I’m down in lymington, hants, at parents’ new house and near brother’s family. Cousin Ian’s wedding in dorset on Saturday.
Was at Carl and Gail’s church yesterday, Lymington Baptist. A very creative audiovisual presentation of the Christmas message of the incarnation. Apparently there are seventy ‘sextillion’ stars in the known universe (who said science couldn‘t be racy!). The point being made that God the creator must be pretty big. Now hold fire, atheists. I myself sometimes feel the connection between ‘awesome universe’ and ‘big God’ can be made a bit too easily and sound a tad trite. What followed was the point that at Christmas, the lord of the universe was humbled to a baby in a manger. Contemporary christian apologetic and communication has for some time treated such ‘radical paradox’ or ‘extreme dramatic irony’ as a one of its hottest playing cards, unique selling points. Another favourite is the concept of grace, that you begin with acceptance by God as a platform for joyful service and pursuit of holiness - reversing the widespread idea of ritual and discipline as a route to or condition for acceptance. No question that these counter-intuitive reversals and paradoxes are at the heart of Christianity’s attractiveness - what help make it a ‘big idea’. Perhaps their emphasis is a key way to break down prejudice and barriers?
I’m thinking about the nature of Cn witness, trying to grasp more of the big picture. I’m engaged in a constant process of integration, endeavouring to see how the message of the gospel intersects with vast and inevitable human processes, eg the reality that people get set in their thought patterns and views, as adults, and become increasingly closed to change, and are daily swept away in their thousands by the grim reaper. Cheery eh? The human heart gets wrapped up in material comfort, and as my minister uncle put it, it takes ‘hard times’ to recreate an openness to spiritual reality.
I’m reading Richard Holloway’s ‘doubts and loves’. he advocates a theology of praxis instead of a theology of positivism, by which he means it’s more important to follow the way of Jesus than to believe the right things about him. He’s inclined to regard much of what the bible says, including the resurrection, as metaphor. A problem here is that the gospel narratives themselves contain earthy, flesh and blood detail. And he is suspicious of doctrine about Jesus, wary of folk who insist on regarding him in a particular way, or as ‘Lord of all’. Behind this is a suspicion of totalising systems. Paul though - his imagination was clearly captured by the idea of Christ as all-encompassing, and it‘s difficult to see how you can be passionate about believing in and following Jesus if you limit him as holloway appears to do…
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Sunday, 6 December 2009
freewheeling
What has been going through my head lately? Have been watching ‘the history of Christianity’ on bbc4. The final part will look at the future of the faith in western Europe, where it was acknowledged there is currently widespread indifference. ‘should God be worried?’ I’m interested in rob’s comments under previous post considering how the life of faith is best understood in process and action. I agree that truth is often seen most plainly when it is embodied and lived out.
I’m intrigued by how all sorts of things that engage the public imagination relate to what life is ultimately about. Take strictly come dancing. Why is it so popular? (I watched it last night with a friend for the first time - won’t be making a habit of it, but…) so what are the elements? Well it’s obviously beautiful and spectacular to watch - well, some of it. I’m looking for the synthesis here, what are the core human desires, motivations, and how do they fit in the big picture? (obviously the x factor mines a similar well). The celebrity factor. What is the draw of celebrity? I’m a celebrity get me out of here? What is the magnetic attraction? Why am I not so drawn to it? People you see in the public arena, you get to know them, my life is ordinary, this person has an extraordinary life, a larger than life persona, and so I want to follow the person, their journey..
The endeavour. There’s a pursuit of excellence, a competition, a striving to overcome hurdles, to be the best.. We enjoy witnessing the human effort to excel. The judges. These are the authorities, the experts.. What did they think? Their view is the one that matters. My friend commented on the fairy tale quality, the escape. Escapism - what’s that about? The desire to see a world of beauty and drama. These are just freewheeling thoughts, but I’m intrigued by how they relate to larger but perhaps dormant human aspirations - for heaven..?
I read an article in Christianity magazine October suggesting that ways of doing church there may not work here since the spiritual climates are so different. It suggested the US is in nt terms like Jerusalem at the time of revival, Britain more like sceptical Athens.
And finally, also been watching ‘life’ on the beeb. The beauty of a jellyfish, pulsating lace of infinite delicacy. Ethiopian wolf stalking a mountain rat, it’s low slung body a taut spring, ears pricked, a model of focus and precision in nature’s no safety net struggle to win and survive. Nature’s spectrum, elements that entrance and captivate, elements that disgust…
I’m intrigued by how all sorts of things that engage the public imagination relate to what life is ultimately about. Take strictly come dancing. Why is it so popular? (I watched it last night with a friend for the first time - won’t be making a habit of it, but…) so what are the elements? Well it’s obviously beautiful and spectacular to watch - well, some of it. I’m looking for the synthesis here, what are the core human desires, motivations, and how do they fit in the big picture? (obviously the x factor mines a similar well). The celebrity factor. What is the draw of celebrity? I’m a celebrity get me out of here? What is the magnetic attraction? Why am I not so drawn to it? People you see in the public arena, you get to know them, my life is ordinary, this person has an extraordinary life, a larger than life persona, and so I want to follow the person, their journey..
The endeavour. There’s a pursuit of excellence, a competition, a striving to overcome hurdles, to be the best.. We enjoy witnessing the human effort to excel. The judges. These are the authorities, the experts.. What did they think? Their view is the one that matters. My friend commented on the fairy tale quality, the escape. Escapism - what’s that about? The desire to see a world of beauty and drama. These are just freewheeling thoughts, but I’m intrigued by how they relate to larger but perhaps dormant human aspirations - for heaven..?
I read an article in Christianity magazine October suggesting that ways of doing church there may not work here since the spiritual climates are so different. It suggested the US is in nt terms like Jerusalem at the time of revival, Britain more like sceptical Athens.
And finally, also been watching ‘life’ on the beeb. The beauty of a jellyfish, pulsating lace of infinite delicacy. Ethiopian wolf stalking a mountain rat, it’s low slung body a taut spring, ears pricked, a model of focus and precision in nature’s no safety net struggle to win and survive. Nature’s spectrum, elements that entrance and captivate, elements that disgust…
Saturday, 21 November 2009
a hell of a dilemma
A recent post of Jonathan’s, ’babies in hell’ on his musings blog, has prompted me to offer an initial salvo of response. being in the missions business, in the arena of commercial radio, I guess it’s important to have a grasp, even if it’s a developing one, on what I think about such big picture concepts as hell.
At the root of the problem is the question of how we square the apparent bold simplicity and clarity of nt teaching that salvation is found in turning to Christ in repentance, and the complexity of the real human situation. For me intellectually to accept such a concept as hell, it helps to at least have some sense of how it relates to people‘s actual lived experience.
What is hell about? The bible does talk in places, in the nt especially, in apparently quite aggressive terms about eternal punishment and being thrown into a lake of fire‘ - this language is there. But who will go? The thrust of the nt is that this teaching is directed at those who reject the love of God, and eg in revelation 20, 21 it lists those who are hardened in an array of sins… Now this resonates with reality. Thinking, speaking, doing wrong does have a progressive, cumulative hardening effect on the heart, you lose sensitivity and joy. Eg I recall hearing teaching on the effect of habitual porn - it deadens and isolates cos it cuts you off from relationship, you become a shell of a person, as jesus warned about the path begun by a lustful look if not checked… so in real experience hell begins to be comprehensible.
God is not always and in every way obvious. It’s easy to caricature him as an evil sadist if you want to. But I can at times have a sense of the numinous, that I’m not alone, and of ‘eternity in the heart’, I feel drawn into a spiritual relationship, and yes I believe JC clarifies Who it is I’m relating to. But I have to follow that beckoning of awe and allow my whole being to unfold in response, not make an idol of science or rationality and so dull and close my sense of the spiritual. Parts of the bible are not easy to grasp, and without a willingness properly to engage with it, I can take an intellectual scalpel to it and set up my own horrible caricatures of a God as a baby torturer and so on. But with an open heart it is a vast house of light and treasure. And I don’t think you need me to tell you it actually says nothing about babies and hell.
At the root of the problem is the question of how we square the apparent bold simplicity and clarity of nt teaching that salvation is found in turning to Christ in repentance, and the complexity of the real human situation. For me intellectually to accept such a concept as hell, it helps to at least have some sense of how it relates to people‘s actual lived experience.
What is hell about? The bible does talk in places, in the nt especially, in apparently quite aggressive terms about eternal punishment and being thrown into a lake of fire‘ - this language is there. But who will go? The thrust of the nt is that this teaching is directed at those who reject the love of God, and eg in revelation 20, 21 it lists those who are hardened in an array of sins… Now this resonates with reality. Thinking, speaking, doing wrong does have a progressive, cumulative hardening effect on the heart, you lose sensitivity and joy. Eg I recall hearing teaching on the effect of habitual porn - it deadens and isolates cos it cuts you off from relationship, you become a shell of a person, as jesus warned about the path begun by a lustful look if not checked… so in real experience hell begins to be comprehensible.
God is not always and in every way obvious. It’s easy to caricature him as an evil sadist if you want to. But I can at times have a sense of the numinous, that I’m not alone, and of ‘eternity in the heart’, I feel drawn into a spiritual relationship, and yes I believe JC clarifies Who it is I’m relating to. But I have to follow that beckoning of awe and allow my whole being to unfold in response, not make an idol of science or rationality and so dull and close my sense of the spiritual. Parts of the bible are not easy to grasp, and without a willingness properly to engage with it, I can take an intellectual scalpel to it and set up my own horrible caricatures of a God as a baby torturer and so on. But with an open heart it is a vast house of light and treasure. And I don’t think you need me to tell you it actually says nothing about babies and hell.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
remembrance day thoughts
In his remembrance day message this morning, our minister Robin Gamble at holy trinity idle described a visit to the Somme and referred to the inscription to all the men who had died unidentified, simply ‘known unto God’. a powerful moving thought. It also brings to mind a reason john piper in ‘desiring God’ gives for believing in heaven and eternity, that he finds it inconceivable that something as beautiful, complex and mysterious as the human personality, should at death simply cease to exist. Like the suggestion that there can be no ultimate or purpose or meaning in life because no God, the idea that death is the end, kaput, that’s it, is the kind of assertion made by atheists that stretches credulity because it flies in the face of what our deepest intuition suggests to us. The atheist of course can and does respond that this is a mere comfort blanket, that the believer is taking refuge in a delusion. But this is where the broad picture needs to be surveyed: the evidence that God has communicated, and the experiential testimony that he does prove faithful and meet need.
Robin also delineated three broad stages in the bible’s portrayal of and thinking about war: the accounts of apparently pretty blood thirsty behaviour in the early OT, around 3 and a half thousand years ago when the Israelites were carving out a place for themselves, and when cultural norms were very different. But then the later OT, the prophets, when a consciousness emerged in the jewish nation that they were called to model a radical peace - ‘swords into ploughshares’… culminating in the high point of Christ’s ethical teaching of forgiveness and love even for enemies. The question is, does this model of an evolving ethical consciousness have to conflict with the idea of a God who is eternally the same? Progressive revelation?
Saw some of the secret life of berlin on beeb 2 last night, about the years leading up to the fall of the wall. Struck by the prominent role of the churches in stimulating a peaceful revolution.
Robin also delineated three broad stages in the bible’s portrayal of and thinking about war: the accounts of apparently pretty blood thirsty behaviour in the early OT, around 3 and a half thousand years ago when the Israelites were carving out a place for themselves, and when cultural norms were very different. But then the later OT, the prophets, when a consciousness emerged in the jewish nation that they were called to model a radical peace - ‘swords into ploughshares’… culminating in the high point of Christ’s ethical teaching of forgiveness and love even for enemies. The question is, does this model of an evolving ethical consciousness have to conflict with the idea of a God who is eternally the same? Progressive revelation?
Saw some of the secret life of berlin on beeb 2 last night, about the years leading up to the fall of the wall. Struck by the prominent role of the churches in stimulating a peaceful revolution.
Saturday, 31 October 2009
a spot of lit crit
I’m reading a book that has been talked and raved a lot about by Christians in the past year or so: ‘the shack’ by William P Young. It’s very readable and offers fresh revelatory perspectives on God, especially the persons of the trinity and the relationship between them, and on some of the riches of the life of faith; but as fiction and writing I’d say it’s not great. There’s too much tell and not enough show, so that many of the depictions, especially of Jesus relating to Mack, are saccharine, a bit cringey, cheesy, and leave me cold.
I’m struck by the contrast with the powerful emotional effect of the last half hour especially of the recent bbc ’emma’. now jane austen cd be considered a bit girly, but getting past the frocks, bonnets and other period frippery, I have to say, I was impressed, and I’m interested how the story achieved its effect. The crunch comes when emma learns that her less sharp-witted friend harriet has feelings for the gallant and principled mr knightley - life long friend of emma - and when she’s given reason to believe the feeling may be mutual. The threat reveals to her her own love of knightly, and she laments that she’s been so busy looking after other people’s hearts that she’s neglected her own. The girl who has up to now been rather snobbish and feels immune to the currents of love ordinary flesh is heir to, is suddenly vulnerable, her heart exposed. She had taken a significant step toward humility in her penitent response to knightley’s rebuke over her treatment of miss bates, and now her journey is completed. So we as the audience has moved from dislike to sympathy - our heart goes out to her, and the stage is set for the happy resolution.
Anyway that’s my lit crit over for one day. I studied this one at uni, that’s my excuse.
I’m struck by the contrast with the powerful emotional effect of the last half hour especially of the recent bbc ’emma’. now jane austen cd be considered a bit girly, but getting past the frocks, bonnets and other period frippery, I have to say, I was impressed, and I’m interested how the story achieved its effect. The crunch comes when emma learns that her less sharp-witted friend harriet has feelings for the gallant and principled mr knightley - life long friend of emma - and when she’s given reason to believe the feeling may be mutual. The threat reveals to her her own love of knightly, and she laments that she’s been so busy looking after other people’s hearts that she’s neglected her own. The girl who has up to now been rather snobbish and feels immune to the currents of love ordinary flesh is heir to, is suddenly vulnerable, her heart exposed. She had taken a significant step toward humility in her penitent response to knightley’s rebuke over her treatment of miss bates, and now her journey is completed. So we as the audience has moved from dislike to sympathy - our heart goes out to her, and the stage is set for the happy resolution.
Anyway that’s my lit crit over for one day. I studied this one at uni, that’s my excuse.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
the big move
Like buses: no post for two months, and then suddenly two on one day. I’ve just been up at my parents’ old house in bridge of weir, near Glasgow. They finally moved south to lymington near Southampton today, after nearly 27 years at The Laurels in BOW. A father and son team swept through the house like a force of nature, driving us on to clear stuff as fast as possible from shelves and cupboards. Mother was somewhat flabbergasted how much stuff there was in all kinds of nooks and crannies.
I wonder what they made of us? In churning through all the stuff, they quite possibly picked up that we’re a ‘religious’ family. I’m struck by the contrast, between their ruthless practicality and efficiency, and the sheer impracticality, inefficiency, apparent intangibility of the ‘religious way’ as it CAN so easily be lived. Strikes me it’s so easy to make religion a fantasy land, a comfort blanket. To some extent I feel I lived it like this a lot in the past. You don’t feel any kind of ‘practical pressure’ from God - that comes from other people and the circumstances of life. But Christianity could lay claim to being a very practical faith, and Jesus was a man of sweat and blood and tears. How do I work out my faith so it engages, is relevant to, has purchase with people who are by nature ruthlessly practical?
I wonder what they made of us? In churning through all the stuff, they quite possibly picked up that we’re a ‘religious’ family. I’m struck by the contrast, between their ruthless practicality and efficiency, and the sheer impracticality, inefficiency, apparent intangibility of the ‘religious way’ as it CAN so easily be lived. Strikes me it’s so easy to make religion a fantasy land, a comfort blanket. To some extent I feel I lived it like this a lot in the past. You don’t feel any kind of ‘practical pressure’ from God - that comes from other people and the circumstances of life. But Christianity could lay claim to being a very practical faith, and Jesus was a man of sweat and blood and tears. How do I work out my faith so it engages, is relevant to, has purchase with people who are by nature ruthlessly practical?
alone in the wild
i wrote this a month ago but then my laptop broke down, so here it finally is...
I recently watched the channel 4 three parter, ‘alone in the wild’, following the experiences of a scot called ed wardle who was (of his own volition) deposited in the Yukon wilderness in Canada and left to fend for, and film, himself. Have to admit I was hooked from the start. Apart from anything else, he sounded intriguingly like a friend from Helens burgh who’s currently in New Zealand. I’d seen another solo tv explorer Benedict Allen wandering around Mongolia with a camera attached to his body with a similarly intriguing contraption, in ‘edge of blue heaven’ a few years ago. Now my sister and her partner who’s a mountain leader were of the opinion that this guy ed might have enjoyed the experience rather more if he’d had a companion, and they of course have a point; as it was he spent a lot of time feeling hungry, afraid (of bears), lonely and generally miserable. But on the other hand, his condition of aloneness, the vulnerability that engendered and the sense of watching a human being in an extraordinary situation being pushed to his psychological limits, for me made a very compelling programme. In the end, he gave the impression of being subject to an experiment into profound aspects of the human condition (not to put it too grandly!). One friend has commented that he cried too much, and he was indeed pretty distraught by the last episode. All I would say is, how would any of us be feeling after forty plus days on our own in the wilderness! (sorry racheJ). it’s funny how different things move us or leave us cold (or irritated). There’s plenty of emotional stuff in tv and films that I find pretty saccharine, but I’m not ashamed to say I actually really felt for this bloke in his distress! Witnessing a person undergoing perhaps the worst kind of emotional/psychological trial - prolonged solitude - for real, no acting. Solitary confinement is after all used as a form of torture.
But of course it’s hardly news that we need people. What left me pondering more was his comment about the wild itself, how he came to feel it was indifferent to his needs and suffering, it was just there. Interesting how his perception of it was affected starkly by whether he was well-fed or hungry (the latter most of the time). With food in his belly, he could see its utter beauty; famished and deteriorating, he saw it as ugly and hostile. This gave me a fresh perspective on nature, its relationship to God and man. In its lone raw ferocity and grandeur, it can feel like an enemy, yet in the religious view it is considered to be the creation of a being who cares deeply and tenderly for humanity. It’s not easy to reconcile these perspectives on God.. and yet could not a proper pondering of them lead to a richer, synthesised and ultimately more satisfying view of God? Quite possibly methinks…
I recently watched the channel 4 three parter, ‘alone in the wild’, following the experiences of a scot called ed wardle who was (of his own volition) deposited in the Yukon wilderness in Canada and left to fend for, and film, himself. Have to admit I was hooked from the start. Apart from anything else, he sounded intriguingly like a friend from Helens burgh who’s currently in New Zealand. I’d seen another solo tv explorer Benedict Allen wandering around Mongolia with a camera attached to his body with a similarly intriguing contraption, in ‘edge of blue heaven’ a few years ago. Now my sister and her partner who’s a mountain leader were of the opinion that this guy ed might have enjoyed the experience rather more if he’d had a companion, and they of course have a point; as it was he spent a lot of time feeling hungry, afraid (of bears), lonely and generally miserable. But on the other hand, his condition of aloneness, the vulnerability that engendered and the sense of watching a human being in an extraordinary situation being pushed to his psychological limits, for me made a very compelling programme. In the end, he gave the impression of being subject to an experiment into profound aspects of the human condition (not to put it too grandly!). One friend has commented that he cried too much, and he was indeed pretty distraught by the last episode. All I would say is, how would any of us be feeling after forty plus days on our own in the wilderness! (sorry racheJ). it’s funny how different things move us or leave us cold (or irritated). There’s plenty of emotional stuff in tv and films that I find pretty saccharine, but I’m not ashamed to say I actually really felt for this bloke in his distress! Witnessing a person undergoing perhaps the worst kind of emotional/psychological trial - prolonged solitude - for real, no acting. Solitary confinement is after all used as a form of torture.
But of course it’s hardly news that we need people. What left me pondering more was his comment about the wild itself, how he came to feel it was indifferent to his needs and suffering, it was just there. Interesting how his perception of it was affected starkly by whether he was well-fed or hungry (the latter most of the time). With food in his belly, he could see its utter beauty; famished and deteriorating, he saw it as ugly and hostile. This gave me a fresh perspective on nature, its relationship to God and man. In its lone raw ferocity and grandeur, it can feel like an enemy, yet in the religious view it is considered to be the creation of a being who cares deeply and tenderly for humanity. It’s not easy to reconcile these perspectives on God.. and yet could not a proper pondering of them lead to a richer, synthesised and ultimately more satisfying view of God? Quite possibly methinks…
Saturday, 17 October 2009
halloween party
radio script- revised
FX: halloween party atmosphere
A: What is it about Halloween that brings out the strange human urge to look like a complete freak?
B: What ya talking about?
A: Well just look at her – big nose, wart - I take it she’s a witch. I mean, if you're gonna turn up as a woman with supernatural powers, why not go for the hot pants and the bullet deflecting bracelets? She just looks like an extra from the Addams family.
C: D’you mind? That’s my girlfriend.
B: Lighten up mate. It's just a bit of fun.
A: And what’s THAT? Looks like it's come back from the dead – and what’s it eating?
C: That’s my girlfriend!
B: It's a zombie y’thicko.
A: Ooh, scary. But they’re not real though are they.
B: No. Hang on though. Supernatural power? Coming back from the dead? Sounds a bit like that Jesus bloke dun’it?
A: Yeah. An’ he WHA real.
FX: halloween party atmosphere
A: What is it about Halloween that brings out the strange human urge to look like a complete freak?
B: What ya talking about?
A: Well just look at her – big nose, wart - I take it she’s a witch. I mean, if you're gonna turn up as a woman with supernatural powers, why not go for the hot pants and the bullet deflecting bracelets? She just looks like an extra from the Addams family.
C: D’you mind? That’s my girlfriend.
B: Lighten up mate. It's just a bit of fun.
A: And what’s THAT? Looks like it's come back from the dead – and what’s it eating?
C: That’s my girlfriend!
B: It's a zombie y’thicko.
A: Ooh, scary. But they’re not real though are they.
B: No. Hang on though. Supernatural power? Coming back from the dead? Sounds a bit like that Jesus bloke dun’it?
A: Yeah. An’ he WHA real.
Monday, 10 August 2009
Something for the summer
A couple of radio thoughts in the pipeline for august...
BARBEQUE SUMMER
Now last time I checked, we were supposed to be in for a barbeque summer. I had the flowery shorts, the sausages ready, everything. So what happened? Looks like it got rained off. Can you rely on anything these days? Well hang on, I just read something about a steadfast love that lasts forever. Wasn’t talking about the missus. Or the dog. Or my relationship with Facebook. It was about the love of God. Solid. Strong. Reliable. Like my new barbeque set. I think. I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.
music bed: always take the weather with you- crowded house
CONNECTED
While we’re all a bit strapped for cash, we’re happy to do without some things, like nights out, and the trip to Barbados. But we don’t want to miss out on stuff that helps us stay in touch, like the mobile phone and black berry. We like to be connected. Some people are looking for a spiritual connection as well. Exciting to think the feeling could be mutual – that God might just be looking for us. King of the universe, just a prayer away. 24/7, waiting to hear from you, and from me. For free. (pause). You won’t get that from your average network provider.
music bed: valerie- steve winwood, or connected- stereo mc's
BARBEQUE SUMMER
Now last time I checked, we were supposed to be in for a barbeque summer. I had the flowery shorts, the sausages ready, everything. So what happened? Looks like it got rained off. Can you rely on anything these days? Well hang on, I just read something about a steadfast love that lasts forever. Wasn’t talking about the missus. Or the dog. Or my relationship with Facebook. It was about the love of God. Solid. Strong. Reliable. Like my new barbeque set. I think. I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.
music bed: always take the weather with you- crowded house
CONNECTED
While we’re all a bit strapped for cash, we’re happy to do without some things, like nights out, and the trip to Barbados. But we don’t want to miss out on stuff that helps us stay in touch, like the mobile phone and black berry. We like to be connected. Some people are looking for a spiritual connection as well. Exciting to think the feeling could be mutual – that God might just be looking for us. King of the universe, just a prayer away. 24/7, waiting to hear from you, and from me. For free. (pause). You won’t get that from your average network provider.
music bed: valerie- steve winwood, or connected- stereo mc's
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
cruel nature, percolating spirit
Watched south pacific on bbc4 last night. some brutal instances of nature red in tooth and claw: man o' war birds with hooked bills plucking isolated tern chicks from cliff edge, then waving and snapping them in mid-air, helpless rag dolls. tiger sharks ambushing ungainly albatross chicks from below; nightmare from the deep, a ton or so of raw sinuous power thrusting torpedo-like to the surface and seizing the frail bird in its vice jaws, engulfing the doomed creature that flounders like a broken kite. but then the other, glorious side of nature, a super-pod of dolphins frolicking in the surf against backdrop of lord of the rings new zealand peaks, looping and jumping with the joy of being alive.
been pondering the stumbling block that can be posed by considering the bible to be the 'word of God' in a neat, boxed-in way. so conceived, it is all too easily blown aside for many by the stormy complexity of life, like a house of cards. it's only as i enter it with the expectant questing spirit of a child exploring a broad enchanted country, that i can submit to its wisdom, allow my spirit to percolate and revive in its truth, and then go out to be an agent of change in the world, broken bread and poured out wine. it's something to aim for anyway.
been pondering the stumbling block that can be posed by considering the bible to be the 'word of God' in a neat, boxed-in way. so conceived, it is all too easily blown aside for many by the stormy complexity of life, like a house of cards. it's only as i enter it with the expectant questing spirit of a child exploring a broad enchanted country, that i can submit to its wisdom, allow my spirit to percolate and revive in its truth, and then go out to be an agent of change in the world, broken bread and poured out wine. it's something to aim for anyway.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)
