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BlogHere are the thoughts and news of the people in our community. Leave a comment as you wish. If you want to join the blogging ask Mark.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006Germany here I come
 Tomorrow morning, early, I head off to Nuremberg. I am really looking forward to this conference: Forum for the future "Innovation & Transformation" The two speakers are: Alan Hirsch, australian national director of Forge and one of the authors of Shaping of Things to Come. Which is a great book on incarnational, missional, church - a set of words that I like to see together!! But still the books is mostly very readable with good examples. And I think with very little pretence. Gerard Kelly, who co-incidently wrote the "because he is risen" peom i posted below. He is also leader of Crossroads International Church and Bless Network. I am also looking forward to spending a little bit of time with my friends from Derby Mark Mumford, Steve Perkins and Adam Martin. The only downer is that the family will be left here for the weekend :o(. Labels: church, conferences Posted by: Mark | 6:58 pm |
The Green Machine
  Jack got his boirthday present through yesterday. I loved it so much I had to post it here!! I have to admit I was a little concerned that it was one of those toys that did the interesting part for you and so robbed the imagination. You know what I mean: the soldier toy that has a button to make the shooting sounds for you; the cars that automatically smash together and fall apart ... you know what I mean. They add so many electronic features that actually the potential for play is severly reduced. It robs the child of the possibility for imaginative play and guess what ... they get bored with it really quickly. Excursus [Is there something about church here? Do we construct church life with so many bells and whistles that no imagination is required?] Anyway I had this nagging doubt that it was "the go kart that does the skidding for you". Don't get me wrong I think that many improvements are great, but maybe there is something about creating a go kart from wooden crates and old pram tyres... But no, this is fantastic!!! Genius design with playability mainly focussed around skidding. And believe me there is all sorts of imagination based around skidding. Why didn't they make toys when I was a kid? Or maybe they did and we couldn't afford anything more than crates and old prams? You will notice a certain young lady having a go. This goes along with the "Emily's embarressing pictures" series started here.  
Posted by: Mark | 1:12 pm
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The Cure for Information OverloadThis is great: The Cure for Information Overload. Posted by: Mark | 10:15 am |
Tuesday, April 25, 2006Northampton Noise
 Rhoda mentioned this to me last night. It seems like a good thing! A website to network the youth of Northampton. A great idea. I'd recommend that you register and use it!! That is the only way that a thing like that will work. Posted by: Mark | 8:05 am |
Thursday, April 20, 2006EnoughI know this is completely illegal to post this here, but i like it. [that'll do, enough about me!]. Posted by: Mark | 11:27 am |
Bonhoeffer on Life
"Being a Christian does not mean being religious in a certain way, or on the basis of some methodology to make something out of oneself, such as a sinner, penitent, or saint. It means being a human being. Christ creates us to be human, not to be some special type of human being. It is not some religious act that makes one a Christian, but taking part in God's own suffering amid worldly life. That is what conversion means. Not to think first of one's own distress or questions or sins or fears, but rather to allow oneself to be swept onto the path of Jesus Christ, into the messianic event itself, into realization that Isaiah 53 is now fulfilled. Hence: "Believe in the gospel," or John's reference to the 'Lamb of God, who bears the sin of the world' ... ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Poem and Letter to Eberhard Bethge, Tegel Prison, July 18, 1944, Meditations on the Cross, pp. 60-61 I thought this was a good follow on from the last post. ht sivin kit Labels: discipleship, reflective, theology Posted by: Mark | 8:15 am |
Wednesday, April 19, 2006Bono's SpeechYesterday I came across a link to a video of Bono's speech at the prayer breakfast that I linked to a while back. I am tempted to embed it here to force you to watch it ... but that would be cruel to the dail-up guys!! Wacth it now!! "Religion often gets in the way of God" Oh, and I got this Easter quote over the weekend, which I liked: Today is Good Friday, and Sunday is Easter – but how many of us want Easter perks without Calvary pain? A friend of mine wrote: "We are more concerned with happiness than holiness. We seek to be served rather than to serve. We want a church that makes us feel good rather than one which challenges us. So often we opt for a religion that costs us little. We stress our rights, not our responsibilities; our freedom in Christ rather than our debt to Christ; our security rather than our sacrifice." [came from here]Posted by: Mark | 8:21 am |
Sunday, April 16, 2006Because He is Risen(a poem by Gerard Kelly) Because he is risen Labels: easter, reflective Posted by: Mark | 12:03 pm |
Saturday, April 15, 2006Easter Saturday - The Road to Emmaus
What did the Disciples think? What is it like when God seemingly doesn't act? The disciples on the road to Emmaus is one of my favourite Easter sub-stories. The hopelessness that you touch at the start of the story powerfully reflects the feelings of Easter Saturday. There were 2 disciples walking away from Jerusalem this is what they said: They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"Luke 24:17b-21a They had waited so long for God's redemption. So long for a prophetic voice. The darkness of waiting had burst out into life. A prophet had come. But now once again they are plunged back into darkness. Hear it: "He was a prophet powerful in word and deed". A great man doing the great things. He spoke with authority a prophetic voice. He healed the sick, the blind, the deaf, the lame. You can almost hear them reminiscing! What more could they hope for surely this is the one? If he cannot fulfill the hopes that had built up over a thousand years, who could? He was different. Hear their expectations and disappointment: "We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel". They had hoped that Jesus was going to be the one who would defeat the Romans and kick them out of the Promised land. To restore the fortunes to the nation, to be their ruler. Hadn't they just seen hints of it just a few days before? When he entered Jerusalem, people had welcomed him and recognized who he was - they wanted him to be king. That is what they had hoped for and surely now it was going to become a reality. Luke doesn't hide this hope from us, it is here at the end of the Gospel and right there at the start of Acts "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?". But these hopes were locked in a tomb behind a great big stone. This was not just the sadness of losing a great friend although there was that. It was the despair that results from loosing all your hope. They had placed all of their hopes in him, They had placed all their eggs in one basket. And now it was all over. They somehow had to find a way to rebuild, but how could they. How could they trust anyone again? Everything must be treated with suspicion. How could they hope again? To understand the thinking of these two disciples is to understand the state of our culture. A culture let down by the hopes of a better world through human effort and progress, let down by a story world that has failed. And so suspicion and lack of purpose dominate. But Jesus whispers in their and our ears, "you have misunderstood the story". There is another way but it involves death for a greater purpose. It is also the message to us. As we place security in hopes and dreams, God's great purposes in our lives. When will they happen? What is God doing about it? God calls us to lay them down in the tomb, and whispers one message in our ears: "Have faith in God" Have faith in God. Not in hopes dreams and visions but in God, in the all powerful one who calls us to faithfully trust what we cannot see, even as the two disciples could not see Jesus on the road. Have a faithful trust in God. Trust him. Trust in the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Allow him to your Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of your life. Trust him to be your North, South, East and West. Allow him to fence the borders of your life. Allow him to dictate your world. To stand on the ground that he has allocated for you for this time. Put all your eggs in his basket. Have faith in God Labels: easter, reflective Posted by: Mark | 10:39 am |
Thursday, April 13, 2006Good FridayLast night we focussed on the events of Good Friday. I know, I know it was two days early. You just need to have a bit of grace for us on that one! I enjoyed the evening. It was a way of thinking about the cross that is not our most familiar. But I felt that it was beneficial. Here is the flow of the evening: Building on Passover we celebrated on Sunday evening, we moved to: 1) The Garden of Gethsemane.  We read a meditation reflection on what it is like to be alone, to live be in fear [From Jonny Baker's book alternative worship]. Extract: Voice 1: 'Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me' We watched this really great Flash video retelling the story [part 1] We had a wooden cross and began to build a picture of the events leading up to Jesus' death. Then we talked together about: 2) Passionate Peter  Peter is central to the story. Peter, it seems was a passionate man.A man all out. He is the one pledging allegiance unto death. He is the one who cut off the servants ear for Jesus. He is the one disciple said to be pushing through to get close to the trial. He too is the one who denied him. Luke 22:24-34 Luke 22:47-52 Luke 22:54-62 We read this peom by Luci Shaw: Judas, Peter We watched this Jonny Cash video as we felt it captured Peter's feelings, and our response: Jonny Cash Hurt We added Silver coins before the cross to represent betrayals. 3) Crucifixion Jesus' trials before the Sanhedrin and then Pilate had gone relatively quickly. False accusations were flying, along with some fists and spittle. But Jesus had held his own. He had remained calm, silent apart from a few carefully chosen words. The result was that, as he had known, he was to be killed, crucified on a Roman cross. Mark 15:16-20 We added a crow of thorns and a purple robe to the cross.  The Cross is laid on Jesus’ Back.The burden he carried on his back was not so much the burden of the great rough wooden beam, but the sin of the world that he bore. Yours and my sin laid upon him. In the pain and weakness that you see as you look into his eyes, you begin to grasp the true reality of our sin to God and the price that had to be paid. For a moment it becomes too much and Jesus falls. He is pulled up and made to continue. Jesus is nailed to the cross
Nails were added before the cross Mark 15:33-39 Jesus dies on the cross Hanging as a criminal amongst criminals, beaten, a mocking crown on his head and a mocking title above, deserted by all including his Father, Jesus finally gives up his spirit to death with one final cry "It is finished". It is at the foot of this cross, on which hangs a dead messiah, that we see truly who Jesus was and is. We kneel in its shadow unable to comprehend the reality of what has taken place, upon this King was laid the sins of the world, this is the consequences of my sin. The shadow cast from this cross embraces, not just you and me, but a crowd of multitudes from every tribe and nation. We declare together in unbelief and in awe and wonder, "surely this man was the son of God". We responded in song and prayer. Labels: easter Posted by: Mark | 4:23 pm |
Saturday, April 08, 2006Kings Bible College Oxford
 I went to KBCTC a couple[!] of years ago now. It was a great life-transforming experience. Now I do a bit of tutoring there and enjoy having students on placement at our church [who are great by the way ;o)]. If you fancy it why not go along to this open day! Labels: KBCTC Posted by: Mark | 9:32 am |
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Posted by: Mark | 2:02 pm
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The Kubik Cafe
  Along with my general habit of noting cafe churches, here is another: The Kubik Cafe. Seems like they have been running church that way, but not yet open to the public. Apparently Moot like the idea too. Labels: cafe church Posted by: Mark | 11:26 am |
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