Ilkley Baptist

I don't agree with what the pope said, but I think it may turn out to be a good thing that he did.

I think he emphasised reason, in his speech, too one sidedly. The Christian faith is about heart and relationships as well as logic and understanding. Jesus, in the synoptics, thinks with his guts. It's not just about being right, even if you are pope, but about being an imaginative friend to others, and he didn't get this right. In fact is was an astonishing misjudgement.

However, he has said he is sorry. He has responded to the outrage (some of it far too eagerly enjoyed) and has looked human, almost warm. There is now a genuine dialogue. Muslims and pope, each are aware that there is a person on the other end of the exchange, and this can only be good.

I've always felt that goodness isn't so much about never getting it wrong, but about how we deal, creatively, with ours and others errors.

Our website is now up, and almost worth visiting! Find it at www.ilkleybaptistchurch.co.uk, or click here.

Now, what should go on it? As you can see I haven't managed to load the one picture that should be there. Perhaps someone can teach me, or perhaps for the time being it would be easier to stick to words only. But what words? More information about current events - or is that better here? (This is easier to add to. I don't have to construct pages with a special 'editor.')

Should there be more detail about the church? General stuff about Christianity? Sermons? Baptist Union links?

Please have a think and let me know.

My first thought on the Late Quartets of Beethoven is that they sound very good! In Terry Pratchett's Discworld there is a person (the supreme governor of Ankh Morpork, I think) who reads music. He doesn't need to listen to it, indeed would rather not have some musicians' interpretation interfering with his pleasure, he simply sits down and reads it, hearing the music in his head. Having sat down with the score of the Late Quartets and looked at them, picked out the tunes on the piano, and read a discussion of the pieces, remembering the tunes the writer was referring to, I have to say that hearing the music is essential.

The sound is so much more than the memory or the imagination. It is alive and full of rich presence. It is far more powerful than the idea of the sound. I can read about the movement, study the score and hear it in my head, but when I play the recording it becomes real.

Is this like telling someone you love them? They know, of course, but hearing it counts. We might watch a film we've seen before. We know the story, but we can't have the emotional experience unless we follow it through again. In prayer and worship we rehearse very well know things - God is love, there is hope - but it's not about knowing them, but taking them into ourselves, and that means having them actually turn up for us to engage with.

Here's an amusing read. What are the most unwelcome things foisted on us in churches? Ben Myers has asked the question and offered a poll, but the responses are the best bit. You can find it here.

A busy weekend at church: a wedding on Saturday, and an 'Infant Presentation' on Sunday morning. Both events brought many people into church who wouldn't normally be there.

I always relish the opportunity to talk to such people. I've always believed that if you understand something properly you should be able to put it in non-technical language, and I've also always believed that people 'outside' the church know as much about God as people 'inside' the church. A church may sometimes be called God's house, but it isn't God's home.

I said this at the wedding and, as always, found people deeply appreciative. It is possible to speak about God in ways that respect the spirituality of non-church people, and which make sense in their terms. We don't have to drag people inside the Christian frame of reference first, we can step outside and enter theirs. And I think this is precisely what Jesus (and Paul, for that matter) did.

Unfortunately the wider Church seldom has the confidence to do this. It concentrates on getting people inside the institution, on persuading people to come and, if possible, belong, and it fails to connect to the minds and spirituality of the people around.