So I was surfing the web again and came across this blog discussing the difference between seed of the church and fruit of the church. It struck a cord with me because we often get asked 'what is Feig?' and 'what exactly do you do?'

Ryan Marsh writes "I always get confused about which is which, so I try to remember how Luther distinguished between the “seed” of the Church and the “fruit” of the Church. The Seed is the proclamation of the Gospel, and when this Gospel is proclaimed, when this seed is planted, it blossoms into all kinds of fruits:

Like feeding the hungry, befriending the lonely, dignifying all humans, giving access to medicines to people who are suffering, and saying “No” to injustice. As well as saying “Yes” to beauty, to creating, singing, painting, and community… the number of fruit that comes from the Gospel is as varied as there are people.

But when I get mixed up is when I start to see myself and my community as centered around the fruit rather than the seed. When we start thinking of ourselves as a social service, or an artist colony, or a country club, or anything else other than a Gospel community united by a common grace in Jesus Christ, in whom there is neither Jew nor Greek (no longer an ethnic division), in whom there is neither slave nor free (no longer an economic division), in whom there is neither male nor female (no longer a gender division), and in whom there is neither insiders nor outsiders (no longer status division), because Jesus is our peace, who has destroyed all these hostile divisions between us and reconciled us to God through the cross (that almost sounds biblical)."

el

Shortlisting

Shortlisting for the feig post will take place tomorrow evening. Please pray for wisdom and discernment as those gathered consider each applicant. Cheers

dp

Women of The Bible

Cheryl Lawrie (who I have mentioned on here before) has written a blog post recently about the place of women in God's story. About how, over time, we have forgotten about their contribution or miscast them as moral examples. Lawrie points out that "When a woman’s story becomes too important and subversive, the Christian tradition has an embarrassing tendency to shift focus; to demean her character, so that the telling of her story will always be associated with morality and virtue, rather than courage and wisdom."

Lawrie points out that "The Gospels themselves are filled with stories where people were challenged by Jesus for interpreting faith with a worldview of morality and relationship in place. Instead, we are told, the story of faith is to be read into our worldview, confronting our stereotypes and prejudices."

el

Gloucester

I have been reading a book on and off for about three years. It is called 'The Rise of the Creative Class' by Richard Florida. It explains how certain cities or regions in North America have become synonymous with creative enterprise and how those hot spots have thrived, reflecting on their political, sociological and economic landscape.

Gloucester is not a creative hub although there are some highly creative people here. I wonder what this city might be known for in coming years? The regeneration project underway seems to focus on our commercial potential with shopping developments and so on. I could be wrong about that but that is how it seems to me.

Is that the best we can hope for? Is that such a bad thing to hope for? or could Gloucester offer something more distinctive and pioneering to the world?

...these and other questions.

dp

Feig Winter Habitat

So Louise and I were talking about where the people of Feig can get together and hang out. Summer seems much easier. Weather permitting you can pretty much just arrange to meet in a field. Kids are happy. Balls can be kicked about and lounging can occur on blankets on the grass. But what about in the winter? Where can we meet that is interesting for kids, warm and dry, and preferably serving good coffee??

el

The great indoors

Sparked up the open fire last night for the first time this season. Have done so again this eve. Had a good father-son bonding time with my eldest who is almost two as we built the fire. You can't start these things too early! Very nice indeed. The picture is off flickr but it looks similar to what I'm looking at. Cosy.
dp

The Evangelism Project

The Ikon community in Belfast have an experimental group called The Evangelism Project. Peter Rollins explains: "The Evangelism Project’ is a group of people who visit different political and religious groups, not to evangelise, but to be evangelised. Not to reform the other but to invite the other to reform us. In the project we have found that, as we see our world through the others eyes, we come to see some of things we believe and do in a different light."

Ikon explains that "An analysis of human interaction over history teaches us that there are two dangerous temptations each of us face when confronted by a stranger, i.e. by one who thinks and acts in a way that is foreign to our cultural or religious practices. The first is a desire to transform that stranger into our own image, endeavouring to eclipse and replace their cultural and religious practices with our own. The second is to exclude and reject the stranger entirely, viewing them as a threat which must be guarded against. In one the stranger is rendered into a clone while in the other they are made into an enemy."

Pete Rollins sums up "To invite a world that we would wish to critique and dismiss to be a mirror into our own world is a difficult thing to do. It requires both bravery and humility."

el