Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and The Church

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Chris Rodkey uses the image of a rhizome  (from Greek: rhízōma “mass of roots”) the horizontal stem of a plant that is grows underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes as a visual description of the relationship between churches and Facebook. “As an image of the church, it’s a shift away from church as a building or institution toward genuine community and organically connected individuals.”
I worshiped in a large evangelical Charismatic church in Oxford for the last six years (though we no longer worship there) and was facebook friends with probably over a hundred individuals from church.
Now, I love, enjoy and am interested in people. However, my personality is right on the line between extroversion and introversion in Myers-Briggs or any psychological profiling. I would find it challenging to keep in touch with more than a dozen people on a weekly, face to face basis.
Still, there was a pleasure in coming into church and spotting people who had commented on my Facebook statuses and vice-versa, in knowing what was going on in their lives, and vice-versa, in being able to speak  and hear appropriate words of encouragement, comfort, congratulations, and (I hope!) wisdom. 
This sharing of lives, even though not as deep as hours over coffee was still better than no sharing at all.
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Facebook, Twitter and social media can have as profound an effect in undemocratic churches as it did in the Arab Spring.

Jesus advises the one offended by his neighbour to go to him directly, and sort things out.

Painful though that is, it is, hands down, the best way.

If you are blown off, then go with a witness, then many witnesses.

Sometimes, one may feel alone in one’s conviction that there is something rotten in the State of Denmark. Or the state of your church.
The response to a facebook status, or a tweet, or a blog post, can tell you that you are not alone.

I once knew a church with distant controlling leadership, who seemed far more interested in their grandiose, self-glorifying projects than in the congregation which financed them, more interested in fleecing the sheep than in feeding the sheep, so to say.  

Years of dissatisfaction came to a head with a unjust personnel decision, the firing of a dedicated pastor.
Outrage was expressed on Facebook, twitter and blogs. The PCC organized a petition. Scores of people signed. Without social media, they would have had no idea of where to find kindred spirits whose sense of fairness and integrity had been outraged.
What became of it?

 On the face of it, not much. 
About 100 people left, many of them key givers, volunteers and lay leaders.
Many more stayed, because of social ties, and inertia, but cut back on giving and volunteering.
The church came to a crisis. Whereas formerly they kept expanding their budget of over a million pounds,  hiring layer after layer of coffee-makers and PAs (they were infected by contemporary celebrity culture: everyone hired soon lost the ability to write an email, pick up a phone or make a cup of tea), now all the talk was of money, as giving steadily declined. Special meetings called to strategize on how to increase giving. Key ministries, like youth work, collapsed for lack of volunteers. The raison d’etre changed from loving Jesus to raising money.
A downward spiral.

Individuals experience them. Churches too.
Fortunately, God has provided a way out for both.

Repentance. Prayer. Loving God. Loving Others.

And God willing, we will all return to our first love.

Living the Sermon on the Mount (by Rolland Baker)

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I love this passage, Rolland Baker’s introduction to Heidi Baker’s book, There is Always Enough.I find it a beautiful and inspiring description of the kind of Christian life which is possible to us, if we but believe.
I (Rolland) always wanted to believe and live the Sermon on the Mount. I would read the Scriptures longingly, trying to imagine how wonderful it would be not to worry about anything, safe and secure in the presence of Jesus all the time. Miracles would be normal. Love would be natural. We could always give and never lose. We could be lied to, cheated and stolen from, and yet always come out ahead. We would never have to take advantage of anyone, or have any motive but to bless people. Rather than always making contingency plans in case Jesus didn’t do anything, we could count on him continually. We, our lives and all that we preach and provide would not be for sale, but would be given freely, just as we have received freely. Our hearts would be carefree in the love of our Father in heaven, who always knows what we need, and we could get on with the glorious business of seeking first His Kingdom, and His righteousness. There would always be enough.”

Cats and Dogs and the Human Bestiary

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Irene and I. Notice the secret of Irene’s happiness in her fat little paw!

 Ever since childhood, I have both consciously and unconsciously looked for animal equivalents for people I encounter. 

This helps me see understand them better—and offers surprisingly accurate clues on how they might behave in the future, and how one should deal with them. (Of course, if one has read them wrong, and got the animal wrong, then you are in trouble). Both J.K. Rowling and Philip Pullman mine this territory with their patronus and daemons, animals which provide an objective correlative, an exact equivalent of a human’s inner spirit.
Some people have the personality of big bounding dogs. Some of petted cats. I remember an American fellow church-member who had the hunted flickering eyes of a hunted rabbit. It turned out that she was from an abusive family, had been put in care, married well, made good. Her eyes, however, told their own story. She would never be entirely relaxed, entirely open and disingenuous; she remembered the days of being hunted, so to say. She was always, figuratively speaking, on the edge of her seat, ready to flee. You could never get the whole of X, just as a wild rabbit will never be entirely tame.
Irene had a classmate who for the six years I’ve known her, always struck me with her unpleasant “swinish” expression, I’d say, as I warned Irene to steer clear of her (maternal intuition!). In Year 7, she turned deeply nasty, writing filthy anonymous letters, stealing kids’ medication, trashing their belongings, Lord of the Flies territory. Her face had told the tale years before—as did her mum’s face which bore the identical expression.
Our family had a big debate on holiday as to which animal we were. When I was younger, I was definitely a puppy, a big bounding golden retriever, perhaps. Now, I would say, I am becoming a cat, perhaps a Siamese or Persian cat. All cats need to be happy is a warm sunny spot somewhere, and a saucer of milk. They have an unerring ability to find the warmest and most comfortable spot even in a cheerless, cluttered room. Amid scenes of devastation, war, tsunamis, earthquakes, you see cats, curled up and comfortable in a sunny corner amid the wreckage. While they will consent to being petted, if you ask them nicely, they are emotionally independent.  And while I would rather be comfortable in comfortable surroundings, I find I can curl up and be happy anywhere, with my laptop, and a book, and a figurative saucer of milk, i.e. a snack. So I travel well, and enjoy it.
Roy was more of an emotionally independent cat when we got married. Now, he has morphed into a dog. A big mastiff or Saint Bernard, shaggy, affectionate, home-loving, devoted to those he loves. Or perhaps he is a big hairy German Shepherd, fiercely loyal and devoted, though snappish when pushed too far. (He generally doesn’t read my blog; isn’t that wonderful?) And while we are generally the kind of cats and dogs who enjoy snuggling up together, we are sometimes proverbial cats and dogs!
If our older daughter, Zoe had a daemon or patronus, it would also be a shaggy, good-natured, home-loving dog, a big fluffy sheepdog, which is what Roy always lovingly called her. Irene, at present, is a sleek, pampered cat, rather pleased with itself, though people’s personalities change through life, depending on the hand life deals them.
So, if you were an animal, which animal would you be?

“Oh, be swift to love, make haste to be kind” Thought for the Day

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“Oh, do not let us wait to be just or pitiful or demonstrative toward those we love until they or we are struck down by illness or threatened with death! Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh, be swift to love, make haste to be kind!” Henri Frédéric Amiel September 27, 1821 – May 11, 1881) Swiss philosopher, poet and critic.


The Questions Jesus Asked

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Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God

Some very penetrating and hard-hitting questions from the Gospel of John

1 Do you want to get well, John 5:6
2 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. John 5:44

3 Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. John 6:6

4 John 6: 55 Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.   57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.  

 60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” 61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?
5 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. John 6:75
6 “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40
7  John 13:12 “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
 
8 Again he asked them, “Who (what) is it you want?”John 18: 7


9 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” John 20:15
10 John 21: 5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
   “No,” they answered.
 6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
11 Again Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
12 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
 22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

The Eucharistic Nature of Creativity (Talk by Rob Bell at Greenbelt, 2011)

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The Eucharist–This is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, shed for you. 

Writing from the heart, close to the bone has these eucharistic characteristics: pouring out your life-blood.
And so, it’s no wonder that one sometimes feels depleted. Emptied. Exhausted.
Bell recommends taking a break when this is the case, coming unplugged, unwired. Going away perhaps, and waiting for the springs to refill at their own pace and time.
The results sometimes surprise one!!
He suggests balancing time spent shedding one’s creative blood with time replenishing the empty tanks, and letting God refill them with fresh wind, fresh fire.
Bell also suggests laying down your work when you are feeling burnt out, laying it down for as long as necessary, and when you come back you are renewed and refreshed and can approach your work with fresh vision, passion and perspective.
Good to hear since I work best in short, intense bursts, and regularly burn out.
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90 % of the energy expended in one of his books was spent on “mind-games.” Second-guessing his work and its reception. Don’t do it. Get it out there. Leave the reception to God.
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After his glorious vision of angels ascending and descending the highway, Jacob says, “Surely God was in this place and I was not aware of it.”
We live in a God-drenched world, and being out in it, experiencing it, puts us in touch with infinite springs of creativity, with God himself.
Moses in the desert saw a bush which burned and was not consumed. Bell suggested that that bush was always burning. It was just that Moses slowed down enough to notice it.
It burns for us too, eternity in blades of grass.
“My father is always at his work, to this very day, and so am I,” Jesus says. God is always at this work, creating newness, sharing his visions with us. Those who can see God always at work, in our hearts, in the hearts of people and in the world will never run out of things to write
Rob Bell seems quite relaxed, happy and confident in his own skin, apparently quite unscathed by the tsunami caused by Love Wins.

Love Wins, and Other Possibly Dodgy Theological Speculations

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Hana Gaddafi

“In my father’s house, there are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you.”

Room for Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein, perhaps;
for Mubarak and Mobuto and even Assad, who knows;
room, it might be, for crazy, tormented Hitler
whose last act before their suicides
was to make an honest woman of Eva Braun,
–just because she wanted it.
And even–I do believe it,
room for me!

Hello World: A catching up post

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Phew, I am have in the eye of a hurricane for the last few days, and now am quite ill.

Returned home from Sweden on Wednesday, having got caught in Stockholm’s crawling, bumper to bumper traffic on Tuesday, and missed our flight. Slept in the airport’s very expensive Radisson, and caught the mornings 7 a.m. flight (just!!).
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Zoe’s GCSE results the next day were good, all A*s and A’s. She was disappointed as she had wanted all A*s, the highest possible grade. She missed her Greek A* by 2% on a translation paper, and feels sure they must have inadvertently skipped a page or something, so we are going to get it re-marked. I am pleased and relieved at her results, though she is disappointed.

It struck us that we are going to have girls taking public exams every year from now to 2017, with just a break in 2013 when Irene is in Year 10. 2017!! 2017!!
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I was so looking forward to the Greenbelt Festival, but I seem to have picked up a cold, cough and mild flu. I even got into the car, and drove till the end of the lane, but then found I was coughing and my eyes were closing. One of my life verses is

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,
 “In returning and rest you shall be saved;
 in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
 But you would none of it. Isaiah 30:15.


This verse has saved my physical and emotional health so many times, and contributed greatly to my happiness,  and general sanity. There must have been scores of times when I pulled out of doing something because of this verse.


In returning and in rest, you shall be saved. So since I was physically exhausted by illness, sleepy, with a bad chesty cough, I turned right round, and returned home to my laptop. I will still have three whole days of Greenbelt, and will enjoy them thoroughly for being less ill.  
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And my daughters are in…..India! We arrived home at noon on Wednesday, and they left this afternoon. I was too ill to help them pack, so I just hope they have remembered everything, like cameras!! I fear they have not, alas!! It is traditional to give lavish presents when you return to your hometown, but I was far too weak and ill to contemplate shopping, so sent Zoe and Irene to shop–with a budget. They bought lovely stuff, including a beautiful red cashmere sweater I nearly captured, and they kept within budget, by dint of removing stuff at the checkout. That was good as I never manage to keep within budget when I go present shopping. Nor do I shop as carefully and thoughtfully as those girls did!! (They did buy £150 of boxes of chocolates to give as gifts, but they are just 12 and 16 after all!!) 


I was dreading the busyness of that 48 hour period, but being ill I found almost everything could be delegated. Yay! The stress of the break-in to our campervan and the stolen iPad, iPod, and two laptops, wallet, credit cards etc caused a white streak in my hair to appear overnight!! Gosh! I really cannot go white before I turn 50, so did manage to drag myself to my Iranian hairdresser for an application of natural Iranian henna. I now have coppery-mahogany streaks in my hair!! Roy was a bit amused and incredulous at my vanity–and so was I!! Especially since that seems to be the only thing I have achieved in the last two days!