10 Days to go- Advent

The liturgical year works through the whole of the salvation story.  Advent is the start of the church year.  The focus of Advent hymns are; Jesus' coming, light from darkness, preparation, and the fulfilling of prophecy. 

The speaker raised an interesting point about the cross over between advent and Christmas.  Should we spend the advent period waiting/preparing for Christmas, or does this detract from the period of advent? 

The Old Testament Genesis- Jeremiah (well not quite everything in between)

Before the first session we were asked to think about the following question:

'how would you answer Dawkins or anyone else who said that the God of the OT was a vengeful, violent, and wrathful deity?'  Truth be told, I don't know.  The Old Testament is always something that I've struggled with.  The Old Testament God doesn't seem to marry well with The God of the New Testament, I've often thanked God that I was born in the time AD and don't need to follow all those rules, regulations and endure all the wars etc.  

Our first session focused on Genesis, the book that covers the great flood which ended most of the people on Earth- give or take a Noah or two.  From this we are supposed to identify a God of Grace, and a God of Blessing? 

I find this a little hard to swallow, however, I've always found great comfort in the seemingly simple sign of a rainbow.  A while ago I was studying for an MA and I really struggled to fit in, one morning I was heading to my course after a pretty bad nights sleep and was not in a good place.  When trying to leave the house my front door stuck (it would do this every now and again) and I began to get upset.  Eventually I left the house and getting into my car I noticed the most beautiful rainbow and I just knew that everything was going to be ok.  I guess that maybe the God of the OT is offering some of that 'tough love' that people so often talk about. 

Anyhoo- to sum up, maybe we need to focus on the positive results of negative times, not to be too clichéd, maybe we really do need to focus on the silver linings?

Baptism and Ministry

 

 

Our second session on baptism offered a slightly different focus- Stephen Cherry (the leg-end that he is) reflected on our responsibilities as baptised people, what happens after the baptism.  Reflecting back on my last post- this could have some impact on infant baptism and the importance (or not) of it.  Stephen suggests that out baptism doesn't just end at the giving of the candle, but really starts.  We can view our baptism as a sending out, or commissioning if you will, a commission from God to serve him and help to build up his kingdom. 

 

As baptised people what are our moral obligations? 

The symbolism of Baptism

 

I was baptised as a baby and I think probably found it easier to come back to church because I already had that sense of belonging.  When I was 20, I became a Christian whilst studying at university and returned to church and was confirmed, and the rest as they say is history!  I do wonder if that journey would have been so easy, or even happened at all if I hadn't been baptised as a child. 

 

However, thinking of the importance of baptism and the promises made during the baptism service I do wonder whether or not we ('we' being the church) should encourage infant baptism or not.  In some ways I wonder if it's a modern day circumcision, a right of passage so to speak.  I can kid of see two schools of thought; 'Operato, operata'- when it's done, it's done.  Regardless of the legitimacy of the promises made by parents/godparents, once baptised any child will always be a member of Gods family and confirmation can offer them a chance to confirm the promises made on their behalf.  The second school of thought, I guess would be to wait until the individual can decide for themselves and I guess be baptised as an adult- just as Jesus was. 

 

I'm not really sure which way I'm swaying towards, however, one this is for sure- we, as a church and as individuals need to make the most of the opportunities we have to reach out to baptism families and candidates to encourage them to feel a part of the church family and to want to learn more about God's kingdom. 

The Crucifixion...

The Crucifixion is probably one of the hardest subjects for many Christians to think about. We've been asked to look at how the crucifixion has been portrayed in art. Here are a few of my 'favourite'- if that's the right word images.

I guess this isn't exactly a typical image of the crucifixion, but I do think that it portrays a part of the crucifixion (especially if you focus on Luke's Jesus). The lack of choice I feel that Jesus had in what happened. It was all part of God's plan, it had to happen, Jesus couldn't really 'get out of it' so to speak.

This is probably my favourite image. I love the powerfulness (that's not even a word)of a mother's love for her son. It reminds me of the humanity that Jesus had, although he was of divine nature...he was simply human too, he has a mother just like you and I and I can't begin to imagine the pain and sorrow that Mary must have gone through, despite being 'blessed' by God.

It's probably not good to have a colourful image of the crucifixion but I love the colours in this piece (and if you think this is bad- take a look at Picasso's!!).

This is a different aspect again of the crucifixion. It makes us think a little bit about it from Jesus' point of view. I couldn't even begin to imagine what Jesus went through on that day, for us. What an incredible act of LOVE.

I wonder if this one is part of a full window, or just a part of a bigger piece. I love the colour (again) and like the focus on hands...not sure why. So tonight we were asked. If the crucifixion was occurring now- today in 2012. Which character would you be? It's not an easy question to answer, particularly as we have the end of the story sat on our bookshelves. But if I were to reflect on my 'conversion'. I made quite a change, I was completely in awe, amazed, and I felt as if my life went from black to white. Would this be similar to Mary Mag's experience? Could I be Mary Mag? Worshiping, devoted, totally focused on Jesus, without thinking or caring of the consequences? Maybe not. In reality, I might be more like Peter. Scared, frightened, so much so I may deny my faith, my friendship in Jesus to save myself from any negative implications that it would have... Who would you be?

The Transfiguration

This week we looked at the Transfiguration Window from Durham Cathedral, unfortunately we weren't able to actually go and see it, but all the same it looks pretty impressive in the leaflet. What I related to the most, was that Jesus took his disciples up onto a mountain to show them God. This is where I see God most readily too, on a mountain. There's something quite amazing, majestic about being up high and seeing the surrounding scenery from the bast place possible, to see the full picture and splendour or wherever I am (usually Wasdale...). Peter, James and John got to glimpse Jesus in all his splendour and I think we still can today too. Too see the window in all it's glory...feel free to visit here.

Let's start at the Beginning...

I have been advised to attend the Living Theology Today for about 4 years. This year I finally got round to looking into it, applying, and now here I am writing a reflective journal about it. They say change is inevitable and I guess I was prepared for the change in my new found wealth of theological knowledge. I wasn’t however, prepared for a change in me. I hadn’t even considered how this course would impact my faith. Seems silly really looking back, but I guess there are no hard and fast rules that to study Theology, one must have a faith, belief of some kind. After talking to people at the study day, hearing their excitement of the course, their anticipation of what would happen, where it would take them, where God would take them. I started to wonder if I’d made the right decision. Should I really be here? Am I really the right person to be on this course? Luckily I didn’t have much more time to think about it, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday came and went. Wednesday was here and somehow I’d managed to read the 16 pages suggested. My stubborn ‘righteous’ self drove to Durham and took a deep breath before entering the library, late again… I had prepared myself to be challenged by people’s views, to disagree at times, to be enlightened to new thoughts. But I had no idea how this might impact my faith. My relationship with God has been a little strained of late, the loss of my job, family issues, bereavement, etc all added to my ‘issues’ with the Big Guy. I guess this is no different to the pattern of my life. Relationships with people are often like roller coasters, happy and healthy one minute, unhappy and in need of TLC the next. I didn’t think much more about my relationship with God. At least not until Wednesday. I loved the session led by Anne. I love art and I loved picking out what parts of the paintings I felt important, what I liked, what I didn’t like.

One of my favourite paintings was 'The adoration of the shepherds by Rembradt (or one of his scholars... 1646) But I was a little annoyed that there wasn’t even a mention of the text that we’d had to read. The 16 pages I’d read and taken notes of whilst burning the midnight oil, during my lunch break, over tea before I left for Durham. I had found the text rather confusing, filled with lots of big words (or small as ‘logos’ has only 5 letters!) that didn’t make sense. Analogies of eagles that didn’t relate well to me. I had hoped to discuss it together. But later that evening, as I planned my Bible study for the youth group the next day, it all started to become clear. I began to see the bigger picture. This LTNE wouldn’t just be confined to Wednesday nights at Durham, it was going to spill happily into other areas of my life, into other parts of myself. The study was one of many studies entitled the Story of Christmas. Study one: In the beginning… I laughed inwardly to myself. What a chump I’d been. Writing my notes I added my own thoughts of Jesus being there before time, as discussed by John in his Gospel. That Jesus was so great that before he was even born he existed. The importance of ‘Logos’. The importance of God. I realised that God was there, that he always had been. That unlike others when a relationship had broken down of become distant. God was there; loving me, supporting me, and guiding me. This great being that I needed, wanted, was here in my life, for always. Just as Jesus had been for the world.

LTNE

It’s my first day of a new course, it felt like my first day at school. Will I fit in, will I make friends, and will I be able to do the work. All kinds of questions were running round my head, making me nervous enough, without the added extra of not being able to find my bus stop in Newcastle and the thought of being late. One taxi later, I was here. A new beginning. I sat with the person I recognised from the enquirers evening and heaved a sigh of relief; I could relax and hide in the background now. Not the case. Prayers and then a team challenge. We built a bridge. I’m not sure I realised just how close to home this activity came. I entered the course thinking I could sail through, do the work, gain the qualification without challenging myself I guess. I hadn’t considered the need for team work, the need for sharing, the need for group growing and developing. After lunch I began to feel even more alienated and alone, all self-inflicted. Watching the DVD and hearing the stories of Elizabeth’s year really drove home how much of a group process this would be. That although we were starting at different stops, and probably had different destinations; effectively we were all on this journey together. A journey with God, a journey with faith, a journey with each other. I think lesson one was well and truly learnt. Building a bridge between myself and my peers. N.B Back dated to 29th September 2012