40 Acts - Share, Pray, Like

"Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7 (NLT)

I am a Social Media Scroll.

Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t say troll, the type who takes to twitter to harass and abuse (nor the small pink-haired plastic toy). An SMS is someone who spends time scrolling through timelines with no purpose, eyes glazed over, with about as much interest as a vegan at McDonald’s. Facebook is merely an extended photo album and Twitter an opportunity to catch the latest headlines and top hashtags. I only read the first few lines of a blog post and even 140 characters often pushes my reading limit (don’t even get me started on the ‘continue reading’ button).

To be honest, most of the time I simply haven’t got anything witty, intelligent or groundbreaking to say. And, when the world seems to be heading to hell in a hashtag, I don’t even know how to respond. However, I often forget that I have a much greater weapon than any tweet or blog post. I have the most powerful weapon in any arsenal, the weapon of prayer.

Which leads me to today’s challenge, to pray for your news feed.

Here’s the idea: as you scroll, don’t simply like, favourite, moan or troll. Stop and engage with the situation in a powerful way; pray.

There have been many debates as to whether engagement on social media makes any difference, whether endless memes and charity hashtags actually change the world. But one thing we know for certain; prayer works. And this isn’t just voicing stuff for our own benefit, a therapeutic announcement to get stuff of our chest. Jesus tells us that when we pray, God answers (Matthew 7:7); Paul says that Jesus himself sits on the right hand of the Father, nudging him on our behalf (Romans 8:34).

So why not give it a go? Pray as news breaks, as people moan; pray for the lovers and pray for the haters, the scrollers and the trollers; pray for your friends and pray for your enemies; pray when stuff makes you happy, sad, grumpy and mad. Don’t tweet without thinking, but (in the words of the prayerful apostle) pray without ceasing.

Sam Gibb

To see today's web page - Click HERE

No, it's not a 'normal' blog!

Had a most challenging and enjoyable conversation with someone who felt they need to make the point that my blog wasn't a 'normal' Christian blog! My response went along the lines of 'No surprise there then Sherlock!' because it isn't supposed to be, and here's why:

Many of the 'normal' Christian sites I encounter trawl out the same old theological explanations (often it seem lifting them from other places) relating to the same old theological issues. They work hard at looking clever (something I'd never be able to carry off) and and amongst their highly polished (something I'd never claim to have) web presence they produce extremely clever theological thinking - often proving it with proper theological words and quotes from the great and influential theological minds what clever people refer to (I can't event spell SchloerMarker!).

Sadly, what I try to do here is look at issues that collide with me and having survived the impact define some baseline for me, and perhaps others, to begin to dialogue with and establish some sort of understanding of the issue before me (and perhaps us).

I will engage with things theological but, thanks to some excellent training which taught that theologians are accessible or academic, I have decided that I favour the former and so try to appeal to things with less syllables and fewer names of the Germanic variety*!

I will also continue to leave myriad typos as I rush in, scribble and rush out again - it's the curse of the scratchpad nature of the blog (but will try to remedy said typos at some stage to protect the brains of those around me).

I accept that this place will never be one with a myriad of whatever it is that those wonderfully polished site with loads of neat little adverts and clever little gadgets have to make it stand out as 'something to win prizes'**

What you will find here is stuff that I come across, dialogue with, find myself (and others) challenged by as something we can engage in and develop our own apologetic as we do theology in a real and everyday manner.

So that's me and this place and who, what, how and why it is here - please feel free to become a part of it and make it your own in whichever way you can - All are welcome to view my own brand of weirdness and my journey for integrity in my own faith and ministry life.

Pax

*mind you hypocritically, and just a little inconsistently, I will continue to turn to Barth, Moltmann, Bonhoeffer, Hauerwas and many other of my inappropriately germanic styled heroes as I seek to grow my faith and learn.

** A cool comment from someone who stumbled across the site and, applauding some drivel I'd scribbled, made a number of 'design and features' suggestions which, they assured me, would make me 'an award winning'  offering. Not the aim (but of course if you'd like to applaud - feel free (and if you'd like to offer suggestions, correctives and dialogue - feel freer still).