I’ve never been sure why a rotten pot should be so exciting, but I suppose potpourri doesn’t sound so bad! I’ve come across some interesting stories today and thought I’d lump them all together into an amorphous group, rather than make several blog posts.
The Global Church: This fascinating piece gives an overview of some possible geo-political impacts of the way in which the centre of gravity of the church has shifted over the last few decades.
As Christianity expands in non-Western countries, there will doubtlessly be tensions. But whether or not global Christians will repeat the mistakes of Western Christians in the political arena remains to be seen. Are these tensions being exacerbated by aggressive Christian communities or are they the natural growing pains of emerging multiculturalism? It’s hard to tell. Regardless, they are four faces of global Christianity that must not be ignored.
The End of the Church as We Know It: The Daily Telegraph has two hyperbolic articles about the future of the Church in England. The first is about some downsizing in the Bradford area. If you read the article and are worried that this spells the end for the Church of England, Clayboy gives a bit of balance. The other news, is that the holy thorn tree at Glastonbury has been vandalised. I’d never actually heard about the holy thorn tree before, but apparently it is around 2,000 years old and legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea had something to do with planting it. I must admit, that it saddens me that a venerable old tree should be vandalised for no apparent reason. I like old trees. However, to say that this is an attack on the heart of Christianity is overstating the case more than a little.
Ivory Coast: After complaining that the British media were ignoring the situation in Ivory Coast, it was a pleasant surprised to hear the voice of my friend John James on the Today programme explaining what was gong on in the coutnry. Better late than never, I guess. If you want to keep up with the story, I would reccomend two articles. The first is by Reuters in English:
BOUAKE, Ivory Coast, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Ivory Coast’s presidential election was meant to heal a divided nation, but in the northern town of Bouake, where every voter had his ballot cancelled, the anger is palpable.
The second is for French speakers only: this piece is interesting and rather poignant.
3 replies on “A Friday Potpourri”
Eating fish rather than meat – Friday popery.
There was a local vicar on the news who amused me with the statement ‘Spirituality is rife in Glastonbury’.
Good grief, we don’t want people being spiritual!