I was off preaching this weekend - we came back from Spring Harvest and had a few days catching up here - Sam was in a Cello competition (his septet won!!!), it was Emily's 13th birthday (hurrah! a teenager!!!) and then we spent a couple of days down in Cornwall. I flew the kite the kids gave me for Father's Day and it broke in the wind - after me and Sam and Emily and Edward all had hilarious fun with it - it almost pulled us all off our feet - poor Edward almost lost his arms! We had a nice time down there.
Came home on Saturday and off to Mansfield to preach on Sunday. I don't do enough preaching - I have to say that I really enjoy preaching and it was great to 'open the text' and encourage people to see what the Bible can do. I wish I had more opportunity to preach round the place...I always enjoy it - although I get so nervous beforehand!
Preached on Daniel 5 - Belshazzar's feast - after SH it has remained on my mind - the whole concept of assimilation and resistance. What does it mean to sell out so much of your identity but to maintain just enough to be seen to be different - as one upon whom the spirit of the gods rests? What does that mean? What does it mean to be that person in our society today? What would that kind of church experience be like? Emergent? Traditional? Non-existent.
JP II went out well. I saw his coffin and had to say that I was mightily impressed. Ratzinger's address was good and there was so much dignity. I did have to wonder whether post-Christendom was a reality - what with what was going on in Rome, with Charles and Camilla repenting on the BBC and the Daily Mirror and everything else. Is our society so far gone??? I think not.
Back to the book - pulling together the last strands and doing some amendments and so on. Lots to do yet and everything has to be done by 1 May. Got to get the permissions done without delay.
Gotta go home and spend an evening with the kids and then the book...
God bless to you all...be a Daniel!
Wrote this for the College mag...comments? Download daring_to_be_a_daniel.doc
Pete
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