My Thought:

Sometime I believe that maybe the modern day world has polluted the minds of Christians into thinking that material things matter more than they did in previous years. In previous generations, I don’t think there was the kind of materialism that binds people today.

In no particular order, here’s some of my highlights for this week. Please note that I am not responsible for the content of external websites and that I may not necessarily agree with all positions represented in the following links:

• In a Mirror Dimly: Belonging: When I Didn’t Serve God in Church: “When I started attending church, it served as a  lifeline for me. I found friends. I met people who believed the same things I’d been processing from the Bible. It didn’t take long for me to start showing up to volunteer.”
• BBC News: Queen Church role backed in poll:“Almost 80% of people in England support a religious role for the Queen, a BBC poll suggests. In a poll by Comres to coincide with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, 79% of respondents said she still had an important faith role.”
• Big Bible Project: Mary Magdalene – model disciple #BigBible @Seeking1st:”What do you think of when you hear the name ‘Mary Magdalene’? Penitent prostitute? Jesus’ lover? Magdalen College, Oxford? Magdalene College, Cambridge? The former Magdalen Asylums for  ’fallen women’ in Ireland? Generally Mary Magdalene has had a bad press.”
• Christian.co.uk: 2012 Summer Festivals and Conferences: “Our indispensable guide to the summer’s most exciting and inspirational festivals and conferences.The weather may be telling you differently, but Summer is approaching fast, and with it comes a wealth of Christian conferences and festivals for all the family. If you haven’t booked a ticket yet, check out our guide to what’s going on around the UK.”
• The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley: Talking During Worship: “I first noticed this phenomenon many years ago in a Methodist chapel near Milton Keynes. Chatting during a service.” 
• Kingdom People (The Gospel Coalition): Is it Biblical to Ask Jesus Into Your Heart?: “The Southern Baptist blogosphere has erupted in conversation on whether it’s proper to use phrases like “asking Jesus into your heart,” “accepting Christ,” or methods like the “sinner’s prayer” when sharing the gospel.”
• National Secular Society: Advertising watchdog threatens to martyr Archbishop Cranmer all over again: “Christian blogger Archbishop Cranmer is under investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority after he reproduced an advertisement from the group “Coalition for Marriage” which is seeking to thwart the Government’s plans to legalise same-sex marriage.”
• Daily Mail: ‘He is the love of my life’: Mother’s inspiring YouTube video about son born with severe cleft palate that left him with no eyes: “A mother whose son was born with a rare form of cleft palate that left him with no eyes has made an inspiring video revealing their struggles – and how the baby boy battled their bullies with his laughter. In the YouTube video, Lacey Buchanan, from Woodbury, Tennessee, holds up cards describing her excitement at falling pregnant with son Christian, and the fears and snide comments that followed. During the seven-minute film, she holds one-year-old Christian into her chest, only revealing his face to the camera at end of the video as she kisses him and shows him off proudly.”
• The Resurgence: Should Christians Believe in Evolution?: “The question “Do you believe in evolution?” does not have a simple “yes” or “no” answer. There are at least six principal meanings of evolution used in biology textbooks, and for the average non-scientist I believe there are four core distinctions that should be understood…”
• Chron.com: Texas pastor launches website for clergy fashionistas: “There was a time when clergy were known for clerical collars and ornate liturgical vestments. However, since the rise of Evangelicalism in the 20th century, pastors are better known for baggy business suits than for unique spiritual garb. Certainly, pastors are not known for their sense of style”
• Sojourners: N.T. Wright Asks: Have We Gotten Heaven All Wrong?: “The oft-cliched Christian notion of heaven — a blissful realm of harp-strumming angels — has remained a fixture of the faith for centuries…”

I love this picture made by ASBO Jesus, a cartoon blog that I’ve recently decided to follow. The cartoons on it are designed to make people think about moral, ethical, theological and political issues. This particular cartoon caught my eye. Why?

The other day, my vicar and I were discussing statements of belief and doctrinal bases. We were saying that if we had a visible doctrinal basis that people had to sign up to, then the church would probably have more people going to it. And to be honest, I really do think that’s true.

Of course, we do have some sort of doctrinal basis, except it’s not written down in the way that many people would see one today. We hold to the catholic creeds (OK, don’t get angry on me – I mean the Nicene creed etc) and I guess we would, if we had to, describe ourselves as evangelical charismatic Anglicans. But we don’t explicitly describe ourselves in that way. Neither do we say ‘We’re an evangelical alliance church’ or ‘We’re a New Wine church’, even though we go to New Wine every year and share in the beliefs of the evangelical alliance.

One problem within evangelicalism today is that people want to be uniform. And with uniformity comes a limitation in how much you’re allowed to think, study and research the Bible and Theology for yourself. I’ve talked about this before. And I think a very scary outcome of this limitation is the sort of situation where Christian leaders get scared of people asking questions or objecting to ideas from the leadership. Along with that, Christians equally feel scared to ask questions and are therefore often left in the dark. This results in a stinted growth of discipleship and of the Church generally.

Evangelicalism is not a denomination. It is a movement of Christians who hold to certain key principles, and even those key principles are contested and debated hotly. It’s OK for there to be diversity within the church. None of us are going to get everything right. And a lot of the stuff we believe may be wrong.

But let’s not get to possessive over doctrine just because someone is asking a question. It is allowed.

My thought:

This seems to be a major problem in the Church today. People are just not willing to forgive when they forget so easily that they have had to have been forgiven themselves…

The Telegraph reported yesterday that the BBC’s Chief of Religion, Aqil Ahmed, has stated that he will not give in to pluralistic demands despite calls for the Sunday evening, Christian themed ‘Songs of Praise’ to become interfaith. Aquil Ahmed is a practicing Muslim and his appointment sparked controversy and complaint a few years back. He said that it was vital that religious programming promoted “diversity” but insisted that Songs of Praise would always remain Christian.

Original Image at http://www.flickr.com/photos/erinleighart/5907312881/sizes/l/in/photostream/

My thought:

Absolutely! I love how C S Lewis’ writings are so deeply inspirational and encouraging. What new dream are you going to dream today?!

OK, so I have decided that seeing as I read a lot and I follow a lot of blogs, I have decided to do a weekly roundup! I think this will be an excellent tool to share other blogs with you, my dear, dear readers as well as getting to communicate with others and bring people here for a chat. For those of you who blog or do technical stuff on the internet, you will know that when someone puts a link to your site, you get notified. So when I put my weekly roundup live on the blog, those people included should be notified! How cool is that?!

So, the Weekly Roundup will go live every Friday at 9AM sharp (hopefully!). What I need from you guys is some blogs that you enjoy reading and any suggestions of what could be included in the weekly roundups. I’m quite excited about this as I’m hoping it will be a platform for more conversation and interaction on the blogosphere.

I’ve already started collecting posts together, so be prepared for the first roundup this Friday at 9am!

My thought:

Absolutely. But of course, C S Lewis wasn’t merely talking about things in this world. He was talking of heaven for those who know Jesus. Indeed, the world is a wonderful place, but dark at the same time. The world is a good place but bad. The world is temporary. And we’re just passing through. For the Christian, this life is just the prelude. Death is just the beginning.

If you didn’t know already, my guilty pleasure in life is actually Coronation Street. I love it. It’s the funniest out of all the soaps on British TV and it has some great story lines. Yeah, OK, as with all soaps, there are major fires, disasters and murders at least every quarter, but I find Corrie really british, and I’ve grown up with it. But one storyline that a few people have been following recently is a love triangle between characters Eileen, Paul and Lesley.

Paul and Lesley have been married for a long time. Eileen has been single for a long time. Paul and Eileen meet and start to develop feelings for each other. When Eileen suspects that the whole thing seems too good to be true, she goes snooping round to Paul’s house only to see him with another woman; Lesley.

It soon turns out that Lesley has dementia. But this doesn’t stop Paul or Eileen from seeing each other, and eventually they fall in love. This week, Paul has been talking about getting a divorce from Lesley so that he can marry Eileen. He states that they don’t have a marriage anymore and that Lesley isn’t the person that he married. He’s tired and worn out and feels that he deserves to be happy.

The final episodes this week, aired on Friday changed the game completely. Lesley has a bad day and becomes aggressive, causing Eileen to run out the house upset, leaving Lesley on her own. She electrocutes herself and dies. No need for Paul to file divorce papers.

They’re both left devastated, upset and shocked by the situation. They both feel guilty and Paul feels as if he’s let the marriage down and neglected the marriage vows he made to Lesley.

What many people don’t understand is that these story lines are quite close to the harsh reality of many people in marriages where the partner has dementia or an illness that takes away the person the other married. And difficult choices have to be made. As I watched the programme, I wondered what I would say or suggest to a couple who came to me for advice and/or counselling about this sort of situation when I’m a vicar.

And to be honest, I don’t know what I’d say at the moment. I understand that many would say that marriage vows are for life, despite illness; the vows state “…in sickness and in health”, right? On the other hand, these sorts of illnesses take their toll on both the sufferer and the ‘carer’ in the relationship and often strip away personality and characteristics that helped cause love to blossom within the couple’s relationship.

Ethics are terribly complicated and pastor’s face these issues daily, as do all of us. What I want to know is what would you do or say in such a situation, and how would you justify what you would say or do?

I’d love a bit of discussion on this – they’re important issues and need to be thought about carefully!