URBANarmy

"OK, I will not go as far as lighting a candle for him, but I wonder if Ignatius' voice in mission has been lost and the principles laid out for mission overlooked by us still protesting! " Oddly, I'd not really considered Ignatius in terms of mission, Spiritual Formation yes, probably even frequently, but not in terms of mission. That was until reading Mooney's paper on ' Ignatian Spirituality, A Spirituality for Mission'. She makes her point well by pointing to a triad of features of mission that show how strongly orientated mission was to being, spiritually rooted in and fed by God, that it was personally motivated by love of God and all creation, and finally mission inspired by Ignatius was strategically-orientated toward pastoral action. 'In the spirit, from the heart, practically...' underpinned a desire to help others to know God's love and to draw people into the self same mission of sending love. Within this framework Mooney argues t...

To many, any idea that there may ever be a time of dissatisfaction in faith would be to warrant an anathema. To others there is a reality that in the development or maturing of their faith an individual may have a sense of dissatisfaction that left unacknowledged can be disturbing and ultimately debilitating. Alan Jamieson looks at this dissatisfaction and suggests that it can include a very strong sense of two or more of the following. Disenchantment: this is the sense of not enjoying activities of faith that have previously been very personally rewarding. Disillusionment: this is the sense that for different reasons they feel let down , sad, perhaps cynical, and often quite destructive in their view of their faith, the faith of others and, maybe, church. Disengagement: this is the sense that they feel they are no longer connected, interested or involved in what is going on in the church, its structures and its direction, or within the church community. Disidentification: this is ...

Sat in a side room before the conference was about to start someone asked me "Are you nervous about today...?" "Not really, what's the worst thing that could happen? Apart from calling Dallas, Wallas Dillard!" A softly spoken voice from the corner joins in "I've been called worse...!" Willard unpacked his material on knowledge and his disappointment that despite a biblical mandate to know, the church has allowed the world to wrestle knowledge away from the church leaving only faith - a unmitigated disaster. The bible is a book of knowledge that gives knowledge and offers the best analysis for living. The problem is that people try to deal with human life on a non spiritual basis, with knowledge taken from the church, all that can be offered is a 'leap of faith'. Full knowledge comes from a place of completeness, the antithesis of the brokenness generated from excessive desires that will ruin you (2 Peter 1:2). Willard argued that we live b...

So yesterday it was sitting listening to the brilliance of Jürgen Moltmann, Miroslav Volf, David Ford, Luke Bretherton and Rowan Williams, tomorrow we have a day with Dallas Willard. Weeks like this don't come along very often. I think I need a bit of a challenge from Dallas tomorrow spiritual formation wise, I need help to recover from the squeaky upperclassness of HTB and the rediscovery of a chip on my shoulder. There are not many churches in the world where in the same day you hear the word 'discombobulated' and an opening gambit where one speaker at HTB asked for a show of hands up if you were educated at Cambridge!!! On top of that it was interesting queuing for the toilet when the women walked past us with a smirk.

Here is the continuation of Jamieson's list of chaarcteristics of what he calls the journey through darkness. • It is a journey from trusting in, and being strengthened by, external authorities (e.g. church leaders, the Bible, etc.) into an internally based authority that is willing to be responsible for one's own faith, beliefs and life decisions and on to a growing acceptance and integration of both internal and external voices. • It is a journey from an effortful faith to a doubtful faith and on to a restful and thoughtful faith. • It is the journey from a faith like Martha's, which is troubled by many things and worried about all that has to be done, into a faith like Mary's, which is able to choose the one thing that is necessary, and on still further into a faith that expresses both Mary's heart and Martha's hands. • It is a journey from a faith that needs mentors, leaders and disciplers to lean on, into a faith that is encouraged by those who sponsor and ...

It was good to have Andrew Grinnell to guide us through Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross this morning. Interesting to get a sense of the groups intreprtation of the dark night of the soul and it's application. I found myself revisiting Jamieson's Chrysalis and found what he acknowleges as an oversimplification in his description of what he calls a journey through darkness. He describes ten characteristics of the journey. Here are the first five... • It is the journey from faith understood in black and white, right and wrong, true and false dichotomies into the hyper-critical focus on the greys of life and faith. In this hyper-critical phase the black and whites are rejected in favour of a celebration of the greys of theology, morality and ethics. The move beyond hyper-critical faith to a post-critical faith involves the embracing of the black and whites and the greys with equal respect. • It is a journey from dependence into a hyper-independence that shuns the influence...

Here's what I don't understand. Three parties put together well thought through policies on which they hope to build their government. Insufficient seats for a majority leads to two of those parties to negotiate what they once felt were non-negotiable, now together they look for areas of compromise for the national interest. I am trying to get my head around what this says about what was expressed in their manifestos in the first place, which were surely written in the national interest - weren't they? Perhaps compromise is compromise is compromise. Perhaps national interest is a convenient deconstructable concept. Much can be learned from Jeremy Thorpe and his refusal to sell out - time will tell!

A double over Manchester Utd , Arsenal and Liverpool, record 103 goals in a season; Drogba hatrick ; Drogba Golden Boot; record league result (8-0). A long drive back from South Wales was made all the better for Chelsea winning the premiership. Thanks has to go to Alan Hansen for saying Chelsea lacked desire!

Sorry still can't get this out of my head. "Critics of the prime minister described it as one of the best speeches they have seen by a politician..." Great to be there and to hear it. Still struggle with how Murdoch has gagged the media. More here Guardian.co.uk . Thanks Roz!

"When Cicero spoke to the crowds in ancient Rome, people turned to each other after hearing the speech and said 'Great speech'. But when Demosthenes spoke to the crowds in ancient Greece and people turned to each other, they said: 'Let's march.' Let's march for justice, dignity and fairness. That's what we have all got to march for, and let's march for it together." Gordon Brown (3rd May 2010) Best political speech of the election and the press hardly touch it - anyone else voting Rupert Murdoch? :o) Watch the speech here Thanks Jonny ! Prize to anyone who spots me! (Of course that might be an empty promise but heh this is the season for it!!)

This was more like it. With three days of campaigning left it was good to see Cameron, Clegg and Brown giving their all on issues that were put before them by London Citizens. In the largest gathering of the General Election at Westminster Hall, Gordon Brown was everything that the others weren't. While I overheard people about me say between their 'awwws' and 'aaaaahs' how they loved Clegg - Gordon Brown was rough, ugly and loud. While Cameron smooched and wooed, even claiming prematurely premiership 'when I am PM' - Gordon Brown was the prize fighter punching through the naivety and 'fresh air' that had proceeded him. His message was justice, dignity and equity - we saw his heart and not a PR machine tapping out his message. Nothing airbrushed, trimmed and smooth about this.

One thing that I definitely will take with me from Helen Cameron's book is what it is to look at the Church's capacity or potential to subvert culture. It seems to me that kingdom values are able to offer an alternative viewpoint by saying it doesn't have to be this way. Looking at the various cultural forms of church Helen gets us to do just this and through doing so brings confidence. However, subversion seems to be a double edged sword, while the church has the capacity to subvert culture it also has the potential to subvert and compromise the gospel. Helen may bring confidence but it is with a warning. Theological reflection is therefore key. This is why the 'pastoral cycle' can be seen as so important, in order that our response is built upon looking at the what and why things happen in the light of the bible and Christian tradition? Looking at what we do in this manner can only be good if we are brave enough to face what we see in the mirror.