reload The Race by Maurice McCracken

Friday, March 16, 2007

Something good from the government:

posted by Little Mo | Permalink | 0 comments
I know. Most shocking. Here is what Meg Munn (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State) had to say when my MP forwarded my letter about CUs and SUs:

"We believe an organisation with a religious purpose, such as a Christian Union, should be able to resrict its membership to people who share that religion."

Good eh?

Monday, March 12, 2007

Creation...great servant poor master

posted by Little Mo | Permalink | 2 comments
1 Timothy at the church weekend - me, Ken, and Jez, one talk each.

Lots to learn. There's something about learning together in a church family that is just special.

Anyway, interesting heresy in 1 Timothy, if such a thing isn't heretical to say. There are people saying that things in creation are bad in chapter 4: avoiding foods and not getting married. Then in chapter 6 we have people teaching wrong things for the sake of getting richer: materialism. Wrong approaches to creation. Saying it's too bad, and saying it's too good - both are problems.

So, what's the way forward tgo approach creation well? I think doing that has got to be a defining feature of the church as it seeks to live out its calling as a pillar of truth in the community: protecting the Gospel and showing it off.

Well, chapter 4 - accept God's gifts and be thankful. And chapter 6 - be content with what you have. You see creation is a poor master but a great servant. As a path to helping us worship God, thank him and give him the honour he is due, it's a great tool. As a master which calls for our loyalty it is a rubbish, a slave driver offering no comfort: it will lead us to be pierced by many griefs.

I think this also sheds a bit of light on the women stuff: which is all about the church modelling creation order: the right approach to creation - wanting to restore it's perfect model.

Someone this weekend rebuked us for not reading enough CS Lewis! Well, 1 Timothy reminded me of that quote about creation being like a beam of sunlight in a dark room - meant to lead us to look for the sun, not just admire the beam. When we see creation that way we can enjoy it the how we are meant to, as a path to God, without living under it's cruel rule which ends up hurting us.

How foolish we are to swap the rule of a loving father for the harsh coldness of a created idol. Maybe Christ Church's Project 2007 will help us learn that as a church.

Question: how can we model loving creation for how it helps us know God better, as part of our evangelistic task as a church? Any ideas anyone?

Friday, March 09, 2007

Sorry blog...

posted by Little Mo | Permalink | 3 comments
..I bet you thought I had abandoned you again. I haven't, I have just been haring about the countryside. So what to share.

First: had a tiring weekend with the East Central Kids doing 1 Corinthians 1 and 2. Let me be honest, I have now given 3 talks on those passages and I still don't understand them. I'm quite sure that my confusion was evident to the lovely student leaders of that region. They were very patient. If you want to hear some GOOD talks on 1 Corinthians, try here or some done the same weekend by my good friend Mike Reeves, available here I'm looking forward to listening to those and having my eyes opened. The highlight of the weekend was no doubt the Ipod game, where we plugged mine into the sound system, put it on shuffle, and let the students name the tunes. Someone guessed Tupac and Puff Daddy or something like that. I was like, "er..sorry, totally wrong ballpark."

Second: lovely time with Anna going here The big slides are cool, but neither of us were quite cultured enough for the art. We also went to see "music and lyrics." It wouldn't be up Dave Bish's street, but I loved the sweet song they wrote together (pirated bit of the excellent piece of cheese in the film on youtube here)

Third: Leadership Team. Ho Hum. However, Tim accused me and 2 other Northern Irish compatriots of restarting the Toronto Blessing after a pre-prayer discussion of the Toll Trolls. If you are Northern Irish, you will find this hilarious. Otherwise you'll be mystified. There's nothing like laughing when you aren't really allowed to.

Finally: my dad told me today that a friend of his who is a pastor in Switzerland reads my blog. Big Up Swiss contingent: sorry this post wasn't quite up to Reformation standards.

Church weekend ahead.