The Bible

I’m leading some training on the bible this Saturday for a dozen people becoming local preachers. I’ve decided to go intellectual at the start with this video from VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer. Alternatively I could have used The Bible In A Minute to introduce matters.

Its impossible to hone down the knowledge of the bible into a mornings work, or a video that lasts a minute! The bible has been interpreted by humans since the day it was written and unfortunately there is as much untruth as well as wisdom that comes from that process. I’ve been studying the bible now for 25 years, three of which were in-depth study at theological college. That has given me a respect for the word and a strong desire not to take any verse or chapter out of the overall context. You can practically “prove” anything you like from its pages if you so wish. The skill that I have to instill on Saturday is an understanding of an overview for the bible, and secondly the tools necessary to unpack its truth. Amongst other tools I will be teaching a basic technique for any bible study which is called the 3C’s. I hope it’s of help to someone.

Context – How does any passage fit with its neighbours and the rest of the bible.

Content – What did it say to the original recipients (a commentary is needed for this)

Consequences – What does that mean for people today (living out that truth)

For those that didn’t see an early blog entry about the bible then click on the link below.

Bible Energy

Let Them Eat Cake

The words, “let them eat cake” are widely attributed to Marie-Antoinette, the Queen consort of Louis XVI. She is supposed to have said this when the poor of France ran out of bread to eat. If she did utter this phrase then she had no concept of the plight the majority of people were going through.

The image is one of 40 date slices that I made yesterday, by chance one for each day of Lent. That is if you take the feast day of Sunday out of the equation (although I might just share them with the family).The recipe if you want to make your own can be found at Date Crumble Slice.

Following on from yesterday’s blog Lent isn’t about reduction as such, but is about the right priorities in your life. Even those that fast through Lent feast on the Sunday. The right priorities are difficulties to come by when society is polarised into the “haves” and the “have nots”. Not unlike France in the past it might be that “the peasants will be revolting” in this country due to the economic extremes we have experienced over recent years. Lent becomes a symbol of society at large. In order to function correctly individuals and communities need a good balance of the essentials and the treats, bread and cake. Too much wealth will lead to rotten teeth and society, too little will lead to disillusionment. So I say even in Lent, “Let them eat cake”.

If you want to know what to take up in Lent then read my previous post. Also if you want to explore poverty and riches then I’ve included a link to a past blog entry

Rich Or Poor

Chocolatey Lent

Lent begins tomorrow so its time for a pancake or twelve before the fasting. I had a few yesterday in preparation.  However Lent is less about giving up, and more a refocus of what is important in your life. I’ve offered a few links below to invite a spiritual dimension to this season, followed by an Ian Black prayer.

Lent doesn’t have to be devoid of chocolate or any other pleasure, but for some people making a sacrifice focuses the mind. Alternatively why not have a chunk of chocolate whilst reading Mark’s gospel every day, sorted!

BigRead12 - Focusing on Marl’s gospel

40acts - Doing Lent generously

Consumer Detox - Group resources, daily blog and online talks

The Lenten Carbon Fast - An environmental impact

Christian Aid Lent Resources - Links to a variety of material

Lord, you bring us from dust to life.
As our flower fades
may we know your peace.
In the wilderness, the city and by the seashore

may we know your presence.

In the market place and on the way
may we hear salvation announced.
Be with us through these forty days and nights

that we may grow in your love
and deepen in faith;
for you are our source and goal
and hold all that passes between. Amen.

Taken from Prayers for All Occasions by Ian Black 

The Madness Industry

“Maybe it was the trying so hard to be normal that was making everyone so afraid they were going crazy”. That was the line that hit me from Jon Ronson’s latest book, “The Psychopath Test”, the light reading I took with me on holiday. Ronson embarks on a quest to understand the madness industry. He initially falls into the trap of thinking people will slot neatly into one of two camps, sanity or insanity. This is a game the media and society in general loves to play. Usually the person playing the game is the benchmark, anything out of the ordinary is classed as weird. Weird quickly moves to crazy if a person steps outside of what we define as acceptable.

In the book Ronson gets to interview some interesting characters, and you are drawn in to deciding whether they are mad or not. Ronson does this himself using the psychopath test devised by Bob Hare. The book ends with no conclusion and you don’t leave with a warm glow. What it does confirm again for me though is that we all have a bit of madness and goodness within us. No one is totally a saint or a sinner. Equally what the madness industry sometimes prescribes drugs for, is nothing close to madness but simply eccentric  attributes that stand out from the norm. I would conclude by saying, “bring on the eccentrics!”

You might want to read Church is Full Of Weirdos.

Into The Darkness

The camera shutter was open for 20 seconds on this shot to capture the detail that is displayed. I was blessed with a very calm night which is shown in the water that was like a millpond. However I’m annoyed that the foreground railing wasn’t framed better, but I can do nothing about that now.

Our life is dominated by light. It is of course very helpful illuminating our path. Yet it can also be intrusive, a pollutant. If only we could mask the light and focus on the shadows instead, there is much to learn. Darkness is mystery and uncertainty, the deep waters, or the shadowy corner is foreboding. Yet I don’t want to live in a false fluorescent world with no light and shade. Darkness is pregnant with potential. The trick is to stop and allow our eyes or mind to adjust to what is already there, but blinded by light.

It was Job that sank into the depths of darkness to discover true wisdom. Prior to that people believed that wealth and a long life were signs that God was with you. Job and Wisdom literature in general made people realise that God can be in the darkness, in the mystery, in the uncertainty.

So the trick is to pause in the darkness.

Snowdon – A Different Perspective

We have just returned from a weeks holiday and a self inflicted abstention from blogging and Facebook. I had already agreed to take my son up Snowdon whilst away as he’s a bit of a mountain goat! The benefit of walking in February is the train doesn’t run so the peak is not smothered with tourists wearing inappropriate shoes. The downside is that you cannot see a flipping thing. This was the best shot I could muster as I had no inclination of taking my hands out the mitts long enough to sort the main camera out. The wind was epic and had carved some beautiful shapes in the ice, but the camera never appreciated any of it. Countless milli-seconds were spent on the summit before starting the descent to relative warmth, but what a descent. My rear end has never been so numb, but we had a buzz sliding down a mountain in the snow. I was a big kid again!

Tomorrows bible reading is the Transfiguration, the context of which is up a mountain. The disciples were given a different perspective on life as a result of their climb. Shame they couldn’t slide down the mountain in snow like us. I’m going to be using the following  Marjorie Dobson poem tomorrow that alludes to the transfigurations we can have in life. I know the view from Snowdon that day didn’t give me a panorama, but it did give me a different perspective, as did the holiday overall.

Normal blogging service will now resume, it’s good to be back.

Living at ground level,
we reduce the sky to memory.

Buildings enclose;
pavements beneath
become controllable,
within our scope.

Here,
above our everyday,
space is on a different scale.

Clouds dominate.
Horizons stretch imagination.

Streets dwindle to lines
and distant people
move into insignificance.

From this viewpoint
a new perspective opens.

God paints a wider picture

and asks us to look again.

©Marjorie Dobson

Stop – In The Name Of Love

I’m taking a few days off work, and have made the monumental decision to stop blogging whilst I’m away! The battery pack needs to be plugged in so that my brain is re-energised. I will resume normal service as soon as I’m back but for the moment my ramblings will stop.

For those that read yesterday’s blog entry on Rich Or Poor there was a question from one reader on whether I was talking about Britain or the world in relation to my wealth. The surprising stat. was that I’m in the top 20% of Britain. If you want to know your standing in the world then click on the link to Global Rich List.

I leave you with an adapted John Birch prayer, back with you soon.

May this be a time of hope, of expectation,
of relishing each moment as a gift from you.

May this be a time of freedom,

of loosening the chains that surround us.
May this be a time of peace, of wholeness,
of knowing that our lives are in your hands.
May this be a time of joy,
of blessing,
of living in your kingdom.