Inspiring Everyday Faith - January 2020
Welcome to first Inspiring Everyday Faith email of 2021 - a short one, just so I don't ruin the 'must send an IEF email every month' resolution!
Our article this month comes from a network/blog/magazine I connected with over Christmas called New Polity. We try to keep on top of the different theological approaches to Everyday Faith and how these might be expressed differently from different perspectives and Christians traditions. New Polity puts itself in a post-liberal camp (politically and to some extent theologically). This article looks at Christian engagement in the state - and how the vocation of the laity is to be engaged. Very much for those who like their theology like gravy - rich and thick.
No Diocesan Spotlight this time, this will return with gusto next month. In its place is a link to a video and a survey from the organisation Tomorrow Today. It is looking at challenges that fit both faith at work and faith at home - because the two are linked! I know Graeme Codrington and my reason for linking to this is that it is a useful reflection for people who this fits and a way of affirming his vocation to influence work culture for the good.
There are a couple of resources to preview this month. The first is a link to the #LiveLent resources for 2021. The reflections this year are written by my colleague Stephen Hance and focus on being witnesses in everyday life. These reflections are based on Living His Story, by Hannah Steele, which is the Archbishop of Canterbury's 2021 Lent book. The second set of resources I have highlighted is the Gateway 7 Series from LICC. I recently worked through the one on Ezekiel. If you are looking for a Bible study that takes everyday faith as a starting point, these are a good choice!
That's all for now. Back in Feb...
Blessings,
Nick |
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‘The State will be transformed’
Yesterday, we invited a few of the leading lights of what we might call statist integralism to debate us. Jonathan Culbreath took up the invitation in a thread. It is worth reading in its entirety. It sums up a common response to our claim, namely, that the modern nation state (and the economic systems integral to it) are fundamentally anti-Christian, with a counterclaim that the Church, far from saying what we say, has an eminently practical vision: “states” are simply the form that we have given to the exercise of public authority, and the Christian is not permitted to stand by idly, daydreaming about some “other form” with which he can participate. He says:
"In our day and age, we (the laity) must work with the institutions that we have. Chief among them is the institution we call “the state.” The vocation of the laity with respect to the state is nothing else but “to infuse, as it were, into all the veins of the State healthy sap and blood of Christian wisdom and virtue” (Immortale Dei). Likewise, Gaudium et Spes states that “the Church praises and esteems the work of those who for the good of men [sic] devote themselves to the service of the state and take on the burdens of this office.” Click to read. |
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Click the image above to hear Graeme's reflections on the challenges of parenting and working from home in the current context. If this sounds like something that will be useful to you, please can you help them by taking 3 minutes to complete a quick survey by clicking here? We are putting the final touches on a set of resources for you, and your input will be hugely valuable to us. Please do it now – we really would appreciate it.
Please also feel free to drop our team suggestions or requests for these parenting resources. We’ll send you more information soon on how to access them.
For now, as schools may open, or maybe stay closed, or offer some sort of hybrid education in the first quarter of 2021, make sure you let parents know that you’ll support them. It will mean the world to parents that you think about what they’re going through right now, while providing encouragement and assistance where possible. |
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#LiveLent: God's Story, Our Story invites each of us to reflect on our own story of God and how we might share it through our everyday lives as part of our Christian witness.
It encourages us to take a fresh look at evangelism, exploring how Jesus and his first followers communicated the good news of God's love by inviting, listening and responding creatively to others.
For each of the 40 days of Lent, this booklet includes a short Bible passage, a reflection and a prayer. The daily reflections follow weekly themes - each with an accompanying action - drawn from the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2021.
This booklet is part of a wide range of resources for individuals, groups and churches available here. |
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For The Gateway Seven series LICC selected seven books of the Bible representing seven genres: Proverbs (Wisdom), Exodus (Law), 1 Peter (Letters), Ezekiel (Prophecy), Ruth (Narrative), Mark (Gospel), and Revelation (Apocalyptic). The series, beginning with Proverbs, will offer study guides for each of the books with a whole-life discipleship perspective. The mini-features sprinkled through the studies, along with the questions and thoughts for discussion, help you understand each book within its background and genre as well as the content of the book itself. Each study has been crafted with the same desire: to offer a gateway to a deeper love of God’s word and richer insights into its implications for all of life, Monday through Sunday. For details click here |
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