And they came to a stable

But first there was the 09:00 appointment at the crem to be dealt with!

Haven't done that early a slot since the heatwave in 2004/5 and the journey was such that what usually takes ten minutes took an additional twenty five on top of that. The privilege of being 'called and collared' came to mind as I reflected on the journey regarding the lives of those who do that journey (and beyond) every day. The daily grind of commute and workplace versus the privileged position of breakfast, lunch and dinner at home, the setting of your own diary and working day and more besides. There are many demands on us, but we offer ourselves to the role and have no cause to do anything but celebrate our 'shoulder to shoulder' life as ministers of the Gospel.

The service was intimate and reflective. A joy and privilege to have been part of. The sting of death and the victory of, and over, the grave and a man with a cross and the realised hope He brings, all of them made an appearance. Funerals are surely, after leading people to Christ, one of the stone bomber best bits of this life I have chosen to follow - even when they start at 09:00!

Then it was a move from the point of delivery to the order process as I visited someone to arrange a service.  Not a customer, not merely a 'friend', but a family member - someone I know, respect and love; 'one of ours' in every sense. Stories were told, grief was polished and love shone through the gritty grime that is bereavement. The hope in Christ was made real and the comfort of a God who cares enough to take in all we have and overcome it for us! Hallelujah.

More of the same and then it was time for a journey to Bethlehem - the first of the week - and you can forget the inn; there was no room in the church building! The children were exactly what you desire as memories were made, children waved and grandmothers (and fathers) dabbed at unseen specks in eyes that cause them to water! The privilege of being caretaker, usher, information point and Jesus once again made an appearance - and I loved it. Can't wait until tomorrow's performance.

Would that the Church lived Nativity and Easter Sunday every day!

The annual gathering of the services in our patch was possibly the smoothest yet - only had to chase a few for the information and can't wait until Thursday to see the result in our most excellent and supportive local paper.

Lots of little pastoral encounters today - the sprinkles on the whole day - perhaps we should rename ourselves as 'Need a neighbour dot com'? Dragons, demons and doubts all fought and vanquished it was a day of joy and challenges met.

But what of today - where did my feet take me and where along the road did I meet with Jesus?
The challenge of seeing where He was and asking whether I was in step with Him or beckoning Him to deviate from His course to dance to my folly and confusion? Lord, help me to go where You lead, to pray as you would have me pray and to work where, when and how You would have me work. Help me never to have campaigns and projects but to have the cross and the people as my spur and passion.

And in the morning ....

Bring it on and let us, together, minister the love that reconciles a broken and sad world to God - You with Your cross and me hoping that I look and smell like you to the world around me.

Jesus, I love You.

You can't always help what you see...

But you can control of what you look at!

One of the clever bits of the, 'If it offends, chop it off, ' joined up thinking from Jesus is that it maps out for us something very important indeed. Jesus, is on a par with Psalm One, as he outlines the path to sin but what we have is not the 'Rake's Progress' of the Psalm but the rational assessment of sin and the parts our bodies play in it.

In Psalm One we find the pattern by which people fall as being a progression:

First they find themselves alongside the wicked

Then they find themselves doing what the 'sinners' do, and then

The end up sitting (reclining) with them and at ease in their company (because they have become one of them.

In the eye/hand/foot conversation, Jesus brings it all into focus. I'd like to extend it just a tad further as we consider wrong acts and thoughts, for they almost always start with what we see [eye] and then we engage with it  by moving [foot] ourselves into a place where can see (or hear - think ears should be included here) better and the final element being that of touching or grasping  [hand].

The problem is that all too often the person with the problem will, if they come into conversation with me over it, tell me how it wasn't their fault because the visual spur for the wrong act or was the initial cause of some lustful or other wrong thinking. 'I couldn't help myself,' is sadly a cop out. Hence the title of this post:

You can't always help what you see ... 
but you are in control what you look at
and of what you do!

Consider Joseph and Potiphar's wife - he didn't stop around to look or touch but used his feet to get out of the situation - he legged it! We have the same ability! So if you think you're in a place where what you see could cause you to stumble: Leg it before the problems become reality.

We can choose what we see and the situations we are in can surely be exited from should they prove to be damaging to our spiritual well-being and our our ability to keep with right actions.

Pax

Weddings - A consumer fest?

Discussing the number of weddings that some of the clergy have, and the associated stresses, I am beginning to think that I might need to be happy that I occupy (as a colleague with a splendid church building once called it) a 'tiddly little place!' This, combined with the fact that (as another colleague put it) 'It's not pretty!' all adds up to us having very few - in fact almost none (I've done one wedding in the place since I started here`!).

It's true that the building we occupy is not large (we have but the one room) but that merely means that everything we have is used to the full. There are no rooms reserved for 'best' here - what we have is versatile and pretty well utilised (eucharist - room change - tea. coffee and lunch - room changes again and .....) all the time as we do services, social stuff, community stuff, kid's club, support groups, stuff for then older folk, crafts, courses and more besides in the one room (we have no choice).

Add to the one room aspect of the building the fact that it's not a 'proper' church building and you will understand why we don't get people asking to get married here. See for yourself:

'Home'

In fact a few years back, one of our near neighbours decided to get married and they did so in the wonderful building that houses the parish church. Another couple just up the road from us decided to get married in the pretty little village church building round the corner and this is the pattern for those who decide on a church wedding (a small number in a growing market in that we have some 30% of the wedding business these days). They want the pretty buildings for their big day and that's fair enough, after all they want a good backdrop for the photo's and stuff.

My 'problem' comes in the fact that all too often people will tell me that I should do the wedding in their church if they come from my patch because of the 'pastoral engagement' and it is here that I will find that my real struggle begins.

After all, it's a fair (empirically sound) assumption that those who marry in St Blogspots will also have their sprogs baptised in the same place, as they assume it's 'their church' - an assumption that is not supported by attendance or any semblance of relationship with the church (meaning the people) or the clergy but is based purely upon it having been the venue for a wedding. In fact they may even come to the same building when death comes a knocking on that same assumption.

And this is good - but it means that those who have the attractive, wedding rich church buildings have to realise that they also have the privilege (and duty) of engaging and building relationships with the couple, introducing them to Jesus, the Christ, and continuing that relationship (as best they may) once the wedding day has passed. They, having become 'in loco parentis' to the emerging family have a duty to pastor and pray for them. They are happy to collect the cash and do the deed, but there is much, much, much* more to it than that.

If we provide a building without discharging our duty then as much as this is wrong, that is your choice, but having provided the venue - you need to also provide the pastoral and spiritual input that goes with it in the before, during and after phases.

I have spoken to a few couples (seven of them to be accurate) with the result that 100% of the population 'enjoyed' the day but were not minded to be engaged with Church again on a regular basis. The reasons for this were that they regarded what they had was not spiritual but all about the venue and that they 'weren't religious' but wanted a nicer building than ............ (names omitted to avoid venue wars!). They didn't want 'church' and even though. 'The service was nice and the Vicar made us laugh,' it wasn't what they wanted after the event. 'But it was a nice day!'

Having been brought up with the understanding that the occasional offices (AKA: hatch, match and dispatch) were a source of engagement and potential growth. My experience is that this is not the case (we don't do many baptisms or funerals outside of those with whom we have relationships or are perhaps members) but find that we grow quite consistently through real engagement and the making of friendships.

I've written this to clarify some of the issues that came up in a conversation with a colleague who thought that, as they had a popular building, the local clergy should come and take the services for those 'from their patch'. At first I wasn't sure about it, but having given it some time (and thought) I have to say, 'Nah, crack on with it!' (or perhaps that should be, 'No thanks old bean, you carry on doing them in your building - you book them, you cook them!'). Your wanting to advertise and attract people to your buildings for weddings is a great thing to be doing - and if you are successful at it (and enjoy the wedding fayres and the conjugal/matrimonial consumer fests) - crack on and reap the blessings that are to be found within it.

As for me, I'll stick to funerals - something I find much more rewarding pastorally and more effective evangelistically!

Happy Daze

*sorry rampant Police Academy gene issues this morning

Aren't you Vicars supposed to just do religion?

That was yesterday's challenging question!

As we discussed the issue of Syria and the options open to this government as part of a proper response this little gem appeared. Dialogue continued and another question appeared, this one asking, 'Why we had to do anything at all?' And that question, for me at least, answered the first question rather nicely.

You see the reality is that we are not supposed to just 'do' religion but are called to live out our faith and turn it into something that not only changes us but those around us and beyond. In my big black book I find many passages that inform and enable; many bits that challenge me to change who or what I am and to get down and not only make a difference but 'be' the difference!

In chapter two of the book of James (vv.14-17) we find this:
'What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?
Can such faith save them?
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.'

The idea that we Vicars are just 'supposed to do religion' is as ludicrous as having the view that a chef's calling is 'just cooking' or an artist's role is 'daubing'! There's no point creating culinary delights if no one eats them, and in the eating engages with others and builds relationships and is changed. Art done and locked away is dead art - for it is in the seeing and being touched by it, the being moved and changed by it, that the real value of the art is made real.

Religion is a sterile, limited and dreadful thing: It serves only to condemn sinners for breaking regulations, rules and restrictions that no one could keep on their own, or in their own strength. It puts on services and nods at God but goes no further. It offers much as a philosophy or set of beliefs but like culinary delights uneaten or or art unseen, the potential only becomes realised when it is taken into ourselves and allowed to change us.

My role is to open the eyes and hearts of others to the possibilities that God makes available and to help those who can see it make that real. This is part of what we are seeing in fine detail at the moment with Syria but it was there in the needs of the mentally ill, the long-term sick, the jobless, the homeless, the (far too many) NEETs*, the addicted and many other categories of concern that exist in our communities and outside our own doors.

The needs are great and yet in a society which sets the standards that enable the police to police by consent we have the opportunity to define and maintain what is to be considered 'right'. In a society that was once the envy of the world with its National Health Service, welfare system and Legal Aid, we have to realise that we get what we permit the governments (National, County and local) to give us.

But where there are needs, religion that is faith acts to meet them.

Where there are wrongs, religion that is faith seeks to right them.

 Where there is sorrow, pain and death, religion seeks to bring love, comfort and healing.

Just do religion? How very dare they suggest that - I deal in change not decay (what about you?)


*Not in Education, Employment or Training - the 16-18 year olds who are merely 'lost'!