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Chocolate Teapots (October 25th 2009)

Mark 10:46-52

Faith makes you see! Does it work the other way round too?

Faith makes you 'get' the Reign of God thing. Faith is about trust and daring. Perhaps it is the only way to see: to dare to see. Is that the prophetic challenge, to dare to see? Is that what vision is? The daring to see, the 'getting' of the commonwealth of God?

Bit too many questions possibly but hey, the opposite of question is stagnation, blindness. Questions begin to open your eyes to faith, to 'getting' the realm of love.

What Bartemeaus saw was new life. Yes, of course, he saw all the disciples staring at him bemused and surprised possibly (though they'd seen this thing a million times before) but surely when you've been blind to something and your eyes are open, you see beyond what is physically there towards meaning and porpose, ie 'getting' what Jesus is about. Dare we open our eyes, really open them? That's the only question you really need to ask.

Spot the heresy

It is quite fascinating when you preach a heresy and people all agree with you. What does that say? Today we danced well with my pet heresy of universalism where everyone get's to heaven and God will wait all eternity until the very last one standing finally lets love accept them (otherwise love isn't the most powerful thing in the universe and whatever prevents that person accepting love is the more powerful).

It did get me thinking about what makes our faith tick and how we hold a whole host of contradictory and mutually exclusive ideas together. That's the sort of thing faith does well. I'm not sure I need it all sorted out and nicely systematic. Where's the creativity in that? It doesn't help our insecurities in the immediate term but it does bring adventures and adventures bring stories and stories reveal God and God... well God gives meaning and promise to the moment and as the moment changes the story evolves to help hold the next moment of God.

Perhaps we should do a whole series on pet heresies and see where that takes us. Seriously. 'Any piece of doctrine followed to its logical conclusion is a heresy' one of my university lecturers always said. I'm up for that. Where shall we begin? Suggestions...

How Glorious...

...is Scotland. Taken earlier today.

A Gathering

Been away for a few days up north and out west. Glorious. But the desk is back and so is the preparation. Here's a gathering for Sunday for three voices. Probably a big chair, empty, with a couple of lesser ones at the side with readers 1 & 2. Third voice from the congregation. Back on lectionary.

1: Right hand
2: Left hand
1&2: In the glory and kingdom with Jesus

1: Right hand
2: Left hand
3: Hungry in the bread queues with Jesus

1: Right hand
2: Left hand
1&2: Sitting at the side of Jesus

1: Right hand
2: Left hand
3: Sitting with the homeless Jesus

1: Right hand
2: Left hand
1&2: A place of honour beside Jesus

1: Right hand
2: Left hand
3: Forgotten beside Jesus

1: How lovely is your dwelling place
3: Passed by on the roadside side
All: with Jesus

Jack Spong visits Scotland

Bishop Jack Spong is in Edinburgh on 22nd October at 7.30 at St John's Princes Street.

Those who have come along to Living the Questions and Saving Jesus will know Jack Spong well, though not personally. Now is your chance. Tickets are £12 and more infomration can be got from the Progressive Christian Network in Britain.

He has a new book coming out called: Eternal Life: A new Vision. Don't miss this opperchancity. He doesn't get here very often.

Chocolate Teapots backwards

Chocolate Teapots has been a bit quiet recently mainly because we've had special services. We had Harvest yesterday and sometimes only after the event do some things become clear.

The service yesterday seemed to go okay. The bees were certainly celebrated and rightly so. Part of our act of dedication was to gether up lots of seeds to be planted at the right time but not immediately. It was a bit counter-intuitive becasue we are always wanting immediate results. Sometimes we want results before the things has happened whcih is why the stockmarket dived last year. But planting seeds is so much the opposite of that, we have to wait, even wait to plant them, let alone wait for them to grow. It's a symbol that we are in this for the long term, not for immediate results.

Of course that doesn't mean waiting doing nothing. There's lots to be done, but the results are not immediate, the preparing, the questioning, the debating, the challenging is what brings the life. Abnd it is from these things that seeds grow. This Harvest was done backwards: we gathered seeds to help bees, and gatherd seeds to help community. We havem't got around to planting them yet. This isn't the time. Wait for the right time. The iummediate result would be the right result.

Honey Bee Harvest

It's all set for Harvest tomorrow. Colany Collapse Disorder and the Gospel: an insight into both. We've got seeds, films, music, dedication, gifts, flapjacks. It's really everything a harvest should be: thanksgiving with an edge. Here's a wee something from the service, a statement of faith called 'Spelling it out':

We believe in spelling it out:
we believe faith is spelled R.I.S.K.;
we believe harvest is spelled J.U.S.T.I.C.E.;
we believe creation is spelled C.A.R.E.;
we believe God is spelled L.O.V.E.;
we believe life is spelled S.H.A.R.E.;
we believe bread is spelled J.E.S.U.S.

We believe in spelling it out:
that people of faith are risk-takers;
that God’s harvest is founded on justice;
that creation is a way of caring for each other;
that God is love and love is God;
that life is richer when shared together;
that the bread we share is simply Jesus Christ.

We believe in spelling it out:
godly living is Hope-filled;
heaven’s justice is always Anticipated;
a loving community is Responsible;
God’s creation is Valuable;
where neighbourhoods welcome Everyone;
and life on this planet is Sustainable,
Transforming, Trusting, Together.
We believe in spelling it out: H.A.R.V.E.S.T.

500 years in the making

500 years ago this year Calvin was born. We all knew that! But I bet most of us don't know much more than that. There's a great wee book by Ian Manson (previously of our next door parish) who now exists in Geneva exactly where Calvin used to preach - imagine. So, even by osmosis he knows more about him than most of us.

But this book isn't written by osmosis. It's very readable and puts Calvin in the context of what was happening around his time and the reformation. I'd recommend it and if you'd like a copy, then go here to get yours. It's excellent.