Nomadic Faith

Here’s a recording of phone call I had with Dr Andrew Corbett for a study I led last night.

The topic was on 1 Corinthians 5 and the seemingly opposing viewpoints between 1 Corinthians 4 where it tells us not to judge, and a book later in 1 Corinthians 5, where it tells us specifically that it is our role to judge*

Deep

Download / listen to MP3 recording

*It tells us to judge others within our walls, and explicitly not those who do not claim to be Christians – that’s not our right.

Join myself and my mate Rob down at the local.

The Matt and Rob Pubcast

Pentecostalism ≠ evangelicalism ≠ fundamentalism.  Did you know that?

In fact, Pentecostalism has it’s roots in the Methodist holiness movement, the same movement that the Salvation Army was born out of, which in turn is where I started my journey of faith.

In it’s early days, Pentecostalism had strong ties with emancipation, woman’s suffrage, social justice, liberality and pacifism.  It was characterised by the coming together of all races and “classes” - without discrimination - to worship God and see the broken set free supernaturally.

This is liberating to me, because over this past weekend I was led through a life changing series of experiences that swept me back into my core Pentecostal beliefs that I had almost left behind.

I had almost left them behind, because they seemed to me to be so tied up with other experiences in my past - legalism, prosperity theology, institutionalism, empiricism, selfish ambition and subcultures - that seems to me to be incompatible with the Gospel.

But Pentecostalism is not about all that.

I was gracefully shown this through this week’s Podcast of ‘Speaking of Faith’ with Krista Tippit.  I started to listen to this podcast when she once featured Shane Claibourne.

So I can still believe that God moves supernaturally, and in profound, powerful ways in a person’s life, and yet still practice Love, reject capitalism and meet organically, because this also seems to be the beliefs of the early Pentecostals.

That is good to know.

If in Australia? 

My blindness and ignorance is disturbing.  A sickness.  A virus that has infected most of western civilization it seems.

A remedy…

Hello. This is Coco Wang. As you know the breaking news of 5.12 Earthquake in China, almost all the TV channels in China are broadcasting 24 hours non-stop of every development and stories of all the rescue operations in all damaged locations.

I don’t know how much information the BBC or any UK media received from us, I imagine the UK audiences were presented with the major developments of the incident, but you are probably unaware of many important and inside details which are only known to people inside China.

The amount of incredibly moving stories of victims, rescuers, and volunteers is simply shocking at the moment. I have been collecting newspapers of all the stories, and telling them in the form of comic strips. I hope these stories could show the UK readers the love, warmth and courage of the Chinese people, also the sad and cruel reality of the horrible 5.12 Earthquake.

I am back home in Beijing now. Thousands of heart-breaking stories are happening 24 hours non-stop everyday, some are so sad that you can hardly bear, some are incredibly moving that you just can’t stop crying… I wanted to go to the front to help with all those people, some of my friends have already gone there, but I heard that the traffic needed to be kept totally clear for rescue transportation at the moment, people like me without knowledge of first-aid and experience of rescue operations going there now would cause choas and trouble… but I can’t just sit at home and do nothing, I have been crying my eyes out in the past three days, I have never felt more proud of my country and people… their love, courage and kindness rock me to my core! I have decided to tell these touching stories by drawing comics. I am going to send you comic strips almost everyday from now on, I hope you could know something about the earthquake in China, although you don’t have to do anything, but I hope you could feel our love and hope.

Thank you all so much.

Coco Wang

[click images to enlarge - you need to read these]

http://earthquakestrips.blogspot.com/

To all readers.  All two of you.  I need to hear your answer (or at least discussion) on this question:  When does confidence cross the line into pride?

Let’s pose some hypotheticals (and yes, I know I just turned an adjective into a noun).

In your job, you’re pretty sure you know what you are talking about most of the time.  You even consider yourself a bit of an expert.  Knowing that sometimes you can still be wrong, how confidently can you express your opinion as fact before you really are acting, or at least come across as arrogant?  Does it matter that some would see you as arrogant?

Or say you feel like pod-casting is something that you should be doing.  You know that you are not incredibly eloquent or as creative as some out there.  You sometimes use words or clichés completely out of context.  You have some ideas, but not sure they are worth sharing.  Should you just take the plunge and throw caution to the wind and do it, not caring what others think, in the hope that you have some chance of achieving what you set out to do?

Now don’t even think of going anywhere before answering this question…

               …  Oops! - was that too proud?

Yes, lose your faith. Lose your faith in God. For as the French mystic Simone Weil insisted, there is a kind of atheism that is purifying, cleansing us of idols. Lose your faith in the god that the cross exposes as a no-god, a sham god. Lose your faith in the god who is but the product of your projections, fantasies, wishes, and needs, a security blanket or good-luck charm god. Lose your faith in the god who is there to hold your hand, solve your problems, rescue you from your trials and tribulations, the deus ex machina, literally the “machine god”, wheeled out onto the stage in ancient Greek drama, introduced to the plot artificially to resolve its complications and secure a happy ending. Lose your faith in the god who confers upon you a privileged status that is safe and secure. Lose your faith in the god who promises you health, wealth, fulfilment, and success, who pulls rabbits out of hats. Lose your faith in the god with whom your conscience can be at ease with itself. Lose your faith in the god who, in Dennis Potter’s words, is the bandage, not the wound. Lose your faith in the god who always answers when you pray and comes when you call. Lose your faith in the god who is never hidden, absent, dead, entombed. For the “Father who art in heaven” – this week he is to be found in hell – with his Son.

..

So, yes, lose your faith! For as with life, so with faith: only those who lose it will find it. Or rather may find it. Faith is a risk, and discipleship demands that we learn to live with insecurity and uncertainty, setting out on a journey without a map, with companions who are as lost as we are, following a leader who is always way ahead of us, beckoning mysteriously, “Follow me!”, and then vanishing just as we arrive. God is mystery, ineffable mystery, naming a reality that we know, but the more we know, the more we are forced to un-know and rethink everything we thought we knew.

http://faith-theology.blogspot.com/2008/03/palm-sunday-sermon-lose-your-faith.html

God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are a follower of Jesus.

Jesus said, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head.” .. “Follow me now! Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead.”

You will be handed over to the courts and beaten in the synagogues. And you must stand trial before governors and kings because you are his follower.

Brother will betray brother to death, fathers will betray their own children, and children will rise against their parents and cause them to be killed. And everyone will hate you all over the world because of your allegiance to Jesus.

The student shares the teacher’s fate. The servant shares the master’s fate. And since Jesus, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, how much more will it happen to you, a member of the household!

If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Jesus.  Whoever wants to be a leader must be a servant, and whoever wants to be first must become a slave.

On judgment day many will tell Jesus, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’  But he will reply, ‘I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were not for me.’

[His words, not mine]

http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/390/

Is it possible that modern Christianity has become too much about pragmatics?  That is - too much about how to live a successful life?

While biblical texts do give valuable insight into marriage, finance and sex, is it really meant to be as holistic as we’d like to think?  Perhaps we do like to think of it this way because it allows us to claim to be experts in all areas of life and the world around us from science to running a business just by studying the ‘Word’.  Perhaps in such matters we are, in reality, ignorant and dysfunctional.

Being experts means that we don’t need advisors.  We don’t need financial advice from outside ‘the church’ (warning: they may suggest that we don’t tithe our way out of debt), we don’t need doctors, councillors or psychiatrists..  We don’t appreciate ’secular’ art, music or scientific discovery.  And all the while we become more insular and disconnected from society.

Have we forgotten the simple aspects of our Faith, such as ‘trust and obey’, loving our neighbour, avoiding backbiting and gossip, and living in humility?  Shouldn’t our focus in spiritual matters be primarily on reconciliation with God and others, prayer and worship, and growing in character and understanding of God?

Not that we neglect these other areas - we just leave them up to the experts.

Mr. “Different” didn’t so much fit in at Tiddletown Abundant Life Church. 

Mr Jesus didn’t either.