Bournagain

Well, I did it!   I finally took the plunge, held my breath, and upgraded to the Wordpress 2.5.  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’re really not missing anything.  It’s just that if you open up the bonnet of this blog you find that the motor running this thing is an application called Wordpress.  I have been reading some very scary things about what can go wrong when you upgrade, and all in all I haven’t lost too much hair so far.

However, you will notice that some of the doodackies (thingumibobs) in the sidebars to the right are missing, and depending on how the next couple of days go it may be a while before I get them back again.

You know those “dummies” books?  When it comes to web design I’m definitely one of the target readers.

I while back I blogged about something I found on a new book by Tom Sine (of “The Mustard Seed Conspiracy” fame, from years back). I still haven’t read the book by the way – don’t know what Amazon has done with my order.

It’s a bit odd writing about a book I haven’t read yet, so while I’m waiting, today I heard a radio interview with Tom Sine in Australia that I found well worth a listen.

If you are one of the four people who read my blog (Hi Mum!), you may have been waiting to find out how my weekend in the Cévennes went. We were staying in a community with the words “God’s Property” intriguingly inscribed on a sign to welcome you as you drive in after an impressively scenic drive into the hills along windy narrow roads. This place was started about 20 years ago by a couple who had been given this property, and saw it as a “safe house” for all who needed it – from homeless and marginals to alternatives, nomads, drifters – anyone was welcome. There are no conditions for entry other than respect for the fact that it is “God’s Property”. In practice this means that people are welcomed and respected in their differences, without judgement, that people participate in the running and financial needs of the community as they are able, and that they attend 2 community meetings each day, where there is singing, prayer, and sharing from the Scriptures. We experienced a couple of these meetings: 70 people crammed into a kind of stone basement with vaulted ceilings, praying and sharing together in all simplicity…it would be impossible to imagine a more diverse bunch of people! You could not escape an overwhelming sense of “God is here”. It’s rather like a modern-day monastery, I suppose.

It was therefore a PERFECT setting for this gathering. How can I describe it? We are so dependent on labels, aren’t we? But such a diverse group is difficult to put a label on. We had Jesus Freaks, student & youth workers, community dwellers, missionaries, a methodist minister, 24-7 prayer guys, house bus nomads, house church planters – you name it. The common thread was a passion for living a Jesus-centred life, sharing that with others, and living it out not only within the four walls of religious buildings but out in the world. We talked a lot about emergent church, simple church, house church etc. etc. But it was encouraging to see that the focus what not so much on any particular structure or method being THE answer for being church in the 21st century. The emphasis was much more on relying on the Holy Spirit to give us the right approach in our particular situation. Since the weekend I’ve been reading Red Moon Rising about the 24-7 prayer movement, and it’s helped me realise how much my way of relating to the Holy Spirit is changing. The book points out that for years in the church we were praying “Come Holy Spirit”, and he came. Today the Holy Spirit is calling “Come, Holy people” – come and live out holiness among people where they live – not to distinguish ourselves, but so that they too can share in what it means to be holy (definition: centred on God rather than on self. It is the opposite of being “holier than thou”, which is the way it is often wrongly understood). The question is, will we go? Or will we remain in the “come Holy Spirit” mode – come and bless our churches.

The meeting did not end with any great strategy or plan for the future, but we achieved our goals of networking, new friendships, and getting a bigger picture of what’s happening in France and across Europe. Hard to predict what the fruit will be, but for me it was absolutely a not-to-be-missed experience.

I’m writing this from Montpellier where I’m waiting for a bus to take me out to a Christian community in the Cévennes hills – a historic area where many huguenots (French Protestants) took refuge during the wars of religion. Some weeks ago I received information about this gathering from Connect Europe:

As many of you know the spiritual situation in France is still more problematic and difficult as may be in other countries. Right now there is a little team of friends coming together who have the dream, aspiration and vision that God wants to change something, that in France a new kind of community based church will emerge, that will influence the French culture and will have something to give to Europe and what God is doing there…

This immediately caught my eye as I’ve been following the activities of this group for a while through various blogs (Marc’s Messages, Andi’s Perspective etc…), and it’s the first time they’ve had a gathering in France. Ordinarily it was going to be impossible for me to make it because of other commitments. And the SUDDENLY, everything opened up, I found cheap plane tickets just yesterday, and here I am! Not sure what to expect, but really looking forward to connecting with people from different parts of France and Europe who are seeking to “connect, pray together, build bridges” and work towards new (old) ways of being church and community in Europe.

My now 7-year-old son had his birthday this week and as usual put in an exceedingly complicated request for his birthday cake. “Mum, last year I asked for a fighter plane, but you made me a passenger-plane cake (!!). This year can I have a fighter plane?”

Here’s what he ended up with: not just any fighter plane, but a camouflaged stealth bomber!!! Bravo Mum!

In the weekend we saw our eldest daughter (on the left) baptised with 3 of her friends. So how does a (nearly) 14-year old come to the decision to be baptised? Listening to their stories we heard how during a summer camp a couple of years ago, sleeping in the open air on a starry night, they were all really impressed by the beauty of the night sky. Someone asked the question, if you were to die tonight, do you know where you’d end up? A big question, but one which, is a question teenagers ask much more than we might think. This question really got them thinking, and led these four girls to a real encounter with God that night, which they demonstrated by taking the plunge to mark the beginning of their big adventure in faith. Awesome!

Have you ever noticed that the first utterances of God to man that are recorded in the book of Genesis are questions? We can suppose that God who knows all things was not unaware of the transaction that had taken place between Adam, Eve and the serpent, and yet instead of berating them for their foolishness, he begins with a question: Where are you? In the very first scene revealing God’s relationship with man, we see God searching for his children who, out of fear and pride, have hidden from him. God has continued to seek man throughout his history.

When he finds them, he persists in his questioning: Who told you that you are naked? As if to say, “I made you that way! You have no reason to be ashamed”. Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? Why would God ask what he already knows, if not to allow man the opportunity to confess. Before speaking judgement, he allows man to take full responsibility for his actions, thereby affirming his humanness. He allows room for reflection, confession and repentance, so that man might be restored. Yet rather than recognise his own fault, Adam blames God, and then his wife, for his own folly. What is this you have done? A fourth question, which Eve in turn answers in blaming the serpent. Neither acknowledges wrongdoing. What would have happened had they confessed? Was it the eating of the fruit or the failure to ask for forgiveness that saw them ultimately excluded from the garden, and thus human life the way God intended it.

God continues his search, probing into the heart of man, drawing him out. To Cain he asks Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? Is this not the concern of a loving Father? Yet rather than receive that love, Cain allows his anger to give birth to murder. There again, God stays his judgement, preferring to allow the possibility of a contrite heart. Although Abel’s blood was screaming Cain’s guilt, God asks: Where is your brother? Cain adds falsehood to his crimes. And still God questions: What have you done?

This same God questions us today, not imposing his truth, nor bringing judgement before its time. He allows us to draw our own conclusions, willing us to choose rightly, longing for our restoration, yet permitting us to reject him if we so choose. If we reject him, our refusal will not go unjudged indefinitely. Today is amnesty day – our opportunity to confess our faults, to overcome our pride, and to agree with God’s appraisal. Who knows but that it might be our last.

Following our discussions on mission in Europe near Valence last week, the Lausanne World Pulse had an interesting article on The European Church Today: Reflections on Her context. It’s gives a useful overview of the details, without getting too bogged down in history. If you’re like me, you often don’t get to the end of pages that you click through to from links on people’s blogs, but if you make it through to the end of this one you’ll get to some interesting thoughts on examples of the openness of today’s Europeans to spiritual ideas – important implications for mission if we could just see the challenges as opportunities and not reasons for failure.

Sitting in the train on the way back from a couple of very fruitful days near Valence with friends working with Bethany Fellowship. It has been nearly 11 years since we left Bethany in Minneapolis after two years of studies, and we have always been a little sad that we haven’t managed to keep contact as well as we would have hoped. So when we were asked to join a conference of their European workers we jumped at the chance. Bethany’s European personnel are primarily church planters and workers in the UK, France, Slovenia, Germany, with a number of alumni working in other places. It was great to meet old friends and join in on discussions about recalibrating Bethany’s European focus and getting some insight on what mission in Europe might mean for Bethany in the future. Although we don’t work directly with the organisation they often function in partnership and cooperation with others and we would love to do more with them. The publicity for their mission training operation in Minneapolis has been called a “best kept secret” and it’s true that although the work is not very well known, it has been remarkable what has been accomplished, especially in developing an extensive network of culturally adapted mission training outfits in some very diverse places (102 to be exact). They call it “GO 100″ if you want to know more. We also talked about what that might mean in Europe, and specifically how their “hands on” training with an excellent new internship programme could be part of this new vision. Bethany played a pretty foundational role in our lives and we’re thrilled to have reestablished that contact.

How refreshing to find this interview with Bishop N.T Wright in Time Magazine.

The question of heaven is a good example of how we fail to understand the clear and obvious teaching of Scripture because of the blinkers imposed by our “Christian” culture. Men have been burnt at the stake for less than Wright’s assertions about what happens after death. This is a crucial question which cannot help but influence the way we live. The “it’ll all pan out in the end” approach to eschatology and the question of what happens when you die has left many of us ineffective and unproductive in our faith. I think there’s a real need for us to get our theology sorted on this issue.