#adventbookclub – One Month to Go

•November 1, 2014 • 7 Comments

With four weeks to go, I thought I’d write some kind of introduction to Adventbookclub and the book.

This is now the third year of #adventbookclub, which is brilliant, but it raises the question of ‘which book’! I was initially drawn to this book when I saw it in the SPCK Publishing catalogue because I have enjoyed other books by Stephen Cottrell and found them a helpful way to come at things.

I also mentioned before, how when I opened it, the strapline grabbed me:

For those who thought they knew the story well

and who of us don’t?  We are brought up with the story year after year from Infant School.  An angel appears to Mary to tell her she will have a baby; Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem on a donkey; there is ‘no room’ for them in the inn, so baby Jesus is born in a stable, laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes; shepherds come to visit him and Three Wise Men from the East follow a star and bring shiny gifts.  We all know the story…

…or do we?

I am always looking for a new way to get inside a story, especially one that is so familiar that if we are not careful just washes over us and it’s power is lost.  The birth of Jesus is not some random separate event, it is part of God’s story – the whole story, and this book works to set it in that wider context.

Stephen says in the Introduction to the book that the idea of telling the story backwards comes from a painting he saw, Albert Herbert’s Nativity with Burning Bush, which you can see here and is the illustration on the front cover of the book.  He leads us, unusually, from light to dark; from Christ’s presentation in the Temple to the prophecies of Isaiah and the call of Moses.  We start at the end, the known, and work our way to the beginning.  The Light truly shining in darkness.  God of light, shining his light and life into the darkest of places.

Each chapter is a narrative, an expression of the person and their involvement in God’s story.  We open ourselves up to their lives, that we may open our lives up to God and his ongoing work in us.

Stephen’s suggested questions for the book are:

  • which person in the story did you most relate to?
  • what surprised, shocked or delighted you the most?
  • how has this changed your understanding of the Christmas story?

Good questions!  And good pointers, though not the only possible questions, for our exploration together.  A journey towards Christmas, towards God, that looks to enter anew into what the story means to me and to the wider world in 2014, where I am.

So, you’re welcome along.  I’m thrilled by those who’ve already said they’re joining in, but there’s room for everyone.  I’m looking forward to the journey and sharing it with you.  Do buy the book, and I look forward to joining the conversations with you.

Lord,
as I come again this Advent,
thinking I know the story,
settled in what it is all about,
show me something new,
a different perspective of you
and your work in the world.

Shake me,
unsettle me,
move me,
take me with you.

May your story
live again
in me.

Your light shines in the darkest dark,
shine in
and through me
I pray.

Light of the World

Oh, and as an aside, not being the right age (really!) I had never even heard of this Walking Backwards to Christmas, so can make no comment on any similarities 😉

Join us reading Backwards to Christmas by Stephen Cottrell from SPCK Publishing this advent.  Be part of #adventbookclub, share your thoughts here, on your own blog (and let us know we’ll link to it), on Twitter using #adventbookclub or on the Adventbookclub Facebook page

Posted in Advent, Advent Book Club, bible, faith, God, Jesus, Religion, theology
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Do As I Say, Not As I Do

•October 31, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Do as I say,
not as I do.
Follow my sense,
not my stupidity.

May I not be a piler of burdens,
making your lot worse;
but a lifter,
a sharer
of the load you have to carry.

When I long to show off,
to make sure everyone sees me
and knows my achievements,
may I show only God –
all you are.

As I feel
that I deserve special treatment,
a little honour
and some appreciation of my worth,
may I treat others in the way
I would like to be treated,
and not worry about me.

You Lord
are my guide,
my teacher,
my leader.
May I follow only your ways.

Not my ways,
not the ways that sound impressive,
but lead only to the putting down of others.

Lord,
always,
may I do
as you say
and as you show.

Matthew 23:1-12 (CEV)

Jesus Condemns the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law of Moses

23 Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

2 The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are experts in the Law of Moses. 3 So obey everything they teach you, but don’t do as they do. After all, they say one thing and do something else.

4 They pile heavy burdens on people’s shoulders and won’t lift a finger to help. 5 Everything they do is just to show off in front of others. They even make a big show of wearing Scripture verses on their foreheads and arms, and they wear big tassels[a] for everyone to see. 6 They love the best seats at banquets and the front seats in the meeting places. 7 And when they are in the market, they like to have people greet them as their teachers.

8 But none of you should be called a teacher. You have only one teacher, and all of you are like brothers and sisters. 9 Don’t call anyone on earth your father. All of you have the same Father in heaven. 10 None of you should be called the leader. The Messiah is your only leader.11 Whoever is the greatest should be the servant of the others. 12 If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.

Posted in bible, faith, God, Jesus, Lectionary, love, Religion, theology
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On Not Being a Burden

•October 30, 2014 • Leave a Comment

‘Being a burden’ has to be one of the biggest fears in our society.  We don’t want to reach the place where we can no longer control our own lives.  We don’t want to have to rely on anyone else.  We desperately don’t want to put anyone else out.

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 (CEV)

9 My dear friends, you surely haven’t forgotten our hard work and hardships. You remember how night and day we struggled to make a living, so that we could tell you God’s message without being a burden to anyone. 10 Both you and God are witnesses that we were pure and honest and innocent in our dealings with you followers of the Lord.11 You also know we did everything for you that parents would do for their own children. 12 We begged, encouraged, and urged each of you to live in a way that would honor God. He is the one who chose you to share in his own kingdom and glory.

13 We always thank God that you believed the message we preached. It came from him, and it isn’t something made up by humans. You accepted it as God’s message, and now he is working in you.

Paul seems to make a big thing here about not having been a burden to the Thessalonians.  He is keen that they know that he was making his own living, not relying on them for income.

This is interesting.  Historically and generally the Methodist Church pays its ministers a stipend.  This is not a wage, but money paid to you so that you can meet living expenses without having to do other work, in essence so that you are free to fulfil your calling – a calling that the church has set you apart for.  So as someone who has lived off a stipend in the past, I have a bit of an uncomfortable wriggle in my seat at this point.  Though I hope I was no burden and fulfilled my calling!  I was also very grateful that was the case and realise how fortunate I was to be freed in such a way.

Anyway, I digress from the point.  This passage made me think about being a burden.  Specifically, are there times in which I am a burden to my community?  As someone with chronic illness, I can easily perceive myself as a burden.  I need help and lots of it, I rely on other people to do things that I would much rather prefer to be able to do for myself, I can’t offer all I long to. But I hope that is not truly being a burden and is incorporated as being part of a healthy community.

But are there other ways I can be a burden?  Being unhelpful?  Dragging others down by my attitude?  Being bolshy (a particular specialism of mine!)?   Not doing what I could?  Not sharing what I have?  Not letting others help me, when it would help them to do so?  Being protective of my gifts?  Letting others get on with things without helping?  Thinking I’m a special case?  I’m sure the list could go on.  These are ways of being a burden that are choices.  Decisions that make anyone a weight or a carrier of weight.

Am I a burden on my community?  On my church fellowship?  On the world?  Am I weighing down when I should be lifting up?  Expecting others to carry me, when I should be doing the carrying?  Or can I stand before God and his people in the knowledge that I do all I can in the best way I can for the service of him and the world?

We are called to be burden bearers, not burden makers.

Forgive me Lord,
the times I have got in the way,
held things back,
dragged things down
and not pulled my weight.

Forgive me when I have been a burden
to you,
your work,
my community
and ultimately myself.

Lord,
I want to be a burden bearer.
Show me how I can carry the weights of others,
the needs of my community,
the burdens of your world.

You are the great burden-bearer
who carries all our weights,
may I find my strength in you

Posted in bible, community, faith, God, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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