Kingdom of God, Insurgency of God, Party of God, The Eco-system of God, The government of God, the dance of God...

Jesus is born into a context of Roman occupation and the responses of the various groups such as the Pharisees, Essenes, Herodians and Zealots. Jesus offers a new way that he calls 'The Kingdom of God'. Jesus invites everyone into this group and doesn't isolate like each of the other groups.

*Jesus is baptised by John who was an Essene and also interacts with John's disciples.

*Jesus meets and interacts with Zachaeus, a tax collector working for Roman government (Herodian). Jesus brings the kingdom of transformation to this mans life.

*In John Jesus speaks with Nicodemus, a leader of the Jewish group the Pharisees. Jesus teaches him about the Kingdom of God and the need to be born again. Nicodemus was eager to learn. When he didn't understand, he kept asking questions until he did reach some kind of understanding. He needed to question his own pre-existing beliefs and thoughts.

*In his group of follows Jesus has a Roman collaborator in Matthew and a zealot in Simon.



Jesus' life should give us an example for how to do church. How do we live out the Kindom of God? How do we interact with those who we disagree with and those we keep our distance from? (And those are just the Christians!)As we live in this way the Kindom of God begins to increase.

But what if we broaden our horizons? How do we interact with...

Relationship between the church and the world

In his book Generous Orthodoxy Brian McLaren discusses the historical development of the Methodist church movement. In unpacking the development, McLaren suggests that the Methodist church develops into an us and them approach with the religious on the high plateau and the non-religious on the low ground. There are many similarities with the times that we are now in with a divide between religious and non-religious. However I believe that the divide between those in the church and those outside is not static as is depicted in McLaren's model.




I have outlined 2 potential improvements to the model.

World in continuous progress

World in continuous decline

This is Good News

My hope for the church is that it would become the very heartbeat of the community. Just as in the past the River Clyde provided jobs, security and upheld Glasgow's economy, how refreshing it would be if the church could adopt the same role. Imagine a city where various churches opened shops, coffee houses and bookstores, providing jobs and boosting the economy. Imagine a Glasgow that couldn't survive without the involvement of the Church - where Christian love of the city meant investment of time and money. The possibilities are endless.

There will always be people who take the benefits of the river for granted and who fail to truly understand, but when everything those people put their hope and faith in fails, God's provision will remain. The question is whether or not they realise at that point.

Freedom

Been thinking a wee bit about marriage today and pondering if marriage mirrors in any way the freedom we have in Christ. (Interestingly, Catholics, Orthodox believers and Anglicans all believe that Marriage is a sacrament.) The sacraments and ceremonies of the Church should lead us to a place of freedom, rather than of shame and guilt.

If it marriage does fulfil this role, isn't it interesting that freedom comes not when we are alone, but when we are committed and connected with others. Consequently we become vulnerable and we are open to being hurt. Is there freedom in our pain and vulnerability?

Naturally you would think we are free when we have no commitments and no ties. But rather the opposite is true we are truly free when we are in community with others.

Mark Stibbe @ Glasgow Elim

Mark Stibbe has, since 1996, been the vicar at St Andrews Church Chorleywood, a large and growing charasmatic Anglican church just outside London. He is the best-selling author of One Touch from the King, Haeling Today, Prophetic Evangelism, and The Father You've Been Waiting For.

He regularly speaks about the Father heart of God, and the healing of the orphan heart. Mark is an excellent and effective communicator and will be speaking over the course of this weekend at Glasgow Elim Church.

Mark will be ministering at the following times:
Sat 13th Sep - 7.30pm
Sun 14th Sep - 11am
Sun 14th Sep - 6.30pm

All sessions are free - Please feel free to join us this weekend @
Glasgow Elim,
45 Inglefield Street,
Govasnhill,
Glasgow G42 7AT.