The Incongruent Believer

I'm not an English scholar, but I do take an interest in how we use our amazingly rich language in both the vernacular and in a more refined sense. I remember back in my youth when an very intelligent and very wise pipe-smoking manager of mine you to expound that one needed to be "pacific" when dealing with manufacturing planning. Of course he meant "specific", back then it used to distract me and make me snigger, now it gets on my nerves. Another idiomatic linguistic errors that I come across too frequently, especially in my ancestral area of the South East is, "She won't do nothing!" meaning that the person in question is lazy and won't do anything! Ah, the curse of the double-negative in both Cockney and Kentish dialect! I wrote some time ago about thoughts on the heinous use of "black" when referring to someone with African or Afro-Caribbean ancestry which was a hangover from less honourable days in the history of the West. ...

" and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a t orch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had b een made bitter." Revelation 8:10-11 It may seem quite strange desiring this kind of apocalyptic scene that the Holy Bible tells us proceeds the return of Christ but frankly, I have had enough of the insanity that is gripping this world with it's icy hand. If you believe in the devil (and your a fool if you don't) then you can easily see him at work! How much he must revel in humanity driving itself into oblivion as it tries to control and define everything. It started within its own species; travelling the world and conquering and enslaving other peoples on an industrial scale. Then it moved onto the world itself; pillaging its natural resources to fuel its growth, fill its coffers, and to build more powerful ...

Taking a break from my "church bashing" as some may call it to look at the most risible case of denial that exists  in the world today and h ere is the problem: we are called to embrace other religions/cultures without any comment or criticism. We are also called to embrace alternative life-styles and those who practice them without any criticism. "Why is that a problem?" I hear you cry! Isn't this perfect the fact we accept people irrespective of creed, culture, colour, sexual orientation, size, shape etc., etc., to me that is commendable. However, to accept without comment is not, let me give you a safe example to begin with: A plus-size model, usually a young person, who promotes their size as well as their looks; "Big is Beautiful" isn't it? Well yes it is but doctors question that the glorification of what is obesity sends the wrong message, particularly in light of the obesity epidemic that the West is facing. If we don't educate people...

"The end of Christendom where the Christian story was known and the church was central invites Christians in western culture to embrace marginality and discover fresh ways of being church and engaging in mission." Stuart Murray Williams  Post Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World Having sat through lectures by Stuart Murray-Williams and having spent time with him on a mission trip to India I have a lot of respect for his propositions and his teachings. However, a recent trip to the USA after an absence of about 10 years, my head full of thoughts and ideas formed during my time at Bible college, I began to call into question the sweeping assertion that church is no longer central to culture in the west. I am not going to be guilty of hypocrisy by stating that all is well for the church in the USA, but I do claim that there are many societies throughout the glorious 50 United States of America, where one could claim that the Church is still central to...

.... I was quite shocked to read the other day an article from USA Today announcing "London Breed to be sworn in as San Francisco's first black female mayor." What shocked me in that headline is the Ms Breed was referred to as "black" and surely that wasn't acceptable language in country that for a long time had preferred to use the term "African American." This got me to thinking (a dangerous pastime I know) about the use of Black and White to describe someones ethnicity and my deliberations were even more of a shock to me than that USA Today article and subsequently made that article even more shocking. But let me start at the beginning of my thoughts: Black and white is not an accurate way to describe the colour of ones skin! I'm not white, i'm a sort of browny, pinky, blemished, hairy kind of colour. I could never have been described using a colour in the same way as one wouldn't describe glass as white. It just doesn...

Been a while since I last blogged and Episode III has been playing on my mind. Whether the account of Luther nailing his 95 thesis to the door of the church in Wittenberg is legend or fact, I personally (and I emphasis the "personally") believe that Luther was not trying to create a split in the church or a spin-off of denominations. No! He was merely trying to get the Church to reform, to get it to act against power and money-mad priests, bishops and Popes who were using their position of almost absolute authority to line their own pockets and solidify their own position of power, which in turn allowed them to line their own pockets ever more so. If he was around today I believe he would be horrified at the consumer nature of the church, that people are able to pick and choose what type of church they would like to be a part of (serious, happy-clappy, spirit-filled carpet-junkies), or that blended religion was also available (Buddhist Christian Mother-Earth anyone?).  As I...

A favourite singer/comedian/preacher of mine is a lady by the name of Vickie Winans. This soulful, beautiful African-American lady stole my heart way back in 2001 when I first saw her music video, As Long as I got King Jesus , and since then I have been a big fan of hers. Referring to her songs and preaching often in my own sermons or anecdotes. One particular teaching of hers is when she talks about her own upbringing in a large, poor family and then that of her experience of being a parents with her own children. She talks of the need for discipline, particularly among children in areas where there is so much temptation towards drugs, violence, crime, gangs, and more often a combination of all four. Her philosophy is simple, and her expression -  little graphic but one has to temper this by remembering who she is, where she is from, and the culture in which she exists - is that someone has to discipline the children, to paraphrase slightly, 'They either get beat at home, beat b...

Last week saw the passing-on of two sporting greats Eric Bristow from the world of darts and Ray Wilkins from football (or soccer if you are reading this on the other side of the Atlantic). These sad events, not least of which because of the relatively young age of both men, created quite an impact amongst pundits and sportsmen, both current and previous. I myself heard of Eric's passing whilst watching darts, the two men on the ocke (Daryl "Superchin" Gurney and Peter "Snakebite" Wright) struggling to maintain their composure as the news was announced live to a shocked crowd of some 5,000 spectators. I was also shocked, but not by this but of another event, or should I say non-event!! Last week, Wednesday 4th April, marked the 50th Anniversary of one of the greatest human beings ever to walk the face of the earth, ever to grace the pulpit with their presence; Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Junior. His name alone is something extraordinary; he was an Bapti...

Tonight is the unification fight for the WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker, and I, for one, will be glued to the TV! I have watched boxing most of my life, one of my earliest memories was watching "Smokin' Joe" Frazier defeat Muhammud Ali on a black and white portable TV in the kitchenette of my foster parents home. It was March, 8th 1971 and back then I was glued to the TV, my "Uncle" Ted was a huge boxing fan and had introduced me to the Art of pugilism from a very young age. Even back then there were a number of titles available; the WBC and the WBA, this was in spite of a rationalisation of the IBU, NYCA and NBA into the World Boxing Council (the WBA). These were joined in 1983 by the IBF and in 1989 by the WBO. There has only been one period - between 1885 and 1919 - when there was only one unified title, last held by Jack Dempsey. To me it seems totally ridiculous, putting the two darts titles BDO and PDC i...

Have you heard of Puddles the clown? He caused a sensation on America's Got Talent with his rendition of the song, "Chandelier" made popular by the zany Sia from Australia. If not, clink on the photo below to sample the brilliance of this odd, somewhat scary looking character. I have fallen in love with his eclectic arrangement of old and new songs and enjoy watching Puddles on YouTube. When getting in the shower today I selected a Puddles play-list for company, however, the listening experience was missing something. It was then I realised that Puddles, whilst having the most amazing voice, was a visual artist. To enjoy his act one had to watch as well as listen! This sparked a lengthy meditation on faith, that faith isn't about what you read in the Bible or what you do at church, it's about experience! What do I mean by experience? Well an old friend of mine Ron Achterkirch, from Minnesota told me once the Christianity was not about religion, but about a...

Because of the volunteer youth work I used to do and did for nearly a decade between 2000 and 20109, I have had the pleasure of working with dozens of young people who are devoted to their faith. Seen them develop as individuals and make a positive contribution to the church and their community, the world being a much better place with them in it. However, I was puzzled for some time by the behaviour of some of the young women I knew/know and their approach to the world. I'm not going to mention names, but these young women seemed devoted beyond question to their faith, active and committed to the church, with their personal lives seemingly fitting around the expression of their dedication and commitment. I found it quite odd that these young women choose to associate with much older, single or widowed women, rather than there peers. No love interests, no partying, hardly any secular activity at all apart from that required of the faith that they expressed. I guess because of my s...

I heard on the radio today that Sir Roger Bannister, the first person to run a sub-four minute mile, died yesterday, the various presenters referring to this as "sad news." This struck me in a couple of ways, the first being was it sad news for that presenter, were they referring to the probable sadness being experienced by Sir Roger's family, or perhaps they were assuming that all their listeners and perhaps the entire country would be sad because we had lost such an iconic and history making athlete? But what would Sir Roger make of this, he may have pointed to that time in 1954 whilst studying at Oxford, when he reached the pinnacle of his athletic achievement watched by the young Norris McWhirter (the co-author of the Guiness Book of Records) as an exciting an event, but not something that defined his life. Roger received the full benefit of the education afforded by coming from a comfortable-off middle-class family and after studying at Oxford he went on to become a...

.....shame the devil! I heard this phrase in the most unlikely of places; TalkSport Radio. The presenters were discussing the abuse of a teenage referee by the parents of two of the players in an Under-10's match. We don't often hear about the importance of truth in our society; it seems we are intent on saying anything or doing anything to either gain some advantage, to look 'cool', to be seen to be politically correct, or to support the interests of those in our inner circle - partisans aren't limited to military conflicts! Whilst there are a number of claims to the origins of this phrase, it appears in Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1 when Hotspur exclaims:  "And I can teach thee, coz, to shame the devil By telling truth: tell truth and shame the devil. If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither, And I'll be sworn I have power to shame him hence. O, while you live, tell truth and shame the devil!" Humanist would argue, ...

I was listening to a dramatisation of The Brothers Karamazov whilst on a long drive from north to south. It was the second time I had listened to this great work of literature and, as can happen quite often, I was struck by something Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov had to say that I didn't pay much attention to. He is in dialogue with his brother Alyosha, the younger brother in 'training' to become a monk. Ivan is a writer who seems fully comfortable with the assertions of the Enlightenment writing some articles that offend the Orthodox Church, so there is somewhat of a backdrop creating uneasiness between these two estranged brothers who have been flung together because of a family crisis. Ivan reminds Alyosha that everything is permissible, a variation of 1 Corinthians 6:12 where Paul writes of sexual immorality, and asserts that if he does not accept God then he is able to do what he wills and not God. If you do not believe in God then you have no moral imperative, no need ...

ਸੱਚ For some reason my children and I have really got into Asian music, either via the BBC Asian Network or Punjabi Radio. It started as curiosity on their part - 'what is that radio station all about' - but now when they get in my car they instantly reach for the button (it's on my favourites list now') that tunes in to either Asian Network or Punjabi Radio. A few days ago they tuned into Punjabi Radio during a morning excursion (we normally find ourselves travelling in my car in the evening) which meant that rather than the usual Bhangra or traditional Asian music, we were greeted with a Sikh preacher and strangely enough they didn't change channels but listened. The preacher was talking about the importance of truth in our lives in all its forms; being true to ourselves; being true to our beliefs; being truthful to others. He spoke of this truth as being a foundation, a liberating force that helped lead to a godly life.  Reflecting on that I couldn't h...

The clothing that we are familiar with a Vicar, Father or other Reverend is not something stipulated by God, so if we are to be fully authentic should the clergy do away with any apparel that makes them look different. The history of the garb I will not bore you with aside to say that the Dog Collar originates from the Protestant origins personified by John Wesley who purportedly wore black and chose a white sweatband (cravat) to wear around their necks for the purpose of riding on horseback. Further, let us remember that the Protestant church arose from those who challenged the traditions and trappings of the Catholic church in a concerted effort to become more authentic. In Acts we read about Barnabas and Saul being "set apart" by the Holy Spirit to serve as apostles, and Paul occasionally talks about being "set apart" to serve the Gospel. So perhaps looking different is a good thing for clergy, and modestly wearing clothing that marks them as a person set ...

There is no denying the fact that I am really struggling with Church at the moment, part of the reason is that following a somewhat ignominious departure from the ministry I also departed from the church and fellowship that I had grown up in for nearly 20 years. I withdrew from long standing relationships, made little effort to keep in touch and reconcile with my past. Initially I also struggled with my relationship with God, trying to hide my face from him because of what I perceived as my failure to serve him. If we the add to that the hurt that I experienced from the Baptist Union, who were faced with someone who was obviously unwell and mentally unstable following the departure of their wife, yet sought to condemn rather than help. My whole world crashed around me and eventually so did my opinion and love of Church. I left a lot behind at that little Baptist Church at the bottom of the hill; plans, aspirations, friends, mentor, memories. Since then I have been a bit of a chur...