Quote of the Day

Church: a colony of heaven in the country of death, a strategy of the Holy Spirit for giving witness to the already-inaugurated kingdom of God
Eugene Peterson, The Pastor, 110

I like the way this brings together the Already and the Not-Yet. The church is not the kingdom; it is far from perfect. But it is a core element in God's strategy.

He then goes on to highlight tow faulty views of church
- the idealistic, where pastors don't stay long enough to bring all the pieces of the jigsaw together (because in fact it can never be done in any church)
- church as catering to consumer tastes of spirituality (business opportunity oriented)

But in fact church is a work of God's Spirit. Peterson notes how the early chapters of Acts are patterned on those of Luke. Church is story. "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons". The church is "conceived by the Holy Spirit".

Gay Marriage Debate

Excellent article here

One quote: "One of the goods of marriage is that it confers social recognition on a relationship which is dependent on the gendered 'other'. Thankfully, we live in an age and society which has done more than most to ensure that gender roles are fluid, that men and women are equally able to access jobs, careers and other social opportunities, as well as taking up domestic responsibilities. Yet we still recognise that men and women are in various ways different. The point about equality for men and women is not that the difference is irrelevant, but that both are equally valuable and necessary. We may struggle to identify all the dimensions of that difference, and disagree about their significance, but as many feminist writers have rightly recognised, 'gender-blindness' is not the answer. Gender-blindness runs the risk of entrenching norms and practices which typically favour men and are oppressive towards women. The fact of difference has to be acknowledged and valued if we are to secure equality. That is why we are right to worry about the small number of women MPs or CEOs.

"Marriage as currently defined is the central social institution which expresses the idea that men and women are equally valuable as men and women. It is only marriage which harnesses gender difference to the purposes of social cooperation. Almost all other ways in which difference is acknowledged - from sports teams to public lavatories - depend on segregation. Sexual union in marriage reinforces a comprehensive 'together-in-otherness' of male and female. Yet marriage is also open to a wide range of views on the practical outworking of this difference. It would be ironic if after having reformed the patriarchal consequences of marriage the institution itself should become gender-blind.

The grounding of interdependence in marriage has wider social consequences. It anchors our understanding that it is normal for all social institutions to rely on this mutual interdependence. The excessive individualism of modern Western society, as well as the collapse of participation in all forms of organised social action, has often been observed. Redefining marriage to be indifferent to sexual identity reinforces this individualistic tendency because it turns human society - from marriage outwards - into a matter of individual inclination and choice. Marriage will cease to be an institution which reflects the necessary and natural interdependence of men and women. Every successful relationship depends on some degree of mutual dependency, but marriage is distinctive in recognising and valuing a difference that is deeper than those of character and circumstance. The man-and-woman criterion not only secures gender interdependence in marriage, it also models and promotes this gender interdependence more widely across society."

For myself, I am becoming more and more convinced that the key issue is diversity. Diversity is often (always?) given as the reason for Gay-Marriage, but I suspect that precisely the opposite is true. Traditional Christian marriage places diversity as a fundamental building block of society. Without that, diversity itself is threatened.

Marriage - Human Astronauts

(Sermon as party of a Marriage Preparation weekend)
Imagine two people strapped into a space rocket, headed for Mars in some perhaps not-so-distant day in the future. They are on a great adventure. They take with them everything they need for survival - seeds, equipment to make water, masses of oxygen sent ahead on unmanned rockets - and now they will go.
There is no coming back. Perhaps there will be no earth to come back to. Human life seems threatened by global disaster. Here is a chance to start afresh. With this couple, this married couple. Eventually, they will populate this further planet, begin a new society.
Someone has said that "marriage partners may be thoughts of as the astronauts of society" (Mike Mason, The Mystery of Marriage). Perhaps I can explore that for a while, though bearing in mind that God when he wanted to show us fullness of life came amongst us as a single man. So I could explore this from the point of view of singleness, but that is for another day.
On your wedding day: blast off. You come down the aisle. "Ten, nine, eight..." No wonder there is great excitement!
First of all, you are building your rocket. A space rocket needs to be strong. You need to be able to trust it. It must be faithful. Yesterday, we spoke about faithfulness, constancy. This featured very highly on the reasons you have chosen  to get married. You are creating safe place. A safe place where you can face each other across the breakfast table, where you can sort out the debt problems, where you can moan about rolling up the toothpaste the wrong way. It is a place where we can "spill the beans" about oneself and still be loved. Yesterday someone said that it is a place where you can "grow old together". In an uncertain world, it is a place of security, a place to face the future, death even. Single people too may have these safe places. I think of those who have been able to experience this through deep friendships. And they are equally precious. Yours is a particular vocation of faithfulness.
You have been testing the rocket. Sometimes the count down has had to be restarted. But now the launch date is in sight!
Secondly, your marriage is a very public place of celebration. At every moment yesterday it seemed, we said  "Party". Your marriage is not alone in a corner. That is why by law you have to have witnesses. Two is the minimum - and for one couple it will be 141! Your friends and family will gather on the launch pad. Underneath it all, this is because it matters to us all. Yours in the building block of the future. Yours is the smallest unit of that great thing we value so much - society. Your faithfulness secures society into the future. Around 10 years ago, I said to myself - if all Banks are as bad as the one I'm dealing with, we are in for some problems! I wish I had listened to myself. Without trust, everything breaks down. This will be put to the test in the "growing old together".
This trust and security is a safe place for your children. You are re-populating the future. You are creating a safe space-rocket for your children to grow, develop. Rest assured, they will never fully "leave home". As we gather for your wedding day, with joy and excitement we place society's well-being in your hands.
Space journeys are risky things. You never quite know what you will face - from the challenges of children not sleeping, to the teenage years, to frailty and older age. There is nowhere to hide!
On adventures we all fail. Sometimes people speak of the crisis in modern marriage. Strangely, that is the evidence for what I say. For you will face all sorts of problems on the way. These all testify to the adventure you are going on together.
You have come to the right place to begin a journey of risk. For you do not travel alone. There are not two but three in your marriage.
This place is I like to think one of those that led to the abolition of the slave trade, as William Smith came here and saw the grave of Hester Woodley. With God, nothing is impossible, and there is always forgiveness when we fail and seek to find his help to ask forgiveness, to forgive one another, and begin again.
Perhaps the best marriage preparation you can do is to determine to come here - or somewhere like it - each week, and to give time to prayer and reading the Bible regularly. As the saying does: those ho pray together, stay together.

Quote for the Day

"Shakespeare, with a true understanding of the cross, always puts his greatest wisdom in the mouth of his fools."
- Malcolm Guite, Faith, Hope & Poetry

The John Piper Mosaic at St Paul's

You can't miss it when you come into church!

By the noted artist John Piper, famed for his stained glass windows in Coventry Cathedral, it shows two of Jesus' disciples on Easter Day. It is about to dawn on them (or has it already) that Jesus really has risen from the dead.

This Christmas it struck me how full of journeys Luke's gospel is. The story depicted takes place as part of a journey, from Jerusalem to Emmaus. We are told of Jesus' travels. And at the beginning of Luke there are the journeys of Mary to see Elizabeth her cousin, Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem, then later taking him to the Temple in Jerusalem; and then later Jesus getting lost on a trip his family make from Nazareth to Jerusalem. It is as if Luke wants to stress how so much of the Christian life is a journey.

Years ago someone said to me that they had difficulty believing that Jesus is God. I said, do you believe he is the Truth? Not sure. The Truth? Not sure? The Way? Yes. OK then, I said, stick with that. For if he is the Truth and the Life he will lead you there. And sure enough he did.

So, if you are not sure where you are in terms of faith, or Christian faith, don't worry. Stick with Jesus as the Way. Somewhere it says, Seek the Lord and you will find him.

So, travel on that journey with Jesus; don't worry about the arriving at a fuller faith. God will lead you to that.

And by the way, how many journeys can you find in Luke? Do tell me when you have counted them.