EXCITING: LOTR: The Return of The King - Trailer Quicktime
Supposedly i get to move in to my new house tomorrow, should be exciting but not feeling it at the moment. Feeling a bit low; a come down after a great time with 24-7 in amsterdam maybe? It is in Rusholme on the verge of Moss Side and has been done up over the long summer. I need to buy thiings like bed sheets and a duvet or otherwise scrounge them from random people. And I need a manchester proof bike lock because there is not a safe place to store my bike at this new place.
New look to blog coming ever closer.
I read 10 steps to a God-centered life earlier and it made me cringe! The majority of the comments acknowledge that guidelines like this may help people but are fundamentally flawed. To me it reeked of ’self-help’ and ’simple steps to being successful’. The recognisable stench of religiosity. I choose to follow the call into relationship with God and I think that we can put things in the way of the relationship. For the majority they just deny the offer and choose not to enter relationship with God but those who choose have, over the ages, managed to hinder the relationship so much. It is not because they don’t want it just that it isn’t what they expected. The relationship, like our human ones, start getting real, deep and challenging. It can get too close to our insecurities, doubts and self-protection mechanisms. We don’t like it so we push God away, not in an obvious way but a subtle denial of His love.
It is different for many of us and it can get complex. Some leave the church* and some go as far as leaving faith. Others make faith a superficial or shallow thing. Others break it down into morals and principles. Historically, the journey of faith has commonly been lost in traditional systems, structures and hierarchy of religion.
This list boxes my journey with God in. Never mind the simple fact that it is far from exhaustive, that if you followed this list you may end up getting no closer to God (that is a more personal point), God is just simply bigger than a 10 point guide. Yeah there are things we can do that will help relationships along but we can get ourselves into situations where we reach ‘justification through the quiet time’, we forget Jesus loves us because we forgot to read the bible, that God may ignore us if we don’t turn up at a particular building on a Sunday morning. A list also makes it seem too easy; as if an intimate relationship with God can be easily reached through completing a daily list of chores.
There is then the cultural flaw. My generation doesn’t like lists. They don’t work in a postmodern society that likes to explore and discover their own space and identity, their own way of doing things. I remember a great quote:
“Love God and do whatever” - St Augustine
I fully recommend that people imitate Christ, love God and love others and note that the spiritual disciplines do make a difference to ones life.
* (I have stopped going to church more then once, I haven’t left the Church. At first because I was disillusioned and more recently because, for me, in my culture, the church structure doesn’t float… you’ll find many a rant about that within this weblog)
Finally managed to get on to the internet having got back in to manchester a couple of days ago. Mostly been resting after a tiring yet refreshing trip to amsterdam. The roundtable was good and the one main thing that I got out of the week was ‘hope’. This alongside the cool time had hanging-out with Jesus as well as old and new friends. I was also inspired to have faith and go do things, go on the adventure. It will either happen or it won’t, I guess, and I don’t want to bum around waiting for things to just come to me, to just happen… most likely they probably won’t anyway! I want to go with a little joy and pursue some things.
We really connected with some people and others had a really good laugh… there were more people there than I expected which made it difficult to invest in relationships across the board and less time to invest in established ones. Practicalities always hinder larger gatherings especially in a city of small cafes and bars… most of our team building times were spent and in such settings. While it was good to open the opportunity to more people I think that they should limit the size while we are still doing annual global get togethers. I think it is likely that in a few years, if the 24-7prayer.com thing is still going, that it will be done on a continental rather than global scale.
Thoughts on Amsterdam?
I wouldn’t live there. The two times I have been to Amsterdam have been through 24-7 and been blessed with great people, great weather and good God stuff… which always makes an objective view of a city difficult to focus. I had some great moments watching the people of this strange city and also some wonderfully lazy afternoons in cafes in the sun getting to know other 24-7 peeps from around the world, sharing stories and maybe reading a book over a nice beer or coffee. The city is dense with tourists and parts feel very dark and heavy, other parts are pretty and romantic. There are the day and night sex shops polluting the tranquility. There are the random guys offering a variety of drugs while walking down to the supermarket… from coke to viagra. There are pedestrians, boats, trams, buses, cars and about a million cyclists all of which are slightly kamikaze in style. There is the occasional aroma of cannabis wafting out of the ‘coffee houses’. There is the church being ‘planted’ right in the middle of the redlight district and a big building with JESUS LOVES YOU in blue neon letters. There are the many buskers each contributing to an eclectic city wide performance. There is something about his place that could make it one of my favourite cities but unfortunately there is something about it that made me glad to move on and get out of it.
Forgot to mention beating Phil Baldwin at table tennis in the last day decider match and trying a new fruit, pitahaya aka dragon fruit.
