This update has been a very long time coming. But here we go. Since last time I wrote I have done an 8 week teaching block and been on holidays now for over a month.
With a full teaching load with coaching most nights a week I did not do a lot of growing, praying or reflecting, either on my teaching or on life in general. And I am discovering and hopefully will start acting on these discoveries that a relationship with God is of first importance, that’s what God truly wants. Out of this our relationships with others are changed for the better and we become more like our creator. The trouble is (and I feel I am not alone) that I still have far more motivation to do things for God rather than spend time with God.
If Christianity was all about reading then I have done quite well. In the last little while I have read plenty of good books. Beside the fact that I didn’t take time to really soak in what was written a review can only give you a terrible idea of what this reading has done to my thinking and faith…and what it may do for yours. I would love for you to read some of these books for yourselves because I think a lot of them are worth reading. They will challenge you and cause you to question and grow, and in the process you will likely come to understand what I am thinking and how I can come to some of these crazy conclusions.
Deep Economy: Bill McKibben
– peak oil, durable wealth and sustainable future. This book is a wake up call about the environment, peak oil and wealth and what it is doing (or not doing) for communities. It goes through a bit of the history and forecasts the future for society as we get to the other side of peak oil. The author also offers some examples sustainable practices for both the environment and communities.
---A good eye opening book---
Letters from a skeptic: Gregory A. Boyd and Edward K. Boyd
– This was a dialogue between a son and his father over issues and doubts about Christianity. I was actually a little skeptical when I got this book because most books that are supposed to have ‘all the answers’ fall woefully short. Or maybe it was the answers I was worried about, I thought they were going to be the stock standard responses that I have heard all my life. Don’t get me wrong some stock standard answers are good, that’s why they became the standard.
Anyway this book was really good and had a lot of good answers to difficult questions, some I would never in my wildest dreams have thought of. One good example was the father asked his son ‘why does God allow earthquakes’ and one point in his reply was that maybe they are necessary…for example the hardness of a rock allows you to stand on it but it also opens the opportunity for you to stub your toe on. You can’t have one without the other, for me I remembered a lecture given about flexibility and stability of joints. You can’t gain one without making sacrifices to the other.
In answering another question the point was made that “we become the decisions we make”. If we persist with choosing bitterness and unforgiveness soon enough we wake up bitter without even choosing to do so. On the other hand if we continually chose kind words then that’s what comes naturally out of our mouths. Makes sense to me.
Anyway there were plenty of other great insights, and questions raised which I won’t bother copying down word for word.
---A fantastic book, get on it.---
A generous orthodoxy: Brian McLaren
– I can hardly remember it now but I do remember it went into reasons why he considers himself mystic, poet, liberal, conservative, catholic, protestant etc. The author uncovers what he had gained from different denominations and encourages the reader to explore these. ‘Holding on the good, forgetting the bad’… although some of the bad was definitely addressed.
---It was alright, I can’t remember much of it---
The last word and the word after that: Brian McLaren
– I reread this book because I don’t really think I have any idea what goes on when we die, infact, I don’t know if it matters that much. If we focus on it too much we are missing the point, which was suggested quite a few times in the book.
Hell can be a motivator but it can easily become an excuse to become lazy and complacent right now, worrying only about yourself and your personal salvation. What I’m pretty sure of is that one day we will face God and everything we have done, the decisions we have made and the person we have become will be exposed for what they are. Whatever hell is, the point is not to go there.
---Worthy of being read twice so it must be pretty good, or I’m just slow---
Two visions of Jesus- N.T Wright & Marcus Borg
– I will have to reread this one again too but it was two scholars views (one liberal one conservative) on Jesus and what his life and actions meant, whether or not they happened and the implications his ministry has on the lives of Christians now.
After reading this book I am convinced that politics does matter, and even mixing religion and politics is a good thing as long as what the ‘religious person’ is concerned about is “God’s agenda” justice, equality, etc. If someone who’s concern is ‘God’s kingdom’ comes to power we should be truly happy.
Something I have tried to get across but have never been able to do aptly was done for me. It was about the miracles found in the Bible and what they become if they are metaphorical truths rather than historical truths. And while I no longer believe that its so important that the historical events happened, without them I have nothing to base the deeper truths found in both the metaphorical and historical approaches.
It’s pointless to say “Andrew scores 5 goals a game” to show how great a soccer player I am, unless I have actually done something in real life to prove it…but then maybe I only scored 3 goals a game. Still, the 5 goals attributed to me is based on something that actually happened, scoring 3. Even legendizing requires an actual event, without it the metaphor becomes meaningless.
At the same time, a lot of things Jesus did had a number of meanings and some of them I never had a clue about. Does it matter if some of the stories in the Bible happened? Certainly not, when it comes to parables, whose meaning and truth doesn’t depend on whether the events actually took place. (the unmerciful servant, the prodigal son etc) But unless Jesus actually did certain things we cannot say much about the character of God. It’s all well and good to say ‘Jesus loved outcasts’ but unless Jesus actually went around eating with tax collectors and healing lepers you have nothing to base that claim on. I feel this should apply to the miracle stories too.
And still sometimes I think metaphor is the only appropriate way we can speak about God. This mystery and greatness we call God, can only be compared to what we know, and it is, all throughout the Bible. If I read the Bible like I am used to doing, I miss a lot of it. Metaphor means “to see as” So we see God as “a good shepherd, the light of the world, the bread of life, living water” and all these images are helpful, yet are but a part of what we can muster to try and understand God. We certainly do just, “see in part”.
---Very interesting, I look forward to reading it again---
Patience- An expensive lesson
One day while driving to a tennis match I was caught speeding, quite a bit actually. I pulled over and was greeted by a nice officer who gave me a not so nice fine. I got to the match and was told of some people who could make things like this fall through the cracks. I considered this for a while but then thought I wouldn’t really learn a lesson if I didn’t take responsibility for my own actions. Consequences are painful but necessary to produce character, and the pain of wasting US $222 better be producing some mighty fine character!!
At least it forced me to think about why I got this fine…not speeding, but impatience. That’s the real root of the problem. Exactly the opposite of the fruit I am supposed to be displaying. I thought about a lot of things I am impatient with, driving is particularly bad. Sometimes if a light turned red I would get in the right lane (turn any time in America) make a right turn, then 100 yards or so up make a U turn before making another right, thus continuing on straight ahead! It works well but is a blight on my patience. There were quite a few examples. Being busy doesn’t help with this either as you always need to be somewhere doing something. I hope this experience has taught me at least something, but this $222 course is far from over.
Busyness-
During my 8 weeks at
Having far too much to do and not taking time out with God just takes the spark away. It sort of feels like I did what was required of me but I just wasn’t bearing any fruit. Too much to do leaves you without direction and purpose if you aren’t finding time for a relationship with your creator in the midst of it.
It going to be very hard for me but I am going to have to say ‘no’ to certain things. Especially because I’ll hopefully be starting out teaching. I’ll just have to decide which things are worth investing my time in and do them. It’s so much harder than you think though. Even though I told my mentor at
I sort of treat this time in
Oh man, all this gives me a bit of a headache! I’m not sure if it matters so much with travel but I’ll continue to think about this for other areas.
Good hearts-
Just before leaving the
A lot of people know how cynical I can be and that it’s a battle for me to embrace church, let alone fully embrace it like I wish. But meeting so many people like this is slowly teaching me to see other organizations, churches and individuals in a more positive and helpful light. I have also come to realise there are a lot of other people like this in my life (with good hearts) who I don’t necessarily agree with. Sometimes it may be the method (eg, Televangelists) and other times it might be what they are involved in (Street marches, holding ‘God hates fags’ signs) For cases like these it is hard to see past the actions to the intentions, and in the end I think only God can and will. If I think they are misguided I should be sad that these good hearts are going to waste rather than proud or angry thinking ‘I have it right’.
Seeing someone’s good heart allows me to trust in them even if I may not trust in or even agree with what they are doing. This is a comforting and useful thing, especially if that person is in leadership over you. If their intent is for the benefit of God’s kingdom, which ultimately means others than I should wish them all the best. We may go about it completely differently but I should extending them grace just like I’d hope they would to me if I were doing something they weren’t too sure about. Infact, it goes back to the very biblical principle of ‘Do unto others as you’d have them do to you’
Changes in thinking-
I have really noticed changes in my thinking and priorities which have occurred since leaving. I recently took a look at the book (that rhymes nicely) I had been writing since y12 up until a few months before I left. (That’s a goal that’s not getting done!) If I were to continue writing it now I think I would nearly have to rip it up and start again. Things I thought were of utmost importance are no longer so important, angles of attacking issues have changed and even the initial purpose of the book seems irrelevant to an extent.
I know my view of God is always changing (hopefully more accurately) as I discover and experience more and more but I didn’t think that I would ever see things from a completely different angle. I cringe at some of the things I wrote, but I can remember that my heart was in a very good place (probably a better place than it is now). Again I hope this reminds and helps me understand those who would find a book like that helpful and would use arguments from its pages.
Community-
Toward the end of the teaching block I got offered a few good jobs and I thought about taking them and might if someone gets back to me!! I was thinking about what church I would go to if I were over in
A lot of
It’s probably a lot like traveling to all these neat places and telling two people about them (one who has been there previously and another who hasn’t) everything you say to the one who has been there makes sense and they can put a picture in their head and appreciate what they are saying. The other can’t really and probably listens politely.
Such is the value of community. (there’s another metaphor) I don’t know how long it takes to build or how much time you need to dedicate to it but I’m sure its more than an hour or two a week. The thing is, back in
--Some good quotes--
“A problem shared is a problem halved”
“Those who ask a question are fools for five minutes, those who don’t remain fools forever”
A quick funny video you have to watch “MeChurch”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgdIBDVfnP0
1 comment:
Andrew,
So good to hear from you! Glad to hear you're enjoying England and that you enjoyed the book I gave you. I am grateful that you are keeping in touch and I like reading your thoughts and musings on Christianity and being more Christ-like. My small group at church have been reading and working on the book, So, You Want to be Like Christ? It has been a really good book for both Mick and I to study. I, too, took on too many things this fall-and found it very difficult to keep Christ at the top of my list. Since things have slowed down immensely, it is my hope and my goal to really focus my daily activities, thoughts and words on Him. Thanks for sharing! Take care!
Coach M.
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