Take all that the day has contained - reflect on it - say sorry where necessary - thank you where appropriate - place it all into God's hands and head for bed.
Simples!
Showing posts with label blessing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blessing. Show all posts
Monday, 18 May 2020
Compline (night prayer) - Monday, 18 May 2020
This is THE way to end your day as a bedtime exercise.
Take all that the day has contained - reflect on it - say sorry where necessary - thank you where appropriate - place it all into God's hands and head for bed.
Simples!
Take all that the day has contained - reflect on it - say sorry where necessary - thank you where appropriate - place it all into God's hands and head for bed.
Simples!
Wednesday, 4 January 2017
A whole day of funerals Reflected
Today was a 'funeral day' - got up and said my Office at about 03:50 because I knew it was going to be an long, interesting and potentially challenging day but in the end there was none of the possible issues and bumps in the road - just joy!
Service sorted I arrived at the venue with just over an hour to spare to ensure that all was going to plan; and it was. Even had time for a brew :-) There were a significant number of mourners (always a blessing for the bereaved) and the service flowed just as it should. Those who spoke brought an added mark of respect and their exhibition of love and courage provided, as ever, an amazing epitaph to the person whose life we were celebrating.
The timing was such that we were at the crem' with (once more) time to spare and the time spent afterwards with the family was varied and covering the life of the deceased, the family, and an apologetic encounter - what more can you ask for?
Then onto a funeral visit and another chance to meet the deceased through the eyes, and lives, of the bereaved: A privileged position indeed. Conversation engaged, stories unfolded, and love made evident - this is the dream made real for the funeral enthusiast (and shouldn't all clergy wear that badge). It was my idea of heaven: No fighting to draw out stories and no rancour or bitterness, just people allowing the deceased to pop in and tell their life story.
Then back home to find that I'd been out of the house for just over seven and a half hours - and there was still work to be done in writing up the notes and putting the arrangements together, editing some of the music for the next service and the like. A day of different pastoral encounter - and it's easy to forget that with the pressing needs of the mentally ill, the confused, concerned and contained all sitting at the doorstep waiting to be dealt with; and yet as much as I seek to stretch time (think it drives those around me a bit mad to be honest) with fourteen hours on the time card I clocked off and unwound a bit.
Well unwind is perhaps the wrong word as it took me into a football game where my side were two goals down at half time - an opportunity to behave as a man of god rather than the fanatical supporter who would have necessitated the kids being ushered elsewhere not all that many years ago. By midnight though it was Mariokart with the family - yep, as usual managed to come in at the back of the pack - but it was fun and I'm getting the hang of it at last - just as it goes back to university with our son!
It's tough being a gobby, passionate, full on type - the opportunity to conceal Jesus behind the energy and the ideas and the enthusiasm is always in danger of being taken up such that the still small voice is ignored. Engaging in the wind of passion and the earthquakes of dissent is so simple - it's what we do in the flesh life of ours - but to stop and to reflect and pray and assess and call the boss with a sitrep and just 'wait out' until the Chinnook of Grace is heard in the distance and the realisation that salvation is at hand - that's my gradual experience and my fervent (yet gentle) prayer.
Lord help me to not be or do in my own strength but yours. To stop and pray when I'd rather run and fight, to consider and reach out in love rather than fix bayonets and address the wrongs such that I end up sinning too. Make me a man of God rather than a child of the company I work for.
And the bereaved?
May they be blessed by the ministry I bring and may you be the blessing they encounter, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Service sorted I arrived at the venue with just over an hour to spare to ensure that all was going to plan; and it was. Even had time for a brew :-) There were a significant number of mourners (always a blessing for the bereaved) and the service flowed just as it should. Those who spoke brought an added mark of respect and their exhibition of love and courage provided, as ever, an amazing epitaph to the person whose life we were celebrating.
The timing was such that we were at the crem' with (once more) time to spare and the time spent afterwards with the family was varied and covering the life of the deceased, the family, and an apologetic encounter - what more can you ask for?
Then onto a funeral visit and another chance to meet the deceased through the eyes, and lives, of the bereaved: A privileged position indeed. Conversation engaged, stories unfolded, and love made evident - this is the dream made real for the funeral enthusiast (and shouldn't all clergy wear that badge). It was my idea of heaven: No fighting to draw out stories and no rancour or bitterness, just people allowing the deceased to pop in and tell their life story.
Then back home to find that I'd been out of the house for just over seven and a half hours - and there was still work to be done in writing up the notes and putting the arrangements together, editing some of the music for the next service and the like. A day of different pastoral encounter - and it's easy to forget that with the pressing needs of the mentally ill, the confused, concerned and contained all sitting at the doorstep waiting to be dealt with; and yet as much as I seek to stretch time (think it drives those around me a bit mad to be honest) with fourteen hours on the time card I clocked off and unwound a bit.
Well unwind is perhaps the wrong word as it took me into a football game where my side were two goals down at half time - an opportunity to behave as a man of god rather than the fanatical supporter who would have necessitated the kids being ushered elsewhere not all that many years ago. By midnight though it was Mariokart with the family - yep, as usual managed to come in at the back of the pack - but it was fun and I'm getting the hang of it at last - just as it goes back to university with our son!
It's tough being a gobby, passionate, full on type - the opportunity to conceal Jesus behind the energy and the ideas and the enthusiasm is always in danger of being taken up such that the still small voice is ignored. Engaging in the wind of passion and the earthquakes of dissent is so simple - it's what we do in the flesh life of ours - but to stop and to reflect and pray and assess and call the boss with a sitrep and just 'wait out' until the Chinnook of Grace is heard in the distance and the realisation that salvation is at hand - that's my gradual experience and my fervent (yet gentle) prayer.
Lord help me to not be or do in my own strength but yours. To stop and pray when I'd rather run and fight, to consider and reach out in love rather than fix bayonets and address the wrongs such that I end up sinning too. Make me a man of God rather than a child of the company I work for.
And the bereaved?
May they be blessed by the ministry I bring and may you be the blessing they encounter, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Sunday, 10 August 2014
Acts 29 and Mars Hill Church
I was quite surprised and exceedingly saddened to read the statement from Acts 29 in which they distanced themselves from Mark Driscoll and the Mars Hill Church of which he is a part.
I always struggle with those who take joy in seeing relationships broken and ministries (and ministers) trashed for this honours no one and fuels only more separation and brokenness and the response from Mars Hill (who claim Acts 29 have been wrong in the way they have acted) doesn't seem to indicate that there's going to be any quick solution to this situation.
Living in the West Midlands I'm always stunned when people stop me and ask about issues like this because, and I mean this nicely, we are not in a place that's on the front burner when it comes to Contemporary Church and planting and the like - and yet stop me they do! They ask me about my views (which are usually 'dunno nuffink!') and seek to share the dirt over transgressions and the widely published and much-circulated rumours (which to be honest don't bless or enable me one little bit).
My plea regarding this situation is that we put ourselves in the place of the Acts 29 people, Mars Hill Church, the disaffected members, those who are baying for blood over stuff that was said many years back and Driscoll himself and having understood the issues (if we really need to) pray wisely for peace, reconciliation, restoration, healing and unity.
This is what interests me. We seek to honour God and bring reconciliation to Him and through this with each other - Simple really
So let's not take pleasure in this (or any other issues that might be found) but seek something higher and more honourable and get praying!
My plea regarding this situation is that we put ourselves in the place of the Acts 29 people, Mars Hill Church, the disaffected members, those who are baying for blood over stuff that was said many years back and Driscoll himself and having understood the issues (if we really need to) pray wisely for peace, reconciliation, restoration, healing and unity.
This is what interests me. We seek to honour God and bring reconciliation to Him and through this with each other - Simple really
So let's not take pleasure in this (or any other issues that might be found) but seek something higher and more honourable and get praying!
 |
| healing and reconciliation come through people praying |
Sunday, 3 August 2014
Can't make it to church (Aug 3) ?
An interesting bunch of readings before us today as Jacob legs it from Laban (remember the dodgy Father-in-Law?) and as he approaches home is afraid of Esau (whose Birthright he pinched) he sets up two camps so if there's 'a bit of bother' he can escape with one intact (shrewd or dodgy, which is this man??) and sends the women and children first (always a good idea at sea too as sharks won't eat if they'd been well fed ;-) )!!
Then he bumps into a man with who he wrestles all night and, eventually, the man strikes out and dislocates Jacob's hip and then agrees to bless the tenacious Jacob, changing his name in the process to Israel (he strives with God - or God strives) and naming the place Peniel (the face of God). Here we have rampantly dodgy Jacob getting a blessing!
Even here we find God blessing when perhaps He should be dishing out a thumping (now that's worthy of a hallelujah I reckon).
Jacob has sought peace, prayed to God for deliverance and returned, true to type, to a bit of dodgy dealing (don't you just love the patriarchs?) and then he realises that without God's intervention he is doomed- and this is where He and God begin to really do business and this is where Israel is made real.
Perhaps we, like Jacob, look to God and pray great prayers and the like but also have a rich vein of dodgy dealing and hypocrisy within us. Perhaps today we find ourselves in a place where it's time to stop the posing and gets to grips with God. Perhaps, like Jacob, it's time to out in the hours with God to find a real result that, being from God lasts, even when we know we may well be fickle and flawed.
Sadly the Romans reading is cut just a little short, for if it continued just a little longer it would have given us these words to ponder:
'For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.'
And we like those who, perhaps foolishly, committed their time and remained where Jesus was (in the wilderness) and found themselves fed with physical food (along the spiritual stuff from Jesus) by the disciples. The people are blessed and fed, the disciples are blessed and witnesses to something miraculous and Jesus, overseeing the whole thing sees everyone's needs (physical and spiritual) wonderfully met.
So are you in a wilderness place today? If so, as it says in the Psalm (and displayed in our readings) that if you call upon the Lord then He will answer you and meet your needs according to His love and will be salvation and refuge for us.
Are our lives taken up with keeping God's laws or are we, like Jacob, looking holy but living in some degree of dodginess? If the answer is 'Yes' then we need to come to God and wrestle with Him, face-to-face, and let Him bless us (despite us).
Do we have our hearts set on God and what it means to follow Jesus, the Christ?
Israel is more than just those descended from him (Jacob as was) it is those who live according to God's word and because of Jesus, God's living word. Sadly many Christian live in the belief that having the name 'Christian' is enough - but it's more than wearing a fish or going to your local 'holy huddle' gathering - it's about something spiritual (and I know I struggle here without God's Holy Spirit living and guiding me).
So today the present might be hopeless - we might find ourselves in the wilderness- we might find ourselves returning to type when the chips are down (lying, cheating and worse).
BUT HOPE IS AT HAND - JUST LOOK AT JACOB!!!
Mighty to save - Hillsong
The Collect
Generous God,
you give us gifts and make them grow: though our faith is small as mustard seed, make it grow to your glory and the flourishing of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen.
Genesis 32.22-31
The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
Psalm 17.1-7,16
Hear my just cause, O Lord; consider my complaint; listen to my prayer, which comes not from lying lips. Let my vindication come forth from your presence; let your eyes behold what is right. Weigh my heart, examine me by night, refine me, and you will find no impurity in me.
My mouth does not trespass for earthly rewards; I have heeded the words of your lips. My footsteps hold fast in the ways of your commandments; my feet have not stumbled in your paths. I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; incline your ear to me, and listen to my words. Show me your marvellous loving-kindness, O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them.
As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness; when I awake and behold your likeness, I shall be satisfied.
Romans 9.1-5
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit - I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Matthew 14.13-21
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Post Communion Prayer
Lord God, whose Son is the true vine and the source of life,
ever giving himself that the world may live:
may we so receive within ourselves the power of his death and passion
that, in his saving cup,
we may share his glory and be made perfect in his love;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Nada te turbe
Then he bumps into a man with who he wrestles all night and, eventually, the man strikes out and dislocates Jacob's hip and then agrees to bless the tenacious Jacob, changing his name in the process to Israel (he strives with God - or God strives) and naming the place Peniel (the face of God). Here we have rampantly dodgy Jacob getting a blessing!
Even here we find God blessing when perhaps He should be dishing out a thumping (now that's worthy of a hallelujah I reckon).
Jacob has sought peace, prayed to God for deliverance and returned, true to type, to a bit of dodgy dealing (don't you just love the patriarchs?) and then he realises that without God's intervention he is doomed- and this is where He and God begin to really do business and this is where Israel is made real.
Perhaps we, like Jacob, look to God and pray great prayers and the like but also have a rich vein of dodgy dealing and hypocrisy within us. Perhaps today we find ourselves in a place where it's time to stop the posing and gets to grips with God. Perhaps, like Jacob, it's time to out in the hours with God to find a real result that, being from God lasts, even when we know we may well be fickle and flawed.
Sadly the Romans reading is cut just a little short, for if it continued just a little longer it would have given us these words to ponder:
'For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.'
And we like those who, perhaps foolishly, committed their time and remained where Jesus was (in the wilderness) and found themselves fed with physical food (along the spiritual stuff from Jesus) by the disciples. The people are blessed and fed, the disciples are blessed and witnesses to something miraculous and Jesus, overseeing the whole thing sees everyone's needs (physical and spiritual) wonderfully met.
So are you in a wilderness place today? If so, as it says in the Psalm (and displayed in our readings) that if you call upon the Lord then He will answer you and meet your needs according to His love and will be salvation and refuge for us.
Are our lives taken up with keeping God's laws or are we, like Jacob, looking holy but living in some degree of dodginess? If the answer is 'Yes' then we need to come to God and wrestle with Him, face-to-face, and let Him bless us (despite us).
Do we have our hearts set on God and what it means to follow Jesus, the Christ?
Israel is more than just those descended from him (Jacob as was) it is those who live according to God's word and because of Jesus, God's living word. Sadly many Christian live in the belief that having the name 'Christian' is enough - but it's more than wearing a fish or going to your local 'holy huddle' gathering - it's about something spiritual (and I know I struggle here without God's Holy Spirit living and guiding me).
So today the present might be hopeless - we might find ourselves in the wilderness- we might find ourselves returning to type when the chips are down (lying, cheating and worse).
BUT HOPE IS AT HAND - JUST LOOK AT JACOB!!!
Mighty to save - Hillsong
The Collect
Generous God,
you give us gifts and make them grow: though our faith is small as mustard seed, make it grow to your glory and the flourishing of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen.
Genesis 32.22-31
The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
Psalm 17.1-7,16
Hear my just cause, O Lord; consider my complaint; listen to my prayer, which comes not from lying lips. Let my vindication come forth from your presence; let your eyes behold what is right. Weigh my heart, examine me by night, refine me, and you will find no impurity in me.
My mouth does not trespass for earthly rewards; I have heeded the words of your lips. My footsteps hold fast in the ways of your commandments; my feet have not stumbled in your paths. I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; incline your ear to me, and listen to my words. Show me your marvellous loving-kindness, O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them.
As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness; when I awake and behold your likeness, I shall be satisfied.
Romans 9.1-5
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit - I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Matthew 14.13-21
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Post Communion Prayer
Lord God, whose Son is the true vine and the source of life,
ever giving himself that the world may live:
may we so receive within ourselves the power of his death and passion
that, in his saving cup,
we may share his glory and be made perfect in his love;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Nada te turbe
Sunday, 29 December 2013
The Fifth Day of Christmas - the Pentateuch
Having encountered the first four books of the New Testament yesterday - today's gift relates to the first five books of the Old - the name coming from the Greek, Penta (five) Teuch[os] (volumes, vessels or containers) - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Originally found as one volume (as it is in Jewish bookstores today) it was probably Ptolemy Philadelphus and his seventy translators of the Hebrew Bible into Greek that split them into five separate volumes (I'll cover Philadelphus sometime today) and formalised the names according to that which is contained in them:
Genesis - Beginning (because it starts with 'in the beginning') through to the Patriarchs and exile
Exodus - The departure from Egypys and the journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai
Leviticus - The Levites were the Priests and is all about what they, and the people, do to serve God
Numbers - Takes it up from Sinai to the very edges of Canaan, the 'Promised Land'
Deuteronomy - originally thought to be the Words of Moses to the Jews on the Plain of Moab before heading into the 'Promised land'
In both Old and New Testaments the Pentateuch is a single entity and it is important - something that the way in which it is regarded by both clearly demonstrates:
The Law - Joshua 1.7; Ezra 10.3; Nehemiah 8.2,7,14; 10.34,36; 12.44; 13.3; 2 Chronicles 14.4; 31.21; 33.8; Matthew 12.5; Luke 16.16; John 7.19
The Book of Moses - Mark 12.26
The Law of Moses - 1 Kings 2.3; Daniel 9.11; Malachi 4.4; Luke 2.22; 24.44; John 7.23
The Book of the Law - Joshua 1.8; 8.34; 2 Kings 22.8; Nehemiah 8; Galatians 3.10
The Book of the Law of Moses - Joshua 8.31; 23.6; 2 Kings 14.6; Nehemiah 8.1
The Law of God - Nehemiah 10.28, 29
The Law of the Lord - Ezra 7.10; l Chronicles 16.40; 2 Chronicles 31.3; 35.26; Luke 2.23,24
The Book of the Law of God - Joshua 24.26; Nehemiah 8.18;
The Book of the Law of the LORD* - 2 Chronicles 17:9; 34.14
His (Moses’) Writings - John 5.46
Divisions within the Pentateuch
Beginnings: Genesis 1 - 11
Patriarchal Narratives: Genesis 12 - 50
Oppression and deliverance of the Jews: Exodus 1 - 19
Camped at Mount Sinai: Exodus 20 - Numbers 10
Wandering in the wilderness: Numbers 10 - 21
Getting ready for entry into Canaan: Numbers 22 - Deuteronomy 34
The Pentateuch is rightly found at the beginning of the Torah (Jewish Bible if you like) and the Christian Bible because it is the foundation upon which the rest of the Old and New Testament stands. It outlines the very beginnings of all that is; the 'people of God' (the Jews) and God's interaction with all of humanity. It is generally fair to say that everything before it might be regarded as before history (and is therefore 'prehistoric!'). It is the source of Jewish theological thought and forms the basis for civil, moral and religious laws (theirs and ours today to a great extent).
Not an easy read in parts, but truly and essential read: Enjoy
Genesis - Beginning (because it starts with 'in the beginning') through to the Patriarchs and exile
Exodus - The departure from Egypys and the journey through the wilderness to Mount Sinai
Leviticus - The Levites were the Priests and is all about what they, and the people, do to serve God
Numbers - Takes it up from Sinai to the very edges of Canaan, the 'Promised Land'
Deuteronomy - originally thought to be the Words of Moses to the Jews on the Plain of Moab before heading into the 'Promised land'
In both Old and New Testaments the Pentateuch is a single entity and it is important - something that the way in which it is regarded by both clearly demonstrates:
The Law - Joshua 1.7; Ezra 10.3; Nehemiah 8.2,7,14; 10.34,36; 12.44; 13.3; 2 Chronicles 14.4; 31.21; 33.8; Matthew 12.5; Luke 16.16; John 7.19
The Book of Moses - Mark 12.26
The Law of Moses - 1 Kings 2.3; Daniel 9.11; Malachi 4.4; Luke 2.22; 24.44; John 7.23
The Book of the Law - Joshua 1.8; 8.34; 2 Kings 22.8; Nehemiah 8; Galatians 3.10
The Book of the Law of Moses - Joshua 8.31; 23.6; 2 Kings 14.6; Nehemiah 8.1
The Law of God - Nehemiah 10.28, 29
The Law of the Lord - Ezra 7.10; l Chronicles 16.40; 2 Chronicles 31.3; 35.26; Luke 2.23,24
The Book of the Law of God - Joshua 24.26; Nehemiah 8.18;
The Book of the Law of the LORD* - 2 Chronicles 17:9; 34.14
His (Moses’) Writings - John 5.46
Divisions within the Pentateuch
Beginnings: Genesis 1 - 11
Patriarchal Narratives: Genesis 12 - 50
Oppression and deliverance of the Jews: Exodus 1 - 19
Camped at Mount Sinai: Exodus 20 - Numbers 10
Wandering in the wilderness: Numbers 10 - 21
Getting ready for entry into Canaan: Numbers 22 - Deuteronomy 34
The Pentateuch is rightly found at the beginning of the Torah (Jewish Bible if you like) and the Christian Bible because it is the foundation upon which the rest of the Old and New Testament stands. It outlines the very beginnings of all that is; the 'people of God' (the Jews) and God's interaction with all of humanity. It is generally fair to say that everything before it might be regarded as before history (and is therefore 'prehistoric!'). It is the source of Jewish theological thought and forms the basis for civil, moral and religious laws (theirs and ours today to a great extent).
Not an easy read in parts, but truly and essential read: Enjoy
*LORD = YHWH (Yahweh - The God)
ps. Someone remind me to explain JEDP some time in January ;-)
ps. Someone remind me to explain JEDP some time in January ;-)
Friday, 20 December 2013
Christmas Bliss
How exciting it is to be:
Christian - speaks for itself
A dogcollar - speaks for God (sometimes accurately?) submits to authority (usually)
Able to serve others - often and enthusiastically
Able to bless others - Intermittently
Being called and collared at Christmas all adds up (for me at least) to:
Thank you to:
PAX
Christian - speaks for itself
A dogcollar - speaks for God (sometimes accurately?) submits to authority (usually)
Able to serve others - often and enthusiastically
Able to bless others - Intermittently
Being called and collared at Christmas all adds up (for me at least) to:
BLISS!
Thank you to:
All who have been doing the stuff this year
Those who have given me the opportunity to visit their schools and engage with them
Those who have taken the time to offer correction, support, love with such patience
The Wardens and members of the four churches that are the Parish of Tamworth
My soldiers, cadets and fellow chaplains
Tamworth Street Angels
My colleagues in diocese, deanery and ecumenically
and of course those who read and engage with me in this blog
AND
(most especially) My long-suffering and extremely patient wife and children
PAX
Monday, 25 November 2013
Common Worship Eucharist - A simple Key
Following on from last night's 'Eucharistic Bingo' I started thinking about the Eucharist and how I could explain simply the way to navigate one's way around the service and came up with this.
Hopefully it's simple - I've checked and someone who has never tried to navigate their way around found that it proved quite simple and effective. So with that in mind, here is what I hope might just be a fairly useful aid to liturgical confidence and competence in delivering (or following) the Common Worship Eucharist with proper seasonal elements in the right places.
Let's hope so :-)
Hopefully it's simple - I've checked and someone who has never tried to navigate their way around found that it proved quite simple and effective. So with that in mind, here is what I hope might just be a fairly useful aid to liturgical confidence and competence in delivering (or following) the Common Worship Eucharist with proper seasonal elements in the right places.
Let's hope so :-)
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
In or Out - needs a blessing and a conversation
Three of the important things when someone leaves or comes into a church can be summed up as blessings and conversations:
Conversations
The Receiving Side - Conversations
Conversation One - with person/s coming into church.
This needs to understand where they are coming from and hopefully the reason they're coming to you from them. During this conversation you need to ascertain whether or not their present minister knows they are intending to leave and if the answer is 'No' then the 'pause' button needs to be hit and they need to be asked to discuss things with their Vicar, Pastor or whatever before they move over (there are exceptions to this rule but they are indeed exceptional!).
What I find at this stage is that the person coming then decides, because they don't want that conversation, that they won't be coming to you after all (interestingly the last couple of people who found themselves at this stage appeared at another church where the same rules obviously didn't apply - but hey ho, we do as we see fit) or at least not until they were coming with a blessing.
Conversation Two - With the 'sending' church.
This conversation lets them know that you're gaining one of theirs as a matter of courtesy and as a practical step too as hopefully the sending minister will tell you who and what you're getting, their strengths, weaknesses and challenging bits too.
This does two things in that it is common courtesy to let another church leader know that you are receiving one of theirs and ensures that they are in the know (amazing how often one finds that the person coming has 'forgotten' to let their minister know they were leaving (something that leads to them assuming you have simply stolen one of their sheep). I did this once and although the other minister had no idea they were losing someone but were only to glad to see the back of them - not the most encouraging beginning!
Conversation Three - With the church
I think it's always good to tell the church that so done has left if they're not going to be sent with a blessing because it says you know they're going (or perhaps gone) and it gives you the chance to still pray for them and bless those who remain as well as those who have gone.
The Sending Side - Conversations
Conversation one - When you know they're going: The leaving
Once the person who's leaving makes this know then it's good practice to conduct a conversation, or as a colleague calls it - a leaving interview - to find out the what and why behind it. This is preferable in most cases but where pain or distress is going to come out of it then pastoral sensitivity comes first and the only conversation is 'goodbye'. But when the conversation occurs it's good to have an honest and open conversation without fingers pointed (and if they are let them be theirs not yours if you're a leader).
Conversation two - When you know they're going: The Receiving church
Contact the leader of the intended target church and tell them one of yours is coming to them and tell them who they are and, in an honest yet generous way, their strengths, weaknesses - the blessings and the challenges - that they represent. This way there is no doubt regarding the transfer and no question of sheep stealing because proper processes have been enacted and the move is done in partnership with the other church. Integrity and collegiality is to the front of it all - as it should be.
Blessing - The sending side
It is of the utmost importance to ensure that, as a general rule, those who have left are sent with a blessing (although there are times when this is neither advisable, desirable or practical). There are a number of reasons for this and they go like this:
1. If you send someone with a blessing then they are leaving in communion with you and the fellowship and this is important because the message it sends is approval and relationship and if the receiving church is all smiles and happiness then you have friends in another church.
2. If you send them with a blessing and things go pear-shaped and the dream turns sour, because there is a relationship the person who has left can come back and talk about the situation and even return because the relationship continues.
3. If they leave, especially without a blessing or with them appearing to be under a cloud, leaves the leaver without any source of support or return and effectively 'casts them out' (regardless of who did the casting). That said there are times when this is never going to be anything but the case but this should be the exception rather than the rule.
Blessing - the receiving side
When you get new members it is good to pray with them publicly and welcome them - because it hallows the relationship. Interestingly this is often overlooked for a number of reasons (and that's my excuse!).
I have had some leave who have agreed to be sent with a blessing and some for whom it was never going to happen and this is just part of life's rich tapestry.
But in or out should never be taken lightly and care must always be taken to avoid earning the 'sheep stealer' label - blessings and conversations make it 'transfer growth' instead - and that's what builds relationships between ministers and builds the Kingdom too.
Does that answer your question John? (If not - email me again or post a comment)
Conversations
The Receiving Side - Conversations
Conversation One - with person/s coming into church.
This needs to understand where they are coming from and hopefully the reason they're coming to you from them. During this conversation you need to ascertain whether or not their present minister knows they are intending to leave and if the answer is 'No' then the 'pause' button needs to be hit and they need to be asked to discuss things with their Vicar, Pastor or whatever before they move over (there are exceptions to this rule but they are indeed exceptional!).
What I find at this stage is that the person coming then decides, because they don't want that conversation, that they won't be coming to you after all (interestingly the last couple of people who found themselves at this stage appeared at another church where the same rules obviously didn't apply - but hey ho, we do as we see fit) or at least not until they were coming with a blessing.
Conversation Two - With the 'sending' church.
This conversation lets them know that you're gaining one of theirs as a matter of courtesy and as a practical step too as hopefully the sending minister will tell you who and what you're getting, their strengths, weaknesses and challenging bits too.
This does two things in that it is common courtesy to let another church leader know that you are receiving one of theirs and ensures that they are in the know (amazing how often one finds that the person coming has 'forgotten' to let their minister know they were leaving (something that leads to them assuming you have simply stolen one of their sheep). I did this once and although the other minister had no idea they were losing someone but were only to glad to see the back of them - not the most encouraging beginning!
Conversation Three - With the church
I think it's always good to tell the church that so done has left if they're not going to be sent with a blessing because it says you know they're going (or perhaps gone) and it gives you the chance to still pray for them and bless those who remain as well as those who have gone.
The Sending Side - Conversations
Conversation one - When you know they're going: The leaving
Once the person who's leaving makes this know then it's good practice to conduct a conversation, or as a colleague calls it - a leaving interview - to find out the what and why behind it. This is preferable in most cases but where pain or distress is going to come out of it then pastoral sensitivity comes first and the only conversation is 'goodbye'. But when the conversation occurs it's good to have an honest and open conversation without fingers pointed (and if they are let them be theirs not yours if you're a leader).
Conversation two - When you know they're going: The Receiving church
Contact the leader of the intended target church and tell them one of yours is coming to them and tell them who they are and, in an honest yet generous way, their strengths, weaknesses - the blessings and the challenges - that they represent. This way there is no doubt regarding the transfer and no question of sheep stealing because proper processes have been enacted and the move is done in partnership with the other church. Integrity and collegiality is to the front of it all - as it should be.
Blessing - The sending side
It is of the utmost importance to ensure that, as a general rule, those who have left are sent with a blessing (although there are times when this is neither advisable, desirable or practical). There are a number of reasons for this and they go like this:
1. If you send someone with a blessing then they are leaving in communion with you and the fellowship and this is important because the message it sends is approval and relationship and if the receiving church is all smiles and happiness then you have friends in another church.
2. If you send them with a blessing and things go pear-shaped and the dream turns sour, because there is a relationship the person who has left can come back and talk about the situation and even return because the relationship continues.
3. If they leave, especially without a blessing or with them appearing to be under a cloud, leaves the leaver without any source of support or return and effectively 'casts them out' (regardless of who did the casting). That said there are times when this is never going to be anything but the case but this should be the exception rather than the rule.
Blessing - the receiving side
When you get new members it is good to pray with them publicly and welcome them - because it hallows the relationship. Interestingly this is often overlooked for a number of reasons (and that's my excuse!).
I have had some leave who have agreed to be sent with a blessing and some for whom it was never going to happen and this is just part of life's rich tapestry.
But in or out should never be taken lightly and care must always be taken to avoid earning the 'sheep stealer' label - blessings and conversations make it 'transfer growth' instead - and that's what builds relationships between ministers and builds the Kingdom too.
Does that answer your question John? (If not - email me again or post a comment)
nocow)stealing.jpg) |
| Didn't have time to make a sheep image :-) |
Monday, 14 October 2013
Working Together is Kingdom thinking
One of the key elements in anything to do with Church growth is the making real the oft proclaimed desire of working together. The problem is that whilst this is a great idea in concept the minute anyone starts to do something in, near, or around someone else's patch the barricades appear.
Now, where I am, we are rather blessed with people who are into the Kingdom stuff and are looking at ways of working together. So far this year we have closed our church and taken the congregation to other places and the message it sends is worth its weight in banana chips - we are there to serve the people around us as one Church with many expressions of church.
Of course there are some who will go to great lengths to explain how they need to do this, that or the other because they don't get 'everything' paid for like we do ('we' in this case being Anglican of course). I've had this reported to me and seen it first hand so I know this to be true. The reality is that the active encouragement of transfer growth (AKA 'sheep stealing' if they're leaving you for somewhere else) from some does happen and although this makes people appear successful on the surface the harvest it reaps is poor and the growth short-lived.
When we do something in our church we need to ask who else we could be doing it with and then, having identified others we could act in partnership with, we do it: Or at least invite them because they might not be in the right place or time to come on board at that time - and if so we leave the door open for later. Where I am I am blessed to find myself in partnership with the local Methodist church and have shared ALPHA, and continue to share a joint house group, with them.
So if you're reading this please have a think about what opportunities there are for mission and ministry in the place where you are and then step back and ask yourself the all important question. Who can I do this with?' - for when you do you're not only opening the door to Kingdom thinking but opening up you and those who travel with you to be blessed and be a blessing.
And there's little to eclipse that reality is there?
Now, where I am, we are rather blessed with people who are into the Kingdom stuff and are looking at ways of working together. So far this year we have closed our church and taken the congregation to other places and the message it sends is worth its weight in banana chips - we are there to serve the people around us as one Church with many expressions of church.
Of course there are some who will go to great lengths to explain how they need to do this, that or the other because they don't get 'everything' paid for like we do ('we' in this case being Anglican of course). I've had this reported to me and seen it first hand so I know this to be true. The reality is that the active encouragement of transfer growth (AKA 'sheep stealing' if they're leaving you for somewhere else) from some does happen and although this makes people appear successful on the surface the harvest it reaps is poor and the growth short-lived.
When we do something in our church we need to ask who else we could be doing it with and then, having identified others we could act in partnership with, we do it: Or at least invite them because they might not be in the right place or time to come on board at that time - and if so we leave the door open for later. Where I am I am blessed to find myself in partnership with the local Methodist church and have shared ALPHA, and continue to share a joint house group, with them.
So if you're reading this please have a think about what opportunities there are for mission and ministry in the place where you are and then step back and ask yourself the all important question. Who can I do this with?' - for when you do you're not only opening the door to Kingdom thinking but opening up you and those who travel with you to be blessed and be a blessing.
And there's little to eclipse that reality is there?
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Psalm 1 - a model for church growth?
I have always been of the impression that Psalm one is the model for church growth and the more I think of it, the more convinced I am. My reasons for this are that as it lists the three stages of falling into sin I assume that satan, having neither invention or tactical awareness merely chooses to use that which God has made for his own ends. This means that he has merely taken what works and used it and the psalmist tells us this:<br /><br />
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Here we have the three elements of church growth:
Walk in Step
One of the hardest things for many of those in church is for them to get out of their buildings and get involved with those outside their doors.
'But we are a welcoming church,' they cry,
'We sit here and wait for them, but they never come in!'
So they stop and have a think and then they try again with a different strategy . . .
and see no new people come through their doors; and so they say:
'We became an 'inviting' church. We invited everyone, putting leaflets through door and we even put an advert' in the local paper. But no one came!'
Of course they didn't, because they needed someone to 'bring' them to church and the only way that happens is by building relationships with the people outside the church doors. We need to go out there and get in step with them; but not to adopt their attitudes and practices (and not to criticise and attack them either) but to build relationships.
If people get to know us and find that we're not the pains they thought we were then they build relationships and it is these relationships that will eventually (and 'eventually' can be a very long time indeed) lead them into the church building with a degree of confidence that they are not just 'scalps'; for the great evangelistic machine. Unless we relate and become relevant to the people in our community then regardless of how welcoming or inviting or anything else we are, we are not (generally) going to see growth.
Stand
This is the next stage and it's important because it means that they've stopped to engage. They are no longer tabbing on through but have considered you to be worth a stop and chat. This is where some of the important stuff happens for this is the place where you are Christian but you don't push, press or proselytise. So often I find people going for the jugular because they've stopped to talk and to do so is to encourage them to not just walk, but probably run (in the opposite direction).
I had a conversation with a well-meaning and kindly Christian who told me that whenever they saw a neighbour they gave them a tract telling them how they were sinners and outlining the ways they might repent and be saved. When I tried to explain that the concept of needing to be saved was not only alien to many, but was also highly offensive for it said, 'You are not a right person!'
And we all like to hear that don't we?
That said, I don't think we can ever deny Christ and if mentioning Jesus in some context that applies to us occurs we don't actively decide to divert the topic or circumstance - do we? We just do not push Him to the point of alienating or embarrassing others.
Sit
If people have allowed us to walk with them (it's them that controls the engagements, not us) and have decided to stop and engage then we need to handle that offer of relationship gratefully and gently; and if we do, they end up sitting and chatting, drinking tea, coffee and dunking biscuits wit us.
It is here that we can engage more fully. This is the place of Fresh Expressions and START courses (eventually) and is the place where Jesus, God, the cross, resurrection and most importantly - forgiveness and love - are to be found.
When people are sitting comfortably, then we can begin (how I miss the Home service and 'children's hour').
In Step, Stop and sit - a three-part model for church growth that demands time, engagements, the ability to share the story of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the cross and new life (they called it the kerygma [keruggma] in the early Church - everyone learnt it and shared it with others). Being an evangelist isn't the job for someone in the pulpit, a tent or a football ground mission event, it's what we are called, each and every one of us, to be and do.
So congratulations if you have a welcoming, inviting and engaged church, but if you don't - get outside of your church building and leave it open for the community and get down and alive with the world outside - and you, and others will be like a tree in the desert which is tended and cared for and planted by streams of living water.
Perffick picture - innit?
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Wish you were here?
No - glad you've gone!
Outside of Christian faith, football is one of my defining passions. Football in general and Arsenal FC in particular. It keeps me entertained, makes me smile, gets me passionate (wife moves kids out of room!!) and never fails to appall me with the greed, cheating, duplicitous goings-on and the lack of loyalty.
I made my first communion at the Highbury home of the Gunners at about the same time I started primary education and grew upon a world where you supported your local team (that's why cousins support Spurs) and the players also tended to have supported the club because many were 'local lads'. There were people like Charlie George who supported, played and continue to work for the club or Pat Rice (parents had veg shop yards from the stadium) who played and then became part of the coaching staff.
Then we had players who came in to the club from other places, even Tottenham, and became heroes. The cost of players rose and contracts began to mean nothing, thanks to a jouneyman player's legal ruling, and now we see loyalty meaning nothing and clubs that were supportive and were once home are dissed and acted against by those Who once wore their shirt. They unsettle players 'tapping them up' (meaning they encourage them to transfer) and act negatively against former clubs.
Oddly, the same things can be found in the Church too! Someone leaves for a new church and they start to make snide or silly comments. They start to point out how well they are doing in the new place and allude to the ills that caused them to go (members, minister, music and the like) and send postcards from the promised land.
Where I am, we are fortunate to have lost few members over the years and have upset a few who wanted to come because my position is that they are welcome if they come with the full knowledge of their minister or pastor and leave with blessing. Not a popular policy with those who want to come, usually sees them go to other (less particular) places.
Now I am sure that this is a contentious or perhaps inflammatory statement but here goes. As painful it has been with people I have known leaving church for somewhere else I can honestly say how grateful I am that they went. Hindsight shows me that generally their going was a bigger blessing to those who were left than the curse some leaving hoped for! Mind you, where I have been a minister I have also sought to send those leaving with a blessing because this is the right way to do it. I was told that those who refuse a blessing (on either side) are more often than not the curse - now there's some food for thought for both sides.
So when we leave a place, leave as a blessing with a blessing.
When people leave us with a curse, be the blessing.
When people leave us with pain, use that pain act as a mirror in which we can see the pain of Christ and follow His footsteps rather than Satan's.
Pax
Outside of Christian faith, football is one of my defining passions. Football in general and Arsenal FC in particular. It keeps me entertained, makes me smile, gets me passionate (wife moves kids out of room!!) and never fails to appall me with the greed, cheating, duplicitous goings-on and the lack of loyalty.
I made my first communion at the Highbury home of the Gunners at about the same time I started primary education and grew upon a world where you supported your local team (that's why cousins support Spurs) and the players also tended to have supported the club because many were 'local lads'. There were people like Charlie George who supported, played and continue to work for the club or Pat Rice (parents had veg shop yards from the stadium) who played and then became part of the coaching staff.
Then we had players who came in to the club from other places, even Tottenham, and became heroes. The cost of players rose and contracts began to mean nothing, thanks to a jouneyman player's legal ruling, and now we see loyalty meaning nothing and clubs that were supportive and were once home are dissed and acted against by those Who once wore their shirt. They unsettle players 'tapping them up' (meaning they encourage them to transfer) and act negatively against former clubs.
Oddly, the same things can be found in the Church too! Someone leaves for a new church and they start to make snide or silly comments. They start to point out how well they are doing in the new place and allude to the ills that caused them to go (members, minister, music and the like) and send postcards from the promised land.
Where I am, we are fortunate to have lost few members over the years and have upset a few who wanted to come because my position is that they are welcome if they come with the full knowledge of their minister or pastor and leave with blessing. Not a popular policy with those who want to come, usually sees them go to other (less particular) places.
Now I am sure that this is a contentious or perhaps inflammatory statement but here goes. As painful it has been with people I have known leaving church for somewhere else I can honestly say how grateful I am that they went. Hindsight shows me that generally their going was a bigger blessing to those who were left than the curse some leaving hoped for! Mind you, where I have been a minister I have also sought to send those leaving with a blessing because this is the right way to do it. I was told that those who refuse a blessing (on either side) are more often than not the curse - now there's some food for thought for both sides.
So when we leave a place, leave as a blessing with a blessing.
When people leave us with a curse, be the blessing.
When people leave us with pain, use that pain act as a mirror in which we can see the pain of Christ and follow His footsteps rather than Satan's.
Pax
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