Letter to Joshua - Exodus 17

Dear Joshua,

You were one of the people who would have been around Moses in the desert. Were you somebody complaining to him about the lack of water or not?

To me as I read this Moses seems an increasingly hard leader. Yes, he is effective but, at times, he also seems to be lacking in basic humanity.

I am guessing the people were grumbling because they were genuinely suffering as a result of thirst. They were I guess scared about where the next drink was coming from and whether there were more of them going to die in agony than would have done under the harsh conditions of slavery.

You seem to be a trusted military leader in your community. Were you part of a counsel of advisors Moses had or did he act effectively as a dictator with God as his counsel?

I wonder what state your community were in prior to the attack. Had the lack of water weakened them in a way which was clear to others, was that why you were attacked? Or was it that as people grumbled there was rebellion in the air and discipline was breaking down? Alternatively it might just have been you were in a vulnerable geographical position at that time? Had the issues around water caused that?

I ask because there is so much the bible doesn’t tell us. The more I read the more I realise that we read it often not only without emotion but without understanding the full context. The lack of understanding context comes not only through our lack of familiarity with either culture or time but also out of the text. I know this could be because this is a retrospective writing of history, coming from oral history but I think increasingly it is because we are meant to accept some of the horrors without asking questions. We are simply meant to accept that is the way it was just as the neo-liberal consensus today and the press which contribute to it give us the dominant narratives in soundbites we are simply meant to accept at face value.

You were clearly a warrior, a military leader. I wonder about the anger you felt as you saw your men as well as the Amalekites slaughtered. It says that at one point in the battle the Amalekites were winning, that must have led to casualties. Is that why after the battle had been won you are told by the Lord he will totally destroy the Amalekites or was it to reassure you that this was not round one of something which would continue to spiral?

I ask because I am horrified by the Lord, after the battle, apparently sanctioning another genocide as a result. I know that the lack of context I talked about earlier may be coming into play here but through my modern eyes this sickens me and makes me question God.

Whilst I worship a god of justice I do not worship a god of genocide. In the world I live in god(s) are being used by other groups to justify this and we rightfully think it is terrible. Yet at the same time we are sending bombers in to deal with this by dropping bombs which must be impacting and killing members of those community too. It seems in seeking to wipe out an ideology and a problem we may be seeking to do what I find it so problematic God was doing. We say we want to wipe out members of an evil organisation whilst you wanted to wipe out members of an invading tribe.

I hope and pray that we will find a different answer and a different way to stop dangerous ideologies who are committing atrocious violence against other. I hope and pray we find a way to respond to violence and attack with something which does not involve more violence and death. And I hold on to that because if my faith is anything it is a faith based on hope….resurrection hope.

Letter to an Israelite - Exodus 16

Dear Israelite

This is one of those letters I write intrigued as to how much of the story I read has been adapted in the retelling and myth making.

Exodus 16 is clearly a passage which is seeking to teach the reader about God’s provision and about the consequences of disobeying God.

I find it interesting though because if there is some truth in it there is the implication that you had a bland and samey diet which was nourishing but boring. As I reflect on this I am thankful for the variety I have available to me but am also reminded that many people do rely on the same food day after day, which is given to them in refugee camps and the like. My varied diet is not something for me to take for granted but rather is clearly something to be very thankful for.

I have never really considered how boring life might have been for you before. You walked, you ate what you were given. I am not surprised that you got discontent and grumbled. Yet, you also clearly worked. What was it you did?

Was it boring keeping at home on the Sabbath day or was it ok? Did you get to spend quality time with your family or was it a time of tension and conflict as people were enclosed and unable to mix and go about their business. Alternatively, were you so shattered that you slept much of the time on that day? Is that why you needed to rest.

I find this concept of rest fascinating as I have learnt over the last few months to take this concept more seriously. I have discovered rest is not something to feel guilty about rather it is something which can be balanced in and enjoyed. In the life I have it is not always Sunday, but it is there more often than not now. I am aware though that for many this concept is increasingly difficult. Particularly for those everyday people in the church who have responsibilities on top of their paid jobs.

Was there a lot of conflict going on between you and Moses? It seems that he was like many of our modern politicians and leaders. Sometimes you thought he was wonderful, at other times he really did your head in.

Chasing Francis Study Questions 1

Further to this blog post Chasing Francis questions are starting to be explored. I am not going to put everything on here due to it being a public space and blog but I do want to share a flavour of my thoughts.

The first set of questions arise from the fact that the protagonist in the book is experiencing a crisis of faith where they begin to question their conservative / entrepreneurial evangelical approach. The writer refers the reader explicitly to the work of Dave Tomlinson and implicitly to the work of John Drane in the questions.

The first question asks the reader to think about the statement “I love Jesus – it’s Christianity that drives me crazy”. There was a time when I would have given this an unequivocal yes, that’s exactly how I feel. Yet, I realise that I am past that stage in my journey.

Yes, I love Jesus and yes aspects of Christianity drive me mad. Yet, I am increasingly recognising that it is aspects of Christianity which frustrate me not the whole of it.

I get driven mad by thinks like the competition for resources which occurs between tribes within and between denominations.

I get driven mad by arguments about whether or not to show God’s love in practice to LGBT people.

I get driven mad by the way we expect people to sit, stand (and at times even do the Hokey Cokey) just because they happen to be in the same room as a bunch of other Christians.

There are other things that frustrate me at times too about the music, the apparent consumerism which creeps in and so on. BUT I realise that I am a Christian and part of the church. I am part of what makes up this thing we call Christianity. I am part of what will be driving other people mad.

I know that amid the clamour and competition for resources are lots of dedicated people simply trying to keep going in our largely secularised society as well as lots of people who are seeking the resources to try something new.

I know that caught up in the arguments around LGBT issues in the church are lots of LGBT people who face physical danger in their countries due to the way in which Christianity is used to promote a certain view. I know that there are lots of people in this country who feel unable to attend church because of the exclusion they have faced through actions and words. I know that for them we need to keep going on this journey of seeking justice in the church.

Yet, at the same time I know there are lots of good people who are trying to work their way through this and reconcile the dissonance they feel between what they interpret the bible as saying and the LGBT people they know. I know there are people who are genuinely struggling about what they are doing to LGBT people yet feel they have to hold on to their interpretation of the bible or to the teachings of a church they regard as family. In short I know this is not as simple as I would like it to be for a lot of people.

In terms of when to stand, sit and so on. I am gaining an appreciation that to lots of people that sort of ritual matters in a way which I just can’t get. To them the bodily actions of sitting and standing at certain times is a way to enable them to express their whole selves in worship.

 The next question asks you to examine the limitations of evangelicalism. I could go into this but I won’t. I have been on the journey to the edges of evangelicalism and have journeyed back in slightly. I no longer go to an evangelical church but I am still evangelical in some of my thinking. I prefix it now with the term Open or Progressive which I know to some will mean I cannot be an evangelical really. Yet, I regard myself as an evangelical. That strand of faith is an important part of what nurtured my faith, and shaped me and it is still there within me even if it is now mixed with a cocktail of other Christian influences.

The next question relates to experiencing a crisis of faith. I do not have time to go into it here but the simple answer is yes. I believe it is almost impossible to be a LGBT evangelical and not to go through a crisis of faith as you seek to wrestle with who you are. Indeed I would argue that anybody, LGBT or not, who takes their faith seriously is likely to if they open themselves up to different influences and not live in an enclosed bubble.

The next question asks how you would counsel somebody who becomes cynical and disillusioned with the culture and theology of their church and have you ever felt that way. Yes, I have felt that way. In terms of counselling somebody who feels like that you need to be ready to listen. Context is important and you need to understand where that cynicism and disillusionment is coming from before you can counsel them. My key thing would be to have ready a list of books or other resources you might want to signpost them to, as appropriate. You also need to be ready to journey with them through this or be able to signpost them to somebody else who would be able to.

The final question in this part of the study course asks how we can make church a safe place for everybody to voice their doubts and struggles whilst feeling valued and accepted. The answer to this is I don’t know fully. Whilst we might seek to have policies in place which allow this and might seek to build an inclusive culture churches by their very being tend to be unsafe places to doubt because there is a fear that if people do voice their doubts or views which might go against the orthodoxy of the institution the whole thing will come tumbling down. Small groups are one way to provide safe spaces, but will these be safe for all? I don’t know but this is an important question we need to wrestle with. Any ideas please drop them into the comments section.

 

Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron Reviewed and a Journey Begun

Chasing Francis: A Pilgrims Tale by Ian Morgan Cron is an interesting book which is put forward as a novel, but has a study guide at the back (which is significantly different to thoughts for a book group). The reviewer will reach different conclusions depending on how they view this book. If you see it primarily as a novel you will think it is mediocre and not detailed enough to be a decent novel. However, if you regard it as a Christian teaching book it scores extremely highly.

It focuses around an evangelical pastor who experiences a crisis of faith and ends up in Italy learning about St. Francis of Assisi and exploring how his teaching may be lived out today.

I personally found it an interesting and challenging book. It was interesting in how it put forward some ideas regarding what faith in a late/ post-modern world might look like and because of how it used narrative to explore these ideas. It was challenging because however comfortable one might be with the theological ideas underpinning what was being said it was clear that few of us, apart from a few exceptional individuals, are living this stuff out.

I was challenged about how out of line my life is with the faith I profess as a result of reading this book and I am sure that is where the study guide comes in useful. There is also a useful bibliography at the end of the book making clear that any pretence this is a novel in the normal sense should be abandoned.

Am I glad I have read it and would I recommend it? Yes, certainly especially to those who are weary with faith or wondering what on earth God is calling them into as Christians in 2016. I’d also recommend it to those who might want to be exploring Christian spirituality who have a cynicism about the church. It shows that there is another way possible and in small pockets people are seeking that vision and living it out.

I intend to go through the study material and will share my thoughts on that on here in due course. What I am interested in thinking about though is if anybody else would be interested in reading the book and joining in a discussion on it with me? I'll leave that question hanging a few days and if anybody is up for it can you let me know what date you think you'd be able to read the book by so we can set a date for the first study section discussion.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. This year there might well be less posting on this blog as I want to put more focus on my review blog (although as ever this may change over the next 366 days). I will be posting some links on both where I think they will be useful.
Today I went to see the film The Danish Girl and have reviewed that.

Pioneer Spirituality edited by Jonny Baker and Cathy Ross reviewed

Put this up on my review blog earlier. Realised that it may be interesting to readers of this blog too. Pioneering Spirituality: Resources for reflection and practice edited by Cathy Ross and Jonny Baker, published by Canterbury Press, is the latest work from the CMS stable.

Whilst distinctly different from its predecessor , which I reviewed last year -The Pioneer Gift ,it still has the familiar format of having a range of chapters from practitioners in a range of contexts. The work that Baker and Ross do involves seeking to facilitate the hearing of voices which might not otherwise be heard. This has primarily involved seeking to ensure that it is those who would describe themselves as pioneers whose stories and theological reflections are heard.

The scope of contributors to this book seems wider than in previous texts of this kind. It seems that going beyond the traditionally recognised type of fresh expressions and pioneering projects they are engaging more widely with different types of pioneering. This includes hearing the voices of Harvey Kwiyani who is one of a group of Malawian pastors living and working in Nottingham and Berdine Van Den Toren-Lekkerkerker and Benno Van Den Toren who are originally from the Netherlands but have worked in various parts of the world. The former discusses African Spirituality in Western Contexts and the latter From Missionary Incarnate to Incarnational Guest: A Critical Reflection on Incarnation as a Model for Missionary Presence. There is also a chapter by anti-FGM activist Ann-Marie Wilson, who started 28 Too Many, on An Active Spirituality for Mission.

That said there are the familiar type of Pioneers in here too such as Gavin Mart of Engedi Arts who is a Methodist Venture FX Pioneer. Whilst Ross and Baker are careful not to speak with the voices of academics, rather presenting their introductory chapter in a more conversational form the academic voice is here too. Not only via Ross (and to a lesser extent Baker) but also through Stephen Bevans of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Bevans chapter Dancing with the Missionary God: Towards a Mission Spirituality seeks to identify six constant features of spirituality which provide a template for those engaged in pioneer mission.

The Bevans chapter is one which seeks to invite the practitioner to reflect on their own spirituality and seek to identify what both unpins it but also what sustains it. This concept of ensuring the pioneers own spirituality is sustained and the sharing of ideas and practices to help with this is the focus of the first part of the book. The most powerful chapters on this topic I believe are Kate Pearson’s on Angela of Foligno as a Model for Pioneer Minstry and Beth Honey’s Pioneers as Pilgrims. Both of these chapters were particularly useful to me personally as I seek to identify how to develop my own spirituality having moved into a lay university chaplaincy role – a role that in her chapter Pearson who is a chaplain at a different university describes as having “been a space for pioneers for a long time.” (p80)

Other chapters particularly in the second half of the book talk more about practice and how to help others develop their spirituality. Johnny Sertin’s chapter on Getting Dirty talked about doing this within a Church of England Parish Context whilst Tina Hodgett talked about it in relation to a group for young mums in her chapter on Doors in the Air: Baby Spirituality. These were interesting chapters telling the stories of what they were doing in a way which readers of the Ancient Faith, Future Mission series will be familiar.

Overall though this is more of a book to help pioneers themselves reflect rather than a book for those outside the system. It is a text to help understanding between different groups and to facilitate a conversation as illustrated by Kim Hartshorne’s We Are One Body Because We all Share in One Bread: Pioneering and the Eucharist. This chapter was focused on explaining to those from lower church backgrounds particularly why the Eucharist is so important to many practitioners from an Anglican tradition. This chapter articulated clearly why the rules matter to some people and why in finding new ways of doing things respect needs to be given to existing etiquettes. Again as somebody who doesn’t at times understand the need for the rules and restraints this was something I found particularly useful.

Overall this is a book which I would highly recommend to those who are seriously following developments in this area of pioneer ministry and mission because it highlights how maturing is now occurring. There is also more space being given to voices of those who have come from elsewhere to the UK which is good. I would also recommend it to practitioners who wish to reflect on their own practice and rootedness. Would I recommend it beyond that readership? I am not sure. Whilst it is a very good book and very readable and far less of a text book than some recent books I have read in this area it is still I believe quite specialist reading. It is clearly seeking to support the growing band of practitioners whilst developing some important conversations. It is a book of sharing ideas and also asking important questions of pioneers themselves.

Advent Reading by Richard Coles and Fiona Joseph

Fathomless Riches by Richard Coles and Beatrice: The Cadbury Heiress Who Gave Away Her Fortune by Fiona Joseph may not sound like the most obvious Advent reading. Yet, they’ve been what I’ve been delving into in recent days.

Why? Well part of it relates to the comments I picked up from one of the Queen’s lecturers whilst I was sitting in college communion (something I tend to do on Tuesday evening). He was talking about Advent being a time to examine our history and look for evidence of God breaking through. It is a time for looking back and looking forward whilst focusing on the difference Christ’s coming makes.

Both books enable you to reflect on the ways in which God’s kingdom breaks through and how this occurs in ways in which you might not expect. They also both, in their own ways, provide challenges for the reader because they show that ethics and actions are not simple.

Beatrice was a book I first heard about when the author gave a talk at Greenbelt a few years ago which I found absolutely fascinating. Somehow, though I never got round to reading the book until this week. It is a biography of Beatrice Boekes (nee Cadbury) whose Quaker roots and understanding of Marxist theory saw her adopt an increasingly radical lifestyle during much of her life. This included outdoors preaching which saw here frequently arrested and at one point giving up the use of money amongst other things. She was also responsible with her husband Kees for setting up a school and helping Jewish children escaping persecution in the Second World War.

This sounds admirable and it might be easy for one to get overly romantic about the world of Beatrice and her family. However, the book veers away from uncritical praise of her actions. Rather it details the difficulties this caused to her family and others who were seeking to ensure the welfare of the family.

Thus it shows that we need to think about our actions. God uses those who are willing to take risks and work beyond the status quo to help build his kingdom but those people have a duty of care towards those around them too.

Before I’d turned my attention to Beatrice and a Brum based book I had read Richard Coles Fathomless Riches or How I Went from Pop to Pulpit. This was a book I had pretty much avoided for a year. I suspect part of it was that I didn’t quite trust what I was going to get from it. I’m not entirely sure why but I didn’t. Then there was the fact the only comments I had heard about it seemed to focus on dogging, (suggesting people had not really gotten past the first few pages).

My view on the book changed in when I went to an event at the Birmingham Literature Festival where Coles was interviewed by Catherine Ogle, a Dean at Birmingham Cathedral. This previous post from my review blog explains something about why that evening changed things.

So it was I read the book, a memoir which does what it says on the cover and tells how a former pop star ended up training for ministry.

The book talks of his family and youth and then moves on to his life within the early 80’s gay scene in London before looking at his life post-fame and his involvement with the rave culture. It then moves on to exploring his interest in religion and the tensions he encountered between an Anglican and Catholic identity. Within this sex and drug use are a part but there is far more within this text.

First is one of the most moving accounts of the impact of the Aids crisis on the ‘80’s gay community I have read. This is something in the Literature Festival talk Coles had said he had not found cathartic to write. The pain within what he writes is clear and it is movingly described.

Scattered throughout the book are accounts of how he messed up and the regrets he has. It’s a book which seems scattered with references to repentance and gives some examples of what this might look like in practice.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed reading both books. They were both highly readable whilst subtly challenging. They also in their own way did show a real picture of God’s Kingdom breaking in on the margins as well as within the establishment.