I’ve just finished reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell.  I know it’s taken me a while to get round to this but I’m kind of glad I waited because I think I’m probably in a place now where it makes more sense to me that it might have when it came out a couple of years ago.

The book is full of gems.  For me, Bell’s engagement with the Jewish Jesus is illuminating and helpful but the line that struck me most was:

If it’s not good news for everybody then it’s not good news for anybody.

His explanation is that if person X starts to follow Christ that should be good news for the Muslim next door or the Hindu across the road because person x will be a better neighbour.

I’ve asked the question ‘What difference does it make to the world that we follow Christ?’ in a few sermons over the past months.  I think Rob Bell’s observation gives at least a place to start looking for an answer.  The Good News isn’t just Good News for us.  It should be Good News for the people we live with, the people we work with, the people we share our street with, the people we meet and all the people we come into contact with.

The lectionary for this week is Matthew 25: 31-46 (the sheep and the goats/i was naked, hungy, sick, in prison) and in his Chocolate teapot for 28 Nov Roddy Hamilton has posted some thoughts:

There is no way Jesus intended to start a church. Nothing he did was designed to grow a great institution that has fought over how many angels you can get on a pin head, the colour of cups in the cupboards and who should be allowed to use them, should the minister raise three fingers representing the Trinity during the benediction, should we stand for the bible, what should be the balance of hymns between traditional and contemporary etc, etc, etc. You can add to the list as you feel the need.

All Jesus did was tell folk there are forgotten folk in the world and there ought not to be, there are people who starve and there shouldn’t be, there are folk imprisoned in memories and pain and guilt and marriages and illness who should rather be free to life fully, there are people who can’t afford clothes for their own backs let alone their children’s backs and that is a shocking thing to let happen. Sort it.

The principle is dead straight forward. This is quite simply all there is to do as a church, a nation, a company of people, an individual. Here, and rarely anywhere else will you find Jesus. He never said he’d be found among those who wanted pews or those who didn’t, those who wanted everything sung with the organ or the piano, those who wanted Moody and Sankey or those who wanted John Bell.

But he did say, if you want to find me, look among the poor.

Which bit did the church fail to understand?

My answer? All of it.

We, the church, the supposed people of God, the followers of Christ, have forgotten that the Good News should be Good News for everyone.  If it’s not Good News for everyone then it’s not the Good News Jesus was talking about.

Any thoughts?

Got my new car today.  Liking it lots. Skoda Octavia Estate 1.9dci in anthracite grey (road colour!).

I got tagged by Shuna and Rich for this. Last list for a while. I promise.

6 uninteresting things about me:

1. Peppers give me very bad indigestion
2. I’ve played golf for 30 years but have never had a handicap or a hole-in-one
3. I was the youngest person in my class at primary school and university
4. I had 3 piano lessons… then my teacher left the country
5. I have never bought a computer for myself
6. I’m about to be a Skoda driver

I won’t tag anyone, but feel free to share!

The second part of my chat with Thomas about Seth Godin’s new book ‘Tribes’ on the Something Beautiful podcast HERE.

We talk about change, cycles, leadership and faith in a Starbucks… complete with coffeehouse sound effects!

America lived up to the promise of the Declaration of Independence last night.  This was the day that America grew up.  This was the day that the promise that all men are created equal was realised.

Change was the message, but I think in the end that people voted for Hope.  They voted for the hope of a positive outlook, the hope of a positive world view and the hope America was built on and is embodied in Barack Obama.

This election has shown that people are ready to embrace a future which embraces all.  People are hungry for leaders who will rise above the tit for tat of party politics and grasp higher ideals.  The world is ready for hope.

If you live in America then today you have the chance to make the world a better place.

I’ll repeat that.

If you live in America then today YOU have the chance to make the world a better place.

How many days like that come along?  Not many.  And when they do you really have to make the most of them so today go and VOTE, please.

Over the past 21 months the US election campaign has been captivating.  It finaly boiled down to Obama v McCain.  In an era of consensus politics the process couldn’t have thrown up a more stark choice.  Some people in America won’t understand why I’m posting this.  Some people in America don’t understand that who they pick for President matters greatly to how the rest of the world will live for the next 4 years and beyond.

If you need an example then look no further than the current economic crisis or the ‘war on terror’.

So please, as they said in the West Wing, VOTE early and VOTE often!  Some change would be good, for all of us.

This evening I’m meeting up with Thomas aka Headphonaught for a chat about Tribes (book or audio), the new book by Seth Godin.

Our chat is being recorded as part of the Something Beautiful podcasts so I’ll try to speak clearly and even make sense.  All I’ll say for now is that I liked the audio book and it resonates with lots of the things I’ve written about and spoken about over the past few years so expect lots of soapbox rants!

Patrick Awuah makes a passionate case for why a liberal arts education is vital to help educate leaders in Ghana.

I think his idea is transferable.  Here in Scotland there are now far too many courses around these days that teach you how to do one thing in one way.  They don’t teach you how to think, to problem solve or to create.  That works if the thing you are trained to do never changes.  But that’s not life as we know it.

Weekends are usually not very distinguishable from the rest of the week for me.  Most of them I work in some way or other but this weekend was mostly (although not completely) full of family things.

My nephew Fraser was baptised by his Grandfather (my dad) on Saturday.

It was good to see most of the family although some were off on holiday and my uncle Iain is still recovering in hospital.

This afternoon Jillian, Scott, Calum, Ewan and Fraser came to visit and it was great to catch up and to chat and for the boys to see their cousins.  They miss them loads now they are off in the highlands so it’s always an occasion when they get together!

Jack’s favourite part of the weekend?

Yummy!

‘Do you want to win the war on terror? Yes or No?’

We watched Lions for Lambs on DVD last night and I’m so glad we did.  It was one of those movies that I saw trailed and though about going to see but never got round to so when I saw it in the supermarket last night it found its way into my basket.

Lions for Lambs is an intelligent examination of the war on terror, telling three connected stories in real time.

The first story is that of a bright, ambitions senator (Tom Cruise) who has a plan to win the war in Afghanistan and needs a journalist (Meryl Streep) to sell it for him.  Their discussion is all about the failure of the strategists to learn from the past, and the media’s complicity in the war on terror.

The second story sees a professor of political science (Robert Redford) engaged in a fascinating conversation with a bright student who is cruising and having fun, wasting his talent and ability.

The final story is about two of Redford’s previous students who have signed up to the army and are at the front line of the Senator’s plan.

This is a complex and engaging film with lots of questions and no answers.  It asks us to think about engagement.  How do we engage with the world?  How do we engage with the political process?  How do we engage with life?  Do we say that it is someone else’s problem?  Do we believe everything we see and read?

The film made me think of the current US elections where McCain is busy defending Obama while his running mate Palin is busy making all kinds of accusations at the same time.  McCain looks decent and generous but the mud thrown at Obama sticks.

It made me think about how parents want a better life for their kids but that better life isn’t for their kids to sit around being amused and entertained, it is to make life better for other’s kids.

It made me think.  That has to be a good thing.  I wonder if it will make me act?