After McDonaldization
After-McDonaldization is the sequel to The McDonaldization of the Church. The new volume is packed with thoughts on theology, ministry and mission in a postmodern culture. I am a long time fan of John's work, and this one is well worth a read, offering all sorts of wisdom on the future of the Church in the UK and further afield.
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
In an increasingly secularised society few people have a good working knowledge of the Bible. Yet a great deal of our culture is built on stories or ideas that come from the Bible. Literature, art, music, language and even the fabric of our society - such as our justice system - are built on Christian concepts and biblical references. The Writing on the Wall provides a fascinating introduction to the Bible's best-known, and most influential, stories. Each chapter gives some background to the text of the Bible, and shows how the stories have become enmeshed in Western culture. Adam and Eve, the ten plagues of Egypt, The Prodigal Son and Mary Magdalene all feature - along with how the Bible has influenced everyone from Shakespeare to Monty Python, and Caravaggio to Banksy. 
Giving It Up explores the Lenten idea of 'giving up', taking it beyond the traditional idea of simply abstaining from something, and suggesting instead that what we need to give up is our existing ideas about God. With a daily readings for each day of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, it follows the heroes of the Bible who had to give up their own too-small ideas about God.
This is Maggi’s bestselling book of daily readings for each day of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Advent is the beginning of the Church year, and marks the anticipation of the coming Messiah. These readings explore how beginnings and endings in our own lives are illuminated by the different Gospel narratives of Christ's coming.
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I like this. I remember hearing John Bell speak at greenbelt once about how the women’s group used to meet in church round a table, with coffee in the corner, and how civilised it was; and how the PCC met with the leaders at the front facing the rest of the members, and how uncivilised it was… Round Table sounds good to me.
sigh, this poem is so rich, so profound and so hard
because, of course
the round tabling is not a structural thing but a heart thing
and I so want to be recognised for how I’ve contributed and how wise I am..
and I find that, however hard I pray for an anonymous heart,
this wish to be recognised wriggles in, and I have to start the sanding and sawing of a round table heart all over again,
sigh
We had a new altar commissioned for our Lady Chapel. It was made in the round and when it arrived the chairs were placed around the altar in a semi-circle except the president’s and assistants chairs which were placed in across in a striaght line. A suggestion ws made to put the three chairs at the cardinal points leaving the fourth space as a way in and ot of the circle. Feels more encompassing and welocmimg. Also a comment was made by one celebrant about ‘But where do i stand…?’
Fred Kaan’s hymn (1980s, I think):
The church is like a table
a table that is round.
It has no sides or corners,
no first or last, no honours;
here people are in one-ness
and love together bound.
The church is like a table
set in an open house;
no protocol for seating,
a symbol of inviting,
of sharing, drinking, eating;
an end to ‘them’ and ‘us’.
The church is like a table,
a table for a feast
to celebrate the healing
of all excluded-feeling,
(while Christ is serving, kneeling,
a towel round his waist).
The church is like a table
where every head is crowned,
as guests of God created,
all are to each related;
the whole world is awaited
to make the circle round.