Just a few interesting bits of God-talk--what the British monarchy has to do with Jesus, how humankind will meet its final fate, and the emerging movment worries some Southern Baptists--to read with your morning coffee.1. Archbiship Rowan gave an interesting speech at the birthday celebration of England’s Queen. He used the occasion to mark the landscape of the world we live in (one of “great lies”), ask “what it is that gives cohesion to a society,” and lift as one way the monarchy (“a critical democracy within the framework of symbol and tradition . . . solidarity in a network of relationships and practices quite hard to codify, but variously connected with the personal focus that is the monarch” . . . . who is “not an absolute ruler demanding mindless loyalty, but the one who guarantees space for the rest of society to argue and negotiate and change, as mature citizen-societies must, who 'defends our laws' as the National Anthem puts it”). He then points out that the monarchy helps us because it is a shadow of true Monarchy: The Queen, he says, is a “person visibly standing before God and God's judgement in humility and hope. Monarchy has been for us as citizens a sign of the humanity at the heart of power, a sign that we can be held together not by the furious rivalries of theory or ethnic exclusion but by acknowledging the common debt of our humanity to its maker and redeemer. The logic of this kind of monarchy is the logic of the Christian recognition of Christ as King - the monarch whose credentials are to be found in his human vulnerability and in his utter dependence upon God his Father.” Not much new here for the Brits, I’m thinking, but I find it an interesting way to pull Jesus in to the open spaces.
2. The Washington Post’s tongue-in-cheek The end is near, but, first, this commercial is a good read. Libby Copeland covered a Sci-Fi Channel sponsored event on Capitol Hill (yes, you read right) that screened (literally) the possible final fates awaiting the human race. Why is this on a God-talk list? I could draw elaborate connections between end times theology and such, but, heh, really I just liked the read.
3. The emerging movement is getting some press—and not necessarily the good kind—among the Southern Baptists. The BP reports that at its annual meeting one of the motions by a Birmingham, Ala youth pastor “raised concerns about the impact of the ‘emergent church movement,’” and who “cautioned that the movement is ‘becoming more and more influential in our day and in the practices of certain denominational entities. … Some Southern Baptist leaders are drifting dangerously close to identifying the SBC with this movement.’” Johnson proposed “the appointment of a committee to research the movement, its trends and its impact on the SBC. He also asked that an appointed committee define ‘any involvement SBC entities would have in [the movement].’ The proposal was referred to the Executive Committee.” On SperoNews, the motion was described as a motion to “research the trends of the Emerging Church movement and its possible effect upon the SBC.” The SperoNews piece also had an interesting bit about the role of bloggers in the election of the SBC’s new president. Times, they are a changing.
That’s all for now. Blessings.
(Image: by Mike D on flikr.com)
tags: emerging