This week the College will be welcoming Revd Dr Craig Gardiner to preach on the theme of 'Anger' at our Wednesday service. In preparation, Craig has asked the College community to think about three questions:
1. What makes you angry?
2. What does society think makes the church angry?
3. What do we think makes God angry?
We will be talking about these with Craig on Weds - but if anyone wants to have a preliminary discussion here, feel free...
FWIW, here's my initial thoughts:
1. I get angry at so many things, I'm afraid. I'm angry that there are people living in starvation and poverty while I struggle to keep my weight down, and I'm angry that I don't do enough about either of these! I'm angry that the church so often seems to think the gospel is about good news for the saved, not good news for the whole world. I'm angry that we obsess about personal morality while failing to condemn systemic and corporate immorality. I could go on and on ranting, but I'll stop before I turn into Mr. Angry.
2. This is a harder one for me - as I'm such an 'insider' that it can be difficult for me to see the church as those beyond the boundary we put around ourselves see us. But I fear we are often perceived as a collectively angry group who rage against 'sin', while hypocritically implying our own sinlessness. I hope that the fair trade, trade justice, and environmental movements have led to society grasping our anger at injustice and the abuse of creation.
3. What makes God angry? I'll go out on a limb here and put in just one word: Idolatry. Make of that what you will...
News, thoughts and ramblings of interest to Baptists in South Wales
Posts
2 comments:
From the sublime to the ridiculous... I get angry when my children drop crumbs on the floor just after I've hoovered... And I get angry when the rich West looks on with pity but little help for Africa because (for some inexplicable reason) black children are of less value than white ones. I'm not sure what society thinks the church gets angry about... except perhaps homosexuals?? But I am fairly sure, if Jesus is my lens on God, that he gets angry when we draw lines (either with what we say or by what we do) to say who's in and who's not!
PS Anyone want to tell me what zeal is?!!
A 'zeal' is what, in the westcountry, stops air getting in or out. One which has failed is called a 'holey zeal'.
Post a Comment