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Regret or guilt/blame?

This PamBG's Blog: Regret is an excellent post by Pam. Clearly thought out and presented through clear examples. Very helpful indeed as I often see confusion in this area.

Methodist Conference - Ordination Day

My friend Pete, Secretary of the Methodist Church Faith and Order Committee, has written a long and excellent post on yesterday's Methodist Conference events and Ordination services. postmodernbible: Methodist Conference Day 4 #methconf - Ordination Day - Lyrically Amazing.

Unsurprisingly enough it took me back to my own 42: Ordination = !!!!!!! 4 years ago.

Last time I was at Conference for the reception into Full Connexion and then an Ordination Service was in 2009 (Wolverhampton) and I remember being in tears. Very powerful and very moving - also that year very hot :-)

So glad that we have ordained some wonderful people this year - quality is up compared to at least vone of them 4 years ago :-) We remembered those being ordained in our prayers both at Syston in the morning service and at Claremont Street in the evening,

You can keep up withb this years Methodist Conference in a variety of ways. See Conference Live - The Methodist Conference for video and tweets or on twitterfall.

Male Headship trying to be funny: 8 rules for dating my daughter

The attempts to be funny with Male Headship tell you a lot about what is underlying it. See Sean Green's Blog: 8 rules for dating my daughter for heavy handed humour that pretends violence is expected, acceptable and funny for Christians.

Unless you have found a very different set of Gospels in your Bible or have a very odd reading of the crucifixion of Jesus the idea that violence can be funny is a very strange one for a Christian.

If you happen to be the daughter of someone who believes in male headship I wonder what a post like this does to your self esteem, your confidence and your belief in your parents trust and acceptance of you.

I don't care if this is an attempt at humour, it is what lies beneath the "humour" that is worrying.

 

The Confessions of a Cage Fighter: Masculinity, Misogyny, and the Fear of Losing Control

An excellent article: The Confessions of a Cage Fighter: Masculinity, Misogyny, and the Fear of Losing Control : The Other Journal.

Very highly recommended as a response to the view of masculinity promoted in particular by Mark Driscoll. Great to see a former Cage Fighter quoting Augustine & Volf. Also Matt's responses in the comments are well worth reading. Especially this one where he writes about the term "peace ethic" and challenges ideas of feminized meaning weak. The comment includes this:

If peace is ontologically prior to violence, or if violence is characteristic of nothingness, then then it is indeed violence that is the negative concept-- the void, the ruin of creation. Then it is pacifism (or the peace ethic) that is positive and those who practice an ethic of peace are caught up in positive action-- the re-creation of the cosmos.

The whole post is a fantastic response to the masculinity, male headship and violence combination that is so central to Mark Driscoll's understanding of Christianity, it is all the more powerful as it comes from someone who was at the heart of what Mark Driscoll praises and yet which he clearly mis-understands.

For me violence (and a key part of that violence is seen in language about power and submission) is at the heart of male headship. Some may be strong and supress it enough to appear socially acceptable and even nice, but sadly there are far too many victims. A belief system that is rooted in violence & power is extremely hard to reconcoile with the teaching, example and especially the death of Jesus.

Note I heard about this post from Must read: On Cage Fighting, “Masculinity, Misogyny, and the Fear of Losing Control” « Are Women Human? also a good read as it has a different angle (focus on gender not being a simple binary state, which I agree with).