He tells of watching a beech tree being felled, but to his eyes, the tree looked healthy and fine.  If you looked closely you might have noticed a few signs of ill health a the top of tree.  But the experts assured him that the tree had to come down, as there was a fungus killing off the root system, so a year or so, the roots wouldn’t hold in a high wind.

When the tree was cut down, for the first 10 or 15 feet of the trunk the outer two or three inches of the trunk were sold, strong wood.  But the inside was rotten, and was spreading higher up the tree and down into the roots.

"What looked to the casual passer-by as a fine, solid old beech would have become a serious accident waiting to happen"

NT Wright says this is essentially what Paul is saying about the whole human race and the world is rotten to the core, and although at first glance looks OK, it could come crashing down at any time.  This is why the unveiling of God’s justice and salvation (restoration) is so desperately needed.

But no, apparently NT Wright himself is admitting that he won’t be going to heaven. Is he admitting that he is woolly liberal after all? Perhaps admitting that he doesn’t take the atonement seriously? Or perhaps that Bishops themselves are somehow barred?

No, even more shockingly than that, the Bish says that no Christians will go to heaven and perhaps surprisingly to some of our evangelical brethren that the Bible doesn’t ever promise that we will!!! In fact he says the Bible says that Jesus is coming here to earth, to “join together the heavens and the earth, in an act of new creation”.

Perhaps we have the beginning here of a worldly spirituality?

See the article on N.T. Wright’s new book, Hope, where he expresses these views.

Tags: NT Wright, Surprised by Hope, Heaven, Christians

I wrote 4 pages of notes, typing furiously, trying to keep up with the rich sentences that keeping flowing … it was a hopeless task so profound was so much of what he was saying … but judge for yourselves by reading the notes in the “read more” section.

Wright was speaking about bringing together the spiritual and social justice, looking at salvation, our task in light of that salvation, and the way God works in hew world. He was outlining the vision of the restoration of the whole creation that is clear in Ephesians.

Key quotes: “When we have a view of salvation of leaving earth and go to heaven … we are not reading the same Bible.”

“The western church is guilty of a false polarisation of the spiritual and the worldly… we need to put them back together again.”

“We must discover the vocation of being genuine human beings.”

“We have to learn to collaborate without compromise … but also we must critique without dualisms“

He was outlining a road map for what we are doing in bringing together the practical and spiritual – we need to understand why we are doing it. There was a great emphasis on the cross and resurrection (which has been lacking from what I have been saying, although of course I do see the cross and the whole incarnation as crucial to the inauguration of the Kingdom). But consistently Wright drew our attention to salvation not being an individual thing, not primarily FOR me, but to FLOW through us to the world, to bring restoration, rescue, healing, hope etc.

The notes are long … but they are worth reading … I hope they make sense!

Tags: Emerging Church, Incarnate, Incarnate Conference 2007, Kingdom, Kingdom of God, Mission, Missional Church, NT Wright

Session 2 – N T Wright

Ps 127 – unless the Lord builds the house, the labourers labour in vain; unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain…

Many things that need to be done in our society … but need make sure we don’t do it without God.

Sense of the Psalm:
When the Lord is building, you will be able to build
When the Lord is guarding, you will be able to guard.

Ecumenical thing is very important. God is doing new things, but we need to do them together.
Sense of convergence of the “spiritual” and “practical” – saving souls and social justice.

We need a framework of how it fits together … a road map of how we get into that stuff. Spirituality and social justice should be together.

Incarnate – Jesus didn’t stay at a distance. We have taught the wrong stuff about the Kingdom of God.

Something deeper amiss when the poor get poorer and the rich gets richer. Something is radically amiss with the system.

1. Salvation

Often when we read the early chapters of Romans we get a very individual take on salvation. But in Romans 8 – we get God’s restoration of the whole cosmos. That is where we should get to when we consider salvation.

If you read Ephesians, you get there much quicker …

Eph 1:10 – God’s design was to gather all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.

When we have a view of salvation of leaving earth and go to heaven … we are not reading the same Bible. The message of salvation is that it has already happened in Jesus Christ – to rescue this world from the mess we are in, and infuse with God’s presence. Gnosticism – rescue to heaven. We are just passing through.

The great enemy is death, as it the destruction of the good creation … creation was very good. Soul to heaven is a still description of death … that is not the destruction of death.

We are not made for life after death. Heaven is important, but it is not the end of the world. But the good news is that there is life after life after death. The defeat of death and the rescue of people, as God renews the earth. It is not the abandoning of this world, but the rescue. The launch has happened in Jesus.

The Kingdom is not a place where God rules, but the fact that God rules. What would be like if God is running the show? Jesus tells us … the blind see, the lepers get healed…

How do we integrate Jesus’ interaction with the poor and the end of the story? Jesus goes off and dies! So some just have the passion narrative, with a rather long introduction …
We must put the gospel story back together again …

Whatever force it is that causes war, slavery, human trafficking – they are very powerful. They will not be waved away by a bunch of people who go around doing some good …
Jesus has to go the place where the darkness is the worst … he has to go the cross…

Coming of God’s Kingdom is through the defeating the powers of darkness … what we have traditionally called sin (which is far more the little individual things we do) but that the world would healing from the grip of evil. What Jesus launched, he took to the cross … and was re-launched on Easter Day…

The whole point about Easter is that it is bodily … a new creation is launched…

The western church is guilty of a false polarisation of the spiritual and the worldly… we need to put them back together again.

Disciples thought the Kingdom was all about Israel. We have done the same about being human. We think that salvation is for me.

Salvation is not primarily FOR us, but through us. We get it, as it flows through us…
cf. Jn 8 – rivers of living waters … out of you come this living water. You are refreshed as you give.
cf Rev – the river flows from the new Jerusalem, to the nations and the healing of the nations.

Salvation is not just god’s gift TO the church, but through the church…

2. Human Task

There are times when we need to know why we are doing this. The church is the source of hope for the world. The world doesn’t want it, as it has carved up the world. They have made the church OK for spiritual things – they will look after the world.

Eph 2:10 – we are God’s workmanship or POEM. FOR good works … not about living a good, nice life (that is too privatised) but do go some good works out there in the world. God wants to build the city through you, to guard the city through you…

We are not just people who are experiencers of salvation, but the purveyors of salvation.
cf. Shipwreck in acts – salvation … salvation is in the here and now …
Gen 1 – called to be image bearers … God doesn’t just want to see His image as he looks at us. But actually we reflect God’s image into the world. We are called to guard God’s creation. Reflecting his healing love into the world. We are called to bring rescue to those in slavery.
We are rescued to rescue…

We believe in the creator and live-giver God … and wants to bring about real signs of the new creation in the present. We are to share God’s rule in the world. Not a theocracy. Rule of God over the world is found in Jesus – as a shepherd among his flock. Don’t call it rule if that word doesn’t help.

We must discover the vocation of being genuine human beings.

3. The way God’s works in the world

We must find an integrated view of working in the world.
How do we work with others? Do you just go along with everything? Or do we sit on the sidelines and carp?

Eph 3:10 – through the church, the rules and authorities will be called to account (Jesus is Lord and Caesar isn’t!).

A few principles about working in the world:

Col 1: 15, 16 God wants to bring order
Ordered wisely structure. If you don’t have order you have chaos, and if you have chaos the bullies always win.

Human rebels. God will set it right, sort it all out.
Judge = put it all right.

God will do this. But in between, God wants human authorities to put it right, to anticipate the putting right that God will do one day – to love mercy, do justice.
But real trouble comes when human authorities when they try to bring pride, or money or … to themselves.
The answer isn’t to get rid of authorities … but to call them to their job under God.
Again and again in Acts we see the rulers get it wrong, and the church calls them to apologise and put right.

The church is the proto community – what the world should and could be … the church is where this comes through…
In Jesus we see the fulfillment of the human task … and of Israel’s task, to be the light of the world.
This can only happen when on the cross Jesus took all the darkness.

Jesus is raised, the new creation has begun. Now we have a job to do, to work for that new creation…
We are called to model the flourishing of God’s new work in the world. When we go to work, where-ever we are …
We can’t hide from the world behind our “spiritual relationship with Jesus” … but we can’t hide from our relationship with Jesus by serving the poor.

We have to learn to collaborate without compromise … but also we must critique without dualisms
ie. we say where they are wrong, but we don’t right them off as all bad / evil / satanic.

Eph 6 – spiritual warfare. When we take on this role, we will get into battles … we are confronting the world with the brokenness of the structures.

Wilberforce – not separation between prayer and public life.
But something happened in 19th century a separation came between spiritual and physical … it became personal piety. At the same time the church started to narrow the gospel to a spiritual rescue to heaven.

But tomorrow (Thursday) I am off to Newcastle / Sunderland (where my wife comes from and in-laws still live there) to a conference called “Incarnate – equipping the church to serve the poor“. It is being organised by a virtual name sake, Robert Ward (well how many Rupert Ward’s do you know?) who is Anglican Vicar in Newcastle. I met him nearly 20 years ago when he came to Edinburgh CU to speak at an event I was organising; I fed him a meal in my flat (sausages in cider sauce if you are interested), so it will be interesting to see if he remembers the experience (or me for that matter!).

Anyway back to the conference, the speakers are NT Wright, Steve Chalke and Malcolm Duncan from Faithworks, and Tony Campolo. What a fantastic lineup! Tony Campolo has been a hero of mine since my early years of being a Christian (and there aren’t many people who I read their books 20 years ago, and would still want to read or listen to now!). NT Wright is increasingly becoming someone who I respect and grapple with what he is saying. And faithworks are a fantastic organisation doing some great stuff on reinventing church in the UK. And yes I am probably a Malcolm Duncan groupie!

Speaking of Malcolm, I am having lunch with him on Friday … I would love to see what help Faithworks can do help us as a local church and what a about a conference in Scotland? I am also hoping to do some live blogging each night about some of the things I am learning…

So answers below please:

1. How many Rupert Ward’s do you know?
2. How many authors / speakers from when you were first a Christian are you still reading or listening to?

Tags: Faithworks, Malcolm Duncan, Mission, Missional Church, NT Wright, Steve Chalke, Tony Campolo, Incarnate, Incarnate Conference 2007, Robert Ward