Lama's log

This week I'm preaching on Obadiah. A couple of weeks ago I dabbled in Hosea. Am I enjoying it? Not really but looking at why it's because it's making me work HARD. Basic message of lots of the minors. God's going to smite you unless you repent and in Hosea's case, God's going to smite you whether you repent or not. It's not cheery stuff.

Given my predisposition though to doom and gloom I am starting to think they're on my wave length. God does love us which is fab but it is a love of great expectation. This weeks jaunt into Obadiah looks at a people still tied up with familial fight between Jacob and Esau and a desire to win at all costs. Esau's descendants will watch as their brother's people suffer because it feeds their hunger to win an argument and be vindicated. I can relate on a personal level I love winning arguments, but really this story is about corporate feeling. This is about how a people are acting. All my time in church doesn't prepare me for this story because church, as we all know, was only invented for our own personal salvation. Church is to develop our individual relationship/walk with a loved up messiah. All this talk then in Obadiah of a nation being out of kilter with God we put in the back of the mental filing cabinet and label it out of date.

Corporate sin though is still mega bucks. Lots of the minors are drawing our attention to this. It matters how we act as a body of people. It matters what our corporate identity looks like and what the values and beliefs are that make up that identity. This value base is what's going to shape how we act.

Who are my people then? Will I describe myself as English? Will Baptists be a people I own? It's important. Humans need a sense of who we are to be healthy. We also need to own it and take responsibility before God for it. God will call us to account for who we collectively seek to be. I'm not going to get away with blaming Gordon Brown when it comes down to it, I can't write off the slavery debate as irrelevant just because I don't feel personally responsible for what happened and what continues to happen. It involves my people so I'm culpable and responsible.

Lets leave it with Obadiah:

You should not march through the gates of my people
in the day of their disaster,
nor look down on them in their calamity
in the day of their disaster,
nor sieze their wealth
in the day of their disaster.
You should not wait at the crossroads
to cut down their fugitives,
nor hand over their survivors
in the day of their trouble.

The day of the Lord is near
for all nations.

Church meeting. We've just had one. It was the alcohol debate. Many things now come to mind as a result.

Firstly was my appreciation of a meeting well run. Mazza kicked things off and the atmosphere was one of reflection and worship. This really did put into perspective how we go about speaking to each other and what it looks like to be a Christian community. I think the way she started the meeting had a massive effect on how things were said.

That was the next thing then - people spoke from directly opposing views with tolerance and without personal insult. It's harder to do that than it should be. I came away from the meeting feeling I had input from other people that has has altered my view point. That would have been unlikely had there been a lot of shouting.

After that, our voting requirements suck. We need a 2/3rds majority to pass something, be it a leadership vote or a new proposal. It's inadequate. For my money we should be working very hard at seeking a 'mind' at trying to find the spirit and following God. 66% doesn't hack it for me. Also this discussion highlighted a real problem. In the end the vote was split, fairly evenly. This meant that the proposal didn't fly and 50% of folk were not happy. Because the proposal didn't go through though this issue will be dropped.

I reckon this was not so much a decision made but that a 'mind' wasn't reached. We highlighted that we still had more to do. If we implemented a change here we would have needed at least 80-90% of the meeting to go with it for it to fly with no ill will. Similarly though if we want to keep a dry church then we would need a 80-90% in this direction for that to show we are in agreement. It's hard to put figures down about it but surely we should be working very hard at seeking a way forward and finding some sense of clarity and God? Until then couldn't we allow ourselves time to journey? It can't be done on this issue now because people would perceive an agenda. But it has brought the need for us to look at this in all aspects for me both with leaders and decision making.

As for the issue itself. Well we did manage to touch upon the bigger issues. That of how we use alcohol not just in the church but also in how we socialise and live outside the building. We touched upon it but didn't run with it. That needs to take off. Suggestions for getting behind a campaign for plastic cups rather than glasses to reduce injury and an alcohol fast by certain groups have been suggested and now we need to put some energy into them.

If I'm honest I was also staggered by the majority of those who wanted church to be an alcohol free 'oasis' were also the ones running the fund raisers and social events involving alcohol, the 'wine pudding and plonk', the caleigh with a bar, the nights out where people staggered home from the club. I've staggered home too on various occasions. I'm not so proud of them but it happens and these events and times highlight a need for all of us to understand Kingdom as the place we find ourselves. That we are a people of God right where we stand and s/he celebrates and weeps with us wherever we are.

The high points for me in the meeting were listening to those who had managed to take a consistent approach throughout their lives with drink. Those who drank in moderation and those who were deciding or had made the decision to stop. I was both challenged and inspired and that was the meeting doing it's job and looking different from debate or politics. That was us operating in the spirit.