Back to Church Sunday - last grasp @ christendom?

It was great to see some new people @ connecT exploring God with us. We hope you enjoyed what we are trying to do. Thanks to all the team!

But, was back to church Sunday a good thing? Was it a last grasp @ christendom? I'm mulling that one over a bit. It could have been, depends on how it was handled. We tried to be open, invitational & hospitable. We tried not to push church rules, regulations and 'religion'. We tried to speak about Jesus and do so in a way that made sense to the culture. We tried...

How did it go for you?

Chris

Back to Church Sunday

At connecT, this Sunday, 13 September 5.30pm, we are keeping 'Back to Church Sunday'. The idea is to come back to church if you haven't been for a while or come for the first time if you have never been. We will keep it in the connecT flavour - informal, relevant, faithful; and followed by a meal. Hope you can make it. connecT meets @ St. Jude's Anglican Church, 444 Brighton Rd, Brighton, South Australia each Sunday @ 5.30pm.

Chris

Life in parables

Now, what was that all about? So someone asked after I was trying to say something profound about parables. Er...what I was trying to say was that parables are best left a little open ended. A parable, like the 'good Samaritan', says something about the way we experience the reign of God and how we respond to it. Indeed, that parable finishes with a call to be like the 'good Samaritan'.

But, I no longer hold that a parable should only have one meaning as, seemed to be, suggested in some books and articles I read in the past. A parable - left open - invites us into the story. Who am I really - the priest, the levite, the victim or the good Samaritan or even just the inn keeper?

Parables get us involved and in turn help us to see that our lives can be parabolic -earthly, incarnational stories that speak of the surprising God among us.

Chris

P.S. Don't forget connecT looks at 'the Shack' (previous post)

connecT looks at the Shack

During September 'connecT' looks at William P Young's, popular, book, 'The Shack'. 'connecT' meets every Sunday @ 5.30pm @ St. Jude's Church, 444 Brighton Rd, Brighton, South Australia. 'connecT' is an informal service committed to shared worship, dialogue and community. Our tag - relevant, informal, faithful.

Chris

Grumpy God Judge

Last week at connecT we looked at the parable of the 'widow and the judge'(Luke 18). At first glance it looks like God is a grumpy old man who won't give us what we want until we annoy hm enough. That is until Shelley - one of our worship leaders - reminded us that the judge is an example of what God is not like. Makes sense, especially in the light of the other parables in Luke, like the 'prodigal son'.

But I wonder how many of us have a grumpy God judge? Christianity has often used that image to compel people to do what it wants or to convert by fear. It doesn't seem to fit with Jesus as God's 'human face' and square with his ministry with the outcast, sinful and poor.

The parable of the 'widow and the judge' reminds us of persistence in prayer. Working at it helps us to grow closer to Jesus and perhaps, learn more from him and to be like him. Its been about 30 years since I became a Christian and I'm still learning and growing, and loving it!. I'd like to think that's persistence with a gracious God not a grumpy judge. Maybe, persistence in prayer softens the grumpy God judge that seems to live in so many of us; and sometimes even in me!

Chris

What's in a name?

Recently, I read of a dispute over names - emerging vs emergent. Apparently, there is a difference; but does the difference really matter all that much? My understanding of emergent(ing) movement is that we are trying to listen to, and respond, to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. We are keeping our ear to the ground, and to the wind, to get a sense of where God is moving in the world, and what our response should be. There is bound to be some difference of opinion in that!

For what its worth, I like 'emerging'. It reminds us that we are not quite there yet and never will be. The church is always on a journey and when, we think, we have arrived, it only means we are ready to 'pilgrim' again. Disputes over words and labels are not really that important. Apostle Paul had something to say about that. Which leads me to connecT.

This week we had a look at the conflict between Euodia and Syntyche in Philippian 4. Paul's love for both reminds us of our God created uniqueness which, in turn, will cause the occasional conflict with others. Paul's advice, think like Jesus (Phil 2).

Chris

Sophie's thoughts.

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At our contemporary worship service this week we looked at Philippians 1- the start of a 4 week chapter by chapter exploration of the letter. It is really extraordinary to read the joy and love that Paul clearly has for the community in Philippi. His genuine exuberance even from jail is confronting. Paul is still bearing witness and spreading the Gospel from inside jail, and more than that he is not put off whatsoever by his current circumstances.

Paul gives us a great example of how to bear trials, most definitely, but he also gives a model of discipleship that transcends situation- and I think here lies some of what Philippians 1 has to say to a contemporary audience. To follow Paul is would seem to me that we might need to find our prisons. In the service we looked at what status is about, what objects and things keep us locked up. Using some of the popular philosophical work of Allan de Botton, we looked at our own loot/prison and the secondary prison of the status the loot can affords us. Sometimes we can be slaves to our societal rank or to the perceptions of others about us, or our stuff. The good news, from our focal letter to Philippi, is that these prisons mean very little to us. If Paul could not be contained by bars, we cannot be contained by our “stuff”. We can reveal some of Paul’s joy and exuberance in ourselves and glimpse the real freedom Christ offers.

Sophie (Student Minister)