Quote from Tolstoy on Ultimate Purpose

A bee settling on a flower has stung a child. And the child is afraid of bees and declares that bees exist to sting people. A poet admires the bee sucking from the chalice of a flower, and says it exists to suck the fragrance of flowers. A bee-keeper, seeing the bee collect pollen from flowers and carry it to the hive, says that it exists to gather honey. Another bee-keeper who has studied the life of the hive more closely, says that the bee gathers pollen-dust to feed the young bees and rear a queen, and that it exists to perpetuate its race. A botanist notices that the bee flying with the pollen of a male flower to a pistil fertilizes the latter, and sees in this the purpose of the bees existence. Another, observing the migration of plants, notices that the bee helps in this work, and may say that in this lies the purpose of the bee. But the ultimate purpose of the bee is not exhausted by the first, the second, or any of the processes the human mind can discern. The higher the human intellect rises in the discovery of these purposes, the more obvious it becomes that the ultimate purpose is beyond our comprehension. All that is accessible to man is the relation of the life of the bee to other manifestations of life.

Tolstoy in War and Peace (First Epilogue ch. 1)

So what is the ultimate purpose of man then? Procreation – to further our gene pool? Human Progress – to make the world better? Enjoyment of life? Or is there a higher purpose that is beyond our comprehension that might include all of these purposes and add a lot more besides?

 

Surprised by Hope – Citizenship

Tom Wright has spoken about many things in his book, Surprised by Hope, which I’m currently halfway through. A lot of it has to do with bodily resurrection and life after death (which I’ll get onto later).

He makes a good connection with the idea of citizenship with Paul writes about in Philippians. “My citizenship in is heaven”. Philippi was a roman colony by virtue of the fact that Octavian and Mark Anthony defeated Brutus (who assassinated Julius Caesar) just outside the city. As a reward for the Philippian faithfulness Octavian (who became Ceasar Augustus) made them citizens of Rome. There were many citizens of Rome floating about the Roman Empire including inhabitants of other cities like Philippi and former soldiers who had been rewarded for their effort. Being a citizen of Rome did not mean that you all grabbed your stuff and moved to Rome. Rome wasn’t big enough for that. It meant that all the freedoms and privileges that Roman citizens get in Rome were now available to you wherever you are. In a sense, Rome comes to you, not you go to Rome.

Being a citizen of heaven is the same – we’re not all going to up sticks and go and live somewhere else in heaven. The privileges and wonder of heaven will come to us on this earth. They are already partly available to us by virtue of the Holy Spirit given after the resurrection, but all privileges will be fully available when God restores his creation into the perfect physical creation when Jesus’ comes again. This is the image at the end of Revelation when the heavenly city comes down to earth

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Rev 21:1-2

 

How to arrive for a wedding…

Saw this video of an American wedding. I love the sense of party and the building expectation as the grooma nd then the bride arrive. Fantastic.

 

The future of Church?

Ok, so I know the church of the future won’t just look like one particular church, but I visited St. Paul’s Onslow Square in London last week (a congregation of Holy Trinity Brompton) and had a number of thoughts:

A very simply format, with worship led by a very competent band which was situated in the centre of the church. The band stood in a circle facing inwards (presumably to take everyones attention off them and to divert it onto God). I did miss having something to focus on – usually in church your eyes are diverted to a cross or a window or eve a candle, which can be both helpful and unhelpful. Here there was nothing easy to focus on from where I was sitting.

Many young people were engaging with God throughout the worship. One young man who I saw was singing with absolutely all of his might. This was great, especially as engaging with God is what church is supposed to be about. The congregation was very young, possible with an average age of about 24 (made me feel old). I think the other congregations of HTB have a greater age range.

After quite a good half hour (maybe more – i didn’t notice as I was enjoying it) the band left their places and there was a sermon. The sermon wasn’t great but i know that was out of character for HTB as I’ve heard a number of other sermons given by podcast. It concetrated on giving – giving of your whole self to God which works itself out in giving of time and skills and resources to help build the kingdom and aid the mission of the church.

Surrounding the small stage in the centre were no pews and not even any chairs. Everyone was sat on cushions on the floor (with the exception of a few sofas round the edge). Very informal, very relaxed, a party atmosphere with coffee and cakes available.

After the sermon there was another chance to worship and also for people to be prayed with or simply wait upon God. This type of prayer minsitry seems to bee integral to the service and not just an add-on.

It was vision sunday. Inside the church they had set up stalls each giving information about a different area of the ministry of the church. People afterwards could go up and find out about this area of ministry, what is involved, whether it fits their gifts, and how to get stuck in. They do this twice a year which helps people easile get integrate with the church and serving in it.

The whole thing had the feeling of a (good) youth service in it’s simplicity and accessibility. Anyone could easily come and know what was going on. There are many excellent youth programmes around but many of them see a great drop out rate after the youth programme ends, as the young Christians try to integrate with a traditional church service. This service reduces the culture gap between youth work and adult services so it is easier for young adults to continue with their faith.

So, a few minor gripes about this or that, but very enjoyable nonetheless!

 

Getting past worship-shaped churches.

David Muir writes about churches that find mission difficult because is it seen as a (however important) peripheral activity to the main activity of the church. He proposes that the mission of the church should be the central thing around which the church is formed.

Our challenge today is to create churches where the primary reason people join is the particular focus of its mission. Such churches will find worship hard – as hard as the worship-shaped churches find mission. Worship will not be the emotional powerhouse that it is for worship-shaped churches. But it will also not need to be. ‘Gathering for mission’ is what will give a mission-shaped church energy, and will keep it on track as a mission-oriented church.

via Share the Guide | Worship-shaped churches? Get real and get over them! (by David Muir).

There are some churches where you can quite clearly see what they are formed around – their values of justice, or enabling people to engage with God, or sometimes a specific community. Many fresh expressions begin with such an aim. Existing churches where the primary activity is perceived to happen on a Sunday often have difficulty in persuading people to get involved in the peripheral activities of the church.

There is a church in Exeter (which I have not yet visited) called Exeter Network Church where the primary activity is the small groups. They are all based around a specific cause or interest such as engaging the community in games of football, encouraging those who work from home, simple things like poker groups open to all, and a group which is committed to living and working in a challenging part of Exeter. On many Sundays they have no main meeting at all, but the church members go out and interact with the community in a variety of ways. The mission is at the centre of what they do as a church so that it flows naturally out of their Christian life.

 

Plan your life – proverbs

A very practical sermon from Mark Driscoll thinking about making plans for your life. Well worth listening to for 40 mins.

 

Fred, Dalila and an internet proposal

So, Fred wants to marry Dalila, so what does he do? Start a viral internet and social media campaign to persuade her (Twitter #SayYesD, http://www.sheknows.com/articles/810383.htm). Aparrently Dalila has difficulty making decisions!

What I like about this:

1. Marriage – it is great and it shows commitment and love. Spending the rest of your like with someone isn’t easy but is very regarding with a bit of dedication and hard work. People wanting to get married and commit to another person wholeheartedly should be encouraged and applauded.

2. Who one married used to be a question for the whole family, maybe even the wider community. Getting the opinion of friends and family on whether you have made a good choice is an excellent idea.

3. Fred has thought long and hard about what he likes about Dalila. This is some sort of love letter expressing his feelings.

What I don’t like about this:

1. Come on Fred – you don’t need a gimmick or a jumbo tron. Just take her somewhere nice and ask her – to her face.

2. We all know that popular opinion can be fickle, untrustworthy and ridiculous (look at Big Brother and a host of other reality TV programmes). Get advice from people you trust, not a random collection of strangers.

3. The medium is the message – we are used to seeing advertisements for things that we don’t need or that promise more than they can deliver. Is Fred reducing marriage to the consumerist level?

3. If she reallys needs this much persuading, perhaps it is not a good idea to get married. Perhaps she needs time not pestering.

My Advice:

Dalila – Only say yes if you actually love him. Get advice from close friends and family, not internet strangers (!).

 

Premiership Predictions

A bit late, but here goes:

Champions: Chelsea (unfortunately)

Champions League places (rather uncontroversially): Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool

Europa League: Tottenham, Man City

Relegation: Portsmouth, Hull, Wolves. (Bolton narrowly escaping)

Championship Promotion: Cardiff, West Brom, Newcastle (hopefully)

 

People feel let down on the economy

Interesting BBC news article about how people feel let down and disappointed that perhaps there isn’t a group of highly intelligent people running the world who know exactly what they are doing. They are all engaged in a kind of educated guessing game.

In the newsrooms, boardrooms and tearooms of Britain there is a great mistake being made.

In decades of reporting about the city and government, the most widespread belief I have come across is that somewhere there is a group of people who know what they are doing.

This group has the answer for to how best to run the economy, how to run a bank, how to put Ikea cabinets together without screaming and perhaps even how to make a traffic warden smile.

When things go wrong, people don’t just feel disappointed. They feel let down, betrayed and swindled because they feel that our leaders knew what to do to make things better but failed to do the right thing. Either they didn’t care enough or were looking after their own interests rather than the general good…. more

via BBC – Today – Business round-up with Adam Shaw.

Rather than feel disillusioned, surely the answer is to take responsibility for that little part of the world that we, personally have responsibility for. We can all try to keep ourselves to a budget, offer hospitality to those around us, be compassionate with others, build community,  and raise our children well. All this contributes in a small way to the well-being of the world we live in.

 

Mass Culture

When communion is discussed amongst our church member it is usual simply to question the mechanics of it – how do we get adults and children up to the rail and back to their seats in the easiest and most time efficient way.

Mass Culture is a collection of essays exploring the significance of the communion/eucharist/mass/Lord’s Supper (or whatever you like to call it) and how it relates to contemporary society. One you get past the rather naff cover, the book offers much for discussion. It is edited by Pete Ward from Kings College London with contributions from, among others, Anglican Bishops Steve Cottrell, Graham Cray, author and church leader Mike Riddell and CMS worker and fresh expression leader Jonny Baker. Despite being published ten years ago it is still incredibly relevant (probably becuase the church hasn’t changed the way it does communion much for many years.)

One of the most thought provoking themes of the book came in Mike Riddell’s chapter entitles “Bread and Wine, Beer and Pies”. He revisits the phrase, ‘the medium is the message’ coined by communication theorist Marshall McLuhan. Riddell cites the example of a church who spent money on a very professional glossy looking flyer to be delivered through the doors of houses in their parish (something many churches do). However, the medium used in this case is that which is usually used by junk mail. Consequently, no matter how life-affirming and important the gospel message on the flyer, it is most often received as junk mail.

Jesus left his disciples with a medium for re-telling the gospel story, and that medium is in the breaking of bread and wine. In it, we engage in an act of rememberance, symbolism, and gaining a sense of our place in that gospel story. Here too, however, we need to be careful in how we do this, lest we are communicating somethign through the medium which is not the gospel. For example, if shared in a ritualistic old church building in a very formal way, what are we saying about the God who lies behind the Mass? Similarly, if the shared too informally (beer and pies, for example) are we diminishing God’s character? Here, Riddell joins the choruses of the other contributors in encouraging us to think through how communion is celebrated and how it is received in the culture that the church operates in. He encourages us to be risky and big in our thinking. Often an oppurtunity to participate in God’s story through a well thought-through Lord’s Supper can be so much more appealing than simply listening to the gospel explained.