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!
Showing posts with label vocation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vocation. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 January 2017
Thursday, 24 November 2016
More reasons to be cheerful
Another day done and I can reflect on more privilege-laden happenings:
The joy of engaging with those who are suffering from the debilitating effects of dementia; an awfulness in which the sea of confusion slowly comes in and leave less of the beach for the person to exist on until they are overwhelmed and lost in the waves. Yet, even when the tide has come in, the enagagement with those who are now all at see in the shape of the Eucharist, the surfacing of the person as the Lord's Prayer is recalled and said from a small reef amidst it all, the lights coming back on - drawing merely upon the past remembered or making connections because of the externally, never to be forgotten?
I know what I think :-)
And then more engagement with someone who mourns the loss of a loved one. The privilege of being asked to make special that last moment when a departed loved one is in the same physical place with them for one last time. Surely one of the most important roles a cleric can have as we seek to make sense of a life now ended and point to a hope made real, and realised, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.
An then there was the opportunity to discuss love and duty and to explain how 1 Corinthians speaks of a love that makes a habitation, a shelter, for the focus of that love in the storms of life. To join the dots such that we realise that love calls us to do what is right and that duty is merely the obverse side of thc coin we call love - and reflect on the reality that those who march away to protect strangers, in doing so, exhibit a greater love - one which may call on them to lay down their lives.
Add to this the usual round of conversations with funeral directors and people seeking simple answers to astounding questions; the challenges of seeing sin break lives and those broken merely seeing it as 'bad luck' - how do we explain that playing in the train track is likely to get you hit by a train and knowing the words 'sin, self and selfishness' all need to feature in the cast list at the end of the tragedy before you - and still restore them gently?
And yet, as ever, we manage it because to do it any other way would be to potentially cause us to stumble too!
Just a glimpse at a day where blessing and the Christ have been found in amazing quantities - another day when the privilege of a dogcollar and and ever-present, loving, God make bed a happy place to reflect on and look excitedly for the next day to come.
Lord - I love you!
The joy of engaging with those who are suffering from the debilitating effects of dementia; an awfulness in which the sea of confusion slowly comes in and leave less of the beach for the person to exist on until they are overwhelmed and lost in the waves. Yet, even when the tide has come in, the enagagement with those who are now all at see in the shape of the Eucharist, the surfacing of the person as the Lord's Prayer is recalled and said from a small reef amidst it all, the lights coming back on - drawing merely upon the past remembered or making connections because of the externally, never to be forgotten?
I know what I think :-)
And then more engagement with someone who mourns the loss of a loved one. The privilege of being asked to make special that last moment when a departed loved one is in the same physical place with them for one last time. Surely one of the most important roles a cleric can have as we seek to make sense of a life now ended and point to a hope made real, and realised, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.
An then there was the opportunity to discuss love and duty and to explain how 1 Corinthians speaks of a love that makes a habitation, a shelter, for the focus of that love in the storms of life. To join the dots such that we realise that love calls us to do what is right and that duty is merely the obverse side of thc coin we call love - and reflect on the reality that those who march away to protect strangers, in doing so, exhibit a greater love - one which may call on them to lay down their lives.
Add to this the usual round of conversations with funeral directors and people seeking simple answers to astounding questions; the challenges of seeing sin break lives and those broken merely seeing it as 'bad luck' - how do we explain that playing in the train track is likely to get you hit by a train and knowing the words 'sin, self and selfishness' all need to feature in the cast list at the end of the tragedy before you - and still restore them gently?
And yet, as ever, we manage it because to do it any other way would be to potentially cause us to stumble too!
Just a glimpse at a day where blessing and the Christ have been found in amazing quantities - another day when the privilege of a dogcollar and and ever-present, loving, God make bed a happy place to reflect on and look excitedly for the next day to come.
Lord - I love you!
Monday, 31 March 2014
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).
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).
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Back in the groove
Normal service has been resumed and the holidays are fast on their way to becoming a memory as dawn breaks and the first service of the day beckons as I ponder the challenges, opportunities and blessings before me. After the early communion elsewhere we have a joint service with the local Methodist church a joyful event indeed in which we say goodbye to one of ours as they head for a gap year in India.
My diary has been steadily filling over the past few days and my dance card is almost full, and that's excellent on one hand and frustrating on the other, if only there were more hands to man the pump and free me up to do more. All-member ministry is an essential 'must have' if the Church is to function as it should and the role of the clergy in training, equipping and releasing the members is obvious as a practical measure and even more so as a spiritual one. My biggest desire is to see people come to faith and fulfil the calling on their lives. The joy of seeing people take up the challenges before them is something that never diminishes.
Today there will be so many people doing so many things in the services that will be taking place and I thank God for them and the common life and purpose we share. Today people will lead, read, pray, preach, hand out hymn books, make refreshments, teach Sunday School and do communion. They will carry crosses and candles swing thirubles, sing in choirs, play organs and more besides and I thank God for them and their selfless commitment and service as we, the Church, come to worship.
As the day unfolds may the power of the risen Christ touch you and His Holy Spirit enable, heal and bless you.
May we stand together as one and live in the reality of Church as family and friends.
May God bless you richly :-)
My diary has been steadily filling over the past few days and my dance card is almost full, and that's excellent on one hand and frustrating on the other, if only there were more hands to man the pump and free me up to do more. All-member ministry is an essential 'must have' if the Church is to function as it should and the role of the clergy in training, equipping and releasing the members is obvious as a practical measure and even more so as a spiritual one. My biggest desire is to see people come to faith and fulfil the calling on their lives. The joy of seeing people take up the challenges before them is something that never diminishes.
Today there will be so many people doing so many things in the services that will be taking place and I thank God for them and the common life and purpose we share. Today people will lead, read, pray, preach, hand out hymn books, make refreshments, teach Sunday School and do communion. They will carry crosses and candles swing thirubles, sing in choirs, play organs and more besides and I thank God for them and their selfless commitment and service as we, the Church, come to worship.
As the day unfolds may the power of the risen Christ touch you and His Holy Spirit enable, heal and bless you.
May we stand together as one and live in the reality of Church as family and friends.
May God bless you richly :-)
Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Mission and Ministry go together in perfect harmony ...
Side by side on the church's keyboard ...
Mission and ministry - two words that naturallly occupy the same space and yet, like all siblings, fight and struggle for dominance.
You can't build Church without mission - but you can't sustain church without ministry.
We can't grow church without pioneers - but you can't establish church without settlers!
The problems crowd in when we start to divide up the Church into job titles and work areas, skillsets and roles, but the reality is that many are gifted and called to excel in certain areas and these are often the same areas that our passions lead us to. I guess it's the same conundrum that musical ability presents:
You play on the piano as a child and people affirm and applaud because you are 'musical'. This leads you to play more and learn because you enjoy the attention, approbation and it's becoming part of who you are and what you do. Eventually the question comes:
Are you good at music because you love it Or do love love music because you're good at it?
(After all, you might not feel the same about geography, history, music or administration)
One of the challenges in the world of calling and ministry is that although we have giftings, calling and passions - there is a church to be put, and kept, on the road and though this is a job for all-member ministry, there is a need for those who would be collared to appreciate and, when the need (which often) arises, perform and otherwise enable, support and release others I to the many areas of need in the busyness of church.
The need for Ministerial Development Reviews that inform and help in the discernment of future paths before us is obvious and the task of equipping those who come from the cathedral, newly ordained, with much, or little, in their hands is obvious.
The need for those who will stand and preach the Gospel in the streets and marketplaces; those who will gather together the ones and twos such that church us found, and having done so lead them into the twin realities of bath and bread - the twins who are ever in concord and upon who - looking to the Cross and the return of Jesus, the Christ.
This week is a week of revelation for me thus far as I avoid hearing the words from the front perhaps, putting them aside to hear the heartbeat of God, and hear the words (from the heart) of many around me. Hearing the passion of those who are on the ground reflected in the path that has been trod and the ministry of managing from those in the diocesan offices.
One going the other growing so that more may go - partners, co-workers, each fulfilling their part (and living 1Corinthians 12*)
And the good news to those whose ministry is different (and perhaps strange) from ours:
We love you and value you - Thank You for being faithful where you are
Pax
*Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
Mission and ministry - two words that naturallly occupy the same space and yet, like all siblings, fight and struggle for dominance.
You can't build Church without mission - but you can't sustain church without ministry.
We can't grow church without pioneers - but you can't establish church without settlers!
The problems crowd in when we start to divide up the Church into job titles and work areas, skillsets and roles, but the reality is that many are gifted and called to excel in certain areas and these are often the same areas that our passions lead us to. I guess it's the same conundrum that musical ability presents:
You play on the piano as a child and people affirm and applaud because you are 'musical'. This leads you to play more and learn because you enjoy the attention, approbation and it's becoming part of who you are and what you do. Eventually the question comes:
Are you good at music because you love it Or do love love music because you're good at it?
(After all, you might not feel the same about geography, history, music or administration)
One of the challenges in the world of calling and ministry is that although we have giftings, calling and passions - there is a church to be put, and kept, on the road and though this is a job for all-member ministry, there is a need for those who would be collared to appreciate and, when the need (which often) arises, perform and otherwise enable, support and release others I to the many areas of need in the busyness of church.
The need for Ministerial Development Reviews that inform and help in the discernment of future paths before us is obvious and the task of equipping those who come from the cathedral, newly ordained, with much, or little, in their hands is obvious.
The need for those who will stand and preach the Gospel in the streets and marketplaces; those who will gather together the ones and twos such that church us found, and having done so lead them into the twin realities of bath and bread - the twins who are ever in concord and upon who - looking to the Cross and the return of Jesus, the Christ.
This week is a week of revelation for me thus far as I avoid hearing the words from the front perhaps, putting them aside to hear the heartbeat of God, and hear the words (from the heart) of many around me. Hearing the passion of those who are on the ground reflected in the path that has been trod and the ministry of managing from those in the diocesan offices.
One going the other growing so that more may go - partners, co-workers, each fulfilling their part (and living 1Corinthians 12*)
And the good news to those whose ministry is different (and perhaps strange) from ours:
We love you and value you - Thank You for being faithful where you are
Pax
*Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Last day of the week
And what is there to celebrate thus far?
The high point has to be the Thursday with its early communion and a visit from +Clive (Wolverhampton) and the clergy of our deanery. The dialogue session gave me great cause for encouragement and I could see green shoots in many places; the Mission Action Plans being extremely encouraging as they were forward-looking, realistic and do-able.
Lunch as ever was a joy (made even more so by the + buying) and the time spent with him visiting the TCC* 'Starfish' initiative
and talking time to mull over the new building plans for our little church with some of St Andrew's leaders to gauge impact, need and viability.
One of the things that made the day such a success was our friends at St Andrew's Methodist Church letting us use their meeting room and I have to say that I treasure the ever-growing relation we have with our Church family up the road from us (joint service at St Francis' in couple of weeks).
Other news - I did an impromptu magic show fro a friend whose magic act had let heim down at the last minute - a wonderful funeral for an amazing man who left behind a wife of some sixtyy-one years of marriage (and I thought twenty was good).
Had a challenging and eye-opening meeting with the + again on Friday with my Assistant Rural Dean hat on - I can see how energy, vision and optimism are key skills for his role. But it was good and as much as I have tried to keep away from it, I find that I do miss some of the strategic thinking and planning meetings that were so much a part of my former life in the wonderful world of banking and finance!!!
This week I met some wonderfully gifted and called people and have the privilege, with Vocation's advice hat on, to be involved with them in the early stages of exploration and discernment.
And of course there's been the usual round of pastoral conversations and paperwork (there's always paperwork).
All of which leads me to say: I love this priestly ministry stuff and the people I am called to serve and work with.
That surely deserves a 'Hallelujah'!
*TCC - Tamworth Covenanting Churches (our 'Churches Together) group
The high point has to be the Thursday with its early communion and a visit from +Clive (Wolverhampton) and the clergy of our deanery. The dialogue session gave me great cause for encouragement and I could see green shoots in many places; the Mission Action Plans being extremely encouraging as they were forward-looking, realistic and do-able.
Lunch as ever was a joy (made even more so by the + buying) and the time spent with him visiting the TCC* 'Starfish' initiative
and talking time to mull over the new building plans for our little church with some of St Andrew's leaders to gauge impact, need and viability.
One of the things that made the day such a success was our friends at St Andrew's Methodist Church letting us use their meeting room and I have to say that I treasure the ever-growing relation we have with our Church family up the road from us (joint service at St Francis' in couple of weeks).
Other news - I did an impromptu magic show fro a friend whose magic act had let heim down at the last minute - a wonderful funeral for an amazing man who left behind a wife of some sixtyy-one years of marriage (and I thought twenty was good).
Had a challenging and eye-opening meeting with the + again on Friday with my Assistant Rural Dean hat on - I can see how energy, vision and optimism are key skills for his role. But it was good and as much as I have tried to keep away from it, I find that I do miss some of the strategic thinking and planning meetings that were so much a part of my former life in the wonderful world of banking and finance!!!
This week I met some wonderfully gifted and called people and have the privilege, with Vocation's advice hat on, to be involved with them in the early stages of exploration and discernment.
And of course there's been the usual round of pastoral conversations and paperwork (there's always paperwork).
All of which leads me to say: I love this priestly ministry stuff and the people I am called to serve and work with.
That surely deserves a 'Hallelujah'!
*TCC - Tamworth Covenanting Churches (our 'Churches Together) group
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Selection: Not 'No' but 'Not Yet'
Amazed at the amount of conversations I've had regarding the can of worms that is offering oneself for ministry and the selection process.
Stunned by those who have heard, 'No, now go away,' even though often this response was indeed tacit (and yet was supported by the actions and attitudes of those who should most assuredly know better).
Sure, that when the response has been 'No' or 'Not Yet' the response of sending churches ( and especially the incumbent), DDOs and others should be (in my best Michael Caine voice and sensitive to gender considerations):
'Hang on lads, I've got a great idea . . .'
Some of my greatest joys in my ministry life have come from having worked with people who have returned from a BAP or DAP (hereafter referred to as 'selection') with a 'Not yet' or 'Not this calling'.The reason for this is greater that the sum of the parts but contains these elements:
Wrong language: Where submission, sense of calling, collegiality, collaboration and humility are to be sought, selectors have heard the opposite or mixed messages.
I always seek to get those I work with to explain what ordination will enable them to be, do, or do differently. One person who had come after a 'Not Yet' took great pains to explain that the honest answer was 'Nothing!' A response that demanded the questions, 'So why have you applied?' and 'How did you end up at selection conference!'
The response showed someone who was already in what was, dog collar and label aside, a ministry role. The key wax to unlock the passion for that calling and provide the words that invited exploration and revealed the calling (already recognised but needing to be ratified ).
Wrong Ideas: Quite a few people think that they should be ordained because , 'I don't have enough time to do what I do in church and do my job outside!'
This could well be calling to ministry but I could also be the result of being someone who can't say no or possesses poor time management skills (or both). I tend to regard 'doing' as something that shows commitment to the body and evidence of discipleship, but there are some who see it as the establishing of a track record and supporting evidence, The ' why' is more important than the 'what' for me - it's often a clincher in discerning vocation!
Just wrong: the dog collar who sends someone because they are doing and this needs recognition and reward in ordination or a Lay Ministry role. Ordination and ministry roles are not rewards, they are who we are released to be!
Wrong; Not investing time and effort in those who come forward before and regardless of outcome if selection conference is met, afterwards too. As discernment process moves on, opportunities and avenues of ministry should be walked along with an eye for the right fruit for those who accompany you. It's not what the role is, but that it fulfils and mutually defines the person seeking and the role itself.
NOT YET indicates something that is both ongoing and being actively engaged with. If you are the proud possessor of o e of these then you are still very much engaged in the discerning of joy vocation and so should others be!
So get out there and be a blinking nuisance!
Chivvy your clergy ( remember the widow and the magistrate?).
Chase your vocations people and challenge them to help you find the right shaped hole for you (and worry if they eventually meet you late at night in the woods with a shovel).
Talk to the pointyhatted ones and explain where and what and why (absolutely serious step - not to be taken lightly and realising they are busy, but ultimately have the cure if your soul as their charge (and remember what happened to Thomas å Becket!!).
Carpe diem (which auto text corrects to 'carpet firm') - grab the opportunities, listen to the witness of God (internally and from others) and don't lose sight of that which you feel called to. Talk about it (but don't become a bore!), prayer about if(and don't forget to listen), read about it (the more you understand the clearer your conversation can be) and be tenacious (stubborn).
Seek out those who will listen, advise (critically) and live you on your journey - for we are family and brother-in-arms and must Luce as such.
Pax
Stunned by those who have heard, 'No, now go away,' even though often this response was indeed tacit (and yet was supported by the actions and attitudes of those who should most assuredly know better).
Sure, that when the response has been 'No' or 'Not Yet' the response of sending churches ( and especially the incumbent), DDOs and others should be (in my best Michael Caine voice and sensitive to gender considerations):
'Hang on lads, I've got a great idea . . .'
Some of my greatest joys in my ministry life have come from having worked with people who have returned from a BAP or DAP (hereafter referred to as 'selection') with a 'Not yet' or 'Not this calling'.The reason for this is greater that the sum of the parts but contains these elements:
Wrong language: Where submission, sense of calling, collegiality, collaboration and humility are to be sought, selectors have heard the opposite or mixed messages.
I always seek to get those I work with to explain what ordination will enable them to be, do, or do differently. One person who had come after a 'Not Yet' took great pains to explain that the honest answer was 'Nothing!' A response that demanded the questions, 'So why have you applied?' and 'How did you end up at selection conference!'
The response showed someone who was already in what was, dog collar and label aside, a ministry role. The key wax to unlock the passion for that calling and provide the words that invited exploration and revealed the calling (already recognised but needing to be ratified ).
Wrong Ideas: Quite a few people think that they should be ordained because , 'I don't have enough time to do what I do in church and do my job outside!'
This could well be calling to ministry but I could also be the result of being someone who can't say no or possesses poor time management skills (or both). I tend to regard 'doing' as something that shows commitment to the body and evidence of discipleship, but there are some who see it as the establishing of a track record and supporting evidence, The ' why' is more important than the 'what' for me - it's often a clincher in discerning vocation!
Just wrong: the dog collar who sends someone because they are doing and this needs recognition and reward in ordination or a Lay Ministry role. Ordination and ministry roles are not rewards, they are who we are released to be!
Wrong; Not investing time and effort in those who come forward before and regardless of outcome if selection conference is met, afterwards too. As discernment process moves on, opportunities and avenues of ministry should be walked along with an eye for the right fruit for those who accompany you. It's not what the role is, but that it fulfils and mutually defines the person seeking and the role itself.
NOT YET indicates something that is both ongoing and being actively engaged with. If you are the proud possessor of o e of these then you are still very much engaged in the discerning of joy vocation and so should others be!
So get out there and be a blinking nuisance!
Chivvy your clergy ( remember the widow and the magistrate?).
Chase your vocations people and challenge them to help you find the right shaped hole for you (and worry if they eventually meet you late at night in the woods with a shovel).
Talk to the pointyhatted ones and explain where and what and why (absolutely serious step - not to be taken lightly and realising they are busy, but ultimately have the cure if your soul as their charge (and remember what happened to Thomas å Becket!!).
Carpe diem (which auto text corrects to 'carpet firm') - grab the opportunities, listen to the witness of God (internally and from others) and don't lose sight of that which you feel called to. Talk about it (but don't become a bore!), prayer about if(and don't forget to listen), read about it (the more you understand the clearer your conversation can be) and be tenacious (stubborn).
Seek out those who will listen, advise (critically) and live you on your journey - for we are family and brother-in-arms and must Luce as such.
Pax
Monday, 22 April 2013
Selection, Rejection and proper responses
When I said that whilst some who had not been selected felt that they, 'Weren't wanted' and made the remark that, 'This is not what selection does, says or is,' I should have added, 'Or at least shouldn't be!'
One of those who has experienced the dark side of the Church of England's selection process writes:
'I'm sure the church believes this is true. But the system that is in place makes it very difficult to experience being turned down after a BAP as anything other than a rejection, and a violent one at that. If you spend up to two years carefully and often painfully working through a discernment process with your DDO, get recommended to the Bishop, go and see the Bishop and get recommended to a panel, and then are turned down (in my case) primarily on the basis of a single interview with a vocational advisor who you have never met before, it's difficult not to take it very hard. They say it's not rejection, but it sure feels like it.'
One of the things that has impressed me greatly is the support that our DDO has put in place for those who have received a 'No' (or perhaps 'Not Yet").
The other thing that we have is a process whereby potential candidates are met with by Vocations Advisors who help with the discernment and, being one I know this to be true, will say 'No' openly and honestly and work with that person to help them find the niche that exists for their particular form of ministry.
That said there are some whom, if anecdotal evidence is to be believed, send people up the chain because they don't want to be the person who says 'No'; an act which is duplicitous and damaging to the person and the well-being of the church and its ministry. After all, as Matthew 5. 37 tells us, 'All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. I'd add to that the 'Not Yet' and tell them what they need to do to gain experience, prove abilities yet unseen and the like - anything outside these is fudge or side-stepping the reality and this will lead to more pain and lost ministries in the long run.
Rightly or wrongly, I do have a great deal of confidence in the selection process and whilst when I went through it I found myself in the company of some who knew everything that was coming (even the questions which they'd learnt answers to beforehand!) I have to say that I knew enough to know what to expect in terms of format but everything was pretty much a surprise, a real benefit, as the selectors saw me and not someone else's answers. There is much to discuss concerning preparation, and we will be looking at this (and the fact that no one gets selected, or not, alone - it is a journey and an outcome that affects more than the one who goes off for the conference).
Pax
One of those who has experienced the dark side of the Church of England's selection process writes:
'I'm sure the church believes this is true. But the system that is in place makes it very difficult to experience being turned down after a BAP as anything other than a rejection, and a violent one at that. If you spend up to two years carefully and often painfully working through a discernment process with your DDO, get recommended to the Bishop, go and see the Bishop and get recommended to a panel, and then are turned down (in my case) primarily on the basis of a single interview with a vocational advisor who you have never met before, it's difficult not to take it very hard. They say it's not rejection, but it sure feels like it.'
One of the things that has impressed me greatly is the support that our DDO has put in place for those who have received a 'No' (or perhaps 'Not Yet").
The other thing that we have is a process whereby potential candidates are met with by Vocations Advisors who help with the discernment and, being one I know this to be true, will say 'No' openly and honestly and work with that person to help them find the niche that exists for their particular form of ministry.
That said there are some whom, if anecdotal evidence is to be believed, send people up the chain because they don't want to be the person who says 'No'; an act which is duplicitous and damaging to the person and the well-being of the church and its ministry. After all, as Matthew 5. 37 tells us, 'All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. I'd add to that the 'Not Yet' and tell them what they need to do to gain experience, prove abilities yet unseen and the like - anything outside these is fudge or side-stepping the reality and this will lead to more pain and lost ministries in the long run.
Rightly or wrongly, I do have a great deal of confidence in the selection process and whilst when I went through it I found myself in the company of some who knew everything that was coming (even the questions which they'd learnt answers to beforehand!) I have to say that I knew enough to know what to expect in terms of format but everything was pretty much a surprise, a real benefit, as the selectors saw me and not someone else's answers. There is much to discuss concerning preparation, and we will be looking at this (and the fact that no one gets selected, or not, alone - it is a journey and an outcome that affects more than the one who goes off for the conference).
Pax
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Vocation - Calling or Job?
One struggle that I have with those investigating a call on their life to ministry is that of trying to help them consider 'the ministry' as something other than a job that one does in a church setting.
We roll out models of submission (Nehemiah) and point to the life and ministry of Jesus; We this discuss primus inter pares (first among equals) and what this means in terms of being church and being called. The end of the 'nine to five' and 'leaving work at home' as we consider things ontological (you are what you do, you don't just do it!) and just as light, which is not an approaching train, appears at the end of the tunnel things get interesting.
"But it is a job because you have appraisals, just like where I work! Not only that but my Vicar told me that the church was making vicars redundant and that's what we're doing where I am at the moment! How come you're telling me that it's more than a job because it looks and sounds like one from where I'm looking at it?"
Well, it never used to be, did it?
We roll out models of submission (Nehemiah) and point to the life and ministry of Jesus; We this discuss primus inter pares (first among equals) and what this means in terms of being church and being called. The end of the 'nine to five' and 'leaving work at home' as we consider things ontological (you are what you do, you don't just do it!) and just as light, which is not an approaching train, appears at the end of the tunnel things get interesting.
"But it is a job because you have appraisals, just like where I work! Not only that but my Vicar told me that the church was making vicars redundant and that's what we're doing where I am at the moment! How come you're telling me that it's more than a job because it looks and sounds like one from where I'm looking at it?"
Well, it never used to be, did it?
Thursday, 15 March 2012
OFSTED, Daffodils, Memories and Rights
One of the greatest challenges faced by many of those who have taken the King's shilling and stepped forward to engage in the battle that is Christianity has to be the ebb and flow of tasks and the diversity of same. I was asked yesterday what I thought the role of a cleric (and the workload) was, so here's today as it appears at seven am:
Today the school I am a Governor at begins a two-day Ofsted inspection and so I will be doing an assembly this morning and being around to answer questions on the RE elements and attendance (my two key areas of responsibility) but that's after we have done the public act that is the daily office.
The daff's have been ordered (thank you Judy) and the service has been written (thank you kids) and Sunday is squared away. The Weddings are sorted and all the funerals before me are dealt with and so the foreground looks like I know what I'm doing (only an illusion I assure you).
A service for QARANC day has been sorted and the search for an organist (next week - Birmingham) continues and we are rapidly moving towards the annual church meeting and the unveiling of the results of our vision meetings.
Add to this engagements with various benefits agencies, a counsellor, grant-making bodies, more schools, a vocations discussion, preparation for Air cadet and Sea Cadet engagements and about fourteen things on the 'To Do / Contact' list. Add to this the 'Sustainability' related issues and then all that is left is the unexpected (which is sure to arise) and that's a day in prospect.
So, for those of you who are expecting the life of a cleric to be lightweight (did someone exploring vocations really describe it as 'lightweight' I ask myself?) and, "Mainly about Sunday," can I suggest that you look at the 'easy' day ahead and consider the role you are considering?
Happy Thursday
ps. forgot to add the paperwork to the list :-)
Today the school I am a Governor at begins a two-day Ofsted inspection and so I will be doing an assembly this morning and being around to answer questions on the RE elements and attendance (my two key areas of responsibility) but that's after we have done the public act that is the daily office.
The daff's have been ordered (thank you Judy) and the service has been written (thank you kids) and Sunday is squared away. The Weddings are sorted and all the funerals before me are dealt with and so the foreground looks like I know what I'm doing (only an illusion I assure you).
A service for QARANC day has been sorted and the search for an organist (next week - Birmingham) continues and we are rapidly moving towards the annual church meeting and the unveiling of the results of our vision meetings.
Add to this engagements with various benefits agencies, a counsellor, grant-making bodies, more schools, a vocations discussion, preparation for Air cadet and Sea Cadet engagements and about fourteen things on the 'To Do / Contact' list. Add to this the 'Sustainability' related issues and then all that is left is the unexpected (which is sure to arise) and that's a day in prospect.
So, for those of you who are expecting the life of a cleric to be lightweight (did someone exploring vocations really describe it as 'lightweight' I ask myself?) and, "Mainly about Sunday," can I suggest that you look at the 'easy' day ahead and consider the role you are considering?
Happy Thursday
ps. forgot to add the paperwork to the list :-)
Sunday, 11 March 2012
What constitutes a 'calling'?
I have been thinking about some of the conversations I have had over the past year regarding 'calling' and it has got me thinking and challenging some of the reasons and means by which 'calling' has appeared.
If you wake up and find that amongst the clamouring thoughts of the day ahead there is a small brown envelope marked 'calling'.
If during the course of the week you find yourself drawn into prayer, reading and acts of Christian service or are drawn to lead people to Christ or expound the Word to others.
If within your Christian gathering you find people looking to you for leadership, prayer or an opinion and you find yourself doing 'stuff' within that setting because of some inner reality of a clanging bell.
Well, seems to me that you need to investigate and challenge what might be a call upon your life to be engaged within a recognised ministry in the Church.
If you happen to be a teacher and can't face one more Ofsted inspection or find that changes to your lifestyle means that you have 'more time' and would 'like to do a bit more' in the church, this is great and whilst the invitation to explote vocation is there, there is more to calling than availability of time or frustration with current employment.
Another fun take on 'calling' is the person who is extremely active within their church to the extent that their work life is beginning to suffer. This conflict between work and church isn't always a 'sign' that you are called to stipendiary ministry but it might indicate a need for some good time-management practices and the exercising of the privilege of the 'just say no!' approach to church jobs.
The bestest reason there isn't for exploring ministry is that of authority, control and the ability to 'direct' others. In fact these three aspects are the most damaging when I meet people for it says a lot about their take on ministry as being a non-collaborative entity that exists to have others serve you.
Servanthood and commitment, a willingness to serve wheresoever the need is, an ability to accept criticism (for there's lots of it about) and being able to be the 'bigger' person when others around you are being so much smaller - these are some of the things that make for 'calling'. Something just out of sight or that niggle at the back of the mind - these are the stuff of calling - that small voice that leads you to believe that you are God's racing car being used in the wrong place and the wrong way. Got these? Then it's time to explore vocation :-)
Pax
If you wake up and find that amongst the clamouring thoughts of the day ahead there is a small brown envelope marked 'calling'.
If during the course of the week you find yourself drawn into prayer, reading and acts of Christian service or are drawn to lead people to Christ or expound the Word to others.
If within your Christian gathering you find people looking to you for leadership, prayer or an opinion and you find yourself doing 'stuff' within that setting because of some inner reality of a clanging bell.
Well, seems to me that you need to investigate and challenge what might be a call upon your life to be engaged within a recognised ministry in the Church.
If you happen to be a teacher and can't face one more Ofsted inspection or find that changes to your lifestyle means that you have 'more time' and would 'like to do a bit more' in the church, this is great and whilst the invitation to explote vocation is there, there is more to calling than availability of time or frustration with current employment.
Another fun take on 'calling' is the person who is extremely active within their church to the extent that their work life is beginning to suffer. This conflict between work and church isn't always a 'sign' that you are called to stipendiary ministry but it might indicate a need for some good time-management practices and the exercising of the privilege of the 'just say no!' approach to church jobs.
The bestest reason there isn't for exploring ministry is that of authority, control and the ability to 'direct' others. In fact these three aspects are the most damaging when I meet people for it says a lot about their take on ministry as being a non-collaborative entity that exists to have others serve you.
Servanthood and commitment, a willingness to serve wheresoever the need is, an ability to accept criticism (for there's lots of it about) and being able to be the 'bigger' person when others around you are being so much smaller - these are some of the things that make for 'calling'. Something just out of sight or that niggle at the back of the mind - these are the stuff of calling - that small voice that leads you to believe that you are God's racing car being used in the wrong place and the wrong way. Got these? Then it's time to explore vocation :-)
Pax
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
A Vicar with style?
If we're talking about the dress sense sort of style and me the answer has to be 'obviously not' unless we were using the word in conjunction with the word 'bad' that is. But I do have to say that I am slowly developing style in the way that I deal with people as can be seen in these two encounters.
Whilst visiting a church, having spilled some tea I popped into the toilet to get some paper towels and as I walked into the room I found myself eye to eye with a lady sitting upon the throne, door wide open, aghast that she was no longer alone! Quick as a flash I said, "It's O.K., don't get up," and took a couple of paper towels and left. Now years ago I would have turned and run, but now I have become the ultimate in polished and suave vicarness and am therefore proving my selectors right in their choice I'm sure. Mind you the lady involved always blushes and scuttles off when she sees me so perhaps this tells me that not all are applauding my British reserve and unflappability!
A while back (must be almost a year) I visited a school to talk about Ash Wednesday and having asked the assembled children if they knew what day it found that none of them did. So, hoping to give them a datum from which they might evermore discern when Ash Wednesday was I asked what the day before had been. Obviously having read the script and being subject to excellent teaching they answered in union, "Tuesday!' "And did you have anything special to eat last night, "I prompted. "Pancakes!" they mercifully cried and up went a sea of hands from volunteers eager to tell me of their culinary experiences. we had a few tales of pancakes shared with parents, siblings, grandparents and the like and then one of the assembled informants, hand waving wildly, finally getting their turn told the assembled school: "I had two pancakes last night!" "Excellent, I cried (looking to move things back to Ash Wednesday), but there was more, "I got Daddy's pancake too because my Mummy says he's been giving Auntie Pauline's one!"
Pandemonium! The student teacher who was sitting in with me leapt from her chair, eyes blazing in what looked a bit like panic. I indicated that all was well and told to our proud and pancake-replete student how lucky they were - "Two pancakes! WoW!" And then, without flinching moved us swiftly back to ash and how we all do things wrong at times!
Now I have to be honest and say that when I started out in this role I found the school stuff to be a real challenge at times because I like to ask rhetorical questions (don't I?) and this incident showed me how I'd managed to settle (at last) somewhere above the high-water mark).
There are days when we get our ministerial encounters just right and rise above the things that once would have caused us to stumble, fumble and confound whatever it was that those who saw a calling in us saw. When they come we can but learn from them, taking what is good and determining not to repeat that which is bad, and keep on ministering in the conviction that we are called and better still forgiven.
Keep looking at Him and the waves will merely provide a gently audio background to the journey to His arms? After all where there are clumsy clergy there is always a gracious God!
Pax
Whilst visiting a church, having spilled some tea I popped into the toilet to get some paper towels and as I walked into the room I found myself eye to eye with a lady sitting upon the throne, door wide open, aghast that she was no longer alone! Quick as a flash I said, "It's O.K., don't get up," and took a couple of paper towels and left. Now years ago I would have turned and run, but now I have become the ultimate in polished and suave vicarness and am therefore proving my selectors right in their choice I'm sure. Mind you the lady involved always blushes and scuttles off when she sees me so perhaps this tells me that not all are applauding my British reserve and unflappability!
A while back (must be almost a year) I visited a school to talk about Ash Wednesday and having asked the assembled children if they knew what day it found that none of them did. So, hoping to give them a datum from which they might evermore discern when Ash Wednesday was I asked what the day before had been. Obviously having read the script and being subject to excellent teaching they answered in union, "Tuesday!' "And did you have anything special to eat last night, "I prompted. "Pancakes!" they mercifully cried and up went a sea of hands from volunteers eager to tell me of their culinary experiences. we had a few tales of pancakes shared with parents, siblings, grandparents and the like and then one of the assembled informants, hand waving wildly, finally getting their turn told the assembled school: "I had two pancakes last night!" "Excellent, I cried (looking to move things back to Ash Wednesday), but there was more, "I got Daddy's pancake too because my Mummy says he's been giving Auntie Pauline's one!"
Pandemonium! The student teacher who was sitting in with me leapt from her chair, eyes blazing in what looked a bit like panic. I indicated that all was well and told to our proud and pancake-replete student how lucky they were - "Two pancakes! WoW!" And then, without flinching moved us swiftly back to ash and how we all do things wrong at times!
Now I have to be honest and say that when I started out in this role I found the school stuff to be a real challenge at times because I like to ask rhetorical questions (don't I?) and this incident showed me how I'd managed to settle (at last) somewhere above the high-water mark).
There are days when we get our ministerial encounters just right and rise above the things that once would have caused us to stumble, fumble and confound whatever it was that those who saw a calling in us saw. When they come we can but learn from them, taking what is good and determining not to repeat that which is bad, and keep on ministering in the conviction that we are called and better still forgiven.
Keep looking at Him and the waves will merely provide a gently audio background to the journey to His arms? After all where there are clumsy clergy there is always a gracious God!
Pax
Friday, 9 September 2011
The role of education - Obama
Delivering a speech on the state of the US of A, the President delivered a couple of interesting thought, the first (speaking of putting teachers back into work) seemed to sum up the role of education as the process that delivers earning potential. I quote the (perhaps less) esteemed gentleman:
"Let's put teachers back into work so our kids can get good grades, go to college, graduate and get good jobs."
Back in the dim and distant past an English teacher (Colin Chapman - but not the Lotus chappie) told our class that as the number of people going to university rose and as access to higher education became easier the day would come when, "You'd need a degree to become a dustman!"
Labour Day 2011 saw the President in Detroit and one of the reports on the day consisted of interviews with people in that place, the majority of whom were unemployed, regarding their situation. One young man had been unemployed for four years and spoke of the ways that he and his wife struggled to make ends meet. He, like a few others interviewed were graduates and in fact he'd completed postgraduate studies but was unable to find work. He spoke of how McDonald's had opened a new restaurant and that he'd have killed to get a job there but the queues were too long. Another man interviewed had a doctoral qualification and yet was working as a scrap man to pay rent and eat. Eloquent and educated his words brought me back to that lesson in the late sixties and the teacher's words.
Seems my English teacher might just have been a visionary!
We need to pray and work with those who are marginalised by the recession(s) and the financial instability caused by the greed of others. Oh yeah, and get our attitudes to education sorted - we need more vocations and less pushing our children into areas that are merely 'earners'.
Pax
"Let's put teachers back into work so our kids can get good grades, go to college, graduate and get good jobs."
Back in the dim and distant past an English teacher (Colin Chapman - but not the Lotus chappie) told our class that as the number of people going to university rose and as access to higher education became easier the day would come when, "You'd need a degree to become a dustman!"
Labour Day 2011 saw the President in Detroit and one of the reports on the day consisted of interviews with people in that place, the majority of whom were unemployed, regarding their situation. One young man had been unemployed for four years and spoke of the ways that he and his wife struggled to make ends meet. He, like a few others interviewed were graduates and in fact he'd completed postgraduate studies but was unable to find work. He spoke of how McDonald's had opened a new restaurant and that he'd have killed to get a job there but the queues were too long. Another man interviewed had a doctoral qualification and yet was working as a scrap man to pay rent and eat. Eloquent and educated his words brought me back to that lesson in the late sixties and the teacher's words.
Seems my English teacher might just have been a visionary!
We need to pray and work with those who are marginalised by the recession(s) and the financial instability caused by the greed of others. Oh yeah, and get our attitudes to education sorted - we need more vocations and less pushing our children into areas that are merely 'earners'.
Pax
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