'The Shape of Faith'

   What goes through your head when you have way too much to do and need to be 'creative on demand'... well, first is to create the illusion of time... so it's not on demand. The second is to of course have a head full of thinking about the how and what of 'faith shaping.' At least that's relevant to the work I'm doing for the weekend. I also look forward to a moment of diversion with Wanderers Women's Rugby First XV hosting a BBQ for the Club ahead of their Grand Final on Saturday!! Another Tall Tales night will see an old Wanderer share stories of their rugby days and what it is about Wanderers Rugby Club that keeps them connected... OK I digress.
   With a major Camp next weekend and some work being done towards a conversation at our regional [Presbytery] meeting, I'm thinking about:
What the 'good news' is for the Aussie society I live in and seek to know better, individuals in families and the wider community?
Where are the signs of God's activity in the world, that we are invited to join?
How is it that we have come to regard ourselves as being at the centre of this story, that salvation is about us, that God is so focused on our self actualisation and that the whole story neatly fits into our middle class aspirations, whether we realise it or not?
   I wonder what hope we have unless we can grasp that God is in the whole world and invites us to engage in community as 'culture makers' who want to join in creating 'another world' where the fruits of the Spirit are a blueprint for elevating those who are 'blessed.' God speaks of this from the very edges of our society and calls us to stand with and in those places... returning to McAfee Brown's thinking... where we stand determines what we see... our faith would be shaped by stories of need, not contribution, of hospitality, not exclusion and we would need to 'bite our lip' and allow God to speak, not the clatter of our own filtered agendas.
   So many times when I have been engaged in conversations around how faith must be presented, how programs and initiatives must be 'Christ centred' or we must 'share the Gospel' it's my assertion that this is that persons agenda and need, not God's.
Here's one way of thinking that's exercising my mind towards Weekend OUT...
FOLLOWING...
SPACES we're talking about creating need to be about reflecting, stepping back, intent and people sharing their stories
TIME to be with people getting to know them better and encountering new people
We are called to be an EXAMPLE by DOING
Being followers by paradoxically being a LEADER
Which means giving a bit of yourself away, putting yourself in the situation of being an EXAMPLE
By having to EXPLAIN things and through exploring and SEEING the amazing faith of OTHERS

What ?
OK, so what I've just written will make little sense to anyone else but me... sorry, I guess I'm thinking aloud and trying to get my own brain working... as someone who first stirred this morning at 4.45am