way out west

Committing to the journey

This is the last meditation from the week of fasting and reflection.  Yesterday I was speaking at St Paul's Tupsley in Hereford... The Old Testament reading they chose was one of if not my very favourite passages...

With what shall I come before the LORD
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
(Micah Chapter 6)

I love the matter of fact simplicity of the Prophets words, the way it encapsulates our calling, even the ministry of Christ!  It blows away all notion of Religious observance - the sense that there is a right way to worship - and refocuses us on what these days is called a missional dynamic and our willingness to step out WITH our God. 

To act justly - for me means three things 1) to be honest and fair in the way we live our lives - I guess in today's world this means a huge amount, and is very practical!  It means paying our taxes and not doing all we can to minimise (however legally) how much we contribute to society, it means not trying to get as much from others as we can, it means being very very careful about the way we shop and trade - about not just buying a few fair trade items but doing all our business in a way which is and is seen to be rigourously fair and just.  It means allowing others to truly be themselves and taking their concerns and struggles seriously, making time beyond our selfish concern for others, it means stepping back and allowing others to lead when we know they have the gifts - not being in love with power - even creating space for others to contribute equally even if we think we can do it better!  2)  acting in a way which intends to transform injustice in society, standing firm against inequality and abuse - locally and globally.  Yes, this has a political aspect but it also has a relational aspect, it does mean big things - campaigns and charity work - but it also means how we change society by our local actions and involvement... how we act and live as peacemakers where we are!  3)  to give others what they deserve - what they are worth!  I don't think there is some sliding scale or metre for this, it's simple - we treat others as they where made, as creations of God, as made in the image of God.  So, as hard as it may seem we have to begin by looking through what life has made them to see the reflection of the divine which may be deep, deep within... that is not to excuse or condone behaviour but to try to love them as God made them and to demand from others that everyone is treated with the same justice, the same starting point, the same rights, the same respect and the same freedoms.

To love mercy - Whilst we demand justice for all and live justly we are called at all times to act with mercy - not to seek equality or rights for ourselves but to live servant lives, in the way of the Christ - the servant king - and to relish, to love doing it!  It also means that our way needs to be God's way, way of compassion.  As Shakespeare wrote in "The Merchant of Venice" (a play about demanding "justice")

The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath... It is an attribute of God himself; And earthly power doth then show like God's When mercy seasons justice.

So Justice and Mercy go hand in hand - we demand justice for others and put aside our own demands for justice, instead acting with total mercy.  We fight for the rights of others and lay down our own rights. 

walk humbly with your God - First and foremost we are told that God is not some distant Deity who needs appeasement by ritual and observance, no, God is here to be walked with - God is an intimate and immanent God, a God who does not want to dictate to us from "on high" but journey with us on a daily basis.  Walking with God in God's world is not a discipline but a privilege!  1) Belief in God is not a means to an ends or even the end of  a process, rather it is an ongoing relationship - we are always learning, always discovering more about God and the possibility of God.  That relationship is not a located one but a lived one - we don't "go to Church" each week to get our God fix or boost rather it is one port on a 24/7 voyage,  a place to share and  pray with each other about what we have been doing with God the rest of the week... and to thank and honour God for all God has done with us and for us.  Many people today are exploring/discovering how we develop a "rhythm" of worship/prayer that is woven through daily life and living rather than it being focussed on one moment each week. 2) John V Taylor said "Mission is not an activity of the Church but an attribute of God" - God is a God who engages with people, with all aspects of people in the midst of their living - it is God's very nature and passion... thus Evangelism is not calling people to a place to meet God but to open their eyes and recognise that God is right here and closer than they could possible realise!  3)  Doug Goins writes that the Hebrew root of "humbly", "describes a lifestyle that is not proud, not self-willed, and not arrogant"  so a life that is not "self-willed" but given to another will, another purpose.  So life is a journey which is lived according to God's purpose - merged in God's purpose - in a rhythm of humble relationship with God and with others, not a dualism of "spiritual" and "secular" life - church life and work life etc.

This for me is the heart of the pilgrim, the inspiration of Brendan, Aidan, Chad, a man called Jesus who walked the roads of Palestine 2000 odd years ago and of the calling on us to be peacemakers, disciples and children of God.  This, it seems to me is the core of the journey we are committing to take, all the rest is simply how each one of us lives each stage of it.  I guess that's what I pin my hopes and dreams on, and why I commit to walking with God, a God who chose to walk with me, who came to live amongst us and live and die  for us.  Whatever happens, happens! I can do nothing but walk humbly with my God...  may the way be led by your will God, not mine.

We finished the service on Sunday with the Hymn "God is looking for a people" (which I've never heard before) the words of which are as follows...

The God we love is looking for a people,
who will allow his Spirit full control,
within whose hearts the truth will be established,
and fan the flames of worship in the soul.
He looks beyond our calculated duty
for lives alert to all the joys of grace -
may we be found among their honoured number,
a people eager for the warmth of his embrace.

The God we serve is looking for a people,
Who will give due attention to his word,
approaching scripture with a prayerful stillness,
prepared to wait until is voice is heard,
and who will move from hearing into action,
allowing Christ to shape them day by day:
may we be found among their honoured number,
a people who will listen to him and obey.

The we preach is looking for a people,
who will proclaim his kingdom to the poor;
who will not flinch when aced with opposition;
who find the cross to potent to ignore.
They will explain the hope of resurrection,
yet work for justice now for all the earth:
may we be found among their honoured number
and show our neighbours how much Christ says they are worth.

The God we love is looking for a people,
who will be knit as one community;
who will be glad to bear each other's burdens
and whose commitment fuels their unity.
In lives like these the Spirit's gifts are nurtured;
by love and joy and peace their faith is known;
may we be found among their honoured number.
a holy people Christ is pleased to call his own.

Amen

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into God's presence

A strange one today in one sense because is some ways the title seems anachronistic to me... of a world that has passed. A world of Tabernacles and Temples, of Mountain tops and Buildings... a world when we needed to go to God.  I wonder if the world began to change back in the days of  the time of Exile.

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.  Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."  Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.  They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 29)

When the exiles had to learn how to sing the Lord's song - how to live and worship God - in a strange land.  How to relate to God, to "enter his presence", when none of the cultural tools where available.  Moreover, the peace of the people of God is dependant on the peace of their captors... their faith has to be rooted in relationship (with each other, with the people they live amongst and with God) rather than in religious observance. Skipping forward we reach the moment when the Tabernacle system is finally over... in Matthew 27 we read "the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split" for me this has always been the part of the story which makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, the part which has most affected me.  Because this is catastrophic moment, a rupture in the whole God/Man system... the moment when we no longer have to enter in to God's presence in the old sense.  Romans 8 goes on to say that "The Spirit of God dwells in you... if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you"... so rather than it being we who need to enter into God's presence rather God enters into our very living... who we are, where we are. I guess for me then the challenge is not to enter God's presence but to be with God in the everyday living, to allow God to dwell in my ordinary experiences... my everything.

Great God,
who constructs the cosmos, dwell in me.
who sets the stars, dwell in me.
who paints the planets, dwell in me.
who separates the seasons, dwell in me.
who dictates the days, dwell in me.
who times the tides, dwell in me.
who made mankind, dwell in me.
dwell in all my being,
dwell in all my walking,
dwell in all my crying,
dwell in all my loving,
dwell in all my thinking,
dwell in all my living.

Technorati Tags: Christianity: Mission: Missional: new-monasticism: Prayer: safespace: Spirituality: Worship

When do you bathe?

The theme for Tuesday's reflection/prayer and fasting is washing... so I decided to do mine in the Bath!  Seriously!  While I was lying there a question struck me... My Son has his bath at night, the purpose being to wash off all the grime and dirt he's picked up during the day... which with boys is a lot!  Whereas I bathe every morning, tbh I don't feel right if I haven't had at least a shower (though I am def. a bath man!), I don't feel like I'm ready for the day ahead (the number of times the postman has knocked with a parcel just as I've got into the bath! <grrr>).  I began to wonder when the change happened?  Probably when I was around 16/17 I guess, perhaps when I stopped coming in from school/play caked in mud!  There was def. a shift somewhere, a shift in the main purpose of the washing; from cleaning off the detritus of the day to preparing me for the day ahead.

I suppose the two purposes are important, we have to take time to get rid of the crap, to confess, to cleanse, to be cleansed... but as well we need to take time to prepare ourselves, to shake off the lethargy of the night and wake ourselves up for the day's business... Today I find myself focussing on the later, the bath as the beginning.  I guess one can see both in the sacrament of baptism, the dying of the old and the awakening to the new... baptism is about dying to the old but it is also, more significantly in some ways, about a new life beginning, being prepared for the things to come.  So Baptism isn't the end of the journey, but the start of a fresh stage of it.  In the Jewish practice washing has 3 senses (the first two of which are intertwined) - 1) to be cleansed/purified 2) being prepared to approach God and 3) as an act of hospitality... it's interesting that Jesus seems to combine them in the washing of the Disciples feet... he welcomes them, he serves them but then he also prepares them to follow him, to do likewise.  How could they imitate him if they where not prepared to be first washed themselves?  I wonder if in Jesus question he asks two questions 1) the one we often think of - if they could not allow him to serve them how could they serve others? and 2) if they where not washed, cleansed and prepared how could they then walk with him/God?  As The Message puts it...

If I don't wash you, you can't be part of what I am doing

So today I see a new beginning, today I bathe to be prepared to be part of what God is doing,  We have literally washed the feet of people this year (out on the streets of Telford in the early hours of the morning at sank•tuary) and now it feels like we need to be washed, not just because of the crap we have picked up on the way but to be prepared to face the new day which lies ahead and that we might walk his way.

Technorati Tags: Christianity: Church: Community: Missional: new-monasticism: Prayer: safespace: Sanktuary: Spirituality

safespace?

It's feels a very vulnerable time for Lou and I particularly here in Telford.  I guess there is always something vulnerable about who we are as a community, to some extent small is by nature vulnerable and difficult to sustain.  We have been reflecting for a couple of months on gifting and at this time we feel it is still the right place for us to be, we are committed to safespace and Telford and feel called to stay here, we are excited about the new possibilities working with +Mark (our new Bishop) may bring... but, firstly being small and active is not easy and we would really value your prayers for everyone one in the community, at times it feels like we are individually and corporately being picked on!  Secondly, for Lou and I things feel increasingly insecure, at this moment CMS does not have the money coming in to pay it's half of my stipend and things don't look good... we have three years left of a seven year contract and suddenly (at least that's how it feels) those three years are in question.  We have some wonderful people and Churches who support us through CMS but we are someway short of the funding we need.

FYI the article on us which was on the old Fresh Expressions Web Site has been reposted on the new one - here please have a look and if you feel you can support us in any way please make contact. :)

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Pirates and Privateers (in praise of half baked ideas!)

...our faith is always under threat from blockage, from those who would control access to forgiveness, to grace, to truth. We need good Christian pirates to plunder and raid these places, to demand that these goods are released for all.

From Kester Brewin's entertaining and challenging series of blog posts "A plea for Christian Piracy" to which Richard Sudworth writes a critique...  I do find the writing and thinking of Kester and Pete Rollins helpful and in many ways inspiring and I have great respect for Richard and am in no place to argue (I'm no way near intellectual or academic enough!) with his critique... so I'm not going to try!  I would say that both Pete and Kester are helpful for me not just for what they say but for the way they say it... they both dwell in a narrative world, they speak in stories and ideas which translate... I can grasp what they are saying and in doing so I can even critique them myself... someone once said that all the best ideas where at some point "half baked"... it seems to me that these blog "discussions" often assume that each speaks in complete and formulated theories and it becomes a case of "which camp are you in" (some of the comments to Richard's post for example)  I like half baked ideas, I guess that's why I find Pete and Kester helpful, not because they offer a complete package for me to adopt or not but because they tell stories which leave space for me to reflect, to work through.

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Leadership/Gifting discussion on Fresh Expressions

As requested I posted the below Blog post as a discussion starter on the Fresh Expressions Facebook page (Here) and it seems to have sparked a bit of a conversation... I'd love to hear more peoples thinking... go join in :)

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Pioneer and/or Pastor?

Just at the moment I'm struggling with energy, it's not tiredness in the traditional sense, it's more a sense of being de-energised... this morning feeling incredibly down I began to reflect on just why I've been feeling so down/depressed for the last week or so... it's fair to say life isn't easy, financially things are tricky for us as a family but I began to realise that there is a deeper personal/spiritual issue for me... I'm a Pioneer, a creative etc. I need new challenges, new projects to sink my teeth into, to get my creative juices flowing again.

In the business world it seems accepted that entrepreneurs are always entrepreneurs, they specialise in "blue sky thinking" and they then work with managers and administrators... the worst thing to do with a new product/initiative is to leave it in the hands of the inventor!  Yet in the Church it seems to be assumed that a pioneer will gradually morph into a manager/pastor... I'm beginning to doubt this model.  There is nothing wrong with managing, and we all need to manage to some extent, but as a Pioneer I'm finding it's killing me!  When I worked in the Theatre a project would last 2/3 months then it would be time to move on to the next challenge, I could never be (and never was) a stage manager who would stay with the show for the foreseeable... I had to move on... I'm beginning to realise this is my nature, I'm energised by risk, by new problems to solve, by the creative dynamic... when left to manage something I stuff it up, not by making a mess of it but because I find myself gradually drained and I lose the energy needed and I get distracted or just thoroughly demotivated... and as hard as I try I can't find energy from nowhere!    With the creative bit between my teeth I get told off for being a workaholic, without it I can turn into a couch potato!  I'm not sure what the answer is, but it worries me that the CofE has put a lot of work into developing the Pioneer Ministry stream (both Lay and Ordained) perhaps assuming that once they have started new things they will cease to be pioneers and become Pastors... I just wonder how sustainable it is to wind up all these Pioneers if we are going to sooner or later squeeze them into being something they are not?

Technorati Tags: Church of England: Entrepreneurship: Fresh Expressions: Leadership: Pioneer Ministry

St Brendan by Brian Whelan seen at Greenbelt 09

Brian Whelan

Greenbelt 09 - The Long Worship Liturgies

This year Safespace joined with Feig, Grace and Dream to create The Long Worship - a day long (10-6) worship experience focused on Time, past/present/future... as part of the day we prepared 4 small hours liturgies, each around 15/20mins long.  They had three elements - 1) the psalms and themes of the Benedictine Small Hours (Terse, Sext, None and Compline) - 2) an element of the Eucharist/Communion (Confession, Peace, Bread & Wine, Sending) - 3) space to read from the evolving liturgy created by the participants ("The Work of the People" or the Wall liturgy - created from 840 words on cards which could be stuck on the wall a la fridge magnet poetry).  You can download the four liturgies below...

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Life in a cold climate

Is "Church" like living in a cold climate?  Odd question to ask during the summer I suppose but the more time I spend outside of "Church" the more it looks like a bunch of people trying to survive in sub-zero temperatures... we huddle together for protection, we surround ourselves with layer upon layer of insulation from the climate (culture) around us and pray for Summer... we pull our lifeblood back from the extremities into the centre spending more and more time at this meeting or that, this group or gathering or that... I know many good Christians whose whole life is lived in "Church", whose diary is jammed with "Church" events (the workplace being the only exception) and whose social life is spent entirely with "Church" people (families often the only exception) trouble is it seems to me that living like this means sooner or later the extremities will die and ultimately it is not the way to survive... some Christians can't stand the waiting around and the self preoccupation and head off into the cold regardless of the outcome... some seem able to take the risk and acclimatise, adapt, so that they can survive and even flourish... though perhaps in a new way!  I want to be hopeful, I really do, maybe I'm just the type who can't stand standing around in a huddle facing in with my back to the weather (like those penguins do on "March of the Penguins"!)  I'm not saying I have the answer, not even saying I know how to survive just that I'm not sure "survival" is enough or worth it in it's own right... I guess I'm more of a "blaze (or freeze) of glory" type!  My Rural Dean said at the interview for my post that the role should be "meeting light and relationship heavy"  I guess that's part of the reason I'm here in Telford and why at this moment I'm more than happy being outside "Church".... with my face, not my back to the storm!

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