Has the world gone crazy…… or is it me?

You have to be careful asking that question because you might not like the answer, but sometimes, just sometimes, things happen which take your breath away.

I have to admit that I am a "News Junkie". I could quite happily have links open all day to 24 hours news, but news items are not quite always as they appear, and when I first read this (it was actually Karen who showed it me), I thought it was a hoax….

 This comes from the New York Times, reported via The Independent


Georgia’s Republican Governor, Nathan Deal, is expected to sign the (gun) law, which will offer religious leaders the choice to allow guns into their places of worship.

 It goes on to say……………..

 Should a church decide not to allow firearms on their premises, those who violate the ban will face a maximum fine of just $100 (£60).
Places of worship have the option of prohibiting guns, but to do so, they have to post signs throughout their property. This is in America, not the UK I am glad to say where there are very strict gun laws

So to add to public display signs such as “No smoking, no pets, please switch off your mobile phone”, we can now add “please check your firearm with the duty elder prior to entering”

It may seem bizarre, but it does leave us asking genuine questions about the “baggage” we bring with us when we come to church and indeed why we come to church at all.

 We have left the tortuous story of betrayal and another kind of death behind (one which did not involve firearms) at Easter, and we walk into a world of resurrection, of new beginnings, of new possibilities and new hope.

The difficulty always arises when we try to mix the two worlds without proper reflection. Yes we are called to live in a world of violence of injustice, but we are supposed to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Jesus was uncompromising on the issue, and those of us who would seek to become disciples must do likewise.


Take Care

 Alan

Easter – why I believe

Surely you can’t be serious? Someone coming back to life?. Well as it happens, personally I do. I appreciate that there are other, equally valid points of view, but I thought I would tell you (since it is me writing the article!) why I believe.

 I think you know me well enough by now that I am not someone who just takes things “because they are in the Bible”, as some of my colleagues do. I am the first to say that scripture can be read in many ways, and that it is our job as 21st Cent believers – those who walk a daily life of faith, to interpret ancient truths in the light of the world we live in.

 But I also know too much history not to take the narrative seriously. We do know for certain for example, that the first Christians went from a group of inept and cowardly group of people into a group of people who massively changed their world in one generation. We also know that the first disciples, dispersed by the first diaspora, having lost country, way of life and family, indeed all that was important to them, nevertheless went to the end , often martyred, maintaining that Christ had risen, and that life was now different.

Why would anyone do that?

 I have on my bookshelf works which as a young man influenced me greatly, - “The case against Christ” and “Who moved the stone?” in particular. But for me simply and purely, belief is a personal stand point. More than this, I see echoes of the Easter resurrection in my life and in others around me. It is almost as if there is a little of that moment left over desperate to find new means of expression – a new job, an opportunity you thought gone forever come back again, a healed relationship, small deaths in all of us which find greater resurrections.

 Such was the notoriety of the resurrection in the years that followed the event, that Jesus’ relatives were summoned all the way to Rome to stand before Caesar. He had heard all the stories and wanted to reassure himself that there was no lineage he would have to contend with. They showed him the rough worn hands of carpenters and fishermen. No there was no royal lineage, except that has come down through all of us and swirls about the days of our lives reminding us that God has not finished yet….


Have a good Easter and God Bless


Alan