Preachers or story tellers?
Though the title might make you think this post is aimed at church preachers, it isn’t. It was a comment made in a podcast exploring communication styles. The podcaster suggested that there is a preacher and a story teller in each of us, and that we need to soften the preacher and develop the story teller. It’s worth thinking about. I think he was saying there is a bossy “I’m going to tell you what to do” part in us, living alongside a more winsome, “let me share my life and experience” self. Put differently, in communication I can put myself in...
Read MoreProlonging the Incarnation of Christ…
It was a comment in a Nomad podcast on the thought of Ivan Illich that I’ve been thinking about ever since: “The Christian vocation is to prolong the incarnation of Christ.” Ponder the sentiment. Those speaking readily acknowledged that a cheap and easy pushback is possible. “How audacious to think we can somehow prolong the incarnation of Jesus – as though our paltry efforts will come even close to resembling his. Rather we should point to the incarnation of Christ as the source of inspiration for our lesser virtues and endeavours. And the incarnation of Jesus...
Read MoreOn being the body of Christ – all 2.2 billion of us…
Don’t know if you are into Dr Seuss, but if so you might remember the poem, My Many Coloured Days Some days are yellow. Some are blue. On different days I’m different too… On Bright Red Days how good it feels To be a horse and kick my heels!… On Purple Days I’m sad. I groan. I drag my tail. I walk alone… Then comes a Mixed-Up Day. And WHAM! I don’t know who or what I am! But it all turns out all right, you see. And I go back to being… me. – Dr Seuss, My Many Coloured Days (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1966) Catharine Thompson suggests that if we replace the end line ‘I go...
Read MoreThe Church: Hazard or Witness
Hear the word ‘church’ and are you more inclined to think, ‘Now that’s why I can’t believe’ or ‘yup, it sure is another of those niggling little signs that belief in God is warranted’? Given the bad press the church has experienced in recent decades, I imagine that many will select the first option. Some would boldly say that the church is hazardous and exposure to it is likely to leave you less inclined to believe in the existence of a good God. But I’d like to suggest that such thinking is blinkered and biased, and that deeper...
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