just the rev

have been recovering from my op nicely and am now responding to my mate who told me last night that I was to get blogging again cos being sick was a rubbish excuse for being so idle....cheers Mark!

Fountain was good last night and more on that a bit later.

The Times has recently done some articles on what they have labelled the 'igeneration' (18-30's). Darian Leader wrote " the "i" here is not for individualism or independence or even ignorant but for iPod.....the iPod can store thousands of songs dwnloaded from a computer. It can satisfy all our musical needs effortlessly. It shuts us off from our environment and short circuits the social networks involved in buying music. It provides a private asocial form of enjoyment. And this is exactly what the Populus poll suggests: a generation of young people who feel let down by the procedures and processes of traditional social institutions, yet still want to download what these institutions were suposed to deliver."

Well interesting stuff, don't you think? Yes of course I am still lusting after an Ipod who in their right mind wouldn't?! Am not sure of my of motivations behind this desperate desire and not sure whether it might be related to feeling often let down by the processes and procedures of Church as we know it....but hey it is food for thought.

Did anyone else see the ad in Renewal Mag for a "deeper life conference" led by 'some believers in Bournemouth'?!! I wish them well but never a more surreal ad have I come across.... Not really convinced that the Church needs more conferences if it is to live up to its calling. But a new depth that takes us deeper into honesty and humility would be most welcome.

the pic is a rather unkind rubber stretchy version of the beautiful jennifer anniston. it got me thinking a bit about the extent of change in church. do we get terribly excited over trivial change and make it out to be something more substancial than it is?In his excellent book a new kind of christian McLaren talks about incrementally changing or innovatively changing. he writes about incremental change being the great enemy of innovation. "innovation means introducing a bold new system...it's a bit like being a travel agent or stockbroker in the age of the Internet: Do you keep improving your services, or do you jump to a new way of doing business entirely? Maybe you do both....." He talks about adding not substracting. But says you "would add new worship and spiritual growth experiences for new people - completely new ways of doing things". HURRAH! (i think!) The new stuff should be for new people but very often in my (recent) experiences it is the hard core of church goers who dictate what can and cannot happen in the new stuff. this is frustrating, disturbing and fundamentally wrong. And on that unhappy note I shall leave you. I won't be back for a while cos I am to have my operation soon and will be off for a few weeks. will get back asap!

hope you are up for a soaking.....

the fountain makes a welcome return Sunday 26th Sept. 8pm in the Bar at the Fountain Inn.