What about 'Hell'?

Hello, blog church people, what do you think about hell? Do you think a loving Heavenly Father would cast people into the fiery pit? How does that fit in with, God so loved the world? What about all those people you love who would not profess to be 'Christians', what do you feel about a God who casts them out into the darkness? There's a bit of a stooshie going on in churchy circles about Rob Bell's book addressing the question of hell. Go onto Paul Leader's excellent blog this week and follow the link. Makes interesting reading.
Just another question to join all the others in the great scheme of things.
Cheers, the Tartan Heretic

The 'Christian' Me

Just been reading the post by Cheryl on Martin's blog. Worth a read. It asks the question, 'When you say that you're a Christian, how do I know it's true?'
Provides food for thought. Do I want to be called a Christian these days with all its connotations? What defines me as a Christian? Can't be my church attendence; can't be my long prayer times; can't be my extensive bible study.
I would like it to be the extra mile, the little random acts of kindness, a smile instead of a frown. Not a label or a definition. Just a heretic on a journey of discovery.
To fellow heretics,
Morag

A Story Ending ....

For those who have had connections with Frank and Shay Houghton and the Village of Hope, I thought you might like to see this. Debs who I travelled to Morocco with, and who some of you will have met, has posted this article on her blog.

www.laughingstreamphotography.co.uk/2011/01/a-story-ending/

Andrea

Gather by the River

At the Saturday morning happening, we were talking about gathering together. The old hymn Gather By the River came to my mind and I said that I saw the river as the river of God, the river of the Holy Spirit and we were gathered by it.
I looked up the hymn on the internet and found the following.

One af­ter­noon in Ju­ly, 1864, when I was pas­tor at Han­son Place Bap­tist Church, Brook­lyn, the wea­ther was op­press­ive­ly hot, and I was ly­ing on a lounge in a state of phys­ic­al ex­haust­ion…My imag­in­a­tion be­gan to take it­self wings. Vi­sions of the fu­ture passed be­fore me with start­ling vi­vid­ness. The im­ag­ery of the apoc­a­lypse took the form of a ta­bleau. Bright­est of all were the throne, the heav­en­ly ri­ver, and the ga­ther­ing of the saints…I be­gan to won­der why the hymn writ­ers had said so much about the “riv­er of death” and so lit­tle about the “pure wa­ter of life, clear as crys­tal, pro­ceed­ing out of the throne of God and the Lamb.” As I mused, the words be­gan to con­struct them­selves. They came first as a quest­ion of Christ­ian in­quiry, “Shall we ga­ther?” Then they broke in chor­us, “Yes, we’ll ga­ther.” On this quest­ion and an­swer the hymn de­vel­oped it­self. The mu­sic came with the hymn.

Pretty good place to gather, by the pure water of life, for thirsty travellers.

Hope this makes some sort of sense.Morag

Hello all,
Wayne Jacobson`s website is certainly worth a look,
www.lifestreamministries.org
More of the good stuff,
Feilicious salutations, Keith

my first blog!!

Hi guys,

thought I would respond to what julia asked and tell you a little of what I have been up to.  For those of you that don't know, I became an adult and turned 30 last week - he he!  I have been so excited to turn thirty and many of my friends have no idea why I would be celebrating, most of them feel down about getting older.  I have never understood this concept as i feel age is in the mind and i suppose with God I know that there is so much more ahead for me to discover.  I looked up what the number 30 meant and i got really excited because it is linked in with coming into wisdom, experience and purpose (Jesus was thirty when he got into his ministry).  So no, i have not missed the boat, I am not going to be depressed by a number and yes wooo hooo to getting just that little bit wiser!

I am really excited for what 2011 holds for all of us, these are new days and the foot prints haven't been made yet!  I love the fact that we can all walk through this year together and share the laughs and the tears.  You are all so important to me and I am blessed to be discovering the new with ya'll.

Love Lia

What are we up to?

I'd be interested to hear what folks get up to during the week, even if it sounds quite "ordinary"!  I'm off to a residents and relatives group  meeting in my mum's home today - have a few things to say.  Starting with staffing cuts....  (Julia)