Posted by Dyfed on Saturday, February 27, 2010,
In :
Healing nations
Rhiannon Lloyd stops wars in Africa. It's as simple as that. Hear her talk about her work, her beliefs, and her hopes for nations being healed in this first part of three interviews. It's five minutes long - but worth it.
There will be plenty of people who will not find the Ekklesia website at all appealing. They do have this tendency to be liberal. For myself, though, I love their stuff and find it refreshing. Check this blog out on Celtic Christianity.
Posted by Dyfed on Friday, February 26, 2010,
In :
Emerging Kingdom
Blogging through Mark’s
gospel took me 60 posts over some 18 months. When I have time (or rather, when
I make time) I will gather all those posts together and see whether they
make any sense as a whole, for I wrote them post by individual post – in micro
rather than macro. But the theme I was trying to draw out of each passage was
that of the emerging Kingdom of God in and through the life
of Jesus.
This is a blog I found today (again, thanks to Twitter). On it a vid is posted by a group offering to care for your pets when you've been raptured. The blog says its a real site. I'm not sure. Any thoughts?
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, February 25, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
I see the bishops have
been stirring it up again, this time on the issue of allowing civil
partnerships to be conducted on religious premises. They’re pushing for a
change in the Equality Bill currently before the House of Lords – the one they
recently successfully changed on the issue of bringing equal opportunity rights
into employment issues in churches. They didn’t like that change as it would
have forced...
Cynical Dragon is a popular blog in Wales (and probably beyond!). In today's post he shares a quotation about atheists living happy and fulfilled lives. It's probably true. Sadly, it's also true that plenty of believers live miserable lives full of dread and fear. Any thoughts on this?
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, February 24, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
Under
Christendom the church became the dominant force in society. Indeed by the 12th
century the church was able to exercise power over countries and their rulers
in Western Europe. ‘No secular ruler could rival papal wealth or
authority,’ says Stuart Murray in Post-Christendom as he paints a picture of a
totalitarian church in the late medieval period (page 110). Dissent was not
welcomed at all by this time...
Just found this blog via Twitter. If this post is anything to go by then this blog will be one worth dipping into. Never seen Jonathon as a rep for non-violence before!
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, February 23, 2010,
In :
Politics
Bullying
and politics seem to go together. Gordon Brown should not feel isolated in his
current situation of being fingered as a work-place bully – he is in good
company in the Palace of Westminster. The stories about his
rage towards colleagues have been around for a long time and those of us who
enjoy the political blogoshpere have not been surprised by the latest
revelations. Stories about his loyal lieutena...
Posted by Dyfed on Monday, February 22, 2010,
In :
Emerging Kingdom
Most
translations while including Mark 16:9-20 actually say that the passage did not
form part of the original text. And when you read these verses it does have
that feel to it. Nevertheless there is little in the passage that we should
discount as being a part of the original story. It does tie in with the
post-resurrection accounts.
However,
the challenge that is presented in this passage is immense and its ce...
Posted by Dyfed Roberts on Saturday, February 20, 2010,
In :
Linking other blogs
The Clarion has a great piece about the criticism thrown at Tiger Woods this week following his public apology. It seems to me that Jesus would be with the Clarion on this one, as he too said that those who want to judge should better be sure they have nothing in their own lives that could give rise to judgement.
Posted by Dyfed on Friday, February 19, 2010,
In :
Politics
It’s been a bizarre week in international politics. First, the story that is still gradually being revealed about the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai: now widely thought to have been perpetrated by the Israeli secret service, Mossad. As if that isn’t outrageous enough there is an extra twist in the tail for us in the UK as we hear that those responsible were travelling with British passports. A story worthy of a Bond movie, surely.
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, February 18, 2010,
In :
Emerging Kingdom
The tenderness shown by both Joseph of Arimathea and the three women – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome – was surely a beautiful thing (Mark 15:42-16:8). The contrast between their actions towards Jesus and the actions of all who had contact with him over the previous three days is great. Thoughtful and gentle, they came to his body to ensure a good burial. They bought linen and spices to care for the body. Their motives were the highest possible.
Archbishop Cranmer is a blog I enjoy reading and today His Grace commends some posts on an issue of democracy in England. Of course, I would be more than happy to see a proper English parliament up and running for it would ensure that Wales and Scotland would see their respective assemblies strengthened. Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, February 17, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
Two recent announcements made by the Conservative Party reflect how far they too have moved away from traditional and conservative Christian values. Of course, both Labour and the Lib Dems have distanced themselves from social conservatism a long time ago, but the Tories were pretty much signed up members of the ‘keep the UK a Christian country’ until very recently and could be counted on to defend Christian values on issues such as marriage. But as society has changed so have the polit...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, February 16, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
So how was
the church shaped by being at the heart of Empire? What effects did imperial
patronage have upon its mission? In his fourth chapter of Post-Christendom,
Stuart Murray examines some of these issues. He begins by outlining how
significant to this was one particular theologian and thinker. For if the
church was to accept what the Empire wanted then someone had to come up with
the theology that made it all...
Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday - or as we would say in our house when I was young, Dydd Mawrth Crempog - Pancake Tuesday. But I have a dilema: my wife is off down south for a couple of days and my mother is still in hospital - both of whom make mean pancakes. So what to do? Any tips on pancake making anyone?
And if you fancy knowing a little more about the shrove in Shrove Tuesday, check this blog.
Posted by Dyfed on Monday, February 15, 2010,
In :
Emerging Kingdom
Before we leave the cross we should take time to consider Jesus’ attitude and demeanour during that awful event, for it is the crucifixion of Jesus that is one of the key things that brings in Kingdom power. Much has been written since that time about the cross. The current debate surrounding the issue of penal substitution – whether Jesus was punished on our behalf – is raging within evangelical circles and is an example of how theology has grappled with Jesus’ death. Whole forests...
In his blog today Adrian Warnock asks how the native Americans should be reached with the gospel. There doesn't seem to be a comment box on the post but if there was I would have wanted to make this point: the first starting point for any white person from any European background to reaching any indigenous people group with the good news is to apologise for the damage done by past imperial conquest. Then there would have to be strenuous efforts to show that the missionaries come to serve rath... Continue reading ...
Is there any connection between the violent suppression of protests in Iran on Wednesday and the news revealed on the same day that the Labour government had allegedly tried to silence those local authority leaders from within its own party on the issue of long term care of the elderly in England? You might argue that there is very little that can be compared between these two incidents and you may well be correct.
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, February 11, 2010,
In :
Island ministry
Today I attended the first training day in preparation for my new role as a justice of the peace. Magistrates’ courts in the UK deal with around 94% of the criminal cases and people from all walks of life are selected to be JPs. Following two gruelling interviews and then a swearing-in ceremony before a circuit judge I am to join another seven new entrants for the training programme in Caernarfon. I will have my first sitting as a JP in May but due to the nature of the work it will not be...
Phil and Mags Tyler are friends of ours who live on the Wirral. Their blog makes an interesting read, especially these days since Phil is blogging his tour of the US with Godfrey Birtill.
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, February 10, 2010,
In :
Random
I
see the Church of England is getting into a bit of a stew over gender issues
again – the gender of its leaders that is, and whether women should be
consecrated as bishops. Years have now passed since women were accepted into
the ordained priesthood in the C of E – something I disagreed with then, since
I don’t think men should be ordained into the priesthood either. We’re all
priests in God’s eyes –...
Posted by Dyfed Roberts on Tuesday, February 9, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
On 3 March 321 AD the Roman Emperor, Constantine, passed two particular laws which show how mixed his faith really was. The first called on all judges, inhabitants of cities and craftsmen to rest on a Sunday, though farmers were allowed to work as necessary. The second law called for an inquiry to be made of soothsayers if a building was struck by lightening as to what the omen meant. If the first law ‘proves’ that Constantine was indeed a Christian, then the second surely causes us to do...
My dear friends Steve and Joanne Porter, and their two children Rachel and Ben, live on the island of Bardsey - Ynys Enlli in Welsh. During the winter months they can be the only family there! Here is their blog.
Posted by Dyfed Roberts on Monday, February 8, 2010,
In :
Emerging Kingdom
The death of Jesus brings about a great change in the atmosphere around him as he hangs on the cross (Mark 15:16-47). Beforehand he is mocked, beaten, and tortured. There is extreme pain – both physical and emotional – as the nails are hammered into his flesh. Religious leaders display an astounding level of callousness as he hangs dying. They are venomous as they hurl their insults towards him.
But afterwards, when the veil was torn at his last breath we can notice a significant ...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, February 3, 2010,
In :
Random
There aren’t many Welsh speaking people in the world. There must be even fewer Welsh speakers who are blind. And we probably could count the number of blind Welsh speakers who are also Christians on the fingers of the hands of a typical Sunday afternoon Baptist chapel congregation in Llanfflewin. But however small that number they should still be able to read the Bible in their first language. This is why Cytun, the ecumenical body in Wales, has launched an appeal for the translation of the...
Posted by Dyfed Roberts on Tuesday, February 2, 2010,
In :
Linking other blogs
Kathy Garda is one of whacky Christians who loves walking the land. Her connections to Anglesey are an important part of her so we love hearing what she has to say. Read her blog here.
Posted by Dyfed Roberts on Tuesday, February 2, 2010,
In :
Politics
The controversial Montgomeryshire MP, Lembit Opik, has announced that he has become a Christian. Read the story here. While many eyebrows will be raised by, the fact the Lembit himself says that he has stuff he has to sort out in his life is surely a positive step in itself.
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, February 2, 2010,
In :
Post-Christendom
The first step in trying to shape the future is to understand the past, and Stuart Murray’s volume Post-Christendom uses many chapters to detail the history of how the church became dominant in Western Europe.
He begins by taking us back to the fourth century AD when an emperor from the eastern half of the Roman Empire, Constantine, supposedly became a Christian in 312 as he was attempting to wrest control of the whole empire. He succeeded in his quest and was sole emperor until his...
Posted by Dyfed Wyn on Monday, February 1, 2010,
In :
Emerging Kingdom
Empire continues to respond to Jesus and his kingship following his sentencing by Pilate as the soldiers gather to give him a hard time. Mark (15:16-21) tells us that they called a whole battalion together, which could have been in the region of 500 men. Whether Mark intends for this to be taken literally as the whole cohort or just as a figurative term we cannot tell. What it does tell us is that a greater number gathered around Jesus to abuse him.
Posts on my Tumblr site willI now appear here. Tumblr's ability to post by text and email will help me blog even when away from my desk!
Some thoughts following my visit to Occupy London.
October 27th 2011
Ok so there’s plenty to disagree with but this is such a good song.
October 12th 2011
There are so many draining things we can focus on during the day: how we appear to others, how much others do or don’t respect us, how we can get people to do what we want. But once we become aware of the negative impact of these areas of focus, we can get clear on - even excited about - who we really want to be … We can shift our focus toward qualities like mercy, gentleness, courage, and the many others that bring true joy in our lives and in the lives of others.
