The Incongruent Believer

"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...