Author Archives: Mark

Perhaps you have read Polly Toynbee’s passionate article on the new Narnia film. Well worth a read. It is not one of her more measured responses, and all the more interesting for that. Every one of those thorns, the nuns used to tell my mother, is hammered into Jesus’s holy head every day that youContinue reading “‘Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion’”

Notes from last nights final sermon in the Chaos Theology series are available here.

Last night we hosted one of a series of Quake Gigs in aid of the victims of the South east Asia earthquake. It was an amazing night, with a wonderful mix of homegrown talent and special guests. Enjoy these video clips.More photo’s and video to follow (email me pictures if you have them), but thankContinue reading “Quake Gig”

The fundamental challenge of any serious appreciation of the environmental crisis facing our generation is that we cannot hope to sustain the lifestyle we cling to, while denying it to others on the planet.Perhaps for us the least comfortable aspect of Jesus call to kingdom living is the commitment to simplicity. Is there life afterContinue reading “Chaos Theology: environment”

Imagine life was a Waterstone’s bookshop…Spirituality is a huge growth industry in our Culture, yet christians are unwilling, or afraid to engage. This sermon was intended to help us understand and connect with the secular spirituality of our age. I am not so sure how well the sermon recording thing is going, so someone suggestedContinue reading “Chaos Theology: Spirituality”

“Taking the remarkable life and moral teachings of this profound religious thinker, Howard Brenton explores the extraordinary phenomenon of faith. While offering a secular reading of the story of Christ’s resurrection, at the play’s heart Paul preaches from his Letter to the Corinthians, the eloquence of which cannot fail to move.” The Creative communications homegroupContinue reading “Paul – A new play by Howard Brenton”

The extraordinary first century figure of Jesus of Nazareth has been largely subsumed in the west by the economic and political wrangling of seventeen centuries of Christendom. Jesus became an icon, typifying the ideals of a dominant culture and manipulated from age to age to suit the cultural landscape. The reality of the man wasContinue reading “Doxology”

It is late october – so it must be time for the Christmas lights on Oxford street to go up! Count down the seconds to Christmas with this site!Anyway – we want your creative ideas for Christmas this year. Here is what we have already…1) Carol concerts – Two again? 11th and the 18th areContinue reading “Only 5,028,672 seconds till Christmas!”

I was tracking where people visit the COTC blog from, and I was amazed to see lots from North American, and even one from South America. Click on the picture above to see the last 50 visits. You are all very welcome, it is amazing to have so many international guests, but who are youContinue reading “COTC Global”

I had to do a presentation at the Bishops Council last night [spaced out with jet lag!] on new ways of being church, and I included a video intended to give a flavour of COTC. It is a bit thrown together, but the oldies at the Council loved it, and were very excited about us.Continue reading “New forms of Church”

I am waiting for my delayed flight in Ronaldsway airport, on the way back from Roseanne and Stuarts wedding. The one consolation is free wifi so here are a few photos from the wedding of the new Mr & Mrs Mclean. Congratulations you two!

An old friend of mine from vicar factory has been appointed to a new job in Brighton, and is being supported by the diocese to plant a new type of church in the city centre. They are meeting in a pub, and have a focus on the sort of people who would not normally goContinue reading “Pub church Brighton”

“The world itself is the will to power – and nothing else! And you yourself are the will to power – and nothing else!” Friedrich Nietzsche.A right theology of power understood through the Bible narrative and exercised in our real lives is the intention of this sermon. We all have mechanisms for dealing with theContinue reading “Chaos Theology: Power”

This is a lovely piece of work on aspects of creative worship, even if it starts a bit cheesily. A is for Ambience, good. B is for Beanbags… hmmm. Bible, bravery or brokenness would be my immediate suggestions. I like K is for kleptomania and G is for Graceful particularly.

What are you worth? What is it that makes us rich? We are treading on dangerous ground when we raise questions about wealth and money, and a working theology of wealth is not going to be easy. But it is the subject that Jesus talks about more than any other than the kingdom of GodContinue reading “Chaos Theology : Wealth”

You might have spotted on the BBC website the new christmas poster campaign by the Churches Advertising Network continuing the revolutionary theme from the che guevara poster. There is a Q&A about it here. What do you think? Not your conventional christmas image. I am kinda liking it.

The second sermon on our Chaos theology series, on the theme of meaning from last night can be found here

Jeremy just sent me the link to his new work site at beingyourself.info which is a fantastic looking mission project based on Psalm 139, and the toolbox page which explains how to use it. SGM (Scripture Gift mission) is apparently going through the process of reimagining its identity and methods to better serve the gospelContinue reading “beingyourself.info”

‘Start with Church and the mission will probably get lost. Start with mission and it is likely that the church will be found’ Mission shaped Church 2004 The subtext to our attempts to do real world theology this term is the conviction that we are to be an urban church, engaged with the lives andContinue reading “Getting out there”

The opening sermon of our Chaos Theology series is now online. The theme is identity. You can find the Beauty in the Breakdown video here and the sermon audio is here.[Sorry about the quality – working on that]