A church of two halves

The words of Ecclesiastes 1. 9, 'What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun,' ring true today as we turn our attention to Peter's encounter with a bunch of circumcised believers in Jerusalem.

Here we have a church of two halves: the circumcised (Jewish) believers and the uncircumcised (Gentile) believers.

We also have a great deal of righteous anger and loads of passion (funny how prejudice does that isn't it?) along with it.

Now considering that working back from the current Pope the line (albeit just a little fuzzy in places) tracks back to the man himself: Peter! So what we have here is 'the man' being taken on by the Jewish believers ( of course this won't be the last time the 'Judaizers' find themselves in the spotlight - Paul encounters them in Galatians); not the leaders but the influential, Jewish, believers are taking him to town. What is interesting it that it must have worked for, despite his own words in the Acts 11 account, we later find Paul giving him some real stick over his 'encouraging Gentile believers to not only follow Christ but adopt Jewish practices).

What today's readings teach us is that we have a new commandment to live up to - we make love our priority and our rule of life; we don't put stumbling blocks in the way of new believers, neither do we impose ritual or worship style, liturgical tastes or our own personal fads, habits and desires. What we do is bless that what God is already blessing and help those outside the kingdom to recognise the voice and hand of God in their lives.

What we must do is to seek to recognise the image of the invisible God made visible by the presence of the person before us and celebrate the fact that nothing (and no one?) God has made 'clean' is unclean. Regardless of where we have been, what we have seen or done - there are no definitive sins (outside that one 'unforgivable' sin against the Holy Spirit in Matt 12//mark 3) - all are equal and carry the same weight whether there's one or dozens of them.

High, low, charismatic, traditional - fundamental, liberal or confused: We need to celebrate the fact that people come to God through Christ and refrain from putting our yokes on them.

He whom the Son sets free is free indeed - so let's not put our burdens on they and break their backs with our personal likes, dislikes and arrogance, eh?

Excuse me can we have your old TV?

It was with these words that the chap driving the scrap metal van greeted me. Not an unreasonable question you might think and in the right setting, of course it isn't; after all, we all have a living to make, don't we??

Then again, when the question comes in the middle of the sermon  I have to say that perhaps it is!

But this was my experience on Sunday morning as we progressed through the early service, something that caused the sermon to stop for a couple of minutes as we sorted things out. We were soon continuing on our merry ways; them with a TV and a fan and us with the service.

I often feel that I'd like more engagement during the service, the children do it so well but the adults (in some places especially) struggle with this but I really think the sermon spot should be a time and place of interchange as we make our mutual journey of worship and praise.

I love it when someone asks for a clarification or comes back with something that adds, challenges and sometimes entertains. The times when people ask how things are pronounced or struggle with timeframes and the places.

I remember many years back hearing an nearing retirement minister tell the congregation that the sermon was a place where, 'They listened to what he had to say and kept quiet!' But that's not how Jesus taught was it? That's not the way Rabbis teach their disciples (then or now) - and the interaction between them bordered on riot at times.

Perhaps I've had a wake up call regarding my sermons - perhaps I should have more broken TVs in the porch (they were there to raise money for an upcoming India trip for our eldest child)? Perhaps I need to buy another pack of notebooks and pens (and get people to bring their Bibles too!) and encourage note-taking again?

Perhaps I need to ask more questions rather than merely try to enlighten and inform people?

Whadyathink?

Mission-Shaped Church - Blessing or Curse?

I think Mission-Shaped Church (MSC) is a good thing and I base this on the 1994 CofE report of the same name and my experiences of same.

MSC, as I recall, has roots in a great book by George Carey and Charlie Cleverly and I see nothing sinister in the name or the reality. In fact the five values for a missionary church are exemplars of what Church (and church) should be (for the official words see 'Mission-Shaped Church p. 81 onwards).

A missionary church is:

Trinitarian  - A relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit that brings forth prayer, praise and action with, and and through the three members of the Trinity is our goal and purpose.

Incarnational  - It makes visible the invisible God in the communities in which it is called to serve in such ways that whilst remaining counter-cultural is also a part of that community.

Transformational -  It changes the community by preaching the Gospel in word, action and intent by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the example of Christ and the Love of God the Father.

Discipling - It draws people to Jesus, the Christ, and helps them, individually and corporately, learn to follow Him on the faith journey that leads to the Cross.

Relational - It builds relationships with others by being open and welcoming not rigid and restrictive. An inclusive (yet not permissive) approach to those who come in from outside; a structure free for cliques and power groups.

These are what I see as the basics of being a Mission-Shaped Church - are there other outworkings of this that I do not understand?

Pax

That Was The Year That Was

And how many of us will learn from it? Well I think I just might.

I am sure that the people who came into my consciousness because of the often repeated mistakes in their life are destined to continue to repeat them in 2012 and this leads me into a few differing thoughts as I pray for them and their situation.

A colleague once told me (paraphrased here), "The idiots, the needy, the frivolous and the useless will always be with us. The key is to look like we are engaged but to avoid getting embroiled with them as much as we can. That way those outside will assume we are doing something and the 'idiots' will believe we'd like to do more but are merely just a little busy!"

Seems to me that this is one of the biggest problems with many people's perception of the Church in general. After all, is it any wonder that we are considered to be a nice bunch of generally ineffective people if the words of my colleague are commonplace? If those who work within the Church are working as hard to look like they are engaged as they do to be engaged is it any wonder that we struggle so much?

Another interesting conversation this year centred around the idea that eighty percent of our energy should be expended to keep us in tune with God and on a well-balanced personal path. The remaining twenty percent was to be used to do services and assist where assistance could be provided without diminishing the 'karma' (my word) of the minister concerned. "It's all about me and my walk first and then what is left is there for the others. What's better, a church that is full of flourishing and happy people or knowing that you have a walk with God that honours, talks with and generally revolved around Him for you? Thriving people or thriving pastor - take your pick!"

An excellent stance, after all being 'right with God' is everything, isn't it? Well it is, but not at the expense of those you (apparently) are called to shepherd.

A third colleague just disappeared from engaging with other churches and their leaders because they wanted to keep away from the 'sinners' and the immoral members, those who engaged in liberal thinking and the like. "Better to expel the immoral brethren," they cried, "Than to fall into their sinful ways!"

A right stance indeed. Better to protect your heart (and the hearts of those you lead) than to expend energy and engage with the people who act, think and live contrary to Scripture as you understand it. That way at least you will be assured of paradise whilst those you ignored will be . . . err, oh yeah, heading for hell with you in tow because you failed to warn them! Perhaps it's not the right way after all then?

Three facets from the gem that is Christian living from 2011 that I will be learning from and which will see me (continue I hope) to:

1. Be engaged with those who are foolish enough to be human and frail,

2. Working to keep my own walk in the footsteps of jesus, the Christ, but encouraging, supporting and enabling those who are church where I am and are Church even where I am not, and

3. Continuing to correct those who have fallen into sin in ways that restore them, gently, and ensure that in so doing I do not sin either.

So here's three lessons from 2011 that I have learned - what about you and the people you have met I wonder. What hat you learned and what have you taught others (good or bad)?

Pax