Aim Lower, Think Smaller ... eh?

At a recent training event, I was struck by this strange message: "Aim Lower. Think Smaller. Give up. Go have a cup of coffee." It is supposed to be a strategy for churches' work with children: but it's also cleverly having a bit of a go at how some churches behave! After all, some do aim low, think small and give up - but the idea is to turn these things into positives!

• Aim lower: In other words, the Church should target more of its work at children, not only because they are often receptive to Good News, but because it is impossible to put a price on the value of children's presence, liveliness, disruptiveness, and inquisitiveness - they prompt adults to practise our faith more hospitably, more generously and more energetically.


• Think smaller: We should recognise that it is not only 'grown-ups' who have gifts, but children too, with so much to offer - and they draw our attention to different ways of seeing the world, to notice smaller details, to care for the voiceless, the un-noticed, the vulnerable.


• Give up: Remember that each local church is not the full extent of the Church, and that there may be things we can and should give up for the sake of the church in another place, just as we can also receive from others - and children help us to make these connections.


• Go have a cup of coffee (or squash!): It's not about resigning ourselves to the default position of 'a time of fellowship', but affirming that we are, first and foremost, a living community of people gathering to support one another - people of all ages, together.

So, let's aim lower, think smaller, give up, and go have a cup of coffee. A good vision for us all!

What to do with a difficult book: the Bible!

Happy New Year! And straight to work - I've noticed a couple of times recently that how we read the Bible is central to how we understand ourselves as a Christian community and how we understand our good news. There are those who find the issue quite easy - they just say, 'Do what the Bible says, because the Bible has all the answers.' And yet I suspect most people who say that are just as inconsistent with their use of the Bible as anyone else, because it's simply not a straightforward 'guide book' or 'manual', but involves some 'getting into'. On the other hand, there are those who say, 'It's just too difficult', so let's pick the bits we like but leave the rest - but that fails to appreciate how even the hard bits can be so fruitful for us, especially in the way they help us to take into account different voices within our community - because different people find different bits hard. So here's an example of a more balanced & fruitful approach:

Mark starts his Gospel (probably the first Gospel to be written) being fully aware that Jewish people were under the impression that God had stopped speaking (it says so in Malachi, at the end of their scriptures), so how can these Christian people dare to say that God has done a new thing? Well, he pumps his opening verses full of Scriptural references, quoting Malachi, who prophesied a new messenger, and Isaiah, who spoke of new things 'in the wilderness', referring to John the Baptist, and showing that he was clothed just like the ancient prophet Elijah - i.e. these are signals that the God of the Jewish Scriptures is still acting. And then there is the explosive idea, when Jesus comes to be baptised, that the heavens are opened - reversing their closure in Malachi - and God's Spirit comes - reflecting the opening of Genesis, where God's Spirit stirs the earth into new life - i.e. a signal that new creation is happening now!

What this tells us is, 1) Mark was a sophisticated writer, piecing together his material in such a way to show the vitality of his new kind of faith; and 2) the Bible refers to itself in a way which often needs de-coding, though different people find different answers, but best of all: 3) it tells of a God who does new things, who gives new insights, new wisdom, new possibilities, so must not be confined within fixed interpretations, because God speaks to every generation, rooted in an ancient history but pouring out into the future too. So what is on the horizon for us?