Final thoughts on last week's conference at Holy Trinity, Brompton...or rather some quotes from some of the sessions:
"..the Spirit in us is God pressing us towards what we are made for" (Archbishop Rowan Williams)
"Either Christianity is fire or there is no such thing" (Mother Maria Skobtsova, as quoted by Rowan Williams)
"...the opposite of poverty is not property, the opposite of poverty is community" (Jurgen Moltmann)
"A presupposed spirit is certainly not the Holy Spirit" (Karl Barth, as quoted by Graham Hunter in Ecclesiology seminar)
"The presence of the church introduces a fissure in the citizenship of the state..." (Miroslav Volf)
"The Spirit enables us to see a new beauty in God that we couldn't see before" (Graham Tomlin, interacting with the work of Jonathan Edwards)
"The Spirit enables us to do for ourselves what we could not do by ourselves" (Tom Smail)
"The Holy Spirit hates stereotypes" (Tom Smail)
There were many more - I don't have all my notes in front of me now. But there's a bit of a flavour at least.
Thursday 27 May 2010
Monday 24 May 2010
Holy Spirit in a material world...
Well, there's lots more that could be said about the Holy Spirit conference at HTB. Some others are providing in depth reports and reflections (here and here, for example). And there were some great quotes that I'll probably share in another post, too.
But for now, just some thoughts arising from the seminar stream I went to, on the Holy Spirit and Ecclesiology (doctrine of the Church). First thing to note is how overwhelmingly Anglican the attendees were, when we all introduced ourselves on day 2. Now that possibly reflects the conference as a whole; I fear it also reflects a general lack of interests that persists among us Free Church bods when it comes to anything perceived as churchy.
A lot of the substance of the discussion, both in papers presented and the discussion on Friday, focussed around the role of the "sacraments", specifically communion, but also baptism (intriguing concept in a room full of Anglicans, but nuff said about that). This is something that has been threatening to be a bee in my bonnet for a long time, probably since realising that in our churches, if we're not careful, communion can be seen almost as an "intrusion" into the worship time - by which we mean mainly singing. The fact of the matter, at its simplest is that Jesus never commanded us to sing, but he did command us to break bread and baptise. Simples...
But then you get into the question of what is happening in these human activities. It seems increasingly clear to me that they are more than simply symbols and helpful reminders; rather that God is active in the very materiality of bread and wine and water. I've been hugely helped in thinking about all this by 2 books in particular; The Gospel-Driven Church by Ian Stackhouse, and Promise and Presence by John Colwell. So it was encouraging to be with others whose thinking has moved/is moving in similar ways; as well as some starting from a more sacramental Anglican tradition looking to combine that with more direct experience of the Spirit. And that leads me to my final "Yes, but...". It seems to me that the genius of Evanglicalism initially (in terms especially of the doctrine/experience of assurance) and the Charismatic movment more recently has precisely been that they have allowed for and encouraged a direct, (apparently) immediate experience of God through the Holy Spirit. The challenge surely is to recover the value and priority even of sacrament, God meeting his people, often unspectacularly, through the everyday elements of bread, wine and water, while remaining actively open to His meeting with people in all kinds of other, surprising ways.
But for now, just some thoughts arising from the seminar stream I went to, on the Holy Spirit and Ecclesiology (doctrine of the Church). First thing to note is how overwhelmingly Anglican the attendees were, when we all introduced ourselves on day 2. Now that possibly reflects the conference as a whole; I fear it also reflects a general lack of interests that persists among us Free Church bods when it comes to anything perceived as churchy.
A lot of the substance of the discussion, both in papers presented and the discussion on Friday, focussed around the role of the "sacraments", specifically communion, but also baptism (intriguing concept in a room full of Anglicans, but nuff said about that). This is something that has been threatening to be a bee in my bonnet for a long time, probably since realising that in our churches, if we're not careful, communion can be seen almost as an "intrusion" into the worship time - by which we mean mainly singing. The fact of the matter, at its simplest is that Jesus never commanded us to sing, but he did command us to break bread and baptise. Simples...
But then you get into the question of what is happening in these human activities. It seems increasingly clear to me that they are more than simply symbols and helpful reminders; rather that God is active in the very materiality of bread and wine and water. I've been hugely helped in thinking about all this by 2 books in particular; The Gospel-Driven Church by Ian Stackhouse, and Promise and Presence by John Colwell. So it was encouraging to be with others whose thinking has moved/is moving in similar ways; as well as some starting from a more sacramental Anglican tradition looking to combine that with more direct experience of the Spirit. And that leads me to my final "Yes, but...". It seems to me that the genius of Evanglicalism initially (in terms especially of the doctrine/experience of assurance) and the Charismatic movment more recently has precisely been that they have allowed for and encouraged a direct, (apparently) immediate experience of God through the Holy Spirit. The challenge surely is to recover the value and priority even of sacrament, God meeting his people, often unspectacularly, through the everyday elements of bread, wine and water, while remaining actively open to His meeting with people in all kinds of other, surprising ways.
Saturday 22 May 2010
What God has joined together?
I've been trying to reflect on the HTB conference on the Holy Spirit that I was at for the last two days. I'm thinking there may be several posts that go back to different aspects of the conference; to describe it as content-rich would be a gross understatement. And, of course, there was the opportunity to "bump into" people who you don't see very often who are on a similar wavelength.
The one incident at the very end of the proceedings that epitomised what the conference was about was when Graham Tomlin, who was hosting the conference (and himself gave an excellent talk) invited those who were involved in academic theology to go to the front of the church, and then invited those invloved in local church ministry to pray for them and minister to them; and then vice versa. There's plenty more to say, but if the conference marks the fact that (seriously high level) academic theology and the real life of local churches can, in the Holy Spirit, bless and benefit each other, rather than being seen as separate worlds, that has to be a good thing.
The one incident at the very end of the proceedings that epitomised what the conference was about was when Graham Tomlin, who was hosting the conference (and himself gave an excellent talk) invited those who were involved in academic theology to go to the front of the church, and then invited those invloved in local church ministry to pray for them and minister to them; and then vice versa. There's plenty more to say, but if the conference marks the fact that (seriously high level) academic theology and the real life of local churches can, in the Holy Spirit, bless and benefit each other, rather than being seen as separate worlds, that has to be a good thing.
Monday 17 May 2010
And now...?
Thought I ought to post something on here in case it seemed I'd disappeared...The election is all done and dusted now, and it seems to me the new coalition government will either work well and herald the start of the new politics we keep hearing about, or else it will be a disaster. Watch this space.
I'm going to be spending Thursday and Friday at this conference on the work of the Holy Spirit at Holy Trinity, Brompton. Seems an intriguing mix of academic theological heavyweights and worship and ministry. Should be interesting.
I'm going to be spending Thursday and Friday at this conference on the work of the Holy Spirit at Holy Trinity, Brompton. Seems an intriguing mix of academic theological heavyweights and worship and ministry. Should be interesting.
Tuesday 4 May 2010
Random reflections
Well, the message on Sunday was well received on the whole. We had a Q & A at the end and there were some good questions, with some interesting conversations afterwards too. It seems that dealing with these types of issues "works" if that's the right way to put it, because very often people do have questions that a lot of the time they just ignore, or try to anyway. Bringing them out into the open and seeking to address them seems a much more positive way of dealing with then.
On another matter, it is interesting to see discussion becoming a little more pointed on Facebook, Christian blogs etc about who to vote for this coming Thursday. For all the debates, hustings etc. it seems to me that the decisions are becoming predictable; those Christians most likely to emphasise personal morality, "family" issues and freedom of expression for Christians are most likely to vote Conservative (although I'm not convinced as yet that they will really make a major difference in these areas), while those who would stress justice, the needs of the poor and oppressed and the envirnonment are more likely to vote Labour or Lib Dem (although the former's record in these areas is far from faultless, and the latter do remain an unknown quantity in terms of government). In a few days time, we'll know, I guess.
On another matter, it is interesting to see discussion becoming a little more pointed on Facebook, Christian blogs etc about who to vote for this coming Thursday. For all the debates, hustings etc. it seems to me that the decisions are becoming predictable; those Christians most likely to emphasise personal morality, "family" issues and freedom of expression for Christians are most likely to vote Conservative (although I'm not convinced as yet that they will really make a major difference in these areas), while those who would stress justice, the needs of the poor and oppressed and the envirnonment are more likely to vote Labour or Lib Dem (although the former's record in these areas is far from faultless, and the latter do remain an unknown quantity in terms of government). In a few days time, we'll know, I guess.
Saturday 1 May 2010
Thinking required...
Tomorrow we are starting a new series at WCF, based around our purpose statement, which is:
To experience, demonstrate and proclaim
- The love of the Father
- The grace of Jesus
- The friendship of the Holy Spirit
I'm hopeful that it will be a positive series in all kinds of ways. My immediate worry, though,is that to start it off I'm going to be speaking about the Trinity tomorrow. Not the easiest of subjects for a whole church Sunday morning slot, but nevertheless incredibly important. But in a church which, in all honesty doesn't really do doctrinal preaching in a big way, this feels like quite a challenge. Oh well, watch this space.
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