Journal: How will they hear?

One of the challenges we have in the Church is that of being engaged with the Gospel and those around us as clergy become increasingly stretched and increasingly ignorant. If we are in the same place with Jesus that we were yesterday then we have effectively gone backward - this is something I have believed almost since I signed up to follow the Christ, because it is so very true - we need to be extending our understanding of the Bible and the way people interpret it and live it out.

Whenever I visit clergy, whenever possible, I have a squint at their bookshelf to see what they're reading (and I ask them too) and the sadness is that many of us stopped reading pretty much about the same time we left college or perhaps finished our curacies. The upshot of this is that we find ourselves becoming stuck in a deepening rut and as we do it's harder to move forward and eventually we fail to see the light!

Someone I engaged with recently told me that they would love to read but are 'too busy'. Another person said that they were happy with their faith as it was and didn't need to be seeking out 'new stuff'!

So I've decided that I'm going to ask everyone I meet what they are reading and what's new before them and try to encourage some dialogue with books and with each other because it's not paper and processes that will win the day but Prayer and people and a keener sense of our calling and relationship with Jesus. And I have decided to review the books I read to encourage others to do the same - and who knows, we might even get a night in the pub for us too?

How will they hear if we don't find God's voice and relay it to others and help them hear it for themselves too?

In other news, today was superb: a bit of admin', Communion followed by home Communions, followed by some pastoral stuff and then at 4pm my day ended and it was me time. Watched a film (White House Down) - visited the Ditch to say thanks for the help on Monday - watched an episode of Wallender and had an early night. A pretty amazing day full of blessing and ending with a tired but content spring in my step. What more can we ask for?

Tomorrow you'll find me on the streets in Tamworth for the whole day as we pick up the 'Dying Matters' awareness week again. Looking forward to loads of interaction and the buzz that people bring. Sublime day in prospect.

Lord, for all that has gone I thank You - for the lives touched, connected to You and the stories heard, I am so very grateful. Lead me on deeper into You. help me to learn new things and to meet new people enthused by the power of Your love and enabled by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Help me to forgive and tolerate as you forgive and tolerate my foolishness.

Hallelujah or what?

It's beginning to feel a lot like ...

I'm doing too much!

Only one more funeral visit before Christmas and it's beginning to show :-(
Today was liked with a wonderful kid's club - they were mad, noisy and manic; and it was great!
I love playing pool, table football and the conversations, has to be one of the greatest privileges I can have doing this stuff with the Wife (and newly returned son).

Straight after that, the penultimate funeral visit. Never a good time to lose someone but there are certainly bad times and the second in a year and Christmas make this a sad encounter for a lovely person.

Knee hurts and body aches, could be the getting soaked this week (or just getting my just desserts for a month of little sleep) - would love to be a grouch but smiling seems to be the better option, so I'll take it :-)

New water boiler plumbed in and wired up and working in time for the annual Christmas revue, which is showing signs of not being what it was due to ageing performers. But regardless StF will be partying I'm sure.

The topic that is Theodicy (AKA 'stuff happens') popped in yesterday as I considered the wrong around me. So many people suffering because of the weakness, foolishness and wickedness of of others. Epicurus and his little ale on the problem of evil in the light of a god existing - and vice versa - popped up.

And yet I have a God who has popped in at the last moment and answered by fire and other unexpected and yet obvious means so many times.  So I pray and watch and wait and know there is a solution and that provision is on the way.

A night in Bristol in a lovely house with an equally lovely owner (and some cool carpentry shills) have seen me sleep well and enjoy a walk with son. The joy of being a parent and a partner - makes me think and pray of those estranged, broken and bereaved. Always someone with a need isn't there :-

But back home and Bristol already vanishing into the distance behind me as the train moves on and I'm already wondering where, and what, the next stop will be. Lord, make it a good encounter with a little bit of sun and a lot of snow.

40 Acts - Strangers or unmet friends?

"I was a stranger and you welcomed me." Matthew 25: 35 (ESV)

Do you talk to strangers? Often? Sometimes? Never?

From childhood, we are warned about the risks of meeting strangers which could vary from potential danger, exploitation or unsuitability to simply annoyance and inconvenience. We also worry that we will annoy others and encroach on their personal space. It can feel much easier just to relax and talk to people you already know and who are ’safe’ and similar and don’t present risk. In churches it is particularly easy to stick with those we feel comfortable with.

I run an online dating website, Christian Connection, where we actively encourage people to contact strangers online or at social events. Sometimes people join our site and are then are too cautious to talk to people or respond to messages. They hope it will just ‘happen’.

There is nothing more wonderful than hearing stories of how people took the plunge, contacted others, and have found special and lasting relationships. And even if they don’t find the special ‘one’, they find friendships. Ultimately, in whatever situation, we need to reach out to people, even when we feel nervous.

Jesus constantly encountered new people and was open to those who needed him and even those who attacked him – he was out there. He did suggest being as ’wise as serpents and innocent as doves’ but he and his disciples stretching down through history reached out to people all over the world.

I go to a small church service where there are many good and lasting friendships. One of my friends there, Shirley, is always the first to go up to the visitors and welcome them immediately, and they warm to her. Probably she is the person they most remember and the reason why they might come back.

Reaching out to somebody might change their life – and it might even change yours.

Jackie  Elton

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Tamworth - An offer you can't refuse

For a few years now I have wondered how best we can serve the people of our town and one exceptionally valuable (and effective) way we can do this appears to be by getting out on the ground and getting involved with those who come into our town to enjoy a social life in the evenings.

And before anyone gets on their soap box - It's not one of those 'Christians Only' (or even just a 'certain type of Christian') things - there are no monopolies and there's nothing about the ghetto here for all are welcome to help in what will be a collaborative effort between volunteers and other agencies (including the police and other statutory bodies).

So - if you are an adult (18 or over) living in, or around, Tamworth and would like to help listen, support and provide care for those coming into the town to enjoy its great social life then now's your opportunity. Training is given and all we will be asking is that you commit to a minimum of one night a month, usually from 10pm to around 2am.

The role is varied and a typical evening might see you handing out water (or chocolate), talking to angry, confused or disorientated people; perhaps you'll be arranging a taxi (or a lift from someone at home), taking shopping trolleys back to somewhere safe so they don't end up going through a window or used as a weapon when tempers flare (and they do from time to time). Sometimes it's giving out space blankets or tea, coffee or another hot drink and other times it's something you've never thought of before.

Whatever the problem, we're on the streets to make the evening run smoothly and to keep the incidents and incidence of hurting people to a minimum.

And if you don't live in Tamworth?

Why not take a look at:

And find out what there is going on in your community (and if there's nothing - start something)

Clearing the air (2a) - they're shooting the horses!

Following on from the 'shoot horses' theme I see in today's news that there has been as drop of almost 25% in the number of older people using day care centres in England over the past three years. This figure comes from Age UK who say that the numbers of those availing themselves of lunch clubs and other day care provision is due in the main to financial pressure on councils.

The report highlights the potential for the elderly to find themselves "'Living out their last years in loneliness'. Meanwhile, the government says that councils received sufficient funding to protect services and that there was no justifiable reason for such services* to be cut.

It seems to me that removing services from the elderly is a simple exercise for these are one group who rarely have a consistent or effective voice. Something is closed and all that happens is that the people who used the services are confined to home and their voice is unheard. It is an easy win for those who are seeking to cut costs as the people affected just appear to vanish and, because there is little outcry, the deed goes relatively unnoticed.

Age UK say that during the previous financial year, council spending on old people's services had dropped by £500m - no doubt diverted to more important services! The reality is that the critical and high-dependancy needs are being met but those who are able to potter on are now being left to their own devices and this, regardless of the financial situation, has to be wrong.

Where I am we offer free tea, coffee, cake and biscuits two mornings a week and have an afternoon club for the older people around us and whilst this is something, it's not enough ('but where do we find those who are willing to come and open the doors and do the stuff?' cries a voice somewhere in the recesses of my mind)).

If you read this (and so apparently will) can I ask you to take an hour from your busy life and check on what is on offer where you live? See what your church, council and other organisations are doings and if the answer is 'nothing' then start making noises - get the councils, the churches and others off their backsides and help to reverse this diminishing provision trend; not because of some charitable thing, but because it is the right thing to be doing.

Happy Friday

*day centres, lunch clubs, exercise classes, hairdressing, podiatry, social activities and respite care all come into this category.