Virtual Methodist

Prompted into lurching back to the blogosphere for a series of short thoughts by a number of things... Recently reading Brueggemann's "Out of Babylon" with my church Book Group which looks at living with the reality of empire... reading a number of pieces on Martin Luther King Jr. last weekend... currently reading Tom Hartley's book on Belfast's City Cemetery "Written in Stone" which points up how intertwined the history of industrial Belfast was with British Imperial history... thinking about the J.G. Ballard book/film "Empire of the Sun" about a boy living under the Japanese occupation of China... talking with my lounger son about "Lord of the Flies..." the letter of the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to British imams asking them to explain how Muslim values fit within British values... preaching last weekend on the politically provocative proclamation of the nearness of the Kingdom of God by Jesus at the beginning of Mark's...

Just over three years ago a story came out suggesting that artistic portrayals of the Last Supper have been "super-sized."   There were a number of thoughts that occurred to me on reading it: the first was to check the date just incase it wasn't an April Fool prank... the second was one of despair regarding the usefulness of such research and the money expended on it... but the third related to the statement that: "Craig Wansink, who is a professor of religious studies, says the changes in portion sizes is probably a reflection of culture rather than theology." To how many things could that be said? And tonight, as people share, not in an artistic representation of the Last Supper, but a liturgical re-enactment of it, how much of what is said and done has been influenced more by culture than theology? Is the liturgy shared by the congregation, or predominantly led from the front? How much of that is out of a desire for extempore, Spirit-led worship (ev...

A short responsive call to worship, that we will be using this morning in Dundonald Methodist Church. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day when Christ rose from the dead. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the time of God’s favour, this is the day of salvation. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Shalom