Ilkley Baptist

I saw the first wheatear of the year near Backstone Beck on the moor today, a happy sight. Things are much more advanced than last year. I heard a chiffchaff on the second of April this year. On holiday after Easter I saw a swallow near Birmingham on the eighth, and hawthorn in flower on the Somerset levels on the eleventh.

Last year hawthorn round Ilkley was mostly not in flower until the very last week of May. I haven't seen any out yet, this year, but if the weather remains as warm as it has been I would expect to see some before April is over. Last year swifts arrived in early May, again I'm hoping to see them before the month's end.

I saw the first wheatear of the year near Backstone Beck on the moor today, a happy sight. Things are much more advanced than last year. I heard a chiffchaff on the second of April this year. On holiday after Easter I saw a swallow near Birmingham on the eighth, and hawthorn in flower on the Somerset levels on the eleventh.

Last year hawthorn round Ilkley was mostly not in flower until the very last week of May. I haven't seen any out yet, this year, but if the weather remains as warm as it has been I would expect to see some before April is over. Last year swifts arrived in early May, again I'm hoping to see them before the month's end.

John D Caputo is a philosophical theologian, American (obviously), and into Derrida. He's pretty new, still. A college principal I spoke to today hadn't heard of him! Thanks to PhilA of the Ship of Fools, I have a copy of 'On Religion,' a more popular work. I've started reading, and so far I love it.

He writes in a preachy manner (that's a compliment: he reminds me of Tillich) and is post-modernly self-conscious, talking about himself and his personal attitudes and intentions. He respects traditional religion, but wants it to be more self-critical, more aware of the importance of the stuff outside the institution.

Chapter One is called 'The Love of God.' He starts by talking about 'the religious person.' The religious person is the person who loves, who loves God. They may be within the church, or far outside any religion, but they love God. But what exactly do they love? Here he introduces a central question, from Augustine: What do I love when I love my God?

(He talks about the non-religious person as someone who loves nothing - except his investments: a pusillanimous curmudgeon. I don't think he thinks such people actually exist.)

He says that they love the impossible. The impossible is that we cannot imagine because we have not experienced it and cannot expect it. Yet it may happen. Not in the predictable futures that pension funds and holiday plans are for, but in the future that no one guesses, but which comes like a thief in the night. The impossible doesn't just happen sometimes, it hovers on the threshold of the present and makes everything look different. And it makes religious people unhinged.

He talks about the Secret. Which is that we don't know the secret. We don't know the answers to questions like 'what am I?' or 'what is the Way?'

By asking the unanswerable questions we make our living more intense. Without Answers we answer the God we love.

Hmm. It looks pretty thin like this. Perhaps I've missed too much out. Perhaps a lot depends on his eloquent, engaging style. We'll see what the next chapter brings.

Oh, this poor old blog! I have updated our church website. Go to www.ilkleybaptistchurch.co.uk or click here. We now have a picture of the stained glass window, and my favourite, a What's On page with calendars and details of events. If I can keep this updated, or find someone else to do it, people can find what's happening with a few clicks.

We're pretty good at information. Our church magazine has an editor who goes to great lengths to ensure accuracy. The magazine covers most information. The weekly newsletter is also good for short term events. But the increasing pattern here, as in other churches, is for more and more erratic attendance. There are plenty of people who might not come for several weeks. Well, the website can make sure they know what is going on.

And now that's sorted, perhaps I will get down to important stuff like chatting to the world here!

Yesterday's sermon was about celebrity. I suggested that the cult of celebrity, by leading us to give so much of our attention to celebrities, devalues us and the lives we lead. By comparison we become dull and unimportant, and in a strange way, less real.

They say that a preacher only really has a handful of different sermons, and I'm sure this is true, but occasionally I feel I've discovered a new one, and this is a case in point. The bible talks of a God who chooses the obscure and identifies with the non-entities. Covenant and incarnation give honour and reality to the ordinary. Christianity and celebrity are profoundly opposed.

Perhaps it would also be right to say that the character of God reflects the same truth. God is not a god, not a powerful supernatural being or even the most powerful supernatural being. God is something else again. Christian theism is actually very close to atheism. And once again our fascination with power, honour, importance, beauty and reality is reflected back to us.