Graham Stacey

We have argued that loving fellowship is a relationship in which two persons identify with each other by each making the others real interests his or her own. In this serving your interests not merely in the same way that I serve my own, but as being my own, I love you as myself. If all people were to love God and each other in this way, we would have peace on earth and the Kingdom of God would be with us! Unfortunately this ideal is far from being realized in the broken world in which we live, and even those fellowships which we do achieve in life remain fragile and under constant threat of estrangement. Vincent Brummer Atonement, Christology and the Trinity [Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005] 38

MTh Applied Theology, reading

We know very little about most people with whom we interact in life, and the few things we do know about them we also find in others. Hence, they remain for us not much more than comparable bearers of those properties. It is therefore difficult for us to treat them consistently as irreplaceable persons. They are for us no more than partners in a tacit agreement of rights and obligations in which they become for us mere replaceable means for serving our own ends. Page 33

MTh Applied Theology, reading

So not yet a formal proposal! For the Research Degrees Panel I only need a ‘rationale for the proposed research’ and I am just about there. I have put the pdf to the right but here is the main flow:
• There is little doubt that something is happening in the evangelical wing of the church. Recent publications and events have both revealed and catalysed this: Post Evangelical; New Kind of Christian (trilogy); Lost Message of Jesus. Despite a lot of activity there is a sense of conversations going round in circles.
• This diversification within a relatively homogenous wing of the church provokes interesting questions concerning the current extent and depth of this diversity; is it just around particular issues like vocabulary of atonement and truth or is it broader than that, around issues of crucicentrism and biblicism? Is the resurgence of mission a redefining of evangelical activity or a rediscovery of bygone years and biblical perspectives? To what extent has the evangelical cornerstone of ‘conversion’ being watered down by metaphors of journey and discovery?
• Besides the usual catalogue of texts, articles and books, this research project proposes that by hearing and digesting evangelical conversion narratives it may enable the emergence of a clearer picture of late-modern evangelicalism and thus be part of charting its potential metamorphism. As well as offering insights into how a large homogenous group is dealing with issues of historical unity and growing contemporary diversity.
If this project gets any confirmation from Ministry Division then I will be looking for people from the last 20 years or so to tell me how they became a Christian.
I would welcome any comments…

theology

Kate and I had a belated Valentines evening on Saturday (belated not because of me forgetting it the first time round but because of Kate’s brother John and Jenny’s generous babysitting and bill footing – thanks very much John and Jenny). We spent sometime hanging around Oxford like normal people; casually browsing in bookshops and sitting on Starbuck’s couches until closing time. We ate at Kazbar (photos), which is fabulous and worth a visit if you’re around Oxford and looking for a great night out. We had many conversations of course, and some of those were based around Kate’s amazing ability to observe her surroundings and listen in to other people’s conversation.
One such observation was of a group of 5 people at the table across the aisle. The group friends included 3 white males, 1 white female and 1 female of Asian origin. I point out the racial differences because it became the topic of observation and comment. ‘Does she (the Asian) feel anything about her minority in that situation?’ was I think the opening question. The following assumptions, observations and conclusions brought us to a place where we recognised that everyone in that circle had their own minorities. Two of the white males turned out to be in a romantic relationship and thus in a cultural minority because of their sexual orientation. This made the other white man the only heterosexual male in the group (presumably since he was with the white female). The white female was of course a minority in the first place but we didn’t see it. In fact, since we only observed the homosexual relationship on closer inspection what we actually saw in the first place was our own racial prejudices and nothing to do with the actual minorities on the table across the way from us.
Of course, as it turns out we are all, each one of us, a minority in theory and in practice to a greater or lesser extent depending on the changing circumstance of our daily lives. If we don’t know what it feels like to be a minority it is only because we live our lives in the safety of numbers!
(photo care of and © jade2001ad - thanks)

formation

I was walking past the cinema this morning and glancing at the film posters. There was not a particular poster that struck me but it caused me to reflect on my need to watch film. We do not have a TV in the house but watch DVD’s on the trusty Mac. It seems that every so often there is an irresistible urge to watch some action hero movie where the winner wins and the loser loses, preferably with some eye-candy.
I wondered then whether this urge has its root in my desensitisation to the normal? Have years of TV in the formative years and the constant drip-drip of Hollywood type movies since then actually put the normal into the boring bracket? Previously in the car on the way to Oxford where the said cinema is, we had being verbally anticipating the seasonally early hot-cross buns that would be waiting for us at Regent’s MCR; the simple pleasures in life was the finishing comment.
Buns aside, the simplicity of just being in the same space as my wife is a long way from the tension and excitement that Mr & Mrs Smith share. My life is full for ordinary and simple moments with people I love; sharing a glass of wine with Kate; rolling around on the floor with my kids. Ordinary encounters with friends and even strangers. Recognising and even craving the joy of the simple moments in life is something that I need to fight to keep and in some cases regain!
It is something that I see in my kids and which I often overlook. The simple pleasures of an empty box! Anna, my 6 year old, wrote an amazing letter to Father Christmas (at the encouragement of the school I hasten to add, just in case you think I would promote such activity!?!?!) In 5 sentences or so she outlined her requests surrounded by the expected pleases and thank yous. But the sum total of this list would have cost us no more than £5. A week or so later she added: ‘and if it would be possible, please could I stay up late on Fridays.’ Perhaps the simplicity of this letter is down to not having a TV and so she is not aware of what is out there and what could have gone on the list. But perhaps it is because she has not yet been desensitised to the joy of the ordinary and simple. I envy her!
But maybe I am way off! Surely film is just story telling and if we need to label film like this then we would need to do the same for books and audio. Being able to enter a story, travelling along with the characters and feeling their emotions has been part of human culture and history since the beginning. Indeed is that not part of reason we read scripture, celebrate Eucharist and enter Holy Week with 40 days preparation. Yes! So where has the desensitisation of the normal come from?
The classics in this area are of course the debate over screen violence and how Hollywood romance affects expectations in real life romance. I wonder whether it goes deeper… any comments.

formation

Now commenting on the Lenten Blog around Miroslav’s book. You might like to check this out.

family, formation

‘…love passionately desires the presence of the beloved‘ Free of Charge, 12

encounters

Just started reading this as part of my lent reading this year. It has been a while since I have read any of Miroslav’s work and as soon as I started it stuck me how much I have missed doing so.
I can only encourage you to get a copy details here. You might also be interested in looking at the Lenten Blog by Jason Clark which is based around this book and even has the author commenting to the posts!

reading

As a MTh group we were encouraged to watch the video Romero, which is the story of the conscientisation of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador.
Basically – we can’t appreciate how easy we have it!

MTh Applied Theology, ministry

Went to my placement, New College Chapel (NCC), for the Ash Wednesday Eucharist and Imposition of Ashes.

NCC has a coral foundation, which means it has a choir, one of the best in the country it appears (see). So the service is imbued with beautiful singing, which given the right posture can do something to lift you, or transport you, or just open the veil a little for a glimpse at God.

So what is it about music, and in this case a male (small and older boys) choir, that enables this momentary thinning of the veil? Why in fact, in whatever, tradition or culture, is music so linked with access to the transcendent?

My other experiences have largely been in the evangelical wing of the church, part of which was standing in a cow shed, or more latterly in a large tent, with thousands of others singing songs, which on the face of it have very little meaningful content, but nevertheless have the same thinning effect! To the extent that we were falling over ourselves to experience this thinning, or more precisely who is on the other side (as it were)

Oh, I also had a black cross on my head, which at first looked like I and the others belonged to some cult that you might encounter in a work of fiction; a cult that was either guilty of some conspiracy or there for laugh material only.

I did however, amuse myself thinking about a contextualised version of this very ancient practice that involved permanent black flipchart markers?!?!

church, formation, ministry