Building a Better World

A Charter for Change

I just love the Sermon on the Mount.  Following a radical Lord who has holistic principles for a transformed life is such an awesome and challenging privilege.  On page 68 in Chapter 3 - where I examine the principles of the Beatitudes in detail - I said this:

"The Christian principle is simple, yet profound.  We cannot create a fair and caring world by engaging in activities or harbouring attitudes that militate against fairness and compassion.  To do so is to continue the cycle.  The moment we choose to be merciful, however, we break a link in the chain and thus weaken the chain itself.  In other words, we break the chain, a link at a time."

If you have read Chapter 3 I would love to hear from you - do you think that the principles outlined in this chapter make sense?  If you could add to them, or take things away from them, what changes would you make?

Examining about the attitudes we hold is such a worthwhile thing to do - in what ways do you think that the attitudes you hold strengthen the chains of injustice and oppression and in what ways do you think your attitudes break such chains?  It would be really interesting to hear your thoughts....

Finally, one thing that really intrigues me is how do we move beyond principles that we can agree to, and see these things as principles by which we actually live?  Let me know what you think!  I look forward to hearing from you.....

What difference does it make?

I wonder if any of you have found any of the copies of Building a Better World travelling around?  I left a copy up in Leeds last week while I was there doing some teaching - I'm looking forward to finding out where it got to....  Something I have been thinking about this week, particularly given the current controversy in the press, is also something I wrote on page 49:

Yet there is still a need for a better understanding of what Christian faith contributes to our communities and our world.  It is not enough to read the words of pop stars and politicians - we need to know how Christian faith builds a better world.  We need to understand some of the positive principles that underpin Christian faith if we are to understand what it can contribute to our lives and to the world....  Christian faith must understand its own unique contribution to building a better world, but it must also understand how others can contribute to making the world a better place.

As we read about the debate around Muslim women and the right to wear a veil, I wonder what our first reactions are?  I wonder particularly why it is so easy for us as followers of Christ to view everything about other faiths as "wrong" - do you think it might be a lack of confidence in our own faith, or is it something?  How good are we at articulating the things that we actually believe in rather than just the things that we oppose?  And a question that I spend time with my colleagues at Faithworks thinking about is how do we work in partnerships with people of other faiths and people of none, without losing our own sense of identity?

I would love to engage in debate with you around these sorts of issues - comment now and tell me what you think!

Building a Better World goes wild!

A number of copies of Building a Better World were released into the wild in central London today.  These copies are free to whoever finds them, and we are charting their progress through BookCrossing to see where they end up, and who enjoys them as they continue their journey....

Check out these photos to see some of the travelling copies!

If you finish your copy of the book maybe you could pass it on too!  Either to a friend who might be interested in engaging with the issues, or you might want to register it on BookCrossing and see where your copy ends up.  Let's spread the word and get people talking!

Who Cares?

Building a Better World is being published today and I have been so excited to see the finished copies.  I wrote the book as a conversation, and I am really hoping to use this blog to engage with you around some of the issues I raised, so here are a few thoughts to get us started....

On page 28 I said: Separating our actions from our motivations has never worked because it doesn't make sense.  Trying to build a better world without making sure the foundations are right is like building on sand.  Getting our foundations right means we will build on solid, reliable ground.  Exploring our foundations must be one of the most important undertakings of our lives.  It is a journey we must take.  This journey may not be a comfortable one for you or for me.  We may disagree on the way.  You may find that some of your misconceptions are challenged or your ideas shaken a little.  I hope mine are too.  I'm not interested in converting you.  I'm not interested in coercing you.  I'm not even interested in just persuading you.  What I do want to do is to help you to explore how the passions of your life might just coincide with the Giver of Life himself.

I would be really interested to hear from you as to why you think we are so bad at working out the foundations behind our motivation for action?  What do you think are the "right" foundations?  And why do you think that followers of Christ so often struggle with the question of conversion?  What do you think about lavishly loving God and others and letting God do the work of conversion?

Please do let me know what you think - I look forward to continuing the conversation with you......