Thoughts Through A Sermon

The following are notes I made whilst listening to a sermon at church this morning. The church and the speaker shall remain nameless. They are literally as I wrote them in church, so excuse the 'note' form they come in. As such, they are also unfinished thoughts.

Let me know what you think about the issues raised.

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That was the week that was: A reflection on the weeks news.

26 July 2009

Begins by pointing out the various inconsistencies that are in what we expect from the government, i.e. they can't always spend money - they must also make cuts if they are to spend money.

"What would Jesus do?" is not useful to us speaker says... because Jesus didn't have to deal with the issues. BUT: is this a correct analysis? Did not Jesus give us enough teaching that we could therefore make proper decisions about issues we face today?

ESSENTIALLY SPEAKER IS TALKING ABOUT ISSUES SURROUNDING HERMENEUTICS.

Speaker seems to be switching between "what we believe" and "what the Bible says" a bit to frequently and easily - blurring the distinctions.

The speaker is essentially asking what parts of the Bible are "true" and which are not; how much of the Law do we keep and how much do we get rid of?

He seems to be focussing specifically on homosexuality and the potential of a church leader being homosexual (i.e. the next church leader being a homosexual...).

He uses the Levitical Laws to prove that we don't obey all of the Bible - but he neglects other parts of the Bible... like Paul's mention of homosexuality in Romans - there is no raising of the questions that the Romans passage must raise.

How do we deal with the way Jesus used the Law? How can we follow this? Should we? What is our hermeneutic?

"We can't live by a rule book; we have to live by a story." By doing this do we leave ourselves open to too much misinterpretation? Does it matter if we do? Surely we must remember that even stories have their unpleasant and difficult parts?

"My Song Is Love"

Calvin is 500.

Over the past few days, the Reformed Evangelical community has been celebrating the birthday that has been anticipated since the beginning of 2009.

John Calvin turned 500.

No matter what you think of him, Calvin has had a huge effect on the Christian world over the last 500 years. And in the glut of books, speeches, papers, articles, blog entries and comments, the one I most enjoyed reading (though it's I've not read many, by all means!) is this one by Kevin DeYoung: How to be Relevant 500 Years from Now.

It's good to be reminded that our confidence should be focussed in God's Word, and God's Word alone... not in our own thoughts, ideas, skills, gifts, possessions.

Learning To End.

This is a comment on Endings. And the frequency with which they creep up on you, and how unprepared one is for them - yet how prepared one should be for them.

Two days ago I finished my undergraduate degree. Since, it's been mostly a time of feeling flat. This will pass, and the bittersweet, happy/sad feelings will enter the vacuum.

But we aren't prepared for endings in our culture. Certainly not during the first twenty years of life, anyway. Instead, the first twenty years are full of beginnings, and it is difficult to know how to handle endings. Perhaps the most difficult thing is that the ending is only half here. And, indeed, that the ending will continue in a strangely-familiar-yet-unnervingly-different way.

But with endings do come more beginnings. And that, I expect, will see us through. That, and remembering that He is still worth it.

It goes to where it belongs.

Congratulations to Barcelona.  They were far, far superior than Manchester United.  In the end, it was the stringent discipline of Iniesta and Xavi that allowed Barca to grow throughout the game, and eventually lead to Messi (above) to play in his own devastating fashion.  BBC Sport will have seemingly unending coverage over the next few days, attempting to find out why Manchester United lost - but at the end of the day, it was because they weren't good enough.

Clayton's Story

A powerful short film.  Worth the watch.  

HT: Between Two Worlds

MP's Expenses: Some Thoughts

For more than two weeks now, the only news item has been MP's expenses (one could wonder what happened to the swine flu pandemic that was about to hit us...perhaps we are more driven by the media than we realise, or care).  

Gordon Brown follows David Cameron again in offering an apology for the scandal with Nick Clegg following quickly behind. 

But what are they actually apologising for?  Is it that they are sinsearly sorry for the misdemeanors? Or are they sorry they have actually got caught.  Cameron apologised for the system - not the abuse of the system.  Is this indicative of our culture - taking blame away from people and placing it onto 'systems'.  Cameron, of course, has acted, which has a lot of guts in the current climate of inaction and excuse.

Let us take a closer look at the problem.

There are two issues:

-The system: a claims system that is far to easy to cheat, and a system that is encouraged by officials to be cheated on.

-The people who have taken advantage of the easy cheat in order to make an easy buck or two.

There was quite a debate on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday 10 May where all thought it was wrong but those calling in were split as to whether we should blame the MP's or the system.  "They are just humans..." when one caller, we shouldn't expect anything else!

Which from a Christian point of view is true - we are all sinners.  But is that an excuse?  Perhaps what is more of an issue is that it is the MP's who have created the system that allows them to abuse it.  But is it abuse?  Well, two things: firstly, we have to understand human nature.  When someone in authority tells you that you are able to claim more money than you currently are, and in fact you should be claiming more, how many of us would claim that we could dismiss that temptation out of hand? If we are being realistic, no-one would find it easy.  Secondly, the solution is obvious, but will not win votes.  MP's need to be paid more, it is as simple as that.  But we the public are far too fickle and condemning (especially towards those who we vote in to run our country) that any political leader who champions this cause will find themselves out of a job before they can finish the sentence, 'we need a pay rise'.  But - that is the way forward.  Pay them enough and remove the temptation... some will still abuse whatever system will be in place in a years time, but the majority will not.

We'll have to save the constitutional fiasco regarding the Speaker of the House for another day.

End.

The Dissertation is now in.  Both an anti-climax and a relief.  

If I were to recommend one book to read following my dissertation, it would be this one:

Peter Holmes - Trinity in Human Community.

Easy to read, accessible and earthed in the experience of his own church.

If I were to take one quote from my dissertation that has perhaps to most importance for how we understand who we are it would be this:

"Jesus is the human person properly for God and others, and therefore properly for Himself - both his relations and his identity are undistorted.  To be fully in God's image, to make a right response to God and others, is therefore to be conformed to Christ."  -- McFadyen, The Call to Personhood, p. 46-7.

It was an edifying experience writing the dissertation.  I'd recommend it.

A Clear Desk is a Clear Mind...

Before...

After...

A week and a half until deadline day - nearly finished a full draft.  Then it'll be copious amounts of editing right up to the end.  Here comes the final push!

A New Term.

By midnight tonight I will be back at college, back in Aldis, unpacking.  It's a new term.

Some key events:

-Dissertation due 6 May.

-Exams in early June.

-Continuous job seeking.

-3 Weeks off.

-Graduation.

In 2 1/2 months the LST journey will have settled at it's last port.  

Each term is very different to any other.  This will be no different.  So, ladies and gents, the end is nigh!  Here's to ending honourably....