Like this idea…

Posted by David Ward on 01/12/2013
Posted in: Uncategorized. Leave a comment

A friend of mine posted this idea on Facebook. Thought it looked like a creative way to become more aware this Advent. The original is published, with all the live links at:   rethink church.org

 Advent-photo-a-day…

advent-photo-a-day (600 x 524)

Advent photo-a-day

Deck those halls, warm up that cocoa and wrap those gifts. Sound familiar?

Every year you promise that this Christmas will be different.

You’ll slow down and enjoy quality time with your friends and family, you say. You won’t drag yourself to the Black Friday sales at 6am when you should be sleeping in from a great Thanksgiving celebration, nor will you do your Christmas shopping in your pajamas on Cyber Monday.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to buy the latest gadgets or checking off that wish list.

But somehow Christmas Eve is here before we know it and we wonder why we don’t feel renewed after this joyous season.

As we did with Lent last February, we’re inviting you once again to enter this season of Advent with intention and awareness. As we prepare, watch and wait for that wonderful something God is sending our way not just at Christmas, but every single day.

Whatever your practices this season, will you join this photo-a-day practice and share with the community how you perceive each word or phrase for the day? No explanation needed, unless you want to. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Tag us on your instagram photos with @rethinkchurch or on twitter [@umrethinkchurch] with #rethinkchurch and #rethinkchristmas. We’d also love for you to share your photos on our Pinterest board!

You don’t have to be a great photographer. This project is hopefully more about the practice of paying attention and being intentional, than it is being the best photographer [though we encourage you to get creative!]. If you don’t have instagram or twitter, we’d still love for you to share your photos. Just share them on your facebook page and tag us.

So, will you join us by opening your eyes [and your cameras] to witness the hope that is already springing up around you? Will you open your hearts for Immanuel, God with us?

Finding the true meaning of Christmas. That’s Church.

Safe but Sterile…

Posted by David Ward on 30/11/2013
Posted in: Personal thoughts, Theology. Leave a comment

4C18E7F4-497E-433B-9D58-82922AF49544.png They don’t smoke, but neither do they breathe fresh air really deeply.

They don’t drink wine, but neither do they enjoy lemonade; they don’t swear, but neither do they glory in any magnificent words, neither poetry nor prayer.

They don’t gamble, but neither do they take much chance with God;

They don’t look at women and girls with lust in their hearts, but neither do they roll breathless with love and laughter, naked under the sun of high summer.

It’s all rather pale and round -shouldered, the great Prince lying in prison.

George Target, quoted in “View from a Bouncy Castle”, by Adrian Plass.

Drawing a line…

Posted by David Ward on 26/11/2013
Posted in: In the Media, Personal thoughts, Relationships. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Drawing_A_Line_In_The_Sand__A_1216049 (600 x 404)One of the things I hate about Facebook is just how easy it is to post or repost things that strike us as funny or significant at  a moment in time, without actually getting our brains in gear and appreciating the full impact of the thing that we have felt so important that we decide to repost it.

Where my family are concerned, I have always tried to be fairly laid back, not unnecessarily rock the boat and to avoid getting into arguments about differences of opinions. Some of my family are definitely over-sensitive and departure from the safe path of non-involvement is to be avoided in the interests of family harmony.

Then today, one of my relatives reposted a loaded article comparing the punishments meted out to anyone who crossed the borders into North Korea or Iran with the cushy welcome given to immigrants here.

I would be the first to admit that we don’t always get it right, and that people do often take advantage of our benefits system. I have both received benefits and worked for the DWP looking after people’s claims for help, and have been staggered at times by the way that people expect to be able to take advantage.

That said, today I felt I have to draw a line in the sand, if only to say, “Hang on, do you really think that, do you not see where that argument’s taking you? Have you got your brain in gear?”

For all the defects in our systems and way of life, living here is vastly preferable to living in North Korea or Iran, where personal freedoms and human life can be very cheap.

I hope my relative understands what I want him to seriously think about when he reads my post…”So Fred, would you really take your wife and children and live in North Korea or Iran…you’re a better man than I!”