Ramblings

New Year 2022

/ Martin / Leave a comment

Goodbye to 2021 and hello to 2022.

Happy New Year to you all.

I hope you had a blessed and peaceful Christmas – or, at the very least, one that was not filled with pain, suffering or heartache.

Below is a short video I recorded earlier this week – and I hope to post another video soon, maybe, reflecting on 2021 in a little more depth – and looking forward to the new possibilities that 2022 opens up for us.

Watch this space – and please comment or interact with us – we would love to hear from you in 2022.

Let’s Talk More…

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I saw this short video last year – but thought I would share it now as we move towards coming out of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Let’s remember there are a lot of lonely people ‘out there’ – and, if we are willing to take the time, it’s not that hard to find them, as the video demonstrates….

What do you think? What can you do?

Back again…after a long time….

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I haven’t blogged for a long time – in fact, not since the day after the Brexit referendum vote in 2016.

It seems a long time ago!

But to be honest, I haven’t really blogged properly for 10 years – as I’ve said before, at that time, I was drained of enthusiasm, and didn’t feel I could write with any conviction, and, in a nutshell, I just got out of the habit…

But, hopefully, I’m back!

My enthusiasm has returned. I’m ready to blog again.

Amongst other things, I want to write about what has happened to me over the last few years, and tell my story, which, inevitably, will spin off in many different directions – so let’s just see where it takes us.

I’m also hoping others will be joining me – and, together, we are looking to produce a podcast and some videos as well.

As before, we will be focussing on the interface between church, theology and culture, but there will be some fun and factual stuff as well, and inevitably, I’ll be sharing what I’m thinking, reviewing what I’m reading – and telling you about what I am drinking, brewing and making…..

I hope you find it useful, encouraging and stimulating.

Here goes then, eh?

HT: The ‘Hello’ image above is licenced under CC BY-NC 4.0

Becoming immune to Facebook

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I must admit, I am slowly but surely becoming more and more disallusioned with Facebook.  I love the community feel you can get from communicating with old friends, from being able to share things you like and are passionate about – but, for me, I always feel an underlying sense of conflict and competition, as if there is always someone in my friends list who is just waiting to pounce, ready to point out things that aren’t in line with their theological dogma, somehow wanting to prove that they know more, or are somehow more faithful to Scripture than me.

And, it really annoys me!

Not that I don’t think challenge is good – in fact, I truly believe that if we are not open to criticism or feedback then we will never grow – intellectually or spiritually.  But it does get me down to realise that some are just ‘friends’ in order to gain information so that they can point the finger and ‘tut-tut’  at, in their view, how unorthodox my theology has become.

If I’m such a stinking ‘liberal’ in their eyes – why don’t they just unfriend me and move on?

So I enjoyed seeing this cartoon by David Hayward today.

JESUS-FB1

Not that I’m comparing myself to Jesus.  No, I’m not that arrogant.

I liked it because it reminded me that popularity is not the main purpose of my life – that, actually, searching for truth, justice, love and hope in Jesus should be my goal, and, sometimes, others won’t like what I say or do, for the sole reason that they are in a different place to me.

But that shouldn’t stop me searching,.

Even if it does mean losing ‘friends’ on Facebook.

David Harwards comment with his cartoon are worth repeating:

“It does often feel like Facebook is a popularity contest. It sometimes feels like high school all over again.

The gospel accounts, as diverse as they are, still communicate the radical focus of Jesus to something more than popularity, winning a crowd or gaining a following. He wasn’t interested in fans.

We can live the same liberated life… free from the scrutiny, judgement and even admiration of others.

It is not easy experiencing loss. It’s sometimes not easy experiencing gain.

If we can find that centered place that is immune to the ups and downs of the opinions of others, then we know what it means to be at peace.”

That is so true!

Back again…after a break

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Back-AgainI haven’t blogged for a while.

In fact, I haven’t blogged properly for nearly two years. I was drained of enthusiasm, and didn’t feel I could write with any conviction.

It’s a long story of how and why it happened, but in a nutshell, I was feeling discouraged and sore, and it would have been too easy to turn my hurt into a rant against those who I perceived had hurt me. It’s too easy to be critical of, and spiteful towards, others during conflict – to come out fighting.

So rather than hit out, I just stopped blogging.

But I’m back!

My enthusiasm has returned. I’m ready to write again.

Amongst other things, I want to write about what has happened to me over the last few years, and tell my story, but also reflect on why things happened the way they did. Inevitably, that will spin off in many different directions – so let’s just see where it takes us.

As before, I’ll be working the interface between church, theology and culture, but there will be some fun and factual stuff as well, and inevitably, I’ll be sharing what I’m thinking and reviewing what I’m reading.

I hope you find it useful, encouraging and stimulating.