The irony wasn't lost on me...

Last week took the Mini-bus out for a picnic to Hainault Forest.

Victor and I sat and talked on a bench when he got lost in his thoughts, I started to read a chapter of Roger Greens book on William Booth - The Life And Ministry Of William Booth: Founder Of The Salvation Army - review here. Chapter 10 caught my eye "Turning Points".

As I sat next to Victor I read how William Booth became more and more bothered about social salvation, how his theology grew to offer an apologetic for a'second' mission that some might now call the social gospel while also maintaining the line that would prevent TSA becoming just another 'good' social service agency. Personal Salvation was never eclipsed - we have GS Railton and Catherine Booth to thank for maintaining an essential balance. 'Societal salvation and redemption' once rejected by Booth became a 'prophetic mantra' that took TSA social work beyond the 'Sham Compassion' that was the hallmark of church philanthropy run wild. (Which - incidently - together with 'respectable nominalism' gives understanding to Catherine's angst and pent up aggression in 'Aggressive Christianity').

As I sat next to Victor I worked through in my mind the legacy of Booth calling social engagement the 'second mission'. I'm uncomfortable with this as it offers social engagement as a lesser 'either/or' option which plainly does not sit with the great commandment where we quite obviously are not called to 'love God' or 'our neighbour' but to 'love God' and 'our neighbour'.

As I sat next to Victor, Booth's journey wasn't lost on me nor was the irony of Victor's enjoyment of the countryside and fellowship where he is part of our family.

Comments

Fred and Wendy said…
Gordon - I enjoy checking in on your blog...and as I am a friend of your brother Anthony...wondered if he had ventured into blogging?
5:35 PM
Gordon said…
Hi Fred - thanks for popping by! I don't know if Anthony blogs - if he does he has kept it quiet? Do you know him from the ICO?
5:57 PM
Fred and Wendy said…
No ICO connection here though I did attend, I think a year before Anthony. We did a DYB exchange a number of years ago then when I was at the ICO I spent a weekend with them in Hemsley...now I have a couple who he married in our corps in Calgary. Small world isn't it? By the way when I was at the ICO we visited Poplar!
10:51 AM
Charlie Chikankata said…
You should have gone to Epping Forest - it's much nicer there :-)
3:59 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit of sally bashing....

Came across a good bit of Sally bashing over at salvationsoldiers I have to say we try and make sure that everything we raise goes into projects that build local community in Poplar but hopefully if you read this blog you get that sense anyway.
Read more

Lost Voices of Mission...Fred Brown

Image
Along the world famous Oxford street in London's Westend; nestled in among the classy frontage of designer shops there is almost an unnoticeable, unimpressive wooden door. It is more or less alongside The Regent Hall's main entrance onto the busyness of Oxford Street. People pass the wooden door oblivious to the equally unimpressive wooden steps that go up three storey's to what was Regent Hall's youth club. When I was 10 I played on these bare wooden steps totally unaware of the significance behind and upon which I played. Many years later I discovered a university youth work course - as an induction to Youth Work - stopped outside this insignificant wooden door to point out that Youth Work as we know it in the UK started behind this door. ...whether that be the surbanite flower people that flooded the Westend to express their free love; or the hard core drug community this unimpressive wooden door became the 'portal' that blurred encounter between church an
Read more

Types of Christian Spirituality...

Image
It is easy to think and to limit ourselves to a single approach to Christian spirituality. A 'if it works for me it should work for you approach' tends to narrow our appreciation of other ways which actually impoverishes our experience of spirituality. Urban T. Holmes has developed a means of exploring spirituality and helps develop an appreciation through discovering links between spirituality, temperament and predisposition. The diagram illustrates his ideas together with potential inherent dangers. The vertical continuum speaks and helps us understand our relational orientation to God. This ranges from engaging with God through understanding and theological process to a more emotive response. Horizontally speaks of a persons preferred means of pursuing the spiritual life. Kataphtic speaks of affirmation and the need of something tangible in an individuals spirituality- this may take the form of worship, art, even imagination with the use of metaphors, symbols and images play
Read more