Mobile phone versus Bible

I loved this thought I received via e-mail from a friend it is something to make you go...hmm...where is my Bible?


I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible
like we treat our mobile phones?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we flipped through it several times a day?

What if we used it to receive messages from the text?

What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?

What if we gave it to kids as gifts?

What if we used it as we travelled?

What if we used it in case of an emergency?

What if we upgraded it to get the latest version?

Food for thought don't you think?

Sticks & Stones & Technology

PC speak can be infuriatingly pedantic and more than a little bit irritating, while I have some sympathy with the end I do sometimes find the means more of a hindrance than a help at times. instead of giving another take on the truth it can often end up fudging or in some cases erasing it altogether. That said it can also raise a smile, for example in a paper back dictionary of PC speak I came across the following entries. Failure = a negative success ; Criminal = ethically challenged ; Dead = living impaired.

As the Church we are called to be involved in the business of communication and to do this in a world shaped by the new dynamics of instant global electronic information technologies. The technologies that enable, e-mail, blogging, podcasting and texting are rapidly changing the context of our communication. Our church has recently ventured into the world of podcasting our Sunday messages. The experience has made me very much aware that the technology that opens the world to us also opens us, and our words to the world. It has forced me to examine both my own attitudes and language. In such an 'open world' we can no longer maintain a dichotomy between what we say 'in house' and what we say to the world. The willingness to 'put our words out there' carries with it the assumption that the world, will read or hear whatever we say to our own. It begs the question, " Are we willing not to use language behind the back of unbelievers concerning their culture and location that we would not use face to face in sharing the message and love of Christ? "

I have in the past been part of a church culture that often used certain metaphors and words as motivational tools, especially in the context of missions. As a missionary and as a preacher I have used words like “army”, “advance”, “attack,” “battle”, “commandos”, “enemy”, “foe,” “forces,” “marching orders,” “mobilize”, “target”, “victory,” “weapons,”. I now appreciate how these 'in house' words in the 'open world' of global communications could easily be misunderstood and cause unnecessary offense to onlookers and listeners. They are not the words I would use in a face to face conversation with an interested seeker and if that is the case should I use them in any context?

Our language can be used to build bridges or barriers and we do well to remember that barriers built with words are the most difficult to dismantle.

A 'disturbing' Christmas

The Christmas tree and all of its' trappings comes down in our house tomorrow. 2008 will have arrived and we, like many others, will have put away Christmas for another year.

The 'Christmas story', with its tales of old age and teenage pregnancies, of paranoid politicians and asylum seekers, tax hungry governments and state sponsored terrorism, hardly seems the stuff for 'family viewing Christmas specials' over the holidays. But somehow we have manged to take 'His' story sanitize it and make it fit to put on inoffensive greeting cards. It will now be put back on the shelf for another twelve months

I guess I am writing in this slightly 'bah humbug' tone because I have been 'disturbed ' this year, not by the perennial consumerism, but rather by the contents of the original story. It was while preparing a series on the 'Mission of God' that I found myself 'staring' at the people and the events described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. I was struck by the daring and the danger that runs right through the story. The word that most came to mind as I read the story(s) again was courage. It is a virtue that marked all of those involved (including God) at the beginning of the 'Mission of God'. It is a virtue that I believe we need to possess if we are going to be effective in playing our part in the Mission of God in 2008.

Knowing what we hope for and who we believe in will not be enough to get the job done in the coming year. The courage of personal and corporate convictions are vital to our effectiveness in 2008.

Winning at the cost of our identity

"English soccer is in crisis" say the pundits. 'The debacle of England's defeat by Croatia is simply another symptom of the nation's ongoing decline as a world soccer power.' Many point to the global TV ratings for Premiership games together with the increasing influx of overseas players presently playing in the premiership (check out the player list for teams like Arsenal and Liverpool etc). One leading figure in FIFA has dared to suggest that English Premiership clubs hunger for trophies at any cost poses a very real threat to England losing it's identity as a soccer nation.

Winning at the cost of our identity - gaining the world but losing our soul in the process.

The challenge for those at the helm of English soccer of balancing the winning & identity conundrum is a perennial one for the Church. It was there from the very beginning with Jesus at the very outset of his ministry in his encounters with his enemy in the wilderness.The hunger for success and it's trappings i.e. size , fame , influence can be very seductive for those of us engaged in the work of building and growing church. The challenge and call is always to align our efforts with our 'North Star' and to beware the seductive charm of 'winning' at the cost of our identity.

"I miss God"

I have been laid up for a few days with a 'flu like' virus and irritating as it has been to feel 'incapacitated'. But it has also been an opportunity to deal with a nagging sense that something is amiss in my spirit as though something is 'out of joint' with my relationship with God and the work he has called me to. If I was asked to define the nagging feeling I guess I would of said 'I miss God'. What really helped me to see what 'ailed' me was the following excerpt from one of my favourite writers on spirituality speaking about his own efforts to be that which he was called to be by the Church and to do that work God had asked him to do.

"Basically all I am doing is trying to get it straight, get straight what it means to be a pastor, and then develope a spirituality adequate to the work...I do not find the emaciated,exhausted spirituality of institutional careerism adequate. I do not find the veneered,cosmetic spirituality of personal charisma adequate. I require something Biblically spiritual - rooted and cultivated in creation and covenant, leisurely in Christ and soaked in the Spirit."

A spirituality that is "'leisurely in Christ..." and"soaked in the Spirit." that is what I aspire to and will try to 'get straight' in the days ahead.

A New Location - a continuing challenge.

We opened up the doors to Eikon's new location ( a room above an Edinburgh Community Arts Cafe called The Forest) for our first Sunday gathering this weekend.The turn out was a 60/40% mix of regulars and visitors.

What is becoming increasingly obvious to us (as it is no doubt to all city churches) is that ministering in a city brings with it a whole new set of challenges. Cities by their very nature are places where people come to do rather than to be to get rather than to give. Doing and being church in this environment brings with it the exciting challenge of being a 'good news community' in the midst of a city community that is in a constant state of flux. Edinburgh, like all cities is a place with a heady mixture of those who have chosen to make the city their home and those who are 'just passing through'. The community that make up Eikon has been a reflection of that phenomenon of 'stayers 'and 'visitors' . What has been up to now a fairly consistent flow of 'Eikon temps' have brought with them the challenge for Eikon to be a place, where regardless of how long people stay with us, they will not fail to meet with the challenge that Jesus calls all of us to and hopefully in the process find their lives changed for the better after being among us.

What if ??

It is 4am having difficulty sleeping and find myself wondering what it was like before we became the church. I am wondering what it was like for the first ones who choose to believe him and to build their lives around him.

I find myself asking "What if ...? kind of questions. Questions like, what if there were no computers or mobile phones, websites or conference calls. What if there were no fax machines or telephones, no TV or radio, no movies, no multi media presentations. What if there were no sound systems, electric guitars or synthesizers, no leadership seminars.

What if all we had was each other and our stories of our experience of Jesus. No leather bound bibles with cross references and concordances. Just the odd letter from one of Jesus' personal friends sharing some of their thoughts with us about this life we have chosen to live. And if we were lucky may some portion of the Jewish scriptures that we would have read and explained to us once a week. Would it be enough, would we stick around, would we survive as the church of God or would we simply ...?