Oh so slow

The other day I was blah. Today I'm downright depressed! Why is it that so often we get hung up in the church about tiny and insignificant things and lose sight of the big picture? Why are we so quick to see problems and not opportunities? Why are we so often more concerned with feathering our own nest and not reaching out with God's love to a needy world?

Blah

Do you ever get those days where you feel totally blah and unmotivated? I'm having one today. And today was supposed to be the day where I got on top of all the things I'm not on top of. Instead I just feel like reading, playing WoW or listening to Weird Al songs.

Another interesting podcast

Another podcast I regularly subscribe to is the "Wired Jesus" podcast. I find this is a good example of a postmodern approach to Christianity which rings true for me. It's in my link list if you want to check it out and subscribe yourself.

A picture of me

Just uploaded this pic to add to my profile...

What goes around...

My own denomination, the Uniting Church in Australia, got rid of the language of 'parish' some years back. And generally the term parish is seen as related to the outdated "Christendom model" which saw everyone as Christians and hence as members of the parish (of the established religion).

So I was somewhat surprised the other day to be listening to an 'emergent' sort of podcast (Conversatio fidei - you can pick it up here: http://conversatio.blogspot.com/) and hear one of the speakers refer to wanting to regain something of the parish sense!

This surprising thought made sense on reflection, within the emergent context. You see many 'emergent' people and groups break down the identification sometimes found in the church of "The Kingdom of God" and "The Church". Emergent people/groups tend to see a much broader picture of God's work within the world and a greater sense that all people are on a spiritual journey - not just an elite (read Christian) few. So the sense is that a particular local church's mission is to be a cheerleader, enabler, chaplain, encourager to what God is doing within its own local community - and a recogniser and encourager of the ways in which God is working in each person in that community. Hence the renewed sense of "parish" - that this area (all of it) and the people within it (all of them) are those for whom we are called to care, chaplain, shepherd etc in their spiritual journeys and in their doing (however patchy) of the work of the Kingdom.

Interesting...

A thought about baptism

One of the things which I've always struggled about concerning baptism is the way in which it can be seen as a means of God's grace. In what way has a baby who is baptised been graced compared to a baby who hasn't been baptised? If they both suddenly die, is their status before God different? Is that fair? What of the many baptised babies who never seem to connect further with the Christian faith? Did God's grace not work for them?

Then this evening I had a thought. WHat if God's grace through baptism is not for the baptised, but for the world? What if baptism makes the baptised person a sign (technical meaning) of God's grace to the world? In Genesis 12:1-3, Abraham is given God's blessing - but that blessing is instrumental - Abraham is blessed in order to be a blessing to others - not so that he can be part of a nifty club of people God loves. What if baptism works the same way?

In being baptised, the child is both symbolising God's grace for the whole world - his promise to work transformatively in human lives. The child is also acting as a means of that transformative grace - at the least, just by being a living enactment of the gospel to those watching the baptism. But of course for those who go on to live out their baptismal faith they are invited and indeed called to be a means of God's grace to the whole world in every aspect of the living of their lives - that's what being a Christian is all about.

Podcast heaven

Shortly after iTunes support for podcasting I got into it in a big way. I subscribed to everthing under the sun. Now I've settled down, picked a few favourites and I thought from time to time I'd highlight my faves.

Some of course are just commercial broadcasts from the ABC (Australian National Broadcaster): Late Night Live, The Science Show, The Religion Report, The Spirit of Things, Life Matters, Dr Karl on JJJ. I love the flexibility of podcasting to time shift, save up for long trips or save 'casts permanently.

But today I thought I'd highlight another fave: Stupid Church People (http://www.stupidchurchpeople.com/podcast.html). Unfortunately STeve and Josh aren't listed on iTunes yet but you can subscribe 'manually' by dragging the RSS symbol from the webpage to your iTunes podcast list and its well worth it.

These guys are hilarious, rude, funny, thought-provoking, humorous, juvenile and side-splitting. Check it out!

If you want the book

I'm going to try linking to Amazon.

Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2

Once again!

Ok, I'm going to try this blogging thing one more time.

This time I've got a widget which lets me quickly dash off a post, so I'll try to be more frequent.

(Repeat after me - blogs are ephemera - they do not have to be well researched, deeply thought out missives...)

I've just finished reading the book "Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2". What a great book. It's inspired me to go out and buy a bunch of U2 tracks and get back into the band.