Towards a 21st Century Church: Four Assumptions to Challenge
Now that we are almost a fifth of the way through the twenty first century, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the church can no longer act as though it is still the twentieth century. People give various reasons for why significant change is needed – some of the more common contenders being that we now live in post-Christendom (and the church therefore no longer operates from a platform of privilege, nor can it assume that people have a basic understanding of the Christian faith); or that the postmodern turn in society has rendered everything relative, making the truth claims of the...
Read MoreCounting our more complicated blessings…
You’ve probably been taught to count your blessings. It’s good advice. When we count them we usually discover there are far more than we initially imagined, and it is certainly more refreshing to be in the presence of a grateful person than one who feels cheated and bitter. But what are we to make of what William Sloan Coffin has called “our more complicated blessings”? The expression is found in a challenging prayer from Riverside Church which Gil Rendle cites in his excellent new book on leadership, Quietly Courageous (2019) p11. Here is an excerpt from it: And, grant us to count our more...
Read MoreBeyond Tut Tut: Thinking Through the New Zealand Massacre…
Friday March 15, 2019 was indeed, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it, “one of New Zealand’s darkest days”, for on that day a gunman, (his name best left unspoken), killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, and injured many others. It was an attack that represents so many things… for the families of victims, a long term journey with grief, sadness and probably rage – for many of them it will never ease; for New Zealand, the loss of innocence, for it has now not been spared the violence present in many parts of the world; for the world, a...
Read MoreWhen a Cardinal Sins: Reflections on the conviction of George Pell
For those not in the loop (and they must be a very small number), Cardinal George Pell has been found guilty of child sexual abuse, and is being held in detention while his sentence is awaited. As he is the most senior cleric in the world to be convicted of this crime, it is deeply unsettling. He could have become the Pope – having been a serious contender (though not the front runner) when Pope Benedict resigned in 2013. Until stepping down from his role at the Vatican to face trial in Australia, he was the third most senior figure in the Roman Catholic Church (far and away the...
Read MoreQuotable: Marilynne Robinson – Gilead, take 2
Last week we looked at some quotes from Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer prize winning novel Gilead. The book is a fictional series of reflections by dying clergyman, John Ames, to his seven year old son. It is filled with wisdom, and is a celebration of life. Here are some more reflections from the book… I think the attempt to defend belief can unsettle it, in fact, because there is always an inadequacy in argument about ultimate things. Marilynne Robinson Any human face is a claim on you, because you can’t help but understand the singularity of it, the courage and loneliness...
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