Postscript on Reflecting the life of the Trinity

Something I didn't mention on Sunday and they never would have needed to say in ages gone by, but that Steve Holmes sums up well: If we want to reflect the life of God in our communities, we need to be physically present in them.  Interacting through social media, whilst currently all the rage, is not enough. He goes on:

I was at an academic conference on the theme 'The Communication of God'. A Jewish philosopher was speaking to us about the promise of online communication; he was passionate and committed and fairly persuasive. (I was already involved back then in running an experimental online theology discussion group, and so I was ready to be convinced.)

At the end, however, someone stood up and commented, 'As a Jew, this will work for you - you believe in the power of word, of text. For those of us who are Christians, who believe the Word became flesh, textual interactions will never be enough.'

Read the article (3mins max) in full here.

Sermon Notes: Reflecting the Trinity in Life

We are dust – glorified dust. Everything we make, eat, surround ourselves with, wear, read, watch is glorified dust. We have come from below – from the dust (Gen. 2:7) and when we die, we return there (Gen. 3:19).

But when Christ entered our world, he did not come up from below, he came from above, from Heaven itself (John 3:31) He was a totally new kind of human – one who lived in perfect fellowship with God by the power of the Spirit. And in his great love, through the cross, he has raised us up into that life of his. We are united to him at the very right hand of God. We are co-heirs with him. Jesus gets everything and we get Jesus who joyfully shares all he has with his people.

We have eternal life now, because eternal life is fellowship with Jesus and his Father. John 17:3

Just as the Father sent the Son so that the world might know God and be reconciled to him, so now Jesus (who has been given all authority) sends his church into the world so that the world might know who Jesus is and what he has done. Jesus says as much in John 20:21 As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you… So what might our lives and communities look like if we are seeking to reflect / imitate something of the surpassing greatness of this God?

Make People "Opt-In" to Porn

The government is consulting on whether to force Internet Service Providers to put porn filters on their servers.

If successful, people would have to opt in to porn when they signed up for the service from their ISPs rather than it being the norm.

The advantage of this is that fewer children and young people would be exposed to the ravages or porn unwittingly, long before they had the moral framework to process it or the wisdom and resolve to resist it.

Please support the campaign by asking your MP to back it. Takes no more than two minutes if you click here: http://www.safetynet.org.uk/contactmp.php

Ashdown Countdown

Due to the wonders of technology, this post comes from a tent in a forest in the middle of Sussex!!

I'll be disappearing off to Ethiopia next summer with a bunch of school boys and my soon to be wife. This weekend we have a taster of what it will all be like.

So far so good, no injuries, no diseases, no awful weather conditions and the team's efforts to cook on a Trangia were most passable!

Bring on the real thing!!

Now, where's my head torch?