Over a number of years people have been saying to me, from time to time, 'you ought to write a book'.
Recently I have been talking to a lady - with whom I have been aquainted for a LONG time - about how to go about changing the attitude of 'the local church' to individuals (and their families) with 'disabilities'. Our respective areas of expertise, and consequent frustration in regard to the 'local church' , are : autism and (of course) down syndrome.

The more we talked, the more I realised that it is not just our 'special' children who are marginalised in the church, but ALL of our children. The reasons are too many to begin to go into in a blog entry....
The result is that we are REALLY talking about writing a book together. We have an editor and 3 publisher options to persue.

Here's a starter..... The consequences of the rabid individualism in the church in the west are, in the long term, extinction (we are seeing it in many evangelical gatherings we have visited). The question is 'is this inevitable?'. Being a 'death or glory' optimist, I am firmly of the opinion it is NOT. However, I am seeing the destructive effects of this over-emphasis on 'me and my personal relationship with Jesus' even in my own family - somehow it is in the air we breathe - even on Sundays - my optimism is daily challenged....
A suggested title for the book which, for the wise, might guide them back into the right path is 'Children in the church, a radical re-appraisal'.
Any of my sagacious readers who might have insights they would like to share, which would help me to sharpen my thoughts, please feel free to email me. Of course, it goes without saying that many of the right ideas I have have been worked up during conversations with many God-fearing women, some of whom check in here from time to time anyway.
Today I've been thinking (already and it's only 7.15am!) about the relative 'priviledges and responsibilities' of being a member of a believing family. When I was in the army one of the lectures which impressed me in my action-packed 6-week basic-training program was the lecture on the subject of the 'priviledges and responsibilities' of being a soldier. It was news to me that one might be in a situation where you had recognisable benefits in return for which you were expected to DO something. This hadn't happened at home nor, I think, at school. At work it was easy 'you do the work, you get paid'. There were no personal aspects to any of the situations I had been in - but in the army, it seemed, there WERE! How you behaved (not to disgrace your uniform, for example) was part of the deal - you had to 'see yourself' as a soldier. Being me, I thought about this at the time and recognised that it had potential for happy application in all areas of life. In fact, it had a potentially humanising effect.

I learnt a lot in the army about all kinds of things which were useful for my real life as a Christian - though I haven't applied it all yet and I wasn't converted until I'd been in the army for 6 months.

It strikes me that many of the bits of the Bible we take as 'talking to me' are talking to 'the church' - not merely to individuals.
It is astonishing that all the details of the past, present and future of the Church (disasters and, less often, triumphs!) are in the hand of the Almighty, for her good and for HIS Glory. Why? Ephesians 3:10 " so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places". You've really got to read the whole of the letter to the Ephesians a couple of times to GET that. Of course, what is true for the Body is true for the individual members - 'there's a war on' - we are to be united under one head against a common enemy.
Recently I went about asking people 'what is the church?'. Now I want to ask 'what do you think you are doing here?'
As a beloved former pastor drilled into us (along with 9 other points, most of which I remember...) 'greatness is found in service'. Jesus came, not to BE served but to SERVE. Let us go and do likewise.