I was reading an article about death the other day. Death is a topic we avoid wherever possible, and sanitise when it must be faced. We talk about people 'passing away' rather than dying. In Star Trek, the guys in red shirts are marked for death, and somehow it never matters - which just proves it's fiction, I suppose. Death does matter, it is one of the few certainties of life, and ignoring it cannot make it go away - we all wear red shirts, in a sense.
There are other things we don't talk about too, or which we think we know about when we don't really. There are caricatures of Christian life and faith that are commonly presented in the media, which we really should talk about, because if we don't, we remain blind to what could well be mysteriously good news. There are idols that we worship accidentally today, such as success, sex, power, and money - which we really should talk about, because if we don't, we remain blind to what is happening around us.
Actually, we should talk about all sorts of Stuff, because that's how we learn to think for ourselves, and how we realise that some things we once thought were Nonsense are worth paying attention to after all. If you're local, I'd like to invite you to join us as we do this, either at Wide Open on a Saturday, or at the Sunday Evening Gathering. If you're not local, then I encourage you to seek out something similar in your area.
- Steve