Monday 19 November 2007

Handbag!


I was in-between appointments so took the opportunity to walk down Regent Street and into Oxford Street in London where I rubbed shoulders with those, who judging by the bags they were now carrying, had very damaged bank accounts and those, who judging by their behaviour had damaged minds and were finding life difficult to cope with without alcohol or drugs. I walked into a very well known department store and witnessed a young woman buying a handbag...no ordinary handbag, but a Louis Vuitton handbag...a bag for which she paid the equivalent of what would have been for me one months' stipend. I heard her comment on the length of time it took her to save for this purchase, so it was not something that was done on a whim, but something that she had longed for and planned for.
Just around the corner from this department store, there was a street trader selling almost identical bags for a smidgen of the price - fake of course.
It got me thinking about what we were 'selling' in terms of church... do we encourage people to desire the gospel so much that they will hunger for it, putting aside other things in order to grasp it, or, are we so frightened of falling church attendance that we sell the gospel cheaply on the market stall equivalent...

5 comments:

Rock in the Grass (Pete Grassow) said...

What a wonderful illustration: and a very apt observation. I also fear the temptation to water down the Gospel so that it is pallatible and not offensive: the current rejection of Gay people by church leaders seems to me to be a way that we avoid the tough stuff of Grace in favour of populist church guff.
PG

Scout with the Cross said...

Well knock me down with a feather! Perish the thought. As if that would ever happen.

Well maybe ... perhaps ... ok Yes it does and unfortunately like the market handbag they don't generally last very long either.

David Barbour said...

Thanks, yes we are too keen to be content with veneer. True community is lost in the happy pretense of 'commercial' giving. That phoney smile with those innane conversations that empower simple living that dries up in the week. Good, honest, grace filled, true talking relationships is what we need. That place where we can cry and bear our true selves with those who will still love us..... and on...

David

Superslug said...

This made me think ( a dangerous thing I know). But would you say therefore that NEOC is the theological equivelent of dancing around your handbag? Ummmm?

Sally said...

I love this illustration- you have made me think- may I link to your blog please?
Sally