Easter Messages

I've been listening to the news today and it is full of various religious leaders making their Easter statements. Most of these are very encouraging 'Peace' here and 'Faith' there, all jolly nice and then my favourite, I just love Anglican clergy, from the Arch Bishop of Canterbury. In it he attacked various people who undermine the story of Christ - I know you are wondering where this is going - including Dan Brown's fictional work. He commented on the preponderance of conspiracy theorists and the mythology that surrounds the gospels. At the heart of his message is a question, the same one that Pilate asked Jesus - assuming... Well you get the point.

The question -----What is Truth?

On to the musing...
So what is truth? Well in the words of Chris Carter we know that The Truth is Out There and given the world of Mulder and Sculley conspiracies abound. Who married who? Was Christ married?

Ok confession time -

I have read most (not all) of the DaVinci Code and as a piece literature, well it's not! I'm not being a book snob it is just pish, badly written and shows a lack of linguistic skill - and if anyone guns their car again... It is pish, bad story, in poor English but despite all of this it is the way Brown behaves that really annoys me. The book is fiction but he acts like it is real. It is a conspiracy theory beyond belief. He drops in little things to make it more 'believable' and then when asked if it is the truth raises his eyes (metaphorically) as if to say 'yes but I don't want to say'. This is what pissed off Dr Williams and he was right to be pissed.

So What is Truth? Growing up we use to debate whether there was absolute truth or if it was relative. I am not such a firm believer in absolutes anymore but I am convinced that the early church was not so institutionalised that it had an agenda when setting the canon. It was about a search for the truth. They wanted the documents of those who they were sure had known Jesus personally or who had recorded the stories of those who had first hand knowledge.

Tumchie Muncher and I had a discussion a few years about the willingness of people to see the worst in people rather that the best. This applies to religion, politics, education, media almost all spheres of life. But perhaps that is the wonder of the Easter Message, not a retelling of the worst news or belief but a celebration of the best news. If you don't believe the Easter story in its literal sense you can still take some joy in the knowledge that some people are still willing to look at the darkest dawn and see the good.
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PS. Oh by the way I find it hard to believe that a church that painted out 'Christ's wife' in favour of Peter would have him so violently denying Christ three times and the countless mentions of him that are so negative.

Charis - grace in a wee girl - oh and Ben too

This is one of my favourite pictures of all time. It is my kids.

As a result of this I have adjusted my last posting, to reflect a more gracious and wholesome thought. You see it is this that motivates me. I remember when Charis was born, actually before she was born, when we chose her name. My wife had not long found out she was pregnant and we were discussing names. I can't remember who came up with the suggestion but we both knew at once, she was Charis - Grace, a free gift with no strings attached, care and love motivating a respect and gentle treatment of others. When we were married a friend gave us a picture, well really it was more than that it is an ikon - or icon - painted by a lady who was a coptic iconographer. It is a picture of Christ with a lamb over his shoulders and a quote from Isaiah about a shepherd looking after the lambs and those with young. We knew that this was what could be referred to as a call on our lives, to look after those who needed care. We have tried to do this, though frequently unsuccessfully, and often I have avoided my responsibility to follow my selfish desires, rather than God's

Remembering this has caused me to look at my life again. In the last blog I asked ... Who knows what tomorrow brings?... Well that is still the question but the response is different. TM and I were MSN'in the other night and had a long and deep conversation, as is our way. At the end of it I was left with some thoughts about how I have fucked up much of my life. The up side of this, as it emerged from the conversation, was that in this was the liberty of a relationship with God, one not built on my supposed goodness but one built on the knowledge that I had done nothing redemptive and that my life deserved hell and damnation, therefore if I was truly beyond the pail then there was nothing to lose or gain in a relationship with god it was a neutral act, one that was for the sake of the relationship itself. That was freeing, it was an understanding of Grace/Charis. Even if I was not to be forgiven much I could still forgive and try to live at peace with the world and the eventual destiny did not mater what mattered was doing what I wanted to and what I felt was right for me. This brings me back to Charis, we named her because - and here is the big and arrogant picture - we wanted her name to be a message to the church about how they should live. And everyday it is a message to me about how I should live. Here is to the awakening of charis in my life, lets hope I get there.