18 November 2009
22 September 2009
NT POD
I know I have not written anything for a while. But there you go! Anyway here is a link to a site with very short theology talks, click here. I have enjoyed listening to them so far. I have also used Mark's NTGateway for quite a while as a very useful resource.
Sometimes the web has too much information and I have foudn finding a couple of useful sites that i visit and use very helpful the other one is The Text This Week. I do not use the lectionary but find the resources very helpful.
14 August 2009
49 1/2 Hours
This week the Young people in church undertook the task of reading the bible from beginning to end in one sitting. They did not quite have enough time to start in Genesis and finish in revelation as holidays interfered. So to achieve the task of every word being read out loud they read 2 books simultaneously, one in the worship area of the church and the other in a lounge. At night they slept and read in shifts.
I joined them for some of the time taking one of the night shifts with the other youth leader. There was something beautiful, odd, tiring about the whole event. I heard parts that i cannot remember reading before (having read the whole thing a couple of times myself). There was something powerful about reading it out loud in the building. The YP had fun and seemed to engage with the stories.
Was it anything more than simply a challenge to undertake and achieve, will it have any affect on those taking part apart from a fun memory of Youth Group at church. will it have any impact on the adults who helped? Who knows. I do think the word of God is vital, I do think knowing the stories and the whole sweep of what happens is important. I do know that i was quite emotional as those of us who were there at then end read the last few verses of Revelation together. I also remembered by Reading and hearing how wonderful some of the less read parts of scripture are - Lamentations in the Message was wonderful read from beginning to end.
I have wondered about putting on the odd evening service where we simply read a book of the bible - dramatically - to help us hear the word of God together.
What a way to spend a few days - i did feel uplifted at the end as well as tiered, how the youth leader felt afterwards - he did 49 hours to my 36(ish)
Would i advise doing it? Yes - definitely. Would i do it differently - yes allow 3 days so it can be read in order. What will i remember? Missing my daughter reading from Ezekiel 23 apparently it caused a few giggles. Reading the minor prophets without analysing them just listening to the words of God. The beauty of the imagery in Revelation.
All in all fantastic.
I joined them for some of the time taking one of the night shifts with the other youth leader. There was something beautiful, odd, tiring about the whole event. I heard parts that i cannot remember reading before (having read the whole thing a couple of times myself). There was something powerful about reading it out loud in the building. The YP had fun and seemed to engage with the stories.
Was it anything more than simply a challenge to undertake and achieve, will it have any affect on those taking part apart from a fun memory of Youth Group at church. will it have any impact on the adults who helped? Who knows. I do think the word of God is vital, I do think knowing the stories and the whole sweep of what happens is important. I do know that i was quite emotional as those of us who were there at then end read the last few verses of Revelation together. I also remembered by Reading and hearing how wonderful some of the less read parts of scripture are - Lamentations in the Message was wonderful read from beginning to end.
I have wondered about putting on the odd evening service where we simply read a book of the bible - dramatically - to help us hear the word of God together.
What a way to spend a few days - i did feel uplifted at the end as well as tiered, how the youth leader felt afterwards - he did 49 hours to my 36(ish)
Would i advise doing it? Yes - definitely. Would i do it differently - yes allow 3 days so it can be read in order. What will i remember? Missing my daughter reading from Ezekiel 23 apparently it caused a few giggles. Reading the minor prophets without analysing them just listening to the words of God. The beauty of the imagery in Revelation.
All in all fantastic.
19 June 2009
Getting Dirty
Last month I posted my church magazine article so I thought i would do so again.
Are we covered in Dust?
A couple of years ago I watched a Nooma DVD (Rob Bell) called Dust. It was about discipleship. This year at Spring Harvest there was reference to the same term Dust of the Rabbi. It is an interesting term and idea.
It suggests that in the first century AD, and for some time before, young Jewish men would be called to be apprentices or disciples (talmidim) of a Rabbi. Rabbis did not necessarily teach sat down in schools or synagogues, although that was part of what they did. A Rabbi would walk from place to place teaching as they went along. A group of disciples would be around 12 and they would walk with and behind the rabbi. If they were keen students then they would try and keep pace with the rabbi following very closely at his heel. They did this in order to hear every word that the rabbi spoke, every bit of wisdom, comment about the creation and God, every bit of interpretation of the Torah.
To be a disciple meant giving up home and family for the period of training, it meant following the rabbi wherever he went. The aim of the disciple was to become like the rabbi, not simply to learn facts or the teachings o that they could pass their discipleship exams. It was not a course of study to undertake but a lifestyle to observe and learn, it was teaching to understand and live by. The aim of the disciples was not to acquire knowledge but to become like their Rabbi. The teaching was not simply transferring knowledge from one person to another but something that went so much deeper. This was about learning through formal instruction, observation, imitation and practice. The more devoted the disciple was the closer they walked to their rabbi, the more covered in the rabbi’s dust they would be.
The question that has been going through my mind recently has been: how covered in the rabbi’s dust are we at Cottingham Road Baptist Church? Do we pay attention to what the rabbi Jesus taught, do we spend time listening for: pearls of wisdom, interpretation of Torah and observing the way to live? Do we spend time closely following the Rabbi? Do we learn by observation of the rabbi, by imitation of the rabbi and by putting what we have learned into practice? How dusty are we?
One of the aspects of discipleship was to take on the yoke of your Rabbi. Jesus says that his “burden is easy and his yoke is light” (Matthew11:30). Does this mean it is easy to be a disciple? Does this mean that it does not take effort? From experience I would suggest that what Jesus is expressing is that his yoke, his interpretation of the Torah is not as complex as other teachers of his day. Jesus was not trying to create a set of complex interpretations to understand and learn and then to live by. He defined adultery quite simply as looking lustfully at another person; he defined murder as getting angry in your heart. There was not the same degree of complexity of interpretation instead he developed a way of understanding what was at the heart of the Torah (law). This in many ways makes it harder to follow rather than easier. Most of us would prefer a set of rules that laid out what was right and what was wrong in black and white. Instead Jesus understands that even if the rules are not broken then our attitudes our way of being can be equally sinful.
Jesus also said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24). Discipleship is therefore not easy, it can be life threatening, it can be difficult, yet that is not because of the rules and complexity of the laws but due to the radical life style that being a disciple entails.
This month can we all ask ourselves Are we covered in Dust?
your fellow, far too clean, follower of Jesus
Richard
A couple of years ago I watched a Nooma DVD (Rob Bell) called Dust. It was about discipleship. This year at Spring Harvest there was reference to the same term Dust of the Rabbi. It is an interesting term and idea.
It suggests that in the first century AD, and for some time before, young Jewish men would be called to be apprentices or disciples (talmidim) of a Rabbi. Rabbis did not necessarily teach sat down in schools or synagogues, although that was part of what they did. A Rabbi would walk from place to place teaching as they went along. A group of disciples would be around 12 and they would walk with and behind the rabbi. If they were keen students then they would try and keep pace with the rabbi following very closely at his heel. They did this in order to hear every word that the rabbi spoke, every bit of wisdom, comment about the creation and God, every bit of interpretation of the Torah.
To be a disciple meant giving up home and family for the period of training, it meant following the rabbi wherever he went. The aim of the disciple was to become like the rabbi, not simply to learn facts or the teachings o that they could pass their discipleship exams. It was not a course of study to undertake but a lifestyle to observe and learn, it was teaching to understand and live by. The aim of the disciples was not to acquire knowledge but to become like their Rabbi. The teaching was not simply transferring knowledge from one person to another but something that went so much deeper. This was about learning through formal instruction, observation, imitation and practice. The more devoted the disciple was the closer they walked to their rabbi, the more covered in the rabbi’s dust they would be.
The question that has been going through my mind recently has been: how covered in the rabbi’s dust are we at Cottingham Road Baptist Church? Do we pay attention to what the rabbi Jesus taught, do we spend time listening for: pearls of wisdom, interpretation of Torah and observing the way to live? Do we spend time closely following the Rabbi? Do we learn by observation of the rabbi, by imitation of the rabbi and by putting what we have learned into practice? How dusty are we?
One of the aspects of discipleship was to take on the yoke of your Rabbi. Jesus says that his “burden is easy and his yoke is light” (Matthew11:30). Does this mean it is easy to be a disciple? Does this mean that it does not take effort? From experience I would suggest that what Jesus is expressing is that his yoke, his interpretation of the Torah is not as complex as other teachers of his day. Jesus was not trying to create a set of complex interpretations to understand and learn and then to live by. He defined adultery quite simply as looking lustfully at another person; he defined murder as getting angry in your heart. There was not the same degree of complexity of interpretation instead he developed a way of understanding what was at the heart of the Torah (law). This in many ways makes it harder to follow rather than easier. Most of us would prefer a set of rules that laid out what was right and what was wrong in black and white. Instead Jesus understands that even if the rules are not broken then our attitudes our way of being can be equally sinful.
Jesus also said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24). Discipleship is therefore not easy, it can be life threatening, it can be difficult, yet that is not because of the rules and complexity of the laws but due to the radical life style that being a disciple entails.
This month can we all ask ourselves Are we covered in Dust?
your fellow, far too clean, follower of Jesus
Richard
26 May 2009
I Did
In follow up to the post should i where i posed the question as to posting a letter in my church magazine - I DID!
The response has been limited:
1. Phone call from an 80+ lady saying that she did not want to share her sex life with anyone.
2. A tongue in cheek comment from one house group leader in the house group - so this is second hand and i may be misrepresenting what was said - that they now had to sit and talk about sex!
3. The BT (baptist Times) have asked if they can print it for the blog watch section, or an edited version of it not for content but length.
4. A previous minister of the church, who still receives the magazine and i needed to speak to this week, was very impressed by the letter.
5. Other comments more hearsay than anything else have been along the lines of not taking what i wrote seriously.
Unfortunately i think many of my folk missed the point, i wanted to encourage conversations over things that actually matter. Things that we seem to be able to talk about in the pub or coffee shop with friends or even in facebook status updates but would shy away from in church. Why are there such taboos? I wonder if we talked about these things of faith, sex, money in churches more would marriages be saved, would there be less tension over finances, would peoples faith grow and deepen rather than be shallow.
On another note I recently played 'Indescribable' (available here) it is fantastic, it is one of those feel good expressive, joyful, pieces of theatre/worship/spontaneity. Yet i had some complaints afterwards because it was American! What do you do?
08 May 2009
My First Animation
Did this earleir it took about half an hour to do but is okay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYCgLKoJEqM
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