The Trinity and Imago Dei, Sin; Addiction and Romans 6; Apologetics on talking about God! These were the three subjects that we reflected on at Bishop’s Study Day. And to be honest, I felt that these all might feel a little highbrow and a bit disconnected from our day to day living. So, was feeling a little ambivalent at having to give my day up for such reflections! How wrong I was! They were inspiring and encouraging. But it got me thinking!
These titles, communicated something to me that was so wrong about what the substance of what it was that they were trying to communicate. The titles hid the gems of what it was they were trying to communicate about the work and power of God that comes through understanding the significance of relationship; the understanding of what we mean by sin and being enslaved; and the power of story. If I had judged purely on the titles (and if I had a choice about attending – I might not have done!) – but I would have missed so much.
And it made me think about how hard it is for people who know nothing about God – about Jesus to have the opportunity to start asking questions and thinking about God without being swamped with words and jargon. We get so used to using phrases and words in our everyday that we forget that these words might not mean anything to anyone who hasn’t been part of the church for a number of years! We have created a language for our ‘church land’. We expect people to understand us, when we use words such as ‘God is love’; ‘Father, son and holy spirit’; ‘Grace’; ‘Freedom in God’; ‘alive in Christ’; Trinity.
And this is why I love Alpha, because we spend time unpacking some of these words and phrases and exploring what they might mean to us, how we can find the truth in ourselves about our beliefs and understanding of a creator God who loves each one of us so much that he wants us all to keep growing in Him all our lives and to keep bearing fruit.
And this is why we need to keep thinking about how we do church – how we welcome people, how we think about the language we use, and how we reach out to people who know nothing about God. Because God gives us the great commission – to make disciples of all nations – how are we to do that if they do not understand our language? If they are put off, as I could have been, by misunderstanding what is being presented.
