going to church

I went to church twice yesterday...


The first was to visit a family service being held at the local church... I shuddered with fear with the complexities involved in trying to think too deeply on the reality of what was going on there to be honest...


The second was an evening service at the local Methodist's.  I kind of been encouraged to go along by the powers that be to 'show my face'. Pip came along with eyrn in pushchair, a quick peek through the front door window and Pip decided to take eryn home... I braved on solo though ,and actually quite enjoyed the peaceful, small, semi circular gathering of maybe 15 post 50's members.  The message was really powerful, and quite challenging, pushing candid issues of the banking crisis, alcohol and such matters...


For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. eph.6:12


I also met the superintendent (boss) who I found very supportive of the pioneering role indeed, and the treasurer for the circuit, who was also very encouraging....


I walked home in the dark quite cheered...

Garth where art thou?

having discussed my stabs at LT with my dad, he mentioned that Garth Hewitt wrote a song about the Oscar Romero, the assinated catholic bishop but I cant seem to find a clip of the song anywhere online...

liberation!!

pushing through with the idea of planting my notes into prezi (for some of the more weighty articles on the course modules) I made a stab at some liberation theology...

Its was a hefty read, which I very much enjoyed, although today, next day, I don't seem to be able to remember a thing about it!

http://prezi.com/b-_x_v7hzzff/liberation-theology-with-cathy-ross/

methodist church leadership pioneering video

this is a very helpful video about where the methodist church is at with the idea of pioneering...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx4XV39RZHk&feature=player_embedded

welsh revival

a couple of weeks ago, i felt a real need to find out more about the history of the welsh church.  one obvious place to start, i felt, was by finding out some more about what is known as the welsh revival.

having asked around a bit about this, i was pointed towards dyfed wyn jones over on ynys mon (the isle of angelsea).  dyfed was kind enough to meet me for an hour or two in bangor, and basically download as much as he could of his research into my comparatively tiny brain.

For some fantastic blogging and theological and historical research on the Welsh revivals catch up with Dyfed on his blog here


heres something of the ideas i conjured up in note taking.  (these are not direct quotes nor  any attempt at an organised order, rather a mixture of my musing on the theme, fueled by the conversation):

Historical landscape:

Romans brought Christianity into wales 407ad
After they left 6C became the age of the saints 
'Two pilgramages to st Davids equaled one to rome'
The saints kept the faith alive. The age of the saints in Wales and britian generally, delevoped the faith slightly differently to europe as europe had the pope and the empire. (controlled theology) 

They celebrated Easter on a diffent date.
In the takeover of ancient church by church in rome, St augustine missionary imposed faith of rome on faith of Britain...
Need to separate imperial influences on the true faith. Ie neoplatanism (after plato) 

Charles finney 1836
faced 'Sheep stealing' opposition from the calvinists

At the time the Church of England was in Wales, but dispised by the welsh going chapel. Then next biggest org calvanists begun about the same time as the wesley brothers. The baptists had been in wales too since early 1600s not as strong but quite influential (south west wales). Congregationalist's same size as baptist also in wales since 1600, then smallest was the weslian congregations.

Revivals:
From 1735/1905 the were some 20-25 revivals in wales national and regional. The most well known was the welsh revival of Evan Roberts 1905 but another revival in 1859 also known as revival as Methodists returned from revivals in america. Since 1905 no revival but something happened in 40s and in the universities in the 70s. Many young leaders were touched in the 70s and now the make up much of the leadership today.
Something about welsh church that likes idea of Wales being known as the land of revivals. Especially for the welsh people...

Key people and the charismatic liberalists:Martin lloyd jones left medical prof to be presbaterian minister 1940s. Reacted strongly to liberalism. Persuaded folk to leave chapels and form new evangelical movement. Even since the 60s people have been leaving chapels and still evangelicals still don't sit comfortably along the chapels.
How do you refer to yourself if evangelically you're already on the back foot.
Liberalism - not much life, no young people, dispassionate. Lack of vision? struggling to keep buildings going. A cultural expression of the faith. Personal relationship with Jesus?. lack of local mission?
What were the revival triggers?

Concern within the churches about their spiritual condition. Folk getting fired up through prayer which draws people into the churches.

Charles techniques - alter calls. Esp 1859 revival.
People have pressures on them: poverty, industrial disasters, disease which generates fear, which drives people to find answers and turn to the church... Social pressures lead people to do different things in different eras.
(PESTEL analysis of current pressures??)


The prophetic in Wales??Theological and church historians don't have many folk who understand the charismatics. Nobody has questioned the role of the prophet or the apostle in wales.
Densil morgan )the span pf the cross) never even looked at the charismatic perhaps even dismissive...
But God doesn't leave any generation without a prophetic voice...

Where is the power of prayer
What is prayer?
Does God change his mind
Contemplative prayer/monastic prayer

Evangelicalism is influenced imperialism... Need to separate out and see the body.

Andrew perriman blog?
Gwyn williams )evangelical)
Roy godwin faldbrenin new monasticism (retreat)?

Judas

Heres a song called Judas by Lady Gaga on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wagn8Wrmzuc&feature=watch_response_rev

its had over 108 million views

here's the lyrics:

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/l/lady_gaga/judas.html

its all fairly controversial of course, but i still find it fascinating that people are so enraged/emotionally stirred/interested/compelled by the biblical content of this song. OK its fairly loose and paraphrased and its a rubbish pop song etc etc but in terms of language its interesting to see which choice of words push which buttons with the masses...

Just have a scan through some of the comments on the lyrics link above!

In its simplest form this song might just leave a whole load of people quite confused... but lets face it, isn't that what jesus kept doing with his parables, leaving more questions then answers, annoying the teachers of the time, and generally creating a scene??

There's a couple of deeper expositions of what gaga might be up to over here:

http://cathyloveee.blogspot.com/2011/05/lady-gaga-judas-video-and-song-meaning.html

I like the idea of gaga, putting herself in the place of mary magdalene, and that mary decides she can't stand in judgement over judas as she realises own fallen condition...

although I'm sure we could all begin to tear all of this to pieces quite easily theologically, I do quite like how gaga's use of simple language and form actually seems to resonate with a lot of people, and certainly remains provocative, whilst engaging with a complex theological discussion.

for further interest: I love this and the whole self made 'xtranormal' video concept which is a great way to express any conversational idea in an interesting way. If you're feeling a little out of touch with lady gaga, then hers a slight take on her fame:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIwLSo0lY0A&feature=related

if you want to make your own video by typing a script, you can do here:

http://www.xtranormal.com

getting into John Drane

i've made a concerted effort to get into one of our heavier readings for this first module... its chapter 5 of John Dranes 'After Mcdonaldization'.  I must admit its well within my current reach and i really enjoyed the gentle slog through...

I decided to try my first prezi here:

http://prezi.com/g2du2akiwoxu/present/?auth_key=5zwxkm2&follow=gavinmart@hotmail.com