Journal: Super Sunday

An amazingly enjoyable Sunday which began with an early morning Communion in what felt like a cold store and the two services in the comfort of the home church, the last one being (as always) a sublime and gentle Taizé.

There is a real danger for those of us who minister in that we assume the mentality of it being 'just another day in the office'. But it isn't, it is so very much more than that; Sunday is our weekly mini-Easter. The Eucharistic feast, our Easter celebration, is the reason that Church still exists as it does, for had we not gathered to break bread and drink wine, we would have drifted into something very different indeed.

It is odd but the Communion service is different each and every time, and that's not because I muddle the words or engage in the art of leaving stuff out or 'wuddling my mords' (like what me Mum used to do!) - No, each service is different because the emphasis and import of words and actions in the service changes each and every time.

The joy of taking the bread and the wine and giving thanks as Jesus did in that Passover meal shared in the upper room with this followers - the 'Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam . . . ' moment when we acknowledge our Creator God. The moment when the immensity of the words, "Once for all," bringing to mind the immensity and the completeness of that one atoning act upon the cross that Jesus makes for all humanity.

How can we walk away from this service unchanged?
How can we do it justice other than to offer our lives and experience in our very beings the gift of love which being consumed, consumes us?

Lord, today I have been made different in the encounters with You - may this be true for all of us who 'do' Church and may it be found in the places I visit this week with Your celestial 'happy meal'.

For what satan has meant for evil, You turn to good.

Blessed be your name.


This place of reflection is here for me to dialogue internally and gain insight and perspective. It first appeared in this current form for some of those looking at creating their own journal as part of the their journey to discerning vocation. The Morning prayer is there also for that same purpose: to create the discipline of prayer. Dialogue, insights and experience of others concerning this entry is always welcome - all grist to the m

A day of many parts

The day started with the usual routine of daily Office, usually occurs anywhere in the morning from 03:30 onwards (usually finding itself at 04:30 it seems as the first thing I do when I wake). This is the opportunity to read the Bible and pray, setting up the day that follows as the spiritual equivalent of porridge for it sustained me throughout the day, in the stillness before the dawn aririves.

I blog the readings each morning (there is a growing group of people who use the condensed form I post as part of their introduction to doing the Office) as part of growing discipline in myself and others.  So, Office done, there's some post-production work on a recording to be sorted and then it's into the church building to set up for the Thursday Communion and the drop-in that follows it. Chairs out, orders of service and Bibles on the seats, lay up for the Communion, fill the urn (and turn it on - always important). Then it's the tables and chairs, biscuits and stuff for the two hours that follow after the Eucharist is done.

I rejoice at the Psalm in Communion today (118) it's like a sweet jar full of old favourite sentences and they bounce around my head all day: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone - Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord - Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Words that sustain.

How sad that we have lost the Psalms as part of our public worship in so many places - sadder still the contraction to just two readings! Jesus, the Christ, is the capstone which holds it all together - Hallelujah! We share the word and celebrate the resurrection and recommit ourselves to shime in the dark places of our town - for we are salt and light.
What does that look like?
How will you use me to make You known today?
Where will my feet take me and what do I need other than You?
So many questions and challenges buzzing, then and now as bed is made my hiding place with you.

The drop-in was amazing, so many people with so many issues, yet laughed and encounter and the joy of being family for those who known the Christ and those perhaps a little far off - just as it shou,d be for first they stop, then the sit and then they recline - aren't people amazing and isn't God great?

Onto a meeting and finding joy in the shape of a nearby church and the steps to be taken there - little steps bring a great distance in the passage of time - the key is to take them! Back to the START course where it transpired that when looking at who our hero is Jesus want mine! Shock or what?
We talk and look at the heroes society has in its sportsmen and women: overpaid, indulged, living wrong lives and et emulated and applauded, is that what a hero is? Move on to great leaders, commanders, businessmen and women: is victory or success the key to making a hero? Nah, when we look past their achievements and their fine words we find feet of clay,

As we talk about why I live the life I do, flawed fallible, excited and generally weird I mention that I am, and do, because Jesus is MY LOVE, and that's the word - it is LOVE, not HERO, that we need to be thinking of and looking to emulate, to please and to follow. How absolutely amazingly wonderfully brilliant is that? His love endures for ever.

Buzzing I prepare and head of to ke a bunch of ten ann eleven year olds around a church building and share some of the wonderful treasures, explaining symbolism and imagery, and making the love of God as seen in Jesus, God made man, known. Making time running around the church and pointing out stuff that is usually missed - making connections - explaining liturgicalbits and giving little hooks  and sowing seeds. How I love this life which so many others seem to think is a job. I'm working, and for, with the person I love - can it get any more wonderful?

And it does - for I find myself in the ditch it's the woman I love, half a pint and a pork pie and some time to chat and meet new people and enjoy the woman whose lives surrounds and sustains me also.

Lord, I am just so very blessed!

All before me was joy today: The engagements, the conversations, the opportunities seen and taken. The written word and the living Word filling and sustaining and guiding me.

Thanks for a great day - same again tomorrow please?

Dear diary: A stunning week closes . . .

Time for a bit of reflection:

Communion celebrated (I preside and we all, as the people of God, celebrate the Eucharist - just saying) in a variety of settings (church, home and care home). A privilege and joy and, not unsurprisingly, one of the areas that has lifted my head, made me buzz, filled me with hope (realised in Jesus, the Christ) and put an added spring in my step.

Funerals conducted in church and Crematorium this week (realised that with 56 on the clock so far this year that it's been a light year and wonder whether that's good or bad?). This week's have seen some me working amazing people who were unsung heroes with so many things to commend them. Interestingly the average age of the four this week was greater than my overall average of 87 - also different from the norm was the fact that the men outlived their wives - usually the other way around!

Started the week with a stunningly joyful, fun-filled and celebratory funeral and the theme continued until the final trip to the crem' on Friday - good to have smiles and laughter as well as tears and solemnity making their appearance.

Engagement with people was, as ever, a mixed bag, and the ability of people to screw things up is always amazing - but the ability to bring clarity and Christ into situations makes the role of pastor and priest a joy - it is no coincidence that I buzz most when engaged with people, don't think I'm ever going to be in love with proecedure and paperwork so I'll leave it to those who enjoy it and thank God for them whilst I head in the opposite direction.

Cherry on the cake this week was someone coming to Christ and beginning their journey into the world of faith. Can there be anything better than seeing someone 'born again' and reconciled to God theory the atoning actions of the Christ? Realised how frustrated I am that I do so little real evangelism and so much of the treadmill. If I were someone who did new year's resolutions (only ever done one - resolved not to do any and kept that one) I'd say 2017 will be a year of winning souls - instead I'll say it more and look to making that happen.

So impressed with Hope - so frustrated with clergy! Why is it that clergy wait for someone to hand them a weapon when they are facing the enemy and merely need to stoop down and pick one up from the ground? When the enemy is before us we take up whatever weapon is to hand and engage them robustly  and with overwhelming fire. But prayer is at a premium rather than commonplace and all around me I find people managing decline and reading from a spreadsheet when they should be populating heaven and reading the Bible!

So blessed to be part of the worshipping communities in Leyfields, Coton Green and Hopwas - Christmas Market, Ladies Craft, Friday Freiends, drop-In, Kid's Club and so much more have been a blessing this week. The school's work is just monster and the opportunities for engagement endless. Amazed I can find time to stop praIsing you Lord.


Sadness of the week has been the person who will never fail because they will never attempt anything  - seems that's the way to be well-regarded by so many - seems to me that this is the reason Church is struggling :-(

Lesson of the week has been the realisation that I as much as I love reading and praying and growing in my knowledge of the word this is something that I have come to regard as something I do when work is done rather than something that's part of the work I do - so another note for 2017 - study, prayer and developing my theological and ministerial skill sets are going to be part of the working week.

Joy of the week are many but topped by Phillip's baptism and the gift that he is to the people of God. To work with people who eagerly desire to know Christ and to celebrate His death and resurrection in the Eucharist is sublime - what a week: Bath and Bread in the spotlight.

So much to thank God for - my paucity, His immensity.

Hallelujah

Bread and Wine: Why do we do it so poorly at times?

When it comes to the Eucharist I have to say that, aside from the old joke which asks who in their right mind would go out to a place that takes over thirty minutes to stick bread and wine on the table, it seems when it comes to the Eucharist there is often little to laugh about. The reason for this is that a fair number of the churches I have visited over the years appear to have failed when it comes to taking the issue of the elements seriously and this is not right. After all, if we really think this is something important then surely we would do our best to make sure it is done both properly and well.

Let me explain:

The Bread
One of the things I like to do is break the bread, if wafers are in use, as I use the words, 'The body of Christ broken for you...' the emphasis being on the 'broken' BUT I have visited a number of churches where the wafer is something soggy which curls as you try to break it. Disaster: 'The body of Christ curled up and rolled into a tube for you,' just doesn't do it for me!!!

It gets worse when the 'priest's' wafer is soggy because with that resounding 'snap' missing as 'we break this bread to share in the body' I'm left trying to tear the wretched elasticised circular abomination whilst still trying to look like it's not a three ring circus.

Then there's the wonderful wafers that have been dried to the extent that when you break them they go off like a gunshot and fragment. I nearly took someone's eye out a few weeks back with one of these as they knelt at the rail (I kid you not)! 

But as if that wasn't bad enough, the blessed soggy things, when consumed, stick to the roof of your mouth and needed copious amounts of wine (honestly officer - I've just been doing a service (hic)! ) to shift the thing so you could do the post communion prayer. Meanwhile the rest of the congregation, who weren't so fortunate,  struggled on (I watched a couple of the old loves present remove their top set of dentures) to try and remedy the problem!!

Mind you, it's not all about wafers this bread problem. A recent service was going swimmingly and as I picked up the bread roll (or 'bun' as they call them here) I was getting into my stride. 'Take, eat, this is my body broken for you...' (bread is now broken to reveal lumps of chocolate) - yes, really!

It's good idea to ensure that the bread you use is of the finest flour and the best you can get, but the communion I did with sunflower seeds in the bread saw more dentures under attack than that seen in the making of 'The `Revenge of the Curly Communion Wafer'! 

The Wine
Personally I like to use a good tawny regimental port (19% proof) because it tastes good and it doesn't stain the linen. When we add water to it (which we do because we're not out to get drunk, it's nothing to do with blood and water and Jesus' side) it still retains its taste and continues to have an antiseptic property (and remember, the using the purificator is a relatively modern practice - but it does apparently remove up to 90% of germs). 

The problem is that somewhere I went to recently used a cheap and nasty pale sherry which once watered down looked like cat's pee and tasted like (and I'm no expert here) something worse still. When asked there response was that it, 'Saved money!' Bah, humbug is what I say!! I'm all for being a good steward but this isn't the place to be skimping, If you want to 'save money' then cut down on all the wasteful printing and buy cost effective candles and stuff like that but make the Eucharist something special.

Next we have the problem of:

Storage
Try drinking the remnants of a highly dyed and nasty port that's been left in a bottle for a week with the top off and served from a silver container which someone joyfully attacks with some sort of silver polish each week to add that little extra flavour - it isn't a joyful or pleasurable experience at all!

One church I visited last year had the practice of leaving whatever hadn't been consecrated in their lovely silver flagon and that was why the thing leaked around the seams - the acid was eating the treasure away!

So here's a little plea:

Use the best bread you can and if you are a church that uses wafers, keep them dry (you can buy biscuit tins with some sort of hydroscopic cell in them to take away the moisture and keep them fresh) and if they become soggy - BIN THEM!  Do not inflict them on the communicants (or the clergy either - because more often than not the 'priest's wafers are the ones to really suffer) because it distracts from, and diminishes, somethingquite spectacularly important/    

If you use bread rather than wafers - either get a member of the congregation to bake the loaf or roll to ensure it's the right stuff and if that can't be done and it's shop bought - READ THE LABEL!

I really enjoyed Jesus with added chocolate but it wasn't in the right place  and was not how (or what) we should have been doing! The sunflower and sesame seed Jesus I encountered whilst covering an interregnum was nice, but it would have been improved by toasting the bread (or the person who brought it if that was not acceptable) and the addition of just a little butter.

The Eucharist is an important - no, it is THE MOST important - of the things we do together in Church - make it look and feel like that by taking the elements seriously when buying them, storing them and sharing them - Is this too much to ask I wonder?

Soap box away - it's safe to come out from your hiding places now!!

This could be going just a little too far perhaps!
And as the bags not one of resealable types...

Collars? Something to get hot under!

A friend wrote, 'I'm always amazed at how often people get 'hot under the collar' about this issue,' and they were right because I had a few comments* that fit that description, and many that didn't.

Anon writes, 'There are times when I choose to wear my collar and times when I have to wear my collar but generally I don't because I don't want to be labelled or pidgeon holed by people around me because of the job I do. I think you've got it all wrong with what you have said and feel quite attacked and angry by it.'

I think that we all have times when we choose not to wear our collars, that said I find that I probably wear it more than I don't these days because I think the 'Taxi' analogy is valid and so feel that when I'm out with it on am fair game to be stopped and engaged with. The fact that I am stopped and engaged with so much seems to confirm this thinking. But we have, and make, our own choices and unless it says 'don't do it' in the big Black Book (BBB), all are valid.

I wasn't trying to pour burning oil on people's heads, but was merely trying to get some of those I engage with on the journey of exploration of vocations to think about the role being more that just a job and to explain that there are a number of factors (which I listed in the original post) that we need to consider across a number of areas - and the piece of plastic that adorns our necks is just one of them.

Many of those who don't generally wear collars have told me that they wear them when it's appropriate, by which they mean occasional offices, but otherwise they are to be found in the study. Again, this isn't an issue, I wasn't saying you must, or you should, but I was saying what I thought and how this relates to me. Mind you, I have wondered since the 'only  appropriate' comment which places might be deemed to be inappropriate and my weird mind has had a bit of field day - but I'll spare you that.

A few have told me that the collar doesn't work these days, the pick of the crop being:

'In this day and age, the wearing of the clerical collar is outdated and outmoded. To wear it is to invite being ignored and avoided: So I don't and make relationships as me and wait for them to ask about the God side and if they don't then I've won a friend even if not a parishioner.'

And to be honest, I was disturbed by this because as nice as it is to make friends, I was under the perhaps deluded idea that I was to make family; to make disciples who understood and lived in the ways that God, through the Cross, required us to live. It's a bit like the people I met who 'want to be friends, not parents' with their children. Just as I am a parent first and hopefully a friend later, the same is true with the priestly role.

I have many friend who being into New Wine (like me) wear the alternative clerical outfit of check shirt (open-necked), brown shoes, hornrimmed glasses and flannels or cords and have the view that clerical garb of any form is outmoded, popish and to quote one, 'So yesterday!' The problem is that much of the negativity they perceive towards them and their message is towards them and their message rather than the kit they wear. That said, one chap said that by not wearing anything that said 'Vicar' they found they could get closer to people before they rejected them - which I really like!

I think the same applies to wearing of cassock albs and the like during the services. When I started where I am now I decided that I wouldn't wear 'tat' during the service for the first few weeks and see where the congregation wanted to go. I wore a clerical shirt and black trousers and shoes but that was it, opting for cassock alb on feast days, festivals and holidays. After a couple of months I asked the congregation what they wanted and how they felt about the way we did our services and as a response altered what I did. Now I wear the clerical shirt rig until we reach the Eucharist and then, coming as President from the people, I put on the cassock alb and preside. After the Eucharist I take it off again and return to the people - seems to fit what I see as the NT way.

Now I don't expect everyone to like what I do, but it works and seems to fit the bill. This is the same for clerical collars - at the end of the day we do what we do and whilst we may get it wrong at times, that's our prerogative.

So please don't read what I'm writing as a criticism or putdown (unless it is - and you will know when that happens) because it;s not - it's me taking stuff from my brain and putting it somewhere where I, and others, might dialogue with it.

All comments are welcome and for any I may have inadvertently offended - apologies.

Pax










*I am amazed that Blogger appears to be such a tough  place to leave comments - many write to me because they cant successfully leave a comment - something that needs fixing methinks :-)

Paying the Share (1): À la carte church

Thinking of ways in which churches might raise money yielded some interesting ways forward. Here's the first in a series of (at least one):

The 'a la carte' church

(Click on the image for full-size version)

I think this might be one of the most innovative ways of raising your Parish Share - look at the benefits:

No more tedious and trying sermons on tithing or being a cheerful giver!

Meets the Consumer Churchgoers where they feel most comfortable!

No more complaints about Church after the Service - You Want it? You Got it!

(If this doesn't get me a pointy hat I don't know what will*)

Pax

* showed it to the wife and she thinks it'll get me a straight-jacket and soft walled room!!!

Well it made me laugh _ 1

Not sure everyone will find this as funny as me but here goes anyway:

Happy Friday, people!

The Acts Church and us

The Acts church presents us with a model of unity, corporate identity and growth and so when people write telling me that they can pay their parish share and have no need to evangelise because numbers are constant, they miss out on one of the realities of an aCts church model. There has to be growth!

Let's dissect the Acts model and see whether it can teach us something worthwhile:

Teaching - they believers met and shared the apostle's teaching. A great starter for ten in that this model demonstrates that we need to be meeting together to learn. Assuming something of the rabbinic teaching methods we could have 'hagadah'; the learning and unfolding of the Scriptures and 'halakah', which is the living and making the daily reality of the Scriptures.

So here we have it, that we engage with the Word of God so that we might understand what we are required to do (the how, why and what) and living out the realities of the Scriptures in our daily life. Orthodoxy and orthopraxy - 'knowing' and 'living' the Scriptures'.

Unity - for the believers were gathered in one place. A pretty easy thing when the believers form a minority in, what was then, a major city. Works well for us today as we find ourselves called to minister and witness to God's love as shown to us through His engagement with His created world and the salvific acts of jesus, the Christ. But the unity is also the unity of belief, for in our pre-Nicene existence error was limited and when present, dealt with swiftly and (as I see it) pretty aggressively! Unity of belief is a real challenge, even to the nature of Jesus and the atonement and all the other basics these days - but there needs to be a core set of beliefs. This is of course a contentious area where some condem others to hell and damnations whilst others simple mock and ridicule the dinosaurs with their 'antiquated' thinking. But there needs to be unity and where this can't be found then it is better to divide and come together where agreement can be found that live in conflict.

Fellowship and Love - Out of the unity came a love for one another that saw the believers living in their own homes and yet, whilst maintaining their own homes and paying their way, supporting others as they had need. The words, "See how these Christians LOVE one another," springs to mind here! LOVE not LOATHE! A love which regarded the other believers as family (an active rendering of the word koinonia) and acted within that context.

Witness - those around them saw how the believers believed and how out of that belief, lived. people responded because they could see the reality of the Christian's faith and the way the word became made real in a lifestyle that was consisten with it.

Someone I met today told me how they'd like to go to church but found, if they did, that what was contained in the building of the same name was a bunch of people who appeared to resent them intruding into their only personal fiefdom of mowing, making the tea and whatever else was on view. It was church for the select and newcomers were definitely no welcome!m If this is who and what Church has become then the final element, Growing, can be forgotten completely. After all, can't see the church the person I met today finding favour with those outside if my sample of one is accurate in their telling of the story!

Growing - It is from the 'finding favour' that the numbers were added. People tend to go to the places where what they see is what they like. Of course the problem with the Acts church is that it was no like the community or the society in which it was found and this 'counter cultural' element is part of the difference that attracts. So, if we keep striving to make the Church look exactly like the world why should be be surprised when the world stops choosing to enge with Church and increase the numbers of believers - they already have what's on offer! It's called the world! Time to proclaim Jesus and stand for the Bible truths (and if you don't believe it's true then you're a goal down in terms of believing - after all if you can't believe the documents and you can't believe the Christ )and in the Christ) then you have a major hill to climb.

Prayer - Something that we don't do enough of (well I don't I'm sure) and when I do come across it happening it's all about 'telling God what you need!' rather than asking God what you need or how you need to live. Mind you, many I meet wouldn't listen to God if they heard Him because it would infringe their personal liberties, choices and rights to live the way He might wish :-( But people appreciate and respect commitment in others and one of the visible signs of this is in the visibly praying to the invisible God.

Breaking Bread - is another element. We do this because Jesus did it at the end of the last supper and the last cup of blessing and the breaking of bread speaks of unity, love, fellowship and this oneness with each other depicts a oneness with Him! We remember the Passover and the Passover meal in the upper room and the wedding banquet of the Lamb in the now - all points in time coalescing in that one act! Breaking bread is an act of unity - never a weapon of war!

So here you are - a quick splurge from the top of my head. Quick and dirty but not without merit (i hope) and something for those who tell me that they live in an 'Acts Church' to ponder on.

I certainly will be.

Pax

Communion - how do you do yours?

BCP - penitential, eyes downcast, you and God. sinner and absolving Creator.

CW - how do you like it?
Family meal which speaks of belonging, or
Proclamation of the now, the was and the 'is to be'?

Is it KJVspeak or modern language?

Does it have to be done every Sunday or once a month?

Flying Saucer paper (without the sherbet) or proper bread (White, brown or wholegrain)?

Sherry, port (we use a nice regimental tawny port) or non-alcoholic?

How do you like yours, and why (is there a theological reason or us it just because it is)?

Who do you do yours for?

Pax