Transformation Thoughts

For Now:
The aim of transformation attempts an uncovering of the veil which clouds the awareness of one’s self. Implications follow which can start a process of inner change, which functionally affects the outward behaviour of an individual. Such a journey requires a shift in consciousness, an ontological move within the internal mechanisms.
Where does our personal volition fit into this process? it is possible that the will of an individual if appropriately harnessed can unlock the door through which a multitude of positive consequences occur. However, our wills often need directing and it is within this realm that key individuals present opportunity for either growth or regression. Such individuals cannot be guaranteed to present themselves randomly, but require the ’searching out’ by the one in need.
The question that often presents itself is whether such a process is based on ‘luck’ or ‘chance’ or ‘divine providence’. Transformation is an holistic journey, which incorporates the spiritual dimension of human ‘being’. It is now widely accepted than an overly psychological framework in the area of human transformation creates a vacuum that requires attention. It is, I believe, within such a vacuum that the place of God comes to the centre. This is not to say that God works in a way independent of the psychological and emotional aspects of a human being. Rather, God works both within and without such essences. God is an holistic healer and provides wholeness to the notion of transformation that a purely non-spiritual approach lacks.
(part 1)

Response-Centric

Not sure the timeline or the energy transmitted by weighing the balance between a responsive discipleship and action discipleship.
If the fabric of the Christian Faith involves a deep and tangent time/energy consuming life which although always ‘worthy’ or ‘important’ but nonetheless deflects from following. Jesus calls us to a responsive life which is implicitly complex as it should involve many different human emotions and movements (both mental and physiological) but there was always a sense with Jesus that he was going to, moving towards, about to be in, close to experiencing, responding to and at the same time preparing to turn that response back to an action from the initiator. Any way, that is all messy but basically how many of the hours of a life are misdirected followings.

Coming Back Soon

Crossroads Conference

Check out this conference which, with the three muskateers, i am involved in organising (!

http://crossroadsuk.blogspot.com/

A Ditty

Stuff

There is some fantastic mp3’s to download at www.trinity-media.org.uk – have a look. A great week of talks from Eddie Gibbs from last week!
Also worth checking out www.malmesburyabbey.com for a skate adventure!

Is this an ‘Emergent Christian’?

The following is an excerpt from the book ‘Why We’re Not Emergent (By two guys who should be)’ by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck (Chicago: Moody Publishers: 2008: p20-22)

‘You might be an emergent Christian: if you listen to U2, Moby, and Jonny Cash’s Hurt (sometimes in church), use sermon illustrations from The Sopranos, drink lattes in the afternoon and Guinness in the evenings, and always use a mac; if your reading lists consists primarily of Stanley Hauerwas, 20 Henri Nouwen, N. T. Wright, Stan Grenz, Dallas Willard … Jim Wallis … David Bosch, John Howard Yoder … Walter Winks and Leslie Newbigin (not to mention McLaren, Pagitt, Bell, etc.) and your sparring partners include D. A. Carson, John Calvin … Wayne Grudem; if your idea of quintessential Christian discipleship is Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, or Desmond Tutu; if you don’t like George W. Bush or institutions or big business or capitalism … if your political concerns are poverty, AIDS, imperialism … global warming, racism, and oppression and not so much abortion and gay marriage; if you are into bohemian, goth, rave, or indie; if you talk about the myth of redemptive violence and the myth of certainty; if you lie awake at night having nightmares about all the ways modernism has ruined your life; if you love the Bible as a beautiful, inspiring collection of works that lead us into the mystery of God but is not inerrant … if you loath words like linear, propositional, rational, machine, and hierarchy and use words like ancient-future, jazz, mosaic, matrix, missional, vintage, and dance; if you grew up in a very conservative Christian home that in retrospect seems legalistic, naive, and rigid; if you support women in all levels of ministry, prioritize urban over suburban, and like your theology narrative instead of systematic; if you disbelieve in any sacred-secular divide … if you long for a community that is relational, tribal, and primal … if you believe following Jesus is not believing the right things but living the right way 21 … if you disdain monological, didactic preaching; if you use the word “story” in all your propositions about postmodernism—if all or most of this tortuously long sentence describes you, then you might be an emergent Christian.’ 22