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?

Journal: Thursdays? I love Thursdays!

The difference between between having a dogcollar and being a good cleric is very much like the difference between Tarzan and George of the Jungle: It's all about the ability to swing from rope to rope without falling to the ground or face-planting a tree!

The interesting thing for me is the number of amazing face-plants one encounters (at all levels) and the lack of embarrassment attached to them! Every now and then I encounter something that leaves me as embarrassed as if I'd walked on them naked, but the object of my discomfort merely (a la Derek Nimmo in 'All Gas And Gaiters') seem oblivious to the situation. The problem is that I have been accused of training people to be inept in the knowledge that I will always jump in before things go pear-shaped. Where I see concern, others see opportunity: and where I see it a little differently, I do understand what they mean and can see their point.

When I lived in the countryside, there was a certain person who would miss the bus on a regular basis. Many of us, if we saw them would offer them a lift into town - which meant a short detour adding about ten minutes to our overall journey. One day one day I happened to be in the local pub and chanced to hear the frequent passenger talking to a friend and as the conversation unfolded I (naughtily eavesdropping) heard the person tell his companion how, by 'missing' the bus, he not only got into town quicker but was warmer, more comfortable, and didn't have to pay the fare!

So I started going the other way, still giving them a lift if it suited me, but no longer being willing to arrive late at my destination or have to drive like a lunatic to try and make up time lost through them; as did the friends I told the story to. Seems to me that I need to see who is standing at the bus stop and act accordingly.

But today the stop has been empty. It's Thursday so it started with Communion (and of course it's Passiontide, an important period in Lent, which meant I pushed the boat out and (unlike Simon Peter didn't get naked but) wore the chasuble we have had returned to us by the church up the road as they're not into that sort of thing. Now, as a card-carrying evangelical, charismatic, fundamentalist (apparently) I think it's cool to keep the feats, wear the tat and even have a thiruble - so it was a fitting start to the day as we displayed our serious intent on marking the passion of the Christ.

A stop and a chat at the 'drop in' before it was off and out to home Communions and a couple of pastoral additions, a home visit to sort something technical and then into a rather delicate and sad funeral visit. But still a light day which left me feeling chilled and effective even though it weighed in  at around fifteen hours (becoming conscious of the hours since doing the numbers).

Lines beginning to be drawn and things hitherto unseen, now seen and noted.

Lord, for all the encounters of the day - I thank You.
For the blessings given and received - I am humbled and blessed.
For the roles others have missed today - help me to know that I served you in rectifying thing rather than was taken for a mug. Give me discernment and courage.

And for the passion of the Christ - give me passion to keep it and courage to live it.

Journal: Sound of silence

One of the greatest funeral challenges comes in the shape of the unsaid eulogy. Now usually I make sure that I have sufficient notes to do something regardless of whoever it is that is doing the eulogy, but the temptation to scrimp on a person's history is always with us and when a eulogy turns into a poem, you can find yourself on thin ice! Just saying.

Yesterday was an action packed event with a church service, a couple of crem' visits (with a Warden's meeting in the space between), kid's club and a dinner to speak at. Add to this a garnish of administration (which, like the poor will always be with us) and you have yourself a fairly rammed sixteen hours of vicaring.

Reflecting in the day I found myself ticking 'hoped for' many boxes.
Dead honoured - yep.
Gospel preached - every opportunity I had.
Pastorally engaged - pretty much, although wilted a bit by the afternoon with my engagement and wasn't as sparkly and whatever as I could have been.
Prayer - felt a bit of a 'cat's lick and a promise' day once daily office was squared away.
Abrasiveness - kept being smiley and suffered fools (and there were a few yesterday) pretty well: Must be growing up a bit!
Worship - loads of it.
Paperwork and admin' - enough to avoid drowning :-)

So Lord, we've come through another day together and survived.
Thank You for today - let's do it again tomorrow, perhaps with a bit of 'slow time' in it. (Did I really used to teach time management?)

Journal: Theodicy and stuff

The night ended with a couple of hours of great conversation on the subject of evil and God's part and out response. It was quite a challenge and quite a journey, and loads of fun. But before we got there I had a trip to buy comestibles of the Communion kind and some material for house groups, so I had a trip into Brum - and that started the day of well (as any trip to a shop what sells books always does).

The filling in this enjoyable sandwich was home Communions and pastoral conversations and so, it has been an almost perfect day I guess. A day in which I find myself smiling consistently and almost foolishly.

Add to this the fact that Anselm popped in with his ontological argument for the existence of God and Epicurus had a pop at God for not giving him however many number he needed to win the lottery!

So the encounters, the challenges, the pace and the overall content was great: Thank You Lord.

Hopefully I looked like Jesus to those around me and I was God's man in the place.

Thankfully God's love and grace were evidence in large quantities.

Lord, for a day passed when I can reflect upon the many blessings you have given me, I can but praise you and head for bed a very happy and content man.

Hallelujah.



This place of reflection is here for me to dialogue internally and gain insight and perspective. It first appeared in this current form for some of those looking at creating their own journal as part of the their journey to discerning vocation. The Morning prayer is there also for that same purpose: to create the discipline of prayer. 

Journal: Week Off - day one

Well it wasn't the seaside!

The cherry on today's cake goes to the person who asked whether I was enjoying my holiday and, "Was I at the seaside?" Today has been, according to a colleague, "Like his normal day!" and ironically perhaps I found that to be rather helpful and perhaps it can help me to set my high water mark for the rest of the year.

"Living over the shop means that the only way you can take time off is to go away," said another person (who lives almost two miles from their church); and they were probably right as I found myself engaged in pastoral matters which could neither be put off or done by anyone else (and I mean that - I'm not clinging to stuff or being a martyr). But the results and the conversations on the way made it a great day indeed.

So what have I learned today?

Sometimes you need to act boldly, stand in the gap, pray your socks off, and take a bit of control to see a solution take shape. Much like the 'God's garden' comment - you should have seen it before I got working in it! Poor old God, gets all the blame for outcomes where we have been inactive, doesn't He?

Paperwork will, like the poor, always be with us.

People will always expect you to do things, regardless of the label you've given the day!

God will always shine through.

So it wasn't a day off - but I can move that to next week - but it was a day to be thankful for and to celebrate encounters, successes and blessings. Feeling chilled and looking forward to a final day of paperwork.

Hallelujah!

Can't make it to church? 22 November 2015

The Christian year, liturgically speaking, begins with Advent Sunday and has its last Sunday (today) with Christ the King - and this, like every year, has been immense.

Advent sees us preparing  for the birth of Jesus and this is where our year gets started as we find ourselves with shepherds, magi, baptism, miracles, transfiguration, triumphal entry, betrayal, beating and finally death… And then resurrection: Rebirth, appearing, ascending, Spirit descending - living in the power of the risen Christ: And then repeat again!

The purple of Advent gives way to the white and gold of Christmas just as it does at Lent: two preparations: the first for a baby, the second for a resurrected Christ.

Today, Christ the King, we focus on the Lordship of Jesus, the Christ and we hold ourselves up against him and ask ourselves, “How have we done?”

Jesus, a King whose kingdom is not of this world coming in to a world of a cruel and wicked puppet King, and frightening him when he hears that the ‘King of kings is coming to his patch’!

Joy to the world! Yeah, if it's not your child going to be killed as Herod tries to eradicate the threat that this newborn King apparently is – after all, he’s killed his own kids to stave off any threat to his throne, what's the kids of others matter?

Preparation for the job ahead sees Jesus in the wilderness: how have we done in the comfort and plenty of where we find ourselves I wonder? What have, and how have we, experienced in our wilderness moments? How have we handled the job in hand?

Jesus comes as a servant into a place where the King lived to be served. He with all authority and power was vanished away to another country as a refugee – escaping death at the hands of a despotic leader. I wonder if He and His family were welcomed. Did the powers that be in Egypt have a debate and vote to not allow refugees into their land like the Americans just have?

Here we are at another Christ the King, but so what? One of the joys of being part of a church that is grounded in the word and focuses on the calendar is that we mark many important moments in our feasts and festivals and lectionary readings, but to what end? Do they challenge, inspire and change us, or are they as hollow as Christmas is for some when they have reached the age where it means socks, underpants and slippers? Have we lost the joy of our first love and allowed our zeal to become mere habit?

Every Sunday we pray, “Your Kingdom come…” And yet, as Justin Welby himself has said regarding the Paris murders, “I ask where God is and I have my own personal doubt over it.” We pray it, but when do we see it, hear of others experiencing it, experience it for ourselves?

And of that passing doubt; it needs to be treasured for it is in doubt that our faith is made real. I thank God for a man at the helm who shares the same highs and lows, trials and tests as me (though many will I am sure vilify and criticise him for his honesty).

This leads us to a junction where we can continue towards the cross, praying, reading, trusting, serving others and worshipping God in word, music, prayer and life.

OR

We can decide that we need to take things into our own hands and so we campaign, we act in our own strong that bringing into being those things that we consider to be ‘best’ with little thought to what the Christ calls us to look and live like.

OR

Assuming that our God is impotent and unable (or worse still: Unwilling) to act, decide to embark upon a popularity contest and rewrite the Bible and recreate God to make her popular and where there were commandments establish suggestions which possess nothing of the essential about them.

Which paths have we taken:   Personally. -  Corporately as congregation. -  Collectively as Church

Let's revisit today’s readings:

‘To Him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.

Do we believe this to be true?

Look! He is coming with the clouds, every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen.

I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Are we expectantly looking to the East and the dawn that heralds the coming of Jesus, the Christ, the Almighty?

Then Pilate summoned Jesus again, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’

Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’

Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’

Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’

Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’

Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’

Are we listening to the authentic voice of Jesus in our lives, the lives of those around us and for our nation?

You can hear one of the versions I did of this Sunday's sermon HERE

The Collect
Eternal Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven that he might rule over all things as Lord and King: keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace, and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Daniel 7.9-10,13,14
As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgement, and the books were opened. “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Revelation 1.4b-8
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,  and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.  Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

John 18.33-37
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”

Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

Post Communion prayer
Stir up, O Lord, The wills of your faithful people;
That they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
May by you be plenteously rewarded;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

When pastoral gets tricky: the 'M' word

The issue of masturbation is one of the rarely occurring challenges for the pastoral role, but when it turns up it is never a simple issue. The main reason is that this is surely one of those things done out of the public gaze; and if it isn't then the solution is made simple for whenever I have encountered this (about seven or eight times) mental health issues or cranial trauma were the more pressing pastoral need.

It is, generally not an issue that we tend to talk about other than the attributing of a more colloquial term for the act addressed at someone who has acted foolishly - as many Referees will surely attest.

This is an issue which may have first been addressed in the (boy's) school assembly when warnings about inducing  'weaknesses' were made. Staying in school and moving to the playground where folk warnings about hirsute palms, weakened eyesight and many other curses were passed on from one to another. Of course, supported by the Onan 'spilling seed' context this is often limited in people's thinking as a male only issue - but of course it isn't. During my time as a counsellor I have met almost as many women as men who have engaged in the act as something compulsive and/or damaging and a problem.

It is an area which so many of those 'pastors' on the Internet seem to be obsessed with as they condemn the reader who transgresses to eternal separation from God and  an eternity of hellfire and damnation.

The very reason I have started along this current thread of 'pastoral getting tricky' is that people have turned up before me and brought me a Jesus who is a curse as He comes into their reality with the sole purpose of condemning them - and the focus of this condemnation, for some is masturbation!

But I have a Jesus who comes not to condemn the world but to save those in it by reconciling them to God and bringing the promise that, believing in Him, they will not perish! (Jn 3.16)

I have a God who tells me that nothing separates me from His love: Not height, not depth, nor power or principality; nothing future, present, or past, separates me from the love of God. (Ro 8.38)

And today, in my morning office (see the post before this) I found the words: '
But if the wicked turn away from all their sins that they have committed and keep all my statutes and do what is lawful and right, they shall surely live; they shall not die.'

Which are great, but when I check my Bible, nowhere do I find and reference to the word. It isn't just that there is no commandment about this issue, but there is no mention of the word.

The focus of the much vaunted hellfire despatching and condemnation-supporting passage that many like to use, Matthew 5.27, is about lust, double standards and the key requisites of those who claim to have a faith: humility, justice and mercy. The problem is that one person I discussed this with, when asked what they thought about during the act responded with the answer, 'Nothing really - I just do it!' 

How on earth do you follow that? 

There's no sexual sin broken - because there isn't one!

There's no lustful thoughts - so Matthew 5 is tossed away!

This was, for them, no different to scratching and itch, until they became a Christian and then it became something so very big and damaging because of the way the person who had asked the question, when truthfully answered, responded!

How can we respond to that other than to ascertain whether the act has the a detrimental effect on the person because it is:

Compulsive - you won't need glasses or a razor, but you might need some support because of any underlying roots for the behaviour. Always good to gently check this.

Causing marital stress - I have met people of both sexes who by engaging in solo sex acts (I'm not keen on the labels 'self-abuse' or 'pleasuring oneself') have reduced the sexual activity (or even in one case caused it to cease completely) with their partner. 

Dependence on pornography: This is where our problems (and sinful action) really start to bite as Matthew 5 comes back into the equation. If the spur or promoting action is pornography then you are on a very slippery road for, in my experience, the thought life is not only affected but the physical life is affected too. Many of those caught up in the pornography trap that I have met end up engaged in some sexual transgression involving a third party if married or another single person (followed by another and another and ...) if single.

The problem is, like alcohol, the level of indulgence and the brand of choice and the images before you have within it it an escalation and the journey from bare breasts to something much less savoury is but a slippery step into damnation and worse! Worse because some of those I have met who have dabbled with 'soft' porn have found themselves in a hard cell as they sought to act out their fantasies!

No, not everyone who engages in porn will end up a sex offender, but the mind of those who do is changed as the level of pornography and the images and the levels of exposure to it to satisfy escalate. Better not to walk in to lion's cage rather than enter and wonder what the fuss was about, 'Well I'm in the cage and I can't see a Li...!'

Lust: And here we have the big issue. Lust can come out of the pornography but it can also be the root that leads people into pornography too.

Over the years I have counselled couples to, 'Get on with it and get married rather than engage in sexual activity before they married.' The sexual desire for each other was such that they were on fire inwardly with their passions and because they were heading to marriage anyway, they thought, 'What's the problem, we're going to get married, let's get it on!' The problem is that in some cases, the inability to get the whole relationship right before they married made the marriage a real battlefield. Better to square away the potential problem areas and enter a relationship with some degree of balance and control. Sometimes the sexual desire in one party pushed the other to agree with sex, and this is an even worse situation in my book.

If the desire to possess someone sexually causes you to engage in any activity, then there is something wrong and regardless of the act, there is something that needs to be dealt with. If we cannot control our thought life to the extent that we are controlled by it then we are heading for an existence of sexual sin and potentially societal correction (or exclusion).

If lust is present in the equation then you need to be honest with yourself, those who might be affected by it, and get yourself some help. Talk to someone and set about getting your thought-life sorted and squared away. Self-awareness and a proper response are always more desirable than those who will point the finger at you and simply condemn .

____________________________________________

When doing a psycho sexual counselling course, a lecturer made the observation that as Christians we should be glorifying God in everything that we do (1 Cor 10.31) and that a healthy, balanced and fulfilling sex life was part of that desired state. If our sexual encounters do not glorify God, if our thoughts do not glorify God, then we need to stop and sort it out.

Talking of her daughter's upcoming marriage, a woman who was well known for her opposition to nakedness and sex in the media shocked me when she said: 'Everything and anything goes in marriage, there is no wrong other than this: That you never abuse, misuse or demean yourself or your partner.'

Whether the issue is that of sex on your own or with another person, the guiding rules are that what we do is a right act (and there's often that niggle which confirm the fact that it isn't) done the right way (again, you know) with the right mindset (lust or love? Giving or getting or taking?)

So - right or wrong?

I'm not going to become one of those who will label you as saint or sinner but will pass the question back to you and then  be willing, should you say 'Sin' to simply help to 'restore you gently' - because that is what Christians are called to do, not offer condemnation.

A tough issue today - I hope the contents of this blog post are of some help and encouragement.

Pax

More than 'Just a service' - Funerals

Again I have been reminded of just how wonderful it is, and how amazingly privileged I am, to be involved in the ministry of conducting funerals. For although people often look at me as if I have a screw missing when I tell them that, 'Funerals are the best bit of my job,' but this is the God's honest truth.

I don't think we can do anything more meaningful and important than to ensure that the last opportunity to be in the same place as a loved one is made as positive and as smooth as possible, especially in these days when we don't seem to grieve or mourn as well as we used. I meet some people who fail to grieve in any meaningful or restorative manner such that, as witnessed by the death of Princess Diana, when tragedy strikes elsewhere - all the pent up grief is expended in one outpouring. An outpouring that is rarely proportionate or healthy.

One of the tasks of the minister is to point to the (realised) hope that we have in Jesus, the Christ, and as we do this we assist those who mourn to celebrate the life of their loved one; laughing and celebrating where it is appropriate and weeping where it is inevitable and (and it is) essential. The problem is that often, listening to the service before that which I am to do,  what I hear is still plaster sainted, wrongly placed and plaster removing deliveries.

I reckon every funeral takes (at least) a day of work from first encounter to the end of the service and there have been some that stretch this beyond that (especially when there's travel involved). Looking at the year thus far I can confidently say that funerals have taken up over a quarter of 2014 and so, as I reflect on a year almost passed' a plea:

Please remember that a funeral service, be it church, graveside or crematorium, is something really important and much more than, "Half an hour at the Crem!" ( as one person dismissed it).

The energy and engagement, the emotional demand placed on the minister and the intellectual  challenges - where wisdom, gentle guidance and finely honed counselling skills are all demanded - is something to be understood and supported by church members. Supported by prayer and understanding that when people find themselves in a place where they need a neighbour - the neighbour that is Church and the hope that is the Christ, is our primary and of the utmost important role.

Funerals - not a service but a ministry where we come alongside the bereaved - truly an opportunity to make resurrection and parakletos (the 'coming alongside' that is the hallmark of the Holy Spirit) a reality in the life of those with a need.

Eternity - Where will you spend it?

Here's a little discussion starter (number one in a series of three):

This is, for most people, the pivotal question  - yet sadly it is a question that I find is increasing asked less and less by those who consider themselves to be 'Church'. The reason for this is often because we ('Church') fear that we might be regarded as judgemental should we challenge the attitudes, lifestyles and behaviour of others.

I am increasingly being told that we ('Church') don't have the right to challenge others - and not all of those doing the telling are to be found outside of the Church or the walls of the buildings that house them. And you know what? Those who tell me that I 'don't have the right ' to challenge are absolutely correct, for we ('Church') don't - we have the duty and that's more compelling.

But the problem is that we want to be popular - you remember 'popular'? This is the mechanism by which we refrain from admonishing behaviour that stands opposed to that which God tells us is the best option for us. We applaud 'choice' even when we can see that the logical outcome of that choice is something less than the best for them that take it. We retreat into an impotent faith that meekly proclaims that, 'God wants everyone to be happy' (regardless of the path taken or the place that it leads) and avoids passing any opinion that might be unpopular.

If confronted, this Christianity merely smiles, changes the subject or nods and says nothing at all! It works on the premise, 'If you can't say nothing popular then don't say nothing at all*!'

After all, as another minister recently told me, 'Saying nothing condemns no one.'

The problem is that my colleague (not an Anglican) and their words are wrong because in fact they and the person they failed to warn both stand condemned. Let's put it another way:

If a car mechanic knows that the brakes are potentially dangerous and send the car out with your family in it and the fail, killing them all, would you consider the mechanic responsible for the deaths?

If you considered the mechanic to be guilty would you consider them to be even worse because they knew of the potential for loss of life and did nothing about it, allowing the passengers in the car to continue on their way with the potential for death hanging over them and yet doing nothing to even warn them?

If you answered 'Yes' to either (or both) of those questions then you know how God views us when we sit and smile or nor and say nothing. He will view us in the same way you've just regarded our fictitious mechanic!

And taking it a step further: If the mechanic told you (in their defence) that they didn't warn them of the potential for something fatal because they didn't want to upset the passengers, would you consider this to be a viable defence or merely something that condemned them further?

When we see people with the potential (or even the reality) for death, perhaps not immediate but at some stage, yet we do nothing about it - and when they end up dead (because of the situation we did nothing to warn them about, that's how God will regard us too!

* a corruption of the words of St Thumper of Bambi - it's not just the Bible that gets rewritten I'm afraid!

Bl**dy Bankers - deserve all they get

So went a conversation this morning as the news that almost 20,000 Barclays staff were to lose their jobs over the coming months - around half coming from the UK - hit the news.

I take a look at the news ticker and what do I see:

• Barclays cuts 14,000 jobs this year 
• Morrisons sales fall 8.2% 

So it's definitely not a rosy morning (actually it's raining as I type this) is it?

But of the 'bankers' - the reality is that when people want to lash out at the fat cats in the banking world, those people who drove the world's economies onto the rocks (with loads of help from the rest of the world who never stop to ask where profits, dividends and cheap prices on what should be more costly goods have their roots and realities) are cheering the wrong things. Those who lose their jobs will be the ordinary folk who live up your street and sit next to you on the train and shop at Aldi and Lidl rather than Fortnums and Horrids, drive flashy cars and live exorbitant lifestyles (thanks in some way - to us).

Not the most rational thought around!

Worse still those who claim to be Christian and are cheering are taking pleasure from the distress of others. The Bible tells us that love is what Christians are supposed to be about. That said, we do a great job of masking it behind our outrages and righteous indignation and our petty hatreds.

In 1 Corinthians 13 (RVV) the Apostle Paul tells us that:

Love never gives up, regardless.

Love is concerned with caring more for others than it does for ourselves.

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have but takes joy in what it does!

Love doesn’t strut, posture, boast, brag or pose.

Love doesn’t force itself on others but respects private space and the dignity of of others.

Love isn’t concerned with a 'me first' culture or mindset but prefers and serves others.

Love doesn’t fly off the handle, or get the punch in first, even when we think it is justified.

Love doesn’t keep score of the sins of others but is concerned with our own sins first.

Love takes no pleasure when others are reduced to tears, pulled down or humiliated.

Love takes pleasure in truth, in all its aspects, regardless of how that might make us look or feel.

Love puts up with stuff because, all things considered, look at the model Jesus left us!

Love trusts God and always looks for the best in others.

Love is forward looking, it doesn't keep a record of what has been, only of what can be and it keeps on looking even when experience might lead others to stop.

So - pray and seek to help those who might just be losing their jobs (regardless of where they work).

Pax

No, it's not a 'normal' blog!

Had a most challenging and enjoyable conversation with someone who felt they need to make the point that my blog wasn't a 'normal' Christian blog! My response went along the lines of 'No surprise there then Sherlock!' because it isn't supposed to be, and here's why:

Many of the 'normal' Christian sites I encounter trawl out the same old theological explanations (often it seem lifting them from other places) relating to the same old theological issues. They work hard at looking clever (something I'd never be able to carry off) and and amongst their highly polished (something I'd never claim to have) web presence they produce extremely clever theological thinking - often proving it with proper theological words and quotes from the great and influential theological minds what clever people refer to (I can't event spell SchloerMarker!).

Sadly, what I try to do here is look at issues that collide with me and having survived the impact define some baseline for me, and perhaps others, to begin to dialogue with and establish some sort of understanding of the issue before me (and perhaps us).

I will engage with things theological but, thanks to some excellent training which taught that theologians are accessible or academic, I have decided that I favour the former and so try to appeal to things with less syllables and fewer names of the Germanic variety*!

I will also continue to leave myriad typos as I rush in, scribble and rush out again - it's the curse of the scratchpad nature of the blog (but will try to remedy said typos at some stage to protect the brains of those around me).

I accept that this place will never be one with a myriad of whatever it is that those wonderfully polished site with loads of neat little adverts and clever little gadgets have to make it stand out as 'something to win prizes'**

What you will find here is stuff that I come across, dialogue with, find myself (and others) challenged by as something we can engage in and develop our own apologetic as we do theology in a real and everyday manner.

So that's me and this place and who, what, how and why it is here - please feel free to become a part of it and make it your own in whichever way you can - All are welcome to view my own brand of weirdness and my journey for integrity in my own faith and ministry life.

Pax

*mind you hypocritically, and just a little inconsistently, I will continue to turn to Barth, Moltmann, Bonhoeffer, Hauerwas and many other of my inappropriately germanic styled heroes as I seek to grow my faith and learn.

** A cool comment from someone who stumbled across the site and, applauding some drivel I'd scribbled, made a number of 'design and features' suggestions which, they assured me, would make me 'an award winning'  offering. Not the aim (but of course if you'd like to applaud - feel free (and if you'd like to offer suggestions, correctives and dialogue - feel freer still).

Church: Thinking about structures

As a missioner (of sorts) and one of the biggest issues I come across has nothing to do with the Gospel or evangelism or even 'paying the share' but has to do with the size and structure of a church.

So many people want large churches but fail to realise that this means the end to being a 'family' church.  When I say this the listener throws up their hands and starts explaining how they want families and how families are oh so important. So I have to explain that somewhere around the forty to fifty member mark the church runs like a family - often, but not always, with the minister are the father (but always invariably the primus inter pares*) and above this we find more pastoral support structures which evolve into programmes and stratification before eventually giving way to a corporate structure (which I'm increasingly seeing relabelled as a 'modern minister' model).

Church and management are words that should go together but the problem is that they seem to mix like Guinness and Lemonade (if you fancy a bit of fun ask for a Guinness shandy some time - two drinks in one!).

Many of those who are spiritual eschew structures and anything that sounds like management whilst some I meet have well organised and well-oiled machines running like clockwork but without love, joy, peace and all the other fruit and traits that speak of Jesus and new life. But there is a balance and this is one of the rarest things to behold and yet a joy when we do. I know because I've seen it (but just don't seem to be able to make it mine!).


When talking to one dogcollar recently I was amazed at the passion they had for their sub-fifty church to become a 'large church'. They were longing for the day when they might become a 'midi' church and continue on to the diadema that is a 'larger churches day' at the cathedral. I have to say that having been at them the journey would definitely be better than the arriving but hey ho, you've got to have a dream and talk about the things you'd like to do. After all as hymn 999 in hymns Ancient and Ancienter so rightly continues: 'You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?'

The problem is that I see people organising church out of existence (and yet we really do need structures, organisation and processes - accountability, lines of support (and management)  and job descriptions and the like). The problem is I do see churches where there's so much dissipation and chaos that any talk of a God of order is taking the mickey. Letting the lunatics run the asylum is not delegation and the Stalinist approach to church management only fuels transfer growth (at best) and the end of church-going (at it's worst).

One of the greatest aids to growth is a mixed-mode, mixed-economy Church. One where Emerging church emerges and lives alongside Fresh Expresssions and traditional church models and all live in harmony. One where churches send their members out to 'make Christ known' and do this as the end in itself, not as press gangs who will bring back impressed church members to the mother ship.

So, following on from some troubles conversations and some querulous folk who are exploring what it means to be leading church and are confused by what they see in the place they belong, I thought I might intersperse the baptism dialogue (which will continue at a pace at which other might keep up and perhaps take the lead) with some thinking about collaboration and delegation and how it is neither 'do what you want' or 'do what I tell you to' but us reasoning together and walking in step with our eyes on the cross and our hands joined in fellowship and common purpose.

* First amongst equals