with Mark, the subsequent blogging hasn't happened. Stuff has been going on (you can probably tell by the content of this post it wasn't too cheery).

When some one has lost a loved one there are some helpful things to say. Then there are some things which aren't so helpful. They may sound fine, but if you were to say them, the person often hears something else.

"It's a part of God's plan." You know all that grief and pain you're experiencing? Well, God wanted it to happen. That's right. He decided it will happen and it's a part of his plan. Don't ask me why. I don't know. Only he does. But he's so good, right?
"Were they saved?" "Did they know Jesus?" You know that person who just died? Well, heaven or hell? An eternity of peace or fiery torment? That's all I want to know. And if it's hell, why didn't you do much about it? I'm not going to go as far as to say it's your fault...but, it's pretty much your fault.
"Did you pray for them?" I mean, if you were praying for them, they wouldn't have died right? Maybe you didn't pray with enough faith. I'm not going as far to say it's your fault...
"At least you still have..." Two grandparents. What you complaining about, man.
"They're now at peace" To be honest, I can't really be bothered to think of anything new to say, so I'll just knock out this old cliche.
Nothing. What, you're in pain? You're hurting? Look, it's just a bit awkward for me. I don't really do the 'helping friends when they're down' thing. And you'll get over it and it'll be like it never happened.

If someone gets me this card, I'll do something unspeakable...

Maybe, here are some things you could say:

Man, that sucks. I can't imagine how you feel.
I'm really sorry.
I love you.
How are you?
I'm praying for you and your family.

A hug would be nice too.

Fortunately, although I've had a few of the frustrating comments, I've had a lot of the positive comments too. Just a huge thanks to all the guys in Mosaic!

Resource Wednesday

2011-11-23T13:00:00.000Z

Despite the fact that most my readers are probably female, this one is for the guys! It's from The Resurgence website that was a Resource Wednesday a couple of months back. But, before you accuse me of playing old records, it's an ebook that is available for download from there.

Porn-Again Christian is exactly what it says it is: "a frank discussion on pornography and masturbation". Mark Driscoll, who isn't known for holding back punches, really tells it as it is. This is really refreshing in a church society that try and avoid the subject and where my generation's only enduring memory of sex education is putting condoms on plastic phalluses.

He covers some of the untouchable areas of the Bible (pardon the pun), including Song of Songs and the famous Ezekiel 23:20 passage. What is also brilliant is the way it encourages and celebrates sex. It is a fantastic thing, as Song of Songs shows: but within the context of marriage. Christian sexual education can cause a sense of guilt and sexual repression that causes more harm than good.

My only problem with the book was chapter 8, which used an interview from serial killer, rapist and necrophile, Ted Bundy. This was an obvious scare tactic; if you watch porn you'll go on to kill woman. There are few problems with this argument. Ted Bundy showed abnormal and sadistic behaviour from a young age (as young as three, and some believed he killed his first victim at 14). The pornography was probably more symptomatic that causal. Also, Bundy was a prolific liar. Most of the content of that interview was probably untrue.

Apart from the prattle of a psychopath, this book is good. And it's free. So go read it!

Mark 5

2011-11-18T08:00:00.000Z

Mark 5 is one of miracles, but they can't be more contrasting. In the first half you have Jesus casting out demons from a ridiculously strong man, then Jesus healing a woman and a a young girl.

Jesus sent out the impure spirits into a herd of pigs, who subsequently rushed over a cliff and into the sea. This wasn't a pig herd of about 5 or 6, this had about two thousand pigs in. Imagine watching two thousand pigs jump into the sea. It would have been crazy. Again, Mark fails to comment on what the owners thought. That herd would have been pretty expensive or time consuming to replace. What was strange about this episode was how the crowd reacted to the possessed man. When they saw him sitting there perfectly normally, they were afraid. Not relieved. Or surprised. Or curious. Instead, they are afraid and ask Jesus to leave.

The next miracle isn't even instigated by Jesus and takes him by surprise as much as anyone else. A woman with constant bleeding comes through the crowd and touches Jesus' cloak. This woman would have suffered a lot from her condition (some people have suggested it to be due to a fibroid tumor of the uterus). This bleeding would have made her ritually unclean and ostracised from society. In her desperation she had spent all the money she had for treatment, but for nothing. So here was her chance. The huge, crushing crowds didn't put her off and she reached out and touched the hem of his cloak.

But what I always used to wonder was why she thought touching his cloak would heal her. It could have been because she had remembered what she had heard about the Sun of Righteousness. He would have healing in his wings. In Hebrew wings and edge (in this case of a garment) were the same word. This same piece of linguistics sheds light on why Ruth asks Boaz to cover her with his cloak (see Ruth 2:12 and Ruth 3:9).

This woman has faith that he is indeed the Sun of Righteousness, and she touches his hem and she receives healing from his wings. It is amazing that Jesus was so powerful even the tassels on his cloak could heal people.

Quick Questions

What are you opinions on Mark 5?
Are you sometimes angry at the good God does? Are you a bit of a Jonah?
Tenuous image?

Mark 4

2011-11-17T08:00:00.000Z

Mark 4 is filled with Parables, that almost sound like riddles. For the first one, The Parable of the Sower, we helpfully get the study notes. It's about how sometimes the Gospel falls on deaf ears. It's both encouraging and true, that often people don't respond to what you say, or appear to and then get withered by the sun. There is hope, still, in verse 8. The seed that does take root produces a crop of multiplication.

The other parables didn't come with the York Study Notes provided, but fortunately I have the NIV mahussive Bible with all the answers. The Growing Seed Parable shows how the Gospel has it's own power and agency. God's Kingdom comes to fruition at the end, symbolised by the harvest. The next parable shows how God's Kingdom can grow exponentially from something seemingly insignificant.

Jesus constantly says, "If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear." I think this should be a pray that we Christians repeat again and again, whilst sower generously and relying on the power of the Gospel.

When then leave the Parables for Jesus calming the storm. Here the poor disciples seem to get told off for asking Jesus for help. Mind you, Jesus was probably exhausted and was accused of being uncaring. He calms the storm and they ask "Who is this guy?" They don't seem to quick on the uptake, do they?

Quick Questions

Why do you think Jesus used Parables? Is it something we don't do often enough?
What did you think of Mark 4?
Tenuous link? I didn't even explain it did I?

Mark 3

2011-11-16T08:00:00.000Z

Yesterday we left with Jesus annoying the Pharisees about the whole Sabbath. Today that's where we start. Mark 3 begins with Jesus healing a guy on a Saturday. Which is wrong to do, apparently. Jesus, however disagreed and thought the Sabbath was the perfect time to do good works.

Jesus heals quite a few people, and preaches some more, and then appoints the twelve disciples. The crowds get so immense that they have no time to even sit down and eat, which worries Jesus' family. Jesus' family thought that he crazy, and wanted to tell him what they thought. When his family arrived (in the meantime Jesus was being berated by the Pharisees, once again), Jesus seems to dismiss them. He states that everyone who obeys God is his mothers, brothers and sisters. Imagine trying to write out that family tree.

Jesus' family tree in a pretty window

Jesus really knows what he's about and what he's there for. He doesn't compromise himself, not for the religious leaders and not for his family. We don't have any of that clarity, although I think the Bible provides it for us (Matthew 28:19-20, for example). Anyone who tries to prevent him fulfilling his purpose is quickly set straight.

Quick Questions

What is your purpose?
What did you think of Mark 3?
Tenuous picture?

Mark 2

2011-11-15T08:00:00.000Z

Yesterday I had a look a Mark 1, and it was pretty much all in motion lines. Mark 2 begins with a forerunner to today's air ambulance.

A paralysed man gets hoisted through the roof of a house. As usual, Mark doesn't pad it out and leaves out any detail about the reaction of the crowd: or the house owner, for that matter. When Jesus says, "Get up and go home," I expect the house owner shouted, "Not before you fix my roof!" Also, when Jesus asked the "which would have been easier?" questions, my answer probably would have "Get up, take your mat and walk." I would have explained that "we wouldn't have got into this whole debate and you ended up saying it anyway." I think I slightly missed the point, though.

Jesus really knows how to annoy the Pharisees (a theme that becomes apparent throughout the book of Mark), although they never really manage to catch him out. In Mark 2 he forgives sins, picks grain on the Sabbath and eats with tax collectors. Sometimes I wonder if he did these things just to get on their nerves.

I love verse 17. Jesus is not for those who have it sorted and who are middle class and polite. Jesus is for the outcast, and the rude and those who don't belong. I love the Mother Teresa quote

If I ever become a Saint — I surely be one of "darkness". I will continually be absent from Heaven — to light the light of those in darkness on earth.

I think we quite often fortify ourselves in our holy huddles and forget to show the way in for those on the outside.

Quick Questions

Could someone explain the whole wineskins thing? It always baffles me.
What do you like about Mark 2?
On a scale of 1-5 how tenuously linked is image in this post?

Mark 1

2011-11-14T08:00:00.000Z

Duncan and I have been reading Wordlive together but it was becoming out of habit so we decided to freshen things up a bit. We're now reading a chapter of Mark a day.

We chose it because we wanted to go New Testament. Duncan prefers narrative style books rather than letters (apparently, Paul goes on a bit). We've read Acts as Mosaic, Revelations is too trippy (and doesn't quite fit in with 'narrative style', but not quite a letter), so it looked it was going to be a Gospel. We thought we'd go for the shortest one because there was no guarantee that it'd work out. However, it seems to be going well. I'm going to be posting my thoughts on each chapter every day (however, they're about a week behind me actually reading it).

So here are my opinions of Mark 1.

I love how Mark gets straight to the point. This book is about good news. This book is about Jesus. He was the Messiah and the Son of God. Mark also gets straight to John the Baptist, whilst also showing how this was all the fulfilment of prophecy, and how Jesus will bring baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's all in four verses. He's off the starting block quicker than Usain Bolt on amphetamines.

Mark obviously didn't think much of the birth narrative or the temptation of Jesus. They just weren't pacey enough. The calling of the first disciples happens in about four verses. It's all go, go, go: healings, large crowds, teaching with authority (I love the digs Mark has at the teachers of the law). That's until Jesus goes to a solitary place in verse 35. He gets up early and goes off, away from the noisy crowds, to pray. I love this brief moment of pause, and Jesus spends it with God. It's something that we should cultivate. We talk about how we live in a busy world and we seem to think that Jesus did nothing but lounge around drinking sangria. But I doubt your schedule looks anything as busy as his, and he still manages to go off to pray.

Then comes some more preaching with authority (unlike those pesky law teachers) and a disobedient leper. Jesus tells him not to tell the news about how his life has been transformed but he just can't help but do it. Today, Jesus tells us to tell people about how our lives have been transformed by him, but we can't help but not do it.

Tune in tomorrow for Mark 2!

Quick Questions

Which is your favourite Gospel? Why?
What do you think of Mark 1?
On a scale of 1-5 how tenuously linked is the image in this post?

The Heavenly Man

2011-11-12T08:00:00.000Z

I was leant The Heavenly Man by a fellow Mosaic member. This was ages ago and I hadn't got round to reading it but while I had a few hours free I decided that I would. It tells the story of Brother Yun who faced persecution from the Chinese authorities.

I liked it, although it wasn't the most well written piece of literature. It sometimes seemed too focused on the minutiae of what happened and lacked emotional colour. However, the horrific nature of the Yun's torture at the hands of prison guards and the police was harrowing. I cannot believe that I would be as faithful to God's will in the face of torture as these men were. Despite the threats of arrest and possible execution Yun continued to proclaim God's word.

The miracles that they witnessed were also amazing. The book really shows what amazing things God can do. God enabled healing, unbelievable escapes from prison, gave people gifts of knowledge that saved them from arrest, and protected them from the authorities. Their faith was inspiring, relying on God to provide for everything.

I loved Yun's passion for the word of God. He prayed and fasted relentlessly until he was given a Bible. He memorised whole chapters and books and was able to pull out verses to give him strength in any situation. I would love to begin learning verses for different occasions and store them in my heart as he did. It showed how life-giving the word of God actually is.

The thing, perhaps, that impacted me the most was Yun's criticisms of the Western church.

"In the West many Christians have an abundance of material possessions, yet they live in a backslidden state. They have silver and gold, but they don't rise up and walk in Jesus' name. In China we have no possessions to hold us down, so there's nothing preventing us from moving out for the Lord."

He also notes that the Western Church's worst enemy is itself. He notes how "in China, Christians are persecuted with beatings and imprisonment. In the West, Christians are persecuted by the words of other Christians." It's scary, but sadly true.

It's worth reading but quite long and can be pretty repetitive. There are many moments that will inspire you and strengthen your faith.

Quick Questions

Have you memorised and Bible passages or verses off by heart? Which ones?
What books do you recommend?

October Round Up

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000Z

It sometimes seems that Richard Dawkins says things just to be contentious. In this interview, however, he comes across quite well. Dawkins seems to hold Jesus in high regard, and says that if he was born in this day and age he'd probably be an atheist. Not sure about that one myself, with him claming to be the Light of the World and the Son of Man and all that. I'm also glad I'm not Anglican, as I would have taken complete objection to being called "harmless". Dawkins also had a few words to say about William Lane Craig in this article. This was definitely Dawkins being typical Dawkins, beginning with the sentence, "Don't feel embarrassed if you've never heard of William Lane Craig." I get the idea that he doesn't like him very much.

The area around St Paul's Cathedral has been occupied by demonstrators who oppose the country's current financial system. This has caused the first closure of the Cathedral since the Second World War and one canon chancellor to resign. The Guardian has some interesting articles on the subject:

Giles Fraser explains why he decided to leave;
Marina Hyde doesn't like St Paul or the church that took it's name;
Another Marina doesn't like St Paul's Cathedral, and goes into some strange tirade about cults of Mary;
Riazat Butt talks about how the likes of Williams and Sentamu are silent on the subject, but probably support the cause of the protesters;
A lot of Christian groups, however, are voicing their support.

We can't do an October Round Up without mentioning the significance ofthe last day of this month: Reformation Day! What, not what you wereexpecting? In 1517, on October 31st, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesesto the door of a church in Wittenburg. I think my favourites arenumbers 62, "The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospelof the glory and the grace of God", and 94, "Christians are to beexhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head, throughpenalties, deaths, and hell". You can read them in oldy-worldy English here, or a more modern version here.

Okay, so you expected me to talk about Halloween, didn't you? As Iam but a slave to my readers, I will. The Resurgence website thoughtabout whether we should receive, reject or redeem halloween.I'm going to go with redeem. We shouldn't forget that the contagiousnature of Christ's holiness is far more powerful than then contagiousnature of pagan frivolity. Jesus sat with tax-collectors and touchedthe ritually unclean. These were outrageously "irreligious" acts in hisday. It was this sort of thing Jesus should have been rejecting. He,instead, redeemed them. I think we can be forgiven for giving sweets tokids dressed up as vampires or fairies. The Verge network posted some ideas on how to be missional during this holiday.

I can't have a monthly round up without a mention of my friends at the Church Sofa blog. This post reminded me of the Tea and Toast efforts of my Christian Union. It makes me wonder how many more drunk converts we could have made if we had this (Answer: none).

Quick Questions

What tough decisions have you made due to your faith/morals?
What did you do this Halloween?

The Barbarian Way

2011-10-22T23:56:00.002+01:00

I've really wanted to read this book for a while. I was sent this excerpt and it captured my imagination. As a result I had really high hopes for this books.

It's a highly charged book and promotes a life of reckless abandon. One reviewer commented that "This book is dangerous. Erwin Raphael McManus is dangerous. And if you read this book you, with your domesticated, tamed faith will be in danger. Worst case scenario: you'll become dangerous, perhaps even dead." And that was from someone who liked the book.

A negative review of the book dislikes the use of the word "barbarian": that the word describes the pagan state that Jesus saved us from. The reviewer takes particular umbrage at one anecdote about a naked tug-of-war game, as it encourages carnality. The reason this anecdote was told was to show how dignity should not be a concern, as it wasn't for King David.

I agree that sometimes McManus' anecdotes sometimes seem to miss the mark, but you will still get the point he was trying to make. The idea that the word barbarian was misused was definitely a case of missing the mark. McManus takes the word barbarian, with all it's negative, carnal and selfish connotations, and then subverts it to mean someone who is madly passionate for following God. McManus' barbarians are strong against oppressors, ruthless against injustice, loving and selfless. It reminded me of how Martin Luther King took the word "extremist" and used it to encourage a passionate engagement with love, justice and the gospel.

I really love it's passionate call to a less domesticated faith. One where comfort and safety is not a priority. It isn't even an option. I want to be a believer that acts when God tells me to, to not consider the consequences and know that God's purpose is my priority.

It speaks a lot about the uniqueness of each believer. This is something that I really believe in; God has given each of us an individual character, mandate and plan. Despite this, however, the book only presents a sort of reckless, adrenaline-junkie, accident-prone barbarian and excludes, perhaps, other types of ebullient and effective Jesus-followers. Ones that show wisdom, intelligence and consideration but also share the gospel, pursue equality and mercy are ignored.

It is definitely a book to get your heart pumping and to push people out from the safety of the walls of the church. It is a call to a drastic, radical way of living and reminds us that the gospel is anything but safe.

Punctuality

2011-10-13T13:00:00.000+01:00

One of the most frustrating things about my job is punctuality, or, rather, the lack of it. I am generally very punctual (except on Thursday mornings for some reason). This means that I am always prepared and ready for things to start dead on time. Which is great, except people often arrive ten, fifteen and sometimes twenty minutes late.

In one of our staff meetings we began discussing whether punctuality was just personality/ cultural deal or whether it was a Biblical principle. I opened up the debate on whether it was important on facebook and here are some of the responses. Some of my friends, who aren't particularly renowned for timekeeping, said, that although they felt it was important they found it hard. Whether that was due to a chaotic life or a 'very poor sense of time passing or how long things take', they still tried their best to be on time but never seemed to manage it. Other people, who are (perhaps obsessively) punctual, said it was how they were bought up, or because of a perfectionist streak. But Deb wrote that the main reason for punctuality was due to respecting one another.

Respect
1 Peter 2:17 tells us that we need to respect everyone. Punctuality says that you value the other person's time and this shows respect towards them. Arriving late gives suggests you think that the other person has nothing better to do than to wait for you.

Time wasting
Ephesians 5:15-20 talks about the proper use of time, saying that we need to make the most of every opportunity, for the days are evil. If you constantly arrive late, you're hardly making the most of it. (Okay, so my use of this passage is a little tenuous, but it sort of does the job.)

Integrity
If you have told me you will be there by a certain time, you should be there at that time. You need to be able to keep your word. If you have said "yes", it means "yes". Otherwise, say no (Matthew 5:37).

Compassion
But for those of us who are punctual, we have a duty to be nice to those who aren't. Ephesians 4:32 tells us that we need to forgive and be compassionate.

I'll just leave you with this quote from Richard Craycroft:

"The main problem with punctuality is that there is rarely anyone there to appreciate it."

Quick Questions

Are you usually punctual or late?
Does tardiness in other people annoy you?

More Stuff

September Round Up

2011-10-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

For once, this month's round up doesn't feature the Guardian. Instead, it seems, we're looking at the Beeb for news. The BBC was accused of being over zealous with their political correctness, just because old Paxman said CE instead of AD. Then the BBC told us that it doesn't actually have any guidelines on the subject, and everyone can just do what they want.

The BBC Heart and Soul radio programme had an episode on the relationship between a group of Christians with the homosexuals in Chicago. The BBC magazine published an article about it.

Christians at a Gay Pride Parade

Quite often as a youth worker, I feel my job is to make the most unlikely things happen (lives be transformed, teens putting God before relationships, etc.). This Resurgence article reminded me that this view was all wrong. With God involved, this things are the most likely things to be happening.

My brother has been in Palestine for nearly a month now. He has been blogging. Read it. It's far more fascinating than the life of a youth worker!

And lastly, from my old friends the Church Sofa, I give you this.

Tell.Show.Be.

2011-09-26T08:00:00.000+01:00

TELL.SHOW.BE. - English from Tell.Show.Be on Vimeo.

Still Alive

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000+01:00

Term has started back, and I've survived so far. Okay, so there has only been two weeks of youth clubs, but there was a lot to deal with even before term started.

The Sunday before schools went back, four of my teenagers got baptised, so there was arranging all that. There were testimonies to read, songs to pick, Bible studies to organise, questions to answer, not to mention what happened on the actual day. The most nerve wracking thing was that I was doing the actual baptising. I was slightly worried that one of the teens wouldn't emerge out of the water. They all did. In fact, due to the natural buoyancy of humans the hard bit is making sure all of them go in the water. It was quite a horrible experience of having to push people down, a little as if I was drowning them.

The weather beforehand was a little horrible, but just as we went into the water it became really sunny and nice. There are some really good photos with people standing around with blowing hair and windsurfers in the background, but because of child protection stuff that's all you're getting.

It feels that since then it's been pretty much non-stop. I've met up with some teens a few times and been preparing the the next year. It doesn't help that the college I work for in my other job is having an Ofsted inspection next week. Also, Fridays are really long days for me. I'm up at 6 to get to my college job, back home for five, get changed and out the door for half five and not back until gone ten (sometimes as late as 11). The first week of having to do this hit me especially hard. At one point I was crouching in the catering cupboard repeatedly muttering, "I just want some teaspoons." By the time I'm leaving my brain is pretty much gone. Last Friday I forgot to lock up so the offices, and front door were all open. I did remember to set the alarm though.

I'm just about surviving. That's more than can be said for my phone. I dropped it down a flight of stairs.

Quick Questions

Are you surviving at the moment?
What's the biggest source of stress in your life?
How do you deal with stress? (A nice cuppa? A walk? You don't?!)

Letting God Say No

2011-09-22T15:53:00.000+01:00

(This may be a bit of an incoherent post, so if you don't get what I'm saying, it's me not you. That almost sounded like a break up.)

I'm currently writing an application to go back to uni...to do medicine. Yes, I know. A bit of a curve ball right there. And like all big, life-changing, momentous and important events, I'm not really praying about it. Okay, a couple of times I've screwed up my eyes and quickly said, "please make it happen" as if I was making a wish before blowing out candles on top of a birthday cake, but I'm struggling to commit it to God. The problem is this: I'm scared he might say no. Actually, it's almost getting to the point where I'm convincing myself he will say no.

I've turned this medicine degree into a one-stop solution to all my problems. I'll get a place on the degree, go to the Christian Union, make loads of friends, find a wife, have a good career to support my future family, get a good job, get a nice house, get a nice car, get a good pension, retire well and then die a happy man. I can't see a viable alternative to this plan either. At the moment my other future looks a bit like this: I don't get a place on the degree; do a PGCE instead, which I don't really want to do; be bitter about having to do a PGCE; miss out on a good university experience; make no friends and lose out on finding a wife; become a teacher; become more bitter about not being a doctor and having no family; turn to the bottle; lose my job after turning up to staff briefing drunk; lose my bedsit flat after failing to pay the rent; die alone on a park bench of chronic liver failure to be buried in a pauper's grave with no headstone. It's pretty bleak.

Not only is this just plain ridiculous, it also shows an insight into my sinful, human nature. Despite God being faithful to me again and again, I'm forgetting how God is the provider of good things. Instead of turning to God to give me all I need, I'm turning to a degree in medicine. I'm also forgetting that if God decides that medicine is not the path I'm taking, it's in my best interest. God's plan is to prosper me, not for me to die a lonely alcoholic.

And the reason I believe he will say no is because a small (but annoyingly noisy) part of me thinks God is vindictive. Because I have failed to show faith in his provision, because I have made an idol of a degree and because I believe I will end up dead in Hoglands Park if it doesn't happen, God will spite me and take away the only chance of happiness I have. As a result, I will rather cling onto the degree than give it over to God, for him to either say, "yes" or "no, but I have something better."

God's plan for me may not involve medicine. It may involve sacrifice. It may, at times, be pretty hard. But it'll be a lot better than anything I can think up.

Quick Questions

What do you cling onto too tightly?
When has God said no to you? What was the result?

August Round Up

2011-09-01T00:00:00.000+01:00

August has been a month of riots and summer festivals. Both of which seems to have caused a bit of debate.

Thomas Prosser wrote about the pernicious and manipulative teen camps such as Soul Survivor. Obviously, teen camps are all about brain-washing and praying on the vulnerable. Steve Clifford, however, disagreed. He feels that the teen camps encourage an ethos of volunteering and community work, something that this country desperately needs in the wake of the riots. Martin Saunders (editor of the Youthwork magazine) agrees with Clifford and believes that faith-based youth work can offer hope and transformation in the lives of disenfranchised teenagers. I was a bit disappointed that Prosser didn't charge the organisers with bundling all 20,000 teens who attended Soul Survivor in the back of transit vans, taking them to the campsite against their free will and not telling them that it was actually a Christian event they were attending. Because that is what they do, isn't it?

The Comment is Free section of the Guardian posed the question Is there a spiritual response to the riots? Martin Saunder's aforementioned article talks about the riots and how Christianity can provide a solution. My friend, Nai, who is about to start a job with XLP, wrote on her blog about the Christian response to the events (as well as a bit about New Wine and other bits). It very much echoed the heart ache I felt as a youth worker, seeing the young people, the same age as my teens, looting and burning down buildings. What made it more poignant was the fact that Nai is going to be working with some of the teens that would have down this, as she begins her job in Lewisham.

You can read about my experience of New Wine (including embarrassing anecdote), the preparation for Soul Survivor and how it turned out in the end. I never got round to writing my article about the riots and how twitter surprised me, but the moment passed. However, the guys at The Church Sofa pretty much wrote what I was going to about twitter anyway.

The Resurgence website had some gems this month, including Do You Doubt Yourself? Good.

Okay, okay, so this next one was published in July. But I was away and I probably wouldn't have had time to put it in the post anyway. Tim Chester posted some very interesting information on the porn industry and its effects.

I seriously cannot believe August is over. Has it gone as quickly for you as it did for me?

What have I missed?

Your house is God's house

2011-08-26T00:00:00.000+01:00

This is really challenging stuff.
Jeff Vanderstelt // Hospitality & the Church in America from Newfrontiers USA on Vimeo.

Soul Survivor

2011-08-24T00:00:00.000+01:00

Another week at Shepton Mallet has passed. Soul Survivor was a really good experience. Unfortunately, I'm rubbish at remembering to take photos. So here's the one usable photo I managed to get.

One of the main meetings

Here are a few things to sum up my experience:

The Group
They were all just lovely. The atmosphere was really friendly and everyone felt welcome and included. One of the leaders of the group next to us commented on how nice they all seemed. They were just awesome.

Worship
One of the main reasons for going to Soul Survivor is the worship. It's on a scale that can't really be replicated in a local church. (If you're an American reader, we don't do the massive campus churches over here. Our largest churches are probably medium sized churches to you guys.) So it was really nice to worship with about eight thousand other Christians. The nicest thing was seeing the teens connect with God in an amazing way. There were some tears. Even one of the non-Christians in the group was getting into it.

Ninjas
Ninjas is a game that you play in a group. The aim is to hit someone's arm and get that arm out. Once both arms are out, you're out. I was really rubbish at it.

Porridge
There's a Brothers Grimm tale about a magic porridge pot. This pot keep cooking porridge and it overflowed and almost engulfed a whole town. We had a similar experience. We were cooking porridge for about ten people, and nearly filled the pot up. The thing was, whilst we were serving it the porridge would get dry and so we'd add more water. The porridge would absorb the water and swell. This meant we always ended up with the same amount of porridge we started with. It just wouldn't empty. We ended up throwing a whole pot of porridge away (where it's probably continuing to swell and will soon engulf the local rubbish dump).

Wind and rain
It was windy and wet and our gazebo nearly took off. What was most interesting was the reaction of people. While I was clinging onto the leg of the gazebo I was shouting orders to the teens. Stuart instantly jumped into action whilst most of the others were just like rabbits in headlights. Grumpy Thomas did appear and I did shout, "Don't just stand there clutching your coats! Do something!"

Food
After the disaster with food beforehand, it went really well during the week. All the meals seemed quite popular, the curry with naan bread seemed the most successful. As I ordered the food online the bananas were really ripe when the came to me, so I cooked them up on the first night with sugar and cinnamon. That seemed to go down really well, so I will keep that trick up my sleeve for future dates.

I feel really blessed after this week, and actually came back feeling recharged and raring to go. I thought I'd be feeling dead and miserable, but God definitely sought to energise me throughout the week.

Quick Questions

What camping disaster stories do you have?
Have you ever been to a festival (Christian or not)? What was it like?

Building community the fun way...

2011-08-22T00:00:00.000+01:00

//A month and a half ago two of our group got married. So, whilst on honeymoon we pranked their house. James wrote a post about it here.

Now, whilst the Bemroses were on holiday, they foolishly gave the keys to Erica so she could water the plants. Erica thought it was time to seek revenge. Reluctantly, I thought I would help her with this task.

If you ever see a welcome sign, be afraid...

We took the labels off their cans. As we thought it would be too mean to leave them not knowing what was in the cans, we created a colour code system using shiny stars.

We had hoped to print off the faces of everyone from Mosaic. However, only my face and Duncan's printed. We stuck them all around the house. I expect in years to come, they'll still be finding photos of us.

I don't think the Bemroses have realised the extent of our mischief. Here's a clue:

One final word:

Now I do realise that one day I will get my comeuppance. And it will be severe.

Quick Questions

Have you ever played a prank?
Have you ever had a prank played on you?

The perils of the church sofas

2011-08-15T08:00:00.000+01:00

(Originally posted at the Church Sofa) Not to brag, but my church has three sofas, a load of comfy chairs and a pile of bean bags. And they are good, soft, squishy sofas. I know a few people, myself included, who have had naps on them. When someone announces they’re going to have a lone, quiet prayer-session in the lounge, you know what they really mean.

I’ve run quite a few youth socials in that lounge, from film evenings to a sit down meal with communion. We can pull the sofas around to make a sort of home cinema, or arrange them around coffee tables for a cafe feel. They help to make a really welcoming and relaxing environment and quite often visiting teens will comment on the swanky set up we have. These sofas, however, aren’t as great as they seem. The first time I visited the church, one of the teens fell off the back of one. Last Friday, one of my youth found a crème egg that was probably lost at Easter nestled between the cushions. I dropped something down the back and, going to reach it, my hand emerged covered in fluff and youth-snack debris. But my concerns over our church sofas goes further than this.

Feeling the youth program needed a bit of a shake-up, I told the teens that we were looking at doing a few things differently. One of the panicked teens asked, “We’re going to keep meeting here? I love this place.” At first I was touched. I thought to myself, “we’ve created a really positive environment, where teens just love to hang out, relax and discover who Jesus is.” But this comment has begun to worry me. What if the teenagers only come for the sofas? What if they don’t want to follow Jesus, and they’re only interested in the squishy cushions? Is the identity of my youth ministry about living life to the full, with God at the centre, or is it built around the room we meet in? My worry is that the swanky set up only feeds in to the consumerist mind set prevalent in society today. We are simply there to provide a comfortable place where people can chat and relax. The teens just come, eat, play games and go. This isn’t fulfilling Jesus’ commission to us; Jesus did not ask us to “go, buy well upholstered furniture and scatter pillows,” but rather to go and make disciples, baptise them, teach them to obey. The teens just see the lounge as a place where their needs are catered for and any suggestion that they take the initiative and try to put Biblical living into practice go largely ignored.

So, in a way, I miss pews: I have a theory that most missionaries went on their travels to avoid sitting on them another week. I love the fact that our church lounge is welcoming and a fantastic place to show hospitality and inclusivity, but are we just breeding a generation of teens who can’t be bothered to live out their faith and get up off the sofa? I really hope not.

Words

2011-08-12T08:00:00.003+01:00

I love words. I love learning new ones and having the opportunity to use them. I love reading well crafted sentences. I appreciate puns, even if they do make me cringe a little.

My father once gave me a profound piece of advice. He told me that words are like toothpaste. Once toothpaste is out of the tube, no matter how hard you try, you can't get it back in.

Recently, God has been really challenging me on how I use my words. Words are powerful. In the beginning, God spoke words and what he spoke came into being. Our words can damage and they can build up. The Bible is very clear on what types of words you should be using:

They are to be considered
Matthew 12:36-37 says that "everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." That is a strong statement. It's actually really troubling. How many empty words have I spoken? Which words will acquit me and which will condemn me?

They are to give life and to build people
The Bible recognises the importance of words in people's lives. They can renew, encourage and prosper people. Conversely they can be damaging and hurtful. Ephesians 4:29, Proverbs 25:15, 1 Peter 3:9 are all helpful (read them here), but I think Proverbs 15:4 puts it beautifully:

Gentle words are a tree of life;
a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.

They should have value
Proverbs 11:11 tells us how we as Godly citizens can prosper a city. If, however, we are careless with our words we can bring destruction. If we speak with consideration our words can prosper a whole city. I think that's amazing.

They should be pure
I like a poo joke as much as the next man. And although ruling them out entirely may be a bit extreme (the Bible does contains some scatological humour), I need to keep my words as pure as possible. Philippians 4:8 says how we should think on things that are right and pure. If we speak of things that are impure, we're obviously thinking about them too. Ephesians 5:4 also warns against crude jokes and stories.

They should be thankful
The last verse from Ephesians leads me onto this one quite nicely. It talks about how our talk, instead of being crude, should be full of thanks and praises to God.

The hard thing is going to be remembering this when I go to open my mouth. Does anyone have any advice on how to do this? Maybe I should write it on my hand.

I'll leave you with a final verse from James:

If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.

Yikes!

Quick Questions

Do you have stories of how words have been a powerful force in your life (either positively or negatively)?
What advice do you have about taming your tongue (vows of silence, swear jars, etc.)?
What other things should we consider when using our tongues?

Soul Survivor Prep

2011-08-11T14:17:00.001+01:00

It's that time of the year again! "What time?" you ask. Soul Survivor time. For the first week of August I went to Shepton Mallet to camp. Next week I'm doing the same.

As a teen I hope I somewhat appreciated all the work that went on behind the scenes to get the teens to Soul Survivor. The transport, the food, the tents, the equipment, the bookings, the medical forms all have to be sorted before we leave. For the most part the teens I'm taking have little idea how much work it actually is, so it makes me think that I probably should have appreciated the people who organised our trips more.

At the moment my room looks like an emergency rations storehouse. I've filled up my fridge with milk and sandwich fillings. And I've got to cook and freeze four meals.

Chicken Curry

I've been really trying not to get stressed about it and to rely on God. It's quite hard. Especially when this happens.

That was the sausage casserole for the second night. I was cooking it at about 10 last night and as I went to to put it in the freezer it slipped out my hands. Fortunately, I'm quite good in a crisis. I cleared it up, I ordered some more ingredients online and then I went to bed (not before taking photographic evidence of the event).

Quick Questions

Who did you take for granted as a teenager? Is there anyone you should say a big thank you to?
Are you good in a crisis?

Resource Wednesday

2011-08-10T08:00:00.000+01:00

This could be seen as a sort of book review, but I'm going to put it in Resource Wednesday anyway. It's not one of those linear, read-from-front-to-back books, it's more of a reference book. So that's how I'm justifying it.

Whilst at New Wine I hit the bookshop, and I came away with some new reads and my bank account quite a bit lighter.

One of the books I picked up was TouchPoints for Men. It's a book that collates verses by subject, from Goals to Temptation. It's already proved itself helpful, and I used it extensively when writing my next post (which is scheduled for Friday).

It's also a part of a series and there are TouchPoints for women, students, leaders, new believers and more.

Quick Questions

What do you use when looking up verses on a particular topic?
What resources can you recommend?

This is Discipling

2011-08-09T08:00:00.001+01:00

Kenny Borthwick showed a really awesome video in one of his morning sermons at New Wine. After some searching using the phenomenon that is twitter, I found it.

Quick Question

Don't you just love the bit with the catapult?

New Wine

2011-08-08T08:00:00.000+01:00

Last week I was camping at New Wine. It was a bit strange because I usually go to that site for Soul Survivor, and I had to get used to the different feel with there being more families and old people.

Morning Celebration at Venue 1

The teaching was, for the most part, excellent (and even when it wasn't excellent it was still good). I really liked hearing from Kenny Borthwick, who spoke at the morning celebrations in Venue 1. He looked at John 17 and what Jesus' prayer taught us about community and mission.

I managed to make it to one of Simon Ponsonby's Rise sessions (at 7:15am!), as well as his Gospel Wins seminar. When Simon Ponsonby was speaking at Venue 2 it was ridiculously packed out and I had to sit outside in the rain. Gospel Wins seminar was really helpful, as it reminded us the importance of the Gospel within the church. It's not just an export good, it's to be used to strengthen, inspire and unite believers within the church.

Pete Hughes also spoke at the evening celebration in Venue 2. Again, it was really good. I also went to his Leadership Crisis seminar, which was about the lack of 20 and 30 somethings in our church. This is something I've blogged about before, but it was really inspiring and confirmed my passions and reasons in being both a youth leader and member of Mosaic.

There were lots of other good talks and speakers. However, I left with the feeling I'd done the Christian conference thing, and would only go if I was on team or I would leave it a couple of years at the very least.

I'll finish with this anecdote.

I was wanting to go to a seminar on running one-to-one sessions with teens. As we had been sharing programmes I wrote down all the seminar times and venues on my phone. Half an hour before going to my seminar I had a quick look at my phone and found the location of the venue on a map. I walked into the venue and sat down. Then a lady comes up to me, presumably the speaker and said, "You're very welcome here, but you may feel a bit uncomfortable. This is the Agony Aunt women's seminar."

Quick Questions

Have you ever been to a Christian conference? What did you think?
Have you had embarrassing church or conference moments?

July Round Up

2011-08-01T20:00:00.109+01:00

We're half-way through the summer holidays. I hope you're getting a chance to relax. I'm currently in sunny Shepton Mallet, with some folks from Mosaic. If you want my (barely up-to-date) thoughts on New Wine then have a look at my twitter.

Harry Potter premier in Trafalgar Square, from the dcms

This month had probably the most important event of 2011. The release of the final Harry Potter film. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2 was finally out on 15th July. There was a big red-carpte event a week earlier at Trafalgar Square, with tears from J.K. Rowling, Emma Watson and probably most the crowd. One of the most interesting comments that came from the premier was about the unifying nature of the books. A member of the crowd said how she had only met her fellow fans a few hours ago, but the mutual like of Harry Potter made it seem like they were already the best of friends. An article in the Guardian's Comment is Free section, called The theology of Harry Potter, echoed this sentiment.

The realisation of the two main relationships (Harry & Ginny and Ron & Hermione) was quite sweet. What I quite liked about them was that they were, in someways, quite awkward and honest. But I stumbled upon an article about how romantic films create unrealistic expectations for relationships. I loved it because I knew of someone who would really appreciate the article. Whenever he gets the chance to rant about Disney or Hollywood he will. (It's really just because he sees himself as a thwarted film director.)

If you can rely on the Daily Express for an article on Diana, you can probably rely on the Guardian's Cif section to add something to the faith schools debate. July was no exception. Nick Baines explains how church schools in Bradford show how they serve whole, and often poorer, communities and do not create the religious ghettoisation as some opponents claim.

This last month I have visited a variety of churches, one up in Chesterfield and another in Marchwood. What I loved about them wasn't how smooth and slick the services are but that things went wrong. When the wrong words come up on screen, or someone gets the details of a notice incorrect, I can't help but smile. It's not a it-wouldn't-happen-at-our-church smile (because they'd be the least of our worries). It proves how we are all human and all in need of grace. There's an article on the RELEVANT magazine site that discusses the problems that striving to be "cool" can cause.

July saw a myriad of sad events hit our news. First was the attacks in Norway. They were truly horrific. Then the tragic death of Amy Winehouse. As a Christian community we need to be praying for all that were impacted by these events.

I was also saddened to hear John Stott had also died. Here's his obituary on the Christianity Today website and a memorial website was unveiled.

Saving the least for last. This month, I had the opportunity to be a guest blogger for Church Sofa Blog.

Quick Questions

Where are you this summer?
Have you seen the final Harry Potter film (if not, why not?)? What did you think?
What did I miss?

Ten thousand beside

2011-07-28T09:17:00.002+01:00

Two weeks ago I scraped my mum's car along a wall of our church office. It wasn't a particularly pleasant experience. It was made even more unpleasant by the apparent costs and hassle involved in fixing the car. The main problem was the bumper. It had come loose behind the driver's wheel and was hanging down. That was an obvious hazard and we didn't want it to get any worse.

But God is generous, and one of the ways he has shown this is by providing a really loving church community. It is really like a family and everyone is so willing to bless others in small and practical ways. Some people in the church are quite handy with the old DIY, so yesterday I was able to take the car to someone's house and they fixed the bumper for me. For free.

Also, with all this car stuff and other factors (like I haven't received my previous deposit back yet and I'm loosing my interest free overdraft at the end of this month) I've been a bit worried about my money situation. Yesterday some friends from Mosaic, who knew about my worries, gave me an envelope with some cash in as a gift.

Yesterday, I really experienced God's blessing on me. He is an awesome and generous God. The day ended with a meal at James and Steph's with copious amounts of curry, and dessert where communion was also shared. It was a really lovely way to recognise all that God has done for us.

I'll leave you with the final verse of the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own great presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.

Quick Questions

How has God blessed you recently?
How could you show God's love to someone else?

AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church

2011-07-25T14:24:00.000+01:00

The leaders of the clans get together about once a fortnight to encourage one another, to make sure we're all on the same page and to get advice and training about different problems we might have. The leaders were asked to read AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay.

AND is about how the church needs to strike a better balance between the pastoral, gathered and stable (modalic) elements of the church and the outward looking, missional, scattered (sodalic) elements. Church tradition has focused on the modalic structures and somewhat neglected the sodalic structures.

There are some really nice passages and one section is particularly poignant. Hugh and Matt (with spouses) were meeting regularly together with friends to discuss "life and God", when one member of the group asked "is this my church?" Hugh replied that Church was about deciding to go on mission with God together, and that if they wanted the group to be their Church they'd have to give their life away. The group unanimously decided that they would come die with them and let God send them.

Although it has a good many of these wonderful accounts, it also has a lot of theory elements. This is the area that I found a bit frustrating and tedious, but did pick up some helpful pointers. One of these was related specifically in how we deal with the younger people of our church:

Our role as stewards over the spiritual life and legacy of our kids is to model a holistic life of apprenticeship under Jesus.

This seems ordinary enough, but actually has quite far reaching implications. Do the teens of the church see that my whole life is dedicated to Jesus, not just the bits when I'm at church? Do I even live a holistic life of apprenticeship under Jesus? How can they watch me, and other members of the Exilio community do this, when, for some, their only contact with us is a Friday evening with just two of the adults?

So this has got me thinking on how we can incorporate the teens into the wider life of Exilio as a whole. It's hard when their parents aren't involved in the different clans, or the activities of the clan doesn't really suit them.

Overall, it's an okay book. Hugh sums it up really in his final thoughts:

Although we don't feel as if we've given you any wildly new thoughts, we trust what we've been seeing and hearing out in the field will encourage you in the unique calling you have to help lead, serve and die in God's church worldwide.

It didn't fill me with as much excitement as Total Church.

The Church Sofa Blog

2011-07-25T10:54:00.000+01:00

I used to like The Church Sofa. It bought us the Lego Easter, it gives us chortles with the Church Notice Board of the Week.

The famous Church Sofa

But today (I don't know whether the thoughts of holidays have made the guys slack) they let some crazy guest blogger write some article with a tenuous link about sofas and teen ministry. I mean, what was he on? So, if you have any decency, go and read that post and write a comment about what you think.

Thanks to the guys at The Church Sofa for giving me the opportunity to write for them. Seriously, check the blog out.

Quick Questions

Did you come via The Church Sofa?
What do you think of their Church Lounge idea?

Thought for Monday

2011-07-25T06:00:00.001+01:00

One thing I love in the Bible is how it often refers to God as "God of my ancestors". It really speaks of the eternal nature of God.

It's easy for me to appreciate because I have Christian parents. But even if you don't there are older people of faith that have probably influenced you. We also have a rich cultural heritage of inspiring Christians, such as the Wesleys, William Wilberforce, and Smith Wigglesworth (not all them have surnames starting with W).

Consider who has influenced you in your faith, whether they are people who have been directly involved, or those in the past.

Lectio Divina

2011-07-23T08:00:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I introduced my teens to a way to access the Bible and for it to inspire prayer. Okay, it isn't quite the same as Lectio Divina, but it was trying them to take a passage of the Bible and to contemplate it thoroughly and turn it into a source and inspiration for prayer.

Photo by George Bannister

I took a really nice passage from Psalm 25, and put it on a sheet where I broke it down into tiny segments. I gave them the instructions, the were to take those segments and write what it made them think of. Then we prayed, I read the passage, and we began writing. Afterwards, we prayed using what we had written on the sheet.

It's really good to take a small passage of Bible and just mull it over and think about how layered and significant the words are.

I've also noticed that WordLive has a Lectio section on its website (I get my readings by email). I'm probably going to try and use it once a week.

Quick Questions

What strikes you about that passage?
How does your Bible reading shape your prayer and vice versa?

Exilio Explained

2011-07-20T08:00:00.002+01:00

Some things you need to know about my church. It's a bit unusual. First, its name is unusual. Exilio. It's Latin, or Spanish, or Portuguese for that matter, for Exile.

Another way we're unusual is the way we meet. Most churches meet once (or twice) a Sunday and that is their main meeting. Everyone gets together for that one-and-a-half hour slot and then there are extra things within the week you can plug into. Exilio, however, does not meet all together once a week. Instead, we meet in small groups we call clans. There are six clans, and they're all define by a particular trait, value or purpose.

Our clans (in alphabetical order, not to reveal favouritism) are:

Living Lordswood
This is our geographically focused clan. They live in Lordswood, an area in Southampton. They're also united by a love of nature and they are heavily involved in cleaning up the area.

Mosaic
Mosaic is an ageist clan. It is for the 18-30s (although the age keeps creeping up as James gets older). We meet weekly on a Wednesday and Sunday. Our Sundays vary from car washing, BBQs or just hanging out at Trago Lounge. We also go to the Trago Lounge pub quiz every fortnight (where we have varying success). We're exploring what it means to be a missional community (what does it mean? I would quite like to know) and how we should fulfil John 13:34-35 in our lives:

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

Revitalise
This clan is exploring how God brings wholeness, in spiritual and physical wellbeing. They hold pamper evenings, go on walks and provide support for those who are struggling. They often hold events for the Polish group that one of the group teaches.

Solace
Solace provides a place of belonging to those who need support and time to rebuild their lives. This might be through relationship breakdown, health, poverty, or just about anything. They often have breakfast together on a Sunday, and are involved with other charities such as the Depression Alliance and SCRATCH.

Treehouse
This is the group for families with children under 10. They meet weekly to explore the Bible together but also spend time building up the family both spiritually and practically.

x:cell
The teens! As led by the youthwork (a.k.a. me). You'll read a bit more about what we do through the whole blog, so I won't write too much here.

So they're the six clans. We all meet together about once a month, in what we call "The Gathering of the Clans". This often involves food (gingerbread men one time, cupcakes another), songs and a little bit of craziness.

Quick Questions

What is strange about your church?
What is the weirdest church experience you've had?

Thought for Monday

2011-07-18T06:00:00.007+01:00

Today is Nelson Mandela's 93rd birthday. He was an anti-apartheid activist as well as the first fully democratically elected President of South Africa. In 1993 he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, he wrote:

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

Pray for God to give you wisdom and compassion, especially in issues surrounding injustice.

Resource Wednesday

2011-07-13T08:00:00.036+01:00

Recently I've been posting quite a few videos and they're all coming from one particular site.

It's the Verge Network site. It has really good resources on being a missional community, giving us the why, how and who of proclaiming God's glory on Earth.

There's some really challenging posts, especially in my role as a youth worker. How can I remind the teens that they're meant to be trying to give people the opportunity to know about Jesus? How do I try and x:cell from being a holy huddle? How does Exilio disciple the teens to be counter-cultural but whilst also engaging with those around them?

This site may not provide all the answers, but does definitely prod and poke and encourage reflection and prayer.

The RSS feed of the site appears in my "Elsewhere on the web" side bar (when it hasn't been updated recently, click the "show all"). So if you want to know the latest, then click there.

Quick Questions

What resources do you use?
What type of resources would you like me to hunt out for you?

Today was a good day, until...

2011-07-12T22:56:00.000+01:00

Today was a good day. That was until...

Let's say in a car vs. wall fight, wall usually wins.

And car, as you can see, doesn't.

The thing is, it's not even my car; it's my mum's. Thankfully, no one was injured and my parents have been very gracious about it. Well, that is until they invoice me for the repairs.

Quick Questions

What accidents have you cause/been involved in/seen?
Are you the person that says the obligatory, "it happens to everyone..."?

An atypical week in the life of a youth-worker

2011-07-11T16:00:00.000+01:00

One thing about my church, my job and my life in general is that I don't really get typical weeks. There are elements that stay constant but the bits around the edges seem to change all the time. This used to be a source of stress as I can be a bit of a control freak but now I really like it.

As my weeks are less than typical it's hard where to start with these things. I've had some quite busy weekends so I'll probably end and finish on those.

Saturday 2nd July
I got the keys to my new house the evening before and aimed to move some stuff in during the morning, but I got up late, had an argument with my brother and was generally too tired to do it. I made up with my brother; we argue every now and again but the hurt feelings never last more than an hour. So, instead I got ready for the wedding of Erica and Andy, two people in my church. I didn't have lunch, because I was really nauseous with nerves. I was playing the piano for the service and it was the first (and hopefully last) wedding I've ever played at. It was probably my stress that had a major contributing factor to the argument in the morning.

I arrived at the wedding, played (some people said I played well, I was a bit too dazed to really notice), and went to the reception. I ceilidhed the night away. Well, actually I left at about 10.30, because I'm a light-weight. The wedding and reception was really nice. It was good to be involved in the process (not only did I play but Andy had me, half of Mosaic, the bridesmaids and most his family slaving away over the favours, Orders of Services, and name place cards).

Sunday 3rd
I got to our church's monthly gathering, about 10 minutes late. I sat there bleary-eyed and a feeling like I had a hang-over (I only had a flute of champagne and a glass of white wine during the meal. Honest). I think I got myself a bit worked up about the playing and the effects of the stress had finally hit me. Mind you, some people (mention no names) didn't even get up until the gathering was over.

I moved most my stuff to my house, gate-crashed the Bumroses for a bit, played with giant chalk crayons and then slept my first night at my new abode. I did skive off a clan-leaders meeting.

Monday 4th
It was Duncan's birthday so went over his house for pizza. I bought him The Action Bible: God's Redemptive Story. (Just to clarify, it was his 24th birthday, not his 14th. He happens to like comic books, okay? It says nothing about his reading/mental age. It's far lower than 14.)

After pizza we went to the Trago Pub quiz. There was quite a few of us so we split in to two teams. One of the teams came second. It wasn't my team, unfortunately.

Tuesday 5th
This is a "church" day. I only work part-time and Tuesdays are my office day. This Tuesday I was meeting with Pete, my boss, and Suzy, Chair of Trustees. The meeting started late and went on for quite a while, so I didn't leave until about quarter to six, nearly two hours after I normally leave.

Wednesday 6th
Mosaic night. Probably my favourite evening of any week. We were thin on the ground, Andy and Erica were honeymooning and Duncan was "ill". We're nearly coming to the end of a series looking at the book of Acts. It's been quite good. I prefered the weeks where we were asked to respond to them in a practical way, like go for a prayer-walk. Lately they've been mostly reflective and it seems too similar to what I normally do.

Thursday 7th
My "day off". It was mostly restful but I did have to bail two of my teenagers out of a soul-survivor situation they've got themselves into.

I was meant to be meeting with Duncan for accountability stuff (the technical term) but he was "tired" after being ill for the last two days. Bless him.

Friday 8th
This is my long day. I go to my sixth-form job from 8:30-4:30 (well, there abouts) and then go to church job from 5:30-10:00. A long day. It went okay. I've been doing content light session recently, mainly because the attendance hasn't been great. I think it's mainly because the sun is out, it's music festival season and parents tend to take weekend breaks about now. So we're doing bring and share sessions, where the teens have to bring and share thing to read, watch, discuss or pray about. I did kick this one off, to give them an idea of what to do. I shared a clip from Sister Act, Psalm 139:1-18, and this job vacancy of a disciple. There was also a bit of Q and A opportunity, where they got to ask about my journey with Jesus.

Saturday 9th
I moved the rest of my stuff into my house. Then I helped the Bemrose's set up Immy's 2nd birthday party. There were fifteen small people. FIFTEEN. I was exhausted by it. Steph made an amazing Pepper Pig cake. A lot of additives and sugar was consumed. There were the obligatory tears. They were mostly mine. I went home and slept for a couple of hours. Then went to my parents (I was staying the night there as I was off to Devon the next day) and went straight to bed. I slept straight through until morning. I don't know how parents do it.

Quick Questions

Do you have quite structured weeks? Or is it all free and easy?
What would you bring to a bring and share?
Do you feel sorry for Duncan? I give him a bit of a hard time, don't I?

Thought for Monday

2011-07-11T06:00:00.015+01:00

For many people, Monday is the start of the working week. Spend some time thinking about how you are serving God in your job. Re:jesus has a list of Celtic Blessings for various occassions (from driving in your car, to washing).

One is for working:

May my work be faithful
May my work be honest
May my work be blessed
May my work bless others
May my work bless you.

Have a good week.

Thought for Monday

2011-07-04T06:00:00.003+01:00

From the 'Being Untouchable' Exhibition, by Markus Perkins, in St Paul's Cathedral.

This week the 'Being Untouchable' Photography Exhibition that has been in St Paul's Cathedral is coming to a close. It shows images of Indian Dalits who are thought of as being 'untouchable': so lowly that you should avoid contact with them.

Jesus touched the untouchables of his day. In Mark 1:40-41 he touches a leper, people deemed unclean.

Who are the untouchables of our society? Who should we be reaching out to?

June Round Up

2011-07-01T08:00:00.075+01:00

June has pretty much flown by, and to make sure that you didn't miss anything important I decided I'd do a June round up.

The Archbishop of Canterbury was asked to be guest editor for the New Statesmen. His article caused a bit of a commotion. Accused of "questioning the legitimacy of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition" by the Daily Mail, he has apparently "created a storm that will harm his office and the Church of England" (here). According to this article in the Independent, it was not Rowan Williams' decision to write about the government, and he wanted to write about aid instead.

Moving from the top Primate of the Church of England, to the top dog. Mandy has been a dedicated church goer for the last 13 years. She is quiet and reverend during the services, and has received a blessing from her local bishop. She is also a Yorkshire Terrier.

The BBC magazine feels that our society can learn a lot from the Smurfs. The article talks about how each Smurf has a role to play, "using their individual skills for the common good, without individual reward, to ensure their community thrives." It sounds a bit like that 1 Corinthians passage, where everyone has a role to play in the church. The major downside to this idea is that there is a severe lack of female Smurfs. Perhaps it explains why I'm still single.

There has been a lot of articles and videos on the Guardian this month about religion's role in the Big Society. First there was a video about Liverpool's Frontline Church and the help it was providing for the local prostitutes and homeless. Then there was an article about how faith communities encourage social cohesion and contribution.

I'll leave you with one of The Church Sofa's Notice Board of the Week.

Have a good July.

What have I missed?

Strike!

2011-06-30T08:00:00.030+01:00

Today, teachers across the country are going on strike. This is because the government has announced changes to the pension scheme, and means that teachers will end up paying more for less. Usually, I've not had to think much about it. First, I've never been a member of a Union, and I've never been in a workplace that has been affected by strikes before. As I work part-time in a Sixth-Form college, however, it has really made me think about the issues surrounding striking.

I would not have been able to strike, as I don't belong to any Union, and was worried that I'd have to cross the picket. Fortunately, though, I don't work there Thursdays, so I won't have to (although, I'll have to check that I don't get a day's pay deducted by people mistakenly thinking I'm on strike).

But it raises a number of questions. Should Christians go on strike? By breaching our contract are we going against our word. Or is this an issue of justice?

A good article on it can be found at The Urban Pastor's blog, here. Christians at Work provided some good advice too.

What do you think?

Resource Wednesday

2011-06-29T08:00:00.050+01:00

Sometimes, the most difficult things about being a youth worker is not the tears, the misbehaviour, the constant noise and mess. It's the questions. You get questions on the reliability of the Bible, eschatology, and how do we know Jesus was real. It's these moments as a youth worker that your heart really sinks. You feel the youth groups eyes on you, you co-leaders are waiting expectantly. You murmur some half-hashed answer and think why aren't there easily accessible resources for these types of questions.

It would be really helpful if there was a apologetics website that contained short, understandable articles, videos and soundbites. Perhaps it would contain articles about suffering, truth and culture, written by people such as Amy Orr-Ewing and Michael Ramsden? But, surely that is just a dream, a youth workers fantasy?

bethinking.org is UCCF's apologetics website. It's crammed full of articles, film reviews, videos of lectures, recordings of talks. It's good for youth workers, as it equips you with answers for those questions. But also, you can refer the teenagers to it and get them to start finding the answers to their questions.

As it's aimed at Christian students, some of the topics may go over the head of your teens. But probably not the ones who think enough to ask those type of questions. So, you can breathe a sigh of relief as you say, "Well, why don't you find the answer yourself. Go to bethinking.org and come back with what you find." Most likely they'll forget your advice and you'll never have to think about it again.

Quick Questions

What's your method of sweeping difficult questions under the rug?
If you say you'll get back to someone with the answer, do you?
What questions do you have? What do you want to know?

Mosaic and Morris Dancers

2011-06-24T11:43:00.000+01:00

Recently Mosaic has been getting to know it's neighbours. By that, I mean James and Steph's neighbours. First was through the Big Lunch, then last Sunday we washed their cars. Both seemed to involve water, mostly in the form of rain. The picture above was stolen from James' blog, who wrote about the Big Lunch in more detail (the photo was taken by me, so I have some right to nab it). It was good to see how these two things meant that neighbours who hardly spoke to each other had an opportunity to share their lives with one another.

Yesterday I went to The Guide Dog, a small country-pub-on-the-city place with my dad. When we got there we were confronted by stick weilding, bell jangling Morris Dancers. What was interesting is how the strange (and, in my opinion, slightly disturbing) sight bought people out their houses. So maybe James could consider that as Mosaic's next thing. It has a ring to it, the Mosaic Morris Dancers, doesn't it?

Quick Questions

Do Morris Dancers scare you too?
What things bring your community together?

Thank God for Jesus...

2011-06-22T16:00:00.044+01:00

On Monday 16th May I started the Bible in 90 days reading plan. This means I should be well over a third into the Bible. Except I'm not. I didn't even make it out of Genesis.Fortunately, I have a God of grace, and God doesn't do Heaven Entrance Exams. No matter how many times my good intentions lead to nothing, I still have Jesus.

So why did it fail so abysmally? I think a few reasons contributed to it:

Lack of accountability: There was no incentive to do it when I didn't feel like it. I've only been asked about it on the blog once, and managed to evade answering the questions until now.
A dry, intellectual approach: My goal was really to just get the Bible out of the way so I can say I've done it. It wasn't in pursuit of God or anything like that. Currently I'm reading Wuthering Heights, not because I'm enjoying it, but just so I can tick that one off my list. This approach is fine with novels, but not with the Bible.
Lack of variety: I've read Genesis a few times now, and I'm aware that there are areas of the Bible I'm less familiar with so it made it quite frustrating.

But don't despair over me and my heathen ways just yet. Not only because that would be seriously judgemental, but also because I've taken a new approach, which has (so far) been more successful. I've started using the WordLive material that quite a few people in my church use. Have a read of this blog to see some of the responses of a friend from my church and her experiences of the material.

I've tried to do it before, individually, but again the lack of accountability was still an issue. So now I'm doing it with someone. I meet regularly with a good friend, Duncan, to keep accountable with one another, and we were both lamenting on how rubbish we were at regularly reading the Bible. I think accountability partnerships become useless if you don't try and do something about the problems you've discussed. So we decided that we would follow the WordLive plan and text each other after we'd read it to give each other our responses.

This seems to have solved the problems listed above:

Accountability: Well, I've already discussed this one. Knowing that someone is waiting for a text from you is a good incentive. Also, if I forget, the text I receive from Duncan will give me a nudge.
God seeking approach: WordLive has both a prepare and respond section in its reading, ensuring that it isn't a dry, intellectual approach. I also have to consider how it personally applicable to me because Duncan is waiting to find out.
Variety: WordLive gives a lot of variety. We've covered passages from Acts, Galatians, Psalms and Numbers in the few weeks we've been doing it. They also have pictures, music, explanations of the cultural and social contexts and a summary of the main points of the passage. This prevents it getting dry and boring.

I may write a few posts on my responses to passages, but will tweeting them more regularly. If you don't already follow me on twitter, then this is a good time to start.

Quick Questions

Do you have an accountability partner? How has this helped you?
In what ways do you engage with the Bible? Do you listen to it being read, do you follow a plan, do you do more creative things?

My part of the story

2011-06-16T08:00:00.001+01:00

(A friend and co-blogger wrote that we shouldn't try to see God in our stories, but see ourselves in God's story (she took it from Eugene Peterson, so shouldn't get all the credit). I love this concept, that we are part of something bigger and greater than ourselves. So, this is a story where God is the main character, but I have just a bit part. It reads a bit like a children's story, which wasn't my original intention but I quite liked it. I also refer to myself as in the third person, in order to emphasise that this is not just my story, but my small part in a much more crucial narrative-not because I'm crazy.)

In the beginning was God, and since then he has done a lot of miraculous things. First, he created the universe, which is no mean feat. He then sent his Son to reconcile the universe to him. It was not an easy reconciliation, it was painful and hard; the universe got the better deal. God has always been faithful, back when he made the universe and back when he was doing the reconciling. He remained faithful to two of his people, M and B. B, at this time, was pregnant with twins. God gave this couple a message, through a well-respected elder at their church. The message was simple, it was "Everything is going to be fine."

Later that evening, B began to bleed quite heavily. Although scared that they could be losing their babies, M and B remembered the message that God had given them. And, again, God was faithful. The twins survived.

On the 6th February, B went into labour. The first twin was born and they named him Stephen, for Stephen was the name of his grandfather and was also someone in the Bible. Stephen was not a healthy baby. He had a Tracheoesophageal fistula. This is where the food pipe goes into the wind pipe. If something wasn't done about it Stephen would have died. Six minutes after Stephen was born, the second child came. They called him Thomas, for Thomas means twin. He was not a healthy baby either. He had too little blood (for Stephen had it all) and the doctors thought he may have meningitis. But, again, God was faithful. The twins survived.

Stephen and Thomas grew up, and M and B loved them very much. Because of this they also knew that they were loved by God. When they were eight, M was telling Thomas and Stephen how he came to know about God (who created the universe and reconciled the universe to him through his Son). Although Thomas was young, he decided that he wanted to know God too. Whilst sitting in the back of the car, Thomas decided that he would live his life getting to know about this God.

Thomas lived his life, learning more about God and his son Jesus. However, it was not always easy. Sometimes Thomas felt as if God was not there with him. Sometimes he would tell God that he didn't feel like following him any more. But when this happened, Thomas always knew that it didn't matter what you felt like. God was still God, and it was no point trying to hide from it.

Whilst at secondary school Thomas ran his CU. It didn't go too well, but he did learn a lot from the experience. Thomas stayed at his school's sixth-form, which was a mistake. He was very unhappy there. So unhappy that he began to hurt himself on purpose. It was only in small ways, but it still wasn't wise. Thomas thought that somehow he could control the way he felt if he hurt himself, and he would then feel better for it. It was silly because it actually made him feel worse. Thomas wasn't doing very well at sixth-form and his marks weren't that good. He was meant to be going to university but he didn't know where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do. So he decided to apply to go to Swansea, even though he don't really want to go there.

Thomas wondered where God was in this situation. God wasn't helping with the pain he was feeling, nor was he making his university choices any clearer. Thomas felt that God had left him on his own and this made him feel hopeless. But God was faithful at the beginning, and God was faithful at Thomas' birth, so God was faithful even through this time.

When it came to finding out his A Level results, Thomas found out he did not have the grades needed to get into the Swansea University. This meant he had to look for places in other universities to see if they will let him in. He phoned many different universities who did not want to let him in. He then phoned the university in Aberystwyth, and they said they would love to have him and invited him to an open day. So Thomas took the train, on his own, all the way to Aberystwyth. When he arrived the sun was shining, everyone seemed welcoming and Thomas was glad to be there (there were also a lot of Jewish people there, which Thomas thought was strange, but this isn't important to the story). Thomas decided that Aberystwyth was the place for him.

Thomas did end up going to Aberystwyth University. He made lots of friends, he found a church where he felt like a member of the family and really enjoyed his course. He no longer felt he need to hurt himself anymore, and he was happy. It was God's plan, all a long, that Thomas would go to Aberystwyth. Even when Thomas was sad and unsure and without hope, God was still faithful.

It took him a while to realise this. At a CU weekend away Thomas was asked to share his testimony. He was telling this story (with some extra bits, or others missing) to a group of students when he realised how God had been so faithful to him, even when he couldn't see it at the time. Thomas had to try very hard not to cry.

Soon, university was coming to an end. Thomas, like at sixth-form, didn't really know what he wanted to do afterwards. This time, however, rather than feeling hopeless he decided to rely on God. A friend suggested to him that he applied for a job in a church. So he did. He applied for a job in Oxford, but he didn't get it. Though Thomas knew it was a part of God's plan, he was still getting slightly worried, because he did not want to move back home to Southampton. He thought that he had left his parents' house for good. God, however, had other plans (which are always better than our own).

God provided Thomas a job at a church in Southampton. It was called Waterfront Church then, but now it's called Exilio. It was only part-time and he needed another job. Thomas applied for a job at Totton College. Unfortunately, because one of the references didn't come through he didn't get the job he had applied for. Thomas was a bit sad, but thought that God knew what he was doing. A few days later he gets another call from Totton College. The references had come through and they had made a new job post just for him. God had provided Thomas with the other job he needed.

Thomas loves the church he is at. He loves the people he has met and the teenagers that he works with. Thomas knows because of everything that has happened that God has an exciting plan for him. But most of all Thomas will always remember that God was faithful back when he was making the universe, he has been ever since and he will continue to be faithful forever and ever.

Amen.

Quick Questions

Any questions?
What's your story?

Resource Wednesday

2011-06-15T08:00:00.000+01:00

The second of the Resource Wednesday series. I'm doing well so far (mainly because I wrote this on the same day as the last one and scheduled it for two weeks time).

This week we'll take a brief look at The Resurgence website. It's a resource bank provided by Mars Hill Church (Seattle) and the Acts 29 network. It has loads of helpful posts about numerous topics, such as mission, being a Godly wife and Dead Guys.

I just love the amount of resources it has and the fact it has new things daily. It's primarily aimed at leaders (the site's motto is "We serve leaders"), but their definition of leaders is quite broad. This can include youth-leaders, leaders within the home or church leaders.

My only criticism is very hard to qualify and happens in only a tiny number of the articles. The site is American, and if you find people like Mark Driscoll grating, you'll probably find some of the articles grate with you too. It's not so much what they are trying to say, but the presentation of it.

It's quite a big site, with a lot of resources but to give you a flavour I'll pick out a small selection:

But be warned. Some of the stuff on this site is pretty challenging.

Quick Questions

What sites do you use?
Did you find the video about the Death of the Mushy Middle encouraging?
Have you found any good pages on The Resurgence website?

GO!

2011-06-11T08:00:00.036+01:00

Today was the start of a new series in x:cell. Over the next few weeks we're going to be looking at Matthew 28:19-20.

Before we started I asked the group what the purpose of x:cell was. I was trying to them to understand that just being a holy huddle was just like use being a ship in a harbour. It's safe but it isn't the point.

A ship in a harbour is safe, but this is not what ships are built for.

(John A. Shedd, Salt from My Attic)

When then looked at the idea of "Go". We have to leave the harbour and fulfil our purpose. We often have this idea that the going is just for missionaries. They leave the comfort of the walls of the church and do bold, exciting things for the sake of the Gospel. Whereas, we normal types just do boring things confines to the walls of our church building. However, we are also called places. This may just be our street, or our school or our place of work. But we're called to bring God's glory to where we are.

Then I handed out some stickers, to remind them that we are called to bring God's glory to the world.

Have you ever been or wanted to be a missionary?
Where are you called?
Do you find the idea of being a missionary wherever you are exciting, scary or just daft?

Low standards

2011-06-10T08:00:00.000+01:00

Perhaps my standards are a bit low, but the only criteria I have for a successful event is that no one died. As long as all the teens are returned to their parents alive then I've done my job and I've done it well. Some one cried? It doesn't matter, they're still alive. Someone really hurt themselves? Their vitals are fine, so it's all okay. They've all fallen out and none of them are going to come back? I don't care because they're not dead.

Ironically, it's probably because I'm a little bit neurotic. Whenever we go on trips or do something a little adventurous all I can think of is body bags. This was especially true this half-term. We took the older teens to PlayZone and one of them announced a few days before, "I'm really excited; although, the last time I went to PlayZone I dislocated my shoulder." From that moment I kept imagining her lifeless body in the ball pit after breaking her neck or something. Then there was the drive there and back. It was on a motorway. I was driving. It was a accident that should have happened, but fortunately didn't. They all survived. (One felt slightly sick, but that's okay.)

Then we had a picnic in the park, and with this latest E. coli outbreak, I was worried I'd poison my youth with unwashed grapes or something. Again, no one's died. One cried after bumping into one of the others, but it was still a successful event in my book.

With all this preoccupation over the hypothetical death of a teen, the relief I feel when they all get to see another day means that any other problems that happened seem insignificant. So, perhaps my neuroticism is a blessing in disguise.

Quick Questions

Are you a neurotic individual?
What irrational fears do you have?
What was your worse experience on a trip (at school, with your family)?

The DNA of Gospel Movements

2011-06-08T08:00:00.006+01:00

This is an awesome video, and the start of a whole series that focuses on the different aspects he talks about about.

This gives a hint of what (at least I believe) Mosaic, x:cell and Exilio as a whole are about:

Living as if Jesus is Lord
Making disciples who make disciples (D²)
Being a sent people
Being radical

For the whole series click here.

Tiredness Kills

2011-06-03T08:00:00.000+01:00

It's now half-term. In the few weeks running up every school break I, as well as every youth-worker and employee of the education sector, experience half-term fatigue. School staff rooms become an insomnia support group and all you can think about it your next dose of caffeine.

I don't know what you do when you're tired to relax and rejuvenate. I generally sleep obscene amounts and mess up my sleep pattern or stare blankly at a laptop screen expecting to somehow give me more energy. It's no wonder that I don't actually feel refreshed after doing this. So where should we find our rest.

In Psalm 62, David tells us where he gets his rest from: "Truly my rest comes from God; my salvation comes from him". In verse 5 he reiterates it by saying, "Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him." Rest, salvation and hope are all linked in these verses, and they all have the same source.

This rest is not just curling up to a good movie or an afternoon nap. The Hebrew in verse 1, the word rest has a deeper meaning, a sense of silence, waiting and expectation. It means also to place a confidence in God.

Quick Questions

What is your favourite way to unwind?
Does waiting stress you out?

Youth group or Missional Community?

2011-06-02T13:45:00.000+01:00

Today I have decided that I no longer run a youth group called x:cell. I'm there to equip a missional community made of teenagers (incidentally, called x:cell).

A youth group is often just a small group of people at secondary school and, too me, "small group" is just a euphemism for "holy huddle". Small groups are apparently there to develop people, but develop to what? Do the small groups change, grow, get out there and fulfil the Great Commission? Generally, no, they do not.

So what is different about a missional community? I'll let Jeff Vanderstelt and Caesar Kalinowski explain.

I do not want x:cell to be a holy huddle. I do not want them to be inward looking and ineffectual. I want them to be bold. I want them to proclaim God's glory where ever they go. I want the good news of the Gospel to be on their hearts and on their lips. I want them to be a missional community.

Quick Questions

Are you fed up of holy huddles?
Do you think the church has become ineffectual?

Resource Wednesday

2011-06-01T08:00:00.003+01:00

I tried to a few series in my previous blog. It always ended badly. So, I'm probably going to need a bit of participation from you guys. Therefore, if you know any good online resources please let me know. They could be Bible study tools, sites with good videos or articles about Christianity. Feel free to just point me in a certain direction or write a guest post for me to put up.

I thought I'd start with a bog-standard one: BibleGatewa y.com. It's always been a really helpful site and you'll often find me on it. I often use it to read commentaries on different passages, to see what the passage is in a different version or just when I can't be bother to reach for my Bible which is probably in my bag next to me. The key to youth-work is efficiency and BibleGateway is a really good way to quickly look up multiple passages, especially when they can be spread across the whole Bible.

BibleGateway, however, was a bit clunky and you sometimes had to go obscure routes to read the commentaries. This is no more, because, as of today, BibleGateway has gone Beta.

New look of BibleGateway.com

Apart from the fact that it just looks cooler, it's also much easier to use. You can set up parallel readings and view the resources for that passage (such as commentaries and dictionaries) along side it. I makes delving and investigating passages a lot simpler and makes it a lot more rewarding. I is an really accessible way to learn about the richness and complexity of the Bible.

But don't let me convince you, let Rachel Barach. Or give it a go yourself.

Quick Questions

What do you think of the new look BibleGateway?
What internet resources do you use?

The next one will be up in a fortnight.

Spring Clean

2011-05-31T15:20:00.000+01:00

A common thing that comes with the territory of being a youth worker is mess. So, today I had a bit of an overdue spring clean and my desk is now tidy. I wonder how long it will last for.

My desk (Click for larger version)

I was going to do a tenuous and cheesy link to get Jesus in this post. It would have gone something like this: "I quite often wish that the desk would clean itself, but it can't. In the same way, we can't clean up ourselves ourselves so we need Jesus to do it for us." Then I would have quoted 1 John 1:9 or Psalm 51:2.

That would have been the typical youth worker thing to do.

Quick Questions

What things come with your job? Clutter? Tidiness? Stress?
What is your working environment like?
Did you like the way I told you what I would have done, which is basically just the same as doing it?

Opinions, please

2011-05-30T10:00:00.000+01:00

I've been thinking I need to shake the blog up a bit. This may or may not include a change in name and url, as well as the type of posts I write.

It would be really good to see what you guys think so I've made a little online survey thing for you to fill out, here.

I would love to know what you think and what you want to see more of.

Thanks.

Visit to Kerith Community Church

2011-05-28T21:19:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I took my youth group to visit another church in Bracknell. It was a really good experience, despite that three out of the seven teens ending up crying (girls!). We managed to go on the night they had a rave and quite a few were overwhelmed by the whole experience. There were a lot of people there, there were flashing lights, and loud music. Not all of them appreciated that atmosphere.

LIFE is the weekly youth event at Kerith

The folk at Kerith were really welcoming and looked after us well. I took various things away from heading there:

Passion
They were really passionate about what they were doing. Marie (my co-youth leader) and I got a guided tour and everyone seemed to enthuse passion. They loved serving God and they loved what they were doing. There was a huge number of volunteers and they all seemed to be passionate about the teens.

Messiness
Although the whole set up was extremely professional they were willing to get down and dirty. They didn't want it to be a normal white middle class quiet youth event. They were willing to take risks even if it meant they had to have bouncers at the door.

Youth involvement
The youth had a huge involvement in the set up and running of the events. The whole PA crew were teenagers. I thought that was brilliant.

Depth and breadth
Sometimes with large youth-groups you feel that they can be shallow and superficial. There was definitely a sense in some of the teens that they really wanted to live for Jesus and also were quite open about it. The youth has seen a lot of growth in the last 18 months but I don't think it was at the expense of depth as well.

I found it a really encouraging experience and I really hoped that my teens learnt from what they saw as well. We don't want to replicate their youth events but we really want to see some of those things happen.

Quick Questions

How can we encourage other churches?
What experiences have you had from visiting other churches?

Perpetual Motion

2011-05-18T10:11:00.001+01:00

There seems to be quite a common theme with the events in Genesis. Abraham and his descendents never seem to get things right. There's this pattern of God reminding them of the covenant he made to Abraham, they make some sort of testament to it (usually a pile of stones), then they go and mess up.

One person I felt quite sorry for was Abimelek. In Genesis 20, Abraham lied to him and said that his wife, Sarah, was his sister. Fortunately, God prevented Abimelek and his people from mistakenly taking her to be their wife so they were spared from any punishment as a result. Abimelek ended up giving Sarah gifts for any offence that may have been caused, despite the fact that it was Abraham who was in the wrong. It seemed Abimelek was more willing to act in a way that honoured God than Abraham, despite the fact that he did not have God's promises as Abraham did.

Abraham's actions were the result of a mistaken attitude towards God and fear as a result. Abraham thought that the region of Gerer was not a God-fearing place and therefore his life was in danger. He then lied to protect himself, got himself in a sticky situation and had to be baled out by God. He had no reason to fear though, God had constantly told Abraham that he would be protected and that he would prosper. Abraham didn't seem to take this too seriously at times and got into a lot of trouble.

This scene is repeated again and again. God gives his promise and then the person (be it Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...) falls short, forgetting what God had just told them. It's the same story again and again: a perpetual motion of God bringing his people to him, them going astray and God bringing them to him once again.

Quick Questions

Are you a forgetful person?
Do you sometimes fail to remember God's promises to you?

Blaming God

2011-05-17T17:32:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I started the Bible in 90 days reading plan. The hope is that by the third week of August I would have read the entire Bible. It's going to be a real challenge but hopefully I'll manage it. But to make it even more of a challenge I thought I would write some blog posts about what strikes me from the passages I have read. So not only do I have to read about an hours' worth of Bible every day, I have to write about it too.

The first reading (Genesis 1:1-16:16) covers the creation story and Adam and Eve getting chucked out of the Garden of Eden. It's pretty bog-standard stuff, and most people in the Western world know the story. However, there are always little nuances that can really impact someone. What I loved about the story is Adam's reaction to being caught by God. When God questions him on why he has started wearing clothing and who taught him about nudity he actually tried and blame God. He says, "The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." (Genesis 3:12)

Now, here Adam tries to shift the blame away from him onto Eve, but also onto God. It's the "you put here with me" bit that shows his attitude to God's role in this situation. When I read that, I thought "Wow. Adam is a jerk." Then the next second I thought, "Wow. I do exactly the same thing."

Quite often when I fall short I try to blame God: "if you hadn't let me be tempted that way I wouldn't have done it" or "if the situation you put me in wasn't so frustrating I wouldn't have lost my temper." Rather than come to God, realise my mistake and apologise I try and blame him for it.

Quick Question

Have you ever tried to blame someone when it obviously wasn't their fault?
What bits of the Bible should I really be looking forward to? What should I be dreading?

The Kingdom of God

2011-05-14T12:06:00.001+01:00

When people are asked what the Kingdom of God looks like they'd probably automatically think of a traditional looking church. Perhaps they'd think it was a holy huddle of believers that shut themselves off from the rest of the world. Or maybe they'd think it was a bunch of old ladies wearing hats and floral patterned dresses sitting on hard wooden pews in a dusty, dim building. That is not, I believe, what God's Kingdom looks like.

Every now and again you might get a glimmer of what God's Kingdom is like. It's sometimes in moments of laughter and joy; but sometimes also in comforting someone in great pain. I don't think there is anywhere that fully shows the real beauty of God's Kingdom but we sometimes find a part of it, and sometimes we may even not realise we've seen it until a lot later.

When I was in Year 10, I began running my school's Christian Union. I didn't do that great a job and the attendance was rather low. However, I persisted and by the time I was in sixth-form a teacher that went to a local church began to help me run it. We would alternate and I would do one week and she would do the other.

There were two groups of people within that CU. First was a group of girls that attended the same church as the teacher. To this day I don't really know why they came. They didn't get involved, they ignored whatever I said and they would blank me in the school corridors.

It recently struck me, however, how the other group was one of those rare insights into how it could be. We were, to be frank, a bunch of misfits. I was one of the only ones that attended church regularly, and I doubt most of them believed in God. We all had our problems: I hated sixth-form and for most of the time I was miserable; one girl was extremely shy; another guy was somewhat gregarious and often annoyed people; another girl was having problems at home. However, one lunch time every week we came together, ate doughnuts, played games and chatted about life and what following God meant. It wasn't perfect. Our personalities grated sometimes, people would fall out and we'd have all the drama of teenager life. But somewhere in all that mess was a faint picture of God's Kingdom.

Thinking back, I really miss that small group. I cut most of my connections with the sixth-form upon leaving and I don't really know what is happening in their lives. I very much doubt that there was much of a lasting impact for everyone else, but this picture has certainly remained with me.

Quick Questions

Did your school have a Christian Union? What was it like?
What glimmers of God's Kingdom have you seen?
How can we show what God's Kingdom is like here and now?

Good and Bad

2011-05-11T22:53:00.002+01:00

Often people don't see the humour in the Bible. For me there is a particularly funny episode in Job 2, which involves an interaction between Job and Mrs Job. I like to imagine Job as a sort of Victor Meldrew character and Mrs Job as Margaret (only because it makes it funny, not because they're particularly similar).

Job as portrayed by Richard Wilson
(Image from BBC via The Guardian)

Job had tragedy after tragedy befall on him. All his children had died and his livestock, and his wealth with it, had gone. Then he was struck by boils and he sat on a pile of ash scraping them with broken pottery. Mrs Job comes along and says, "Why are you still trying to retain your integrity. Just curse God, roll over and die."

Then Job said, "You're talking like a foolish woman. If we can accept the good from God, then surely we should accept the bad."

I love this honest picture of husband and wife. But I also love what Job says afterwards, about being able to accept both the good and the bad.

A couple of posts ago I wrote about how I'd moved house. I wasn't quite settled at that point, but now I am. I'm quite enjoying my life with its new found freedom. However, my housemates are all leaving at the end of the month (not due to me, I hope). Yesterday, my landlady was at our house sorting some bits and told me that she was using this as an opportunity to change the tenancy agreements. It is to become a whole house lease, so either I find people to move in or I move out.

This was obviously frustrating, and I think my landlady felt really guilty because previously in the conversation I was telling her how I had settled in and was enjoying living there.

I was quite annoyed, not with the landlady funnily enough, but with God. I thought that this was where God intended me to be and I was annoyed that he allowed it to get messed up. I obviously need to take the bad as well as the good, and also listen to what I write myself.

Quick Questions

What do you say when things go wrong? Is it "I don't believe it"?
What has caused you to be frustrated with God recently?
What encouraging stories have you got of God answering prayers when you least expected it?

On holiday from God

2011-05-05T11:53:00.002+01:00

The last three weeks or so, I've mostly been in holiday mode. I've had the Easter holidays and then the four day weekend, so I've mostly been lying in the sun in a local park. I've definitely been relaxing. There has been a bad side to this. For the last fortnight or so I've been finding I've also been taking a holiday from God.

I have definitely not been investing time in deepening my relationship with him and have been getting by doing the bare minimum. Having little structure to my days I've had little motivation to do anything except watch Doctor Who DVDs and sleep. This has meant that I've also had little motivation to spend time with God by reading the Bible and praying. Which is odd, because I seem to have quite a bit to pray about.

It's tough finding the perfect balance between work, play and time with God. It always seems time with God is the first thing to disappear from the list. Read this post from my friend Rachel about the other side of the coin.

On another side, I'm quite excited about what is happening in Mosaic at the moment, and will hopefully blog about it a bit more. Although, my internet is down so it might make things interesting (once again I'm currently in Trago lounge). We're currently going to be reading Acts and, being the class swot, that will inspire me to read my Bible a bit more.

Quick Questions

How have you been making the most of the nice weather?
Did you watch the Royal Wedding?
What are you currently reading in the Bible (if you are)?
What tips do you have for maintaining a healthy Bible reading habit?

Mere Christianity

2011-04-23T14:26:00.001+01:00

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis is a classic piece of Christian writing. It is considered as one of the most influential books in shaping the evangelical church (ranked third by Christianity Today, see here). So I thought I would give it a go. I had that thought about three years ago, and so I started it. Then I gave up. So, about a year later I tried again. And gave up again too. But finally, I finished it.

Do not think for a moment that my repeated failed attempts say something about how good the book is. It's more telling about how I am easily distracted and forget to bookmark where I've got to. I've got to admit, the style is quite heavy and hard to plough through. You can only do it in 30 page stints, otherwise your brains may melt. But it's worth it.

C.S. Lewis explains some key Christian doctrine with clarity and really useful analogies. It discards the common myths about Christianity and explains clearly why and what the actual reality is. It covers quite a few topics, from the Trinity to Sexual Morality. It offers helpful illustrations with some of the mind-bending aspects of Gods (like the Trinity, and the eternal nature of Jesus), and he doesn't just explain the problems away. He observes that they are difficult, and that they should be. He also highlights how his illustrations are flawed and uses these flaws to point to the awesome and indescribable nature of God.

If you can get past the heavy and old-fashioned writing style it's well worth the effort.

[Random aside:

I'm currently writing this in the Trago Lounge (Third Place Communities and all that) as my internet is down at home. We were briefly joined by the Easter Bunny. That was exciting.]

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

2011-04-22T08:00:00.001+01:00

On this day, nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ died. Christians believe that this event was one of the most significant events, not just for believers, but for humanity as a whole.

Here's a hymn Isaac Watts wrote in 1707:

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God,
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down,
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Amen to that.

Generosity

2011-04-16T08:45:00.000+01:00

The generous will themselves be blessed,

for they share their food with the poor.

Proverbs 22:9

Hung on the cross

2011-04-08T11:10:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I wrote a post about Creative Prayer. As last night was a creative prayer session, I thought I'd go into more depth.

We watched the video below about the crucifixion and then read Isaiah 53.Some of the teenagers were really surprised by the fact that this was written hundreds of years before Jesus' death.

We then wrote confessions and put them into envelopes, so no one could read them, and hung them onto the peg cross. It was a really nice way to visually recognise how our sin was dealt with at the cross.

The evening went really well and it was really beneficial to have a space to reflect on the significance of the cross and what it means to us. It's so easy to forget the sacrifice that Jesus went through for us.

Creative Prayer

2011-04-07T17:27:00.003+01:00

What I like about teenagers is their willingness to try new things. They don't get embarrassed or dismiss it as pointless as quickly as adults do. This has meant that I've had quite a few opportunities for praying creatively.

We've had prayer tents, we've used wooden blocks to pray about our part in God's Temple, we've shredded worries. Tonight we're going to hang our sins on the cross. We're going to write prayers of confession and hang them on a cross made of pegs and string.

What inspires you to pray?

Home is where the heart is

2011-04-02T21:54:00.001+01:00

My home. Not really.

I've moved. I'm no longer a twenty something still living with their parents (although I've yet to spend a night in my new bed). Everybody keeps saying how great and exciting it must be, but at this stage it's a bit hard to agree. First, moving is tiring work. I'm exhausted and when I'm exhausted I'm generally miserable. (When I'm miserable either of these two things solve the problem: a cup of tea or a nap. If I'm very miserable I may need both.)

Second, it just doesn't feel like home. It just feels like a room where I've dumped all my stuff and there are people I barely know in the same house. I'm still in the adjusting and settling in stage. But should it feel like home? Matthew 6:19-21 says:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

There's that saying, home is where the heart is. But here is says your heart should be in heaven, along with the treasures you store there. I think God wants us to enjoy the homes he's given us but not to treat them like treasure. We are to be generous with them and not hold onto them too firmly. Otherwise we won't have our heart in the right place.

Quick Questions

What works for you when you're miserable? (I feel another blog post coming on)
What is your most treasured belonging? (If you say "my Bible" I'll presume you're lying.)
Where are your treasures stored? In your bank? In your shed? In your wallet? Under your bed?

Random aside
In my last post I said that the Bemroses had given me a cold. I said that despite the fact the symptoms weren't all that similar. However, the Bemroses are ill again, but with colds that sound very similar to mine. I am currently writing that blog post onto edible paper...

Everything in Common

2011-03-22T19:41:00.000Z

I really like Acts 2. It's when everything begins to kick off and cool things start to happen. There's tongues of fire, people speaking in all sorts of languages and an exponential growth of the new church. There is also a really key bit about how the early believers lived their lives together.

That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met.

They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

(Acts 2: 42-47, The Message Version)

The early church showed meals in their homes, they were joyful affairs and they praised God. They also shared their resources and lived in harmony and held everything in common. Each person's need was met.

In Mosaic we're beginning to see this done. Okay, we don't have a daily discipline of worship followed by joyful meals. But we do eat and worship together at least once a week (even if it is just very yummy dessert) and we do meet at other times of the week as well.

There is definitely an atmosphere of generosity in Mosaic. We're willing to lend one another our possessions or just a helping hand.

However, the Bemroses once again took things too far. This week they shared something with us that we didn't want. Their colds. Duncan and I have been suffering with a sore throat, coughs, headaches and fatigue. It's been awful. Duncan, who is a better person than I am, was willing to forgive and even babysit for the Bemroses. A true hero. I, on the other hand, did give James a bit of a beating.

Quick Questions

"Catch it. Bin it. Kill it." Is it really that hard?
Who was the last person you had over for dinner?
What was so attractive about how the people in Acts lived that 'their numbers grew daily'?

Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture

2011-03-08T21:43:00.001Z

Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture by Mike Frost is a mission in itself. Short of answering the timeless question of "boxers or briefs?", Mike Frost covers every aspect what it is to live as an exile from both the current Christian culture and general society. It is three hundred and twenty seven pages telling us how we should shop, eat, sing, live.

The book's call to a genuine, all-encompassing Godly lifestyle resonated with me, so I wasn't too put off by the length and sweeping subject matter. Little annoys me more than Sunday Christians: those who go to church sit in the pews, think that their job is done and live hypocritically the rest of the week. Christianity should be an all life deal. This is something that the exiled Church is realising and I find this exciting. I was excited by a lot of what Exiles offered in its beginning chapters. I loved the descriptions of the potential of "a radical, subversive, compassionate community of followers of Jesus."

What did put me off, though, was Frost's willingness to criticise. I should have heeded the warning in the "Note to the Reader" that "this book contains a good deal of pointed critique." It is really important to name and deal with problems within the church. Frost does it well and I agree with he has to say. He could have probably done this, though, without hauling individuals over the coals (such as Matt Redman). Although I agreed with the points he made, they lack a flavour of grace.

It's quite similar to Total Church in its priorities and I would probably suggest starting there, and then moving onto this one. It's shorter for a start.

Giving for Free

2011-03-01T21:59:00.002Z

I just wanted to give a shout out to a really fantastic site called Kiva. It allows you to get involved in microfinance projects and you don't have to part with any money. Well, you do, but you get it back.

How Kiva Works from Kiva Microfunds on Vimeo.

Quick Questions

What are you waiting for? Go do it.

Fairy Godmother God

2011-02-28T22:08:00.003Z

In my effort to throw myself into everything Mosaic, I've been trying to find a place to live. Ideally, it would be in the student area of Southampton, bang between chez Bemrose and the Hub. I like to call the area I'm looking to move into "the triangle of joy".

However, my search has not been too successful and I've been getting quite frustrated. And then I give up and things don't get done. I'm trying to do something that I think God wants me to do. So, surely shouldn't it be really easy?

Mosaic have been looking a Nehemiah recently and a more extreme example of when doing God's work isn't necessarily easy. Nehemiah wants to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, which had been attacked, burnt and torn down. God gets Nehemiah to Jerusalem and the Israelites start to rebuild the walls. However, they face opposition. His struggles are bigger than mine. I'm a bit tired, and things seem a bit tedious. These Israelites were exhausted, they had threats of attack and they were being mocked. Rather than giving up, what does Nehemiah do? He ramps up the effort.

Nehemiah knows that God's work does not equate to easy work. In fact, it was rather the opposite. It's completely different from how I've been acting lately. I've fallen into this trap of thinking that God is like the Fairy Godmother. He comes in, waves a wand and says I can, indeed, go to the ball. And when it doesn't happen like that I get frustrated.

So maybe it's time I ramped up the effort.

Quick Questions

What is frustrating you at the moment?
How are you guilty of treating God like a Fairy Godmother?

Looking for things in the same place

2011-02-12T17:00:00.000Z

The other day my dad bought some chocolate. Being the mature person who wishes to honour his parents I am, I hid the chocolate. But it gave me an interesting insight in to people's habits. Once he realised that it was missing he tried looking for it. But he kept on looking in the same places. He would look under a pile of paper, then in a kitchen cupboard and then he would check under the paper again, as if it could have magically appeared while he was looking in the cupboard. He kept on doing this, checking under the paper or in the cupboard or in his coat pocket again and again.

However, we all do this in our life. We look for meaning and fulfillment in different places. Whether it is money, academic achievement or frivilous relationships. After a while we realise that perhaps the meaning and fulfillment we were looking for is not there. It did not have the significance or rewards that we thought it would. But, more often than not, we return to these places to look for satisfaction even though we know it won't be there.

Proverbs 26:11 gives us a very good, albeit grim, picture to describe this: "As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly." If we look for satisfaction in meaningless places again and again we are the same as a dog who goes back to eat its puke. That's grim.

Quick Question

Where's the strangest place you've found something (e.g. your car keys in the freezer, or your homework in the microwave)?
Why is it always in the last place you look?

Shibboleth

2011-02-07T08:00:00.002Z

I have certain favourite words. My absolute favourite is whence. Particularly in this phrase "I wist not whence they were". I like to exaggerate the 'h' in it so it sounds like you're almost out of breath. Another word I like is Shibboleth. I like the sound but I also like that I was the only one in my department at college who knew where the word came from. When our computer systems decide we can't get on the internet they say "Shibboleth. Access denied" and there is a picture of a griffin. Everyone likes griffins.

I knew that the word came from the Bible. The Jewish tribe of Gilead had won against the Ephraimites and in order to stop them crossing the rivers in the area they introduced a password. The password was "Shibboleth" as the Ephraimites could not pronounce the 'sh-' sound correctly. If anyone trying to cross the river said it wrong they were killed.

Today, the word Shibboleth has a different meaning. It is a cultural marker: something that sets out your culture from the rest. As a Christian our Shibboleth should be our love for one another. John 13:35 puts it quite clearly: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Quick Questions

When you read the word "Gilead" did you think "The Handmaid's Tale"?
"I wist not whence they were"; isn't that a great turn of phrase?
What is the Shibboleth of any culture or sub-cultures you're in?
Is the Shibboleth of Christianity love?