New Kid on the Blog

 I think I might have been overconfident about getting two reviews done quickly! It's been a busy couple of weeks, with some heavy stuff to deal with, but I did get Zach's book read! What a delight this book is! Really worth five stars - it's accessible, written with clarity and depth, there's a warmth about it that is engaging and encouraging.  Zach reminds us (because many of those who claim to be Christian don't believe it) that we all read the Bible through interpretative lenses. I grew up in a Church tradition which thought that it read the Bible in the 'right' way - that the interpretation given by the pastor was the only way we should look at Scripture. As soon as I started studying Theology I realized how many different ways the Bible is read - and that more often than not, more is read INTO the Bible than actually comes from Scripture.  'better ways...' looks at three of the lenses which are used in many Churches and which cause hurt and har...

So, what is the nature of scripture? Hmmm, good question - and one I have been struggling with for most of my adult life, as I have journeyed through many differing traditions and ended up very much within the liberal, broad part of the church! I wonder if sometimes our approach to the Bible is somewhat like a misheard song lyric, every now and then we stop and say 'oh, so that's what it says'.  So here's some Peter Kay with some amusing misheard song lyrics (there's a few rude bits, so don't watch if easily offended)  I riffed off of this for today's sermon at St John the Divine, Victoria - as you'll tell if you listen to the podomatic link below, some of it I stole (acknowledged) wholesale, and then moved on to considering exactly what we are doing when we encounter 'bad' bible bits!

To keep things moving on the blog, here's the sermon from Sunday.  I have been thinking about the purpose and nature of preaching lately - but such lofty thoughts will need to wait....

Here's the player for today's sermon in case you prefer to listen rather than read!

St John's Church is in the process of considering the story of faith, how we engage with a faith that is historic and moving forward.  Our last Iona service was a powerful celebration of our part in the story and our moving together in the flow of faith - like Jesus and John the Baptist who we remembered today we are invited to 'step into the river'