Simon Says ...

It appears my teenage haircut had deeper influences!

Jesus spent his whole ministry teaching people to see. He complained of those who could tell the weather but couldn't read the signs of the times. He complained of those who looking do not see. He tells a story about those who ask 'Lord when did we see you naked or in prison or hungry?' He also tells his disciples to 'watch and pray'. Watchful praying and prayerful watching are what we are about. We need to take time out, like Jesus had, to pray in order that we can see. We need to spend time in the world in order that we can pray. Prayer is coming into contact with the reality of God. It is therefore the exact opposite of the 'opium of the people', it is the way to be truly awake in the face of numbing addictions and lies that the secular world puts out. Advertising, propaganda and so much else surrounds us all the time that we need to take time away in order to be able to tell the truth. "To go through life with open eyes, to discern...

[picture deleted as it skewed the whole blog] I wasn't going to blog about the windsor report, at least not until I'd read it. But then I found this, which is superb. It's a cartoon summary of the report . Truly superb. Now I'm going to sit in the corner without any tea for a while! More on the report once I've read it and digested it.

The Church Times today has a story about the Evangelical Alliance debate I blogged about the other day . The Fish website has interviews with Steve Chalke and Joel Edwards (head honcho of EA). This is very good. Chalke talks about mission, whereas Edwards gives such politically nuanced answers he could be the Archbishop of Canterbury! You can find a short paper by Steve Chalke setting out his views here . This includes his comparision of the theology of penal substitution to 'child abuse'. Meanwhile, back at the Church Times , Giles Fraser's column talks about Girard's work as a vital part of a Christian response to violence. After all of this I think I want to read Chalke's book. Not a phrase that often crosses my lips!

I've been reading Joanne Harris' Holy Fools . It's not as good as Chocolat , and much less critical of the church. But it has prompted some reflections about the way that the church is, and is seen to be, colluding in the oppression of people. It prescribes modes of beliefs, and uses its power to put down opposition rather than giving good arguments for its position. The church is like this today, but when it had power it was worse. The church made an ungodly mess of things when it had power. The crusades, inquisition etc . are just the tip of the iceberg. In general, it wanted to control people and resisted any real change. Most of all, its sheer complicity in power and wealth is astonishing. And in all of this the teachings of Christ get lost. Not that there was no-one trying to follow Christ, not that the project of 'church' is to be written off. But Harris' novel does, at the very least, suggest that we are reaping the evangelistic effects. And...

I spent Saturday at a conference on the work of Rene Girard . A friend of mine, Mike Kirwan, has just published a book about him, and the conference was to celebrate this. (Check out Mike's article for The Tablet .) You can order the book here . I gave a paper called 'Save us from being Saved', talking about different offers of salvation and the need to take a critical approach in order to unmask false salvation. So, for instance, language of salvation is used around the war on terror or structural adjustment programmes, and these need some critical attention. We also look for salvation in different ways in our own lives. These can be just as destructive. I would be interested to hear from any who have examples of 'salvations' from which we need to be saved. During the afternoon, I sloped off to the pub with Giles Frazer and he told me about a meeting sponsored by the Evangelical Alliance that he had been to that week. This had been called to deba...