The Rules About Rules

I was listening to John Cleary's Sunday night religious radio show today, and there was a discussion about religion and sex, following the (UK)Anglican churches decision on women bishops. Lots was being said about various issues then Dr. Michael Horsburgh said this...

"If you want to understand a rule you have to look for the evil that it is expected to redress. So, people see something wrong, they say we need a law against it, so we are to create a rule and you can understand a law, whether we agree with it or not, you can understand the law in the context of the evil it seeks to redress. But, laws and rules last longer than the evils. So some reach their use by date that's why that's why it's actually very important that we understand what the context were originally behind the kinds of rules that we've inherited the because in a new context those rules may not be particularly useful." Dr. Michael Horsburgh

I thought it was genius, could easily be applied to so many church / Xn rules so I had to repost it.

Why I Feel Uncomfortable Thanking The "Traditional Owners"

Imagine if someone's grandparents stole a Stradivarius violin off my grandparents. They then became a famous musician, partly because of the unique sound of the stolen violin. Then imagine that each time they played a concert with that violin they thanked me, because I was the "traditional owner" of the violin.

If that happened to me I'd feel ripped off, patronised and pretty friggin' angry. Particularly if they were living a life of rock star luxury and I was living in poverty.

I Think I Need To Stop Going To Church

The church I'm hanging out with is doing a series where we get to think about what our "frontline" is? That is where we might already be "missionaries"? Or, who we can tell the gospel too? To be honest I'm always nervous about these sorts of things as they can often water down Xy to some kind of religious pyramid selling scheme. Where sermons become rallying cries for sales teams.

None the less, I have a faith that has transformed my life for the better and one that I believe is worth sharing with the people I know and love. I reflected about the people I connect with on a regular basis in particular my closest friends. Serendipitously two of them (both not Xn) and I had a long conversation about Xy. During the conversation it became brutally obvious that they will never come to church. (This is probably also true of many of the other people I know).

Thinking about this I remembered an old friend becoming Xn, at the time she only knew me and one other Xn person. She started going to church and about four weeks later chucked church in and later after moving to a different part of the state everything else kind of faded away. Jesus was great but she couldn't square Jesus with the way church folk did life and the values they lived. Church was and still is the only way I knew to give some sort of form to Xn discipleship.

I cannot help but feel that Church has become an albatross to mission. Unless I abandon church and work out some other way of being Xn, some way of living and growing as a person of faith rooted in the long history of the faith that I can then hand on to others, then my friends and many others I know will never consider becoming Xn.

To be honest right now I have no idea why I even go to church. I get nothing out of it and I give nothing to it.