I don't know

I am surrounded by contradictions, I do not know which way to turn. My simple answers betray shallow questions. How do I reconcile these tensions? It is not enough to apply a songwriters lyric To the desperate need for reality. I simply do not know.

Love asks the questions

Intoxicating, Life altering, Deep, dark, Light, alive, Challenging, Questioning, Affirming, Refuting, Sought out to the exclusion Of all things, To live to die, To breathe, To dance, Sing, Love. Love asks the questions That life so often avoids.

Love is not an emotion is is a sacrifice of self for the benefit of another

We must connect with the world around us, not with arrogant, shallow bible quoting, but with the desire to connect, to understand, to empathise and to reconcile. This was Jesus mission, this, by and large, is not the expression of Churchianity/Christianity today.

I wish, I wish, I wish

I believe we must take the courageous step and start teaching each other to become personally responsible for our own spirituality and the way it is outworked in our lives. Church, pastors, preaching, praise and worship,(especially), and Christian culture must withdraw from framing how we see Jesus and how the world sees him through us as individuals not as corporations. I wish we could silence our works, our words and our songs within these unnecessary four walls, I wish we could stop treating our faith like a sporting match between the winners and the losers, I wish we could expose extra-biblical nonsense . I wish we could look deep into our own lives, I wish we could look deep into the lives of others, I wish, I wish, I wish we could discover the love that reveals our brokeness and then helps us to heal ever so slowly. Perhaps then we could become "useful" to our brothers and sisters who are just as blind as we are, who are also longing for an awakening of hope, love and light

"Ianity"

I am deeply troubled by the state of Christianity.
My experiences as a blogger and as one who posts regularly on my Facebook page has led me to believe that the love of God, his grace, mercy and forgiveness is rarely outworked through words and deeds. Instead the tone of the comments I receive are often racist, graceless, judgemental and extreme. I grieve at the lack of awareness of the plight of the marginalised, I grieve for a community that religiously and piously celebrates church attendance, worshipping, giving and maintaining a Christian "culture" whilst condemning anyone who disagrees, or who belong to a different faith, or who happens to be our much maligned P.M, or, God forbid, those struggle with addictions, race, or, for some irrational reason celebrate a different sexual preference. I see a generation of Christians who see grace as something to be received to top up self righteousness without ever extending it to anyone else. The abuse of scriptural texts taken out of context whilst ignoring the ones that deal with love, compassion and humility shows a tragic misunderstanding of the life and message of Jesus and reveals a Christianity without it's Christ.
Has modern song happy, prosperity driven, self motivated, shallow and self centred Christianity in essence become "Ianity". After 34 years of church life I really do not like what I see and hear.