Re:Mission

i've just finished reading re:mission by andrew perriman.
andrew looks at the historical context that the early church found itself, the eschotology - the fact that jesus predicted the destruction of the temple, the masscre of isral etc..the new testament texts speak of this in an apocalytic fashion...
the church (today) finds itself in the 'post-eschatological' era...
our mission:
to be an alternative humanity
to be an authentic humanity ( a new creation)
to the living presence of god through the holy spirit with concrete outworking of compassion & juestice, respect and thankfulness for the natural environment, a passion for creativity in the image of the creative god
to be a sign of the goodness & righteousness of the creator
to exist for the sake of others
tho be a blessing, generating a shere of influene & credibility
to be a creative community
to be a people committed to extracting the best from the world that god has made..


that's cool!

je viens de lire re:mission par andrew perriman.
il explique bien le contexte historique de l'église primitive- le fait que jésus avait prédit la destruction du temple, la massacre d'israêl..les textes de la nouvelle alliance en parle avec un langage apocalyptique...

notre mission:
être une humanité alternative
être une humanité authentique
être la présence de dieu par le saint esprit - à travers les actes concrets de compassion et de justice, un respect et une reconnaissance pour l'environnement, une passion pour la créativité à l'image de dieu créatif
être un signe de bonté et de justice
exister pour les autres
être une bénédiction
générer une sphère d'influence et d'être crédible
être une communauté créative
être un peuple qui extrait le meilleur d'un monde que dieu a créé...

c'est cool!!!

Wax at the Zenith

went to an amazing concert Friday night at the Zenith in Lille - 'Les Paradis Artificiels' -

The line up was Alice Russel, Wax Taylor & Archive. Personally, i much appreciated Wax Taylor - an authentic DJ wizz - his guests were Charlotte Savery (a young french lass with a velvet voice, i thought she was English!),Dionne Charles, Mattic (american rapper) and ASM (brit rappers)...
the Wax show was diverse wacky and thoroughly great entertainment...extremely creative both musically & visually!

re-enchanting christianity

re-enchanting christianity by dave tomlinson is an interesting read.
Dave refers to himself as a progressive orthodox...centering on dialogue between the traditions of the past and the insights and struggles of now.
dave is inspired by french theologian/philosopher paul ricoeur - and develops a cycle of enchantment (with faith) to dis-enchantment (doubts) which leads to a deeper faith (a second naivity) and a re-enchantment...
i enjoyed the chapters on the bible and interpretation, the atonement, the Spirit and also his chapter on hell which i need to reflect more on...

Ripping off Poor Pilgrims...

I'm having a great week in London with my wife and 3 of our children.
yesterday we decided to go and visit St Paul's cathedral and the Tate modern.
We could see the wonderful dome of St Paul's from quite a distance.

When we arrived we could see the Tate Modern from St Paul's; such a contrast
the old and the modern - reminded me of our task as believers to some how
live out our christian faith in the (post)modern world...where the ancient and the modern
meet...

i didn't intend to major on this point...

i wanted to express my disgust and utter shock at the church institution - in particularly St Paul's cathedral.
i was looking forward to walk round this ancient centre of faith when i discovered that there was an entrance fee - £12.50 for adults, what!!!
i expressed my disbelief with certain adjectives that i won't mention here!

We then walked across Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern - huge words were written on the building - ENTRANCE FREE.(or words to that effect...)

What does this imply? that the church is a money grabbing institution that wants to rip off poor pilgrims as myself?

What would St Paul think? and God?

WAKE UP DEAD MAN!

In the midst of despair, disoppointment and death...

there is HOPE!

Hope of Change...Newness...LIFE!

The Sound Of Resurrection

Here's a brilliantly challenging quote from Lucy Winkett's Our Soul Is Our Wound (from chapter 4 The Sound Of resurrection):

Jonah's belly of the fish, the tomb of lazarus, reminds us of our own potential for living. As adults we often struggle to accept the abundant, extravagant, astonishing life that Jesus offers. As we prepare to face our own fear of the actual and unavoidable journey through our own death and resurrection, we find hints of that fear in our lives now. Through the walls of the tombs we build for ourselves bricked up with low expectations, safe patterns of behaviour that keep us irresponsible, will we hear the roar of God, the shout of Christ's compassion, Christ's exultation mixed with deep anger calling us to live in the light and in the presence of God?

Wow! Am I living this abundant life promised by Jesus? I live in a 'safe' world (here in the west). These 'safe patterns of behaviour' and 'low expectations' keep me from the astonishing life offered by Jesus.
If I listen carefully i can hear the sound of Christ's voice calling me into an astonishing life...
prompting me out of the tomb of my fears and leading me into an abundant life...
It's the sound of resurrection!

Reflections (1)

Here's a photo i took while out last Sunday afternoon at le Parc d' Héron Villeneuve d'Ascq near Lille. A beautiful cold sunny day...
by the way i didn't use photoshop - you see it as it is!