Wednesday 17 December 2008
Bonhoeffer - Advent
A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes … and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.(Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Tuesday 16 December 2008
Words to ponder
The author, Jeanette Winterson, has an occasional column in the Books section of the Times newspaper on a Saturday. The headline for her article in Saturdays’ edition was - ‘Capitalism’s collapse is on a scale undreamed of at the altars of idols’.
Her article was thought provoking. Here are some extracts to ponder over.
“We laugh at the primitive religious idea of human sacrifice – but whatever fancy words and theories you want to play with to describe this present spectacular collapse of global capitalism, it is human sacrifice on a scale undreamt of at the altars of idols.”
“the kingdom of this world, as the Bible puts it beautifully, can be balanced only by the Kingdom of God. This is not literal; it is symbolic. It is how the inner life checks the outward show. It is how conscience bridles impulse, it means recognising that there is much more to human life than to worship between the twin towers of money and power. The job of religion is to keep this in our sights.”
“At the moment when the empty secularism of the crumbling Roman Empire found no answer in the paralysis of the existing religious attitude, the birth story is the longed-for miracle - not because a militant avenger has appeared, nor a divine avatar, but because a baby – new life - will ask us to understand everything differently. That’s a story worth reading”.
Christians might want to take issue with what she means by 'divine avatar', but she offers some interesting words.
Her article was thought provoking. Here are some extracts to ponder over.
“We laugh at the primitive religious idea of human sacrifice – but whatever fancy words and theories you want to play with to describe this present spectacular collapse of global capitalism, it is human sacrifice on a scale undreamt of at the altars of idols.”
“the kingdom of this world, as the Bible puts it beautifully, can be balanced only by the Kingdom of God. This is not literal; it is symbolic. It is how the inner life checks the outward show. It is how conscience bridles impulse, it means recognising that there is much more to human life than to worship between the twin towers of money and power. The job of religion is to keep this in our sights.”
“At the moment when the empty secularism of the crumbling Roman Empire found no answer in the paralysis of the existing religious attitude, the birth story is the longed-for miracle - not because a militant avenger has appeared, nor a divine avatar, but because a baby – new life - will ask us to understand everything differently. That’s a story worth reading”.
Christians might want to take issue with what she means by 'divine avatar', but she offers some interesting words.
Saturday 13 December 2008
The mother of Jesus
The Thursday evening group at church has just finished the series on what the Gospels tell us about Mary. The final evening looked at what we learn about Mary from the Gospel of John. She has an important part in the miracle at Cana(John 2) and is there at the crucifixion. She is not named in John but is referred to as 'the mother of Jesus'. On the two occasions when Jesus speaks to her, he addresses her simply as 'woman'.
But from all that we learned of her we concluded that she was a remarkable woman who responded with faith when given the task of bearing the Messiah.
I read a comment somewhere that as Christians we are called to be like Mary in that we are called to 'carry' Christ into the world.
At a recent seminar Brian Maclaren suggested that we are to be as God's people the 'embodiment of Christ'( a phrase he prefers to the 'body of Christ' when describing the Church.)
Mary bore Jesus into the world and so in our own day we too are called to 'bear Christ' into the world through all that we are as individuals and as the church.
But from all that we learned of her we concluded that she was a remarkable woman who responded with faith when given the task of bearing the Messiah.
I read a comment somewhere that as Christians we are called to be like Mary in that we are called to 'carry' Christ into the world.
At a recent seminar Brian Maclaren suggested that we are to be as God's people the 'embodiment of Christ'( a phrase he prefers to the 'body of Christ' when describing the Church.)
Mary bore Jesus into the world and so in our own day we too are called to 'bear Christ' into the world through all that we are as individuals and as the church.
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