Matrix.... REVOLUTIONS*
Am too excited to sleep just now, having returned today from the Matrix conference, and am still buzzing with ideas, hope passion and excitement. I want to write about what I need to blog about over the next few days, it can't possibly all explode out at once, even though it wants to!
Things that have struck me:
Tony Campolo
Creativity and redeemed imagination. My need to re visit some uni lecture notes on the same subject, and my art stuff!
The people I've met - new contacts, new friends, fellow bloggers (who I WILL link to my site as soon as I've worked out how to!!)
Tony Campolo.
Grey cells, and how much I appreciate being made to think, and need to do more and get on with writing the book!
God's grace, faithfulness and goodness in my own journey.
God's provision, wisdom and answered prayers.
Alt worship experience
Also -the absolute, vital importance of vision - not as in 'our mission statement,' (I know a Church where this is 'not without Jesus.' Quite!) I mean something much more profound, a vision for the Kingdom. So often what we do is about Church. Jesus didn't preach Church, he didn't say, "the Church of God is at hand... The Church of God is like this..." Jesus was about God's kingdom, about kingdom values, where the hungry are fed, the broken are made whole, the oppressed are freed, where male and female are equal. We need to stop worrying about building God's Church, and start concentrating on building God's KINGDOM. If we are about building this, radical, revolutionary Kingdom, God will take care of the Church end of things - if God wants the Church around, and growing, it will be around and growing!
Robert Beckford was right in his talk - we do take revolutionaries*, be it Luther-King or Marley, and sanitize their messages to make them safe and palatable.
Tony Campolo was right - we do it to Jesus too, sanitize him and make him safe, re-model him in our own image. We dilute his message that is every bit as revolutionary* today, and hear a gospel that is comfortable. Yet how are we embodying those kingdom values? How do we respond to the hungry, the broken, the oppressed, the 'other.' Are we imitators of a revolutionary Christ?
I also want to revisit uni notes and re -explore Gustavo Guttierez (His 'A Theology of Liberation,' is THE seminal text for liberation theology, recommended read) and some of the African theologians who have successfully constructed a theology of inculturation and examples of the praxis that comes with this. There are all sorts of links going round in my brain about parallels with inculturating the gospel into youth cultures/postmodern cultures, along with the notion that if the western Church can learn from these and really take it on board (internalising the theology, tradition and experience, rather than being glad it 'works over there,') there could be some very interesting and fruitful dialogue. it might even prove revolutionary! (Although that's probably just lil ole me getting a bit over excited - it has been known!)
*(Tony Campolo made the interesting observation that even the word 'revolutionary,' has lost some currency - a toothbrush is now described as 'revolutionary,' and Sarah I'm surprised YOU missed that one, sweetie!! ;-)
Anyhow, night owl as I am, it's late even for me to be thinking logically. (Deep apologies to anyone I may have spoken to/grunted at over brekkie, btw. Don't do mornings!!) So I'll leave it here for now, and continue with ranting/ reflecting/storytelling/narrating tomorrow(delete according to your own jargonistic preference ;-)
Things that have struck me:
Tony Campolo
Creativity and redeemed imagination. My need to re visit some uni lecture notes on the same subject, and my art stuff!
The people I've met - new contacts, new friends, fellow bloggers (who I WILL link to my site as soon as I've worked out how to!!)
Tony Campolo.
Grey cells, and how much I appreciate being made to think, and need to do more and get on with writing the book!
God's grace, faithfulness and goodness in my own journey.
God's provision, wisdom and answered prayers.
Alt worship experience
Also -the absolute, vital importance of vision - not as in 'our mission statement,' (I know a Church where this is 'not without Jesus.' Quite!) I mean something much more profound, a vision for the Kingdom. So often what we do is about Church. Jesus didn't preach Church, he didn't say, "the Church of God is at hand... The Church of God is like this..." Jesus was about God's kingdom, about kingdom values, where the hungry are fed, the broken are made whole, the oppressed are freed, where male and female are equal. We need to stop worrying about building God's Church, and start concentrating on building God's KINGDOM. If we are about building this, radical, revolutionary Kingdom, God will take care of the Church end of things - if God wants the Church around, and growing, it will be around and growing!
Robert Beckford was right in his talk - we do take revolutionaries*, be it Luther-King or Marley, and sanitize their messages to make them safe and palatable.
Tony Campolo was right - we do it to Jesus too, sanitize him and make him safe, re-model him in our own image. We dilute his message that is every bit as revolutionary* today, and hear a gospel that is comfortable. Yet how are we embodying those kingdom values? How do we respond to the hungry, the broken, the oppressed, the 'other.' Are we imitators of a revolutionary Christ?
I also want to revisit uni notes and re -explore Gustavo Guttierez (His 'A Theology of Liberation,' is THE seminal text for liberation theology, recommended read) and some of the African theologians who have successfully constructed a theology of inculturation and examples of the praxis that comes with this. There are all sorts of links going round in my brain about parallels with inculturating the gospel into youth cultures/postmodern cultures, along with the notion that if the western Church can learn from these and really take it on board (internalising the theology, tradition and experience, rather than being glad it 'works over there,') there could be some very interesting and fruitful dialogue. it might even prove revolutionary! (Although that's probably just lil ole me getting a bit over excited - it has been known!)
*(Tony Campolo made the interesting observation that even the word 'revolutionary,' has lost some currency - a toothbrush is now described as 'revolutionary,' and Sarah I'm surprised YOU missed that one, sweetie!! ;-)
Anyhow, night owl as I am, it's late even for me to be thinking logically. (Deep apologies to anyone I may have spoken to/grunted at over brekkie, btw. Don't do mornings!!) So I'll leave it here for now, and continue with ranting/ reflecting/storytelling/narrating tomorrow(delete according to your own jargonistic preference ;-)
posted by Kathryn at 12:27 AM
3 Comments:
Well I had to leave SOMETHING for everyone else!!! ;oP
Well Spotted Agent K!
I wasn't able to be there but I look forward to hearing your comments.
I would have liked to have heard Robert Beckford, as it seems that his talk followed along similar lines to some of his stuff on Channel 4 recently. Linking back to his programme at Christmas, it is interesting to note that the moulding of the Gospel message to ones own view started right from the beginning, leading to the four different Gospels we have in established canon today. The effect can be seen even more when looking at the fragments of other non-canonical Gospels that have survived (the example Beckford gave in the programme being the Gospel of Mary). As an example, which comes to mind thanks to recent events, take a look at Matthew 19:3-9 and Mark 10:2-10.
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