What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?

Now this made me sit up and take notice! How amazing (and, I would venture to suggest, how Christlike?) that regular Greenbelt speaker and author Shane Claiborne has this hard hitting article in the mainstream blokey magazine 'Esquire'? It starts with a challenging apology:

To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity.

Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.

As we accelerate towards Christmas it pains me to sing some of the choral stuff we do, gorgeous tunes and harmonies, yet words that bear no resemblance to the real thing. Shane doesn't miss making this point either:

It is this Jesus who was born in a stank manger in the middle of a genocide. That is the God that we are just as likely to find in the streets as in the sanctuary, who can redeem revolutionaries and tax collectors, the oppressed and the oppressors... a God who is saving some of us from the ghettos of poverty, and some of us from the ghettos of wealth.

Go read the full article!

h/t Greenbelt Blog

Love will always make you cry...

A wonderful piece of artwork drawn at our gig last night in The Cut Theatre, Halesworth, Suffolk by the delightful Katie (yes, we do have a younger audience too!). I definitely see an album cover here?

After The Fire are now on the last leg of our 2009 mini Autumn tour, up in Cambridge tonight and finish next weekend, Saturday in Godalming and our End of Tour (free entry!) gig in Billericay on Sunday Afternoon 5pm... we'd love to see you!

Living by numbers...

Honoured to have been Tagged by Archdruid Eileen of the Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley megablog - here are the instructions:

Summarise the Bible in five statements, the first one word long, the second two, the third three, the fourth four and the last five words long. Or possibly you could do this in descending order. Tag five people.

Here's my attempt:

1. One
2. Killing Field
3. The future revealed
4. The World changes forever
5. and not by faith alone

I hereby Tag: Rev Sam, Canon Phil, Pastor Joe, Youth Champion Tim and Entrepreneur Jim.

I don't understand your love...

On Sunday 22nd we welcomed Lily Hope ....... into the church family through the sacrament of Holy Baptism. So why do I choose to impart this to Blogworld you may ask...? I'm very glad you did!

It was special! Not the service itself, certainly the all too well used phrase 'the worship did nothing for me' could justifiably be applied as it was relative chaos with musical mistakes aplenty (aka Jazz!) and the usual undercurrents that happen in churches all going on....

So why was it special? We started with the blockbuster 'Crown Him with many Crowns' (celebrating 'Christ The King') blasted out on the organ and I was delighted to see the Baptism family guests enthusiastically singing along for starters. As the service moved along we sang 'The River', with its provenance of inspiration from tragedy and forgiveness. The sermon was a familiar message (albeit with theology that makes me squirm somewhat) then the ceremony was lovely, kids running around, a 'Happy Christening Day' balloon floating aloft and the Junior Church singing.

For the last hymn we brought on a late sub, swapping a trad hymn for a song the baptism parents had sung at their wedding, 'Give me oil in my lamp'. Again, that was belted out with obvious joy and exuberance despite, in many quarters, being thought of as naff and passé.

Even though this family have only been coming to church relatively recently as part of their Baptism preparation they had laid on abundant munchies and cake, choosing to celebrate with our worshipping community in the church hall during our regular coffeetime... what a spread! It was during this that I was completely floored by a comment from the mum... 'this (as in 'coming to church') is my constant at the moment'... wow, suddenly that little phrase made everything worthwhile. And, unsurprisingly, it also made everything else a total nonsense, all the other church crap we worry and obsess about. Through our flawed efforts and imperfections this had become Holy!

I was recently reminded, when listening to a talk Frank Schaeffer gave at Greenbelt 2008, about how we attempt to rationalise the sacraments. Therefore we assume, in human terms, that it is not 'right' for a child to receive Holy Baptism until they can make up their own minds yet we acknowledge a mother whispering to her newly born 'I love you' is fine despite knowing the babe is unable to actually understand what is being said. It came home to me so powerfully to allow God to act in a 'mysterious way' we need to forsake our human rationality.

And God saw (to it) that it was good!

Every breath you take...

Another one of those weeks... and still going on in Rome between Archbish and Mr Pope. Time will tell on this one, funny how it has caught the 'imagination' of the mainstream news?

Few of us can failed to have been enchanted by this story this week, hats off to Tobias and his family:

Tobias Jones: why I am setting up a woodland commune

and, of course, the quote Tobias makes which made everyone think was by William Vanstone:

The Church is like a swimming pool: all the noise is at the shallow end. We felt called to the deep end, to the place where it's more quiet, more dangerous
maybe, more radical.

And Finally...

It seems the inspirational thoughts on 'Traditional Cockney Spirituality' from The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley this week didn't really get the attention they deserved. So here is part of the dictionary, which I adored:

Annoying bleeder = Worship Leader (this one works either way round)

Awful Catarrh = Acoustic Guitar

Chicken Coop = Music Group

Hampstead Heath = Nothing worn beneath (of traditionalist parishes where not only the thuribles are swinging)

Lizzie Borden = Church Warden

Total Wassock = Bloke in a cassock

Memorable Musical Moments Meme...

Think of eight memorable musical moments, not necessarily all time favourites, but those when, for example, you felt compelled to wait in the car when listening to this amazing song on the radio because you just had to know who it was by. Or the piece you heard on the tv in a drama that drove you straight onto iTunes to download... (remember once we spent the princely sum of 6s 8d on a vinyl single?!). Optional details for each song give where, why and Spotify or youtube links...

I hereby tag: Maggi Dawn, +Nick Baines, Richard Hall, Jonathan Evens, Tim Chesterton

The Promise You Made – Cockrobin (view)
Inside of you - Alice Martineau (view)
Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap (wow!)
Quanta Qualia - Patrick Hawes (listen)
Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm - Crash Test Dummies (view)
Don't Give Up – Peter Gabriel and Paula Cole (view)
While You See a Chance – Steve Winwood (view)
Belief - John Mayer (listen)