CCWC 25/07/2004 - Psalm 23

Psalm 23 - David-'Man of God'
William Muncey
David facts::

Adulterer
Liar & Murderer
friend of Jonathon /killed Goliath
Shepherd
King
Psalmist & Musician
father of Solomon
a man after God's own heart
He knew how to say sorry Ps.32 & 51

* We are living in troubled times. Life is not always a breeze. *
* Big Brother *
Trouble is everywhere. Dont be anxious.
What does Ps 23 say about this mess? What is the relevancy?
There is always Hope
David had his fair shaire of worries & difficulties - Goliath, Saul, Absalom etc.
Initially we feel worried & after we look back and wonder why v.4 God is with me - have no fear.

Psalm 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

All Souls Langham Place - 25 July 2004

Thought for the Week

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16)

It was a moment of dramatic faith, as Jesus? disciple Peter came out with his momentous declaration about the identity of his leader. "What faith!" we sometimes hear people say. Or, "I wish I had your faith!" But "faith" is not a blind leap of reckless abandon, or even some kind of commodity, possessed by some and not by others. It is no more than a measured response to a given set of factors. It's never "blind." Faith needs a backcloth. Peter had had these many months of close contact with Jesus. Hed seen him at work, heard his teaching, witnessed his miracles. All this was helpful data, fed into his mindset. We need that too plenty of information!
Faith needs a focus. It's not faith in anything that the Bible speaks of. It's all to do with a Person - and when someone is confronted by Jesus through the testimony of others and the impact of the Scriptures - belief in him as "the Christ" can be built up. Faith needs a trigger. For Peter, a question did the trick. "Who do you say I am?" For us it can be a book, a sermon, even ten minutes thought.

Oh, anyone can have faith in Jesus! How much data are you receiving?

All Souls Langham Place - 22 July 2004

All Souls 2004/07/22- Psalm 42-43

'Where is your God' - George Parsons

What do you do when you have a bad day? Drugs, retail therapy & sofas!
To be unhappy is not to be ungodly. The godly can go through a bad patch/drought

The Condition Described

* He is longing for God. Yearning for eternal satisfaction. (Ps.42:1-2).
* Unable to eat. he hasn't sinned but yet he feels God has abandoned him (Ps.42:3,9)
* Spiritual isolation & rejected (Ps.43:2)
* He feels like God is angry with him
* Even a great man like David went through it!

The Causes Explained

* Physical isolation (Ps.42:4, 10) homesick away from other believers in Jerusalem
* Social isolation (Ps.43:1,3 & 10)
* We arenot immune from our circumstances
* Social isolation can cause spiritual isolation need support

The Cure Prescribed

* Put your hope in God. Don't wallow about like a hog in mud. Express your feelings in prayer (Ps.42:5)
* See things by gods truth (Ps.42:8). The key to this approach is this - God is in control & loves him ergo God also helps me.
* Reason with yourselves with sound theology as prescribed by Martin Lloyd-Jones.
* Gives a prophetic picture of Jesus - the man of sorrows. God has been there before you!
* Cry out! Express yourself as Christ did and look to the cross He bore.
* He was rejected for you. God won't ever be angry with You again once you become his child! Dont feel guilty, He will forgive you & He will lead you back to himself.
* One day, when He comes again, we will be free!

Be Thou my Vision

Words: Attributed to Dallan Forgaill, 8th Cen­tu­ry (Rob tu mo bhoile, a Comdi cride); trans­lat­ed from an­cient Ir­ish to Eng­lish by Ma­ry E. Byrne, in “Eriú,” Jour­nal of the School of Ir­ish Learn­ing, 1905, and versed by El­ea­nor H. Hull, 1912, alt.

Music: “Slane,” of Ir­ish folk or­i­ore). Slane Hill is about ten miles from Ta­ra in County Meath. It was on Slane Hill around 433 AD that St. Pat­rick de­fied a roy­al edict by light­ing can­dles on East­er Eve. High King Lo­gaire of Ta­ra had de­creed that no one could light a fire be­fore Lo­gaire be­gan the pa­gan spring fes­ti­val by light­ing a fire on Ta­ra Hill. Lo­gaire was so im­pressed by Pat­rick’s de­vo­tion that, de­spite his de­fi­ance (or per­haps be­cause of it­), he let him con­tin­ue his mis­sion­ary work. The rest is history as they say.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Prophets of a Future Not Our Own

It helps, now and then, to step back
and take the long view.
The kingdom (of God) is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our (imagination).

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the
magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

Amen.

by Archbishop Oscar Romero

LICC - Word for the Week - How to find delight

LICC - Word for the Week - How to find delight

Happy are those.who do not take the path that sinners tread, but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. Psalm 1:2

I can't remember why, but I once was required to learn Genesis chapter 12 as a school detention punishment. Not very cruel, but certainly unusual, and definitely nothing to do with delight! But even now, 50 years later, meditation and delight are not the first words that come to mind when I reflect on my own experience of engaging with the biblical text. So this first psalm, probably written as an introduction to the whole collection, is a challenge.

The biblical word 'law' sometimes simply means commandments, but can often refer to the whole biblical revelation. So our delight is to be found in everything that God has revealed to us in the bible - delight in finding out what the Lord is like, delight in learning how to live so that we please him. Meditation implies giving it quality time, thinking about it, remembering it within the patterns of daily life. However, in practice the process so easily becomes a guilt-ridden burden. The pressures of day-to-day living often lead to a quick read and a quick tick for that day's passage. Even if we are employed to teach and write about the bible, there is still a tendency for it to become like any other academic discipline, a relationship of delight slipping away.

So how do we meditate? What practices will lead to delight? Jesus said, 'When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth'. The promise is that the Holy Spirit will illuminate, surprise and delight us. Practically, we have to organise our schedules to give the Spirit space and time to do that, even if just once a week. We need to let the words sink into our hearts and minds, and then to meditate on and pray them into our lives. If we have no time for this, then the branch will not bear fruit and the leaves will wither.

Margaret Killingray

their delight is in the law of the Lord. when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you.

LICC - Connecting with Culture - The history boys

LICC - Connecting with Culture - The history boys

Alan Bennett's new play (at the Lyttleton Theatre) is about - to use Tony Blair's famous phrase - education, education, education. It is set in a northern grammar school in the 1980s. The headmaster (with a geography degree from Hull) is determined that his brightest boys should win places at Oxford or Cambridge. The maverick sixth-form master, Hector, has a sparkling rapport with the boys, and his classes are eccentric, stimulating, eclectic, creative, poetic. The head is concerned, however, that Hector's teaching is 'unpredictable and unquantifiable'. So, he hires for a few weeks a young teacher with the express brief to train the boys to write the kind of essays that will impress the examiners with their apparent originality. The cynical shallowness of the one contrasts vividly with the passion of the other.

Sparks fly.

The background to the plot is Margaret Thatcher's obsession with utilitarianism. The long shadows of league tables were yet to fall over our schools. The essential question that the play asks is, 'What is education for?' Is it for the imparting of skills and qualifications that will help students to productive careers? Or is it something much less easily measured - the forming of truly rounded human beings, with wide knowledge and questioning minds?
In contemporary discussion about education, Christians seem passionately concerned about religious-education, multi-faith worship and the teaching of evolution. But we do not often hear a Christian voice about the purpose and content of the whole education our children receive. Do we care about the abandonment of any sense of history - indeed of the wisdom and learning of the past; about the denigration of culture; or about the secular worldview that is so much taken for granted that it is not even discussed?

Perhaps we could do better in our churches, too. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were reminded constantly to recall the great events of their history. But many Christians today seem ignorant of the 2,000 years of the history of the Church. To say nothing of the sublime poetry and music that have so enriched our Christian heritage. Bennett's play offers a timely lesson for us all. It's truly an education.

Helen Parry

the question that the play asks is, 'What is education for?' Bennett's play offers a timely lesson for us all"

Explore Helen's article more fully online. Simply click here for extra resources, group-work ideas and the chance to have your say:

All Souls, Langham Place - 18 July 2004

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: what whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14,15 KJV)

The episode of the bronze snake on a pole (Numbers 21), owes all its prominence to the interpretation given it by Jesus, in John chapter 3.

1. The Death principle. Jesus drew the parallel between the death from serpent-bite that faced those Israelites of old and the eternal death that all humanity faces as a result of our common rebellion against God's rule.

2. The Faith principle. The remedy for the people's sin, back in Moses' time, was a large bronze snake, displayed in the middle of the Israelite camp. To fasten one's gaze upon that snake was to be exercising obedient faith. Now Jesus equates the 'seeing' of the snake to believing in Himself, who - like the snake of old - had been 'lifted up' upon the Cross; suspended between heaven and earth - there to be rejected by both.

The Salvation principle. Just as life would be given to those who set their focused gaze upon the serpent of old, so today forgiveness and eternal life come to all who trust in Christ's atoning sacrifice.

Lifted up was He to die, runs the old hymn. Have you 'seen' Christ - yet?

CCWC 18/07/2004 - 1Cor.16:5-24

'Be Part Of The Journey' - Norma Wapshott

* Addressing Questions ~ it was *a church with problems!!
* Key verses - v.13-14 - "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love."
* Causes problems while preaching the Gospel
* Paul needed encouragement - v17-18
* We are constantly challenged as christians - encurage & pray for one another
* Sharing the journey just as Timothy & others did with Paul.
* Stephanus & family stand out (v15) Hospitality etc.
* Embrace all & we need other christians
* Be aware of others needs - love in action.
* Do not rely on just the minister. everyone has this responsibility for one another.
* Be committed 2 one another ie small groups. Pray, encourage, write letters - all in love.
* Have fun on the way - be of good cheer v18. Enjoy fellowship
* His grace makes it all possible. v23-24
* Say hello 2 somebody new today. Dont just rush out.
* Sharing the journey - shared sense of vision, committed to one another

Eva Cassidy song - 'People Get Ready'

People get ready, there's a train a-coming
You don't need no baggage you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear diesels humming
You don't need no ticket you just thank the Lord
Yeah yeah yeah

People get ready for the train to Jordan
Picking up passengers from coast to coast
Faith is the key open the doors and board them
There's room for all among the loved and lost

Now there ain't no room for the hopeless sinner
Who抯 hard on mankind just to save his own
Have pity on those whose chances are thinner
Cause there's no hiding place from the Kingdom's Throne

Ohh people get ready there's a train a-coming
You don't need no baggage you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear diesels a- humming
You don't need no ticket you just thank the Lord
Yeah yeah yeah

I'm getting ready
I - I'm ready yeah yeah yeah
Oh I'm getting ready oh - oh
I'm ready yeah

Hymn - 'Love Divine'
1. Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down;
fix in us thy humble dwelling; all thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation; enter every trembling heart.

2. Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast!
Let us all in thee inherit; let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning; Alpha and Omega be;
end of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.

3. Come, Almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive;
suddenly return and never, nevermore thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love.

4. Finish, then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee;
changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.

LICC - Connecting with Culture - Not managing today?

LICC - Connecting with Culture - Not managing today?

not managing today?
Another day, another survey confirming that work just isn't working any more. This time, it's Management Today reporting on research from the Roffey Park Institute, which found that the majority of middle managers (72 per cent), senior managers (69 per cent) and board directors (63 per cent) are looking for a greater sense of meaning from their work. The disillusionment has been growing since the survey began eight years ago.
It's not surprising that managers are craving meaning from their jobs when, according to other research, they have precious little time for anything else. Nor is it surprising that they aren't finding it because, despite the rhetoric of corporate values statements, today's workplace is in reality almost entirely focused on a line - profit.
Indeed, one of the greatest challenges facing Christians in the UK is to live the abundant life of Christ in the face of the dehumanising, relationally destructive and emotionally, physically and spiritually debilitating effects of the contemporary work-place.
It is also, of course, one of our greatest opportunities, precisely because the Government, business and the medics are long on diagnosis and deft at dealing with symptoms, but woefully short on solutions.
Encouragingly, some Christians are bucking the trend: one company has capped executive hours at 45 per week; individuals are downshifting, or restricting their own hours; others continue as they are, believing confidently that God wants them to be there, and finding strength through him. (Please post your own insights and stories at LICC Culture.)
However, for the majority of Christians in work, our LICC research reveals that the big issues are stress and burnout, maintaining integrity, relationships, overwork, insecurity and redundancy.

We may know that ultimately we work for the king of the universe (Colossians 3.23-24), and we may understand God's transformational intentions for work - but such high purpose was surely not intended to be pursued at such fearsome cost. Sadly, few of us have the time, energy or even the necessary hope to stop and work out how to make any meaningful change to our work pattern. If this is you, contact a friend now and book a time to start the conversation.

Mark Greene

such high purpose was surely not intended to be pursued at such fearsome cost. few of us have the time, energy or hope to work out how to make any meaningful change to our work pattern

CCWC 07/04/2004

CCWC 07/04/2004 1 Cor.16:1-4
'Principles of Giving' - Keith Veen

Couple & child driving home from church. Husband complaining coz the service was too long and shte sermon tedious. The wife whining that the music as not to her taste. Kid pipes up in the back and say "What do you expect when you only pay 20p per week?" .
# Practical #

Charities - give to those in need.

How many charities in the UK? 46664!

Principles of giving.

1. *v1. Not in galatians (v2. regular, income related, planned)

2. *Acts 11:29 how they collected it. by church people to other church
people.

3.*what happened to the money? v3. democratic appointment; approved distribution; ccountability (Romans 15:25)
*delegation, direct involvement, our service & time also,
*situation then & now.
Inner city deprivation, uneven distribution, missionary gining needed & provided.
attitude need, have more, crimes, divorce, love of money is the source of all kinds
of evil
* each according to their capacity
* regular
* support needy believers
* accountability

* potential in our parish *

£1 per week in a year would raise £430000 annually on our electoral roll. £9000 a year. Benefitting the kingdom of God.

All Souls 07/11/2004 - John 18:1-11

The Universal Jesus - Paul Blackham

Kids playing with their father. play fighting, and the father never reveais his true stength to his kids.

Jesus reveals HisGlory
Jn17 Gt.Prayer. Awesome. Allowed us a glimpse of His Glory 17v5; vv24-25.

1.v1 Kidron dk waters. David
v2. Not a haven of peace this time for Jesus.
V4. X knows what is going 2 occur.
V5-6 I AM! Power when He said it. Exodus 3. "I AM who I AM!"
v7 Christ starts conversation again. They cant move. Why Judas? because Judas is no longer alone. satan was in him. satan also fell on the ground. satan is not the opposite of Christ. satan has come to the garden again (eden) Jn13.v27
v7. Christ releases them.
v8. Christ remains in control
v9. Christ fulfilled prophesy (in Jn.L7)protecting the Apostles
v10-11. Soldiers did not react against Peter. Under Christ' control. The cup of divine wrath/anger & willing sacrifice & suffering to redeem & make peace.
20 written that we may believe in Him & have life in Him

LICC - Word for the Week - Tightrope walking

Monday, July 12, 2004 11:27 AM

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or
take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers. Psalm 1:1

A thirteen year old girl on a school trip to a seaside town, actively helped some of her classmates to hide shoplifted goods from their teachers. When questioned she talked about commitment to friends, about peer group loyalty, about not being a telltale, and about the fear of being a goody-goody and being ostracised. Some parents, fearing such pressures and influences, home-school their children, wanting them to mature and grow in Christian wisdom before they face the challenge of maintaining their integrity in the complex relationships of social living.
Yet, even mature adults don't always find it easy to maintain warm working relationships and their Christian integrity when they live and work closely with all kinds of people. Choices, of course, are not always clear-cut.
Sometimes we can see clearly that we are faced with an issue that involves us following wicked advice or joining with scoffers' destructive cynicism. But, like the girl on the school outing, we too can see the importance of maintaining good relationships with colleagues and bosses, wondering whether a compromise would be better than sacrificing our influence. Besides scoffers can be very funny.
Rudyard Kipling defined maturity as being able to 'talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings, nor lose the common touch.' - a maturity that doesn't try too hard to please and doesn't sacrifice integrity to keep the peace. We do not hold back from full and fruitful relationships whether work, club, school or community, but we may sometimes have to say no and walk away. The decision may be very painful, but many have found unexpected allies who were longing for someone to take the lead. We may never know the consequences for good that may result from our deciding not to follow bad advice, walk the wrong path, or join in the scoffing.

Margaret Killingray

'If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings, nor lose the common touch.' We commit ourselves to maintaining our integrity in the complex relationships of social living.

CCWC 07/11/2004 1 Cor.16:5-12

'Jesus & his hands' - William Muncey

Hands - Jesus used them frequently.
Different uses
Hands expresses how we feel

Church should embrace kids.

Jesus' hands welcome us.
Jesus humility - servanthood
Jesus hands prepared 4 sacrifice.

Hands also communicates ie slgning.

Is Jesus our friend? His hands reach out to embrace us!

All Souls, Langham Place - 11 July 2004

"Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs" (Mark 7: 28)

Here is an encouragement to persist in prayer. A Gentile woman, in Tyre, pleads with Jesus to heal her afflicted daughter. Yet everything seemed to block her way in her appeal for Christ’s help.

1. It’s his day off. Jesus was taking a break in someone’s house, ‘and did not want anyone to know it’ (v.24). But the woman hears that he is in the neighbourhood; his reputation had reached Tyre long ago (Mark 3:8). Jesus has good minders - but they are no match for a persistent mother!
2. He’s otherwise engaged. Jesus puts out a little test for the woman. Isn’t his first calling as Messiah to the Jewish people - the children? Should their ‘bread’ be given to the outsider Gentile ‘dogs’?
3. You can’t out-argue Jesus. His challenge seemed unanswerable. He’s the world’s greatest teacher; even the cleverest of the scribes and Pharisees could never match him in debate.

But Jesus lets this Gentile nonentity win the argument, with her reply. She’ll take crumbs any day!

She goes home, prayer answered. Her daughter is completely recovered.

Richard Bewes - Rector of All Souls - 11 July 2004

LICC - Hail to the Thief

hail to the thief

Thom Yorke's lyrics inhabit a troubled, twilight zone - like those moments, perhaps, when you're falling asleep but drifting into a nightmare; when you can sense fear, but you can't tell quite what it is you're afraid of. "It is now the witching hour," he mumbles. "Your alarm bells should be ringing. This is the gloaming."
'The Gloaming' was, in fact, the working title for Radiohead's sixth album, released this week; however 'Hail to the Thief' (a scornful American term for George Bush, used in the opening song) won the day, perhaps because it helped to focus a more abstract, melancholic recording that was completed during the invasion of Iraq.
A pervading sense of unease is rarely made more specific in the 14 new songs; there are some political hints ("Maybe you'll be president/But know right from wrong"), but instead the band sketch murky shapes of the monsters and murderers who stalk the world we fear, and fear for. We know that global forces seem threatening, but it's hard to say who or what the enemy is. The war on terrorism has no perceptible target, but neither, it seems, does any war on poverty. Liberal democracy has never felt so impotent at home, yet we unleash it abroad with cluster bombs. Yorke's temptation is to curl into a ball: "I'm gonna go to sleep and let this wash over me." After all, what can he do? "We're rotten fruit, damaged goods... One gust and we will probably crumble."
And yet, there is a tremulous hope: "I'm hanging off a branch/I'm teetering on the brink" sings Yorke in 'Backdrifts' - but he is still hanging. "I won't let this happen to my children," he promises more defiantly in 'I Will'.
What 'this' is, we'll never know. It may be pointless to search for too much clarity within the gloaming. But when one reviewer suggests the band uses sadness 'as an emotion of engagement', we may be getting warmer. Like a psalm of lament, their music is not purely introspective; it demands change, even if it might not ever happen.
Ultimately, Yorke's lyrics elude rational analysis, spewing instead like the bewildering sleep talk of a disturbed man. Yet it's the melancholic beauty of the Radiohead sound that moves so many people. It defies neat explanation; but then so, too, does our world.

Brian Draper

yorke's lyrics inhabit a troubled, twilight zone
like a psalm of lament,
their music demands change,
even if it might not ever happen

Adrian Plass: the best Christian writer you've never heard

ADRIAN PLASS, author of The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Aged 37 1/2 and Ghosts, has sold more than a million books in England. He specializes in "gentle satire" of the evangelical Christian subculture. He is touring Canada this month. The following interview was conducted by The Door Magazine.

DOOR: When people tell you why they love that book, what do they say?
PLASS: I think mainly it's that people know they're useless, really. Most of us know we're a load of old rubbish. And we come up against the challenges of scripture and teaching and preaching and all those things, and a lot of people are really, really troubled that they don't match up to what's expected of them. And I think the revelation that that is a common experience is a very relaxing one. When you read that someone says, for instance, "I tried to move a paper clip by faith," maybe you haven't done exactly that, but you've probably done something like that. And you felt a complete idiot. And to read that someone else does it, something about it being in print, gives it a validity that it wouldn't otherwise have. I know some people who have said they just breathed a sigh of relief and thought, "It's all right, I'm all right, I can be me! I don't have to worry about being a wonderful, wonderful Christian." So perhaps it's that. And I think that God rejoices in that, too. I think Gods says "That's good, let's just relax a bit, take it easy."

DOOR: Your recent novel Ghosts is your first to be published in America. Why do you think that is, since you're so ragingly popular in England?
PLASS: I don't quite know. There are pockets in America that really enjoy what I write. I get quite a lot of mail from America about my books. But they are small pockets. On one day I had two letters from America about Ghosts. One described it as "lust-provoking trash." Which I suggested to the publishers they should put on a little flyer and stick to the front of each book. And the other was from a man saying how much it had helped his faith and restored his faith. That probably sums it up.
The first one, the "lust-provoking trash" letter, represents one whole body of people in America, who really do not want the lid taken off anything. The other whole body of people are those who really want to get real with it. They want to challenge their own thinking and their own feeling about what they believe, and what it really does and who Jesus is, and how real is prayer, does prayer get answered, and all those questions which in narrow churches you're kind of pushed into such a tiny corner that you don't have the freedom to ask or answer them. I think that's part of it.
People always say of course that Americans don't understand irony. I don't think that's really true, when you look at the comedy coming out of America. But I do think American Christians, or one whole bunch of them, are troubled by humor, by humor in Christian literature, and troubled by reality. I don't know if this person who described Ghosts as "lust-provoking trash" was referring to this, but there is a scene where this man is severely tempted by somebody who comes to his room at night. Well, he doesn't give in, for goodness sake! I mean, I feel very sorry for these weaker brethren who are inspired to lust by it.
A friend of mine was telling me that in America recently he was at a seminar for 300 Christian men. They were asked how many of them watch porn on the Internet. All of them did. Every single one. Every single one.

DOOR: !!!
PLASS: Now, I don't know what they've been taught and what kind of churchmanship they've had in the past, but whatever it is, it doesn't work, does it? I do truly believe that Jesus has to get back among the people, where they are. And so for me, writing a book like Ghosts, I hope I'm going in to where people are and saying "Let's really be honest about this." There's a woman in there who talks about occasionally wanting to screw everybody she sees. And it's a bit vulgar, but when you're single and you have been for a long time and you want to be faithful and obedient, that's how you feel sometimes. And you don't want to dwell on it or make a virtue of it, but you want to say, "Come on, let's be where we are, good and bad." I think the lust-provoking trash lady will probably never see it from my point of view. That may be why I've had problems in America.
But when I speak in America, it works, it's exactly the same as it is in England. I think that has something to do with personal communication, earning your way into people's trust, and you can do that when you speak to a group of people, in a way you can't when they're only going to open a book, or they'll only read a little bit, because they've heard that it's bad, or whatever.

DOOR: Is there anything you want to add?
PLASS: Only that I really do hope American readers will excavate their own thinking and feeling about their faith. I'd love them to join me in exploring some of those things; that's what I've been doing for years. And if any do, I'd love to hear from them. That would be wonderful.

Courtesy: The Door Magazine

LICC - Can we spare the rod?

My friend Edward, when we were six, made a schoolboy error: he let our teacher catch him being naughty. She ordered him to retrieve a plimsoll from his bag, took the shoe and slammed it violently and repeatedly into his backside. I won't forget it; neither, I suspect, will he. It must have taught him something, if only that it's a harsh old world. But that was then, and this is now; corporal punishment in school was fully outlawed in 1998, and this week, the Government edged closer to protecting children from being spanked too hard at home. When the Children Bill was debated in the Lords, peers backed a compromise amendment to outlaw any smack that causes harm (such as bruising or cuts) - although they rejected a total ban.
Some Christians believe that we have a biblical mandate to administer physical 'chastisement'. In fact, the original ban on corporal punishment was challenged two years ago in the High Court by a coalition of independent Christian schools, which argued that corporal punishment was an important doctrine of our faith. A ban, they said, would erode our Christian rights.
They were beaten; the rod was not spared. The biblical evidence for their defence relies mostly on a handful of proverbs (23.13, 29.15 and 13.24). Elsewhere, the rod of punishment is counterbalanced strongly by the rod of protection and guidance. Psalm 23, for example, describes how the shepherd's rod and staff will comfort and guide his sheep, and it's an image that recurs many times.
Of course, Christians, like most people, will have different opinions on this issue. So if we're to offer a unique contribution to the debate, it probably won't be through citing proof texts, but by nurturing a biblical context. Our contemporary culture is based on rights; some exhort the rights of the parents to smack, while others defend the child's right to be protected. The debate, like society, risks atomisation.
The Kingdom of God, however, is about right relationships - and the obligations they carry, to love God and each other. Children, therefore, must obey their parents; but parents, equally, must not 'exasperate [their] children' (Ephesians 6.4). Punishment should ultimately seek to restore an offender to their community or family, not to alienate or physically harm them. And if we ever lose sight of that goal, we'll risk making a rod for our own backs.

Brian Draper

the rod of punishment is balanced by the rod of protection and guidance if we're to offer a unique contribution to the debate, it won't be through citing proof texts

Disagree? Then slap our wrist at London Institute for Contemporary Christianity

All Souls, Langham Place - 04/07/2004

He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" (Ezekiel 37:3)

Today it might be, ‘Can Iraq recover?... or Rwanda?... or Bosnia?'
But this is harder still! Here it is the Lord God who is asking the question of Ezekiel: ‘Can the people of God, exiled 500 miles from their home and temple, be transformed - from what amounts to no more than a vast collection of dried-up skeletons - into a vibrant living army of Spirit-filled people?’ The Jewish cause, of the mid-sixth century BC, seemed dead.
Can these bones live again? Here is an apparently hopeless case. Spiritually dead means spiritually DEAD. We can do nothing to raise such. It is also an apparently useless task. God says to Ezekiel, "Preach to the dry bones!"
"Lord, it won’t do any good. In any case, we’re now living in a post-Temple era. Why try?” In any case, the thought of a raised army of dead people is also an apparently impossible dream. It will never happen!
But it does. The vision of the transformation - from rattling dry bones into a living vibrant army was prophetic of what would eventually happen in the Gospel of Christ; new birth and joy in the Holy Spirit! Don’t give up, Christian worker, in the face of even the most unpromising scenario!

Richard Bewes - Rector, All Souls Langham Place

Which theologian are you?

"Sin is incurable by the strength of man, nor does free will have any validity here, so that even the saints say: 'The evil which I do not wish, this I do.' 'You are not doing the things which you wish.' 'Since my loins are filled with illusions,' etc."

You are Martin Luther! Yeah, you have a way of letting everyone know how you feel, usually with Bible quotes attached, and will think your way through the issues, although sometimes you make no sense! You aren't always sure of yourself, and you can change your mind about things, something you actually consider a strength. You can take solitude, especially with some music.

Which theologian are you?

A creation of Henderson

Quality comes free - 26/06/2004 Daily Telegraph

Quality comes free
Date: 26 June 2004
Sir - You write that, in every profession, quality costs money, hence the Church needs fewer, better bishops (Opinion, Jun 22). I am afraid that, theologically, you are wrong. Quality and money have no connection within Christianity. In fact, theologically, quality should be free. Jesus gave his teaching free of charge, unlike other preachers of the day who would charge for their wisdom.

in response to

Fewer, better bishops (Filed: 22/06/2004)

A bishop of the Church of England should have a touch of magnificence about him. His job is to look after his clergy and to guide his flock on the great theological and moral issues of the day. As a local dignitary, he should be looked up to in his diocese. To fulfil all these roles properly, he should not have to worry about where to find the money for the next tin of Whiskas to feed the episcopal cat.
Yet today, newly appointed bishops are paid only £33,930 a year - roughly the same as train drivers on the London Underground. Their palaces are being sold, and their few perks cut back. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury, on £62,520 a year, gets no more than many middle-ranking local authority executives. Despite this, the General Synod in York is to debate a motion calling for bishops to be paid even less. No churchman, says the Rev Christopher Lilley, rector of the Scawby group of parishes in Lincoln, should be paid more than the lowliest parish priest. There is a very strong case for cutting the number of bishops, which has almost doubled over the past 100 years, while the numbers of church-goers and clergy have fallen. But those who remain should be paid more. In every profession, quality costs money. The Church needs fewer, better bishops.

Challenging thought - 28/06/2004 Daily Telegraph

Challenging thought
Date: 28 June 2004
Sir - Who rattled Richard Dawkins's cage (News, June 21)? He says the teaching of creationism is "educational debauchery". But does it really corrupt and seduce? Or does it merely challenge the mind to compare ideas? Surely that is what education is all about.

Creationism is no more a religion than Darwinism – or atheism for that matter. They are all beliefs; none can be proved. After all, if God was smart enough to create the world from a standing start in six days, He is certainly smart enough to create the illusion of antiquity in the geological record that is the foundation of Darwinism.

gotta spare penny, Rev?

Let us pay, says 'no coins' vicar

A vicar has banned coins from wedding collections and said that anything less than £5 notes are an "insult to God". Father Mark Sowerby is insisting that orders of service for weddings at his church, St Wilfrid's, in Harrogate, North Yorks, include the request "paper money only, please".
Mr Sowerby, whose Grade II-listed church costs more than £105,000 a year to run, said he does not have enough time to count small change. "I am heartily sick of counting small silver and coppers," he said. "Such gifts are not only insulting to God, but I have better things to do with my time." The initative has been criticised by locals. Dawn Whitton, who paid £600 for her daughter's wedding at the church last week, said: "I found it offensive and insulting."

Unpopular decision - 04/07/2004 Daily Telegraph

Sir - So the Pope has expressed his sorrow for the Fourth Crusade and his disgust at the looting of Constantinople in 1204 (News, June 30). This would be significant if his repentance was expressed with a desire for restitution (an essential pre-requisite for absolution in the Roman Catholic Church). If I steal my neighbour's car it is irrelevant if I tell him I am sorry, and indeed that I am looking after his car very well, if I do not actually return it.
The Roman Catholic Church still holds a very large amount of property that belongs to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Constantinople, looted in 1204 and subsequently: relics, icons, vessels and gospels. These are to be found in France, Germany, and Italy (particularly Venice). If we are to take the Pope seriously this must all be returned, including the Shroud of Turin.

From:
Oeconomos Stephen Maxfield, Greek Orthodox Church, Albrighton, Shrewsbury