Thursday, October 19, 2006
Historic Moment
I missed it. The biggest blog in history and I was too busy meeting a real person to blog on Tuesday. Shucks.
Monday, October 09, 2006
The Parable of the Oak Tree
I have been praying under an oak tree recently. As it is Autumn acorns have been falling off all around me. The floor is covered in acorns. There are thousands of them scattered all around.
The oak tree is not a fine specimen; it is a bit manky really. Despite several rotting branches that are about to fall off it is clearly fruitful. It will only take one of the acorns to sprout and grow into a new tree and this oak tree will have reproduced itself.
I had a look around today to see if there were any saplings nearby which may have come from this tree. There were five, but one is too close to the mother tree and isn't getting enough light. It is a scrawny thing. It doesn't have enough leaves and bugs are already eating away at it. Some of its brothers and sisters though are doing better. I'm sure at least one of these will make it to maturity.
And who knows what may come of this year's acorn crop.
Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.
The oak tree is not a fine specimen; it is a bit manky really. Despite several rotting branches that are about to fall off it is clearly fruitful. It will only take one of the acorns to sprout and grow into a new tree and this oak tree will have reproduced itself.
I had a look around today to see if there were any saplings nearby which may have come from this tree. There were five, but one is too close to the mother tree and isn't getting enough light. It is a scrawny thing. It doesn't have enough leaves and bugs are already eating away at it. Some of its brothers and sisters though are doing better. I'm sure at least one of these will make it to maturity.
And who knows what may come of this year's acorn crop.
Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Beggar, Digger or Giver?
I was not planning to blog today as I have to prepare a meeting with the Thursday Cell Group to explain why I do not agree with fundraising to buy things for the Church. However in preparation I felt God reminding me of the best sermon I ever heard about money - just a few weeks after coming to St.Mark's. It was on Luke 16 which is a bizarre story of a dishonest steward who was commended by his master for being shrewd. In verse 3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg." So he gave to his master's debtors by settling their accounts at a discount and made friends for himself. The main points that I remember are:
We can beg
This embraces the poverty mentality of many churches. We are the charity. We are poor. We have no resources. Please help us. We will even be happy with your shabby second hand carpet because it has fewer holes in it than our even shabbier carpet. On a personal level we can't give any more to the church because we don't really have enough for ourselves.
We can Dig
Many church members are diggers. We work hard to earn every penny we can. We work all hours. Some even have to work on Sundays because God din't really know what life was like for the people of Bredbury when he told us that six days is enough time to do everything that we have to do.
In the Church context many like to give a bit of time to earn money for the church by selling things, holding coffee mornings or second hand goods sales, having raffles and sponsored walks. It is hard not to get sucked into these things if you want to feel that you belong to the community.
You can Give
The Christian way is to be a giver. Giving releases us from bondage to Mammon (Luke 16:13). Giving moves us into the Kingdom of God. Giving blesses other people and fulfils the Abramic promise "through your descendants all nations on earth will be blessed". Giving makes us dependent on our heavenly Father who can only provide for us properly when we stop digging and begging. We have to learn to trust him instead of ourselves.
I find it sad that so many people at St.Mark's still do not get this. They are in danger of being left behind by those who are pressing on into the goodness of the Kingdom of God.
We can beg
This embraces the poverty mentality of many churches. We are the charity. We are poor. We have no resources. Please help us. We will even be happy with your shabby second hand carpet because it has fewer holes in it than our even shabbier carpet. On a personal level we can't give any more to the church because we don't really have enough for ourselves.
We can Dig
Many church members are diggers. We work hard to earn every penny we can. We work all hours. Some even have to work on Sundays because God din't really know what life was like for the people of Bredbury when he told us that six days is enough time to do everything that we have to do.
In the Church context many like to give a bit of time to earn money for the church by selling things, holding coffee mornings or second hand goods sales, having raffles and sponsored walks. It is hard not to get sucked into these things if you want to feel that you belong to the community.
You can Give
The Christian way is to be a giver. Giving releases us from bondage to Mammon (Luke 16:13). Giving moves us into the Kingdom of God. Giving blesses other people and fulfils the Abramic promise "through your descendants all nations on earth will be blessed". Giving makes us dependent on our heavenly Father who can only provide for us properly when we stop digging and begging. We have to learn to trust him instead of ourselves.
I find it sad that so many people at St.Mark's still do not get this. They are in danger of being left behind by those who are pressing on into the goodness of the Kingdom of God.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
The Exclusive Church
The Church of England used to be a broad church embracing a wide spectrum of opinion. Now sadly it seems to be keen to limit its intake of clergy to those who promise not to rock the boat.
Michael Howard's son has completed three years training at Durham, earned himself a 2:1 in theology and is refused ordination. See this article from the Mail. I don't know the man personally, but surely there must be room for a few prophetic voices within the Church? I can think of several churches where he would be welcome.
Michael Howard's son has completed three years training at Durham, earned himself a 2:1 in theology and is refused ordination. See this article from the Mail. I don't know the man personally, but surely there must be room for a few prophetic voices within the Church? I can think of several churches where he would be welcome.
Three Kingdoms Come
I am sure we are all familiar with the expression that God wants spiritual fruit rather than religious nuts.
Well, over the past few weeks I have been blessed with some words of encouragement sent to me on slightly bizarre cards (see photos).
I can't reproduce the reams of photocopied notes that accompanied the cards, but I have filed them for future reference: they will provide a stimulating interlude at our next dinner party.
A relatively intelligible sample of the type of literature given to me is the inside of the "MOO" card. So stay happy and smile when you think of the rich and varied aspects of religious life that vicars are exposed to.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Emptying Nest
Yesterday Jane and I took Andrew down to Oxford where he begins four years of Physics at St. Edmund Hall. Our first baby has flown the nest!
Today David passed his driving test and is now driving to school! Our other baby is nearly ready to fly also.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
What does a successful cell church look like?
I recently posted an article on my other blog about success. Have a read
What does a successful cell church look like?
What does a successful cell church look like?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
