Tomorrow night (Wed 2 July, from 7.30pm at Nexus), we're sharing in a meal and exploring faith journeys through a short service, especially in relation to Ben's recent ordination.

Do join us - you'd be very welcome.

Labels: service

Click here to find out.

I managed to survive for 1 minute 23 seconds, with truthful answers.

' He [David Davis] could face opposition from the Sun newspaper, whose former editor Kelvin MacKenzie said he may stand, backed by Rupert Murdoch, if Labour did not field a candidate.

Mr MacKenzie told the BBC earlier there were two reasons for running: "One is that the Sun is very, very hostile to David Davis because of his 28-day stand, and the Sun has always been up for 42 days, or perhaps even 420 days, frankly." '

(BBC)

Labels: politics

Labels: news, sanctus1, TV

Cheryl's only gone and done it again and written something that might as well be aimed at my heart... love it, and love her. Thanks.

You can also now get her liturgy book at Proost.

Labels: blogging, liturgy

It was a pleasure and a privilege to have Sylvia and Brian with us last night exploring Colossians through their own fine book, Colossians Remixed. They were challenging, funny, pointed and generous - depsite being asked if they were Americans! ;-) And yes I know some people actually gasped out loud when we had to get the Bibles out and read a whole book... shock horror.

Mainly, they gave an overview as to how Paul subverts the culture, economics, images and symbols of the Roman Empire through this letter to the church in Colossae. And in particular, the passage chapter 1, v15-20 being an undoing/ reworking of those Empire values to those of Christ. Brian riffed on those verses at the end, giving a 21C cultural response to the book, contextualising it for us. Looking at them again in the Message today, I was also struck by their layers of meaning and reference:

15-18We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

18-20He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.


I've got big shoes to fill - I'm doing next week as a follow up (gulp). So expect more on this theme and what is 21C Empire if you're coming along...

Labels: books, sanctus1

This Thursday we have Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat leading a Blah...Mcr day for us in the city centre. Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat, are the authors of Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire present a day's teaching.

If you haven't read the book or think that a bible commentary sounds a bit dull think again. It is one of the best books those of us involved in blah... have read for some time. Brian and Sylvia are based in Canada so this is a rare chance to hear and meet them. doing three dates around the UK and they'll be in Mcr on the 5th June under the title of 'Colossians Remixed'! Book here cost is £15 for the entire day, times and venue on the booking site...

This has just been brought to my attention by a mate - Edinburgh World Justice Festival, running from 14-29 June.

Labels: justice

Art is moral passion married to entertainment. Moral passion without entertainment is propaganda, and entertainment without moral passion is television. (Rita Mae Brown)

Labels: quote

Last night, we did the last event of the Dirty Mother series, a service exploring the links between the environment and talking the talk/walking the walk, and guilt, shame, anger/choice, class, convenience.

Below are a few things that we did: thanks to Lizzie, Kevin and Rachel for their ideas and hard work.


A new candle lighting setting

We light this light in the name of the Creator,
The one who breathed the breath of life,
The one who made the heavens and the earth,
The one who looked at everything in the beginning and it was good.

We light this light in the name of the Redeemer,
The one who came to show us a kingdom way,
The one who spoke in riddles about seeds and birds and lilies of the field,
The one who turned The Word into action.

We light this light in the name of the Sustainer,
The one who hovered over the waters at the very start of everything,
The one who inspires and challenges us to change,
The one whose fire renews us still.


A reflective liturgical piece

Where to start, what to do? So much to do and so little time...

Choices, choices everywhere and not an action to take. Life is a mass of choices - from the frivolous to the life-changing. Which Tshirt? What newspaper? That job? This house? Sometimes it feels like there are too many choices - simply too much to choose from - an indistinguishable mass of clamoring stuff.

In fact, so much choice that we become worried that we make will the wrong one, we become paralysed by the choosing. And then comes the guilt and shame and anger. Because we are wealthy and free enough to even have choices in the first place. Because we try to pick between convenience and ethics, the environment and other people, the best use of our resources and the best use of our time...

Where to start, what to do? So much to do and so little time...
Wine from France's relatively near vineyards or a fair price for vintners in Chile?
The cost of that long train trip or the convenience of flying?
Fairtrade bananas or organic ones?
Free range or food miles?
Biofuel or world food shortages?
Spend at People tree or invest at the Co-op?
And in the end, the middle class guilts about the very act of choosing the "right" option...

Can we make the earth a little lighter? Can we hold it as a common treasury for all? The inconvenient truth is we must still live and work and lead our lives in this 21st century world, but maybe those of us who *can* choose must realise (as the saying goes) that with great power comes great responsibility... So when the scale of the task overwhelms us, we need to go back to basics and redo the maths - small changes x lots of people = BIG change.

This is not about whether we should act alone, but how we can act together – both acting locally and thinking globally. We are a new movement, one that talks the talk and walks the walk; we must imagine, believe and begin.


Other

Also we dug out an old Vaux liturgy for use during sharing bread and wine. And there were four stations around the space for people to visit:

• one on we are what we do
• one on the effect of climate change on people across the world
• one a big graffiti wall - one thing to change the world
• one on BBC's Blood, Sweat and Tshirts

Labels: environment, sanctus1, service

Labels: communication, travel

I walked through the city centre this morning and was angered by what i saw and smelt. As you can no doubt imagine 150,000 drunken football fans create a lot of mess...I walked along Cross Street and a man shouted out of his car window at some Rangers Fans, 'F**k Off back to Glasgow'. My city had offered hospitality and it had been abused.

I'm a great believer in hospitality and when that hospitality is abused it hurts. Maybe the police were heavy handed, it was unfortunate one of the TV screens failed to work. But when my TV has broken down I do not have a riot, i do not assault people, I do not threaten people...

Do I blame Manchester City Council? A bit....yesterdays headline in the MEN claimed the city would make £25 million from the day - tankers were arriving full of beer. Manchester maybe saw this as an opportunity to make a quick buck, and basically they got burnt.

Labels: sanctus1, service

I left Sanctus1 last night to encounter police dresses in full riot gear. There was a tangible sense of tension in the air and level of nervousness on the streets. I'd been in the city centre since 17:00 and it was heaving with 100,000 Rangers Fans. I'd cleaned up vomit from the toilets of Nexus, shut Nexus early because of the threat, had water stolen from us, seen people skinning up on the front step, been in a crowd where bottles were being thrown and witnessed horrific sectarian abuse. I'd received many messages throughout the day telling me how 'bad' the city centre was and yet I was still excited about the prospect of entering the city.

As a church, and as a church leader in the city centre, I/we are called to reflect on our context and ask the question: Where do we find God in this? Where is God in 100,000 pissed football fans rampaging through our city centre? I cannot believe that God is not there and therefore I will not. Yet, at the same time we are called to be critical, we cannot blindly affirm all that is happening without criticizing the destructive force that is at work.

Being a church in the city centre means that this is your context - this is where we outwork our Christian faith. Last night we were exploring three different positive Christian approaches to the environment, finishing with Matthew Fox's Creation Spirituality. I finished with a quote from Fox:

Creation spirituality, a path that we choose to take that is distinct from other ways offered us, begins with creation and the cosmos. Only later does it get to the human story, which then attracts us like jewel set in the larger drama of creation itself.

I read this and then 20 minutes later I left Sanctus1 and saw blue flashing lights and riot police. Are we really the jewel in the cosmos? I still believe that we are...