(Police Academy 4)
For my final post in this series i wanted to talk about something which i found very positive, thus ending on a less whiney note. It's ever-so simple and requires little to be said about it. The thing is this: Be out there.
One of the things that came through, quite strongly for me, from all the staff at St.Thomas', was that they spend a specific amount of time each week just out, in public. They might be walking around a local estate or being in a coffee shop, praying, seeing who's about and chatting with people etc.
For me this tied in with conversations had with, and a post by, Kez. The idea of hope being where your ass is works, so put it in the streets, the pubs and the Costa-bucks coffee houses. It's the easiest thing for ministers to kill their week locked in church. There's something bold and gutsy about it, in terms of the arrangement of a weeks plan, the example set to the church and the demonstration of faith in one's faith.
Anyway, i think i've resolved to spending a couple of hours on a Thursday out and seeing what comes of it.
(Also, congrats to me for making the movie subtitle game work.)
22 November 2007
21 November 2007
Mis-shapes IV: The Revenge
(Jaws 4)
There were two moments last week that were of particular horror in my mind, they were as follows:
In the seminar on 'mission to the poor and the marginalised' (which was held in a tiny back room and really poorly attended - more irony for you) there was a guy from St.Tom's talking to me about the work that he does. He wasn't running the seminar and was, in fact, disgruntled that it didn't go far enough for him. His complaint was that deep investment in people, giving them jobs, having them live with you etc wasn't really spoken of.
He was right and i was really excited by what he was saying and by his story. He talked of not being smart or wealthy, but of owning his own building company. One of the things he's done in the past has been give people jobs with him, build things with them, have them live with him and his wife - then BANG! This excitment i'd felt burst and turned to sheer horror when he said "...the thing is though, you've got to be careful about who you take on and invest in in this way. They've got to be saved first or, if they die, they go to Hell and all that energy and resources you've poured into them are just wasted".
Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Secondly, in front of everyone on the last day, it was said that the wealth, freedom and lack of corruption we experience in this country is down to the Christian basis on which this country, its economy and its government are built.
I almost stood up and shouted "Bollocks!" except that i couldn't breathe, so instead i leant up and looked entirely aghast with all of the reasons this wasn't right barging through my mind. We didn't steal an Empire, it was ours to take, right? Slavery didn't give us a foot up, nor has oppression of women, come to think of it, our arms trading isn't too corrupt, and the same can be said of our dealing with the middle-east over oil. I'm sure there can't be too much of an economic benefit from getting Indonesians to make our sportswear etc etc.
The horror, the horror!
There were two moments last week that were of particular horror in my mind, they were as follows:
In the seminar on 'mission to the poor and the marginalised' (which was held in a tiny back room and really poorly attended - more irony for you) there was a guy from St.Tom's talking to me about the work that he does. He wasn't running the seminar and was, in fact, disgruntled that it didn't go far enough for him. His complaint was that deep investment in people, giving them jobs, having them live with you etc wasn't really spoken of.
He was right and i was really excited by what he was saying and by his story. He talked of not being smart or wealthy, but of owning his own building company. One of the things he's done in the past has been give people jobs with him, build things with them, have them live with him and his wife - then BANG! This excitment i'd felt burst and turned to sheer horror when he said "...the thing is though, you've got to be careful about who you take on and invest in in this way. They've got to be saved first or, if they die, they go to Hell and all that energy and resources you've poured into them are just wasted".
Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Secondly, in front of everyone on the last day, it was said that the wealth, freedom and lack of corruption we experience in this country is down to the Christian basis on which this country, its economy and its government are built.
I almost stood up and shouted "Bollocks!" except that i couldn't breathe, so instead i leant up and looked entirely aghast with all of the reasons this wasn't right barging through my mind. We didn't steal an Empire, it was ours to take, right? Slavery didn't give us a foot up, nor has oppression of women, come to think of it, our arms trading isn't too corrupt, and the same can be said of our dealing with the middle-east over oil. I'm sure there can't be too much of an economic benefit from getting Indonesians to make our sportswear etc etc.
The horror, the horror!
20 November 2007
Mis-shapes III: Live free or mis-shapes
(Die Hard 4.0)
At this point, from where i stand right now (sit), the great potential strength of what lifeshapes offers could fall victim to its greatest weakness. I've mentioned in a previous post that the intention behind lifeshapes is to bring balance and focus to Christian living.
In brief (very brief), The shapes are thus:
Circle - the stages on the circle offer a means of learning. You follow it through a process from reflection to action.
Triangle - says that our life should be an appropriate balance of up, in and out. Ie. relating to God, our own well being and our ministering to others.
Square - this is about identifying the phases we go through when we're learning and following something, and when we're teaching and leading something.
Semi-circle - (Weak) Still unclear on. Something about rhythms in life, times to be busy, times to rest, times to be missional, times to foster care in the Church.
Pentagon - Not pentagram, as some of the bad lot i fell in with were calling it. 'Five fold Christian ministry' Pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles and evangelists. (bit desperate if you ask me).
The thing is this, to a point the shapes and the processes they represent work. They poke and prod us and ask questions about how we live, how quickly we jump to decisions, how we're gifted, why we feel the way we do (and all of those things before God) etc. It's those questions that matter and the thought that goes into responses to them. The problem is that they come in the guise of a system. So, to people who like answers rather than wrangling with questions; for people with quite modernal outlooks on life; and for people who deal with their faith in quite boxy, clear-cut, right-wrong definitive terms, there is a huge temptation to fit, or make fit, everything, including themselves, into this system. When that happens it loses its power because in some senses it's a system that's not intended to be fulfilled. Its job is done as soon as it's got us to think, it doesn't require us to come back to it and squeeze back in all that it got us to think about. If the whole time you're working with the questions lifeshapes throws up you've got one eye on making your thoughts fit back, you'd only be stifled in that thinking.
Hence my constant referring to it as mis-shapes; we don't fit, life doesn't fit, we can't make a system which is whole, accurate and exhaustive, but, it does still acknowledge it as a thing which may be useful. The mocking of it basically keeps it in its place, where it serves us, not the other way around.
At this point, from where i stand right now (sit), the great potential strength of what lifeshapes offers could fall victim to its greatest weakness. I've mentioned in a previous post that the intention behind lifeshapes is to bring balance and focus to Christian living.
In brief (very brief), The shapes are thus:
Circle - the stages on the circle offer a means of learning. You follow it through a process from reflection to action.
Triangle - says that our life should be an appropriate balance of up, in and out. Ie. relating to God, our own well being and our ministering to others.
Square - this is about identifying the phases we go through when we're learning and following something, and when we're teaching and leading something.
Semi-circle - (Weak) Still unclear on. Something about rhythms in life, times to be busy, times to rest, times to be missional, times to foster care in the Church.
Pentagon - Not pentagram, as some of the bad lot i fell in with were calling it. 'Five fold Christian ministry' Pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles and evangelists. (bit desperate if you ask me).
The thing is this, to a point the shapes and the processes they represent work. They poke and prod us and ask questions about how we live, how quickly we jump to decisions, how we're gifted, why we feel the way we do (and all of those things before God) etc. It's those questions that matter and the thought that goes into responses to them. The problem is that they come in the guise of a system. So, to people who like answers rather than wrangling with questions; for people with quite modernal outlooks on life; and for people who deal with their faith in quite boxy, clear-cut, right-wrong definitive terms, there is a huge temptation to fit, or make fit, everything, including themselves, into this system. When that happens it loses its power because in some senses it's a system that's not intended to be fulfilled. Its job is done as soon as it's got us to think, it doesn't require us to come back to it and squeeze back in all that it got us to think about. If the whole time you're working with the questions lifeshapes throws up you've got one eye on making your thoughts fit back, you'd only be stifled in that thinking.
Hence my constant referring to it as mis-shapes; we don't fit, life doesn't fit, we can't make a system which is whole, accurate and exhaustive, but, it does still acknowledge it as a thing which may be useful. The mocking of it basically keeps it in its place, where it serves us, not the other way around.
Mis-shapes II: Back in the Habit
Incidentally, I've just decided that this mini-series on the lifeshapes conference will have movie subtitles (this mini-series will only run to about 4 posts, panic ye not). Let's see if i can make it work. For the uninitiated, thus far we have Dr Strangelove and Sister Act 2.
The Holy Spirit used to make me do weird stuff like shake, cry and fall over. Or, i think it did. Or, i don't think i was kidding myself too much, plus i was a teenager so i don't really know what was genuine and what was me wanting to fit in. And it was the 90's. I also used to really, really know loads about Christianity too, now i know hardly anything!
This week at St.Tom's was a week of unavoidable, unadulterated and near unbearable Conservative Charismatisism. Please understand, i don't say 'unbearable' to be deliberately rude. Rather, it comes from a personal place where i, as an adult with a deep commitment to Christ, reflecting on my former charismatic experiences, feel, in some ways, spiritually abused.
One of the things which was good/extremely difficult about this week was getting to see and partake in stuff which was formative to my spirituality, yet which is a very different place to where i'm at now, and revisiting it in light of that. One key thing i've come away with is a revised view on prophecy.
There came a point of choosing seminars and, in the spirit of the event, i thought 'which of these is going to pee me off the most?'. I found myself in the prophecy seminar.
"He's gonna talk about waiting on the Lord, giving out words to people, discerning the difference between your thoughts and God's and all the different ways God can speak - pictures, words, objects, Bible verses popping into your head etc" i thought. Guess what? I was right and i was satisfactorally pee'd off! Somewhere in the middle of this though, i realised that, along with the shedding of my conservative charismatic self, i'd shed the idea that God might speak to me with a particular message for a particular person at a particular time. Shame. I wouldn't talk about it in the way the speaker did, nor would i exercise it that way, but i did think perhaps it was something i'd been missing.
What's ironic (there's always got to be at least one ironic thing) is that there were two situations last week where i was given 'a word from God' by someone. Both were situations where the messenger was under a lot of pressure to come up with something, and both were situations where what was said meant nothing at all to me. Yet what God really seemed to be saying through all this was 'This kind of prophecy is a valuable thing and it is real sometimes, so listen for it'.
The Holy Spirit used to make me do weird stuff like shake, cry and fall over. Or, i think it did. Or, i don't think i was kidding myself too much, plus i was a teenager so i don't really know what was genuine and what was me wanting to fit in. And it was the 90's. I also used to really, really know loads about Christianity too, now i know hardly anything!
This week at St.Tom's was a week of unavoidable, unadulterated and near unbearable Conservative Charismatisism. Please understand, i don't say 'unbearable' to be deliberately rude. Rather, it comes from a personal place where i, as an adult with a deep commitment to Christ, reflecting on my former charismatic experiences, feel, in some ways, spiritually abused.
One of the things which was good/extremely difficult about this week was getting to see and partake in stuff which was formative to my spirituality, yet which is a very different place to where i'm at now, and revisiting it in light of that. One key thing i've come away with is a revised view on prophecy.
There came a point of choosing seminars and, in the spirit of the event, i thought 'which of these is going to pee me off the most?'. I found myself in the prophecy seminar.
"He's gonna talk about waiting on the Lord, giving out words to people, discerning the difference between your thoughts and God's and all the different ways God can speak - pictures, words, objects, Bible verses popping into your head etc" i thought. Guess what? I was right and i was satisfactorally pee'd off! Somewhere in the middle of this though, i realised that, along with the shedding of my conservative charismatic self, i'd shed the idea that God might speak to me with a particular message for a particular person at a particular time. Shame. I wouldn't talk about it in the way the speaker did, nor would i exercise it that way, but i did think perhaps it was something i'd been missing.
What's ironic (there's always got to be at least one ironic thing) is that there were two situations last week where i was given 'a word from God' by someone. Both were situations where the messenger was under a lot of pressure to come up with something, and both were situations where what was said meant nothing at all to me. Yet what God really seemed to be saying through all this was 'This kind of prophecy is a valuable thing and it is real sometimes, so listen for it'.
14 November 2007
Mis-shapes or, How i learned to stop worrying and love coded Christian language.
Low-bar, Huddle(v/n), Cluster, D2(adj), A word, The word, Saved, Person of peace, Biblical(adj), Buzz, Prophetic, learning circle, Truth(absolutely), Minister(v), Tool, Apostle (by our definition).
I find myself tempted to place a bet on who would win in a fight between boardroom speak and charismatic, conservative, evangelical, Christian speak. I may not ever find out the answer, but last week i got a pretty good look at what their love-child would look like! It ain't the kind of beast you'd want to have tell your children a bedtime story.
I've been at St.Thomas' Sheffield visitor's week, the intention has been to gain an understanding of 'Life shapes'. This is a system which is about giving Christian lives a balance and focus and it encorporates several geometric shapes intended for use as 'tools' to meet this end. There's loads i could, and probably will, say about this whole thing, for now though, i just want to vent my thoughts on nonsense what was spoked.
People arrive and, following coffee, begin to make their way to their seats upon which time the programme for the week etc will be made clear. As this is going on our host, from the front and with a mic, is welcoming folk and encouraging them to find seats. It's all very jovial and there's a sense of expectancy, he's making Christian Jokes; Jokes about holiness, first being last, the rapture etc. I'm irritated by this, these are cheap (not to mention unfunny) 'in' jokes. Skip forward 10 min or so and this same man is telling a story about when he first came to church and his friend asked what he thought of the sermon. He was confused and didn't know what his friend was saying, then he said "oh, you mean the guy in the frock who gave the speech?" [big laugh] His point was how big a gap there can be between people inside and outside of the Church, without really challenging it, and all the while completely unaware how far he's fallen prey to this cult.
The rest of this week was then spent coaching people in the way of speech and thought at St.Tom's, the end of which phrases like "...but that's where you've got to walk the people of peace in your cluster right around the square, through D2..." were used, and everyone knew what was meant.
I was irritated and scared by the keeness with which all this appeared to be being lapped up; as though people couldn't wait to get home and bemuse their friends with this new way of talking about Christianity.
Is it that difficult to talk easy about Jesus? Does his message and its required response really not lend itself to contempory speech? Is it approprate that Christianity have it's own dialect?
dunno.
I find myself tempted to place a bet on who would win in a fight between boardroom speak and charismatic, conservative, evangelical, Christian speak. I may not ever find out the answer, but last week i got a pretty good look at what their love-child would look like! It ain't the kind of beast you'd want to have tell your children a bedtime story.
I've been at St.Thomas' Sheffield visitor's week, the intention has been to gain an understanding of 'Life shapes'. This is a system which is about giving Christian lives a balance and focus and it encorporates several geometric shapes intended for use as 'tools' to meet this end. There's loads i could, and probably will, say about this whole thing, for now though, i just want to vent my thoughts on nonsense what was spoked.
People arrive and, following coffee, begin to make their way to their seats upon which time the programme for the week etc will be made clear. As this is going on our host, from the front and with a mic, is welcoming folk and encouraging them to find seats. It's all very jovial and there's a sense of expectancy, he's making Christian Jokes; Jokes about holiness, first being last, the rapture etc. I'm irritated by this, these are cheap (not to mention unfunny) 'in' jokes. Skip forward 10 min or so and this same man is telling a story about when he first came to church and his friend asked what he thought of the sermon. He was confused and didn't know what his friend was saying, then he said "oh, you mean the guy in the frock who gave the speech?" [big laugh] His point was how big a gap there can be between people inside and outside of the Church, without really challenging it, and all the while completely unaware how far he's fallen prey to this cult.
The rest of this week was then spent coaching people in the way of speech and thought at St.Tom's, the end of which phrases like "...but that's where you've got to walk the people of peace in your cluster right around the square, through D2..." were used, and everyone knew what was meant.
I was irritated and scared by the keeness with which all this appeared to be being lapped up; as though people couldn't wait to get home and bemuse their friends with this new way of talking about Christianity.
Is it that difficult to talk easy about Jesus? Does his message and its required response really not lend itself to contempory speech? Is it approprate that Christianity have it's own dialect?
dunno.
8 November 2007
An Incon-vein-ient Truth?
It's impossible to look at images of frozen landscapes these days without associating them with global warming, CO2 emissions, melting ice-caps and Co. How much more so when the depiction of those images are entwined with an urgency surrounding the sun?
Last night i went to see horror/vampire movie '30 Days of Night'. The plot is simple; the northern most town in Alaska is preparing for the period when the sun goes down and does not rise again for a month. Soon after the sun has gone down a hoard of vampires begin to feed on the townsfolk with unstobbable ease.
Right from the opening shot (of the place where the ice meets the sea) it seemed to me that this film was setting itself up to, in a unique way, discuss this climate crisis. My problem is that i can't work out wether or not i was making it up. Here's what i saw:
The use of vampires as the nemeses is at once natural and brilliant. The sunlight is their enemy; they suck the life blood from their victims; if you're biten but you don't die you become one of them, therefore we have the ability to be both victim and perpetrator in this allegory; Then, and most strikingly, is sense in which they are preying on this area and highlighting its vulnerability.
There was a point where the lead vampire says "It's taken centuries to make them not believe [in us], we can't let them suspect now."
This struck me as underlying the arguments climate change naysayers put forward. 'Our cars and planes don't make a difference, go back to sleep'.
Towards the end, in an attempt to cover up what's actually gone on, the vampires set fire to the town in the hope it will look like some horrible accident. Here we have the image of this town literally being consumed and melting, not only this, but it's achieved by letting oil run through the streets and lighting it.
Then there's the magnitude of the enemy; mighty, without conscience and invulnerable. Combined, obviously, with the horror of it all.
Finally, one of the central themes of the film is that of survival and 'what are you prepared to sacrifice in order to live?'.
If your stomach's up to it, go see this and let me know if i'm hearing the film correctly, or if it's just a better than average gore-fest.
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