I think the two kebabs a day diet did me a whole lot of good.
est. no. of diff places slept in last 5months: 51 (thanks if one was your sofa!)
I've been to Germany before, and liked it. But this time I think I was a bit more open eyed.. Germany is an AMAZING place! The people, the trees, the artwork, the bars, the soil, the pavements, the smells, the culture, the food. Loved it!
So it's October, and year4 is well underway.
I would suggest that in all of the entire world, through the entirety of history, there has never been anyone who has either spoken as wise, world changing, and love motivated words, or lived them out so completely as Jesus Christ.
Here are a few recent thoughts:
We have an open invitation to follow Jesus, if we take this up and we choose to trust and try to follow Jesus, a whole load of exciting things happen. [understatement].
One of these is that we become a part of something bigger that we can't really ever fully understand, but that is both better and more more exciting than we could understand. A 'glorious mystery'. We become part of the Church. Because our minds cannot really cope with what this means, we have whole range of pictures to describe different aspects of this. One of these is: the body. The Body of Christ!?
Serious implications.
So I'm thinking..
This means (among other things) that any of the following people who are trying to follow Jesus, in some way taking up the invitation, are connected together in some way, and meant to function in different but complementary ways: (to care for and give their life for the world!).
Ofiice workers, contemplative hermits, mega-church televangelists, people at mass, novelists, anarchists, monarchs+presidents, soldiers, popes, farmers, bible study groups, OAPs, children, those with learning difficulties, and CEOs of multinational corporations, and... me??
How can we be all connected? Some of these people I have a deep respect for, others I would describe some of their actions as despicable. And some a bit of both.
How is it possible for me to live if I identify myself with all these people? I want to reserve the right to disown at least some of them!
Perhaps, this is one place where a need for humility kicks in. To stay true to our integrity, of what is good and what is real, we cannot possibly condone many of the actions of these people; but maybe we don't have the luxury to say "well that's not really 'the Church', it only includes the perfect bit where we are!". If we are part of the Church, we are connected to some things we could be really ashamed of. But it also means we can take some responsibility for this, we can (and I believe it is really important that we do) PROTEST.
We can speak very differently about a family that we are a part of, than a family we are not.
Even citizens of a democracy have a powerful message when they shout: "Not in Our Name!"
We can bring protests to the Church, as long as we remember that this involves bringing them to ourselves. (I will think more on this.) We can also protest to God.
This protest is for a greater goodness to come into something that we are a part of. We are not the righteous outside observers pointing out the flaws. We are guilty. We protest as those flawed, human, guilty and needing help. And if we protest against things we find in ourselves; surely only God can help us. Maybe this is part of what is meant by 'repentance'.
But this makes me very hopeful.
The Church is human, and has the full range of human problems, multiplied together because it is a collective thing (if this makes us cry, it is an appropriate response). But it also has the full range of human good potentials and beauties, also multiplied; and it is also being made good, into the scarily pure goodness, holiness, by God. And this will be completed. It is too good for us to be able to understand.
est. no. of diff places slept in last 5months: 51 (thanks if one was your sofa!)
I've been to Germany before, and liked it. But this time I think I was a bit more open eyed.. Germany is an AMAZING place! The people, the trees, the artwork, the bars, the soil, the pavements, the smells, the culture, the food. Loved it!
So it's October, and year4 is well underway.
I would suggest that in all of the entire world, through the entirety of history, there has never been anyone who has either spoken as wise, world changing, and love motivated words, or lived them out so completely as Jesus Christ.
Here are a few recent thoughts:
We have an open invitation to follow Jesus, if we take this up and we choose to trust and try to follow Jesus, a whole load of exciting things happen. [understatement].
One of these is that we become a part of something bigger that we can't really ever fully understand, but that is both better and more more exciting than we could understand. A 'glorious mystery'. We become part of the Church. Because our minds cannot really cope with what this means, we have whole range of pictures to describe different aspects of this. One of these is: the body. The Body of Christ!?
Serious implications.
So I'm thinking..
This means (among other things) that any of the following people who are trying to follow Jesus, in some way taking up the invitation, are connected together in some way, and meant to function in different but complementary ways: (to care for and give their life for the world!).
Ofiice workers, contemplative hermits, mega-church televangelists, people at mass, novelists, anarchists, monarchs+presidents, soldiers, popes, farmers, bible study groups, OAPs, children, those with learning difficulties, and CEOs of multinational corporations, and... me??
How can we be all connected? Some of these people I have a deep respect for, others I would describe some of their actions as despicable. And some a bit of both.
How is it possible for me to live if I identify myself with all these people? I want to reserve the right to disown at least some of them!
Perhaps, this is one place where a need for humility kicks in. To stay true to our integrity, of what is good and what is real, we cannot possibly condone many of the actions of these people; but maybe we don't have the luxury to say "well that's not really 'the Church', it only includes the perfect bit where we are!". If we are part of the Church, we are connected to some things we could be really ashamed of. But it also means we can take some responsibility for this, we can (and I believe it is really important that we do) PROTEST.
We can speak very differently about a family that we are a part of, than a family we are not.
Even citizens of a democracy have a powerful message when they shout: "Not in Our Name!"
We can bring protests to the Church, as long as we remember that this involves bringing them to ourselves. (I will think more on this.) We can also protest to God.
This protest is for a greater goodness to come into something that we are a part of. We are not the righteous outside observers pointing out the flaws. We are guilty. We protest as those flawed, human, guilty and needing help. And if we protest against things we find in ourselves; surely only God can help us. Maybe this is part of what is meant by 'repentance'.
But this makes me very hopeful.
The Church is human, and has the full range of human problems, multiplied together because it is a collective thing (if this makes us cry, it is an appropriate response). But it also has the full range of human good potentials and beauties, also multiplied; and it is also being made good, into the scarily pure goodness, holiness, by God. And this will be completed. It is too good for us to be able to understand.
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