Contextualisation is vital. Missionaries spend time learning a language and a culture so that they can share the gospel effectively and plant God honouring churches that disciple people well given their particular context. I wonder sometimes whether we tend to forget that lesson in the UK. Simply assuming because something worked somewhere else it will work here in just the same way. But such an approach is dangerous and flawed because our regions have distinct flavours, histories and influences.
In fact it is one of my concerns as I look at the church in Yorkshire, the county with the lowest church attendance in the country, a church attendance on a par with Japan. We simply haven't spent enough time thinking about how we reach Yorkshire people with the gospel. We have tended to just do what everyone else is doing. Partly that is skewed by church planting in university towns where the majority of students and a significant chunk of the general populace are not from Yorkshire. Sheffield, Leeds, and York are not the norm in Yorkshire, though I wonder if even there churches are reaching the indigenous Yorkshire men and women or just the interlopers?
So what would it look like to contextualise? Yorkshire is not the South of England. Yorkshire people don't think like people from the home counties. So how do we reach them with the gospel? What would it look like to contextualise? To do Church in Yorkshire Places? Here are a few thoughts:
A Passion for Jesus
Middle Class (Southern) Evangelicalism tends to prize rational argument over passion. Yet spend time with Yorkshire people and you realise they are passionate and driven. A raised voice in conversation is not a sign of anger or loss of control or rationality but of concern and love and commitment. Our passion for Jesus must match that of the fan for his club, or the Yorkshire man for his county. Preach and proclaim the gospel with passion.
Working class mentality
If you ask a Yorkshire man what class he is he will look at you like you've gone mad. What class would you want to be, 'Of course I'm working class I'm from Yorkshire.' Being a Yorkshire man or woman defines your class not your occupation and it is historical not changeable. Many have been to uni and have traditionally middle class jobs but still define themselves as being working class, in fact many will resent the implication that they are middle class. They have working class values and virtues and we need to address those and think through how they have been shaped by gospel values, and how sin has warped them not simply value, assume, address and preach to middle class issues.
Local not national
Yorkshire people are passionate about being from Yorkshire, what other county devised it's own medal table for the Olympics. They care passionately about local issues. It is not that national or international issues don't matter but that local comes first. How do we in our engagement, evangelism, preparation, and preaching reflect that?
A suspicion of interlopers
There is an ingrained suspicion of outsiders, especially if you speak with a posh accent (unless you are from Harrogate). We have to work hard to overcome this, how? By accepting, loving and engaging with Yorkshire and it's quirks and eccentricities. And we must commit to long term listening engagement and friendship with our communities if we are an interloper. Listening matters, otherwise we reinforce the idea that we arrogantly presume to come in with all the answers. We don't. We have loads to learn and value and we will be richer for it.
Defined by hardship
Many communities in Yorkshire have had it hard. Do your research? Read local history about the miners strike and the loss of other traditional industries and understand how this has shaped, and is still shaping, communities. Read local history and talk to and listen to local people about the church in that area. People tend to define themselves by struggle and hardship. Which in turn can produce a can't do attitude and or a resentment of others who have 'had it easy'. In some cases we will find church has added to this hardship. We need to wrestle with how the gospel addresses and reshapes this? How do we plant and pastor churches that reshape this with gospel realism and thankfulness?
Mistrust of big project/society/organisations
Many have been let down by big promises made by big organisations or left disenchanted by unfulfilled promises and visions. This leads to a sense of mistrust of the big and of grandiose visions and plans. We need to plant and pastor churches that overcome this by being realistic, only promising what we can do and by being quick to admit mistakes if and when we have let people down. Working hard to win back trust through sheer love and commitment.
This is only scratching the surface of what is a very complex issue but one we need to face and think more deeply about as we pray and plan to evangelise Yorkshire for the glory of God by planting churches across this great county.
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 January 2017
Tuesday, 16 August 2016
A modern proverb?
"Image is nothing. Thirst is everything. Obey your thirst." So went the advertising slogan for Sprite that I still remember decades later. How far from the truth that is in our modern culture. In our society image is everything and nothing else really matters. Oh we may trumpet soundbites like 'Be true to yourself', 'Be the you you really want to be' and so on. But they come with subtle small print, and the small print says only be true to yourself if that fits with societies values and norms, with the you society will accept. Don't be true to yourself if you don't, hide, suppress, repress.
Image has become everything. I've been watching the Olympics and amidst all the great sport and phenomenal athleticism and dedication I've been heartbroken to see athlete's vilified and victimised for not portraying the right image. Not having your hand on your heart when you sing your anthem, letting disappointment show, not having the right hair, or look and so on. If people don't fit in with our media massaged and manipulated view of norms or right then we jump all over them. We seem to forget that these are real people dealing with real emotions and four years (or a life time) of dedication and expectation, hopes and dreams. Let alone the more fundamental truth that these are people made in God's image.
It has struck me again whilst I have watched with a sense of sadness athletes being attacked on social media for not fitting the image, not doing the done thing, not meeting others expectations of how they should react, that it shouldn't surprise me at all. It is what disciples of Jesus should expect everyday. I think of Daniel and his friends taking a stand for their faith in Babylon and the pressure they faced for not fitting in, not conforming. And then tragically I think of Esther who hides her faith and does conform, for whom image is everything, at least initially. But then I am reminded of the grace of God that transformed a wretch like Esther to save his people.
And that challenge hits me again. The call to stand out, the call to live having experienced and drunk deeply of the water of life that Christ brings and to hold that out to others. Knowing that it is what they really long for no matter what society says. That image doesn't matter as much as the reality for which God has made them. And that as people made in the image of God I am called to loved each and everyone of them and call them back to that image redeemed in Christ.
Image has become everything. I've been watching the Olympics and amidst all the great sport and phenomenal athleticism and dedication I've been heartbroken to see athlete's vilified and victimised for not portraying the right image. Not having your hand on your heart when you sing your anthem, letting disappointment show, not having the right hair, or look and so on. If people don't fit in with our media massaged and manipulated view of norms or right then we jump all over them. We seem to forget that these are real people dealing with real emotions and four years (or a life time) of dedication and expectation, hopes and dreams. Let alone the more fundamental truth that these are people made in God's image.
It has struck me again whilst I have watched with a sense of sadness athletes being attacked on social media for not fitting the image, not doing the done thing, not meeting others expectations of how they should react, that it shouldn't surprise me at all. It is what disciples of Jesus should expect everyday. I think of Daniel and his friends taking a stand for their faith in Babylon and the pressure they faced for not fitting in, not conforming. And then tragically I think of Esther who hides her faith and does conform, for whom image is everything, at least initially. But then I am reminded of the grace of God that transformed a wretch like Esther to save his people.
And that challenge hits me again. The call to stand out, the call to live having experienced and drunk deeply of the water of life that Christ brings and to hold that out to others. Knowing that it is what they really long for no matter what society says. That image doesn't matter as much as the reality for which God has made them. And that as people made in the image of God I am called to loved each and everyone of them and call them back to that image redeemed in Christ.
Thursday, 8 October 2015
Time to kill the competitive culture in our churches
I am naturally competitive; board games, games of FIFA 16 against the boys, real sports, and so on. I naturally want to compete and win, I'd love to think that has mellowed as I have got older, but maybe I'm just deluding myself. That competitiveness is not always a bad thing. But one of the problems we have in the UK is that we live and breathe in a competitive culture.
A culture that likes to size people up and based on any number of factors rank (or judge) people on a sliding scale of successfulness or capability. We do it when we first meet people; questions like 'what's your job?' lead us to rank people competitively against others and against ourselves. It's seen in the way stay at home mums feel compelled to say that they are "just" a mum (how unbiblical is that as a way to describe a precious God given calling). And tragically we carry that competitive way of thinking across into our Christian life and into our churches.
Paul writes to the church in Corinth and raises with them areas where they have simply brought with them into church the ungodly norms and attitudes of the society around them. I think this competitiveness is one of those that we bring with us into church without thinking. It's there in our liking church to be full of people like us. It's there in the competitiveness among ministers about growth or size of church. It's there in our thinking about 'low hanging fruit' - a phrase I have to say I hate! It's there in the despondency pastors who are discouraged feel when they look at others whose ministry God is presently blessing. It's there in comments about how reaching certain types of people will not bring in the money necessary to sustain a church.
But it's also there in the way we can sometimes find ourselves thinking of one another in church, who we value, who we seek out, who we avoid, who we invite for lunch. That simply should not be the case. The gospel is the great leveller, it should retune our hearts from their selfish minor key to a major key that is tuned to serve and love others. We need to kill competitiveness if we want to build thriving churches where grace grows and overflows.
A culture that likes to size people up and based on any number of factors rank (or judge) people on a sliding scale of successfulness or capability. We do it when we first meet people; questions like 'what's your job?' lead us to rank people competitively against others and against ourselves. It's seen in the way stay at home mums feel compelled to say that they are "just" a mum (how unbiblical is that as a way to describe a precious God given calling). And tragically we carry that competitive way of thinking across into our Christian life and into our churches.
Paul writes to the church in Corinth and raises with them areas where they have simply brought with them into church the ungodly norms and attitudes of the society around them. I think this competitiveness is one of those that we bring with us into church without thinking. It's there in our liking church to be full of people like us. It's there in the competitiveness among ministers about growth or size of church. It's there in our thinking about 'low hanging fruit' - a phrase I have to say I hate! It's there in the despondency pastors who are discouraged feel when they look at others whose ministry God is presently blessing. It's there in comments about how reaching certain types of people will not bring in the money necessary to sustain a church.
But it's also there in the way we can sometimes find ourselves thinking of one another in church, who we value, who we seek out, who we avoid, who we invite for lunch. That simply should not be the case. The gospel is the great leveller, it should retune our hearts from their selfish minor key to a major key that is tuned to serve and love others. We need to kill competitiveness if we want to build thriving churches where grace grows and overflows.
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Reaching Yorkshire
Anyone who has read this blog knows how hard Yorkshire is to reach with the gospel. The work is slow and laborious, often 3 steps forward 2 back, (sometimes 3 back). Yorkshire is the only county never to have had a revival, it languishes way behind other counties in terms of living, growing, gospel centred churches and number of Christians as a percentage of the population.
I've been wondering why this is for along time. It was whilst reading Tim Chester's 'Unreached' Growing churches in working-class and deprived areas that I began to formulate something of a hypothesis about this. The book is excellent, every pastor, elder and church leader in the country should buy one. In fact why not order enough for your leadership team and discuss a chapter every time you meet? What is so good is that it exposes how middle class British Christianity is but also addresses some of the significant needs and opportunities there are among the working class and deprived class in the UK. As well as helping us understand something about the culture.
But what I have found particularly stimulating is seeing parallels between the culture, ideals and attitudes described in the book and those of people from Yorkshire whether working class or not:
There is a suspicion of authority figures government and big organisations, in part historical, in part deserved and in part just a fruit of being northern when everything is perceived as taking place in the South (beginning to pick this resentment up myself!). I wonder if that means church leaders have to overcome a sense of suspicion of authority before people will even come to church, therefore long term pastorates are vital, as are pastors who are out of the office and with people. Churches themselves are seen as part of the machinery of government and must show their love of people not programs or politics.
People have a sense of being from Yorkshire not of being British. Take the Olympics for example - one of the points of pride on local radio and TV was having a medal table for Yorkshire along with Team GB. There is a sense of being part of the UK but being distinctive regionally and not wanting that to change. Again I wonder if that is something churches have to overcome, especially if its leaders are not native Yorkshire folk, how? By showing a commitment to the locality, love the people by serving them where there needs are. If there is no community space provide one, if litter is an issue organise work days, if the issue is debt provide debt counselling and so on. We need to show people that we are for them and love them and value them before they will listen and this can take a long time (stubbornness is a Yorkshire trait too!)
Yorkshire people are open and forthright, they don't just tell you that a spade is a spade but whether its a good spade or a useless one (I've toned down the language they would use) whether you ask for their opinion or not. It is little wonder that academic preaching doesn't reach these people, that they see little point in it. They value honesty and forthrightness and that is the sort of preaching they need to hear. They need the Bible to be taught in honesty and applied readily and practically. They are an intensely practical people and they need to see what difference it makes day-to-day to worship God, Father, Son and Spirit.
They are just a couple of the areas where I wonder if Yorkshire folk are distinctive. I wonder how much of that explains why we aren't reaching people in Yorkshire with the gospel. I wonder how much of the Yorkshire mentality is similar to that of the working class that churches in the UK simply don't reach? Valuing people and relationships above anything else, not being partuclarly aspirational, and so on all add to the mix.
I hate to think what the percentage of the indigenous Yorkshire population in bible teaching churches is on any given Sunday. I wonder if many of our Yorkshire churches are populated by interlopers from other counties, aspirational students and young professionals, and so on, and when we preach to those in front of us (which we naturally do) we move further away from the people our churches historically were put in place to reach.
What would it look like to preach and teach the gospel in Yorkshire to Yorkshire? Would it be less academic (notice I didn't say less biblical), would it be more practical and down to earth, would it be more confrontational? Would our churches need to be more long term in our commitment?
I love where God has put me to minister, I love Doncaster, the people, the honesty, the willingness to love and help. But it is a county and a town desperately in need of the gospel.
I've been wondering why this is for along time. It was whilst reading Tim Chester's 'Unreached' Growing churches in working-class and deprived areas that I began to formulate something of a hypothesis about this. The book is excellent, every pastor, elder and church leader in the country should buy one. In fact why not order enough for your leadership team and discuss a chapter every time you meet? What is so good is that it exposes how middle class British Christianity is but also addresses some of the significant needs and opportunities there are among the working class and deprived class in the UK. As well as helping us understand something about the culture.
But what I have found particularly stimulating is seeing parallels between the culture, ideals and attitudes described in the book and those of people from Yorkshire whether working class or not:
There is a suspicion of authority figures government and big organisations, in part historical, in part deserved and in part just a fruit of being northern when everything is perceived as taking place in the South (beginning to pick this resentment up myself!). I wonder if that means church leaders have to overcome a sense of suspicion of authority before people will even come to church, therefore long term pastorates are vital, as are pastors who are out of the office and with people. Churches themselves are seen as part of the machinery of government and must show their love of people not programs or politics.
People have a sense of being from Yorkshire not of being British. Take the Olympics for example - one of the points of pride on local radio and TV was having a medal table for Yorkshire along with Team GB. There is a sense of being part of the UK but being distinctive regionally and not wanting that to change. Again I wonder if that is something churches have to overcome, especially if its leaders are not native Yorkshire folk, how? By showing a commitment to the locality, love the people by serving them where there needs are. If there is no community space provide one, if litter is an issue organise work days, if the issue is debt provide debt counselling and so on. We need to show people that we are for them and love them and value them before they will listen and this can take a long time (stubbornness is a Yorkshire trait too!)
Yorkshire people are open and forthright, they don't just tell you that a spade is a spade but whether its a good spade or a useless one (I've toned down the language they would use) whether you ask for their opinion or not. It is little wonder that academic preaching doesn't reach these people, that they see little point in it. They value honesty and forthrightness and that is the sort of preaching they need to hear. They need the Bible to be taught in honesty and applied readily and practically. They are an intensely practical people and they need to see what difference it makes day-to-day to worship God, Father, Son and Spirit.
They are just a couple of the areas where I wonder if Yorkshire folk are distinctive. I wonder how much of that explains why we aren't reaching people in Yorkshire with the gospel. I wonder how much of the Yorkshire mentality is similar to that of the working class that churches in the UK simply don't reach? Valuing people and relationships above anything else, not being partuclarly aspirational, and so on all add to the mix.
I hate to think what the percentage of the indigenous Yorkshire population in bible teaching churches is on any given Sunday. I wonder if many of our Yorkshire churches are populated by interlopers from other counties, aspirational students and young professionals, and so on, and when we preach to those in front of us (which we naturally do) we move further away from the people our churches historically were put in place to reach.
What would it look like to preach and teach the gospel in Yorkshire to Yorkshire? Would it be less academic (notice I didn't say less biblical), would it be more practical and down to earth, would it be more confrontational? Would our churches need to be more long term in our commitment?
I love where God has put me to minister, I love Doncaster, the people, the honesty, the willingness to love and help. But it is a county and a town desperately in need of the gospel.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Is it possible to just not 'fit in' to church?
Is there a type for disciples of Jesus? That's a good question; Do you have to dress a certain way, or react a certain way, or think a certain way? Do you have to have a certain education or use certain words? Does it come with a long list of do’s and don’ts? Do all Christians eventually become like one another? Is it a monoculture? An in or out kind of thing? And if not why do so many churches seem like that?
They are good questions for us to be asking, do our churches, where disciples gather have a monoculture aspect to them or do the reflect the glorious difference of those who have realised Jesus has the words of eternal life? Jesus disciples reflect that difference; poor, rich, religious, non religious, privileged, un-privileged, educated, less educated, socially acceptable, socially unacceptable. So do the early churches - just think about Philippi; a jailer, a liberated former demoniac, and Lydia a wealthy former god-fearer. It is a stunning snapshot of a multi-cultural, multi-background church.
We must not confuse discipleship with our traditions culture or we make the gospel too narrow. Growing in godliness will look different for different people from different starting points and who grow at different rates.
I'm just beginning to think this through in terms of discipleship and believing communities and what it means for how we engage with one another.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Our Struggle with Church
We know in our heads that church is not a building, we know that it is not a service, and we know that it is people. We know that it is relational and yet we struggle with its relational nature, in reality being in church means being in gospel relationships with our church family. Too often we function as if it is the very things we have said it isn't; a building and a service, why? I think there are a number of things we subtly absorb from our culture that cause us to think wrongly about church and to drift, which Hebrews reminds us is dangerous, from true church.
1. Family - we live in an age when because of the astounding rate of family breakup we make family so precious that sometimes there is no time for church family. We become so preoccupied with protecting our marriages, keeping our spouse happy, spending time with our children that we do not have a real relationship with the family of God - in which case we are not really in church though we may be 'in church' in terms of the building and services.
2. Fear - we are commitment-o-phobic and that's not just the malaise of twenty something men, it is something we see increasingly in the world around us full stop. If we have been hurt in the past we refuse to trust again, to let down our guard so we keep people at a distance and forfeit the working of the gospel into our lives that they would have blessed us with. Again when we do so we are not in church.
3. Consumer Mentality - sadly it is not just businesses that carry out cost benefit analysis, increasingly it is the way people approach church, will this church meet my needs, will it have the style of music I like, is there a group of people like me, and so on... Rather than stopping and thinking where can I serve, how will this church enable me to work the gospel into the lives of others. When we treat church as another consumable we are not 'in church'.
4. Avoidance of challenge - our culture does not like challenge, it does not like the idea of being confronted with something that is wrong. By contrast the Bible says that our church (the relational body of people) is given for our good to speak the truth in love to us. Now there is much that is done in the name of speaking the truth in love that to be blunt isn't, but that doesn't mean we ought to avoid genuinely speaking the truth in love when we find it. Having someone speak powerfully into your life to challenge you about sin or misunderstanding is a great gift of God when exercised in love (Prov 27:6 "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."). When this isn't happening we have to ask am I in church?
5. Electronic communication - we are surrounded by more modes of communication than ever, already this morning I've been emailed, messaged, tweeted, and texted. Yet the irony is that not one of those is real meaningful communication. They are not relational modes of communication, it is convenient detached communication. They are useful for conveying information but not building relationships, and as they have exploded in terms of use so loneliness has increased, we long for real communication. Real communication involves a presence or at least a voice or even a written letter. I think these media have had a knock on effect that we have lost some of our interpersonal skills. We just don't know how to build friendships and to really communication meaningfully, when we can't do that with our church family are we in church?
6. Apathy - Our cultures greatest legacy is apathy, people who are driven stand out not because they are extra-ordinary but because laziness is the norm. We live in a generation that just doesn't care, or doesn't care enough. The danger is that this can infect the church so we go but do not engage, we listen but we don't hear we never take time to work out the implications for us this week. And we need to be warned if apathy characterises our attitude to church then we have already started to drift from our faith, we are already not in church.
So what's the remedy, it isn't some new programme it is "believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."(John 20:31) We need to revisit the cross and the empty tomb and see what Christ has done for us there. We see an incarnation and a sacrifice that calls us to relationship, we see something that is more important than anything else in the world and will transform everything in our worlds. That will not allow us if we truly grasp it to drift from those who will work it into out lives for our eternal good.
1. Family - we live in an age when because of the astounding rate of family breakup we make family so precious that sometimes there is no time for church family. We become so preoccupied with protecting our marriages, keeping our spouse happy, spending time with our children that we do not have a real relationship with the family of God - in which case we are not really in church though we may be 'in church' in terms of the building and services.
2. Fear - we are commitment-o-phobic and that's not just the malaise of twenty something men, it is something we see increasingly in the world around us full stop. If we have been hurt in the past we refuse to trust again, to let down our guard so we keep people at a distance and forfeit the working of the gospel into our lives that they would have blessed us with. Again when we do so we are not in church.
3. Consumer Mentality - sadly it is not just businesses that carry out cost benefit analysis, increasingly it is the way people approach church, will this church meet my needs, will it have the style of music I like, is there a group of people like me, and so on... Rather than stopping and thinking where can I serve, how will this church enable me to work the gospel into the lives of others. When we treat church as another consumable we are not 'in church'.
4. Avoidance of challenge - our culture does not like challenge, it does not like the idea of being confronted with something that is wrong. By contrast the Bible says that our church (the relational body of people) is given for our good to speak the truth in love to us. Now there is much that is done in the name of speaking the truth in love that to be blunt isn't, but that doesn't mean we ought to avoid genuinely speaking the truth in love when we find it. Having someone speak powerfully into your life to challenge you about sin or misunderstanding is a great gift of God when exercised in love (Prov 27:6 "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."). When this isn't happening we have to ask am I in church?
5. Electronic communication - we are surrounded by more modes of communication than ever, already this morning I've been emailed, messaged, tweeted, and texted. Yet the irony is that not one of those is real meaningful communication. They are not relational modes of communication, it is convenient detached communication. They are useful for conveying information but not building relationships, and as they have exploded in terms of use so loneliness has increased, we long for real communication. Real communication involves a presence or at least a voice or even a written letter. I think these media have had a knock on effect that we have lost some of our interpersonal skills. We just don't know how to build friendships and to really communication meaningfully, when we can't do that with our church family are we in church?
6. Apathy - Our cultures greatest legacy is apathy, people who are driven stand out not because they are extra-ordinary but because laziness is the norm. We live in a generation that just doesn't care, or doesn't care enough. The danger is that this can infect the church so we go but do not engage, we listen but we don't hear we never take time to work out the implications for us this week. And we need to be warned if apathy characterises our attitude to church then we have already started to drift from our faith, we are already not in church.
So what's the remedy, it isn't some new programme it is "believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."(John 20:31) We need to revisit the cross and the empty tomb and see what Christ has done for us there. We see an incarnation and a sacrifice that calls us to relationship, we see something that is more important than anything else in the world and will transform everything in our worlds. That will not allow us if we truly grasp it to drift from those who will work it into out lives for our eternal good.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Flashforward
On the recommendation of a couple of people I finally sat down last night to watch last weeks episode of Flashforward. The premise of the show is that everyone in the world blacked out for 137 seconds and had a flash forward and saw what they were doing on April 29th 2010. The questions the show grapples with surround the various problems that such an incident throws up. For example could you change the future if you knew what was going to happen? Is it right to do so?
But the most interesting one was that it brought home to people their mortality, and now everyone was different because they were living life in the light of that. It shows how we distance ourselves from our mortality in the first place. We don't need a flashforward to realise we are going to die, as Ecclesiastes tells us it is a fate common to all men.
I'm looking forward to watching the previous episodes and the rest, I think as a series it'll raise loads of interesting moral questions.
But the most interesting one was that it brought home to people their mortality, and now everyone was different because they were living life in the light of that. It shows how we distance ourselves from our mortality in the first place. We don't need a flashforward to realise we are going to die, as Ecclesiastes tells us it is a fate common to all men.
I'm looking forward to watching the previous episodes and the rest, I think as a series it'll raise loads of interesting moral questions.
Sunday, 1 February 2009
The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas
This is a very cleverly written book as we see events in Germany during the Second World War through the eyes of a young boy called Bruno. We meet him as he has to leave everything in Berlin to move with his dads job. The innocence with which the story is told is what makes this story so compelling. As Bruno gradually discovers what his dad does at 'Out-with' as camp commandant.
Bruno's growing friendship with Shmuel who lives the other side of the fence is a fascinating mix of honest conversation and yet things they will not ask because it makes them uncomfortable. The end of the story does not sneak up on you, but neither is it so blindingly obvious that it ruins that book.
The book does give us an insight into the natural revulsion of a child to racism. As Bruno struggles to understand why a Jewish doctor is reduced to the role of a waiter, as he is appalled at the treatment of that man by the soldiers. In fact the mother's discomfort with the situation is also made apparent. It proves the maxim that all it takes for evil to prosper is good people to do nothing.
However, it also reveals to us the depth of evil man is capable of. We live in a world where such atrocities are not a one off event. Iraqi treatment of the Kurds, Hutu treatment of Tutsi's and other examples of ethnic cleansing cause us to recoil. Yet they keep happening, ordinary people with wives families, children keep perpetrating the most awful crimes. And no sociological theory adequately explains why? Indeed that is one of the cleverest parts of this book, we see Bruno's father as a moral man, a good father and yet he is the camp commandant overseeing 'Out-with'.
It confronts us with the problem we all have, we are a contradiction of the good and the bad, capable of great love and great hate. Capable of kindness and of cruelty, great good and great evil.
What Shmuel needs is someone to free him from the fence. Bruno devastatingly lets him down when he could defend him and then in an attempt to rebuild the relationship goes under the fence, taking on the role of a prisoner with the shaved head and stripped pyjamas to help Shmuel find his missing father. It is a gesture that ends in the shower block.
In one sense Bruno's actions are like those of Jesus. He too becomes what he is not, in Jesus case human. But Jesus incarnation is not futile but he is able to save, to save us from the contradiction that is our hearts, to save us from our sins and help us find our Father. He does so not by dying with us but by dying for us, in our place, and he guarantees our future by rising again and going to prepare a place for us.
Bruno's growing friendship with Shmuel who lives the other side of the fence is a fascinating mix of honest conversation and yet things they will not ask because it makes them uncomfortable. The end of the story does not sneak up on you, but neither is it so blindingly obvious that it ruins that book.
The book does give us an insight into the natural revulsion of a child to racism. As Bruno struggles to understand why a Jewish doctor is reduced to the role of a waiter, as he is appalled at the treatment of that man by the soldiers. In fact the mother's discomfort with the situation is also made apparent. It proves the maxim that all it takes for evil to prosper is good people to do nothing.
However, it also reveals to us the depth of evil man is capable of. We live in a world where such atrocities are not a one off event. Iraqi treatment of the Kurds, Hutu treatment of Tutsi's and other examples of ethnic cleansing cause us to recoil. Yet they keep happening, ordinary people with wives families, children keep perpetrating the most awful crimes. And no sociological theory adequately explains why? Indeed that is one of the cleverest parts of this book, we see Bruno's father as a moral man, a good father and yet he is the camp commandant overseeing 'Out-with'.
It confronts us with the problem we all have, we are a contradiction of the good and the bad, capable of great love and great hate. Capable of kindness and of cruelty, great good and great evil.
What Shmuel needs is someone to free him from the fence. Bruno devastatingly lets him down when he could defend him and then in an attempt to rebuild the relationship goes under the fence, taking on the role of a prisoner with the shaved head and stripped pyjamas to help Shmuel find his missing father. It is a gesture that ends in the shower block.
In one sense Bruno's actions are like those of Jesus. He too becomes what he is not, in Jesus case human. But Jesus incarnation is not futile but he is able to save, to save us from the contradiction that is our hearts, to save us from our sins and help us find our Father. He does so not by dying with us but by dying for us, in our place, and he guarantees our future by rising again and going to prepare a place for us.
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Kung Fu Panda
Took the family to see Kung Fu Panda. It is a good family film which we all enjoyed, it is a fairly traditional children's film, with someone who feels incapable and everyone thinks is incapable achieving the impossible and realising their potential to be a hero. In this case it is Po the Panda who must become the Dragon Warrior and bring peace to the valley by defeating the evil Tai Lung, his big hope is the dragon scroll which will give him the secret to victory.
However it is blank, he sees only himself and eventually realises he just needs to believe in himself.
The Bible has much to say about our need of a hero, except it tells us we cannot do it ourselves, we can't bring peace, we need someone to come and bring us peace. That is what the gospel is about, peace between us and God through Jesus Christ.
However it is blank, he sees only himself and eventually realises he just needs to believe in himself.
The Bible has much to say about our need of a hero, except it tells us we cannot do it ourselves, we can't bring peace, we need someone to come and bring us peace. That is what the gospel is about, peace between us and God through Jesus Christ.
Monday, 22 October 2007
Being relevant
Do you worry when you invite people to church about how they will respond? Will they mock me? Will they ridicule me? They are some of the responses we get but most often it is juts a; 'No thanks, its not for me.'
Why is that? It's not because the gospel does not save because it is the power of God for salvation and that never changes. It is because people do not see the gospel as we do. We know that it is life changing, that it frees, that it brings peace with God, saves us from judgement and gifts us eternal life. But actually our friends, family, work colleagues do not know that.
In fact most people today think Christianity is about keeping a set of rules. It is not real it has not moved with the times. It has little to do with the world that they live in. I wonder if they have a point.
Churches need to show a reverence for God and a relevance for the culture. If we do not have both either we are unacceptable to God or inaccessible to people.
Why is that? It's not because the gospel does not save because it is the power of God for salvation and that never changes. It is because people do not see the gospel as we do. We know that it is life changing, that it frees, that it brings peace with God, saves us from judgement and gifts us eternal life. But actually our friends, family, work colleagues do not know that.
In fact most people today think Christianity is about keeping a set of rules. It is not real it has not moved with the times. It has little to do with the world that they live in. I wonder if they have a point.
Churches need to show a reverence for God and a relevance for the culture. If we do not have both either we are unacceptable to God or inaccessible to people.
Friday, 1 June 2007
The challenge of engaging with our culture
I recently finished reading Mark Driscoll's 'Confessions of a reformission Rev', its a book that is well worth reading for the challenges it poses to us in terms of engaging with the culture around us but also in terms of learning from the experience at Mars Hill.
The big challenge I found was that of being theologically conservative but cultural liberal. The call to equip our people and ourselves to be missionaries in their and our everyday lives, to encourage and exhort them to be that. To be in the culture but still be separate is the call to holiness. Am I in danger of being a Pharisee, they questioned Jesus integrity because he ate with sinners as if sin were somehow contagious, I must make sure I don't fall into the same trap. A helpful reminder and call to reengage with our lost culture and world.
The big challenge I found was that of being theologically conservative but cultural liberal. The call to equip our people and ourselves to be missionaries in their and our everyday lives, to encourage and exhort them to be that. To be in the culture but still be separate is the call to holiness. Am I in danger of being a Pharisee, they questioned Jesus integrity because he ate with sinners as if sin were somehow contagious, I must make sure I don't fall into the same trap. A helpful reminder and call to reengage with our lost culture and world.
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