Day 11

After some more meetings with colleagues to get a clearer picture of how other churches operate in terms of 'church membership', it was back into the second major section of Peterson's book, Christ plays in ten thousand places'.
In this section he writes strongly about 'salvation history', suggesting that the death of Jesus provides our entry into the reality and responsibilities of history. Jesus embraced the world and it could be said that his story is not a 'success story' but a 'salvation story'. Peterson uses the story of the Exodus and the Gospel of Mark to ground this 'salvation story'. He frequently reminds the reader that we cannot bring about this salvation story but we can embrace it and with God's help live it. He considers that one of the threats we face is that of moralism - constructing a life which has no need of a saving God.
Towards the end of this section he writes about the importance of the Eucharist and sees this as central to our lives. ( with the 4 basic elements of taking, blessing, breaking, giving shaping our worship and our lives).
This weekend Annette and will be at the induction of our son-in-law, Andy, to Hanbury Hill Baptist Church in Stourbridge. This is his first church after training at Bristol Baptist College. I am sure it will bring back some thoughts of an induction that took place at the beginning of September 1978! As you will see from the photo on the induction leaflet, in those days I had hair that was black and slightly longer. Note also the trendy tie!