Preaching Week in Sweden

I have just got back from 4 days teaching at a Homiletical week in Uppsala in Sweden, 45 minutes north of Stockholm.  The Johannelund bible school has 80+ students many of whom are training for ministry in the Lutheran, Church of Sweden. 

The staff made me feel very welcome and seemed appreciative of my 4 lectures on Preaching from Old Testament narrative, 1 Samuel.  The students were also engaged and asked some good questions.  Many of them are quite young; lots of them do 5 years study and end up with a Masters Degree. 

The Lutheran Church seems fairly ‘mixed’; whilst some of them would have a strong preaching, evangelical ministry, the state Church is also quiet ‘high’ with some of them seeing themselves in a sacerdotal ministry.  The denomination is also struggling with many of the same issues with respects to homosexuality, pluralism and interfaith issues as the Church of England.  I guess one factor which plays out quite differently for them is the taxation system in which those who register as Church members are required to pay into central funding, so despite falling Church attendance there seems to be plenty of money around.

We had an interesting discussion about the use of the liturgy.  Unwittingly I put my foot in it!  I was asked by one of the students about preaching from the lectionary (i.e. the set readings for each Sunday) and responded by saying that whenever I could I didn’t and have always preached through books (or part of the book) of the bible over several weeks.  This is because I feel that the agenda is set by the Scripture rather than by the lectionary or by the preacher.  Also, it enables the congregation to begin to get a feel for what the Bible message is.  My concern with Lectionary preaching is also that preachers spend their time trying to locate the ‘golden thread’ that runs through all three lectionary readings to find a uniting theme rather than do justice to 3 or even 1 of the passages listed.

Apparently one of the previous speakers had used a very similar illustration to my ‘golden thread’ line commending the lectionary and, moreover, there is a high expectation that preachers keep with the lectionary.  Oops!  To which the best answer is that they should be encouraged to expound one of the three readings set for the day rather than try to speak on all three.

However, the sessions seemed to be well received and I noted quite an appetite among students and staff, and, after all they had invited me to speak on Expository Preaching!

I had a very nice day in Stockholm, enjoying the wide tree lined promenades, eating Swedish meatballs and drinking strong black coffee in a street cafe overlooking the lovely waterfront.  It was cold mind you, feeling quite autumnal by comparison with Portugal or even Oxford!

Finally, I visited the famous Vasamuseet.  It houses a ship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628, built as the pride of King Gustov Aldoph.  I commented on the great self-deprecating nature of the Swedes in building such a monument to a huge failure!  The great interest is the fact that in the 1960’s the boat was raised and rebuild in the museum giving a great example of a 17th Century warship.

So, I had a tiring but profitable trip.  It would seem that there is a great need to continue modelling and encouraging faithful expository ministry and I feel privileged to be involved in some of this ministry.

The Shack by William P Young

The Shack by William P Young (no plot spoiler included!)

 

Like many others, I read this book out of a sense of intrigue.  For an overtly Christian book to have over 1 million copies in circulation and to rank as the Number One New York Times Bestseller list is in itself enough to prompt my interest.  If you add to this the large number of blog postings and general Christian chatter about this book, it is a book that deserved to be added to my holiday reading.

 

Having promised not to spoil to the plot, my comments below are more general!  There are some things which Young does very well:-

 

Masterful Story Telling.  Young has written a page turner with a clever combination of plot and good characterisation.  He engages with some deep stuff, but in a very good narrative manner, with most of the themes explored in a conversational style, using characters with whom the readers feels association and empathy.  This all comes across as an easy read, which decries the labour which produces such a readable book.  This is not at all to suggest that the deep themes are covered superficially, but rather to say that they are done so with an engaging and empathetic manner.

 

Theologically Explorative.  Very few authors have the ability to talk about issues of Christian suffering without immediately coming across as simplistic.  Similarly, to touch on themes of intra-Trinitarian relationships, the nature of the Son of God, time and transcendence etc. is no small task in a 250 page paper back.    Make no mistake, this is a work of fiction, and the theologically precise may get frustrated that not every ideological ‘I’ or theological ‘T’ is crossed.  But Young has succeeded in opening up some of these deep themes at a popular level and may have persuaded those with little theological education to begin thinking about such doctrinal issues for the first time.

 

Use of Fantasy Fiction to Unpack Christian Themes.   Recent popular works of fantasy fiction such as Harry Potter or Philip Pullman’s books have included some general religious themes (such as love, sacrifice etc,) but often with no overt Christian values, and in Pullman’s case, a specific agenda to write against the Christian Gospel.  However, the genre in which John Bunyan, C.S Lewis, and J.R. Tolkien wrote (fantasy fiction) has been powerfully used to communicate Christian themes.  It would be a mistake to try to draw out syllogistic reasoning or systematic theology from these writings.  What this writing genre is able to do, in the heritage of apocalyptic and parabolic writing style, is to paint pictures with words, which incite exploration, wonder and faith.

 

My admiration for The Shack has as much to do with the way in which it successfully explores theological themes in a book of fiction.  To succeed in this task outside of Church circles must surely have a useful apologetic affect and open up all sorts of avenues of exploration for those who read and discuss the book.  I would love to be able to write like this.

All Saints Algarve

All Saints Algarve

 

I know, it has been rather tricky persuading people that there is some work involved in the 16 days were are spending in the Algarve, but it is true!

 

All Saints is an Anglican Congregation under the oversight of Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini Rwanda (it’s quite a long story which you can read on their website www.allsaintsalgarve.org).  They are currently advertising for a full time Vicar to look after two congregation, one of which meets in near in Faro (in Almancil), the other meets in the small chapel of a lovely former nunnery in Lagoa.

 

During the three Sunday stay I shall preach at both services (sermons are being uploaded to my website www.Simonvibert.com) and take some midweek Bible studies, as well as seeking to be an encouragement to the Church leaders and congregation here.