Tony Jordan has been interviewed in the Telegraph about his belief in the truth of the Nativity, and the BBC drama he has written. Tony Jordan interview - The Nativity has changed me and thats the gospel truth
The 4 part drama is presently on the BBC i Player and worthy watching.
Season's Greetings to All
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Giles Fraser finds the Christmas message embarassing
He writes that he finds "The idea of God as a little baby...one of the most disruptive theological suggestions ever made." Giles Fraser - why the Christmas message makes me cringe
I wonder why this may be? There seems to be, I would suggest, a rather superior, perhaps rather arrogant attitude amongst some clerics and theologians that reflects a high church, heirarchical mentality where ordinary people must approach God through a priesthood. There are perhaps three things that cause distress for such thinkers.
1. That ordinary people can have evidence of a personal relationship with God when for the elite God seems so distant and far away.
2. That for all their elevated status and study, God actually shows himself to the weak, the uneducated, the poor, the downtrodden - basically the humble over the proud.
3. That God may give a certainty of faith to the uneducated, whereas the educated are full of doubt.
All of these offences appear in the Christmas story. That God chose Mary to give birth to Jesus as Son of Almighty God; that a teenage girl could hear the voice of God and believe simply, and that God would implant his presence in her. God chose to announce the birth to shepherds, and in the same way he called a fisherman to replace the temple priests as leader of Judah.
All across the world God's Holy Spirit is moving bringing people into knowledge of who Jesus is, but the educated clerics in all their learning simply cannot hear the voice of God. Isaiah 9:6-7 says this;
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever."
I wonder why this may be? There seems to be, I would suggest, a rather superior, perhaps rather arrogant attitude amongst some clerics and theologians that reflects a high church, heirarchical mentality where ordinary people must approach God through a priesthood. There are perhaps three things that cause distress for such thinkers.
1. That ordinary people can have evidence of a personal relationship with God when for the elite God seems so distant and far away.
2. That for all their elevated status and study, God actually shows himself to the weak, the uneducated, the poor, the downtrodden - basically the humble over the proud.
3. That God may give a certainty of faith to the uneducated, whereas the educated are full of doubt.
All of these offences appear in the Christmas story. That God chose Mary to give birth to Jesus as Son of Almighty God; that a teenage girl could hear the voice of God and believe simply, and that God would implant his presence in her. God chose to announce the birth to shepherds, and in the same way he called a fisherman to replace the temple priests as leader of Judah.
All across the world God's Holy Spirit is moving bringing people into knowledge of who Jesus is, but the educated clerics in all their learning simply cannot hear the voice of God. Isaiah 9:6-7 says this;
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever."
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