The Daily Office

Greetings one and all,

I'd like to recommend the practice of getting into the habit of doing a 'daily office' as part of your Christian discipline and discipleship?

When I first suggested this to someone the started doing this (but nowhere near as well!):

Another person's response was to do this:

Another person said: 'Oh, isn't that what Matthew six talks about when it speaks of those who babble on repetitively in the hope that their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.' They're in a trendy [sort of] evangelical nonconformist something or other independent congregational church - so it's understandable that they knew little of anything important ;-)

The reality is that the morning office, taken at it's simplest is an opportunity to read the Bible (Old and New Testament and the Psalms) and to reflect on what you've read and (listening done) pray.

It's an amazing opportunity to set you up for the forthcoming day (morning prayer) and an opportunity (if you have a go a Night Prayer) to reflect on what is past and pray intelligently for it before laying it down and taking up a good night's sleep.

It's a brilliant way of getting the read the whole Bible and develop a wider understanding of what is in it - and it's amazing how many Christians don't have a clue once they've left the comfort of their  'favourite verses' .

It's a discipline (I know that's not a popular word) - one that pays dividends. Like a marathon runner begins with a short distance and progresses as they become stronger, the same is true in a spiritual sense too!

So give it a try - there are great apps that let you do the daily Office, you can find an abridged morning prayer (lite) on this blog - it's perhaps a little more testing than some of the one verse and reflection books I was looking at recently but then again you don't want lightweight or twee?

Do you?

Give it a go for a month and tell me what it has (or hasn't) done for you

Click here for the Church of England Daily Prayer site (with links for ipad/phone and Android)

Baptism: Universal (working) Model

And it's one that I think works for adult (proselyte, believer's, call it whatever you want) and for infant (paedobatism, sprinkling, christening and again whatever you'd like to call it) too.

best bit is that I actually think it works theologically and is supported by practice and observation and so is a well-rounded, empirically sound and sustained model.

Consider this if you will:

Back in the dim and distant time in North London a boy child was born to a family who rejoiced at the continuation of the name. The child grew up and when the time was considered to be right they were dressed in appropriate clothing and taken off to be initiated into something that the family held as special.

Arriving at the venue the Father took his son and took him to a place where, as ritual dictated, certain acts were engaged, words were said and conversations had. This part of the ritual complete the child was taken to the main place of worship and there was exposed to his first act of corporate worship. Sufficient to say that the child was not taken there again for a number of years and then, having seen some more of the worship on TV, they asked to go with their Dad to that place again.

And so they went and the child, now in his teens started to learn about the rules and regulations (we call them 'Laws') and learnt the names of the heroes of the faith. They learned the language and the songs that they sung in that place, the tactics of the enemy and the ways to counter them and be successful. Daily they grew in their knowledge and ability to emulate those heroes of the faith and eventually it was acknowledged that truly they had become a true follower, a disciple and (dare I say it) a bit of a fanatic.

On the days when worship was engaged and the, now a man, follower could not be part there was sadness. Being absent caused them pain and they would do whatever they could, even swapping work days with others to ensure they could be present.

When on holiday or on courses they would see out other like-minded folk and worship at their places. It didn't matter that they weren't part of the same faith, the act of worship and the way those who were at the front was similar and the goals were the same!

Now, if you're thinking that I'm talking about what we call 'religion' in the description above then you are right, but the religion in question is actually football and the place of worship was Highbury!

The thing is that this also works for those with faith and especially (in my context) the Christian faith (but I have Jewish and Islamic and 'other faith' friends for whom this model works equally well).

Let's take this example a little further . . .

I know a child who was from an early age decked out in their father's team of choice's merchandise -  A Bib emblazoned with the words 'I'm a great dribbler!', the football logo babygro and the like - they were also taken to the place of worship and yet never chose to take it any further. If asked their team they would respond with the words: 'Me? I'm a ..........' (the empty space being the team their Dad supported). Now they had a team but chose not to follow it. Then, many years later they decided to become a disciple and because they had a team, this was the way they went.

It helped that the team was good and played well and were enjoyable to watch and so, one day, they bought a season ticket. It would not have made much sense to buy one at birth, after all they wouldn't have enjoyed being at the game until perhaps eight or nine years of age, but once the interest came into being - the team was already something there was a tacit allegiance to and a wider awareness of.

Consider a friend of mine who came from a home where sport was something to be avoided. The grew up, went to school and university and got married and had children and, one day, were asked to take their children to a football match, which they did.

Having gone to the match, which the family enjoyed, they decided to become a follower and bought a shirt and a season ticket and started to learn the laws and the heroes and the tactics and before you know it, they'd become a disciple and their children along with them (turns out the wife had always been a true believer and was glad at last that she could get back into the stadium and enjoy the worship with her whole family!).

Now this is exactly what baptism is - for contrary to some people's beliefs regarding baptism:

Baptism does not you saved - but it recognises where salvation is to be found.
Baptism is all about becoming part of the Church (that's universal) - it doesn't make you 'saved' but is a recognition of who and what Jesus is and says, 'I want to be (or have my child become) part - I want (me/us) to be associated with the team (Church).'

Baptism does not make you a disciple - but it opens the doors to being one.

Baptism doesn't make us disciples, but it offers us the potential to be that by the association with the team. We can be baptised and never become a disciple (and this is true for the adult or infant variety) - I know a fair few who have been baptised and adults and as children who have never taken their faith any further. (That said I think there is a danger that if we offer the 'folk religion' Christening as that and that alone we are seeding ourselves for a greater failure rate. After all, one would hope that those who come of their own accord might fare better - would hope but this is not always the reality of course!!).

Baptism does not make you a Christian - But it puts you in the right place to become one

Being baptised doesn't make you Christian - but it does point to a place where you can become one!
This will (most likely) prompt the question, 'What's a Christian?' - which I will try and answer another day). The big problem is that many who have had the infant variety assume that this makes them such when, as I've pointed out, it merely makes you Church!

Baptism doesn't get you into heaven - But Jesus does!
All you need to is acknowledge this and then, having said 'Thank You' and 'I'm Sorry!' you step up and take the ticket from his quick and lively, resurrected hands!

So here it is (again) in simple form:
Baptism registers you as a member of the Church - you can choose whether you want to take out a season ticket and learn about what it means to be a follower and can choose to be a full-on follower (disciple) or an occasional viewer (Easter, Christmas hatch, match and dispatch).

It doesn't make you a follower of the team (Jesus) but it opens the opportunity for it at a later date (if infant) and immediately (adult) but it takes commitment and attendance and study and all that stuff that's so unpopular when it comes to Church and yet to be admired when it's a bunch of overpaid chaps kicking a ball  (now that is surely something contrary, isn't it?).

Hope this makes some sense - we'll do the theology later!

(and probably do the fighting sooner ;-) )      (c) Vic the Vicar 2014

Church and Discipleship - A Guest writes. . .

Our guest contributor writes:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature of church and discipleship – partly due to a course called 'Closing the Back Door', currently running at our church.

In last week’s session, George Fisher (the course leader) used a quote from a retired Anglican priest:

“The big issue when we volunteer is that we set the agenda – when, how much, where and what it is we will volunteer. We are not tied down to anything or anyone. The person in charge often treats volunteers like royalty, tip-toes around mistakes and finds it hard to hold volunteers accountable.

When you are a disciple you don’t give up your time. You realise that you possess (or own) no time of your own. God created you, gave you life and time in this life, so it is his time! Disciples are more committed than loyal; they act without regard for admiration or recognition!’

It got me thinking about the difference in attitude between disciples and volunteers.

A volunteer is identified as one who gives their time voluntarily (i.e. is unpaid); and can also then withdraw that gift at any time. This is why many church leaders find themselves ‘tip-toeing around volunteers’, because any perceived offense or disagreement can send volunteers storming out of the door leaving the leader to pick up the slack. Volunteers fit in their voluntary commitment around their life, so that a change in their circumstances can also lead to a sudden withdrawal of labour. When the church event clashes with another life event, then church is put aside. This can also be true of a Sunday service; many church members make an active decision not to attend church because they ‘have something else on’.

By contrast a disciple is described as a follower, student or devotee. A disciple is committed to a journey of knowledge and growth, and so is less likely to turn away. They are more likely to deal with difficult situations and even use them as growth experiences. A disciple fits their life around their commitment – as the above quote states: when you are a disciple you don’t give up your time. Church is not just something that the disciple does when it suits, but is an immoveable commitment on their diary. Non-attendance is limited to reasons of illness or holiday.

It strikes me that the difference between a volunteer or discipleship mind-set is influenced heavily by the way we perceive church. For many – certainly for ‘volunteers’ – church is an organisation (much like a club) that they have joined and they choose which activities to attend, whether that is a service or other church event. However, just as Jesus did not tell us to go and find volunteers, he also did not tell us to start an organisation. He calls us to make disciples and he calls the church his Bride. Jesus sees the church in a much different way to the reality that it often is: he emphasises the place of relationship; the relationship between a bride and her groom.

Our daughters have developed a habit of watching “Don’t Tell the Bride’ – one of those awfully addictive low-quality TV programmes. A couple are given £12,000 to pay for their wedding, on the provision that the groom does the planning and arranging. The couple have no contact for three weeks, during which the groom books the venue, buys the dress, plans the hen-do and makes all other arrangements for the big day. What I find most interesting is the difference between the vision of the bride and groom. Usually, the bride dreams of a fairy-tale affair, straight out of a bridal magazine. What the groom arranges tends to be much more personal, reflecting aspects of their relationship and personalities. Although the bride is sometimes reticent at first, she is almost always won over by the end and acknowledges that her groom has given her ‘the best wedding ever’. He is able to do this because he knows his bride, sometimes better than she knows herself, and loves her. This is the relationship of the groom and bride: of Christ and his church! Our vision of church is often quite different to his; he sees a living bond that reflects our personality and his, not a structured set of committees and meetings.

St Paul describes the Church as the Body of Christ: once again a reference to a living organism rather than an organisation. All parts are dependent upon each other in a mutual relationship. However, quite often our churches seem to suffer from a debilitating illness where some parts only work at certain times (perhaps for a couple of hours on Sunday morning), but at other times are disconnected from the rest of the body – or more particularly, from the head. Can you imagine what it must be like to have a body that doesn’t respond to what your head tells it to do? I saw an interview with a paralympic athlete who suffered from cerebral palsy. She described how she had recently learned to skip; a simple action that most children learn by about five or six-years-old, but a huge accomplishment for her. When the body isn’t properly connected to the head, even the simplest actions become difficult.

The quote from G Allan Kerr I used earlier continues:

‘In baptism we are freed from the power of sin, death and the devil and we are freed from idolatry of self; to be freed from self is to be open for call; to be open for call is truly to be open to God.’ 

When we are freed from self, we are able to be better connected to something outside of ourselves.

So which are you:

a volunteer giving time freely to a favourite organisation,

or

a disciple of Christ and integral member of his body, organically and inextricably attached to him and others? 

Is church something you fit in to your busy schedule, or something that orders your world? 

If you don’t know, then ask yourself what difference would it make if you stopped going to church; how would your life change and how would you notice?