I also highly recommend ViraHope to you. Its a really simple and yet incredibly challenging book. You can read it in one sitting or over a few weeks with a bunch of mates and really grapple with how the gospel is good news to your community. I love the title of the book too I think it captures a very central part of the kingdom of God. The book is full of ragamuffins who are asking great questions about the gospel brings hope to there communities and how it can spread like wild fire throughout the world.

It is available on Amazon and over at Ecclesia Press.

• Christopher Chiu-Tabet Before I think of my own definition, I’m reminded of how J. R. R. Tolkien described Easter as a “eucatastrophe”
• Andrew Horton God often works behind the scenes; this time he was centre stage.
• Andy Frost they thought it was all over but things were actually starting over…
• JohnSentamu Remember God’s Son was raised 2new life so that we might live. We are an Easter people & Alleluia is our song!
• TweetingKirsty Easter Is gods way of saying ‘I love you so much that I will repay your debts at any cost.
• Superdwayne It only takes one person to change the world and how we leave our daily lives
• JesseRice Easter is like a paparazzi-snapped picture of the God who is playfully unpredictable
• jonnylikes2rant We are owned twice over by Christ. He made us and at the cross He paid for us. Salvation is a free gift, but it came at a cost

I have been re-watching the video again and am really struck by the raging debate that still continues about Virtual Community. We are a society that is moving into a new generation that will have lived throughout with the Social Networking Era. They will have been defined by it. There friendship will revolve around it. What challenge’s does this leave us with?

Some Good Links that talk more about this…

Out of UR

Flowerdust

JR Woodward

This book defines self-hatred as the reason that so many Christian struggle with the constant unrelenting love of Abba. By clearly understanding and grappling with the life and teachings of Jesus we can understand and grapple with the real and true saviour. And then be truly changed and transformed.

In the astonishing chapter entitled ‘Jesus: The Stranger to Self-Hatred’ we see Manning grapple with the experience of Peter (John 21:15-17, Matthew 16:13-20). He argues that the central question of the New Testament Gospel, especially John is ‘Who Do You Say I Am?’ Theologians, evangelists, biblical scholars, preachers and authors all have their own answers but he challenges us with the great truth that these are THEIR answers and we have to find our own answers. He speaks here of Jesus service of others and his love of all-inclusive love. I am struck down by how our understanding of the answer of the question call truly shape of lives and our grace must turn into love and service of others.

‘The unflinching, unwavering love and compassion of Jesus Christ, the stranger to self-hatred, is the ultimate source of our healing and wholeness’ (p.39). Here we see what the followers of Jesus lived in and experienced, Peter transformed the Roman world by preaching from his weakness the power of God.

Christ criterion by which Christ assess his friends and repudiators is still ‘Do you love me?’ (p.40) The story on page 41 o the mother is simply an extraordinary image/analogy of the Jesus that is a centre of the bible. He ends this chapter with an astonishing comment

‘This is a glimpse of Jesus whom I have met over the years of the terrain of my wounded self, the Christ of my interiority. There is a beauty and enchantment about the Nazarene that draws me irresistibly to follow him. He is the Pied Piper to my lonely heart.’

This sums up the heart of the reason for this very book and the whole in my life that I have been searching for, some days I stumble upon on it and other times I left searching for the sweet sound of his pipe.

Another chapter real jumped out at me, the chapter named ‘Healing through Meal-Sharing’ one of the most striking features of Jesus’ ministry [was] the meals he shared with ‘sinners’-that is, outcasts. Pharisees (and others) would not eat with someone who was impure and no decent person would share a meal with an outcast (p.54).

This book overall is a great read, should be read and reflected on by all Christians.

Max Lucado (born January 11, 1955) is a best-selling Christian author and minister of writing and preaching at Oak Hills Church (formerly the Oak Hills Church of Christ) inSan Antonio, Texas. Lucado has written more than 50 books with 28 million copies in print, including three recipients of the Charles “Kip” Jordon Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year (Just Like Jesus, In the Grip of Grace, and When God Whispers Your Name), and has appeared regularly on several bestseller lists. I was given this quote a while ago and have been mediating on it this weekend as I spent time with some really close friends.

“When my daughter was a toddler, I used to take her to a park not far from our apartment. One day as she was playing in a sandbox, an ice-cream salesman approached us. I purchased her a treat, and when I turned to give it to her, I saw her mouth was full of sand. Where I had intended to put a delicacy, she had put dirt.
Did I love her with dirt in her mouth? Absolutely. Was she any less of my daughter with dirt in her mouth? Of

course not. Was I going to allow her to keep the dirt in her mouth? No way. I loved her right where she was, but I refused to leave her there. I carried her over to the water fountain and washed out her mouth. Why? Because I love her.
God does the same for us. He holds us over the fountain. “Spit out the dirt, honey,” our Father urges. “I’ve got something better for you.” And so he cleanses us of filth; immorality, dishonesty, prejudice, bitterness, greed. We don’t enjoy the cleansing; sometimes we even opt for the dirt over the ice cream. “I can eat dirt if I want to!” we pout and proclaim. Which is true—we can. But if we do, the loss is ours. God has a better offer.”
— Max Lucado (Just Like Jesus)
Let me know what you think…

Have you ever missed an event or not turned up to something because it wasn’t on Facebook. I even rely on Facebook to tell me when my families’ birthdays are. Social networking sites like Facebook have changed the way we live our lives. This has great implications for the church.

The pace and way of life is increasingly shaped by the technology we create and utilize. The way we communicate is often the basis for relationships, community and culture. New, powerful ways of communicating affect and transform the way we interact with each other in our schools, colleges and places of work. The internet and social networking sites, like Facebook, have a big potential to allow Christians to share our faith in new relevant way. They also have their dangers.

We can sometimes become so reliant on Facebook that we miss out on building relationships in person. Many times I get home from seeing my mates only to realize I’d forgotten how much I love spending time with them face to face. Nothing beats it.  While Facebook is a powerful tool, it doesn’t replace the quality time that comes from hanging out with your mates and doing what you love best together.

We only need to look at the bible to see that words are powerful used in the right way, at a distance or face to face. Facebook gives us the ability to be involved in many lives across many worlds. What we do with this technology will shape the future of our relationships with one another and the way we interact with God. Your status, your wall posts and your comments demonstrate who you are and what you believe in. What have you posted in the last few weeks? What does say about your life and your world? What does it say about your bond with God?

If we use Facebook as a way of challenging people’s attitude towards God then it can be a powerful tool. If we use it as replacement for relationship it becomes a poor imitation of friendship.