Quotes and thoughts........

(ht: http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/2006/nov/addis.php- an athiest site- I'm not proud!)

Quote of the day from Henri Nouwen...... OK I don't exactly live in the poorest part of the world, but one of the churches that I work with (sounds better than one of 'my' churches) is going through a good, creative review at the moment. I wonder how the discussion will go when we talk about the way forward- will one theme be 'I like things as they are. You can't change things for 'them'? Maybe we only exist when we exist for others....


“Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus we are called as members of the Church to keep going to the margins of our society. The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters - they require our first attention. We can trust that when we reach out with all our energy to the margins of our society we will discover that petty disagreements, fruitless debates, and paralysing rivalries will recede and gradually vanish. The Church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care. The blessing of Jesus always comes to us through the poor. The most remarkable experience of those who work with the poor is that, in the end, the poor give more than they receive. They give food to us…”

(HT: http://prodigal.typepad.com/)

A second quote for today, this time from LICC's weekly mailing (Nick Spencer) on Charles Darwin...

Moreover, he lost it (his faith) for a good reason – not so much his theory of evolution (although that played a part) but more because he witnessed his favourite child, Annie, aged ten, die a slow, painful and degrading death. Few people, no matter how strong their faith, could endure such a loss without severe doubts. In this, as in so much else, Darwin has much to teach us.

Darwin’s Christianity was more philosophical than theological, built on the seemingly secure foundation of universal human reason, rather than on the particularities of the Christian story, let alone the counter-intuitive scandal of the incarnation and crucifixion. Yet, as soon as Christianity moves away from the foot of the cross and loses sight of the crucified God, it became defenceless against accusations of suffering and injustice. No amount of philosophical justification or arguments for the immortality of soul is enough. The pain, the sense of injustice, the sense of loss becomes overwhelming. Christianity stands by the cross or it doesn’t stand at all.

In truth, Darwin’s own faith never stood anywhere near the foot of the cross. But which of us can say ours does?

2nd gig of the week this Sunday pm- Martyn Joseph......