by emma | Dec 13, 2008 | Books, Faith
“Writer Anne Lamott says that the most powerful sermon in the world is two words: “Me too.”
Me too.
When you’re struggling,
when you are hurting,
wounded, limping, doubting,
questioning, barely hanging on,
moments away from another relapse,
and somebody can identify with you –
someone knows the temptations that are at your door,
somebody has felt the pain that you are feeling,
when someone can look you in the eyes and say, “Me too,”
and they actually mean it –
it can save you.”
[From Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell]
by emma | Dec 12, 2008 | Music
Perhaps the beginning of a new series? Anne Jackson started/suggested it, and it seemed fun…
A song that’s been bothering me all week is “Angels or Devils” by Dishwalla…
this is the last time
that I’m ever gonna come here tonight
this is the last time – I will fall
into a place that fails us all – inside
I can see the pain in you
I can see the love in you
but fighting all the demons will take time
it will take time
the angels they burn inside for us
are we ever
are we ever gonna learn to fly
the devils they burn inside of us
are we ever gonna come back down
come around
I’m always gonna worry about the things that could make us cold
this is the last time
that I’m ever gonna give in tonight
are there angels or devils crawling here?
I just want to know what blurs and what is clear – to see
still I can see the pain in you
and I can see the love in you
and fighting all the demons will take time
it will take time
the angels they burn inside for us
are we ever
are we ever gonna learn to fly
the devils they burn inside of us
are we ever gonna come back down – come around
I’m always gonna worry about the things that could break us
if I was to give in – give it up
– and then
take a breath – make it deep
cause it might be the last one you get
be the last one
that could make us cold
you know that they could make us cold
I’m always gonna worry about the things that could make us cold
Your shout: what songs been stuck in your head this week?
by emma | Dec 11, 2008 | Words
“remember tomorrow is not guaranteed. trust your heart. what is it that you’re not doing that you must?”
[flowerdust]
Wow.
by emma | Dec 11, 2008 | Books, Faith
I’ve just finished my second read through of Jesus Wants To Save Christians, the latest Rob Bell book. Been mapping out a little of the directions it goes in…
Whose land is it, anyway?
A story about progress
East of Eden
An economy based on fear -> keeping us safe is v profitable
The cry of the oppressed
Anti-kingdom
An empire of indifference
Exile as a consequence of infidelity
A new Jerusalem, a new kind of exodus
Suspended promises
What kind of Son of David are you?
What do you do when your religion isn’t big enough for God?
Swords into plowshares
A story of movement: no one city/ religion/ perspective/ worldview can contain it
If the church gets converted, the whole world will follow
America as empire -> the bible is oppression narrative
We forget God by forgetting the widow, the orphan, & the refugee
Confusing blessing with entitlement
“American lifestyle is not up for negotiation” -> oil
Vicious cycle of the priority of preservation
Military spending -> empires accumulate
Founding of America & its wealth -> Native American genocide?
Followers of Christ missing the central message of the Bible?
Symbol of the revolution -> remember -> good gift
Being the Eucharist costs -> body broken, blood poured
“Me too”
Jesus wants to save us from ____
by emma | Dec 10, 2008 | Advent
The Christmas tripod is up…
… I have the best flatmates ever…
… and this cup makes me smile a lot…
What makes you feel Christmasey?
by emma | Dec 10, 2008 | Musings, Photography
Yesterday I shoot a little photo project with kirstymac, “Written All Over You”.
Adjectives. Nouns. I don’t know what you read on my face when you meet me. You know, the saying, it’s written all over your face? I think sometimes it’s a nice little adjective -mysterious, oftentimes it will be truth, other occasions though you won’t know the truth because it’s hiding behind my smiley face.
Adjectives. Nouns. You don’t know what I read on your face when I met you. It was like the saying ‘it’s written all over your face’. Oftentimes it will be truth, other occasions though I wonder about you… I won’t know the truth because it’s hidden. Sometimes I read you like a book, sometimes I think you are that expression written on your face. But today, I wonder what it is you are willing to tell…
You can read a bit about the context here and here on Kirsty’s blog…
… and you can see a few posts from the series here and here.
Keep an eye on her blog for more. The photo’s will be on my flickr.
by emma | Dec 9, 2008 | Faith
I got to hear Brian McLaren speak last night in Glasgow, on the last of his Scottish dates. The evening was split into a short talk, followed by a panel Q&A session, trying to ground some of what Brian said into a Scottish context. I had to leave after Brian’s talk – flatmate duties called!- but he said a few things that grabbed my attention…
He shared a host of new metaphors that we could translate the metaphor ‘kingdom of God’ into; to reclaim the subversive, political, intense images it evoked among those who first heard it.
I was struck by his comments on John the Baptist, about how he moved out to the margins and began baptising people on the fringe, not at the temple in Jerusalem; how it was this prophetic statement that we can’t depend on what happens at the religious centers anymore.
One metaphor Brian suggested was the sacred ecosystem of God. He talked about the ecosystem as a dance of reciprocal giving and receiving which we are invited to be a part of, and that sin in this metaphor is abusing it, forcing it to dance to a different rhythm.
In a brave move, he suggested the insurgency of God as a new metaphor.
We are the translation that matters most. How do we embody and live out the kingdom?
Perhaps the thing I found most useful was a new metaphor for describing the emerging church: He used the idea of a tree growing.
As a the world changes, the outer ring of a tree has new pressures put on it, and must change as a a necessity. In the same way, the people on the fringe of any tradition are those who will be most affected by cultural & societal changes, which leads them to change and re-imagine new ways of doing things.
[I may create a little graphic for this later, depending on how I feel…!]
All in all, a good evening with some new things to think about. Good to see Stewart again, along with many other friends! Stewart, Neal, & Wendy were all there… care to balance out my view?
by emma | Dec 8, 2008 | Work
What other Gap year dresses you up as a fairy, flies you across the world, puts you at the heart of the issues it works on, gives you access to political leaders, has you camping outside student unions in cardboard boxes and filming and writing resources? But not in that order…
Jim, one of my amazing gap year colleagues, wrote a great piece over on the Christian Aid Learn website describing his experiences of the gap year so far. You can read the article here.
It’s also pretty cool to see my photographs on the website! The two photos used in the article were taken by me during our trip to the DRC last month.
Have I mentioned that I love my job?!
by emma | Dec 7, 2008 | Advent, Photography
Saturday morning entailed a little bit of festive cheer: gingerbread men, baked goodness, musical (Sufjan-inspired) joy, laughter and coffee, all hosted by the delightful Breakeys.
A teaser, for those who missed out…
by emma | Dec 5, 2008 | Musings
There are these meta-narratives in my life: words, ideas, concepts that swirl around constantly looking for something to grab hold of, to have flesh put on them.
Words like
love,
hope,
community.
I can talk the talk, but do I walk the walk?
The past few weeks have been up and down for me, whether due to work, personal, or relational issues. Yet I go to work and put on a mask. I go to church and put on my mask. I go out with friends and put on the mask.
Time to take the masks off.
We live in a society that tells us we should be self-sufficient, that we don’t need anything or anyone else. Independence is held up as the ultimate goal.
The truth? It’s all lies.
We were made to live in community.
We are meant to be interdependent. In the beginning of the Bible, a man asks the question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”. So often we ask this question incredulously, as if to say, of course not! The very next verse challenges us: “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” We are our brother’s keeper. We are meant to live in community. To ask the difficult questions of each other. To wrestle and struggle and laugh and cry and celebrate and mourn and play alongside each other.
We are a broken people, and it is only when we honestly, courageously, and often painfully, face our junk head-on that we can begin to live into all that we were made to be.
“You were created to love and be loved. You were meant to live life in relationship with other people, to know and be known. You need to know that your story is important and that you’re part of a bigger story. You need to know that your life matters.”
[TWLOHA]
I can only know myself as deeply as I am willing to be known.
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