Seductions

Having just spent a good part of the last day at seminars on changes in the church, and particularly today on Small Strong Effective Churches one becomes aware that there is an abundance of wisdom from the presenter, Kennan Callahan, who reminds us:

• that big is not necessarily beautiful, which is a perversion of thinking ...indeed a seduction... presented to modern organisations in a world gone mad
• that people are drawn to positive communities where engagement with the gospel, as much as anything else...is fun

This is, I think, a helpful perception. We too often are seduced by the problems of this world, and forget that God delights in us and we are called to delight in him. That is, that the experience of God is fun. There have been too many periods in my last twenty years when there has been too little fun.

As I reflect on my life as a Christian, I see that much of what I treasure is the fun...the laughter, the song, the celebration, the relationships. This is where genuine experience of God begins to be found. And too often we have been caught up in pedantry not necessarily of our own making, but often of the bitter agendas of people who are seriously screwed up!

I am not saying that we should trivialise our faith, but that the advice to stop taking ourselves so seriously needs to be heard by us all.