One for the road...

Seeker sensitive service taking the (soggy) biscuit...

Lyn pointed out in a recent comment that it was all getting a touch too morbid around here.  I agree!  So in the spirit of cheeriness i'm posting the following documentary footage of the ultimate niche seeker sensitive worship service which has made me laugh long and hard...

[probably not a good idea to watch it if you are easily offended by potentially blasphemous content]

If your need for internet based research requires you to find out more about what a "soggy biscuit" is let me direct you to the wiki entry on the subject...

Reflections of a muslim extremist...

This week's Speaking of Faith interview looks really fascinating.  Here's their introduction...

Ed Husain has taken Great Britain by storm with his memoir, The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside, and Why I Left. In this program he illuminates some of the pivotal territory of modern life: the nature of Islamism, the personality of a suicide bomber, and the critical inner dialogue of Muslims in and with Western societies.

A Clash of Ideas, Not Civilizations

I heard Ed Husain being interviewed on the radio in London last summer, and knew I wanted to have him on our show. His memoir has not yet been published in the U.S., but it has put him at the center of an historic moment of debate and soul-searching in his native Britain. As our conversation goes to air, tragically, the news is full of analysis of suicide bombers and Islamism, the term political analysts seem to have settled on to describe a defining current religio-political reality. Ed Husain sheds fresh and unfamiliar light on this, and some of his insights do not fit comfortably into our usual cultural dialogue.

Husain is 33 years old, and on the surface his story has the marks of a classic, coming-of-age tale — seduction by revolutionary ideas, estrangement from immigrant parents, and a true love that jolts him back to what matters in life. But his intellectual dalliance was with radical, politicized Islam flourishing at the heart of educated British culture . He shrank back only after coming close to a murder. People he loved and admired became suicide bombers.

He now lives something of a mission — a "solemn duty" — to speak out and embolden public conversations that he sees as critical to our common future: the internal dialogue among Western Muslims and the shared vocabulary of thought and action they must develop with fellow citizens of Western nations.

Ed Husain's most challenging assertion, perhaps, is that in a fervor to prevent and punish terrorist acts in these years since September 11, 2001, Western governments have failed to comprehend and address the real nature of the deeper, long-term threat. He sees Al Qaeda, which so dominates American imaginations, as fragmentary at best. Behind it, powering it and other future organizations, is a "complex and subtle" mentality to which many are susceptible globally.

Some themes of this conversation echo a program from the early days of Speaking of Faith that was formative for me, "The Power of Fundamentalism." I interviewed three men — a Christian seminary president, a Jewish journalist, and a Muslim lawyer and humanitarian. Each had been drawn into fundamentalist thought and camaraderie for a time in his youth. Using different words, these now erudite, accomplished men all recalled the "exhilaration" and "intoxication" of that experience, a sense of empowerment and belonging that perfectly met the longing and irascibility of youth.

Ed Husain describes this too, and adds new nuance to my understanding of contemporary Islamism in particular. The term Ummah — the ideal of the global Islamic community, which is meaningful for many Muslims — has been in the news in recent days as analysts retrace the history and reemergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. An exclusionary, politicized concept of a revolutionary Ummah — aggressively transcending other identities, allegiances, and balances of power — was a galvanizing principle for soldiers who originally came from many lands to aid in Afganistan's struggle against the Soviet army.

The Ummah was also a galvanizing concept for Ed Husain between the ages of 16 and 22, as he became a progressively active member of Hizb ut-Tahrir — an organization with a prominent presence in British mosques and universities. Hizb ut-Tahrir is fully sanctioned by the British government as an expression of multiculturalism, and Ed Husain is quick to add that it is not a terrorist organization. But in the absence of a larger context of societal integration, he says, a group like this can incline vulnerable young people to a separatist and potentially violent path. He describes the compellingly political, ideological appeal of today's Islamism, which "exploits Islam's adherents" though it is "remote from Islam's teachings."

In fact, Islamic scholarship and spirituality themselves provided a corrective to Ed Husain's Islamist mentality. Through digging deeper into Islam he came to see the Ummah not as a political ideology but a spiritual community of vital diversity. And he insists that Islamic devotion can be reconciled with vigorous, responsible citizenship in Western democracies. He points to the North American Muslim community as an evolving model of this idea.

I take much away from this conversation that helps me assess unfolding events. And Ed Husain's story on the whole underscores the most urgent conclusion I've drawn from the sweep of my conversations with diverse Muslims these past years — a message that starkly contradicts the language of the "clash of civilizations" that took hold in the immediate days after September 11, 2001 and has distorted our collective vision ever since. At risk of repeating myself, I'll offer it here in his words:

"This is the key," Husain says, "and this is where I don't think most non-Muslims — including most Americans — simply don't understand the stakes that we're playing for here. This phenomenon, whatever you want to call it — political Islam, extremism, Al Qaeda world view, Wahhabism — it threatens Muslims first and foremost, before it goes out and tries to undermine the West… And that's why it's not a cliché to say that the West and normal Muslims, moderate Muslims, have a common cause in defeating this extremist mindset. It threatens both of us."

Will you be tuning in?

I need a holiday: a modern day liturgy for my life...

Do you think that we all have our own personal liturgies in our lives?  The way we live them, orientate them, order them - our own formulas/routines/rituals that help us get through life?

I couldn't help when I was listening to the following song thinking how much of my work liturgy is driven by a mantra of feeling too tired, busy and in a rush [and thus a useful member of society]- in short i'm always wanting the weekend to come, or even better dreaming of that holiday, preferably somewhere warm...

I need a holiday

It's a beautiful day, but I'm stuck inside.
Staring at this screen, working 9-5.
How I hate this job, coz the days do drag.
They work me like a dog, and the moneys bad.
Cheer up cheer up, don't be blue.
Don't forget it's hometime soon.
We'll make it through another working day.

I need a holiday.
I need a holiday with my friends.
I'm working everyday.
I'm working everyday for the weekend.

Looking at my watch, for the millionth time.
The days go slow, and then the evenings fly.
When I'm outta this place, and the days been won.
I'm going out with my friends, I'm hanging out in the sun.
Cheer up cheer up, don't be blue.
Don't forget it's hometime soon.
We'll make it through another working day.

I need a holiday.
I need a holiday with my friends.
I'm working everyday.
I'm working everyday for the weekend.

I wish it could be sunday when I wake up every day.
I wish it could be sunday when I wake up every day.
I wish it could be sunday when I wake up every day.


But I need you, yeah I need you.
Yeah I need you more than I can say.
Yeah I need you, yeah I need you.
Yeah I need you more than I can say.

Scouting for girls

Now maybe it's cos i got up at 4.45am this morning, travelled up to the north-east of england, delivered the same training session 4 times over and then travelled back, getting home late and walking from the statation in the pouring rain - but the whole holiday liturgy really looks great!

The only drawback is that i can end up skipping/writing off a large chunk of mylife, working as a means to an end in a cycle that self perpetuates, my liturgy remains a constant one of escape rather than facing reality of the dull days that drag and the glimmers of good that weave through then.

The equation of striving to find a work/life balance perpetuates this, that there is work time and then there is my real life and never the twain shall meet, just compete with each other - 2 seperate liturgies to chose from and order my life around. And of course i also wonder if there can ever be a balance at all?

A third way would be to say that as a christian i am meant to orientate my life around Jesus, a lived out liturgy of love around the source of true life.  Jesus seems not to promise either the endless system of work and reward or escape and leisure but instead an intergrated way of being and doing, resting and reconnecting. I find that so difficult to intergrate with my own life liturgies - why is it so hard to get my head, body and soul around this?

That's my confession, i'm curious, what advice you have and what your own life liturgies are?

The best freebie in London...

Although i had a cold, and was feeling tired and there was plenty of jobs to do at home, Debs and I took the train into town on saturday afternoon for some quality and walked my fave bit of london - the south bank.  Awesome views: the Thames, Parliament, the Wheel, St Paul's, the Gerkin, Tate Modern not to mention all the people watching opportunities - all free!

We went into the Tate (free again) and was delighted to see one of Monet's enormous water lily paintings - just mind blowing, close up it's just a blur of colours but stepping back it's an incredible effect!  There is plenty of other art to take on board too - so much so that it makes my head spin with colour, shape, textures - sometimes conventional and often not - stretching me...

Ok the coffee cost £6! But sitting on a bench, by the river, watching the crowds made it money well spent. So much life and vitality.

To get maximum value for money for our shoe leather we then crossed over waterloo bridge and went up the Strand to Trafalgar Square, The Mall, Buckingham Palace, Regent's Park, Palace of Westminster, some pub to watch the footie and then off up Regent Street - where my education in expensive places to go shopping was furthered - fortunatly window shopping is free :)

I really like London - i work just down from the Palace of Westminster (that's those houses of parliament) so often take for granted the river, the wheel, big ben that I see every day i go into work. Taking time out to enjoy it with my beautiful wife was a wonderful experience! Countryside is fun but cityscape is beautiful too, a mingling of natural and man made creativity...

So where is your fave (free) place...

More idols...

Yesterday I posted a quote on the idols of our age, by Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks.  By way of recap he said they were...

... ‘Self esteem without effort, fame without achievement, sex without consequences, wealth without responsibility, pleasure without struggle and experience without commitment’.

Fernando suggested some excellent additions that I am guilty of enjoying worshipping...

"athenticity without discomfort, travel without difference, ethics without sacrfice and commerce without trade..."

Any more?

The idols of our age?

Jason Clark did a superb talk yesterday which really helped me connect a number of thoughts I've been blogging about this year.

Jason was talking about different realities affecting our life.  He contrasted a world where Paris Hilton (picutered with assorted paparrazi) makes more front page headlines for being in/out of prison than the G8 summit as it reflects a reality that for most people in the UK being famous and having money is more important than world poverty or climate change.

The idols of our age...

Jason made the point that none of us are in a neutral space, all of the decisions we make are based on our view of reality and the means in whichwe access that reality, whether we are conscious of that or not - he read out a very powerful quote from the the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, of his views on the idols of our age:

... ‘Self esteem without effort, fame without achievement, sex without consequences, wealth without responsibility, pleasure without struggle and experience without commitment’.

I found the contrast of that way of reality and accessing it in contrast to Jesus.  As Jason pointed out, Jesus talked about not just believing in him but about following him - and the path that we follow him leads to and through the cross, it is the way of cruciformity.  Not only do we experience the glory of Christ but his suffering too, the mediation and the immediacy of Jesus.

Ordinary time...

I thought it was poignant as we enter the period of the church calandar known as "ordinary time," that Jason's talk was on Romans 12: 1-2, beautifully paraphrased in The Message as:

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. "

What does it mean - taking our ordinary life:

...where we live: our undream house in our undream location

...where we work:  in our tiring busy underappreciated, underpaid jobs

...in all the mundaness of life: eating, sleeping, walking around etc

and placing it all before God as an offering, a sacrifice, an invitation to be present in the now, whether that now is difficult or fun, troubled or peaceful, a reality we want or one we'd rather not be  aware of...

It also makes me realise how often i need to take my life and do this and why i need God's help to do so - often i find that I hankering after the gods of the age that Jonathan named rather than the tri-une other centred God, who invites me to discover and recover my full humanity by and through the cross...

What do you think?

• what reality do you recognise and how do you enter it?
• what do you feel abot Jonathan's list of idols - any you'd change/add?
• how do these idols impact you and your ordinary life?  If there is a kingdom of God reality, does that mean letting go of our dream of our life? Must that be by the way of the cross?

Abstinence makes my consumer heart grow less wronger?

Whilst I have been burrowing my head in the sand of deep church I notice that the blog world has been pulsing with debate about the southern baptist decision to abstain from alcohol [John and Helen both have good posts on this].

Now I'm not southern baptist, or baptist from any other point of the compass [i was going to say I'm not even American but due to an accident of birth i hold dual citizenship] so what on earth has this got to do with me.  As I read the posts and comments on christian view on alcohol and whether to abstain or not, I'll tell you what I thought...

'How dare any institution ,or any person for that matter, tell me how I should live my life!  If I want to drink alcohol then dammit, I will!  And what's even better is I can think of bible verses to back me up'

What I wanted to do was write a long post ridiculing people who lived by such legalistic notions and celebrating my freedom to do what I want, with some of those good sounding bible verses thrown in and then go for a pint or two...

But the more I thought about the more I find myself trapped in my own prison, in which I am the jailer - I am not really free I am self obsessed, selfish and unable to accept that anyone would want to deny themselves something - such that i feel i have to assert my right to do what I want free of all restraint.

Is practicing abstinence really such a bad thing?  In a consumer dominated world, when i can have what I want when I want it at my convenience - that I have come to expect this as my right?  Maybe if i want to start detoxing from the effects of my consumer addiction praticing abstinence is in fact a good thing?  Certainly if i was a recovering alcoholic for instance the southern baptists would sound an ideal church for me to go - maybe as someone who is as touch with his consumption as an alcoholic is with their drinking I need to go along as well?

Not that I know any southern baptists, which is a shame, but if I did I wouldn't offer them alcoholic drink if they came to dinner out of respect of their convictions, i wouldn't meet them in a pub either, in fact i wouldn't try and drink alcohol in front of them out of respect for their practice.  So why should I start now on the internet telling them they are wrong - when i am reacting out of my own wrongness and self addiction?

God's domination-free order - exploring our own ongoing liberation

"In his Beatitudes, in his extraordinary concern for the outcasts and the marginalised, in his wholly unconventional treatment of women, in his love of children, in his rejection of the belief that high ranking men are the favourites of God, in his subversive proclamation of a new order in which domination will give way to compassion and communion, Jesus brought to fruitition the prophetic longing for the 'kingdom of God' - an expression we might paraphrase as "God's domination-free order."

Whilst we might dream of a domination free order we seem to be living in a domination full world.  A world full of systems and structures, powers and people who oppress us, who push us down, who seek to control. 

Sometimes we are aware of these when our own space and self is under threat...

sometimes we're the pushers, when we want something, when it's our will/want that we are out to get or just someone to take the fall/blame  for us. 

Sometimes we are unaware,  just part of the system, to quote the definition of the Matrix, the system/culture is "the world pulled over [y]our eyes to blind us from the truth..." so for instance economic systems where what we consume comes at the expense of someone else's sufferings/exploitation [third world workers, the environment], or where it is the taken as the norm, like slavery 200 yrs ago, blacks not having less rights in the southern states of America.

"Some of them want to use you, some of them want to be used by you..."

So sang the Eurythmics and I am sure we all have our own experiences with living in/with domination. 

For me personally I grew up with one dominating parent and one passive one, that effected me in many ways not least in taking a decision not that i would not be passive.  To fight domination I refused to be dominated by anyone, ever! 

That decision was to impact me in many ways,  I could never lose an argument, which meant I never listened.  I was always right so I was never very teachable.  I also needed to be in control and there is nothing more likely to end up in abuse as a husband like me who took being obeyed very literally indeed and didn't bother too much about the servanthood of a sacrificing love that also goes along with that part of the bible.

It also impacted on my sexuality and the desire to dominate and be in control led me via the wonderful world of the net to discover BDSM and decide that a sexuality based on the giving of submission and the exercise of domination was how i was created to be.  I've talked about my experiences more here and here and how i came not only recognise not only that my desire to dominate was born out of my fears but also how God helped me changed and is helping me change so that my character has become more about giving and less about getting, more about me growing in self awareness and surrendering/giving up/laying down my rights - including my right to be right.

Dream with God and me of a domination free world

I want to do a couple of posts looking at the idea put forward by Walter Wink [who I quoted to begin with] of a domination free order - what would that look like, feel like - particularly with some of the issues that seem to be just the way things are as christians in the way that slavery was a couple of hundred yrs ago [and indeed this is still a live issue even today].  Before  I do, i'd like to hear your thoughts:

• what you feel when you read the quote and think of a domination free order being a way of expressing the kingdom of God?
• your own experiences of systems/structures/circumstances of domination whether conscious of them or not at the time?
• you own experiences of liberation/grace/freedom from these?
• your own thoughts as to where there are such domination systems today in our thought/world view/culture/experience
• anything else that you've thought/felt/inspired to share...

Exploring the marks of deep church..

Is deep church I wonder, the way of cultivating an understanding that I expressed in my post on the kingdom of God being bigger than church? In other words if we accept that our individual churches are part of the kingdom but not the sum of the kingdom then maybe there is a healthier and less parochial way of participating together as christians in the kingdom of God?

What is deep church?

The term was first coined by C S Lewis who on Feb 8th 1952 wrote a letter to The Church Times standing-up for the supernatural basis of the Gospel which he felt strongly was being undermined by modernism:

‘To a layman,’ he said, ‘it seems obvious that what unites the Evangelical and the Anglo Catholic against the “Liberal” or “Modernist” is something very clear and momentous, namely, the fact that both are thoroughgoing supernaturalists, who believe in the Creation, the Fall, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Second Coming, and the … Last Things.  This unites them not only with one another but also with the Christian religion as understood ubique et ab omnibus. 

The point of view from which this agreement seems less important than their divisions … is to me unintelligible.  Perhaps the trouble is that as supernaturalists, whether “Low” or “High” Church, thus taken together they lack a name. May I suggest “Deep Church”, or if that fails in humility, Baxter’s “mere Christians”’.  (C.S. Lewis, Church Times 1952)

In other words christians have more in common than actually divides them - whether you want to call this mere christianity, a generous orthodoxy or deep church or something else it would seem that deep church represents a way that is above either judging the kingdom of God on one church or making our church/denomination the litmus paper of the kingdom.  Christians might differ in practice and emphasis but the vast majority hold to a common orthodoxy/practice/experience of the core tenants of what the christian faith is in/about.

As Professor Andrew Walker said:

"Deep Church, while it is open to ecumenical insight and ‘cross-over’ doctrines, is not about syncretism or absorbing the next fad in the endless search for liturgical novelty.  It is about the marriage between the ‘new thing’ God is always doing in our lives, and the ‘old things’ – the historic givens of the Faith - that he has already done which includes the means of Grace that he has provided for our spiritual nourishment. Deep Church, then, is not just about something old for something new (or the other way round). It is about anamnesia and re-imagining. It is about catholicity and a holy separation. It is about a re-collected history and writing a new chapter in the annals of faith.

The establishment of Deep Church is not merely overdue, it is a missiological imperative for we are entering a time of great testing in the western world: the Enlightenment era, which in so many ways has served humankind so well, has drawn to a close and with it the optimism of a glorious future has faded away.  We are now past the twilight of modernity but not yet in the dawn of a new age: in this transitional stage we are caught in an age of uncertainty poised between the forces of apocalypse and congenital boredom. "

Deep does not mean the same...

I am not advocating a homogeneous church,  as i expressed in my last post i think different forms and styles of church are a positive thing - it would be arrogant of me to assume that everyone needs to attend a church like mine and i need to realise that it will take lots of different churches with lots of different styles to reach and connect with lots of different people.

In one sense it is a question of space - the places that churches inhabit could be vast public gatherings or small house churches.  For some people it would be a nightmare going to church in someones front room but for other people it would feel natural.  For some people it would be a mare being in church in a big crowd but for some people it would feel natural.  I think i need to get beyond space/style and look at something more than that which is values...

Values or marks of deep church...

What do you think the marks or values of a deep church should be?  You might think i've pulled one step ahead of myself and should first ask the Q what is a church?  I've deliberately not gone there because i think the two are linked - i think deep church can be in any space, public, private, intimate and in any denomination, structure, leadership etc.  It can be with a crowd of hundreds or just within a handful.

Professor Walker  suggests that:

"one of the distinguishing marks of Deep Church is that as adopted brothers and sisters of the incarnate Son of God what holds true for Him is intended to be normative for us: if you want to be my disciples, says Jesus to the apostolic band, ‘take up your cross’.  This is a clear directive for us, especially in the present uncertainty, that there can be no resurrection without crucifixion, no legitimate charism of power, certainly no exousia, without exposing our vulnerability to the cruelties and exigencies of a fallen world and the evil of principalities and powers. And there can be no long-term renewal or spiritual awakening of the Church without sharing the deep wounds of the crucified Christ so that through them we too share in the pain of the world.  A  theologia glorie without a theologia crucis, Tom Smail has reminded us often enough, is a cock-eyed gospel and while it will always have  popular appeal, it has no place in the soteriology of Deep Church."

To start the ball rolling here are some of the things i think should be values/marks:

• generous orthodoxy - we are on the same side, in the same kingdom, following the same king - what can we learn from each other?
• generous orthopraxy i.e. co-operating/partnering practically with other churches [mission then is more than I win you lose but how can we work together so the area we inhabit experiences the kingdom of God].  Any other practical examples of how to do this?
• christians who embody the works, words and wounds of Christ and who as a body are prepared to be broken for the world
• local and global - the kingdom of God does not just stop at the edge of my town, postal district etc but is global
• believers who do/act good deeds in the kingdom not just have right beliefs
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?

Ok, please suggest some more..?

why are you bovvered to be a christian... [part 2]

I just wanted to say thank you for the brilliant thougths being shared by people on my recent post: why are you bothered to be a christian exploring faith/mission/evangelism in a culture which is increasingly 'not bothered.'

I rasied the same issue here on Jason Clark's blog and included the following clip from English commedian Catherine Tate to illustrate:

Ari has also highlighted a really great looking sermon which explores finding God in the other and she follows it up with some awesome reflections on Christianity and love. Similarly this site advocating a new progressive alliance between people of faith [either in God or no God] seems to be a great opportunity to learn from each other rather than take a position of i'm right/you're wrong...

One of the most interesting/profound things i took from watching the TV programme ‘God is green’ that i blogged about, was how many religions have something at the heart of their sacred texts about caring for the planet - it was fascinating seeing this christian presenter interviewing hindus and muslims as well as evengelical american christians and exploring not just what the bible says but what their own faith teachings said…

I found that quite humbling in that often we look to overthrow a different faith, prove it wrong etc but this was an insight in how to view/engage/explore what all religions could do if they took these texts seriously…