Hope for the hopeless

As I decided to call my blog 'hope transfigured' I ought to include a few stories of hope from time to time. Well, that's easy today because I've heard plenty. Let me share one. Early this morning I was speaking to a colleague, Helen, in Hong Kong who was very excited about a trip she had just completed. Helen is part of the leadership team of a mission group, which is part of Faith2Share, and they have been in Cambodia for the past week or so. In fact they were right up in the remote north of the country.

Genocide, on the scale it was practiced in Cambodia, does not make for hopeful people, even a generation later. However, Helen told me, in a few places attitudes are beginning to change, step by step. Christians are a tiny minority in this beautiful but disfigured nation, but they stand out as 'people of hope'. Now new opportunities are opening up for mission amongst familiies, healing wounds, caring for the rejected, loving the unlovely. These beginnings are only very small but Helen sounded very excited about what God is doing there and I shall be calling Hong Kong again soon to keep up with the next stage of this story. I just pray that I can 'live hope' in my own community as well as they do in Cambodia.

Old words, new meaning

I am grateful to Thomas Whelan (writing in the BIAMS journal) for correcting a misunderstanding I have had for at least 30 years! Like a lot of other people, I suspect, I have always thought that the catch phrase from the Student Volunteer Movement of 1886, "the ezangelisation of the world in this generation" meant that the world would be converted to Christian faith within the current generation - an aspiration which has been behind many mission movements, not least the pre-millennium movements like AD2000. (Of course it didn't happen, so what do you make of that?) Apparently it never meant that in the first place - it meant "the proclamation of the gospel by each generation throughout the entire world". I like that. Why? Because its far more Biblical for a start. It reflects the call on each Christian to 'live like Christ', 'to bear witness', 'to proclaim good news' .... to be faithful in these things and leave the converting to God (if that's what He wants!)

Thank you Thomas, its always great to have fresh light on a well known phrase - especially when it fits in so well with what I already thought must be right. There always was too much in scripture about leaven, mustard seeds, remnants and suffering for me to really grasp the 'everyone on board in the next sixty years' vision. Now I can get on with the witness and proclaiming and leave the converting to God - that's challenge enough for me!

Bunker or Bakehouse

We first met in Pattaya in Thailand last year. I hasten to say we were not there for the reason most older European men seem to go to Thailand, but rather to attend the Assembly of the World Evangelical Alliance - I to network with mission colleagues, Anton to link up with those working on advocacy issues. Anton is a Dutch merchant banker turned missionary with family ties back into Indonesia. Today Anton was in my office and we shared a whole lot from publishing challenges to the state of European Christianity - and good German coffee too.

The core to our conversation was the attitude and worldview of younger (than us!) Christians in Europe. With so much talk of the 'Islamicisation of Europe', the rise of secularism, and the decline of faith communities, Anton's big questions was this. Are the current generation of Christians in Europe busy pulling down the hatches so they can survive in their holy bunker or are they getting out there into the bakehouse of civil society, politics, education, media with a 'yeast' that has the transforming power of the gospel? I'm not sure I agreed with him all the way but I share some of his concern about a 'loss of nerve' in contemporary European church. At least I think we agreed that it is not Islam that threatens Europe, the real threat is the withdrawal of Europe's Christians into their holy bunker, pockets still stuffed full of the yeast which was designed to be spread around the European bakehouse - hot and unconfortable as that might be.

But what to do? Anton has a few ideas so wait and see!

Hidden Kingdoms

I feel so privileged tonight. There are only a few thousand Christians is Bhutan, and one of them is sitting in my house! Where is Bhutan? – east of Nepal, south of Tibet and north of the remotest part of India. A beautiful Himilayan country, an ancient kingdom and one of the most ‘closed’ countries in the world. Rohit (not his real name) became a Christian whilst serving in the army some years ago and, after some years heading a mission organization in Bhutan, now looks after a Christian network stretching across the Himalayas – my sort of person!

Christians are still heavily discriminated against, and sometimes persecuted, in Bhutan – hence the need for security about Rohit’s real name – but the kingdom of God is growing in that place. As small groups come to faith in Jesus Christ they choose their own pastor and begin a small ‘hidden church’. The network which Rohit has built up brings together over a hundred churches across the Himalayan region, in and beyond Bhutan, to train these new church leaders, to encourage the youth, and to strengthen the Christian presence in the country. In Bhutan, the 'hidden kingdom' of the Himalayas, Christians are seeding another Kingdom, hidden now in their homes and small meeting rooms, but one day destined to be revealed as the glorious Kingdom where God reigns in peace and justice. Will I be able to sleep tonight – knowing I have such a precious jewel hidden under my roof?

Understanding numbers

It takes about 1.5 seconds to say "Two point one million". To say "Ashok and Jemin, Caleb, Mohammed and Saraj, Hussein and Ghazala, Usama, Yalda, Malik and Imran, and ... and ... and ..." - all 2,100,000 of them, I just calculated would take about 16 and a half days, much longer than it took those 2.1million people to flee their homes in Pakistan this last week. No I'm not bored out of mind this evening looking for some crazy mental game to keep me occupied - no, I was trying to make sense of that number which trips too easily off the tongue - 2.1 million!

I was talking this morning to two colleagues in Islamabad who had just returned from northern Pakistan (thank God for Skype!) and they reminded me that this is the largest movement of displaced people in the region since the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. Reports I received yesterday say that many left in such hurry and confusion that they did not bring any food or change of clothes and some even lost their children in the crazed and panicing crowds. The UN has been totally surprised by the speed and size of this 'stampede to safety'. Asked why he left with only half his family one Swat valley resident is reported as saying, "We know the brutality of the Taliban, now they are under attack everyone is their enemy, every child, woman and man."

Please don't pray for 2.1 million people - trying praying for Ashok and Jemin, Caleb proudly carrying his small bundle and little Mohammed in Jemin's arms, and ... and ... and ....

Kimchi Mission

"A couple of years ago a leader of a British mission agency asked me, 'What can we do to help Korean mission movements?' and I told him, 'Nothing!' He looked rather shocked but it was a truthful answer - he came 50 years to late." KeungChul Jeong was in my office today and that was his frank comment on the attitude of western mission movements towards Koreans. KeungChul, who leads the work of Interserve in Korea, was, of course, right in most respects but I still wished we had a little longer to talk - he had to rush for a train or something. He was correct in that a lot of us from the West underestimate Korean missionary maturity. He also saw that we have a difficulty in receiving, we prefer to give. He was also rightly reflecting the self-understanding of Korea as a nation which now sends more cross-cultural missionaries than any other except India and the USA. But then he might just (if I may be allowed to suggest it) be making the same mistake as the British. Collaboration, partnership, sharing (call it what you like) is important for the strong as well as the weak - Koreans need Africans, Indians and Peruvians as partners in mission, just as much as do we Brits.

Well, I'm in Seoul in October so perhaps we can talk some more then. We discovered we have a mutual friend there - Henry, a Korean mission leader from whom I learnt much in Southern Russia ten years ago. Perhaps we can enjoy Kimchi together and discover some new recipies for partnership.

Mission's full circle

It was more an adoption than a birth but the little family I look after, the Faith2Share network, gained a new member this week. A mature 26-year old joining the family brings some challenges but a lot of new energy and insight. Our new family member is full of ideas and energy and its going to be great to have them around, if we can survive the late nights and angst.

Global Teams has its roots in the Anglican Church and is based in California with over 50 mission workers in 19 different countries scattered around the world. At first they look just like any other agency sending missionaries to needy places (just like all 26 year olds look alike when you're 55, or 12) but as you get to know them you spot a radical difference - they are into reproduction in a big way (like any other 26-year old?!). Working in some of the more challenging mission contexts, Global Teams are in the buisness of seeing missionaries give birth to missionaries (followers of Jesus who instantly become 'fishers of men' - and women of course). Nothing new in that you may say - exactly what Jesus did in Galilee - but that's the point! So often mission work gives birth to church members who are not missionary followers of Jesus, church members who so easily become church-dependant rather than kingdom-building. I'm looking forward to us all learning quite a lot from the new 26-year old in our family. Get the black coffee brewing!

Is Baptism necessary?

A couple of night ago I had to choose between a night at home with the TV (and a Kenyan house guest), listening to Kenneth Cragg (he of innumerable books on Islam and a real hero of mine), and a lecture by a professor of religions and Sanskrit from Nagaland, north India. I chose the third option but took my computer along so I could catch up on emails during the lecture! (Before you judge me - don't tell me you have never done that?). Well, the emails didn't get answered and instead I came away with two pages of grey-cell stretching notes. Thank you Dr. Atola Longkumar (pictured).

Speaking against the background of recent religious violence in India, Atola raised the whole question of whether conversion is a useful term, or even a useful concept, and if it is then what it involves. The force of her arguement was that Christian faith is about discipleship, a direction of living orientated towards God as seen in Jesus Christ, not church membership or even joining a specifically 'Christian' community. In India the real point of tention is over baptism as it is such a public event which appears to mark a leaving as well as a joining of communities. Atola suggested that baptism might not be essential for Christians. For some of the audience, brought up on Jesus' Great Commission to, "Go into all the world ... and baptise them in the name of ...", this was a step too far. But when baptism costs lives (as it does in India) is this an opportunity to rejoice in martydom or just an unnecessary antagonism of Hindu (Indian?) sensibilities? [Interesting programme, by the way, on Radio 4 today on how certain Hindu groups try to define Indian identity as, by definition, Hindu.] Part of me wants to say that breaking ties, changing direction, being faithful (to God) is always costly (a cost sometimes paid in blood), but before I voice that from the comfort of my Oxford home I want to know much more deeply what it really means to be an Indian follower of Jesus - not a church member, perhaps not a Christian (in the cultural sense) - but a Christ-one, a faithful follower of Jesus. More work for the grey-cells!

Ice cold waters and red hot killers

Watching the news last night my mind ran back a few years to wonderful days spent in the Swat Valley, Pakistan. I was there on business but you can hardly spend a week in Pakistan's "little Switzerland" without seeing something of the ice cold, torrential, rivers and wonderful mountains, and breathing the life-giving thin clear air. We also spent time wandering round ancient Buddhist temples, now neglected in a land ruled by Muslims. A paridise on earth! It is hard to believe that today 200,000 refugees have fled the valley whilst the Pakistan army engages in "full scale" conflict with Taliban forces infiltrating from Afghanistan.

Whether Pakistan will be able to "wipe out"' the Taliban through military action is an open question. Personally I very much doubt it. The Taliban may be a military force, but they are much more significantly a spiritual force, and if anyone is to engage with them creatively it will not only be militarily. Extremists they are, people with deep (and perhaps misguided) convictions, but they will not go away just because their fighters lie dead below the snow capped mountains of Swat. Military action may be necessary but much more urgent is the engagement of minds, philosophies, world-views, and spiritual sensibilities. Buddhists no longer pray beside the rushing rivers of Swat, Christians struggle to maintain a presence in the ragged towns, the Taliban have their mosques, but what of the future? What does or does not happen in Swat this month will have implications for us all as we struggle to live in a world of deeply held religious (and anti-religious) convictions.

Kenyan insight into Genesis

Gerald Mwangi, a colleague from Mission Together Africa, based in Nairobi, staying at my house this week, joined us for tonight's home group meeting. We had lined up a study of Genesis 1 and frankly I was not anticipating any revolutionary new thoughts. ('Oh man of little faith'?) We were a smaller group today (you know, that 'buying a wife and marrying a cow' stuff) but we had a great discussion. The highlight for me however was Gerald's thoughts on 'Why did God rest on the seventh day?'

Kenyan synthetic thinking drew a fascinating parallel between God's resting on the seventh day of creation, after He had seen that everything He had created was 'very good', and Jesus 'resting' on the cross after he uttered those powerful words, 'it is finished, complete'. Both creation and salvation are, for God, complete and also 'very good' - even if they do still take some working out by us mere mortals. But there's more! Just before God rests in Genesis he commissions human beings to care for creation, to manage it, to bring it to completion. In a very similar way, just before salvation is completed on the cross, Jesus commissions his disciples (us!) for mission - to share in God's salvific as well as His creative work. Good thinking, Gerald - thanks!

Pain v Truth?

No, this is not a comment on tonight's match. (Although I did see pain in the faces of Arsenal fans the truth is Manchester United deserved the win!) Thousands of miles away from the championship battle another, more bloody, battle rages - in Sri Lanka. There pain is more than real.

My challenge this morning was that a Tamil friend in London contacted me and asked me to publicise the "truth of what is happening in Jaffna ... attrocities which I didn't even hear of in the holocaust". Of course I want to help, I have editorial access to a website, I can publish - but what do I publish? No one can deny the dreadful suffering of tens of thousands of civilians holed up in a tiny strip of land with vitually no food and no medical assistance - but, "worse than the holocaust"? I went to the website she asked me to look at - Tamil Net - and read the latest headline: ‘State terror’ waging ‘racist war’. If I publish that what will happen to the good relationships we have with Singhalese Sri Lankans? How much is truth which is painful, and how much is pain expressed as truth? I felt the pain but I chickened out of publishing the pain (or do I mean the truth?). My item (see Faith2Share) was the usual Christian, 'pray for the victims' stuff. But still I'm left wondering what to do with the pain. And what is more true than pain?

Hopeful Strategies

The mission world has its travelling sales people as well as Kleeneze and sometimes (but not always!) they have some interesting gadgets in their show case. One such walked into my office today. In fact he is based less than a mile from the Faith2Share office but somehow we had not met before. A teacher, turned Oxfam's man in Indonesia and now in Oxford producing resources to help communities deal with HIV/AIDS, Glen Williams, is quite an etrepreneur. You can check out his Stategies for Hope Trust at http://www.stratshope.org/. They have a lot of workbooks, resources for church leaders and community facilitators, etc. in several different languages and quite a lot of it is free to those who will be using them in Africa, Asia or Latin America. A travelling salesman with freebees!

Dodging Charlie

It seems I have been almost meeting Charlie for fifteen years and more but never seen him until he sat in my living room this evening. You know what it's like ... "Oh, you know X?", "Yes I worked with him in Russia in '92," "That was about the time we started supporting BLTC", "BLTC in Krasnodar? - I was on its Board!", "and I don't suppose you ever knew Y", "Of course I did, he's right here in Oxford now you know." etc. etc. I turns out we might have met last year in Hungary except Charlie was sick and didn't make it to the conference. Anyway, after 15 years of 'near misses' we had a great evening tonight discovering that we have actually beeen in the same ministry, supporting the same people, learning the same lessons, and trying to be obedient to the same Father all these years. Charlie is American and Baptist (I can just about forgive him that!) but shares the same passion for Europe becoming a place where people of so many different backgrounds can discover that becoming a disciple of Jesus is one 'heaven' of an adventure.

When Charlie eventually went to bed I found myself sitting and wondsering how many other unseen Charlies there were out there - employed by the same Lord, in the same ministry, in many of the same places as me, but totally unknown. I wonder. ... I wonder which one will I bump into next?

Pilgrim principle

I constantly go back to Andrew Walls - thank's Andrew - and get new inspiration for real mission. In a world full of culture-attuned mission methodology ('Purpose driven', 'Seeker friendly', and 'People Group' focused) it's good to be reminded that faith can also be counter-cultural. Walls writes,

Not only does God in Christ take people as they are: He takes them in order to transform them into what He wants them to be. Along with the indigenising principle which makes his faith a place to feel at home, the Christian inherits the pilgrim principle, which whispers to him that he has no abiding city and warns him that to be faithful to Christ will put him out of step with his society; for that society never existed, in East or West, ancient time or modern, which could absorb the word of Christ painlessly into its system. (Andrew Walls Missionary Movement in Christian History Pg. 8)

Differently together

Today I heard from two friends (one an ex-girl friend I haven't heard from for 30 years!), sat in the sun and read a book, and then scanned some scary emails from Pakistan. Strangely they all linked together - is it a plot? A mission director friend wrote from Malaysia to say he had just finished his sabbatical and had been working on a 'theology of ethnicity'. Marion wrote "We Judge!!... but whom do we stand next too ??.. God knows!!.. oh yes he does!!!!... I shared a hymn sheet with a street cleaner, he was black from head to toe!! he held out his sheet to share with me... and began to sing.. i was humbled!!... ashamed!! A voice of an angel!!!! he sang every word with passion!!! and then he carried on cleaning the streets". My book (the sun was great) provided a resounding renunciation of McGavran's 'homogeneous people group' approach to mission and rekindled in me the excitement of the multi-ethnic, multi-everything church. And Pakistan? Well do I have to say anything? ... ethnicity rules! What I really want to know is how we can actually enhance ethnicity, as a contribution to the enrichment of humanity rather than as a rejection of 'the other'. Paul you really do need to write up your sabbatical study. If Christians could really crack this 'difference is what holds us together' stuff then we really would be on to something - perhaps even in the Swat Valley (Pakistan).

Oh, the book I was reading was Eckhard Schnabel's Paul the Missionary - and its not all as good at this afternoon's few pages!

Saving the world with a click

I don't know about you but I have my doubts about those constant requests to go on line and sign a petition. Three clicks of my mouse and the world gets saved! How powerful am I? Friends send me links so I can save a nature reserve from motorway invasion, a country from civil war and a child from starvation - just enter my name and click, and then you can return to the comfort of life in Oxford. I take the requests from organisations like Avaaz somewhat more seriously but even they tend to flood my in box. Well three weeks ago a friend sent me one of those links - Tony, a ten year old from Congo about to be deported from the UK, held in prison in the Congo when he was only six, a popular pupil at his school in Didsbury - an obvious threat to UK security? Today I heard that only 2,100 of us clicked on that petition but it worked - Jacqui Smith (or more likely here staff at the Home Office) have given Tony and his mum (pictured) indefinite rights to remain in the UK.

Is my belief in democracy restored? Will I be able to ignore any of these requests in the future? And what about the ethics of sitting comfortably at my computer, drinking good coffee, and clicking my mouse to save Congolese children, whales, or even Wales?

Civilised flying

Like many who spend too much of their time travelling, the novelty of airports and aircraft wore off years ago. In fact I find it hard to think of a more inconvenient place to be than an airport lounge or an economy seat at 30,000ft. This said I was delighted to find this sign when travelling in China a couple of years ago. If only the reality had matched up to the promise. I was reminded of this photo today whilst talking with the person who runs the 'China desk' at Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. (Here it is Lawrence!) Perhaps after Easter it is a good reminder that the Christian faith has often been seen as bringing a 'civilising' influence into societies, although I would prefer 'humanising' (in the full Christological sense). As an 'expert' on airport endurance perhaps I ought to devote my next years of ministry to evangelising airports and making them 'God friendly spaces' - 'civilized airports'?

Leadership and power - Nigeria and Britain

I connected with two great guys yesterday who I used to work with in the '80s. Ken is now Bishop on the Niger (Nigeria) where he has a couple of years left to serve before retirement. He is also chair of the Church of Nigeria Missionary Society (part of Faith2Share) so we had business to do. The more interesting part of the conversation however was about leadership in a Nigerian culture. Ken has a great vision for the real potential of lay leadership in the church in Nigeria, but (outside his own diocese where he is 'king') constantly comes up against rampant clericalism. He as a Nigerian and I as a Brit. were trying to analyse how much of that style of leadership - bishop/knight/chief - is cultural (and perhaps even appropriate) and how much is simply human power games. No answers but a good discussion.

Then in the evening Bob rang. He was Dean (big boss) of a cathedral in the UK and at Christmas decided to step down from all that and find a humbler way to serve. Risky - he doesn't have a job yet - but a great witness to those who see promotion and titles as the ultimate objective!

A good Coptic read

It's amazing what you can discover on the internet whilst looking for something else. A search for a particular order for Christian women in Russia once brought me a very unexpected offer from some other Russian women ... let's not go there! Well today I stumbled over the fact that the Coptic Orthodox community in Australia have been very busy putting hundreds of Coptic books on the web in English. Pope Shenouda seems to be going for a world record in books written, but there are a lot of other interestings things there, including children's books. If you are interested in one of the oldest surviving Christian traditions take a look at http://www.coepa.org/index.php

Make disciples and ... No 'and'!

From time to time I get asked to peer-review an article or a book that a colleague has written, pre-publication, so they can feel a little more confident sending it in to the editor. Normally its a task a hate because either the article is very boring, or its so cleaver I don't understand it, or its really bad and I don't know what I can say without causing my friend major psychological distress. It's like saying, "your baby is so ugly"! But today life was different. Well I suppose it is Easter week so we should expect that. An Indonesian colleague sent me a small book he has written. It's full of good stuff. I'll plug it here when he gets it off the press. Here are two quotes - I hope that's OK, BB?

"The dynamic community of Ecclesia [church] of Jesus Christ powerfully operates in advancing the Kingdom of God every single day. ... Unfortunately this non-stop transformation has, in many parts of the world, been reconfigured into a single event on Sunday."

" Jesus did not command the Ecclesia to 'engage in making disciples and also to care for the poor'; or to 'make disciples and to care for the creation'; or to 'make disciples and to engage in the public square.' This is because making disciples includes all of those."

Christ in Bang-Wizzen

I rode on the back of a motorbike through the dark street of a small town in India many years ago. It was Dewali and firecrackers jumped out at us from every angle. Excited children raced through the alleys and grown men wore grins as they sent jumping jacks sparking after their neighbours. Hindus were having fun with their gods. Last night I was in the church where I grew up as a teenager. In all solemnity we recalled creation, flood, exodus, and prophetic promise and then all heaven broke loose – not just Alleluias and bells, not just cymbals and tambourines, but fireworks! Not just sparklers (we had those) but proper big wizzy, banging fireworks.

Christ is risen, he is risen indeed.

If Christ be risen (he is!), then fireworks are only the start! There’s a lot more fun to come, and not just childish fun but real grown up fun, world changing fun, live giving fun, fun beyond measure and out of control. Christ is risen, let the party begin.

Digging

I always feel I should dig on Holy Saturday, dig good dark earth, not just with the spade but with my hands. I need to feel the soil, smell its goodness, see its darkness. On this liminal day, the between time, when flesh has been taken down from cross and lies resting in the cool of the earth, when there is no hint of a future, I need to return to the earth. This life-giving earth in which we plant the bodies of those we love somehow draws me. In L’Aquila today they planted 228 new bodies in their garden – children and strong men, women and grandmothers. What hope on this day?

I dig to be close to that dark cruel earth, and that darkness, to discover something warm, some hint of life to come.

Dig for victory?

Dig is desperation (like those who search for earthquake victims?

Dig simply because it takes my mind of darker things (like Peter fishing)?

Dig ……. daring to find what I dare not hope for.

It rained

As a walked to church it rained - it really rained! And I hated the rain. The church was welcoming enough, my church, my people, my space, space to be quiet on Good Friday. And then he came and sat next to me. I did not notice it as first, at first he was just an unfamiliar disciple. But the stench was undeniable, unremitting, making every moment of my quiet reflection uncomfortable, regretted. Could I not have prayed at home? Then it struck me, and it hurt. Jesus, to whom he was also a stranger, died for him, this man sitting quietly next to me. While I wanted to run away from an excess of stale alcohol, Jesus died. For a friend, one might die, for a young women with potential and her life in front of her, yes perhaps, but ........

Jesus did!

We left church together and the rain was ligher then.

Confused over China

Tomorrow, 9 April, as many of us around the world recall the arrest of Jesus of Nazareth and his subsequent trial before Herod, the people and Pilot, Shi Weihan (right) will face the People’s Court of Haidan District, Beijing, China. Shi is just the last of a whole chain of Christian leaders in China to find themselves in court - his crime, the printing of Christian books without government permissions. I will be praying for Shi's release (he has been in prison since March last year) while I share a 'last supper' with my friends in Cowley, but I will also be wrestling with confusion. Visiting China two years ago I began to understand how important this nation is for us all. Not only is every fifth person in the world Chinese, and their economy one of the strongest, but it is a melting pot of creative religious debate in which Christians are increasingly playing their part. As one Christian stands trial, another is advising Party officials, and a third is having a serious impact on the intellectual community in the universities. Persecution and prophetic leadership are all there, confused, and yet vibrant. The disciples were somewhat confused on that evening in Gethsemene but they were also the 'future' - the ones to be watched. China? I know which nation I'm watching, and its not the US!

Pope Viewing

As a bookoholic with little prospect of finding a cure I am often sent tempting offers from a number of internet booksellers. Today's range of tempting offers included "What to wear to see the pope". Looking at the book's cover I wondered whether they had checked my gender before mailing me! Apparently, its a novel about a neurotic Belgian Catholic whose neuroses over the details of life threaten to destroy the really important - like her husband and family. I have no intention of reading the book so the rest must remain mystery, but it did give me a good reminder mid-way through Holy Week that there are greater things to think about than catching up with the washing and making sure I have some fuel in the car. Christians are good at neurosis (don't talk to me about keeping the hymn books straight!) but are we just as good at the world transforming? Like a God who died? And? (Oh, if you need the book, its going on Amazon for £1)