In which I explore this world called Church | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Through Scoundrels and Scallywags, Ruffians and Ragamuffins, the Kingdom Advances

Anita Mathias — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 13:47:21 +0000

So Bill Gothard, who taught 2.5 million people his 32 hour Bible course, is widely accused of sexual harassment, but wealthy Christians attribute their family and business success to him. 2.5 million people study the Bible for 32 hours! Despite him, above him, around him, and quite possibly through him, the kingdom advances. Joyce […]

The post Through Scoundrels and Scallywags, Ruffians and Ragamuffins, the Kingdom Advances first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

On Being Christian with a small c or a big C

Anita Mathias — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 06:58:46 +0000

Image Credit Our family was discussing a writer who has done paradigm-breaking innovative work. “Is she a Christian?” my daughter Irene asked. “Yes. She’s a Christian. With a small C, I’d guess.” “What’s that?” Irene asked. “Hmm… Someone who goes to church, more or less respects Jesus and the Bible, but who does not see […]

The post On Being Christian with a small c or a big C first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

Why I Am No Longer a Roman Catholic

Anita Mathias — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 21:39:51 +0000

I was brought up Roman Catholic, was taught that missing Sunday Mass was a mortal sin, except when you were sick. (And a mortal sin meant you would burn in hell, for eternity, unless you confessed it, and were absolved.) How could I have believed that? Children believe what they are taught. It’s taken me […]

The post Why I Am No Longer a Roman Catholic first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

“Fine, Let Them Judge Me”: The Peace of Boundaries

Anita Mathias — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 22:17:53 +0000

Several years ago now, I was in a Bible study which had some very assertive people who were often unwell. And so there were endless rotas: to take meals around, clean their houses, do their ironing, or give them lifts. Now, I was over-burdened myself, but I didn’t want the leader to judge me as […]

The post “Fine, Let Them Judge Me”: The Peace of Boundaries first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

Germany and Me: How Nations Change their National Character. At His Place, Saarland, Germany

Anita Mathias — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 22:58:29 +0000

When I was a teenager in the seventies, the libraries of the two clubs we belonged to were flooded with World War II novels. I remember, at the age of 11, reading QB VII set in a German concentration camp, Mila 18 about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, The Angry Hills, and Exodus. Gosh, they scarred […]

The post Germany and Me: How Nations Change their National Character. At His Place, Saarland, Germany first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

When to Keep a Secret and When to Refuse To

Anita Mathias — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Image Credit I once attended a rather toxic Charismatic church in England. There was a sentence you heard rather often there, and it was, “Don’t tell anyone.” The leader’s wife (untrained, and not particularly intelligent, who proudly and accurately publicly described herself as a “rhino,”) was then the paid women’s “Pastor.” She was always meddling in church […]

The post When to Keep a Secret and When to Refuse To first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

Why God is Profoundly Egalitarian and Why we Need More Female Clergy

Anita Mathias — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:28:00 +0000

Image, Dave Walker, and yes, I have met him, and he does exist. Why God is Profoundly Egalitarian and Why we Need More Female Clergy. My Eureka moment: Some time ago, in a church I once attended, I listened to a gorgeous friend tell her heart-breaking story of adultery and abandonment. My friend was, understandably, […]

The post Why God is Profoundly Egalitarian and Why we Need More Female Clergy first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

The Parable of the Thornbush and the Seeking of Power and Significance in the Christian World.

Anita Mathias — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:54:00 +0000

Thornbushes in Samaria Jotham, in the Book of Judges, tells The Parable of the Thornbush. The trees want to anoint a king. However, all the useful trees don’t want to give up their pleasant, beneficial work for power. The olive tree says, “ ‘Should I give up my oil to hold sway over the trees?’ The […]

The post The Parable of the Thornbush and the Seeking of Power and Significance in the Christian World. first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

Sunday Church Services: The Bread, Roast, Cake or Icing of the Christian Life?

Anita Mathias — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:31:00 +0000

I have been wondering about this. About a year ago, we left a large Anglican Charismatic city centre church where we had been for six and a half years, and after a couple of months of checking out Oxford churches and Christian communities (oh, the tedium of it!!) settled on a very nice North Oxford evangelical […]

The post Sunday Church Services: The Bread, Roast, Cake or Icing of the Christian Life? first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

The beautiful, broken, yet unbowed Church

Anita Mathias — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:43:00 +0000

A friend of mine who is a social worker was telling me about a woman she worked with, a Kenyan, who had fled a physically abusive marriage to a safe house in Oxford. She had twins: a nine year old daughter, wheel-chair bound with cerebral palsy, and a son who had a physical or psychosomatic […]

The post The beautiful, broken, yet unbowed Church first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.