Personal Vision Statement & Community Reflection

I came into this course thinking that I knew a lot about this whole postmodernity gig. I mean, I'm of the Gen-Y, we invented this philosophical framework, right? And yet, it is so easy to become so immersed in a culture that we take for granted the values that culture subscribes to. Like Steve indicated on the first day, just as with the breath we can see on a frosty morning, we can only realise what we are living in when we step outside of it.

This course allowed me to step outside of my culture and take a long, critical look at what it represents. For me the first challenge was the reminder that many people see the Bible in a different "colour" than what we as believers do. How true it is that I have looked at the Bible in warm-fuzzy colours and simply ignored the startlingly obvious reality that the word of God is not all warm & fuzzy. Undertaking this course has allowed me to reflect upon how it is I use the Bible when talking to others around me, who may have a very different experience of the Bible to me.

The challenge I have been wrestling with throughout the course is finding a balance between creatively presenting the text of the Bible and the danger of overstepping the mark in 'dressing up' the message of the Bible. I guess it's a healthy concern, trying to respect the text whilst engaging with culture around us, while at the same time letting the text "speak for itself".

I was challenged by the comparisons we made when viewing the "Romeo & Juliet" clips. Clearly, things are done differently these days and we simply cannot afford in our church communities to not appreciate that. In particular, the idea of a "bare wall church" was prominent in my mind because, my church is very bare walled. As the youth pastor of my local church, I've often wondered how to better engage our young people with the teaching of the word. My, they've been started off on the wrong foot already when they enter a church with bare walls! I MYSELF find the walls of our church bleak and depressing, so why do I expect my young people to be any different? What a valuable insight this has been to me!

Before taking this course, I could sit and whinge about how we weren't engaging people around us in the community, how the way we did things was irrelevant and disempowering, and I could do that well. But what have I actually been doing to make things different? I love the idea of godly play - there is a skill which enlivens and personalises the text of the Bible. The notion of not merely 'preaching' from the front, but having the word read and shared around the congregation is also a help. I think I have developed some -delicious- new skills in how to do church.

As someone brought up in a tradition which values the word of God highly (one might argue perhaps higher than God himself :)), I found myself wondering if the message and authority of the scriptures was demeaned in some way if they were "used creatively in community". How do you 'creatively' challenge people to live holy lives? Is it cheapening the message to "dilute" it with engaging methods of presentation? While I'm still trying to reconcile all this somehow, I have been reminded that the Bible is a narrative, a story which includes us. I've been guilty of placing the importance of the content of the Bible over the purpose of the Bible, namely the communication of God's story in human history. I think we need to tone down a bit on the "Thou Shalt" attitude that we've given the word of God, I don't think it was ever intended to be used to belittle, to devalue, to hurt, to oppress, or to condemn. The truth of the Bible is that it speaks of God's faithfulness to all generations (and cultures). Perhaps I can do this truth a bit of justice by sharing this story of faithfulness in a more appropriate manner to those around me?

So how then does all this fit with my future ministry? The honest answer is I don't really know! I could speculate about some strategies I could employ which would make the text seemingly more culturally relevant, but I need to ponder on exactly what those strategies would be for a bit longer. I think the opportunities of postmodernity are great - people now have so many questions and are searching for truth and wholeness. We as Christians have the truth, and the answers to those questions, and they are found in God's word! However the Bible gets used in my future ministry, I trust that I will make it accessible to all who I share it with, that I might be sensitive to their learning style, to their background, to their confusion and to their honest desire to know truth.

If anything, this course has reminded me that the Bible is an exciting text! It is exciting because it is a story we relate to because we're part of it! If ever I make the word of God unexciting (and I define exciting to include challenging/convicting/transforming/dynamic), I have been reminded that I will be doing a great disservice to this story that so desperately needs to be told.

Welcome, my children...

So.... here we are.

NB. This is not the beginning of my assessable blog. Nice try, Steve.

So here I am, a 21year old BTh student with aspirations of academic grandeur. Passionate about history (majoring in it, actually), yet thrilled at the opportunities of the present.... this whole post-modernity gig excites me! I am happy to dedicate my life to studying and advancing the good things it represents, if I get the opportunity.

Anyway, I trust you're enjoying gaining a new appreciation for the word of God as I am already through this course.

Lotsa love!