maggi dawn

Never mind St George, bring on St Aidan

I've long been a fan of Ian Bradley, and now he has argued for a rethink on our patron saint. Rather than the Turkish St George, why not embrace St Aidan, who is not only more properly connected to us, but is more able to connect up the various meanings of being British (rather than just English)... see the Independent for more

thinking outside the box?

A nice thought provoking little piece from Malcolm Chamberlain

After McDonaldization

I am REALLY looking forward to getting hold of John Drane's new book (coming out next week). After McDonaldization is the sequel to The McDonaldization of the Church. The new volume promises some thoughts on theology, ministry and mission in a postmodern culture. I am a long time fan of John's work. Put this one on your wish list right away.

There's nothing free about the gospel

"The Gospel is Free". It's a popular phrase, and there is an important truth in it. According to Christian thinking, you can't buy salvation, you can't earn or repay God's love. God gives love and salvation freely, as a gift of grace.

There's a problem inherent in this "gospel is free" idea, though (see related thoughts on the value of things that are free on Seth Godin's "the thing about Free").   Because while in one sense it's true that the gospel is free, it's also true that there is no gospel - no good news about salvation - without a high cost on either side of the spiritual encounter.

The good news of God cost Jesus everything: his safety, his family life, his reputation, and in the end his life.  And if it's to become real in our lives, it's going to cost us too, in commitment and in other ways too.  When we speak of the gospel as "free", are we projecting the idea that it's easy come easy go, not something of great challenge or great value? Do we imply that it matters, but not that much really?

There's a paradox in the free gift of God and the grand scale of cost it will involve for us to accept the free gift and receive our own freedom. It's free, but at the same time it will cost us everything.

Sex as Sacrament

Tim Mathis offers us "the beginnings of an Episcopal theology of sex".  And notably shorter and more readable that the Windsor Report :)  It's thoughtful, self-deprecating and pretty funny in places. One of Tim's interesting observations is that much of what the Church teaches about sex seems to have been designed to keep teenagers out of trouble (Tim is a Youth Worker so he must know a bit about that) but that these youth-oriented ideas don't make sense in the wider scope of life.  Recommended reading.

Christian Century - Faith Matters

Second Thoughts... a piece I had published in Christian Century this month

Religion and Spirituality

Religion is an unfashionable word at the moment; many people prefer the word spirituality. The problem is that spirituality is a nebulous term: what does it mean, really? And religion is perhaps not much better, in that it has too many definitions. Today I found this definition on Inner Light, which I think is helpful. It comes from the closing chapter from Beside Still waters  - Jews, Christians and the Way of the Buddha, by Norman Fischer -

The word religion, it seems, stands for established traditions; it stands for doctrine and belief, rules and proscribed practices, rites and rituals, the authority and sanction of tradition and the past. Religion is weighty; this is good - weight brings gravity - but it is also bad - it pulls you down, making it harder to fly.

Spirituality is something else. It’s about experience, about feeling. It’s personal and heartfelt. It involves practice and belief to an extent, but the emphasis is on what happens and how it feels rather than on what is supposed to be performed and how that is supposed to be understood and interpreted. If the centre of religion is the church, the scripture, the doctrine, the structure, the centre of spirituality is the person, the feeling human heart. The strength of spirituality is the lightness and sensitivity of its reality - if you are open to it, it’s there for you, as real as a breeze. But its lightness is also its weakness - yes, it helps you fly, but you might just keep going. Lacking the ballast of tradition, spirituality tends to float us off high into the clouds, where we can easily lose track of ourselves. Clearly then what we are after is a combination of these two elements. We want a religion that holds us and deepens us, along with a spirituality that lifts us and feeds us the food we need.