The spirituality of swearing

Disclaimer: this post may use swear words. If you don't like that sort of thing, stop reading. You have been warned.

Is there a place for swearing in Christianity? Like most good evangelical types, I feel kind of uncomfortable with the idea that swearing in some contexts might be okay. There are certain words I really hate to hear let alone use, and I can't help an automatic feeling of guilt whenever i do swear, especially if it's in anger (something that happens altogether too much).

However, I'm not too sure swearing is always that wrong. Here's my reasoning.

Firstly, swearing is IN THE BIBLE!! Oh, not our sanitised, Good News/NIV/King James versions, but it is there.

Example: Philippians 3:8. Paul describing how much he values Christ compared to his old way of life. This is what he says in the Greek:

ἀλλὰ μενοῦνγε καὶ ἡγοῦμαι πάντα ζημίαν εἶναι διὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ κυρίου μου, διὃν τὰ πάντα ἐζημιώθην, καὶ ἡγοῦμαι σκύβαλα, ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω...

Literal translation: "But indeed I also consider everything to be loss on account of the surpassing knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I forfeited all things; and I consider them shit so that I may gain Christ..."

The word in Greek is skubala, and it means shit! Not just excrement, dung or poo, but carries the same vulgar overtones as...shit!

Here's the thing. Paul wanted to find a word that expressed exactly what he felt, how little regard he had for what he had given up for Jesus, and this was the only word that summed it up for him.

I rememeber a little while ago hearing someone speak about the traumatic time she went through with a friend who was suffering with cancer. After months of treatment, pain and insecurity about the future (including a trip to Mexico for some alternative therapy), the cancer suddenly and unexpectedly disappeared.

This speaker said that the phrase to best sum up her feelings in that moment was "halle-fucking-luia".

Maybe there is a place for swearing. Maybe - sometimes - the only way to articulate and express the deepest emotions is by using a word that ordinarily would be considered vulgar and inappropriate. Maybe our evangelical prudishness has made us blind to the legitimate spirituality of swearing.

Maybe.

Yay God!

I failed my PhD this week.

I know. Bummer. To be honest, I didn't know how I would react to being told I hadn't passed. Before I went in for the viva on Monday, I really was trying not to think about it. One thing I was not expecting, though, was to react as I did.

I am honestly okay with it. No...more than that, I'm honestly happy about it.

While sat in the garden on Monday afternoon, enjoying the beautiful sun, I was reflecting on the fact that my 5 year PhD adventure was over, and I didn't have the qualification I set out to achieve. However, I found myself reflecting more on the things I did have. A house, enough money, a job, people who love me, and now to top it all, an MPhil! I suddenly realised I have absolutely no cause to be melancholy. The disappointment is obviously there, but I truly believe that God has his hand on my life and so this, in some exciting and awesome way, will prove to be the best turn of events.

"Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Saviour and my God"

Yay God!

My 5 favourite people in the Baptist Union, number 5: Simon Woodman

Disclaimer 1: This is NOT in any particular order, all these people are my equal favourites.

Disclaimer 2: Obviously I am only drawing from the people I have personal acquaintance with, although I'll try and spread the net as far as possible.

So let's begin with the first entry, New Testament lecturer, Apocalyptic aficianado and all round good guy, Simon Woodman.

To be honest, I don't have to say much about this guy that hasn't already been said, so i'll leave it up to the 'Rev. Simon Woodman appreciation society' (seriously, his students set up a facebook group) to mention some of the many reasons why this dude is awesome:

For all those who know and love the legend that is Rev. Simon Woodman! This self-confessed "plagairism ninja" has done the seemingly impossible - he's made biblical studies fun! The epitome of geek chic, this man is a total LEGEND. From his amusing anecdotes to his badly drawn maps of the Holy land, he's the reason I'm doing my degree at Cardiff! If you are similarly impressed by his brilliant lecturing skills, his obsession with the Johannine writings as well his amazing ability to recite all of the books of the Bible in one breath join this group and don't forget to invite your friends!!

He's got 53 members!

Here's to you Simon, and here's to your dreams.

Fiery Grains

Came across this in a random little book from 1930 and it 'quickened my soul'. The passage is from a letter written by a disillusioned youngster to a parson, lamenting over his generation's lack of hope in the post-Great War era. This, in my opinion, is what the whole God-bothering thing is all about.

"I happened recently to read Masefield's 'Invocation' - you know it, I suppose -

O wanderer into my brains,
O spark the emperor's purple hides,
You sow the dusk with fiery grains
When the gold horseman rides.
O beauty on the darkness hurled,
Be it through me you shame the world.

There you have it - we feel, hoever dimly, that there is a wanderer who makes beauty more keen for us, who gives reality to our love of hills and sea and home, who is the meaning of sportsmanship and loyalty and courage and fair-play, who makes us certain that our own small lives, with their ordinary cares, have a purpose which we cannot understand.

...It is, I realise, a difficult question that we put to you, but what are the 'fiery grains' which only can give substance to our loyalties?"

We, the church, are the seekers and sowers of fiery grains, those glimpses of the numinous - reality as it really is - that point to Jesus.

Absolutely.

Tales from the Bar: Who Ya Gonna Call?

One of the first themes that we looked at in Solace was the supernatural. Thought I'd regale the story of a few odd things that happened that month. So, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...

WARNING: this story is a tad freaky.

We decided it would be cool to explore this theme as, well, it would be cool. Afterall, when was the last time you heard a sermon preached on demons, magic, the occult etc? It proved a very interesting subject.

Odd thing that happened 1:
After deciding on this particular theme in this particular month, we were contacted via the website - completely randomly - by a group of spiritualists. They informed us that they were very interested to learn that another 'spiritual' group was meeting at Dempsey's (the pub we called home at the time), as there was a legend connected with the very room we used. Back in the 16th century, two sisters - the Stapletons- were accused and found guilty of witchcraft and were being kept in Cardiff castle dungeon, just across the road from the pub. On the night they were due to be executed, the sisters escaped their prison and fled to Dempsey's, where they were to rendezvous with their husbands. Once the four of them were together, they made a suicide pact, killed themselves and it is said that their ghosts still haunt the place. The group of spiritualists asked us if we would like them to come to one of our meetings and try to contact the Stapleton sisters.

We said no ta.

Odd thing that happened 2:
Meanwhile, I was chatting to a minister friend of mine who also does a bit of psychological illusion on the side. I asked him if he would be up for coming and doing a few tricks for us at Solace, by way of setting the scene for the stuff we would be talking about. He was very happy to, in fact he told me he had just recently come upon a new trick that he was eager to give a crack. The trick, called channelling (if I remember correctly) was apparently the signature trick of two sisters who lived back in the 16th century, so my friend had read.

The Stapleton sisters.

Now at this point I want to stress that NONE of this is made up or embellished. Baptist minister's honour.

Freaked yet?

Odd thing that happened 3:
For the 'main event' of the evening, we had arranged for a local minister to come and lead a discussion based on his 'deliverance ministry' experiences (casting out demons and the like).

This was shaping up to be an interesting night.

So, there we were, sat rather pensively, keeping one eye on the shadows and waiting for who-knows-what to happen.

My illusionist friend (call him Jim), performed his stuff with not much going wrong at all, in fact it was all incredibly impressive. Well done Jim. However, the same can't be said for the deliverance guy's talk.

About half way through, just when he had us on the edge of our seats with some demonic type stories, there was out of nowhere an almighty BANG and suddenly the room was plunged into darkness.

I couldn't make this crap up if I tried.

Needless to say, given everything that had happened in the run up, this turn of events was a tad disconcerting. We found out later that one of the mini floodlights that we used to provide atmosphere had fallen over (never happened before or since), fusing the lights in the entire pub.
The fuse was quickly changed, the lights came back on and the talk continued, with only minimal trouser soilage (I speak for myself).

Thus ends the first of Solace's tales from the bar. Hope you enjoyed!

Where to begin...

This is the first OFFICIAL Solace: church in a bar blog. How exciting. It was suggested to me by a few mates that I might have some interesting stuff to say in regard to the larks we get up to at Solace, so after fasting, praying and standing naked for 48 hours in the Taff while reciting Psalm 119 backwards 144,000 times, I discerned that God may be leading me to start blogging.


Praise the Lord.


But where to begin? Well I've got a few ideas, but why not kick off with something I've been thinking about recently...sadly it's deep.

Been reading one of St. Walter Brueggemann's efforts the last little while, The Word Militant: Preaching a Decentering Word (Minneapolis 2007). Cracking book. In it, Brueggemann outlines what he sees as the role of the preacher and preaching based on the example of the Old Testament prophet. Juicy.

One particularly sexy statement that left an impression on me is a definition he gives of preaching's role within an ecclesiological context:

"I understand preaching to be the chance to summon and nurture an alternative community with an alternative identity, vision, vocation, pre-occupied with praise and obedience toward the God we Christians know fully in Jesus of Nazareth." (p. 56)

However, here's my issue. What the hell does it mean to be an alternative community in a society that is defined by alternative communities? As Brueggemann points out, the great choice that the prophets set before the people of Israel in times when the comfortable call to hegemony loomed large was to make a decision: God or not God. Yahweh or Baal. Conform or subvert. But for post-modern British types, this doesn't seem to carry the same sense of urgency. There are a million and one different 'norms' that could be conformed to or subverted. One might decide that the plight of the Mexican spider monkey was such that an alternative lifestyle of always having one trouser leg rolled up as a mark of solidarity with those fluffly primates was a necessity. Fair dos to you. You go for it and no one will blink an eyelid.

What I'm getting at is this: when alternative is the new conformity, what makes our churches any different? Are we just one alternative amongst many; just another street hawker competing for the attention of would-be buyers? And if so, is that a bad thing?

Answers on a postcard please.

Oh, and i promise they won't all be this deep.