SIMON PHIPPS

Discipleship: in the Church we so often mistake the accumulation of knowledge, perhaps of God or of the Bible, for the journey that each person takes on their walk with God. We presume that that this growth takes place at the cross, as if we emerge like butterflies from a cocoon, transformed. Or as if a car taken into a mechanic, it goes in broken and comes out the next day fixed. There may be a few wrinkles, but the big things: addiction, self-harm, violence, circumstances, lust, greed, hatred, major personal flaws disappear. At least on the surface that’s what we see. From the teachings of Jesus we can see that our faith walk is not in the form a quick fix solution. His examples are in the form of a farmer, a tree, a vine, a vineyard, a field, or a path. These illustrations are things that take time; it takes time to grow a plant, to sow a field or to walk a path. By presenting a mechanic like approach to church life we remove the elements of grace and patience...

For the longest amount of time within the Evangelical church it feels as though our lives have been like a shop window, and God is the product. As if we are the salesmen, and God is what we are selling. The promise of triumph over illness and victory over financial problems is the sales pitch. No sign of weakness can be seen in our product or people will not buy. But what happens when this is not our default position, when life is not going our way, when we are ill, when finances are hard? Are we less of a witness for God? A poet paints a beautiful picture with their words, but the picture itself is not different from the picture seen by others, it is just that the poet sees it in a different way. The poems are honest and authentic. The poets own experiences and emotions pour through the words and create something beautiful, even out of tragedy. As a community of hope we need to be honest and authentic. To allow our experience with God and each other to tel...