way out west

Tonights Table Communion - Resurrection

Inspired by Paula Gooder's - This Risen Existence

RS Thomas - "Suddenly"

As I had always known
he would come, unannounced,
remarkable merely for the absence
of clamour. So truth must appear
to the thinker; so, at a stage
of the experiment, the answer
must quietly emerge. I looked
at him, not with the eye
only, but with the whole
of my being, overflowing with
him as a chalice would
with the sea. Yet was he
no more there than before,
his area occupied
by the unhaloed presences.
You could put your hand
in him without consciousness
of his wounds. The gamblers
at the foot of the unnoticed
cross went on with
their dicing; yet the invisible
garment for which they played
was no longer at stake, but worn
by him in this risen existence.

Taste and see that the Lord is good,

Taste the aroma of the ripe olives in the air

Taste the dryness of the dust kicked up from the road

Taste the metallic tang of blood in the mouth

Taste the sour wine sucked in anguish

See the leaking of life from the eyes

See the drying of blood on the dust

See the weeping of loved and loving

See the dispersal of curiosity and expectation

Taste the sweet spices and anointing oils

Taste the dull earthy tones of the tomb

Taste the fresh air on sunday morning

Taste the worlds flavours stronger than ever

See the shades and movement of the garden

See the astonished faces of friends

See the hope reborn in empty souls

See the confusion and fears wane

Taste the fresh fish by the lakeshore

Taste the grit of smoke from the fire

Taste the kisses of hard men on the cheek

Taste the meal at the end of the road

See the beginning of a brand new era

See the ripped curtains and fallen walls

See the blossoming of love and forgiveness

See the kingdom come and coming 

See the bread being broken reveal life

Taste the wine flowing from the cup

See the hands and side spilt and holed

Taste the bread and the wine in remembrance of him

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Almighty Father,
in your great mercy you gladdened the disciples with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
through your Holy Spirit.

Risen Christ,
you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:
strengthen us to proclaim your risen life
and fill us with your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.

Life giving Spirit,
you lit the spark of new life in the disciples:
help us to shine with compassion and love
for those who suffer and struggle,
and to be a living sign of your radical goodness,
in the name of our saviour and brother Jesus the Christ.

 

 

St Brigid Meditation

Tonight we are getting all crafty and celticy ;-) weaving St Brigid's crosses - using themes from Brigidine sister Rita Minehan (found here) - reeds are added one by one going anti clockwise we say a line of prayer... we repeat the circle 3 times (making a cross as in the image) though you can repeat it as many times as you like.

St Brigid of Kildare

One day when Brigid was on a long journey she stopped to rest by the wayside. A rich lady heard about this and brought her a beautiful basket of choice apples. No sooner had she received them than a group of very poor people came by and begged her for food. Without a moment’s hesitation, Brigid gave them the choice apples. The rich lady was utterly disgusted and she complained to Brigid, ‘I brought those apples for you, not for them.’ Brigid’s reply was: ‘What is mine is theirs.
1) We pray for the poor

It is generally accepted that Brigid established her abbey and church in Kildare around 480 AD, on the site now occupied by St Brigid’s Cathedral. Brigid held a unique position in the Irish Church and society of her day. As Abbess, she presided over the local Church of Kildare and was leader of a double monastery for men and women. Tradition suggests that she invited Conleth, a hermit from Old Connell near Newbridge, to assist her in Kildare. Cogitosus tells us that ‘they governed their Church by means of a mutually happy alliance.’ What emerges from many of these stories and legends about Brigid is the portrait of a strong and gentle woman, a powerful leader, a good organiser, a skilful healer and a wise spiritual guide.
2) We pray for community

Folklorists tell us that in some parts of Ireland a St Brigid’s cross was often used as a token of goodwill between neighbours, indicating a desire for peace and friendship after a local quarrel. One of the best-known stories associated with St Brigid is that of her giving away her father’s precious sword to a poor man so that he could barter it for food to feed his family. Thus, a sword, a weapon of war, was transformed into a life-giving instrument.
3) We pray for Peace

One day, Saint Brendan the Navigator stood on a cliff top and watched two whales engaging in fierce combat.  Suddenly, the smaller whale, in a human voice, cried out for help not to Brendan but to Brigid, who was not even present. The cry was answered immediately, and the combat ceased Brendan was puzzled as to why he had been ignored. ‘Do you always think about God?’ asked Brigid, when the two met. ‘Yes,’ replied Brendan, ‘except at times when my boat is caught in a storm at sea and I have to concentrate on keeping it afloat.’  ‘That’s the explanation,’ Brigid answered. ‘From the moment I first knew God I have never let him out of my mind, and I never shall.’
4) We pray for God’s presence

 

Passover Seder Meal 2011

A Co:missioning prayer I put together in Seattle

Co:missioning prayer
In the name of the divine and mysterious Trinity,
You have called us into being through love.
You have joined us to one another in love.
You have placed us in your world to love.

Grant each one of us the strength
To carry your blessing from this place to the next.
May we be at home in any land and in any place in between, for all the cosmos is yours.
May we, with our hopes set on your shalom in the world, live also as aliens in all lands.

May the rhythms of your creation be the heartbeat which sustains our very life. 
May the lamp of your word guide our feet on the unsure paths of each day.
May your breathing be the winds which lead us across strange new oceans.

Our lives are but a breath,
But our breaths are drawn, from your divine Spirit.
You have created us, peregrinate,
traveling paradoxes, holy wanderers.
Specs of dust and divine-image bearers.
Shadows of your creativity,
and crucibles of the spark of innovation.
We are constantly restless until we rest in you.

Grant each one of us and our community a deeper fullness of being and spirit,
May our faces be fuller in glory and joy,
Now bearing new shape, as our faces transform and supplement one another.
May that transformation bring peace, joy and love in the world in which you have placed us.

Go in the name of the Spirit who moves across the surface the waters,
and in the beating of the human heart, 
Go in the name of Jesus, the God-Man who died, rose and lives on for us,
Go in the name of the Creator and re-Creator, the mother of grace.
Amen

 

Dreaming about Priesthood

I dreamed about "priesthood" last night... probably a hangover from a conversation with the Pioneer Ministry students yesterday (and a FB chat with a friend who shall remain nameless - unless he chooses to name himself in the comments)... however it was a really interesting dream - very cinematic - about a Priest who became homeless and by default became a Priest (because that was who he was) amongst the homeless, despite being a drinker (as a result of trauma) and having all the pain of lost family and friends, and the hopelessness of being caught in the trap of street living... it raised a couple of thoughts for me as I lay in bed taking it all in... 1) do we really understand the seriousness of the incarnation, that it was/is no game (a la Pulp's song "common people"), a pastiche of the life of those served with an easy escape? I guess incarnation is dangerous, a giving up of other options... 2) is it possible to choose were one's nature/calling as a Priest is enacted? Or is it simply about being where life places us, amongst the everyday people as an everyday person... in the words of Sly and the Family Stone...

I am no better and neither are you

We're all the same whatever we do

You love me you hate me

You know me and then

You can't figure out the bag I'm in

I am everyday people

 ...to be a Priest is to be Priestly in the midst of life, of everyday people, surely it's not taking someone out of that life and training them to be/do something other but naming their living for others with others? Priesthood is incarnational, sacramental and sacrificial precisely because it doesn't remove people from context... because it recognises and names them in place... because it is real living, not an aspiration or career path... because it demands a giving up of wanting to escape or move up the mythical ladder!

 

Our meditation for tonight - on the beginning of Lent

Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea;

hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught

at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger.

My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me.

Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.

I said, Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest—

I would flee far away and stay in the desert;

I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.

Psalm 55:1-8

 

Teresa of Avila

Let nothing disturb you

Let nothing dismay you

For all things are passing

Only God never changes

Patient endurance attains all things

God alone suffices

 

4 candles extinguished one by one after each section

 

We have stepped into the season of lent, planted a foot in another place.

A new time in the deepest desert begins.

Away from the pushing and shoving of life,

Away from the noise that clamours around us,

Away from the demands that compete for our attention,

Away from other who would have their pound of our flesh,

Away from the unreal expectations and standards we place on ourselves,

Away from the boundless distractions that sap energy and dominate time.

Welcome lent as a time of rest.

 

We have stepped into the season of lent, planted a foot in another place.

A new time in the deepest desert begins.

Into the emptiness which exposes our innermost pain,

Into the silence in which our own voice becomes the only sound we hear,

Into the darkness night in which dwell both rest and fear,

Into the loneliness where we can find our imperfect reality,

Into the full face of the elements standing exposed and vulnerable,

Into the quiet where finally the whisper can be heard.

Welcome lent as a time of reflection.

 

We have stepped into the season of lent, planted a foot in another place.

A new time in the deepest desert begins.

A moment when possibilities begin to emerge,

A moment when the detail is coming into focus,

A moment when the space between people is coming alive,

A moment when we begin to truly learn about ourselves,

A moment when perspective is shifting and horizons pulsing,

A moment when the divine is becoming ordinary.

Welcome lent as a time of re-ordering.

 

We have stepped into the season of lent, planted a foot in another place.

A new time in the deepest desert begins.

Wait, peace is coming to still your struggles,

Wait, hope is coming to spark your spirit,

Wait, life is coming to fill your dreams,

Wait, joy is coming to make you smile,

Wait, love is coming to complete you,

Wait, God is coming to lead you on.

Welcome lent as a time of revelation.

 

Music & quiet - I will wait. Maggi Dawn

 

But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.

Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.

He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.

God, who is enthroned for ever, will hear them and afflict them—

those who never change their ways and have no fear of God.

Psalm 55:16-19

 

Teresa of Avila

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes through which he looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

Christ has no body now but yours.

 

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you;

he will never let the righteous fall.

But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days.

But as for me, I trust in you

Psalm 55:22-23

 

Blessing

May the peace of the Christ go with your every step, wherever you are led.

May he send you to places which you cannot even dream of.

May he guide you through the desert, protect you through the storm,

May he bring you home in joy at the wonders he has shown you,

may he bring you home in joy at the lessons you have learned,

may he bring you home in joy once again into our doors.

 

CMS Pioneer Mission Leadership Training

CMS launch the prospectus and web site for their Pioneer Mission Leadership Training

The CMS Pioneer Mission Leadership Training Course is a new, creative way of equipping and mobilising Christians for ground-breaking, transformational, sustainable mission.

The course:

1. gives pioneers, who often find themselves “on the edge”, a supportive, learning community – a place to belong
2. equips pioneers to initiate and carry on mission projects that have a wider impact on the church and society
3. meets an identified need within the wider church for a diverse approach to training mission pioneers

In short, this unique course equips pioneers – lay, ordained and anywhere in between – for effective mission in a new way.  It is not only a validated course of study; it’s a new course of action.

Greenbelt first lineup announcements

http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/blog/2011/02/greenbelt-2011-first-lineup-announcements/

New Monasticism Questions

Ben Edson asks some questions of New-Monasticism in advance of the book launch tomorrow...

1: One comment that Martyn Percy made was that an 'an abbot' is a title rich in heritage and monasticism as a concept is one that has deep, deep roots.  Does our contemporary re-imagination of the monastic tradition violate the heritage from which it comes?  Is it too pop...

2: Is there something slightly sanctimonious about the new monasticism conversation?  Is it the bitter pill that Christians think that culture needs to swallow to make it better? Is there a genuine desire to swallow the pill and is this desire matched action?

3: Is it offering a countercultural model of community?  And if so is the best model to engage with society?

4: Does it bring people to faith?  Does it engage with the non-churched?

 

I left the following (partial) response... 

Interesting Q's Ben, though I do wonder if they are still infused with a somewhat modernist (and Evangelical ;-) ) language of evaluation - "best", "better" etc. but not much about authenticity, integrity, etc.? I'm not sure it's about being the "best" or even being a "model" but about finding ways of community and spirituality that resource and sustain a 24/7 way of living faith - so rather than seeking the "best model to engage" we simply do what we find sustains that missional and spiritual engagement and as a bonus we may find that for many who have lost the tools for being community it offers a window on a fuller way of living. I guess one could say that rather than being a "model" it could be an Icon of the God who is by nature community... also I wonder if rather than being a replacement (or solution for the ills of) the Church it could be, as Monasticism has always been the left hand to the ecclesiastical right hand of the faith? Did in the modern world we lose our connection with the monastic and seek to replace it with the Para-Church (YFC, SU, etc. even CMS!) and as that part of Christendom is in decline are we simply re-exploring what was for centuries has been part of what we know as Christianity?

I asked your 1st question to Abbots Sam (Hillfield) and Stuart (Mucknel) recently and the answer they gave was that unlike the Church which seeks to do "new things" to sustain the inherited, they believed that a) we had to release new expressions of monasticism to find new ways in a new era, b) that they wanted to learn from the new ways what the challenges, joys etc. are of the world we live in now and c) they wanted to give to us their wisdom, particularly what they have learned about community and spirituality over the centuries. They saw a line of continuum but also that like Parents there has to be a letting go in order that the child can grow toward maturity.

Epiphany

Today we celebrate Epiphany - one of our old Epiphany meditations - http://markjberry.blogs.com/way_out_west/2006/01/tonights_epipha.html

A short midnight-mass liturgy

hear the call of heaven

lift up your eyes to the clear cold sky and the beauty of the world
we lift them up to god
lift up your heads to your brothers and sisters sat beside you
we lift them up to god
lift up your voices to speak words of peace to all humanity
we lift them up to god
lift up your hearts to the child, the vulnerable ruler, the humble king
we lift them up to god
lift up your bodies to go to him, to worship him, to walk with him
we lift them up to god

god of paradox
god of complexity
god of power and might
god of the human touch
god of the swirling cloud and the birth of planets
god of the manger and the dust floor
god announced by angels
god welcomed by shepherds
god seen in the stars
god lying in the straw 
god who shaped the earth
god who breathed it’s air

we do not understand you, but we welcome you

we thank you that in love you flung wide the gates of heaven and brought it’s glory to the hillside.  we thank you that you took pity on our feeble efforts to reach you through religion and came instead to touch us.
so we join with the angels singing
holy holy holy
lord god almighty
heaven and earth are full of your glory
hosanna in the highest

so began a story.  born in mercy.  lived in justice. died in humility.  raised again in love.

Luke 2 v 1-20

on this night we remember a beginning in the past and the beginning of the future.

a lifetime later, on the very night he was betrayed christ took bread, broke is and gave it to his friends saying take eat this is my body which is broken for you.
after supper he took the cup saying drink this all of you. this is my blood which is shed for the forgiveness of sins. do this to remember me. send down your spirit on these gifts of bread and wine that they may be to us christ’s body and blood.

christ was born
christ walked amongst us
christ has died
christ is risen
christ will come again

they came, they bowed they gave to him
gold given to one who will be honoured
myrrh given to one who will be mourned
frankincense given to one who will be worshipped
glory and praise given to the one who lives beyond reason, loves beyond logic, is beyond understanding

the christ is born, the world can never be the same again. Amen

 

2 interesting parallels with the stories of Jesus' Birth and Death (seeing the whole story)

A couple Christmas eve thoughts...

 

1) In the Birth narrative we hear that there was no room in the "Kataluma" - this is not likely to be an "Inn", "Kataluma" normally refers to the guest room of a house.  Joseph would not have to stay at an Inn, he/his family were from Bethlehem so he would have a right to stay in a house belonging to any of his relatives.  So they would have stayed in a "Kataluma" but, as we read it was full so they were given space under the guest room where normally the animals were housed and/or food was stored... where there would normally be a manger.  (NB. when the Magi visit the text says they entered a "House")

 

In the "Passion" the story of the events leading up to and surrounding Jesus' death, we hear about the Seder/Passover meal they share in an "Upper room" or "Kataluma"... at the start of his life Jesus is born in a place which does not belong to him/his family - not even in the guest quarters to which he has a right to.  At the end of his life Jesus and the disciples have no place to share the passover meal of their own so they eat in a "Kataluma" - Jesus at the start, during and the end of his life exists with this tension between being fully here and and also a stranger/guest... he is at home here but in some ways he is never at home.

 

2) When the Angel visits the Shepherds we are told that "the glory of the Lord shone around them [the shepherds]".  But we know from the Jewish faith that there was only one place that the glory of God was present on Earth - the Holy of Holies in the Temple.  

 

As Jesus dies we are told that the Temple Curtain ripped.  This Curtain was what separated the Holy of Holies from the people - and even the High Priests had to undertake thorough cleansing rituals before they could enter it.  So the death of Jesus rips the fabric of Religion, it ruptures the structures and blows wide the gates!  The glory of God is now immanent - it is here, there and everywhere, within everybody's reach (as Paul says to the Athenians in the Areopagus)... but if we go back to the Birth narrative, we find the glory of God present on Earth outside of the Temple/religious system already!  So it seems that Jesus incarnation as well as his death is part of this action - by his Birth, not just by his death the system becomes defunct, by his birth we are able to exist within the glory of God, by his birth we are forgiven, and by his death it is completed and open to everyone.

 

So I guess, we have to see the whole story not just the Baby Jesus but also not just the Man on the Cross - neither stand alone - both and all that lies between them are vital to grapple with the story of God on Earth.

 

New Book - Starting from Zero with $0

 

Just received a copy of "Starting from Zero with $0" written by Becky Garrison - Available from Amazon

Churches everywhere are suffering from draconian funding cuts, so how do leaders with a heart for alternative ministries fund their passion and build communities that will last? Journalist and commentator Becky Garrison looks deep into the experience of nearly a dozen ministries in the United States and United Kingdom - all of them geared to the growing spiritual-but-not-religious demographic, and all of them highly creative ventures doing a lot with a little money. How did these ministries start from zero with $0? And how could you?

We are one of the featured communities, along with "The Church on the Corner", "Grace", "The Crossing", "St Marks in the Bowery" amongst others.  I haven't had time to read it all - will post more when I have had chance to.

 

Order of Saint Brendan

I heard this week from Karen Ward from the Church of the Apostles in Seattle - http://www.apostleschurch.org/ - that they are starting a Mission Order called "The Order of Saint Brendan the Navigator" - http://episcopalvillage.org/index.php/pioneer-order/

The idea is that Chapters can be formed by any group of Christians who can hold to the values and vision of the Order...

 

Missional Development' via the start up of new, renewed, and contextual Christian churches and ministries that are capable of connecting emerging generations to life and community around Jesus Christ. Especially connecting with: people with no previous church experience, people with prior negative experiences of Christianity, people in urban areas, people from non European cultures, and people from subcultures amonst whom the church rarely engages.

'Wholistic Mission' which engages all dimensions of mission: the contextual, the cross-cultural, the trans-cultural, and the counter cultural ways in which the Gospel relates to culture.

'The Reign of God Horizon' which unites us in common cause with all those working for justice and compassion in culture and society. We will develop partnerships, and work collaboratively with people of different faiths and those with no particular faith tradition, towards the renewal of human community and relationships within our various localities, because the Reign of God extends beyond the bounds of the church.

'Spiritual Stability' within a particular Christian tradition We hold that spiritual depth within Christian life and practice is most often found by living within a particular Christian tribe or spiritual tradition with integrity. Being fully part of a tradition calls for being 'under authority' within the tradition (to your Bishop, or equivalent oversight or accountability). Claiming any Christian tradition with integrity involves allowing that tradition to claim you.

I've known Karen for a few years and we've been on a few panels together at Greenbelt and met at other gatherings and we have spoken at depth about St. Brendan and new-Monasticism.  Clearly the new Order shares both the values and story of Safespace, and I am beginning to wonder wether the re-gathering and re-focussing we are going through as we try to discern the way ahead is pointing us in this direction - to connect with the order and perhaps to become a chapter?   What may be interesting is that it re-opens the possibility of growing two aspects of Safespace - the living community here in Telford but also a wider dispersed "membership" to the Order through us.  I'm hoping, if I can find the necessary funds, to join the Order in February to share stories and explore the future together.

The Magnificat - not just a nice tune!

The wonderfully poetic, spiritually and politically mindblowing Magnificat...

 

My soul doth magnify the Lord.

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid;

for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

Because he that is mighty,

hath done great things to me;

and holy is his name.

And his mercy is from generation unto generations,

to them that fear him.

He hath shewed might in his arm:

he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat,

and hath exalted the humble.

He hath filled the hungry with good things;

and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He hath received Israel his servant,

being mindful of his mercy:

As he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his seed for ever.