Friends, Mission Week is on its way, and it really isn't that far off. From May 10-18 we have a big, fat excuse to tell our friends and neighbours about Jesus. I get all twirly and excited when we start talking about Mission, partly because I was involved with some really great ones down at my university, and I start using words like 'awesome' unironically and sounding like the turtles in
Finding Nemo.
)
So. Anyway. If you know me, you'll know that things in my life are a little extra
like whoah at the moment, as we're trying to move house, and I am designing an awful lot of the publicity for the Mission. Seems
I have
serious thrill issues.
So, I 'm concerned that I could easily, despite my Mission-themed excitement, get a little bogged down in the here and now and packing boxes and my computer crashing, and then emerge at the end of the Mission to find that I was so busy
doing stuff, that I forget to actually
talk to people. I know. Crazy.
However, when I finally do remember to talk to people, how am I actually going to do that? I mean, I'm excellent at talking about pasta and cake and
The Musketeers and the early years of Disney and why Comic Sans and I have issues...but when it comes to talking about the most important things in life, I get a bit
like whoah.
There is, however, good news. First, we in the Manningtree Benefice are putting on a three-session course on sharing our faith. Perfect! Each session will be held both during the day and in the evening to hopefully allow everyone who would wish to come along. More details will be published really soon, but please do think about coming to this. It'll be really helpful, practical and enabling.
Second, I came across this today. It's a video of Bear Grylls, Christian adventuring-outdoorsy-explorer, chatting with Stephen Fry, who amongst other things is well known for being an atheist.
)
Let's all take a second to be blown away at how respectful they are to each other. Isn't it refreshing? I found it via
this website, where Krish Kandiah says:
"I wish all Christian / Atheist Conversation could take place with this kind of spirit and tone."
I really recommend that you watch the video, and that you read Krish's article, because both are incredibly heartening, and make me remember that it's really not that hard to talk about faith.
Awesome.
