Face-to-Face with The Wall

(Face-to-Face with the Wall is the second part in a series of posts that started with Vibrant Spirituality and The Wall which you can read here. Part three Wrestling with God at The Wall can be read here).

Part Two:

And so, you find yourself face-to-face with “The Wall.” A place where the faith you once had “oh so” figured out now seems “oh so” terribly broken. You’re asking yourself, “what’s happening?” Well, you’re backsliding of course. Plain and simple. No I’m joking. Some might suggest that, bless their hearts, but you know that’s not what is happening. You’re not falling away. You haven’t lost your thirst. You’re thirstier than ever it’s just that what once quenched your thirst doesn’t seem to be working any more. Even more than that; your struggling to work out how it ever could have.

At the wall the rhythms, habits, practices and disciplines that have framed perhaps your whole Christian journey seem strangely obsolete. Perhaps even disingenuous. And the thought of recycling yourself back through enthusiasm, community and responsibility, well, you’re probably not sure you could handle that.

The wall is a distinct experience of disenchantment.

Simultaneously though, the wall is also a catalyst that awakens us to new possibilities. Even if at first they only seem like remote possibilities; just a rumour or echo in your heart there might be more to this whole Christian thing than you’ve ever realised. This should of course make perfect sense, after all, there is no wall in existence that doesn’t have something on the other side! The question is, “but how?” How do we find our way around, or through, or over the wall? And, what waits for us on the other side?

It is here that most people feel lost, confused, and overwhelmed. And it is here that we need the help of those wiser than us in the faith. Specifically, the help of those that have made their way through the wall at some stage or another in their journey. Because the truth is, if you haven’t experienced the wall and processed it for what it is, then very little of this will make sense. Thus leaders who’ve not themselves experienced the wall will find it both hard to understand what’s going on and to guide folk wisely who are experiencing the wall. They’ll be inclined to perceive in someone a “bad attitude,” a “lack of faith” or even “divisiveness” and the encouragement will be to get “fired up” again, sort out one’s “attitude” and recycle back into enthusiasm, community and responsibility.

But a pilgrimage of re-enchantment is not one where old habits or practices are resuscitated and given a second chance. Re-enchantment is discovered in the declaration of the prophet; "Behold something new is happening! Now it springs up; don’t you see? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Here one finally accepts that streams of living water cannot be bottled, marketed and consumed as a magic elixir for life. You can’t simply register for a “Jesus-fix.” Let’s be honest about this. Well actually, it’s hard not to be honest about this at the wall. Indeed, the wall is actually an invitation to some rare moments of deep honesty. The wall is the chance to be honest about some things we’ve perhaps not been honest about in a long time. Things slow down at the wall, and when things slow down we discover space to reflect rather than simply to hustle and bustle our way through life. The wall is a place of honesty.  

Honesty in regard to God – God is more mysterious than we care to admit. Less in tune with our agendas it seems. Perhaps even more distant than we’d like to acknowledge.

Honesty in regard to church – it’s a lot more sociologically driven than we care to admit. We’d like everything to be Spirit driven, but much of what we do is because we’ve always done that. Many Sunday’s are just another Sunday, not life changing, not “one you better not miss!” You could have missed it and you would have missed out on nothing.

Honesty in regard to truth – truth is more hard to pin down than we care to admit. Not everything is black and white. Much is grey. That can be disconcerting.

Honesty in regard to others – they’re not “wrong” and we’re not “right.” Those Catholics or Baptists or Pentecostals or Small Church folk or Mega Church folk or even those Emerging Church people (heaven forbid). We’ve much we could learn from each other.

Honesty in regard to authority figures – they’re not as all powerful as we care to admit, as they care to project, as you might care to project if you are one of those figures. They’re regular, every day, ordinary people. It would be good if they could admit that too.

Honesty in regard to our spiritual practices – they’re not as life giving as we care to admit. Though they once may have been, now they seem like dead ends and heavy weights.

At the wall, when we’re brave enough to be honest, we realise we don’t have a handle on everything like we once might have thought we did. We’ve questions about God, truth, the church, leaders, others and how exactly to outwork this Christian faith thing. What we were once so certain about, we’re not so certain about anymore. And it’s not like only one or two things are up in the air. Everything seems to be up in the air.

This can be pretty daunting.
This can be pretty overwhelming.
This is why some get stuck at the wall.

To try and get back to how things were would be to sell out in regard to something you intuitively feel God is doing in your life. At the same time though, it feels like a sell out to acknowledge you’ve less figured out than you thought and that much of what you’ve known might have been broken. [This isn’t necessarily true though and hopefully I can address this down the track]. Either way, to go backwards seems impossible, to move forward seems impossible. Where would you start?

Honesty is a good start. And one needs to be honest with oneself.

We are more broken than we care to admit. We’re selfish, we like to be in control, we’re very concerned about what others think. We need to be needed. We’re insecure. We worry about tomorrow. We worry about the clothes we will wear. We worry about what food we will eat. Most of the time this is all suppressed beneath the multiple layers of excitement and enthusiasm, the dynamics of community and the weight of responsibility. At the wall we need to be honest with ourselves. About all of this.

At the wall we need to acknowledge our true self, our shadow self, and our ego or false self; the self that we project to the world around us. It’s not that we have three selves, all of this is collectively who we truly are, but these are useful ways of thinking about oneself.

True self = our “true self” is the divine image bearing core of who we are, children of God created to reflected his likeness to the world. This is the part of us that is growing in the knowledge of God and in the likeness of Christ in order to reflect the fullness of the image of God in our world. It is that within us that has been animated through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and our ongoing journey of discipleship, healing and sanctification.

Shadow self = this is the fallen bias that we all have. It is the “fleshly” part of our nature that is weak and that requires ongoing sanctification. It’s the broken, un-discipled, dark side that we all have.

Ego / False self = this is our projected self, the way we cast ourselves to the world around us in order to be accepted, find approval, fit in and even get what we want.

Prior to the wall we’d be hard pressed to admit that we are not primarily a flourishing “true self” with a slight “shadow self” and “ego” that needs to be kept in check.  At the wall we realise this may not be true. More of our life than we realise is being lived out of the ego, out of a false sense of self than we realise. At the wall we realise that much of what we do is all about keeping up appearances rather than birthed from our “true self.”

It’s not that we are hypocritical in the sense of being white washed tombs, clean on the outside but dirty on the inside, the rebuke that Jesus had of some of the Pharisees in Matthew 23. But rather that often a lot of the doing we are up to our ears in, doing all the right things when it comes to church and prayer and leadership and whatever it might be is because basically because that’s what you have to do. Isn’t it?

That’s what you have to do to prove your faith to everyone else in your faith tribe.
That’s what you have to do to prove your faith to yourself.
That’s what you have to do to prove your faith and devotion to God.
That’s what you have to do to because, well, isn’t that what faith us?

Doing certain things. Ticking certain boxes. Taking on certain responsibilities. Jumping through certain hoops.

There is clarity and confusion in regard to all of this at the wall. Clarity in regard to how much we are living out of religious obligation and duty, out of an unhealthy commitment to the uniformity and conformity that might see us accepted as a stand out in our particular religious context. Clarity in regard to how much of our life is sociologically driven in order to fit in rather than Spirit driven and birthed from a place of delight. There is also confusion though. Confusion in regard to what it might look like to live in a true place of freedom in Christ Jesus. Would we simply be doing all the same things but from a different motive? Would we quit half the things we are doing? What would we change? What are we missing? What needs to be reformed and renewed? What needs to be discarded and deleted?

Answers to these questions will come. In time. For the moment though, the questions themselves are an attack on our ego.  There is a greater sense of obligation at play than we might care to acknowledge. We’re experts at “keeping up appearances.” Much of our Christian practice might very well have been about projecting the right picture to others. Pharisee on the corner, who loves to pray using impressive words, big sentences. Surely not!?! And yet yes, because at the wall one senses a need to disengage in some way or another, at least for a bit to process some of what is happening, but; “what will people think?”

Some of our Christian practice is probably actually the false-self feeding straight back to the shadow self. There is a self-centred and self-serving shadow side to you that desires to be someone important, someone needed, someone successful, someone looked up to. Your shadow self can’t bear the thought of being, well, a nobody. An “average Jane” Christian. The false self is busy, busy, busy, keeping up appearances feeding the shadow self’s desire to look the part, fit in, stand out, be acceptable.

But Jesus says we’re already accepted. And it’s not based on doing.  

In Dancing with God, Irene Alexander writes; “Most of humankind is caught, to some extent, in this construct of the false self. To put it in other words, we continue with certain behaviour that serves to make us feel acceptable in the dominant paradigm. Most of us do this most of the time, but some people escape from this.”

The wall is an opportunity to escape from this. The wall is the chance for one’s true self to find resurrection life in the face of the shadow self and the false self. The wall is an opportunity to be born again, again. To find new possibilities on the other side of the wall. 

There is much more to be said… But the starting place is honesty and the abandonment of ego.

The broken are advantaged here because they find themselves at the end of themselves. They’ve no strength to do, to please, to prove, and so they throw themselves to the mercy of God. Ego is no more. They look at the rules and regulations of religion and give up. “I can’t do it; I can’t reach those standards.” They find themselves naked and not ashamed. They’re no longer hiding behind fig leaves. They’ve given up on trying to clothe things with ego. And they find a God who responds; “Come as you are…”

The mystics and monks have a head start too. These are those rare people who’ve long given up trying to master techniques of faith and instead have learnt to lose themselves in the awe, wonder, beauty and mystery of God. Their talk is never of “5 steps to supernatural breakthrough,” but rather of bread and wine and friendship and of the reality that God is “the Lord of heaven and earth and lives not in temples, and is not served by human hands, but rather gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” That God is “never far any one of us, from any that would seek him, because it is in him that we live and move and have our being.”

The mystics and the monks never ask “Am I doing OK?” It’s an irrelevant question. For them to die is Christ to gain. They’ve no ego to protect. They aren’t trying to climb to a higher plane, some next level as a Christian, they’re already lost in the wonder and beauty of the truth that God stooped down into our world! That’s grace. The simple truth is that God holds us, we don’t hold God. They’ve let go of worry and concern for the things of this world. After all Jesus says, don’t worry about tomorrow, about food and clothing. You Father knows all that you need.

Hafiz wrote this in the 14^th Century…

What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?

The saint knows 
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God.
And the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move
That the saint is continually 
Tripping over Joy 
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying "I surrender!"

Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.

The challenge is to accept at the wall a call to honesty, to the abandonment of ego and to pilgrimage. To see as a mystic and to live as a monk having cultivated a “monastery of the heart.” To go on a slow journey of rediscovery, a pilgrimage of re-enchantment. Here the pilgrim is not one who travels from New Zealand to Israel to be re-baptised in the Jordan river. The pilgrim is the one who is willing to journey with God, to places they may never have been before. Inner places of the shadow self, true self, false self and find healing and wholeness and personal transformation. Inner places of pride and resentment and addiction and control. The pilgrim is also one who is willing to have another look. To reconsider. To explore afresh God and church and prayer and community and what it means to be a Christian.

Do you love your faith so little that you have never battled a single fear lest your faith should not be true? Where there are no doubts, no questions, no perplexities, there can be no growth. – George MacDonald

This isn’t a pilgrimage that everyone is willing to make. Too costly, too unsettling, too messy. And of course, it isn’t a necessary journey for everyone. Not everyone hits the wall. For some people everything rolls around swimmingly in the enthusiasm, community, responsibility cycle. For many though, it’s what they have been looking for.

Dave Tomlinson in Re-Enchanting Christianity writes; “The gap between critical approaches to Christianity and the simplistic spirituality promoted in many spheres of the Christian community lies at the heart of so much of the disillusionment with Christianity today. Many long for an expression of the Christian faith that reconciles heart and head, that offers a positive, engaging spirituality which is also committed to grappling honestly with difficult and painful questions.”

The pilgrim is willing to go on a journey and consider things in a new light. They are willing to chase the Wild Goose wherever it might go, a Celtic term for the Holy Spirit. Some though, can’t stomach the thought of the Holy Spirit being pictured as a wild goose. New ways of considering things can be too much. But oh, to be born again, again.

Grace and peace and more to come. 

Part three in this series Wrestling with God at The Wall can be read here. 

PS: The thoughts above are some of my reflections on life, ministry and the journey of following Jesus. They are informed by more than just my own journey though and a tip of the hat must be given to Fowler's Stages of Faith, Hagberg and Guelich's The Critical Journey, Tomlinson's Re-Enchanting Christianity, and Alexander's Dancing with God. 

Vibrant Spirituality and The Wall

John 7:37
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.”

What follows is part one in a series of blog posts. Part two; Face-to-Face with the Wall can be read here.

Part One:

Questions, doubts, suspicions and uncertainty are part-and-parcel of authentic Christianity. In fact, it is almost inevitable that there will come a season where these things serve as the primary catalyst for spiritual growth in one’s journey of following Jesus. What’s unfortunate is that the modern church doesn’t always make space for people to doubt or to question or to be suspicious. Organisational church growth tends to require unwavering commitment to the vision, the values, the mission and the culture of “the house.” This tends to mean cultivating an environment of momentum, alignment, excitement and anticipation; an “atmosphere of faith.” The demand therefore tends to be for uniformity and conformity. This becomes a pretty challenging context in which to ask big questions about faith, the nature of the church, Christian spirituality and what it means to follow Jesus. Questions and doubts can be wrongly interpreted as a “lack of faith,” “a bad attitude,” “divisive,” or even a clear indicator that someone is “backsliding.” This is problematic on so many levels.

Let’s back it all up a little though…

In the early days of following Jesus, one’s spirituality is essentially shaped around the enthusiasm, excitement and newness of life that comes from an encounter with Jesus. In faith and repentance, either in a moment or slowly over time, one discovers that Christ is for them. One discovers grace, mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation. Something at the core of one’s being comes alive. The bible literally refers to it as being born again. There is an awakening. What matters most in these early days, and what is most encouraging, is that God is for you, and if that’s the case, well who can be against you? This season of faith can last days, weeks or months, but normally not years.

Over time, the enthusiastic follower of Jesus finds themselves connected to other Christ followers in the community of the church. Here one finds significant spiritual energy through being part of something bigger than themselves, and often through the example or inspiration of a charismatic leader or personal mentor. One’s spirituality is relational and all about discipleship. One learns to be like Christ. Most of this happens through participation in a local church and the various programs and ministries of the church. It tends to be very event or meeting orientated; camps, conferences, mission trips, prayer meetings, guest speakers, worship parties, small groups etc. This stage of the faith journey can last for a number of years.

Eventually, the disciple that has been learning how to be like Christ finds themselves given the responsibility of some sort of ministry for Christ. Here one spends time praying for others, encouraging others, supporting others, teaching others, serving others, leading others. Faith is about doing. One finds that their spirituality (the rhythms, practices and habits that sustain, energise and connect them to God) are largely found in the service of others. One studies in order to find answers for others, one intercedes on behalf of others. There is a keen sense of being the hands and feet of Jesus and of the responsibility that comes with this. All of this serves as a catalyst for growth in the journey of following Jesus. It is an energising and rewarding stage in the faith journey. Some Christians spend decades in this stage of the faith journey, some perhaps their whole life.

Throughout these first three stages of the faith journey, one of the main driving motivators, whether acknowledged or not, is the focus on figuring out how it all “works.” As Westerners we live in a culture of pragmatism, efficiency and “progress.” For something to be worthwhile it should add value, it should improve, it should help us in life. The assumption is that surely faith, Christian spirituality, the church, following Jesus will add great value to our lives. Faith without works is dead, but in these stages it would also be considered true that a faith that doesn’t work for you is dead. And guess what? One tends to find a faith that does work! Life goes from strength to strength. Things get better. Marriages and families and relationships improve. Doors of opportunity open up at work as one faithfully follows Jesus. And why wouldn’t things improve? Over time following Jesus brings wisdom, humility, characteristics of love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, a sound mind and so on. These things add incredible value to one’s life.

In many ways faith in these stages of the journey is largely transactional. Sin and brokenness is exchanged for the righteousness and forgiveness of Christ. Not only that though, prayer, fasting, giving, service, worship tend to become techniques by which to engage God’s presence and blessing in one’s life and are turned into principles and keys through which to “unlock” whatever one supposedly needs to “unlock” and ultimately to “move” God. Great effort is put into figuring out how it all works and great comfort comes from the sense of accomplishment one feels as they figure it all out.  

Until suddenly it doesn’t work.

Something unexpected happens. Maybe something big. Maybe something small.

Maybe a personal crisis or family crisis of some sort. Something you just didn’t see coming. Something that seems unfair. Something where it seems like God has let you down. Maybe it’s that the church or a church leader lets you down. Maybe you have a burnout.

Maybe you go away on holiday, you disengage from the usual cycle of enthusiasm, community and responsibility that fills your Christian life. Maybe you find some space to consider some of the deeper questions and doubts you’ve harboured for a while. Maybe you read a book, or listen to a podcast, or have a conversation with someone that opens your eyes to some things you’ve never seen before. Maybe one book, maybe one podcast, maybe one conversation leads to another, and another, and another.

Do you love your faith so little that you have never battled a single fear lest your faith should not be true? Where there are no doubts, no questions, no perplexities, there can be no growth. – George MacDonald

Whether a major crisis or something small you suddenly realise you have questions, you have doubts, you’re suspicious. What seemed so life giving in terms of Christian faith and practice and culture suddenly doesn’t seem to work for you anymore. It all seems a bit broken and you find yourself face-to-face with “The Wall.”

Now the wall isn’t the crisis or the questions. The crisis or the questions are simply what brings you to the wall. The wall is a distinct experience of disenchantment. It’s where the formulas and techniques of faith that you had all figured out, simply stop working. You realise you’ve figured out far less than you thought. You realise that you had boxed God but that God won’t be boxed.  

At the wall you discover that, your pragmatic, efficient, techniques to master the Divine and bring about the God-transactions you want don’t always work.

At the wall you discover all sorts of things about yourself that aren’t always pleasant. How much you like to be in control. Your addictions to people pleasing, or success, to being needed, to having all the right answers.

At the wall you discover that the rhythms, habits, practices and disciplines that have sustained you for so long in your Christian journey need revising, revamping, replacing.

At the wall enthusiasm wanes, community seems annoying rather than helpful (unless they are on the same journey as you), and there is normally a real reluctance take responsibility in leadership or ministry.

But at the same time, face-to-face with the wall, there is usually deep sense that there has to be something more, that there is life beyond the wall if you could just work out how to get there. There is an awareness that God is doing something, though it is a mystery. It can be excruciating and exciting at the same time!

For those that are at the wall, questions, doubts, suspicions and uncertainty have now become their primary motivation for spiritual growth. Trite answers, one-liners and cheesy Christianise won’t suffice. Uniformity and conformity won’t be an option. Here is where it becomes problematic if questions start to be seen as a “lacking faith,” “a bad attitude,” or “divisive.” Here is where the church doesn’t always do as well as it could.

Firstly, it is problematic because when questions, doubts and a sense of uncertainty are shut down, stifled or rebuked it leads to disengagement. And so, despite sensing that God is doing something unique in terms of their Christian journey, the conclusion of many at the wall come to is that the church is unlikely to take them any further in their faith journey.

Alan Jamieson in his book, A Churchless Faith, looks at the alarming numbers of people that are leaving churches because they find them unhelpful in their spiritual journey. These people, often seen as “slackers” or “backsliders” are anything but that. They’re trying to be faithful pilgrims. On average those exiting church have been in church for 16 years. 94% have been leaders in the church and 36% have completed either part or full time theological training.

These aren’t prodigal sons and daughters running off to “sow their wild oats” and “squander the family inheritance” at the Bahama Hutt on a Friday night. They’re not slackers who’ve left because they got offended or had a fall out with the Worship Pastor. Jamieson writes that they leave because of “meta-grumbles” – deep rooted questions about the foundations of faith itself – that aren’t being addressed. I’d say because they hit the wall and found no help through.

New Zealand scholar Brett Knowles says, in regard to Pentecostal churches, that even though those that leave are affectionate about the church, they’ve largely found that the conformist nature of Pentecostal churches has taken them as far as it can in their spiritual journey. Which I’m suspicious is to the wall and then no further. It’s hard to get an accurate figure on the numbers in New Zealand, but the census data seems to indicate a 6.5% decline in Pentecostal numbers sense the last census. That’s thousands of Pentecostals moving on. It also seems that the greatest decline is in institutional forms of Pentecostalism.  

Secondly then, it is problematic because it likely means that our churches have become about organisational growth rather than the transformation of lives. Many too easily assume these things are the same. They are not mutually exclusive, but they are certainly not the same thing.

Thirdly, it is problematic because we’ve a generation of post-moderns coming of age. By very nature post-modern people are more likely to doubt authority figures, be suspicious of organisations, ask lots of questions and expect to get robust and well thought through responses. Churches need to champion this and make space for this not stifle it for the sake of momentum and alignment. Post-moderns will disengage and move on more easily than other generations if there is no space for questions, doubts and suspicions.  

Fourthly, it is problematic because there is so much life and vitality in the stages of faith beyond the wall, the church needs those that make it through the wall to the other side.

So, how to get through the wall? That will have to wait for another day. For now, it is important to remember that while enthusiasm, community and responsibility will at times be key to growing as a Christian, there comes a time where one is likely to find themselves standing face-to-face with “The Wall.” Here disenchantment with Christian faith and practice is actually key to growing as a Christian. It brings into question assumptions, un-thinking conformity and the prescriptions through which one supposedly masters matters of faith. If church communities can make space for this, aware of what is happening, then disenchanted pilgrims are likely to find the wisdom, encouragement and the space that is needed to begin a process of re-enchantment. And here, here is where it becomes an adventure, when the disenchanted pilgrim takes their first step. In my opinion they are on the verge of being born again, again. But here it isn’t about transactional faith and mastering how it all works. Here it is about transformative faith and the mystery of how God works.

Certitude is a poor substitute for authentic faith. But certitude is popular; it’s popular because it’s easy. No wrestling with doubt, no dark night of the soul, no costly agonizing over the matter, no testing yourself with hard questions. Just accept a second-hand assumption or a majority opinion or a popular sentiment as the final word and settle into certainty. Certitude is easy…until it’s impossible. And that’s why certitude is so often a disaster waiting to happen. – Brian Zahnd

Help is required in this adventure, this pilgrimage of re-enchantment. It is not an easy journey. But it is the help of doubts and questions not the help of certitude or bravado that is needed. Doubt makes space for faith, they are bedfellows. How can you have faith without doubt? Help is also needed in the form of guides and maps and signposts, but even these must be searched for. Not many know the way through inner wilderness and wastelands to the deep springs of Living Water. Not everyone has crossed through the wall. Don’t expect too much where the crowds are, crowds tend to be on a different journey. Beware also of quick fix, sure fire schemes; 3 steps, 7 keys, 21 laws, or 40 days of this or that won’t be what you should be looking for. It will more likely be dusty old books, wizened grey haired saints, prayers of yesterday, and pathways walked by many but almost forgotten that you’re after. It will be the unfamiliar, not the familiar, that opens new doors. Something ordinary rather than spectacular. And none will promise to be the answer, only to point you in the right direction. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst. Blessed are those that are born again, again. 

The next post in this series, Face-to-Face with the Wall can be read here.

Grace and peace. 

PS: The thoughts above are some of my reflections on life, ministry and the journey of following Jesus. They are informed by more than just my own journey though and a tip of the hat must be giving to Fowler's Stages of Faith, Hagberg and Guelich's The Critical Journey, Tomlinson's Re-Enchanting Christianity, Knowle's work in Global Renewal Christianity; Asia and Oceania, Lewis's Narnia and Tolkien's LOTR.  

Top 5 Books of 2014

I love reading. Good books feed my soul, so to speak. You'd have to read Body, Soul and Human Life by Joel Green to understand why I say "so to speak."

As a student much of what I read is dictated by course selection. Often there isn't much time left over to simply read the many books I come across that take my fancy for some reason, or the many that are recommended to me by others. At times this can be annoying but it also ensures I read pretty widely. It's also a blessing in that quite often books I wouldn't otherwise be inclined to read, turn out to be game changes. That's always fun.

In no particular order here are my top 5 recommended reads from last year - well, I made it 6.

The Source of Life - Jurgen Moltmann; Beginning with his experiences as a prisoner of war, Moltmann anchors his reflections in a theology of life - and the Spirit as elemental renewer of life - which links biblical manifestations to contemporary ones, hope to holiness, creation to community, and politics to prayer. In the Spirit we embrace the presence of God, but we also embrace community with people and all living things. 

Accompany Them with Singing - Thomas G. Long; Long reflects on the Christian funeral, what it has become and what it should be. He looks at the muddled theology we often hear at funerals and argues that the proper Christian funeral should be constructed around the metaphor of the deceased as a saint traveling on a baptismal journey toward God, accompanied by the community of faith on "the last mile of the way." 

Life After Death - Graham H. Twelftree; Few of us can remain indifferent to our personal fate. Is death the end? If there is an after-life, what is it going to be like? "We may never know the answers to these questions with the certainty some crave," observes Graham Twelftree. However, through this book Twelftree hopes readers will become clearer about the possibilities and also understand the Christian expectation that death is not the end. "If the Bible is important in forming your views you will probably assume that this book will confirm your views." Says Twelftree. "I cannot promise such a comfortable journey. Thinking clearly with the Bible open can turn up some challenging conclusions."

Eating Heaven - Simon Carey Holt; Sitting down at a table to eat is an activity so grounded in the ordinary, so basic to the daily routines of life, we rarely ponder it beyond the simple inquiry, ‘What’s for dinner?’ However, scratch a little deeper and you discover in eating one of the most meaning-laden activities of our lives, one so immersed in human longing and relationship it’s a practice of sacred dimensions. In this age of culinary infatuations, global food crises, celebrity chefs and Biggest Losers, the need to reflect more seriously upon eating is pressing. A trained chef, teacher, social researcher, minister of religion and homemaker, Simon Carey Holt draws on experience and research to explore the role of eating in our search for meaning and community. To do so, he invites us to sit at the tables of daily life – from kitchen tables to backyard barbecues, from cafe tables to the beautifully set tables of our city's finest restaurants – and consider how our life at these tables interacts with our deepest values and commitments.

The Bible Tells Me So - Peter Enns; Christians have been defending scripture from attack for two centuries. In fact, argues Bible scholar Peter Enns, we have become so busy protecting the Bible that we are now unable to read it. In The Bible Tells Me So, he provides a revolutionary new perspective: "What if God is actually fine with the Bible just as it is? Not the well-behaved version we create, but the messy, troubling, weird, and ancient Bible has something to show us about our own sacred journey of faith. Sweating bullets to line up the Bible with our exhausting expectations, to make the Bible something it's not meant to be, isn't a pious act of faith, even if it looks that way on the surface. It's actually a thinly masked fear of losing control and certainty, a mirror of our inner disquiet, a warning signal of a deep distrust in God. A Bible like that isn't a sure foundation of faith; it's a barrier to true faith. Creating a Bible that behaves itself doesn't support the spiritual journey; it cripples it. The Bible's raw messiness isn't a problem to be solved. It's an invitation to a deeper faith."

Jesus of Nazareth - Joseph Ratzinger; In this bold, momentous work, the pope—in his first book written as Benedict XVI—seeks to salvage the person of Jesus from recent “popular” depictions and to restore Jesus’ true identity as discovered in the Gospels. Through his brilliance as a theologian and his personal conviction as a believer, the pope shares a rich, compelling, flesh-and-blood portrait of Jesus and incites us to encounter, face-to-face, the central figure of the Christian faith. 

Here are my other reads from 2014...

Thinking on the Run - Soo-Inn Tan

The Active Life - Parker J. Palmer

Spirituality at Work - Gregory F.A. Pierce

The Source of Life - Jurgen Moltmann

Exploring Celtic Spirituality - Ray Simpson

Sport and Spirituality - Gordon Preece and Rob Hess

The Shape of Living - David F. Ford

A Meal with Jesus - Tim Chester

The Mystery of the Ordinary - Charles Cummings

Earth Crammed with Heaven - Elizabeth A. Dreyer

God Next Door - Simon Carey Holt

The Spiritual Life - Evelyn Underhill

God Hides in Plain Sight - Dean Nelson

Spirituality in an Age of Change - Alister McGrath

Eating Heaven - Simon Carey Holt

Seven Days of Faith - Paul R. Stevens

The Elements of New Testament Greek

Accompany Them with Singing - Thomas G. Long

The Honour Key - Russell Evans

The Perfect Smoke - Fred Hanna

The Christian Gentleman's Guide to Smoking - Zach Bartels & Ted Kluck

The God's of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Pipe Smoking Guide - Chuck Reitoth

God the Worker - Robert Banks

History of New Zealand - Michael King

The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan

Life After Death - Graham H. Twelftree

The Slavery of Death - Richard Beck

Jesus of Nazareth - Joseph Ratzinger

The Gospel of John - J. Ramsey Michaels

Gone - Michael Grant

Divergent - Veronica Roth

The End of Religon - Bruxy Cavey

Shrink - Tim Shuttle

Slow Church - C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison

Reveal; Where are You? - Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson

Follow Me - Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson

Sticky Faith - Dr Kara. E. Powell

The Bible Tells Me So - Peter Enns

Johannine Theology - Paul Rainbow

A Kingdom Besieged - Raymond E Feist

A Crown Emperiled - Raymond E Feist

2nd Sunday in Epiphany

Epiphany is the season of the church calender were particular attention and celebration is focused on the Divine mission of Jesus to the world. We remember the Magi's adoration of Jesus, his Baptism, his ministry and his call to us to be his disciples. It is a season to discover afresh, celebrate and enter to into the redemptive work of Christ in the world both as recipients of grace and as grace givers.

Lord as your people and we ask you to mercifully receive our prayers. We ask that we might both perceive and know what we should do with our lives and in what manner our lives should be lived. We ask for your grace and your power to faithfully fulfil the same. We ask this as individuals, as families, and as your church, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Luke 2:41-52 - TNIV
Romans 12:1-6 The Message

The Good News of the Gospel

Here is a quick attempt at summarising my understanding of the gospel as simply as I can. My summary is full of Christian language and there is a depth of meaning underneath concepts like 'to live in Him (Jesus)' that could be unpacked further, as could terms like 'faith' and 'repentance.' A good exercise nontheless.

The world is broken but it wasn't always broken and it won't be broken forever; there is 'good news.'

God created the world good. The centre piece of creation was humankind created in the image of God. Humankind was created to love and worship God and to live in wholeness of relationship with each other, stewarding and developing the rest of creation. However humankind broke relationship with God by disobeying God and sinning. Humanity fell short of that which God intended it to be.

As a result we all have a sin problem that separates us from God, from ourselves, from each other and from the rest of creation. In and of ourselves we are powerless to deal with this sin problem. This sin problem is wrecking havoc on earth now and separates humanity from God partially now and promises to permanently in the future.

The good news is that God in his love sent Jesus Christ to rescue humanity from sin and to deal with humankind's sin problem. Jesus lived, died, rose from the dead and sent the Spirit in order that through faith and repentance all who respond to Jesus can be forgiven their sins and from sin in order to start a new life 'in Him.'

In Him we are restored to right relationship with God, with ourselves, with each other and with the world around us. We begin the process of learning to live as God always intended us to live and do this in the context of God's community, the church. The church is historical and global in nature but also an actual, tangible community that we commit and involve ourselves in locally.

As Christ followers live missionally and participate with the Spirit in God's redemptive work, faith, hope and love will begin to change lives and communities as the rule and reign of God (his kingdom) is established here on earth as it is in heaven. While God's kingdom will only be experienced in part now, and while Christ followers are not immune to the effects of the brokenness that exits in the world, Christ followers live in light of eternity, as sign posts to the truth that Jesus Christ will return and his kingdom will be established in full forever. Justice and judgement will flow throughout the world, creation will be restored and those whose faith and trust is in Jesus Christ will be judged righteous and will live in wholeness and restored relationship with God forever.

The Big Story

This link will take you to a 3 minute clip of James Choung presenting the gospel with a marker and a single piece of paper. This is the kind of link you could happily e-mail to unchurched friends who may have questions about God confident that it would be helpful in your journey with them.

Watch it here.