Miranda Threlfall-Holmes has been Rethinking Advent to Candlemas.
Thom Shultz writes about The Church’s Frightful Kodak Moment.
The Diocese of Bath and Wells has issued a set of Social media guidelines. Scott Gunn suggests some additions:
New commandments: Thou shalt Tweet…
Vicky Beeching writes in the Church Times that Children must learn to live in the online world.
Malcolm Round writes Love Your Church Minister.
Gillan Scott of the God & Politics in the UK blog writes that The Church of England still needs to wake up and smell the coffee over church growth.
Thom Schultz helpfully provides the Church the example of Kodak (now bankrupt & liquidating, following the digital camera revolution—which it invented), and asks “It’s time to re-examine everything we’re doing and re-evaluate. Ask big questions.” Great! Yup, overdue. But then *shrinks* down to “Is the old Sunday morning formula of half singalong and half lecture what works anymore? Is that performance on Sunday morning really how we want to define the sum total of the church anyway?” Following the exortation “Don’t just tweak. Revolutionize.”? No, we’ve got to go DEEPER than that. Increasingly, people want nothing to do with “God”… Read more »
Christmas has overwhelmed Advent which isn’t in the least penitential these days. However, no need to panic this is the Church with its Advent Carols Services, Christingles etc, inculturating (as it should) and recognising that the modern Christmas is celebrated in the anticipation rather than the event itself.
So riding to the rescue comes the Kingdom Season which is very reflective and quite penitential.
That’s it sorted … Advent is the new Christmas and the Kingdom Season the new Advent and as for after Christmas and up to Candlemas … well as Miranda indicates, we’re still working on that one.
Personally I think the Bishop of Stepney made some of the best points in this continuing discourse on growth: that churches don’t only grow in numbers (and may not) but hopefully grow in community, and grow deep. One feature of some popular middle-class churches is that they operate something like a club. People feel comfortable in them. They can meet their friends there. But to an extent, that can be sort of self-serving if one is not careful. The business metaphors, and the managerial business leader images, leave me stone cold. To my mind, community is not a business. Real… Read more »
“One feature of some popular middle-class churches is that they operate something like a club” My daughters’ friends are the epitome of the middle classes. Professional parents, high academic aspiration and achievement, orchestras, DofE, likely to end up at Russell Group universities doing “traditional” subjects. Many of them were raised within churches, largely Methodist and Anglican. They see their own churches, whether they still attend or not, as basically decent. But they then reel off a long list of the city’s fringe churches, most of which have at least one representative in their school, and list their offences of misogyny,… Read more »
“…the Quakers and the Unitarians (both of which, the latter in particular, are sometimes regarded as “not real Christians” by other Christians)” Interested Observer Quite. I didn’t know of this particular ‘No True Scotsman’ trope until I took part in the Pilling Review. I mentioned the Unitarians to one of the bishops and he bit my head off with “They aren’t Christians!” This was the same bishop who, having having listened politely to the intimate details of my life story, said “Thank you for that, but I haven’t changed my mind.” Also, at this same Pilling meeting, two gay members… Read more »
What Interested Observer says here makes a lot of sense.
I assume (hope?) Concerned Anglican is being ironic. In that case I would agree with him/her. In fact I don’t think the calendar should be revised to fit in with commercial-popular zip-bam-boom Christmas celebrations beginning in October. I think the C-of-E (I imagine that even in the UK the Methodists, Catholics and Reformed churches are a bit more ‘puritanical’ in this respect than the C-of-E or not???) should be less worldly and help us to understand and appreciate why we have a liturgical year. Away with Christmas carol services, decorated Christmas trees, Father Christmas, and Nativity Plays during Advent. Alas… Read more »