Eternal Echoes

Spirituality in Britain today; a personal reflection

I write this as an  observer of the culture, and as someone who is interested in the burgeoning of the multifaceted culture of spirituality, apparent in almost every area of life. This is a quick summation of the thoughts that have been running through my head following the ROMBS Conference last weekend.

Almost ten years agonow I was invited to be a part of a Christian group who placed stalls into Mind Body Soul exhibitions, at the time what we called New Age Spirituality was becoming a noticeable part of culture. This rise in a search for spirituality away from the mainstream religions ( or possibly because of them) reflected the cultural shift from modernity to post-modernity. Questions were being asked of the religion and its power bases and at the same time the search for spirituality was being spoken about in ways it had not been before, being a spiritual person was a good thing to be and topics that would have previously been taboo were suddenly firmly on the agenda.

For the following 5 years the Mind Body Soul exhibitions grew in popularity and attracted larger and larger crowds, to be spiritual said something really positive about you as a person. Supermarkets and advertisers were quick to catch on and products were marketed according to the experience they might give you rather than on a list of facts and figures, a spiritual experience was a plus.

In the subsequent 5 years something interesting began to happen, some of the big exhibitions were replaced by a proliferation of smaller ones, village halls and pubs became popular venues, I have even been asked to advise a schools on the subject of hosting spirituality fairs as fundraisers.

Spirituality is still firmly on the agenda, people are more open to speak about spiritual things and see spirituality as an essential part of being human. One thing that challenges me is the current readiness of folk to talk about Jesus in a positive manner, most recently this trend has been highlighted for us by Jade Goody and her statements about faith and baptism.

The question to the Church today is, are we ready to engage with the God who has gone before us, do we have eyes to see, and ears to hear where he is working so that we can join in?

Grace and Confidence

Tagged everything...why because the grace of God covers everything...I was challenged today to consider the grace of God and also to consider how to encourage others to rediscover that grace...or to discover it for the first time...

"Grace is something you can never get but only be given. There's no way to earn or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream, or earn good looks, or bring about your own birth.- Fredrich Bruchner- Wishful Thinking"

We cannot pin down or explain grace we can only recieve it.. .

Resurrection faith

I believe in the Resurrection of Christ as an invitation to live with holy zeal, not as an escape from death.

I believe in the Resurrection of Christ as an invitation to embrace the mystery of life, not as an escape from the need to wrestle with faith.

I believe in the Resurrection of Christ as an invitation to live the incarnational life-to allow God to live in and through us-not as a rejection of the earthly body.

I believe in the Resurrection of Christ as a symbol of God's perpetual creativity, as a proclamation of the mystery at the centre of our existence.

Most of all I believe in the Resurrection of Christ as the infusion of divine energy that always brings forth a new beginning.

Resurrection says that there are always new opportunities, always second chances.--Dave Tomlinson-Running Into God.

Amen!!!

On having a big soul..

In running into God today Dave Tomlinson looks at John 12 1-8, the account of Mary annointng Jesus feet.

He looks at Judas reaction, and the awkardness of the others present at the meal, masked by concern for the poor and that conventional social customs have been swept aside, quoting Mary Gordons novel Final Payments

I understand. What Christ was saying, what he meant was that the pleasure of that hair, that ointment, must be taken. Because the accidents of death would depriv us soon enough. We must not deprive ourselves, our loved ones, of the luxury of extravagant affectins. We must not second-guess death by refusing to love the ones we loved in favour of the anonymous poor.

Not that we should neglect the poor this is not an either or choice!

He looks at what a sensual and generous gesture this was, and asks how well we recieve blessing...

Perhaps our real unease with the story comes from our awkardness in asking, giving or recieving blessings, to each other at all. Expressions of love, no where near as extravagant as Marys, are too vulnerable, too revealing of desire or love.

How interesting that Jesus accepted her gesture and allowed himself to savour the momment, how often do we recognise that Jesus enjoys our company, our expressions of love and if only we dared our extravagance towards him...how often do we hold back from asking for something we would really desire because we feel we are not worth it, or worse that we see God as a stern character who does not take delight in us...

Two things stood out for me today, one was how large hearted Jesus was in accepting this gesture, and second how open Mary was in her desire to love Jesus...

Lord grant me such openness of heart I pray. Amen

Feeling God

P salm. 27  ,     Luke 13 31-35

How do you feel about God?  Still working my way through Dave Tomlinsons book  Running into God, this devotion intrigues me; we may be able to say and know in our heads many things about God's love and mercy and grace, but how do you feel about God?

Does he approve/ disapprove of you?

Are you concious of being special and chosen or do you feel worthless a bit of an imposter at a party which is somehow celebrating others and not you?

Do you see a stern task master or a loving Father?

I have to admit that often what I say and how I feel are two different things, I find it hard to be loved by God, hard to accept Jesus words of affirmation and mercy, hard to accept his sacrifice was also for me....and yet this is what I preach...

In the passage of Luke we see Jesus looking over Jerusalem and speaking some astonishing words, having been warned that Herod is after him he uses a picture of himself as the mother hen wishing to gather her chicks under her wings, a place of saftey and comfort... He calls Herod a fox, Jesus is it seems aware of his own human vulnerability, yet even so wishes to gather his people to comfort and protect them in the face of the enemy.

In the face of a fox the mother hen would surely loose her life giving everything...

How do you feel about God?

Can you say with the psalmist

Psalm 27:4-6 (MsgB) 
        I'm asking God for one thing,
            only one thing:
        To live with him in his house
            my whole life long.
        I'll contemplate his beauty;
            I'll study at his feet.
        [5] That's the only quiet, secure place
            in a noisy world,
        The perfect getaway,
            far from the buzz of traffic.
        [6] God holds me head and shoulders
            above all who try to pull me down.
        I'm headed for his place to offer anthems
            that will raise the roof!
        Already I'm singing God-songs;
            I'm making music to God.   ?

Do you have the confidence to see a God who when you get otu of your depth holds you head and shoulders above all who would hold you down...a father giving you a piggy back so that you are lifted above the crowds?

Stargazers, angels and outcasts

Matthew 1:20-2:6
    While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. [21] She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—'God saves'—because he will save his people from their sins." [22] This would bring the prophet's embryonic sermon to full term:

        [23] Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;
        They will name him Emmanuel (Hebrew for "God is with us").

    [24] Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. [25] But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.
    [2:1] After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory—this was during Herod's kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. [2] They asked around, "Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We're on pilgrimage to worship him."
    [3] When word of their inquiry got to Herod, he was terrified—and not Herod alone, but most of Jerusalem as well. [4] Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high priests and religion scholars in the city together and asked, "Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?"
    [5] They told him, "Bethlehem, Judah territory. The prophet Micah wrote it plainly:

        [6] It's you, Bethlehem, in Judah's land,
            no longer bringing up the rear.
        From you will come the leader
            who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel."

OK so I realise that Christmas is over and that we are approaching Lent, but I am preparing a mornings teaching for a group of people interested in working amongst the New Age Community, and engaging with them in a meaningful way and I am drawn back to the ways that God announced his incarnation ...

Astrology and angels are sought out by many people today to make sense of  life, and they are comming across Jesus, many folk I speak to in New Age Fairs have had experiences of angels leading them to encounter the ressurected Christ. One man I spoke to had been astral travelling, every bone in my evangelical conscience screamed out to tell him that this was not a good thing to do, but the Holy Spirits hand was on me and I kept quiet and listened as he told me how the next time he encountered Jesus his mind was made up..he would give himself to this wonderful man whose wisdom had been leading him to want to know more...

What could I dobut affirm his decision and pray for him...this he gladly accepted.

Dave Tomlinson reflects on this in his book, Running Into God...

The magi weren't just star gazers, they were adventurers. Their vision was not limited to what they already knew. Here were people who were prepared to leave their familiar surroundings, prepared to explore beyond their box, prepared to recognise God in other forms. How fantastic that the early Christians could incorporate such a generous story in their account of Christs birth, a story of people journeying to God, not through Scripture, or through the voice of the prophets, or church tradition, but through the guidance of the stars interpreted by pagan wisdom.....

....But sadly instead of making these conncetions, all too often the church is caught up with its own navel gazing issues-more concerned with an agenda for its own survival than with the agenda of God's kingdom in the world. Bear in mind that the church was a by product of the kingdom of God not the other way round. All too frequently I see the church dismissing the gifts of the magi in todays world-busily excluding those people whom God is including.

Challenging words, that may be hard to swallow, it is easy to take stands against things and hard sometimes to discern where God is at work. Easy to exclude genuine seekers with petty rules and hard to be generous and open, but God is bigger than our small boxes and He challenges us  to grasp the full reality of that!!!

In celebration of ordinary days

I've just started using Dave Tomlinsons book of reflections Running into God, he is celebrating Ordinary Time, and the days that are ordinary days, days where we simply live out our faith, where there is reality in the ordinariness of life and that makes it extraordinary...

T.V, commercials and the constant pressure of life seems to propell us from one holiday to the next, we are always looking forward to something...with our eyes always on the future do we miss out on the ordinary? I think we do how often do we stop to appreciate the ordinary things in life like maknig soup and spring flowers.

I had a day off today and really enjoyed making dinner for the family spending time with them and doing nothing much. Tim and I went for a walk and enjoyed the fresh air, watched the local soccer match for a bit and then walked on, it wasn't sunny but neither was it cold, just good to be out...

Our lives are lived 95% in ordinary days doind ordinary things, Jesus it seems had time to watch flowers growing, bread being made and simple everyday things that he used to illustrate his stories, he enjoyed meals and friends...

I have lived too much of my life in a rush striving for the next thing and missed out on too much, I'll try to take note of the flowers of the fields, and not to strive...too much anyway!!!