Lent Day 30

Another Meeting Place night tonight. Went really well, nice atmosphere, good conversation. I talked about Jesus healing the man born blind, the 6th sign in John's gospel. I think this is one of my favourite stories in the gospel. The guy starts off a blind beggar and ends up seeing Jesus face to face and worshipping him. This is the story of every Christian, in a way. The story reads really well, and everyone seemed to be listening intently, which is quite rare. Got chatting to one of the guys who has been coming for years, who is a spiritualist (and possibly schizophrenic to boot). He was telling me of his conversations with Sigmund Freud, someone called Saint Emilion, and his wife (who has been dead for 27 years). Never quite sure how to react when someone tells you stuff like this. I usually just smile and nod, occasionally suggesting that he shouldn't believe everything the spirits say 'cos they're liars. Another guy was brought up Roman Catholic, then spent years as a Mormon and now doesn't know what he believes. Another guy is an alcoholic self-harmer who describes himself as a Goth/Neo Pagan. Another is a guy who describes himself as a Christian but who rejects the whole Old Testament. In other words, quite an interesting bunch. It is just an amazing privilege to be able to share something of Jesus with these people. Crazy, mixed up, messed up, broken people, who God loves and sent His son for.
A lot of people there think I'm training to be a vicar. 'When do you get your dog collar?' they ask. I try and explain that I'm not actually in the Church of England, but as noone's really heard of the Vineyard it's hard to explain without making it sound like a cult. I say it's kinda like the Church of England but with jeans and hoodies.


And now for something completely different :
This post from sven is pure genius. It manages to send up the religious right, the Da Vinci code, feminists and goodness knows what else all at once.