Lavender's Red

Just got back from hearing Philip Yancey speak at Preston Guild Hall.  Appreciated his humour and humanity.  With comments on everything from "the most disastrous foreign policy in 50 years" (Iraq) and Christology (a reminder of Michael Ramsey's "God is christlike and in him is no unchristlikeness at all..") he was particularly effective in his assessment of the "dry and arid praying of the christian aristocracy."

Oh that some of our folk were listening...

Have been looking around the blogsphere recently (hats off as ever to seanthebaptist for his top tips on the funnier ones!) and despite having laughed at some of them, I have become quite hot under the collar!  Unusual for me, you might say!  Let me summarise their composite position, based on my readings.

"All Evangelicals are brain dead supporters of right-wing politics and theology, who only sing lame songs, full of nonsensical lyrics and bad theology.  Their preaching is based on dodgy interpretative methods and they have nor real convictions about anything.  Their minds are closed to any new ideas, and the only thing of which they are certain is that everyone else is wrong.  They are responsible for all the naff things that happen in church, having caused many splits in congregations and deliberately sought to undermine, even hide, the radical gospel of Jesus.  They are opposed to scholarship - in fact, there has never been a serious scholar who has sat in an evangelical, charismatic congregation and felt like they belonged.  All scholars / ministers who think they are really clever hate anything that smacks of evengelicalism, and as they have all studied academic theology really hard, they know can understand what the Bible is really all about, because the Bible was not written for ordinary people, it was only written for those who could study in the right way, so how truly grateful are they.  In particular, they have been rescued from the the banal life of the local church and their former lives as ordinary Christians.  Oh how grateful they are that they are not so narrow minded as those despisable members of the churches from whom we are called to draw our living allowance / wine club and health spa memberships."

I could go on, and probably will on another occasion.  But first, let me just ask some questions of the "so-called" radical non-evangelical leadership of the church, particularly Baptist, about the way church worship services are structured and planned, as well as one or two more general observational questions.  I don't suppose they are reading, but heh, someone maybe!

1. It is right that worship should engage relevantly, and in conversation with, the issues facing society today.  However, when will that allow a vocabulary, in prayers and hymnody, songs and sermons, that can be understood by those who have no theological education?
2. Why do you have to study academic theology in order to really understand the Christian faith, and why does that give you a right to look down on those to whom that opportunity has not been afforded, and those who do not have perhaps the inclination to study, but are perfectly able to ask searching questions and read scripture in the light of and presence of the community of faith?
3. It is right that we should be concerned about the quality of material that we sing, because what we sing we end up believing.  However, why can decent theology only be sung to a style of music that none of us would listen to outside of church?  And why must the vocabulary be the stilted language of the land registry office or town and country planning regulations?  Why must everything else in church life be brought up to date except the music?
4. It is right that the excesses of the evangelical and charismatic traditions be brought into the light and reformed.  Are not there also just a few from the liberal / traditional / catholic forms that need exposing for what they are too?
5. When did it become acceptable to 'diss' and exclude from the category of serious contrbutors to any debate all those who hold an orthodox view on matters such as virgin birth, historical reliability of the New Testament, to name but two?  At a time when some Baptists are flirting with the Roman church, is this not a little arrogant to say the least?

Anyone want to continue the conversation?

Last week I started work at Paul Heathcotes' Longridge Restaurant.  For those of you who don't know, Paul is a Michelin-starred chef with many restaurants in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Preston, amongst others.  So why on earth he's letting me work at his gaff I have no idea!  It has been great though, indulging my passion for good food (you only have to look at me to know....) and learning new techniques which I hope to try out on dinner guests in the coming weeks and months.  The dynamic of working in a close-knit team has also been fascinating to observe, and I have grown to have even more admiration for those for whom this is a way of professional life throughout the year.  If you've never been, wait until I've left, and then go, for goodness sake!  It's a fantastic place, and the service and food is wonderful.