Think Question Believe

• How can we defeat hate?

  The early church was itself puzzled by the Spirit, and unable to make much in the way of theological sense of this area of doctrine. And even today the Holy Spirit is an area fraught with competing interpretations.  So, what is the Holy Spirit? How might we recognize it? How might our lives be touched, shaped and directed by the Spirit? Where do we start to take on the awesome responsibility of discerning quite where the Spirit may be leading us?And when we pray, if we pray, do we really understand what we are praying for – and what we should be praying for?And how do we even begin to defeat hate, cruelty and indifference, not only in our world, but also within our own hearts?

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• Juggling our lives away.

  Jesus staying with Mary and Martha is another story told only by Luke, and it continues a theme that is clearly dear to him. The breaking of cultural and religious boundaries and a declaration of radical acceptance and inclusion.And, of course, the story is not really about doing the dishes, and it's not really about Martha and Mary – but about us.In our lives, what do we place first – keeping busy, getting lots of things done, perhaps keeping even intentionally distracted by the mundane and unchallenging, convincing ourselves that we are working hard, or getting on with the real task, the real and more difficult work of our lives?Isn’t it so easy – just to juggle our lives away?

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  10:33

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• Looking behind or looking ahead?

  Tensions have always been intrinsic to the Christian Church, think of the controversies surrounding slavery, race, divorce, women’s role in the church, one could go on.On the one hand there are those, like Peter, who believe the Church should have boundaries and borders, acting like a fortress, which can only care for and protect those within, by defining, identifying and excluding those who are without. That the old ways need to resist the challenge of the new, if not forever, then certainly for as long as possible – church as a perpetual rearguard action – holding back the winds of change and compromise – fidelity to the past.On the other hand, the modern counterparts of Paul, who believe that the Truth the Church professes can only be so if it is universal; that to be the Good News, it must, of necessity, be so for all.That the central revelation of Christianity is that all notions of tribalism, social, ethnic and gender distinction were swept away, by the life, teaching, ministry, and new life in Jesus.Could we not learn from the example of Peter and Paul? After all they too believed they were fighting for the future of the Church, and their visions were very different indeed.Each would come to pursue their own mission, their own calling, trusting that Providence would, in time, resolve any inconsistencies, reservations and doubts that they might harbour.They had neither a shared policy, nor shared theology, but simply a mutually recognised commitment that each would serve the Gospel, as best he could, in his own way, and what the Holy Spirit would bless, it would bless.

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  11:42

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• Loving beyond all boundaries

  In the story of the Gadarene swine we encounter a man, afflicted and tormented by forces beyond his control.In terrible mental anguish, ostracised by his own people, driven from their midst, he now lives like a wounded wild animal, naked, dehumanised.And not just then, we know that any oppressed minority today, who endure overt and covert discrimination suffer higher levels of mental illness, stroke, heart disease, even certain cancers, and a whole ‘host’ of other disorders linked to social injustice and abuse.We are challenged to question who we continue to reject, and push to the margins, who we demonise. Certainly, the poor, the disabled, those who mentally ill, and LGBTQIA+ people, continue to feel other, less than and marginalised, sadly even, sometimes especially within our churches. And what does that say about the sickness of ourselves and the systems we devise and protect?

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• A story - 'on fire'

  There is a familiar expression that someone has a ‘bright’ idea or a ‘lightbulb moment’. Or that someone’s performance was ‘electrifying’, or the atmosphere in the theatre was ‘electric’ - We can have a ‘burning desire to succeed’, or we can have a ‘blazing row’, emotions can become ‘inflamed’, and someone can have a ‘fiery temper’, or a ‘burning hatred’. We might compliment a performer by saying there were ‘on fire’ last night.The Pentecost story is perhaps, hopefully, one of the most obvious and uncontentious employments of metaphor in scripture – but from it we can draw a wider lesson – that we do ourselves, our world, and the original writers of scripture a terrible disservice, if we cannot allow their use of metaphor to enrich, colour and deepen our understanding, and instead insist upon simply a literal surface level reading of the stories that they strived for so long to craft and create.So, what is at the heart of Pentecost? What is significant, of prime importance for us?

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  10:44

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