Some thoughtful insights from a personal and netfriend:

“Where did God go?”

I don’t get Time mag but this is the feature cover article header for this week. So I bought it. Worth the read on Christianity in Europe. Alpha gets a mention, so does Taize.

Good follow up on Hillsong.

Thanks for all the interest and feedback from last week. Lots of views and responses.

My observation is that every worshipping group has its own ritual that does not necessarily guarantee or kill off a connection with the Spirit.

I am also quite sure that temperament, age, life experiences, music tastes and personal church history affect worshipping communities as much or more than each group says their dedication to the Truth and the Spirit does.

[I had the news this week that one very big Wesleyan church in the USA is in trouble over music styles. My view is that Hillsong and Vineyard will be spared this trouble for the foreseeable future because they have birthed and stuck with their own music and styles. Those conservative older churches who copy or follow them will be in trouble. What is needed now are poets and musicians in churches and groups of churches who can be inspired to write for their own times, place, ages and temperaments – with heart felt theological soundness!]

So where did God go?

“On September 10, 2001, Filipino painter Charlie Co had a vision so compelling it drew him to his brushes. A few hours later, Human Cross filled his canvas with a disturbingly surreal image. Apocalyptic towers of death, shaped like crucifixes, in hellish shades of fiery blood-orange, cobalt and purple. Down the first tower, streams of wretched people tumble into mounds of skulls. Wraiths with human faces lost in suffering dissolve in billowing plumes of smoke from the tower tops, which form a fearsome gateway to a modern city on the water.” [Pol Oxygen, Issue 3]

On Everyone Deserves Music, Michael Franti and Spearhead rap and sing to the mainstream youth audience –

“We can bomb the world to pieces But we can’t bomb it into peace”

and

“Why must I feel like this today I’m a soldier but afraid sometimes To face things that may Block the sun from the shinin’ rays And fill my life with shades of gray But still I long to find a way So today I pray for grace.”

and

“No life’s worth more than any other No sister worth less than a brother Somebody please send us a prayer….”

Prophets and psalmists indeed!

So where did God go?

What about prolific rock song writer performer Nick Cave. In BAM [Courier Mail June 7, 2003] he says: “When I started to read the gospels, I found myself trembling at the things that Christ said and at the stories themselves. I was incredibly moved by them. And still am…I have committed myself to a life of imagination and mystery in which God plays a significant part.”

So where did God go?

Time says “Christianity is becoming a minority religion in Europe, as congregations dwindle and churches wrestle with scandal. But faith survives in some surprising places.”

Charlie Co, Michael Franti, Nick Cave…

surprising places indeed!

Final inspiration from Archbishop Oscar Romero in “The Violence of Love.”

“How shameful to think that perhaps pagans, people with no faith in Christ, may be better than we and nearer to God’s reign. Remember how Christ received a pagan centurion and told him, “I’ll go and cure your servant”? The centurion, full of humility and confidence, said, “No, Lord. I am not worthy that you go there. Just say a word and my servant will be cured.” Christ marveled, says the gospel, and he said, “Truly, I have not found such faith in Israel.” I say: Christ will also say of this church: outside the limits of Catholicism [read Baptist, Wesleyan, AOG etc]

perhaps there is more faith, more holiness. So we must not extinguish the Spirit. The Spirit is not the monopoly of a movement, even of a Christian movement, of a hierarchy, or priesthood, or religious congregation. The Spirit is free, and he wants men and women, wherever they are, to realize their vocation to find Christ, who became flesh to save all human flesh. Yes, to save all, dear brothers and sisters. I know that some people come to the cathedral who have even lost the faith or are non-Christians. Let them be welcome. And if this message is saying something to them, I ask them to reflect in their inner consciousness, for, like Christ, I can tell them: the kingdom of God is not far from you, God’s kingdom is within your heart. Seek it and you will find it.” [Nov 17, 1978]

Let grace flow. Peter Breen.

urbaneyes

Urban mission in Brisbane. Peter and Mavis Breen.