We have been doing better at being creative this term at COTC, the service leaders have been taking initiatives, and that has had inspired lots of others. Jeremy made a short film about prayer, a beautiful simple piece of work drawing on the image of a message in a bottle.
He writes…
‘I think the message in a bottle makes a interesting metaphor for prayer, because it is simultaneously a symbol of both hope and desperation. The castaway on a desert island resorts to messages flung into the outgoing tide because there is no other way to communicate. And at the same time, there’s hope as that message is thrown into the sea – hope that someone will find it, that someone will send help. It’s a last hope and an only hope. And it’s going to take patience. It’s a symbol of hopeful waiting, and faith in eventual rescue’.

I really enjoy making these videos to tie into talks at church, but they take ages to do.

I had been meaning to do this one based around my favorite Doves track called ‘Pounding’, and finally got the chance. We used it as part of the talk ‘Son of Man’ thinking about the apocalyptic subtext of Jesus ministry.

You can watch it here. [8mb Quicktime]

One of the questions we have been asking ourselves as part of the vision team is this.
‘If you were to start church from scratch how would it look.’

I know this may seem theoretical, and of course we need to be practical, but I want us to have at least tried to think how we might be, rather than just trying to fix what we have.

I wonder how you would answer the question?

We are desperately sad at the news of Anthony and Peachy’s tragedy.

Thank you to all of you who have promised to pray throughout the day.

Even if you can only pray for them for a few minutes at your given time we want the Davids to know they are surrounded by our prayers. Please set a reminder. If you are not on the list email me and I will allocate you a time.

6am Claire Pearson
7am Liz Tissing
7.30am Pete Burnham
8am Gemma Gent
8.30am Tom Crease
9am Ruth Crease
10am B Arnold
11am Sarah Perrin
11.30am Stavroulla Andreou
12pm Sarah Wall
1pm Ellie Welsh
1.30pm Jayne Welburn
2pm Jo Arkell
2.30pm Angela Fletcher
3pm Jane Love
4pm Amy Winger
5pm Danny and Kirsty Allen
6pm Sophia Hanvey
6.30pm Willow Kail
7pm Claire Dean
8pm Vicky Mirfin
8.30pm Sonya & Nick Sireau
9pm Alex Goldfinch
9.30pm Michele and Terence Berry
10pm James Mortley
10.30pm Sarah Hulcoop
11pm Mark Fletcher
12am Dan & Summer Passerelli
1am Elizabeth Cameron

As you may be aware we are in the process of reworking the vision and direction of our Evening Service at the moment, and we would value your prayers. As part of that we would be interested in your responses to a couple of questions…

If our goal is making and maturing disciples, are we right in thinking that we tend to put much more emphasis on maturing than making? Is that important?

How appropriate is it for a church to focus its energy and attention on reaching a particular section of our community (eg in our case young, professional, educated)?

Had lots of conversations about this Theological worldview quiz recently, so I thought I would post it on this blog too. It isn’t too serious, and neither is it flawless, but it is interesting and a good discussion starter. Take it here, and post your results in the comments below.

If you are not aware of Kurt Vonnegut you should be. His article in the Guardian last saturday was fantastic writing. Speaking of the hypocrisy in American politics he writes:
For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.
“Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break!
Enjoy the article.

One of the coolest free apps around was until recently only available for windows, but Google earth is now being developed for Mac (hooray!). It is not officially releaced but the Beta version got leaked, and you can pick it up here. They seem to be improving the resolution and you can now see COTC clearly from space.

I really enjoyed this piece written by Jo, which ellie performed in response to the question What do I fear?

I’ve reached the conclusion that what I fear most is constantly chasing down the many things in life which seem to be in perpetual motion – my career for one. What if I never get where I want to be? What if I’m just not good enough? When is my boss going to see through the act and realise I don’t actually know what I’m doing? My career has a life of its own, running away from me like a load of marbles dropped on the floor. I chase them but there are always more to be retrieved, and the more I get hold of, the more there are to chase. I’m afraid that the only way to stop the game is to let go of all the glass balls – just let them roll away. But what then? What would I do with myself then?

You can read the whole piece here.

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 you don’t eat your greens or say your prayers.

The article gives some real insight into Polly Toynbee’s real issues with abusive religion, which we want to be hugely sympathetic to.

The two dons may have shared the same love of unquestioning feudal power, with worlds of obedient plebs and inferior folk eager to bend at the knee to any passing superior white persons – even children; both their fantasy worlds and their Christianity assumes that rigid hierarchy of power – lord of lords, king of kings, prince of peace to be worshipped and adored.

But essentially this is a power struggle between conservatism and liberalism, and christianity is caught up in it. I don’t think we want the agenda of Jesus associated with that power struggle, and in order to do that any conversation will have to be humble about the failings of the church in the past and its throwing its substantial weigh behind political and social conservatism. However the crucial issue is this:

So Lewis weaves his dreams to invade children’s minds with Christian iconography that is part fairytale wonder and joy – but heavily laden with guilt, blame, sacrifice and a suffering that is dark with emotional sadism.

Interwoven with that struggle however is a philosophical debate. Scientific humanism will allow no limits to be placed on human power and potential. Here we need to disagree. Pollys humanism is her weakness – her privilege and education, social standing and personal stature make her naive about the reality of human experience. We are guilty, we do suffer – the answer is not education (though that is a profound good) we do need redemption – but trying to help Polly to see that is a massive task, particularly given her experiences.

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 thank you to all the artists, and to all of you who came and enjoyed and gave generously.

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 after materialism? Is their a better way?

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 suggested a summary of the sermon, based on my notes. Is this a better plan? If there areprevious Chaos Theology sermons that notes would be useful for I can provide those too.

“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 homegroup went to see the play last week, and they found it somewhat provocative. Stavs has recounted one of the pivotal moments which you can read here. What do you think?

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 was too often lost. Rob’s own journey, forged in reaction to the decay of western Christianity, and distilled through an eastern perspective gives him a unique perception of Jesus. Doxology reinterprets the figure of Jesus for post-Christian culture, not with the reductionism of the late modernist “historical Jesus” concept, but seen through the richness of artistic tradition within the church, in order to express the reality of peoples encounter with this Jesus through the centuries. Rob’s work is much more than observation; his method, which emphasises not subject or outcome but rather the experience of the artist in a given context leads us beyond the purely aesthetic to the conjunction of material and spiritual, it intends to draw us beyond the object into the encounter which it describes.

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 are planned.
2) Christmas Film nights. I have two great films in mind – Tim Burtons ‘a nightmare before Christmas’ and Frank Capra’s ‘Its a wonderful life’.
3) Little ark Christmas service – morning of the 11th.
4) Carols in the N1 Centre 10th December 12pm – we need to provide musicians and PA.
What other ideas do you have?

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 you all? Say hello – introduce yourselves!

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. Thought you might like to see it [Quicktime 5mb]

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!