who I'm following on twitter - 2009

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walls come tumbling down

Lots taking place today in celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago. A book that springs to mind when I think about this momentous event is Ian McEwan's Black Dogs; the black dogs of the title are a metaphor of the potential for violence, corruption and perversion in modern Europe as the book ranges from events during the second world war to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Here's something else that the collapse of the Berlin Wall brings to mind even though it was recorded several years before; Paul Weller and The Style Council's Walls Come Tumbling Down.



And if you are looking for a liturgical rite to celebrate the bringing down of the wall you can do no better than this from the Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley.

5 deeply de-Christian doctrines

Interesting meme doing the rounds at the moment and here's my response:
List 5 doctrines that are taught within the Christian church that you believe to be deeply de-Christian.

1. God calls us to be perfect. God calls us to be holy, which is not the same thing and faithfulness is an expression of our desire to be the people God longs for us to be. (To clarify: I am not contradicting the teaching of Jesus as I believe his call to 'be perfect' is a call to holiness not to pefection as understood by the Greek philosophers.)
2. Jesus is a good bloke and a good moral example to follow. Jesus is but he is much more than that.
3. Evangelism and social justice are two sides of the same coin. This suggests you can choose heads or tails; both are non-negotiables of the Christian faith.
4. The immutability and impassibility of God. The more I read the Bible the more I am convinced that this doctrine owes more to Greek philosophy than the God revealed in the scriptures and ultimately in Jesus. If God is immutable and impassable what was the cross all about?
5. That there is a hierarchy of sin and sex is near the top. If there is a hierarchy then I’m pretty sure it’s not the one we suggest by our teaching and practice. That is not to say that sex does not matter, but while we are obsessed with it millions of children are dying for want of clean water.

I tag Paul Trathen, Jonathan Evens, Sam Norton, Tim Goodbody and Peter Banks.

nativity

O.K. I know we've only just got bonfire night out of the way but sometimes you have to plan ahead. I've already seen the trailer for the film Nativity and now Steve Goddard has drawn my attention via Twitter to a set of resources being produced by Damaris Media to link in with the film. The resources include:

• A full service outline of an all-age service, using footage from Nativity!
• Full notes for a primary school assembly using footage from Nativity!
• A specially created short video for use in or before church services, telling your congregation about the film
• A specially created short video for focusing your congregation in advance of your Advent Sunday service
• A specially created short video for use in a children’s slot in a Sunday service
• Open access Tools For Talks resources with downloadable clips from the film and suggestions for use in your meetings

Here's the trailer for the film which will be released at the end of November.

commission4mission exhibition

Dropped into Chelmsford Cathedral this morning to see the commission4mission exhibition. Commission4mission aims to encourage the commissioning and placing of contemporary Christian Art in churches, as a mission opportunity and as a means of fundraising for charities. The exhibition runs from 2nd – 7th November ‘09 in the cathedral and ends on Saturday 7th with a Study Day entitled ‘Perspectives on commissioning Christian Art’.

There is a wide variety of art on display including: pottery, painting in watercolour, oils and acrylics, embroidery, wall hangings, prints, sculpture, panel reliefs, mosaics, drawings, glass work and jewellery. The cathedral also contains many examples of contemporary art and one of the most striking features is a 20 foot painting situated in the North Transept and unveiled in January 2004 to celebrate the 1,350th anniversary of St. Cedd's arrival at Bradwell. It is of a "Tree of Life" painted by Mark Cazalet. It is a Gospel Oak which evokes different levels of response from the viewer with many symbols that give their own messages. The environmental and ecological themes are obvious. but it is also a celebration, which exults in the sheer splendour of this great tree, and is a call to worship the God who creates.

Jonathan Evens, one of the key people behind commission4mission, posted a guest blog which explains more about the vision here.