What source of faith

When a person arrives at a church for the first time there is a question around the individuals background in Christianity.

In general and as broad categories I’d see that there are two groups here.

1. First those who have an inherent Christianity – a Christianity that they may not yet fully own for them selves, but have received it from those who nurtured them.
2. The second group is those who have no background in Christianity. Those who came fresh to things. Often several generations away from an inherent Christianity, if it is there at all.

Now with these two groups, much of the Church I’d say work well with the first model, that often there is an assumed background as to what is happening, as to when to stand and sit. As to the rites and rituals of the congregation. The things that are done and why do we do them.

However there is for me a lack of understanding as to what is done and why do we do it. Until we reach the point if been able to explain what we do and why. There is a lack of understanding within the Christianity community to explain what we do, and to be able to adapt to explain to those who have little idea of what is done and why.

Part of this comes in our own understanding – do we hold these things for our selves, or do we repeat what has been passed on to us without an thought as to what and why we do these thing. The church can often become dependant upon a degree pre held knowledge that would otherwise not be available to those who have never encountered such things before.

There is a need to both grasp the simple and every day items that we do, and also the big ones. We can often take a good amount of time over the big theological questions, yet we often forget that the little simple things can be as distracting or hard to follow.

So I’d encourage that we look to how we do things, and become more aware of what we do and why.

 

 

 

Time, and it’s use

First apologies for the lack of updates of late, but here is one.

So about a month ago, I heard on the radio about a new nutrient pill, that meant one didn’t have to “waste time” eating. On the radio program “A Point of View” John Gray spoke about the fact that people want to be busy all the time, and have our time filled. Now about the same time on Seedbed they had something about Why Worship is a Royal Waste of Time. Now this spoke about worship being there for its own sake, and not to generally do other things.

Now looking at these two things together, first that people want their lives to be filled and with no space in them, but then worship is not a “productive” use of time. I ponder if the filling of time is a good thing, should all be measured in how many time units are allocated to things, or do some things have a different measure on them.

But also is this one of the ways that the church is counter-cultural?

 

A Living History: Recovering The Beauty Of Liturgy

A Living History: Recovering The Beauty Of Liturgy.

An interesting view of things, and one I tend to agree with

 

Merry Christmas

Christmas blessings

Rev'd Claire

May the joy of the angels,
the eagerness of the shepherds,
the perseverance of the wise men,
the obedience of Mary and Joseph,
and the peace of the Christ-child
be yours this Christmas time;

and the blessing of almighty God
Creator, Redeemer, Comforter
Be with you and those you love*
this Christmas and always

Amen.

*Love your neighbour as yourself….who is your neighbour? Everyone. All of them. Even the ones you don’t like.

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