URBANarmy

Another piece of regurgitated Rohr! His book  'Falling Upwards...'  was superb and a really helpful read earlier in the year for me. Not exactly a cheery start to the day but bitingly realistic - life will be life and sometimes it isn't straight forward! Realising this and engaging with life accordingly I think has something to do with a maturing faith in Christ rather than using faith as a talisman that is seen in cliche and platitude. "It is not that suffering or failure  might  happen, or that it will only happen to you if you are bad (which is what religious people often think), or that it will happen to the unfortunate, or to a few in other places, or that you can somehow by cleverness or righteousness avoid it. No, it  will  happen, and to you!" p. xx

Richard Rohr in his daily meditations explores what he calls seven Themes of an Alternative Orthodoxy, from what I understand it shapes his prolific writing. Currently he is exploring his sixth theme 'The path of descent is the path of transformation. Darkness, failure, relapse, death, and woundedness are our primary teachers, rather than ideas or doctrines' Problem as I see it there are not many who want to respond to that faculty of teaching! Thinking back, the teachers that I seem to remember are those who knew how to push me, and actually were not all that cuddly!  Six weeks on Jeremiah has shown how to respond even in the darkest of times, to embrace life with all its complications, unexpected and unwanted turns. Thinking out loud now, but I wonder if this embrace of life beyond what we want as an ideal creates space to explore life when it is not straight forward. The alternative is to nurture resentment and self-pity, which if it is life giving let's do more of...

Today was the last day and I am feeling a little bereft! Back in January I started a journey with Larry Warner 's interpretation of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, Journey with Jesus and pretty much everyday has represented a challenge and has had me facing myself and God in new ways. Naively thinking I would have it finished while away at the International College for Officers the journey has only just come to an end, eight months later. Although the reality is that the journey hasn't ended at all as I feel the new rhythm that has been the consequence of the exercises' prodding and probing! This book was totally right for me and totally the right time! So I've decided to start again! This time spending more time on the 'prayers of examen' that are an integral part of relaxing into the 'believing, being and becoming' that underpins both Larry Warner's ethos and the exercises. So twice a day this week the questions are: Whe...

A bit of Nouwen on what it is to be a neighbour....   "To become neighbours is to bridge the gap between people.  As long as there is distance between us and we cannot look in each other's eyes, all sorts of false ideas and images arise.  We give them names, make jokes about them, cover them with our prejudices, and avoid direct contact.  We think of them as enemies.  We forget that they love as we love, care for their children as we care for ours, become sick and die as we do.  We forget that they are our brothers and sisters and treat them as objects that can be destroyed at will.   Only when we have the courage to cross the street and look in one another's eyes can we see there that we are children of the same God and members of the same human family"

I came across this quote and used it on Sunday... "The original selves  which we were born with, and which I believe we continue in some measure to be no matter what, are selves which still echo with the holiness of their origin. I believe that what Genesis suggests is that this original self, with the print of God's thumb still upon it, is the most essential part of who we are and is buried deep in all of us as a source of wisdom and strength and healing which we can draw upon or, with our terrible freedom, not draw upon as we choose."       Buechner F. (1991) Telling Secrets. Harper and Row 44-45

We're looking at faith development today and I came across this interesting quote which I wanted to jot down somewhere. "Almighty God, are you true...When you are standing up to your neck in darkness, how do you say yes to that question? You say yes, I suppose, the only way faith can ever say it if it is honest with itself. You say yes with your fingers crossed..." Frederick Buechner, Clown in the Belfry pp 124

Not the easiest of reads as Ellul hits hard illustrating the means and way Christianity has been subverted and fabricated. He points to the many contradictions between the bible and the practice of the church as scripture has been reinterpreted by culture and times in their own nature. Lots of quotes noted down - here's one... Our God is a God of beginnings. There is in him no redundancy or circularity. Thus, if his church wants to be faithful to his revelation, it will be completely mobile, fluid, renascent, bubbling, creative, inventive, adventurous, and imaginative. It will never be perennial, and can never be organised or institutionalised. Ellul, J. (1986: 157). The subversion of Christianity . Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans.

"...a library is as holy a place as any temple..." "How like a winter hath my absence been from thee.." Doestoevsky - Words have power writes Buechner. "Words written fifty years ago, a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago, can have as much of this power today as ever they had it then to come alive for us an in us and make us more alive within ourselves... even across great distances of time and space do they ever lose their capacity for becoming incarnate. And when these words tell of vitue and nobility, when they move us closer to that truth and gentleness of spirit by which we become fully human, the reading of them is sacramental and a library is as holy a place as any temple." Buechner, F., & Connor, G. (1992:170ff). Listening to your life: daily meditations with Frederick Buechner . San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

Books of 2010 Moltmann, J. (2010). Sun of righteousness, arise!: God's future for humanity and the earth. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. Morisy, A. (2009). Bothered and bewildered enacting hope in troubled times. London: Continuum. Rowling, J. K., & GrandPré, M. (2007). Harry Potter and the deathly hallows . New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books Ackerman, J. (2001). Listening to God: spiritual formation in congregations. Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute. Faragher, C. (2010) Other voices : exploring the contemplative in Salvationist spirituality. Salvo Wright, N. (2008). Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. New York: Harperone. Mandelson, P. (2010). The Third Man: Life at the Heart of New Labour. London: Harpercollins Uk. Brengle, S. L. (1978). Guest of the Soul. Atlanta: Salvation Army Supplies Brookmyre, C. (2009). A Snowball in Hell (Unabridged ed.). Cairo: Isis. Horsley, R. A., & Siberman, N....

I really enjoyed listening to Stanley Hauerwas a few weeks ago introducing the concept behind his latest book 'Hannah's Child'. He describes it as a theological memoir where he hopes to write in such a way as to express the development of his theological thinking; integrating a theological reflection that avoids piousness or as he describes it the hateful language of interiority. I'm sure the swearing theologian has a head start on this and I couldn't help but buy the book. Here are some of the snippets and gems I got to write down. "I'm not a natural Christian, God doesn't come easily to me ... But I've learned to stand in awe of people for whom God is just there. " "The question is how can Christians be interesting enough that people want to talk to us?" "the relationship between christology and ecclesiology is an important area of theological conversation" "secular society is not interested in liberal theol...

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.

I started reading Resourcing Mission after the first ever UK political leaders’ debate on TV. Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg won on charisma and charm but apparently Gordon Brown had it on substance. Mission books lend themselves nicely to charisma and charm but what really is needed is substance. This book is not a feel good book on mission full of resources, video clips and exciting stories of working with the mafia, but it is a book of guidance for individual’s, leadership teams, congregations wanting to develop a framework through which to reflect on mission. Two main premises hold the book together and give it momentum. The first, recognising that local church can struggle to make sense of it's place within the role of mission, is that of 'doing theology'. The book offers the pastoral cycle as a tool for the theological reflection that is essential for any church wanting to live out it's essence in it's locality. The second recognises that the church is inextric...

"To journey for the sake of saving our own lives is little by little to cease to live in any sense that matters, even to ourselves, because it is only by journeying for the world's sake - even when the world bores and sickens and scares you half to death - that little by little we start to come alive" Quoted in Listening to Your Life - Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner (1992:22) Frederick Buechner ( The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days )

Holmes, U. T. (2002). Spirituality for Ministry (The Library of Episcopalian Classics) (The Library of Episcopalian Classics). New York: Morehouse Publishing Chevreau, G. (2007). Spiritual Warfare Sideways: Keeping the Focus on Jesus Kierkegaard, S. (1989). Parables of Kierkegaard (Kierkegaard's Writings). Princeton: Princeton University Press. Eldredge, J. (2006). Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul (New Ed ed.). Waco, TX: Thomas Nelson Campolo, T., & Darling, M. A. (2008). The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting Ancient Spiritual Practices, Evangelism, and Justice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Wright, T. (2007). Paul for Everyone: Romans 2. London: Spck Publishing. Larsson, J. (2009). 1929: A Crisis That Shaped the Salvation Army's Future. London, England: Salvation Army. Zuercher, S. (2000). Enneagram Companions: Growing in Relationships and Spiritual Direction Wilhoit, J.C (2008) spiritual Formation as if the the Church Mattered. Baker Dostoevs...

Frederick Buechner points to the danger of 'reducing life to size', and gets us to think about life beyond reducing it even to 'a mystery'. Life he says is the mystery, the one true miracle. Here's a good review of the year... 'Have you wept at anything during the past year?' 'Have you thought seriously about the fact that someday you are going to die?' 'Has your heart beat faster at the sight of young beauty?' 'More often than not do you really listen when people are speaking to you instead of just waiting for your turn to speak!' 'Is there anyone you know in whose place, if one of you had to suffer great pain, you would volunteer yourself?' Buechner suggests that if you answer no to all or most of these questions the chances are that you are already dead! Buechner F (1992) Listening to your Life. Harper Collins.

While religion ever slides to the right and to the embrace of conservative ethics and politics, the bible remains a dangerous book calling us to ongoing conversation. That conversion is not simply the call to abandon our own pathetic and pitiful personal wrongdoing, but also involves a conversion from the social deformities that inhabit our soulscape. The idolatries of our time - control, consumerism, exploitation, militarism, narcissism - need to be expelled from our ways of thinking and acting, as much as the personal wrongdoing of greed, pride, lust and deception. Because the themes of Scripture are cast in the framework of a God who loves generously, redeems holistically and seeks to transform us totally, we area called not only to stop doing certain wrongs, but are called to the praxis of doing what is right. Which then draws us into the purposes of the reign of God. Ringma, C. R. (2003:122). Seek the Silences with Thomas Merton: Reflections on Identity, Community and Transformati...

If anyone happens to suggest that you read Dostoevsky's " The Idiot " be aware that should you stick with this book it is going to be part of your life for a long time. Be aware that there are swathes of narrative that will tie you up in a knot as you have not got a clue what is going on. Be aware that the complexity of characters combined with an amazing array of Russian names that seem to change with the wind will send you scuttling back to the list of characters as you frequently find your self asking - 'who are you...?' Be aware that Dostoevsky paints a dark and unrelenting picture of depression and submerges and smothers you with the characters narcissism and selfishness. It leaves you in misery!! In places reading this novel was tortuous, but the darkness and tedium of the plot and text was worth it in order to highlight the inner beauty of Prince Myshkin . The idiocy of selflessness and the relinquishing of any need to dominate the other sparkles through ...

I like the LibraryThing resource - if you are sad enough to want to catalogue your books this is for you. Here is a catalogue of the books I have read since 2004 :o)

Ringma urges us to learn the basic rhythm between contemplation and activism. "Action is charity looking outward to other men, and contemplation is charity drawn inward to its own divine source. Action is the stream and contemplation is the spring" Merton Ringma , C. R. (2003:122). Seek the Silences with Thomas Merton: Reflections on Identity, Community and Transformative Action . London: Spck Publishing.

"...it is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers" (Merton) Ringma comments that 'in the daily round of being in a community where one sees faults and weaknesses, where one may fail to respect others' differentness , and where one does not see the realisation of one's ideals, it is so easy to become negative and critical.' Toleration is not enough - transformation is the goal, In the quiet place one discovers the 'grace for forgiveness , for perseverance and for hope. Ringma , C. R. (2003:87). Seek the Silences with Thomas Merton: Reflections on Identity, Community and Transformative Action . London: Spck Publishing.