URBANarmy

It doesn't seem right that Immanuel is no longer with us, the irony of his name sticks in my throat this evening; at this time of year as we come to terms with his death. Immanuel moved to Poplar Corps when were there with his wife and became a valuable member and pillar of our congregation. He was a solid member of the church, a true support to our ministry, someone who to spend time with made a difference to you, a member of a small congregation that developed in his front room first in Bethnal Green then Bow - above all he was a valued friend. Someone to laugh with, to feel totally relaxed in the presence of his generosity. He taught me far more than he will ever realise, his wisdom impacting me deeper than he ever intended. His favoured prayer phrases are indelibly embedded on my memory - and as a 'mother hen gathers her chicks under her wing' may God in his love and mercy gather Immanuel's young family to him as they come to terms of life without their father and...

There was an interesting conversation on Radio 5 between Ricky Gervais and The Archbishop of Canterbury on matters of faith. Here's a taster... Ricky Gervais : "The biggest mistake he [God] made was giving me free will..." The Archbishop of Canterbury: "A lot of theologians would agree with you there...!"

I'm getting to grips with how to read NT Wright; concentrate on the first two sentences and the concluding sentences of a paragraph, be prepared for your brain to be mugged and turned over in between while NT substantiates his thoughts and arguments! Jesus and the Victory of God looks at and makes sense of key themes within Jesus. The strongest themes being that of the Temple cleansing and the Last Supper, through which come a strong essence of Messiahship and Kingdom of God. His approach based on what he calls the 'third quest' raises questions of how Jesus' words and action would have been interpreted, and through doing so peels back centuries of theological silt that has been build up through different cultural and ecclesiastical agenda's. NT Wright reveals a profundity to concepts that have been watered down and makes connections with what is obvious - Jesus' Jewishness. Here is my highlight's package, it consists of insights, questions and areas for me ...

"This deeply dynamic day conference is being hosted by Spring Harvest and King's College London on January 26th 2008. Featuring top theologians, thinkers and communicators, the day will get to grips with the subject of Christian Eschatology and Contemporary Culture." What Are We Waiting For? is a one-off, one day conference from Spring Harvest and King’s College London for church leaders and members who are passionate about the place of theology in the church. Featuring leading thinkers and theologians, the programme will unpack the major themes of Christian eschatology, including the Second Coming of Christ, the end of the world as we know it, eschatology in the Old and New Testament, the doctrines of heaven and hell and contemporary issues such as art, culture and the environment. 26 January 2008 King’s College London The Strand, London 9.30am to 5.30pm £12 Booking line 01825 769000

Brueggemann challenges the capacity of the people of God in mission to practice a hope that is rooted solely in God's own hope. Brueggemann mixes it up with NT Wright's overarching theme of 'New Creation' and task of the Church as a focus for mission while reflecting on Mission as Action in Hope. The symposium's premise was simple but effective: "The Mission is Missio Dei; The action is God's action in mending creation; The hope is God's hope for a new creation" By making sense of the church's purpose to witness to God's intention and making sense of God's purpose of bringing the 'whole creation to well-being (shalom)', Brueggemann challenges the capacity of the people of God in mission to practice a hope that is rooted solely in God's own hope. This invites thinking on the part of the church to take up its responsibility as a ' counteractor of hope in every dimension of life' concerning: economic disparities mids...

I used to think that much of mission talk was pretty much subjective; that you could maintain a partisan approach to mission and that was okay; that mission was much a point of opinion. However, I am struggling to stomach that anymore... Grumpy old man here, 42 this month and I feel some intolerance coming on, not difficult after a day Christmas shopping, people walking too slowly, stopping to look at things in the shops (for goodness sake!!), offering me loyalty cards...! "NO BETHAN I AM NOT STRESSED... I AM SHOPPING.....THAT IS WHAT HAPPENS!" For another thing .... I used to think that much of mission talk was pretty much subjective; that you could maintain a partisan approach to mission and that was okay; that mission was much a point of opinion, a point of view. However, I am struggling to stomach that anymore – as I see our mission narrative as a point of deep theology and can understand why Martin Kähler, (1908) would describe mission as the mother of all theology. So I...

Sorry it didn't seem to happen for me! Maybe I need to check the lyrics closer but I thought the links were a little too tenuous and lost the sense of plausibility that the Manchester Passion had. Help me if I missed something? Maybe I need to watch it again. Having said that there was some good lines in the narration that I wish I had jotted down at the time. Good to see Liverpool Walton band playing 'Get Back...' (I think?) shame the flugel player rushed his semi-quavers!! ( :o) sorry Pete!!)

"Without the Way, there is no going, Without the Truth, there is no knowing, Without the Life, there is no living." "If thou wilt receive profit, read with humility, simplicity and faith, and seek not at any time the fame of being learned." "At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read but what we have done." "If, however, you seek Jesus in all things, you will surely find Him." “If you do absolutely nothing about your small faults, you will, little by little, fall into greater ones.” “Many of us are kept back from spiritual progress and amendment of life because we fear the difficulties we are sure to meet and the effort it will cost us to overcome them. Nevertheless, the one who makes progress in the spiritual life is the very one who vigorously and strenuously strives to overcome these seemingly impossible obstacles. Both profit and merit are greater when we overcome ourselves and subject our will to our spirit.” Thomas à Ke...

My soul, always find your rest in the Lord more than in anything else, for He is the everlasting rest of the saints. Dear loving Jesus, allow me to find my rest in You above any created thing (Rom.8:19-22) and above any health and beauty, glory and honor, power and dignity, knowledge and cleverness, riches and arts, joy and gladness, fame and praise, pleasure and comfort, hope and promise, and any deserving and desire. Let it be above any gifts or favors that You might give to me, above any humour and celebration that the mind can conceive and feel. Let my rest in You be more than all this, and even higher than all the host of Heaven, including angels and archangels and anything visible or invisible. Let it be more than anything that is not You, my God. Thomas à Kempis (Imitation of Christ)

Four Keys to Peace… Strive to do another’s will rather than your own; Choose to have less than more; Seek the lower places in life – dying to the need to be recognised and important. Desire that the will of God may be completely fulfilled in you. Imitation of Christ (Thomas à Kempis)

We did a bit of work on Thomas à Kempis and the Imitation of Christ this week and had an interesting conversation about temptation. Would a monk from 500+ years really know what temptation is? I think he had a good idea even if his concept of a Wii would be somewhat different! Here are his four steps by which temptation becomes sin… The thought is allowed to enter into our minds; The imagination is sparked by the thought; We feel pleasure at the fantasy and we entertain it; We engage in the evil action, assenting to its urges. Imitation of Christ (Thomas à Kempis)

When I read some books they make me feel so guilty; I’ ve got through the stage where I beat myself up because my prayer life isn ’t as spectacular as Paul Yongi Cho ; that my sense of holiness falls so short of Brengle ; that my community justice isn ’t as intense as Jim Wallis. However there seems to be a new brand of Christian book that needs a warning on the cover. If you are not taking the environment as seriously as the re-cycled pages of the book you are reading - be ready to be feel pretty miserable by the end. That is unless of course you have already converted your car to run on cooking oil? That you have re-plumbed your water so that you re-cycle your shower water to flush your toilet to then water your organic tomatoes?! Shane Claiborne – seems to lead the way and his message is definitely one well worth listening to and being challenged by. So when I met him the other week when I was taking Eryn to school – was I pleased we were on our bikes!? I was introduced to him wh...

Those who remember the Manchester Passion on BBC might be interested in The Liverpool Nativity - press release here . "Liverpool Nativity tells the story of the first Christmas through the music of Liverpool. The familiar songs will be performed by characters in the drama and a live orchestra with fresh musical arrangements." I'm not sure if Harry Enfield has been part of the casting but I hope the three wise men are truly scouse!! Sunday 16 December, 8pm, BBC Three.

"...human traditions all tend towards stagnation and decay. They try to perpetuate things that cannot be perpetuated. They cling to objects and values which time destroys without mercy." (New Seeds of Contemplation . 1972:111) Ringma develops these thoughts further: "When traditions are no longer life-giving; no longer empower people; no longer reflect the strange values of God's upside-down kingdom; and when they are no longer relevant as an embodiment of contemporary understandings of faith and life in the light of the gospel, then traditions need to be renewed from within..." Ringma, C. (2003). Seek the Silences with Thomas Merton. So tradition is good ... as long as it is life-giving; empowering; reflects the Kingdom; is relevant in the light of gospel ... not a bad check list to work from.

Apparently if you are being interviewed by NT Wright for the ministry, he is keen to ask what four portions of scripture you would take to a desert island. Romans 8 would have to be up there for me and it is a welcome distraction for me to disappear into when it looks good to be looking in a bible!!! Every time I read it I see something different. Here is what it is doing to me at the moment. The depth of meaning of the word righteousness fascinates me in that because of Jesus, that righteousness is met in us. As co-heirs we have an obligation to this outworking of righteousness, why? Because the future glory of God’s creation is to be met in us as we take the obligation to be signposts of New Creation seriously. It is amazing that as co-heirs God equips us for this task through making us more than conquerors and that through us God’s will for his creation will be fulfilled. I suppose it leaves us to ask - is the fullness and depth of the concept of righteousness found in us as in...

"...A three day forum to consider what it is to engage with God and creation for people living in communities of deprivation... a space to think, reflect and discuss...." Read more and print the application form here The first day of the forum (29 January 2008) is the latest one day conference hosted by William Booth College. So if you want to come along and hear Geoff Ryan and Stuart Murray-Williams email me on gordon [dot] cotterill [@] salvationarmy [dot] org [dot] uk and I will forward your application. Did I mention that the first day is sponsored by SISTAD (not the Israeli secret service - but the in-service training section of TSA) so it is free! Come and hear how Mission and Spiritual Formation can only be one in action!!

God created us to be co-creators and to further shalom, to carry shalom forward, so, I would argue that at the core of most spiritual longing is to find your proper place in the kingdom of shalom Interesting interview with Rob Bell in the newlook Tearfund magazine you can read the whole interview here . Here is a snippet that would fit within the false dichotomy of mission theme. ( The False Dichotomy of Mission ) "In Tear Times last year Jim Wallis said that the connection between spiritual hunger and social justice was what the world was waiting for – what do you think that looks like? RB - Well I think the fundamental hungers that people have are for meaning and for community and for task, which goes back to genesis one and two in which God created us to be co-creators and to further shalom, to carry shalom forward, so, I would argue that at the core of most spiritual longing is to find your proper place in the kingdom of shalom, and you can’t when people don’t have enough food...