way out west

The Seeds of Exclusion

The Salvation Army have published a new report on Homelessness this month, called "The Seeds of Exclusion"...

A new generation of children risks becoming socially excluded and even homeless unless urgent action is taken to tackle poor and abusive parenting head on, a report warns.  This stark warning comes in The Seeds of Exclusion, a new report by The Salvation Army based on in-depth interviews with nearly 450 people currently receiving help in its homeless centres across the UK.

The report found that a very high proportion of homeless people surveyed had a disruptive childhood, and suffered abuse and problematic relationships with their family and friends both now and in the past.  Nearly 30 per cent were homeless before they were 18, some on more than one occasion. Those who had poor relationships with their parents were more likely to be have been homeless as children.  Traumatic experiences and poor childhood relationships with parents are key. Poor relationships with one's father as a child were common among homeless people charged with criminal behaviour as an adult. A poor relationship with one's mother was linked specifically to antisocial behaviour throughout life.

The Seeds of Exclusion study also discovered that homeless people have a much higher level of severe and untreated mental health problems than has been previously documented. Two thirds (65 per cent) screened positive for two or more psychological problems such as personality disorders, a range of mental illnesses, drug and alcohol abuse.  Only one in ten (11 per cent) of those surveyed had access to mental health care.

The study by The Salvation Army found that the gap between leaving 'controlled' environments such as prison is not being effectively bridged. A quarter of interviewees had come almost directly from places like prison or a mental health unit.

The full report is available to download on the Salvation Army Website - Here

Technorati Tags: Church: Culture: Mission: Missional: News

navigatio

Our liturgies have been used all over the world and in all sorts of situations... but there's something about the way Matt used them on his holiday on a barge that makes me feel great!  Thanks Matt :)

Technorati Tags: Blogging: Spirituality: St Brendan: Worship

Finding our way again...

Just received Brian Maclaren's latest book Finding our way again - part of "The Ancient Practices" Series from Thomas Nelson -  which seems a bit of a new direction for Brian itself!  It is a book about discipline and  disciplines.  Brian, it seems has been looking at the rising tide of new-monastic communities and the spiritual practices of ancient monastic spirituality.  The book begins to unpack a way to live a holistic, contemplative, communal and missional spirituality... Mclaren calls for a deeper spirituality that is neither vague "new-age" pick'n'mix or legalistic fundamentalism, nor is it arrogantly active or self-indulgent soaking.  The book is easy to read and each chapter has a selection of simple spiritual exercises to help reflect on the text.  First impressions are very good and I think it sits nicely on the bookshelf with Abbot Christopher Jamison's (of "The Monastery" fame) book on personal spiritual growth "Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life" as a practical but not superficial exploration of spiritual practices for life in missional community.  I will be getting a few copies for the safespace community and I look forward to hearing more from Brian at Greenbelt this year.

Technorati Tags: alt.worship: Books: Church: Community: Emerging Church: Missional: new-monasticism: Pilgrimage: Prayer: Spirituality: theology: Worship

Trinity Sunday etc.

It was Trinity Sunday yesterday... I'm convinced that as we explore a deep sense of community, we are encountering a yearning to delve into the great mystery of the archetypal community - the Trinity -  the mutual indwelling of the original and eternal communion... the community of creation and re-creation... as we dwell together we find ourselves in-dwelling, as we live in our gifts, they become manifest in others, each of us in giving ourselves to the community and to the God community discovers a part of ourselves in each of the other parts of the community.  I wonder if we can ever be more than a collective if individuals if we do not embrace the mystery of the Trinity... there can be no words without an imagination to form them and without a breath to carry them... and if we don't allow each other in, if we don't give a part of ourselves to the others... for us it is beginning to feel like we are truly ourselves unless we are with each other in spirit... probably part of the reason we don't want to leave each others company... hence our get-togethers go on and on into the early hours of the next day more often than not... we know we're all different but at the same time we are becoming so deeply knitted together... for a bigger purpose and with a big vision for this Town.

On the same theme Ian Mobsby has his second book out... through Lulu... The Becoming of G-d... described thus...

Trinitarian ecclesiology is often neglected in the West. An understanding of it is crucial if the Church is to engage with its new context of spiritual tourism. This book explores a phenomenological understanding of the Trinity and its implications for building community.

Incidentally, we keep hearing the same words spoken about the community... and about people in it... different people from different "traditions" seem to be speaking the same words about me/us/the community... I won't go into it in detail yet, but it all adds up at the moment... simply put for me people are speaking a deep discernment of people and community, the ability to see and read the inner spirit of people, to lead, to change lives and communities (I was even told that when I speak Demons will flee!!! gulp!) and for the community as a whole that we are here for the town and we will be agents of God's kingdom in a very significant and powerful way... some who have know next to nothing about what is going on at the core of safe space have so accurately described it and gone on to prophecy incredible things... locally and globally... it does feel somewhat "weird" and we don't understand it completely... so those of you who pray for us (and those who haven't yet please do!) please continue and particularly pray for a fulfilling of the words and for the peace of our Town... Thanks.

Technorati Tags: Books: Community: Emerging Church: Missional: Prayer: Telford: Trinity

Trinity in Unity in Community

Quotes from "Holy Trinity, Perfect Community" (Leonardo Boff)

God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in reciprocal communion.  The exist from all eternity; none is before or after, or superior or inferior, to the other.  Each person enwraps the others; all permeate one another and live in one another.  This is the reality of trinitarian communion, so infinite and deep that the divine Three are united are therefore one sole God.  The divine unity is communitarian because each Person is in communion with the other two.

I often find myself struggling with the way people talk about the Trinity... it seems either to veer toward Modalism (e.g. steam, water and ice), or as progressing from one another...  with the sense of The Father as supreme God, then the Son and the Spirit as an agent of Christ on earth... So when we say God, we refer to the Father etc.... a hierarchy I suppose... the latter seems to be the reality of how a lot of Christians express the Trinity, whether they would give that definition when asked specifically or not.  For example we attribute (and I do this too) the Father with Creation (for example we often describe the Three as Creator, Redeemer and Comforter in a way which implies sole responsibility)  yet John 1 and Genesis 1 describe Creation as being an act within which all Three are active and intrinsic...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men - John 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. - Genesis 1

Creation is a community act; Father, Son (Word) and Spirit... all are involved and all are intrinsic.  As therefore all are involved in and intrinsic to re-creation!  Salvation/re-creation is not simply an act/responsibility of the Son... the Trinity is woven through all ongoing creation and re-creation... we where created, we have been re-created and we are being constantly created... one cannot attribute one part solely to Father, one to Son and one to Spirit, creation is ongoing and dynamic and the work of the whole Godhead.  My growing sense of the Trinity is most like the Ecclesiastes picture of "A cord of three strands" - the Trinity woven in and out, tightly together - when one acts all act - as Boff writes enwrapping and permeating one another.  So it isn't a hierarchical community - with three "levels" but as Boff also writes one which is radically mutual... which is in complete communion.

Incidentally, one of the "dangers" of Modalism as I see it is that we can end up adding a fourth mode of God... Father, Son, Spirit and Scripture... but that's another post for another day ;-) However what is relevant to this (now) is that how we "see" the Trinity has serious implications for how we do/are church/community...

What does it mean to say God is in communion and therefore Trinity?  Only persons can be in communion.  It means one is in the presence of the other, different from the other but open in a radical mutuality.  For there to be true communion there must be direct and immediate relationships: eye to eye, face to face, heart-to-heart.  The result of mutual surrender and reciprocal community.  Community results from personal relationships in which each is accepted as he or she is, each opens to the other and gives the best of himself or herself

This "picture"/understanding of the Trinity is one which fundamentally challenges our understanding of community... radical mutuality, mutual surrender, reciprocal, open and universal acceptance of the real "me", always giving the best of oneself, never holding anything back nor hiding ones gifts etc. heart-to-heart... All very difficult and uncomfortable... we know because this is what we dream of, this is what we are stripping ourselves back to become... this is something of the ongoing re-creation, the "somethings afoot" I spoke of a while back... and for me it is about discovering who I really am, in order that I can give my true self to the community, so that I know who God made me to be... and rather than seeing that as human pride or arrogance or even self-centredness it is about delighting in the God who created and is re-creating me and what/who God calls me to be... but, we're English (and Irish) so it's tough going at times ;-) especially for me.

Technorati Tags: Community: Emerging Church: new-monasticism: Spirituality: theology

Silence

Just finished reading the amazing  "Silence"  by Shusaku Endo... an incredible book... it tells a fictionalised story (based on historical truth) of Portuguese missionaries to Japan in the 1600s... a time when Christians where being tortured and systematically wiped out.  The silence refers to the struggles the missionaries have with the silence of God in the midst of the pain and suffering not only of their number but of the indigenous Christians too... it wrestles with the parallels with the suffering of Christ and his relationship to those who betrayed him, and those who denied him in the face of death... the pivotal moment coming in the cry of Christ on the Cross "Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani?" - My God, why have you forsaken me?", when the protagonist finds himself finding a connection with Christ in the experience of God's silence.  I don't want to give away the ending, so I wont say anymore about the plot... but It's a book that really makes you ask questions about "faith", where does it come from, how does it survive in the midst of inescapable suffering? etc.  and I guess has some connections with Pete Rollin's latest book The Fidelity of Betrayal in asking the question where does faithfulness to our own identity/beliefs stand in "opposition" to compassion and mercy for others... in one specific instance if publicly denying your faith saves many others from torture, what is the Christlike road to take?  Strength or Compassion?... Where does pride in our personal faithfulness/fidelity become an obstacle for God's love and compassion?  Anyway, well worth a read.

Thanks to Colin Darling for the recommendation!

Technorati Tags: Books: Emerging Church: Mission: Missional: Religion: theology

Ithaca - Pilgrimage

One of my favourite authors - Paulo Coelho - reproduces this song in the front of his novel "The Zahir: A Novel of Obsession" .  It captures something of the sense of Peregrinate - Pilgrimage... the significance of the journey not just the destination.  Ithaca is the mythological home of Odysseus (in Homer's Odyssey)...

ITHACA When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge. The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the angry Poseidon-do not fear them: You will never find such as these on your path if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine emotion touches your spirit and your body. The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter, if you do not carry them within your soul, if your heart does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long. That the summer mornings are many, when, with such pleasure, with such joy  you will enter ports seen for the first time; stop at Phoenician markets, and purchase fine merchandise, mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony, and sensual perfumes of all kinds, as many sensual perfumes as you can; visit many Egyptian cities, to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all. It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would never have set out on the road. She has nothing more to give you. And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you. Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

CONSTANTINE CAVAFY (1863-1933) translated by Rae Dalven

Technorati Tags: Books: Pilgrimage: Spirituality

The New Conspirators

Just got my copy of Tom Sines latest book...

"The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time"

Tom and Christine Sine have been doing a huge amount of thinking, being and doing in the world of what has become known as "new-monasticism". They identify four (overlapping) streams of new community...  emerging - missional - mosaic {multi-cultural} - monastic.  Back in the day (late 90s), Toms book "Mustard Seed Versus McWorld" was an inspiration as I was beginning to explore a different way of being church and community, I love the sense of passion he has for changing the world and his belief that there is nothing stopping us from making the small differences that up to massive change... so I'm really looking forward to hearing what he has to say in the new millennium.

Mustard Seed Associates "Creating the future one mustard seed at a time"

Technorati Tags: Books: Emerging Church: Missional: new-monasticism

What does it mean to be a Christian?

According to Pete Rollins in a fascinating (if mind melting) interview with Becky Garrison (in the Wittenburg Door)...

It means entering into a journey of becoming one. It does not mean accepting a world view but rather entering into a healing journey of life... Being a Christian means learning how to be the opening of life into the world.

I love that last sentence... it echoes some of our exploration of missio Dei and Shalom... Oh, Lord let me be an "opening of life into the world"

ht Jonny for the link

Technorati Tags: Books: Culture: Emerging Church: Media: Religion: theology

Is Atheism the only Religion that is really dying?

ht to Maggi for the link to an article from author John Gray  ("Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia") in yesterdays Guardian Books section.

Dawkins, Hitchens and the rest may still believe that, over the long run, the advance of science will drive religion to the margins of human life, but this is now an article of faith rather than a theory based on evidence...

Evangelical atheists never doubt that human life can be transformed if everyone accepts their view of things, and they are certain that one way of living - their own, suitably embellished - is right for everybody. To be sure, atheism need not be a missionary creed of this kind. It is entirely reasonable to have no religious beliefs, and yet be friendly to religion. It is a funny sort of humanism that condemns an impulse that is peculiarly human. Yet that is what evangelical atheists do when they demonise religion...

The attempt to eradicate religion, however, only leads to it reappearing in grotesque and degraded forms. A credulous belief in world revolution, universal democracy or the occult powers of mobile phones is more offensive to reason than the mysteries of religion, and less likely to survive in years to come. Victorian poet Matthew Arnold wrote of believers being left bereft as the tide of faith ebbs away. Today secular faith is ebbing, and it is the apostles of unbelief who are left stranded on the beach.

The Guardian

Technorati Tags: Books: News: Religion