Ok so I reckon that ... is THE best punctuation to use in any correspondence. An exclamation mark was my favourite punctuation for its drama but it doesn't have the mystery and suspense of ... What do you think is the best punctuation...? (It's very addictive...)
I'm starting a series on the book of Revelation in a month or two and I've spent a lot of time reading books and articles on it. I thought I'd post some of the helpful things I come across from time to time to do with Revelation. So far the best pithy quote comes from David L Barr and his book Tales of the End. He helpfully says about the use of numbers in Revelation that they (the numbers) are "qualitative not quantitative"; they signify qualities not quantities. If people who were trying to read Revelation remembered that there'd be a lot less hurt in the world (seriously!).
If you're looking for access to good scholarly material on Revelation your first stop should be Revelation Resources.
BAndy has a great post below that I hope sparks lots of discussion. He's asked me for some "quotes" from Sunday's sermon. The problem is that I don't use many notes so I'm not sure if the quotes he means are mine or someone else I quoted (let me know BAndy). Sunday's sermon was on Acts 15 and the reality that Christian faith is not a bounded set (with lots of rules and cultural traditions to abide by in expressing faith) but a centred set (centred on the grace of Jesus - Acts 15:11) and therefore looks and tastes very different in different contexts. Instead of giving lots of quotes I'll post a few you tube videos of what worship can look like in other parts of the world:
I have been saturated in the European church scene my whole life. Surrounded in funny little rituals like bowing my head when someone prays, dressing nicely on a Sunday and holding hands when saying grace. There are so many more that I wouldn't be able to name because I don't see them as cultural rituals but Christian rituals. The things that Christians do.
I wonder what our church would look like if we stopped trying to make "European" Christians. What does a church for "Maraenui" Christians look like? I have a feeling if we were serious about providing a comfortable environment for the locals then the process is that we change and then then come, because if it were the other way around I think we'd be waiting a while. Like, forever.
What are some other cultural rituals that we as European Christians perform? What things could we do in our churches to make certain minorities (in the church attendance sense) feel more comfortable?
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday - the celebration of the birth of the global church through the gift of God's Spirit to everyone. I stumbled across a blog post by Karl Fisch (of Shift Happens fame) on Pangea Day - a global event trying to bring the world together through film. It has some really sweet utube clips where people from one nation singing another nations national anthem. I thought "I will borrow (read - steal) that for the blog for Pentecost". These clips remind me of God's vision to redeem one great humanity from every tribe, language, people and nation (Rev 5:9) and that this was manifest at Pentecost.
Australia sings for Lebanon:
Kenya sings for India:
Japan sings for Turkey:
France sings for the United States:
The United States sings for Mexico:
The United Kingdom sings for Argentina:
We're currently exploring the theme of Colliding Worlds and last Sunday in my sermon I made use of some stats of global trends (our world today colliding with the world of tomorrow) that some people were interested in. These stats have been around on the web for a while but they still make you think. I first came across them through Alan Jamieson. Below is the u tube called Shift Happens:
