words words words words

I was with a group of friends last night, reading the bible, eating biscuits and talking...

And I've decided that the bible is one of the most fanscinating, infuriating and yet hope-filling book i have ever read!

But what interests me most is how used we are to just saying words, so often our conversations would look like this (looking at 1Peter 1):

"so what should we set our hope on?"
"the Grace of God revealed in Jesus"
"cool"
"um....what!?"

so we expand and hit things like this, "well it makes us one with our father"...so?!

This, I think, is what gives community such a vital element-we are searching, probing (sometimes it feels like guessing) along a path...sometimes they are just words and answers, but every now and then that

so?!

leads to something brilliant....

I must spend more time with my Father.

living in the world

living in the world is tough-sometimes i think we should find some camel skins, move to dartmoor and eat any insects we can find...

but i'm not sure that would really work...

But does following Jesus actually have an impact on the way we live our lives?

I've realised over the last couple of weeks, that we are all conected. Every desicion i make, action i take has an impact....for instance-the conection between burger king meat and amazon rainforest destruction...i'd never even considered what impact the meat I ate had! but this must empower us and not fill us with despair! every action we take can also have a positive impact...

and yet we continue to live in a system, which by its very construction, makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. We work a system that at it's head is corrupted and drunk on power-but we don't seem to be bothered because it works out quite nicely for us thank you very much. Or we feel completely powerless to make a difference...

In geopolitics there is the idea of nation and state.

state is a territory, an economy, a mass of people and a government.

nation is a group of people who share a common culture

politicians long after a 'nation-state'....but where the two clash you usually find wars (think of palestine-israel).

i think this idea speaks powerfully into what it means to be a christian:


in the world but not of the world - paul


i do not believe we are ALL called to go and live in the desert/dartmoor or jump across continents to africa, but we must with every fibre denounce the STATE which causes such oppression and injustice (the system i spoke of earlier)-how can we do this?

by uniting as a NATION of followers-united by the death and ressurection of Jesus Christ, which crosses all borders, all tongues and all race. Which rises above all economies, governments and terriories.

we must open our eyes to the state and unite with our brothers and sisters in Christ across the world as the NATION of God.




for further thinking, read collosians 1 and john 17 for the awesomeness of Christ and the power of unity.

Sitting in lectures, what I live for and Christ coming again.

The gospel of Jesus was genius...That a fisherman could put down his nets and follow Him, yet an educated religous man doesn't find it boring, too little to go on....

It's simple, yet massive. You don't need a degree, you don't need massive vocabulary, you just need to drop your nets and follow Him. Yet the journey is never boring.

Don't get me wrong though...it's tough...but the path is simple. Narrow...but in a way,

simple.

Have I missed something? All i know is that the only thing that gets me through day to day, is Christ.

Christ crucified
Christ risen
Christ will come again

Paul, this educated religious nut gone Jesus follower says 'we preach Christ crucified'. What would things look like if we lived and preached 'Christ crucified'? What about Christ risen? What would it look like if we lived 'Christ will come again'?

The fisherman, Peter, says 'repent and turn to God'. Do we keep missing the simple genius of God's plan because we've got our backs turned to Him?

I've been wondering, while sitting in uni lectures, what would Jesus say if He walked down the stairs of the lecture room at the second coming and found me on my backside studying geobiology? hmmm...

I want to get back to the simple...the Christ crucified...I'm going to keep turning to keep turning to God.

everyone should have a voice

The most amazing thing every discovered is the human brain...probably...unless there are some really big secrets! It's ability to think and imagine...to solve problems-to even find itself in a place where it needs to solve a problem!

It's ability to make music, to paint, to make our bodies run really fast, to even consider how the universe started...

To even think 'I'm actually here'....pretty amazing...

And it's those thoughts, those abilities which I think are amazing....So I want to start celebrating thinking and the ability everyone has to be a part of this world...this big tangle of thoughts and brains that is this world...

Good on blogging for giving even a small little man like me an oppertunity to join that tangle, to get lost in thoughts.

Because everyone has a brain and thoughts and, in some form or another, everyone should have a voice.

and for those who don't? Lets start shouting really loud...