A ‘recovery’ of New Testament Christianity does it need a context in which to develop? The most influential flavour of Christian faith that impacted me was that of the ‘new church’ movement in the UK. I am very grateful for the decades I was immersed in that and the push for ‘church as in the NT’ might be something I would wish to reposition as ‘a recovery of the gospel of the NT’… or even ‘a recovery of the trajectory of the gospel of the NT’. For some time though I have wondered if we have to also embrace a NT context – i.e. something akin to the Roman-Graeco culture of that day.
Years ago I visited Pompeii then read passages from Revelation in the evening. Forget about ‘left behind’ and other such myths – we read what we had been walking through. Today Gayle and I went down the coast from Marsala and the last place we walked through was the archaeological site of Selinunte. A site of ancient (Greek) temples. Here is one of the many temples:
Impressive for sure! But imagine Paul’s world – coming to Athens and temples to each and every god, and even one to the ‘unknown god’! A challenging culture to proclaim that the ONE God, creator of heaven and earth does not live in temples made of stones and that this God has raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead! Amazing that people lined up to say – OK I am ready to follow.
And challenging to proclaim the gospel in that context. But this is what they did and with a long-term vision that everything connected to Imperialism would resultingly fall (the message of the book of Revelation as I read it).
So do we need a culture that more closely resembles that of the NT? Multi-faith so that in the ‘market place’ we make our presentation? Or maybe that culture is more present than we realise? What might be the temples in our city – temples that demand sacrifice of time, money and the future? Maybe if we could see them for what they are we might already find that we are in a NT context, then go on to discover what the presentation should be and then…
I have been blogging for over 25 years and it began when someone in Germany said to me that I should ‘blog’. My response was – I am not interested in what others are pontificating over so am not about to add my pontificates to theirs. Then I began to read what others were writing and thought if I can keep it away from the pontifications and lean into ‘these are personal perspectives’ it might help me to process where I have been and where I think I am headed… and maybe be a help to someone else to journey with authenticity. I am far from convinced that there is one response that all followers of Jesus should make, after all Jesus in response to Peter’s moan was that how John would respond to God’s leading had nothing to do with him. Of course there are issues that we are to watch out for but outside of that the leading of God is very personal. So in reading my posts they are ‘personal perspectives’, and one of the challenges is that no-one is right on everything, our problem being that we have no idea where we are wrong! Here then follows something as much for my benefit as for anyone else, reflecting on our departure from Oliva just over 3 weeks ago and how we set ourselves for the coming week.
Another week… Days, weeks, months (lunar or calendar?) and maybe even years are wonderful dividers for us. Take a day at a time is one of the wisest approaches we can take – in that sense I only have today. A good friend who sadly passed away in 2001, Johnny Barr, was asked to pray for a woman who had been diagnosed with 4 months to live… He said to her I can’t possibly pray for you on the basis of that prognosis. She asked him – so how long do I have? His response was – today. Scripture consistently says ‘today’. If you choose to live today I can pray for you.
I don’t know if the week begins on Sunday (‘first day of the week’) or Monday but we tend to take each week from Monday, so here we are. Dreams and nights are important for us. Gayle has maybe 5-6 dreams per month that we need to take note of; I, maybe 5-6 per year that are ‘pay attention’ dreams. We have been directed to geographic places in dreams, but also note patterns. Since arriving in Marsala dreams have increased but not so many have ‘landed’ – an indication of activity but contention. Then add to that how disturbed sleep can be – and when it is somewhat disturbed indicates a level of opposition. Land loves to respond to care and prayer for release from bondage (Rom. 8), but there is a process involved for (whatever is meant by spiritual powers) are rooted in geography and so do not simply shift in an instant.
We are now hitting the stage of… time to move on. Not the voice of heaven! The stage of – so how serious are you? That is the voice of heaven.
Time to dig in.
We are encouraged that across Italy there is a move that is continuing to hold a protest position against the inhumane situation in Gaza and concerning economy that profits from war. We observed this in Spain earlier in the year and our hope has been that this would spread across Europe. What has that to do with the gospel? Well if narrowed down to ‘hands up and sinner’s prayer’ we might give one response… but if we look at the bigger picture of what I term ‘the Pauline gospel’ we might give another response and a shift on the bigger picture removes a measure of the blindness that ‘the Satan’ brings over people.
Colonisation is coming right into view. There is no value in over-judging the past. If we were to do that we would judge many of the ‘saints’ of Scripture – everything fits the era it was in. Garibaldi and the conquest of Sicily? At one level irrelevant but a sign of something fresh that can be released. Hence something here to continue to pray so that fuel comes to a humanitarian push across this continent that is line with the image of God is in humanity, thus declaring all war as ‘civil war’.
Musings for the day… and maybe fuel for us as we go to the marker point of the most westerly point on the island. From the West… the western hegemony is coming to an end (ends of that nature die slowly) but out of the ashes something has to come from the west. The angel who brought the book in the dream (that we have not been able to read – yet) was struggling to hold the book due to its weight and size, but it was held at three points – to in the arms extended to the extreme and the other on the stomach. I think symbolically the three marker points on this triangular island.
A missing element so often is patience – not something passive but deeply active – for it is through faith and patience that heaven comes. Another week.
We have been interested in how the history fit together as history (for a person and a geography – hence Scripture relates to geographies as it does to people with over 1200 references to land… heaven and earth is a constant theme which has been replaced by ‘heaven and hell’ as if they are the constant contrasts) reveals what is located in a place or explains what is present now. Marsala did not arrive here this morning, nor did arrive here in 1860 but that era has caught our attention.
A rather graffiti-covered monument!!
In 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi arrived with his expedition of 1000 from mainland Italy (though it was not ‘Italy’ then) and landed at Marsala – on the westernmost point of the island of Sicily. From there he conquered Sicily as the first part of his vision for a united Italy. This phase finished at the border where Gayle and I stopped and prayed some 2 weeks ago – the northern border of the ‘kingdom of the two Sicilies’. We simply went with our ‘gut’ that we should make that stopping point on our journey and likewise when we entered Sicily in the north east we had a decision to make – go south or west. In our days when roughly planning the trip we thought we would go south but as we got off the ferry, we followed our ‘gut’ and went west to the furthest west on the island, here in Marsala. We did not know o Garibaldi’s landing here, the beginning of the unification of Italy.
The monument above is of two ships and I think we will visit it repeatedly to pray. Been there once, did not sense great traction – but who knows?
What difference does this make? That’s what makes me buzz. Not a clue!!! Doing what believe should do is the key, and yes a theology of land, history and city might indeed suggest that a difference takes place, but the wonderful part of seeking to follow God is never knowing totally what difference our words and activities make.
Sicily – the first place outside of Italia colonised by the republic (pre-Imperial Rome… though there will always be a pull for Republics to become Empires, and often Empires hide behind the term republic).
Patience is needed. I like things to happen instantly, but often it is repetition that makes the difference. Throw the nets in one more time… but we have fished all night, was the reply. We will go again and again, and walk the city and I think slowly insights and revelation will come.
Sicily sits in the middle of middle earth. It has been a crossroads for trade and imperial conflicts. Marsala has a history way before 1860 and we probably will need to go there, but for now praying for something to begin that might make a mark in years to come. Not the unification of Italy through military conquest, but a unifying across Europe. Let’s see… I think ‘my friend’ (as I like to call him!) Paul had such a vision.
I only put the ‘in Europe’ part as this is my geography and I am trying to intersperse comments about our little adventure in Sicily with posts focusing on Europe. But I also add the ‘Europe’ part as I have this crazy idea that in the body of this old continent something is slowly forming… for the sake of the world. And before anyone thinks I am some kind of ‘head in sand’ post-millennialist let me state that all the pre-, post-and a- are (in my humble opinion!!!) mistaken. (More opinion than humility there!) I am simply focused on the job we are to engage with and leaving all that ‘end-time’ stuff in the hands of God, as I find almost nothing in Scripture pointing me in that direction, but a call to live in the light of the coming age and seek to live, act and relate in a way that is consistent with that age.
Been planning to get a tattoo to mark the time in Sicily. Here is my first attempt at a profound design; Gayle is quite dismissive! And to think all my creativity went into it:
Want a clue? Though pretty obvious… I had to shorten John’s words of what he saw (Rev. 21) by substituting a Pauline phrase… though the form of the last word does not appear in the NT. Pretty sure I have got the form of the irregular noun correct – hope so!!! But waiting for Gayle to bring on her improved version.
A few little background notes. Paul left behind an ekklesia (usually translated as ‘church’) in the cities and regions where he went, doing this throughout ‘Europe’ until he was able to claim a fulfilment of Matt. 24:14. Quite a claim! If we were to do a word-association exercise and I was to say ‘church’ my guess is 90+% of us would imagine a building and a service at the centre. If we read James and the section about a rich person coming in and being given the best seat we probably would not first see a meal table but ‘pews’ or seats inside a building. I am not an iconoclast and given that we all prefer to live in buildings I don’t think anti-building is likely to get us anywhere. However, it is the focus of what we are centred on that is more important. Thomas Finger (Mennonite theologian) wrote that ecclesiology is the least innovative area of theology, so much simply being assumed.
What was Paul up to? Is he simply looking to form groups that are separate from their geography who are expressing a spirituality? If so then we would suggest that it is all about ‘salvation’ to escape from a future. There is that element there… but given that there was already an ekklesia in each place where Paul went we probably have to consider that there is a kind of ‘alternative’ that he is ‘planting’ there. (I like the word ‘planting’ as it is organic and situational.) The ekklesia that was there on behalf of Rome was commissioned to be actively committed to help shape the relevant geography to reflect the culture and values of Rome. Paul leaves behind an ekklesianot of Rome but of Jesus Christ. A company of people whose citizenship was not Roman but derived from heaven. Here then for me is the core clue: this company of people have a corporate purpose – one of enabling where they are planted (organically and situationaly) to mirror at some discernible level the culture and values of heaven. Of course such a company is made up of a mixed-bag, so the restoration of all of us who are ‘mixed’ (should that be spelt ‘messed up’?) is part of the process, but even in our mixed-up-ness we are to be present as agents of helping bring about a shape where heaven’s presence can increase.
[Sidenote: I am not a Universalist, but see a ‘wideness in the mercy of God’ that outworks in two ways – in the ultimate sense any inclusion/exclusion is issue is in God’s hands and not in the hands of any theological system; and the second way in the here and now there are those who are agents of the kingdom who are not disciples (Acts 19 and Asiarchs for me is very key in this approach.)]
Perhaps it is in Europe that an ecclesiology that is diverse – the multiplicity of the small and the richness of diversity – develops. We have that opportunity. Courage and faithfulness to the one to whom the ekklesia belongs and who is the source is required. And finally there is room for optimism. Corinth,for example, a city of around 200,000 in Paul’s day had a mixed-bag ekklesia (understatement) that was not large (Rom.16 shows this). Maybe 0.1% of the population. In desperate need of church growth? Well according to Paul in need of ‘faith-growth’ (but our hope is that, as your faith increases, our field among you may be greatly enlarged, 2 Cor.10:15). If that could happen he could happily get on his donkey and travel to fresh geographies.
I got to be an optimist! And even if that optimism were ultimately to be misplaced I got to keep the central focus of ‘let your kingdom come’, not ‘get me out of here’.
Today around mid-day we move into the city of Marsala. We have taken an apartment for the next 32 days. With ‘booking.com’ so have not been able to see it but confident we can make it work. Street view below, and the entry door for us is the first on the left. (Parking of van…?????)
We are ready to enter the city after being on the edge for 5 days. We a) feel at home in the city and b) sense its significance for the next weeks. It is on the extreme west of the island – some 4 hours drive from where we landed.
Sicily is a triangle in shape and is marked at the three corners – the west point is here in Marsala and certainly feels the place to start. Walking the city, finding key points and let’s see.
The city is close on 3000 years from its initial beginnings and has been a ‘first’ in a number of ways. I have mentioned in a previous post that one natural reading of the unification of Italy is that it began here with Garibaldi landing with his ‘1000’ and from here eventually conquering all the way to Naples / the border of the ancient ‘kingdom of the two Sicilies’. This was not in our sight those days back when we were at that border but now seems to make sense. It was also where the first Punic War began (wars between Carthage and Rome 3rdC BCE lasting over 23 years) – the battle for supremacy in the Western Mediterranean. Finally in 241BCE the city was given to the Romans and soon became one of the most important cities in the Sicily.
History always gives some clues as to what is in the land, as in the same way that personal history shapes an individual. Sometimes of course the history covers over the reality… let’s see.
A few nights ago I had a dream that has stuck with me. First some background. (And if you wish to tone down the language that is OK – the substance / reality is always what counts…) someone said that the place to start would be like a portal for sight on Europe and that there was a ‘book’ there that we would receive giving details and strategy. So the dream. A few nights ago I was in a large space – either a large room or perhaps outside with some walls surrounding. I was not focused on that nor on whoever else was present, because an angel (don’t ask how one ‘knows’ what one knows in a dream – no wings to give away, but I simply knew this was not a human figure, but had come from a non-earthly location) had come carrying a book. The angel was small – maybe 5’5 (165cms) tall. And the book was large, heavy and very awkward to carry. I was aware that the book had come a long way so was deeply impressed that the angel had persisted and thought that I probably would not have persisted. To hold the book the angel had to bend somewhat as the book was too large to carry ‘normally’ or under an arm. The arms were to stretched to the furthest extent. I did not say anything, but the angel said – I will bring it, I have come thus far and not about to give up. Then with great effort the angel lifted the book on to a lectern, ready to be opened and read. End of dream. Of course it could just be a dream that rose from my sub-conscious, but…
So off to the city and whatever concludes about the book I think if we persist then we will leave here with something of significance.
We spent a big part of yesterday in the city of Trapani and enjoyed our time there in a city that seems open and holding life. As we were leaving we walked past this burnt out car that has been preserved as a marker.
Carlo Palermo replaced his friend that the Mafia (Cosa Nostra as they term themselves:’Our Thing’) had killed. He carried on the work and was immediately a target. The car above was set up. Palermo himself was injured but survived and carried on the work of investigation and justice, The bomb however killed a mother and her twin sons – hence the three ‘flowers’ growing up out of the shell.
So very sobering when encountering people, or their memory, in the public arena who have stood at cost for a different future. Maybe some of them have lived with mixed motives but I am aware (moving now a little in a theological direction) that God honours what is good. From the generic piece of observable wisdom that ‘righteousness exalts a nation’ to the parable of the ‘good’ Samaritan – Samaritan of all people! There is no need to go down the line of ‘good works saves a person’ but neither should we dismiss what is genuinely good. It is a belief that my ‘religious’ activity gets me favour before God that is critiqued and critiqued strongly – your righteousness is as filthy rags.
Two aspects challenge me in this. One a humility that I am not the one who says who makes it into the age to come; and that I have to find a different narrative to the simple one that ‘born again = go to heaven’. There is no Scripture that talks of ‘going to heaven’ in such a clear manner so I need to find a different / bigger reason for knowing the Lord (or as Paul corrects himself ‘being known by the Lord’). That bigger picture for me is of the body of Christ taking responsibility for our world. We can create space where those come along who ‘do good to all’ and our world mirrors a tiny bit of heaven’s reality, and I think push back so that less innocent people are damaged by the fallenness of our world.
Don’t blame the world… As I once said to a group of people in the USA who were concerned about abortion and changes to the marriage laws in their country. I said that the WH had never legislated on such matters (they had at one level, but not at the level that counts)… I said people like you present in this room did. When you walk up the aisle making promises and then walk down saying I have found someone better you legislated about marriage (thank God there is wonderful grace re. divorse / remarriage, but an ‘opting out at first opportunity’ is not what Scripture talks about). And secondly when you tithe and raise your hands in church to worship but support the killing of ‘those bloody Iraquis’ (that was the era) you legislate who can and can not be killed. If you are blasé about human life that can be seen and interacted with we should not be too surprised that society becomes blasś about life that cannot be seen.
The Pauline gospel.
Yes there is the intimacy with the Living Lord that we enjoy… but there is a reason for the body of Christ on the earth. Praying for and rejoicing when there is any manifestation of the kingdom.
I’ve started so I’ll finish. A phrase from the Mastermind quiz but maybe also a biblical / God phrase? ‘When God began to create / in the beginning’ (dependent on how it is translated – the first one I understand to be the better of the two) relates to the end – a new heaven and a new earth; new creation.
Jesus words on the cross – ‘It is finished’… and yet Paul says ‘making up for what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ’; Paul claims that the gospel (good news message) had been proclaimed throughout the world. Finishes that are real; but somehow they are unfinished finishes that have to be supplemented, not by something different, but by the same flow. So where am I going with this?
There is an end… new creation. How do we move toward it? The pivotal moment of all moments is that of the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is the firstfruits of all that is to come. His resurrection is the guarantee for us and for creation that we are not staring down the barrel of nuclear obliteration but of participating in the rebirth of all things. Paul saw his sufferings as participating in the sufferings of Christ. Not suffering for the sake of it but to release the blessings of heaven for the body of Christ. His life was not a ransom for others but a means of releasing others into the benefits of the ransom that comes through the cross; thus enabling there to be a proclamation to the whole earth (or rather the oikoumene of the Roman Empire). I believe the Pauline gospel (and that term is not inappropriate as he terms it ‘my gospel’ in Rom. 2:16) is on the way to significant recovery, a message that the death of Jesus on the cross initiated a global transformation with a gracious invite to join the movement. (Maybe we can summarise the message as ‘Jesus is Lord and there is a movement of those liberated from the power of sin that you can be baptised into’?)
I have no idea how this all works out. Times and events are not what Scripture whets our appetite with, but direction and process. ‘To’ the ends of the earth and ‘being witnesses’ through the power of the Spirit to the new creation that we see.
Landing this post…
I am writing this post as a small addition to the former ones on ‘Europe’. The place where Paul’s gospel had been proclaimed (and later infiltrated and subsumed by Imperial sovereignty) has an offer being given to it. It is found (as always) in the desert, the place where symbolically the powers of darkness dwell – hence the lack of fruitfulness there. Paul’s work is ‘finished’, but the final word of Acts is ‘unhindered’ (ἀκωλύτως). We have a responsibility. And oh yes there is a Jerusalem aspect too. Not one of a king dictating over the whole world, but one that witnesses that the prince of peace died there so that reconciliation – no Jew nor Greek (civilised Roman world) divide, nor slave nor free (economic), nor male and female (creation language superseded). A place of reconciliation. Now that is a dream.
A man imprisoned saw something (Rev. 21). If he could maybe we can dream also? And maybe we will see it if we can see beyond any prison doors (most of which are in our minds) that might seem to contain us.
I am a dreamer that Europe will find a way and humbly serve beyond her borders – even to the places that carry the testimony of recent waves of ‘revival’. There are worlds beyond the ‘whole world’ that Paul focused on. This is the destiny of Europe. To the finish. A perspective.
How do we pronounce that word? Apparently try Mar (easy bit) and then add the name of a current famous Liverpool player. Spent last night in Balestrate: here is our van parked and we stayed around the corner:
Nothing too hostile but an interesting place. The ‘host’ for our B&B was a throw back from the 60s (hippy era) and we entered our room to him and his ‘friends’ in a very heated discussion(!!!???) that indicated a certain amount of alcohol and whatever else had been present in the previous hours! The street I photograph is typical of many historic towns in Italy and also Spain. A very intense evening for us with not a lot of sleep involved but prayer and processing. We left Balestrate this morning but with our host opening his arms and ‘Sicily welcomes you’. We take that.
A colleague who has helped us a lot – Michael Schiffmann – had contacted us about a month ago with ‘the South-West holds the keys and you need to go there early on to discover revelation for the island. There is no South West as the island is a triangle. That showed that MS was not looking at a map or doing some google research (all valid) but giving what he had received. So we have been holding and seeking to process that and the South West (without there being a south west) puts us on the coast from Agrigento up. We settled on Marsala as the starting point and have secured for our next 6 days an apartment here. It will give us time to settle (been on the road for 11 days). Marsala was where Garibaldi began his campaign that ended in Italy being united. He landed in Marsala, from there conquered the island and then worked north on the mainland, thus before long ended the ‘two Sicilies kingdom’ as the border (the one we prayed on a few days ago) went and Italy soon united to become what we have today. A place of entry to that movement that interestingly had at its heart politicians, journalists, economists and ‘states-people’.
We know this is the next place for us – unfinished business for sure in Balestrate – but here we will sow something into the ground . Interestingly there is a ‘new gate’ into the city – probably where Garibaldi entered. (Map below… Marsala off to the left, Balestrate is just to the west of Palermo.
Sad to leave the high mountains (and Etna) behind but this is now the right place.
We have stopped in a number of places to see, pray and receive, but yesterday was the most focused of days. We had been given a word about taking time at a border for there we would receive for the ongoing journey and receive some kind of partnership with angels. Borders: Spain to France; France to Germany; Germany to Switzerland; Switzerland to Italy; and of course ‘smaller’ borders between provinces and the sea border between Italy mainland and Sicily is yet to come. So which border?
Borders are important and I am not too fussed what we make of ‘angels, principalities and powers’ but at the minimum they speak of authorities that either shape the context or are shaped by the context. I am not convinced we have to be correct in our theology but it sure helps to do our best to align with whatever the Scriptures are describing. Jacob encountered angels at a border both when leaving his family on the way to Laban’s household and also when he returned. Paul described how God had set boundaries for the peoples (and kairos times) so that they might seek after / stumble and find God. Hence boundaries are important and the crossing of them is what transgression speaks of and is a sure way to remove the environment where people can seek after and find God. (Of course there is much more to it than that, but to ignore the issue of boundaries and land we will miss a whole aspect of the release of ‘good news’.) Paul and Luke seemed to have used the Roman names for territory and Paul’s journeys were led by the Spirit but within defined geographical settings.
So which border?
We were convinced that the border we needed to give attention to was an ancient border – the northern border of the kingdom of the two Sicilies. To the north was the papal lands and to the south the kingdom of the two Sicilies.
It was the “Kingdom” par excellence. Its territory was delineated since the very first years of its creation under Roger II of Altavilla and remained unchanged along the centuries until its fall in 1861: its northern boundary followed a line that stretched out from Civitella del Tronto (south of Ascoli) to Gaeta and touched Leonessa, L’Aquila (north of Pontecorvo) and then continued south to the Tyrrhenian Sea; its southern boundary was the sea itself, including Sicily.
For around 730 years this territory holds that boundary. And of course in the history there are the inevitable clashes and alignments between so-called secular powers and the religious powers exercised by the pope. The uneasy history! The annexation of the two kingdoms was the effective start of the unification of Italy under Garibaldi (1860 onwards).
The map to the left is that of the ancient division, and we have been staying approximately 2 kilometres north of the line on the western coast. Noe Limiñana laid an ancient map over the current map of the area and came up with the border as being marked by a river – the Rio Claro. This is where we focused yesterday and (of course could be subjective) the witness in our spirit when we stood on the bridge over the river was very strong. The ancient border! We ‘felt’ (oh yes possibly simply subjective) that there was a difference one side to the other… angels going with us? I am sure there will be though neither of us had specific dreams last night – something that would be expected.
Coming off the bridge we smiled when we saw this sign on the sea front indicating the flow of water divides at that point. One direction back and one direction toward our destination:
As we travel today our prayer and speech will be concerning the open arms of God to one and all. Borders over coming years might change… but let them fit with what will facilitate a ‘finding of God’.
Coincidentally(?) a camp site on the border is named ‘Anastasia’, after the goddess. It was Paul’s proclamation of ‘Jesus and the resurrection (ἀνάστασις)’ that was central and misunderstood as two deities: a new one (Jesus) and an ancient Greek one (Anastasia). A good reminder – Jesus cannot be proclaimed without the resurrection… and if proclaimed then everything has changed and we have to live from that perspective, the perspective of the new creation.
Tonight we should be right down in the south ready to get a ferry tomorrow to Sicily. For sure angels go with us as they do with all who seek to partner with God.
