steve

Cool week ahead

Back to fighting fitness .... Lots of great things happening this week.. Talking about flavours of emerging church, national training stuff in westminster, ecumenical gatherings, meeting a chap from bath about organic church planting and catching up with a million admin deeds after 3 weeks office absence. Feeling good about persuing accredited training in being a coach/mentor. Feel good about starting a laid back fresh expression of church with family soon. Feel good about praying more frequently and passionately about Exeter. Feeling good, yeh . I love You Jesus. Steve

openess theology - some ramblings

Openness Theology

The basic thesis of openness theology as I understand it is that the church has picked up erroneous ideas particularly about God especially from Greek Philosophy and especially from a theologian called Augustine.

So God is not a controlling puppeteer but has given us free will to use as we so desire.

Though constant in character God is not unchangeable but responds and interacts with us in a meaningful way.

God is not just the God of plan A for if we mess up he has plan B…….Z and beyond. God is a God of Possibilities not 'passivities'.

The future is partly open to change and partly closed.

Love must be freely chosen - beings possessing the capacity to love must also possess self-determining freedom.

Love entails risk. God could not have created a world in which creatures possess a measure of self-determining freedom without risking some loss

Not only does love entail freedom but this freedom must be irrevocable. This helps us to explain why God cannot always prevent evil deeds. ( from Boyd Problem of Evil )

Clark Pinnock.

Loving so much of what this contreversial theologian has to say... i'm reading flame of love (see my current reads for a hyper link) at the moment....mega unlearning about the nature of the good news,God's heart for all the world, etc... I'm lyin in bed at the moment and knackered.... Good night & live for Him and His kingdom.

dear blog

Dear blog,
I still have no voice and the family is calm... Is there a connection ? I've been experiencing for several years now what I think psychologists call cognitive resonance, anthropologists call paradigm shift and I call a bad trip.... Basically an unlearning of some of what I had become and a maturing of my adolescent self... Well today I pronounce myself mature, I am now perfect ! Only kidding.. Seriously though I do feel like some of the threads are coming together, you may not like it but God is a master craftsman and he is molding and growing us all the time, I have felt that so much over the years. "Lord thanks - keep doing it, increase your Spirit's work in our lives."
Your clay pot, steve

amateur designer ?

Been trying out web design as I have completely lost my voice and have had to retreat into my cave... my wife says the family has never been so relaxed... been playing with http://pilgrim.typepad.com/ccyp check it out , feedback comments, cheers

I found out today why church has been boring historically.....

Really interesting I found out today why church has been boring historically..... Clergy were trained to speak in monotone ! It's true, they were taught to keep humble and not attract attention on themselves but to let the Word have the spotlight. Great idea .... Not

I nearly died in an unconcerned crowd yesterday.

I nearly died in an unconcerned crowd yesterday.
I was jogging on a machine at my gym surrounded by 30 plus other
runners- all watching the multiple tv's with headphones on. I reached to
quench my thirst with water as I jogged. Don't try this at home because
the next minute I choked, spluttered water everywhere, gasping for
breath, collapsing in a pile on the floor. The words 'here I come Jesus
' were forming in my mind. 3 minutes of choking later and now recovered
I opened my eyes expecting at least a smile of understanding or a
sympathetic comment... Not even a turned head or nod, just 30 plus
other runners- all watching the multiple tv's with headphones on.
I nearly died in an unconcerned crowd yesterday.

Wonder-full Life ?

Normally I'm a fast frenetic kind of person, running from appointment to appointment, goal to objective, a journey is a waste of time, process pointless, product everything, achieving is what matters, task orientated to the hilt.
Thank God for Children. I still remember my first walk to the shops with one of my fledgeling toddlers - perhaps a quarter of a mile to get a loaf of bread - it took over an hour, the reason ? Not just the little legs struggling to keep up with dad but also stopping every 2 or 3 paces to gaze with open mouth at the latest discovery - a twig or a leaf. Staring with whispered "wow" flowing from gaping lips, the amazed wide eyes, the innocent and complete focus on something as basic as a leaf. It severely irritated and frustrated me at first, " Come on , hurry up, I'll buy you some sweets," and all the usual parental bribery proceeded but then I slowed, not just my pace but my whole perspective, and we spent some precious moments getting turned on by a dead leaf.
My child had a sense of "wow", a feeling of wonder, something I had long ago, dulled through years of time management strategies, things to do lists and performance-related pay. I'm learning now to slow, to stop, to flow, to wonder, to think deeply, to have "wow". Walking down busy Exeter streets passing towering office blocks in the ravine of speed, buzz and action, I'm now learning to gaze up briefly at the clouds; I'm enjoying the journey not just the destination, I'm learning to slow for special family rituals, the birthdays, the family night and the days out. Life is too short to be 'wonder-less' , make it 'wonder-full'.

13 ways to restore lost wonder and the sense of "wow".

• Put the word 'wonder' in a web search engine and see what comes out.
• Close the living room door, shut the curtains, turn on some 'big' music and dance ( particularly useful with small children around ).
• Pay £10 for a Big Issue.
• Listen to a gregorian chant CD whilst soaking in a hot tub.
• Chew slowly.
• Fast TV for a week.
• Cry at the birth of a child.
• Have a heart to heart with your Creator.
• If you are Radio 1 FM, try Classic FM for a day.
• If you are Classic FM try Gemini for as long as you can take it.
• If you are Radio 2 ..... no comment.
• Spontaneously and secretly give someone a very generous gift.
• Construct a tent in your front room and camp out the night with some kids.

Tomorrow i'm going to suffer for jesus again

Tomorrow i'm going to suffer for jesus again and have coffee at Exmouth beach and chat about exciting things happening in Devon. Another meeting, then home ,
My son asked me to take this photo, this is where Thunderbird two lan
ded in the movie.

Sunday's should be like this.

great church with an old mate, Simon thomas, ex-Ichthus, then just mad family time including full face painting, I didn't take a picture of me. Peaceful and rested I attack the world again tomorrow, this is how Sunday should be.

that's my boy !

a shot from pda camera. He's prettier than me. Said goodbye to an old mate today, Jane.. Devon will miss her, she was the Childrens work Advisor, bye Jane