St John's Church, Owlerton

How ridiculous is Postman Pat nowadays? He was never annoying when I was young. He delivered real letters. He wasn’t incompetent. And his most advanced piece of kit was his van. In every episode he answers his mobile with, ‘Special Delivery Service – Pat speaking’, and it’s always his boss, telling him to come and pick up a special delivery. Why doesn’t he just go to the depot first thing every morning and save him a phone call? I challenge anyone to sit through an episode (go on iPlayer…) and not wish him the sack. He opens people’s parcels, loses them, breaks them, lets kids play with them, ropes in the emergency services (who have nothing better to do) to help him…. the list is endless. Someone needs to do some proper performance management on him.

Now here’s where I’m going to make a smooth link to my point, and it’s going to be grade-A cheese: Reading the bible is like our own ‘performance management’. We need regular ‘review meetings’ (aka church/cell group). We need people ‘higher up’ to advise us and check we’re on track. Maybe we even need some targets….

I’ve been reading a book (another one…..) called ‘Velvet Elvis’ by Rob Bell. I was initially sceptical given its silly, abstract title, but actually it’s amazing. It’s subtitled ‘Repainting the Christian Faith’, which is exactly what I think we need to do at all levels – individually, in our small groups/churches, communities, etc. He talks about this concept of ‘binding and loosing scripture’ which, at the risk of over-simplifying it, means that we should wrestle with the bits we don’t understand, discussing it in our communities (there’s that theme again….) until we have arrived at what we think is the interpretation most appplicable to us, now. Biblical Rabbis did this all the time.

This doesn’t mean that we can make the bible fit whatever we want to do (history is full of idiots who did that). It means that we allow God to speak to us through his word again and again – even the same passage can hold something new for us every time we read it afresh. The other day I re-read a couple of verses, from 1 and 2 Timothy. Both kind of reiterate the same message; if you’ve received a gift through a prophetic message and/or the laying on of hands then don’t neglect it – fan it into flame. At University a friend gave this prophecy about me – that I would speak and people would listen. In a poor interpretation of binding and loosing, I tried to make the prophecy fit what I though at the time was my ‘calling’, which was to be a Christian rock legend…. I did this for six, maybe seven years, with no success. Finally I gave up – but the prophecy kept returning to me. It is only in the light of re-reading those verses that I have attach meaning and context to it.

So that’s what I’m doing now. Talking – and you’re listening. To what, or why, I’m not sure…. I hope I say some things that are helpful. Maybe not the Postman Pat bit…..