open attitude

the parable of the wall

/ nukelearfishing67 / Leave a comment

Outside the church is a wall. It separates the church from the street. It’s a low wall, just the right height for sitting on. It’s a convenient wall. Passers-by will sit on the wall in order to make a phone call, to eat an ice cream (in the summer) and to wait for someone. And the nearby traders use it as somewhere to sit when they take a cigarette break.

The Minister of the church doesn’t approve of smoking. It’s unhealthy. The smoke is unpleasant for those around. It’s not the right image the church wants to project to the community. And even though there is a rubbish bin nearby, the traders tend to flick their cigarette butts into the flowerbeds behind the wall, which irritates the Minister.

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One day the Minister was passing by the wall and saw one of the traders sitting on the wall, smoking, as usual. The trader finished her cigarette, stubbed it out on the wall and flicked the butt into the flowerbed…

Scenario 1

The Minister was incensed: didn’t they have any respect?

“Excuse me,” said the Minister as the trader made her way back to her shop, “Is our wall comfortable?”

The trader sensed possible sarcasm and wasn’t sure what to say. The Minister took her silence as an admission of guilt.

“I noticed that you were sitting on our church wall while you smoked your cigarette and then flicked the cigarette butt into our flowerbed,” the Minister continued. “We don’t approve of smoking – it’s unhealthy and the smoke is off-putting so in future please don’t sit on our wall, smoking, and please don’t flick your cigarette butts into our garden.”

The trader mumbled an apology and went back to her shop. The Minister went into the church feeling pleased at having made a point, and ordered a ‘no smoking’ sign to be attached to the wall. It wasn’t long before no traders sat on the wall, no cigarette butts were flicked into the flowerbeds and the Minister felt vindicated.

Scenario 2

The Minister was incensed: didn’t they have any respect?

“Excuse me,” said the Minister as the trader made her way back to her shop, “Is our wall comfortable?”

The trader sensed possible sarcasm and wasn’t sure what to say. The Minister continued: “It’s just that I have noticed that you sit on our wall a lot and I was hoping it was comfortable.”

The trader grinned. “It’s a wall innit?” she said. “I aint expectin’ cushions!”

It wasn’t long before the Minister started joining the traders on the wall for a chat from time to time. The Minister still didn’t like the smoke, and cigarette butts were still flicked into the flowerbeds but the traders felt welcome.

Questions to inspire you:

This parable is based on real events – one of the scenarios happened.

What are the ‘walls’ and ‘cigarettes’ for you and your church?

How could you respond in missional ways?

What might we need to lay aside in order to take the opportunities that God might be giving us?

What small changes in attitude could make a big difference to the people you meet?

Be blessed, be a blessing

The last leg

/ nukelearfishing67 / Leave a comment

On Wednesday we have the final session at our church of ‘Expedition Through the Bible’. We  are on the last leg, having looked at:

The Big Picture – the grand narrative of the Bible

What are we reading – understanding the different types of literature in the Bible

Interpreting what we read – tools for helping us to interpret the Bible and apply it today

How did we get the Bible? – looking at how the manuscripts were written and collated

Can we trust the Bible? – what are infallibility and inerrancy and what do we do when there are differences between manuscripts?

Open Bibles are generally easier to read than closed ones.

Open Bibles are generally easier to read than closed ones.

And on Wednesday we will be looking at what will help us when we read the Bible. I am hoping to share a number of different resources, ideas, ways of reading and so on that will help people to read the Bible – whether they are new to it or have been reading it for 50+ years. So, if you have anything that really helps you, please feel free to share it either by replying directly to this bloggage or via some of the social media through which it is circulated. It would be brilliant to hear what you find helpful.

To get you started, let me offer you one idea:

Find your Bible, pick it up.

Find somewhere to sit.

Sit down.

Open your Bible.

Start reading*.

Sorry to have been a bit facetious, but I know from my own experience of following Jesus that sometimes reading the Bible gets squeezed out a bit by busyness and business. There are times when I need just to stop, give God the time, and sit down with an open Bible and an open attitude. Reading in that way gives him the time and space to communicate with me through the words of this amazing book – inspired by him when it was written, inspiring to us when we read it (because the One who inspired it to be written is with us when we read it).

*If you are not sure where to start reading I would advise you start with a gospel – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Read them as an entire book, ignoring the chapter and verse divisions and also ignoring those pesky headings that have been inserted (and which are not in the original manuscripts). Reading them in one go will change your perspective on Jesus.

That’s a money-back guarantee**.

Be blessed, be a blessing.

**The amount of money returned under the money-back guarantee scheme is limited to the amount it cost me to write this bloggage.