A day of many parts

The day started with the usual routine of daily Office, usually occurs anywhere in the morning from 03:30 onwards (usually finding itself at 04:30 it seems as the first thing I do when I wake). This is the opportunity to read the Bible and pray, setting up the day that follows as the spiritual equivalent of porridge for it sustained me throughout the day, in the stillness before the dawn aririves.

I blog the readings each morning (there is a growing group of people who use the condensed form I post as part of their introduction to doing the Office) as part of growing discipline in myself and others.  So, Office done, there's some post-production work on a recording to be sorted and then it's into the church building to set up for the Thursday Communion and the drop-in that follows it. Chairs out, orders of service and Bibles on the seats, lay up for the Communion, fill the urn (and turn it on - always important). Then it's the tables and chairs, biscuits and stuff for the two hours that follow after the Eucharist is done.

I rejoice at the Psalm in Communion today (118) it's like a sweet jar full of old favourite sentences and they bounce around my head all day: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone - Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord - Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Words that sustain.

How sad that we have lost the Psalms as part of our public worship in so many places - sadder still the contraction to just two readings! Jesus, the Christ, is the capstone which holds it all together - Hallelujah! We share the word and celebrate the resurrection and recommit ourselves to shime in the dark places of our town - for we are salt and light.
What does that look like?
How will you use me to make You known today?
Where will my feet take me and what do I need other than You?
So many questions and challenges buzzing, then and now as bed is made my hiding place with you.

The drop-in was amazing, so many people with so many issues, yet laughed and encounter and the joy of being family for those who known the Christ and those perhaps a little far off - just as it shou,d be for first they stop, then the sit and then they recline - aren't people amazing and isn't God great?

Onto a meeting and finding joy in the shape of a nearby church and the steps to be taken there - little steps bring a great distance in the passage of time - the key is to take them! Back to the START course where it transpired that when looking at who our hero is Jesus want mine! Shock or what?
We talk and look at the heroes society has in its sportsmen and women: overpaid, indulged, living wrong lives and et emulated and applauded, is that what a hero is? Move on to great leaders, commanders, businessmen and women: is victory or success the key to making a hero? Nah, when we look past their achievements and their fine words we find feet of clay,

As we talk about why I live the life I do, flawed fallible, excited and generally weird I mention that I am, and do, because Jesus is MY LOVE, and that's the word - it is LOVE, not HERO, that we need to be thinking of and looking to emulate, to please and to follow. How absolutely amazingly wonderfully brilliant is that? His love endures for ever.

Buzzing I prepare and head of to ke a bunch of ten ann eleven year olds around a church building and share some of the wonderful treasures, explaining symbolism and imagery, and making the love of God as seen in Jesus, God made man, known. Making time running around the church and pointing out stuff that is usually missed - making connections - explaining liturgicalbits and giving little hooks  and sowing seeds. How I love this life which so many others seem to think is a job. I'm working, and for, with the person I love - can it get any more wonderful?

And it does - for I find myself in the ditch it's the woman I love, half a pint and a pork pie and some time to chat and meet new people and enjoy the woman whose lives surrounds and sustains me also.

Lord, I am just so very blessed!

All before me was joy today: The engagements, the conversations, the opportunities seen and taken. The written word and the living Word filling and sustaining and guiding me.

Thanks for a great day - same again tomorrow please?

What's the 'best' bit of the job?

It's amazing how many people ask me that question during the week, and when they do there are normally a few assumptions made along with the asking - so how's about we have a quick consideration of what they think might be true concerning me and my ministry:

The most common assumption this time of the year is, with Christmas just around the corner, that I'm coming up to my 'busy' time. In fact this is a smoke and mirrors moment because I always feel that the run up to Christmas is perhaps one of my quietest. Since people assume I'm busy, they leave me alone and so I'm left with the highly visible carol concerts, Christingles, school plays and the like  which in turn confirm my busyness. I'm never any more busy during the Christmas run in and what is before me is always, generally speaking, fun.

The most common assumption all year round is that weddings must be the 'best' bit and funerals (which is where the topic is often raised) must be the worst, or at least saddest, and therefore probably the 'worst' bit! Here, perhaps surprisingly for the many who present me with the, "I bet weddings are the best bit of the job, aren't they?" I have to say that that title would go to the funerals I conduct. This generally results in a bit of a shock and the question, "Really?"

One of the most amazing opportunities I have is that of making the experience of someone about to be in the same physical space with a loved one for the last time as positive and enjoyable (a word people often look shocked at) as it can be. If I can bring the person to life in anecdote and confirm the positives and demonstrate how the negatives we're part of the journey and therefore part of the person (without diminishing the person  making things a curse) and do all this with the opportunity for them to laugh, smile and remember the deceased - and in so doing create a service the deceased would enjoy being at (because they are, aren't they?)- then I've done it right.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy weddings, but they are a different animal and the connections made (regardless of how hard you work at them) are not the same as those made at a funeral.

The most common 'funny' assumption is that old chestnut which states hat we clergy only work one day a week, and that's Sunday. Of course, being a bit of a fundamentalist fanatic (a label I won after telling a churchwarden in a place I was visiting that he needed to be modelling Christ for the congaregatiin and the community of which he was a pillar) I have to tell them lthat, because of the fourth commandment, I never work on Sunday! Now that's an invitation to an interesting conversation for sure!

And I don't work on a Sunday - I worship - just as I have done on a Sunday for as long as I have realised my salvation lies in Jesus, the Christ, and called myself a Christian. Oddly, some of those I meet (including clergy) seem to think that being a cleric is a job and that when they have a Sunday off this means they don't have to go to church* - church on Sunday is not a workplace to be set free from, to see it as that is to forget that underneath it all we are all laos (The people of God) and reduce calling to nothing more than yet another job, albeit a job of a very different kind.

Perhaps that's why some of those I meet tell me of how they operate Office hours, answerphones going on outside of them, and how the Vicarage is their home and not a place that people should be visiting coming to engage with them.  Meanwhile I long for the days when the daily routine was walking (or in some other way covering) the patch and engaging with the people of the parish.

Ministry is about relationship and relationships are about people and underpinning, and overarching, that is the reconciled life in God the Father. enabled by the Holy Spirit, won for us by Jesus, the Christ.

So the real answer is all of it, all of the time - yes even at 2:30 in the morning when one of those in the patch who is mentally ill is having a crisis, because we stand with them as Christ stands with us - and who knows, they might just be an angel ;-)

So Lord, Thank You for today, the opportunities, the blessings and the challenges, keep them coming.

* I love holidays amd the opportunity to go worship somewhere different and, best bit for me, be on the  receiving end of a blessing.

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!

Called? Back from Conference (and it's not 'Yes')

One of the most consistent things to come out of my conversations regarding those who have been to a selection conference is: 'Please don't just ignore us!'

I have encountered a few (well eight to be exact) people who felt that the message, 'Go away and forget about it all,' was the wrong message to give because whet they heard was, 'Go Away - you are a failure!' I am sure this was not the case but the fact is that there is pain and confused perception on one side and an almost embarrassed and, albeit well-meaning, something or other from those occupying the 'sending' side.

Then again others (four) have told me that all they wanted to do was be left alone to come to terms with the outcome and then return (or perhaps not) when they felt like it.

First and foremost we need to see the person before us. I have had conversations with people who shared their checklists with me and yet I felt that, laudable as they were, we merely turned a 'friend' into a candidate who we deal with as if we were merely replacing fallen books in a library! We need to communicate the fact that the person before us is not a 'failed candidate': They have not failed - they have merely not been selected at this time! We have a situation whereby, should they continue to seek to discern a felt calling to ordained ministry, they are in the position of 'Not Yet!'

Of course if the letter said 'Go away and do not come back' or 'have a look at Reader or some other form of ministry, just not ordained' the challenge is a bit different, but let's assume we're dealing with the 'Not Yet!' for now and have a think about what we do.

I'm effectively reading back and brainstorming and creating this as I go. It's probably wrong in some people's books but it's been the essence of supporting those who have had the 'not yet' badge pinned to them:

i.a Be honest regarding selectors and process - because to ascribe a lack of vision or anything that dismisses the selectors as a bunch of idiots is to question those who got a green light to continue! I have a great deal of trust in selectors and whilst we all have the potential to get it wrong, I think the system is pretty trustworthy. To undermine it in any way is to render the process, and the candidate before you, as having a lesser value. It's an outcome - that's it, the most positive and supportive way forward from it is now the important thing to be seeking.

But

1.b Be honest regarding the candidate and the report*  - Be careful you don't undermine the person before you either. The prize for this goes to the person whose response was to cancel the 'failed' candidate's room at a clergy conference and then proceed to effectively 'sack' them from shadowing them as, 'They were no longer suitable!' Yay, way to go on the encouragement and pastoral care fronts guys! 

ii. Expect emotions - but what emotions I can't say because I have encountered anger, defeat, unbelief, tears, resignation (of the, 'I knew this would happen,' kind) and more besides. The key is to be open to all and any and to be honest and supportive and to realise that you might just be the person on the help desk when the telephone rings and you have a frustrated or, worse still, bereaved customer before you! They will be exhibiting all of the Kübler Ross** stuff that you might expect when their is a loss:And you need to be able to deal with it just as you might had they called and told you someone they loved had just died!

I should add here that you should also be aware of your own emotions too as I have found some supporters on the journey to be more wounded and confused (and angry and bitter and cynical and ...... (add your own bit here) such that they are a bigger problem than the candidate themselves.

iii.Do not send them away - this is the biggest mistake I think I have encountered as it confirms the fact that the person before you (or in this case not before you) is not wanted. You think you're giving space, they think they're being binned! Get with them face-to-face and up close and personal (no George, not that personal dear . . . step back little!) and guide them to a place where the next step is not only theirs but is also beneficial to discerning the next step and putting aside the knee-jerk (often destructive) response.

iv. Be flexible - one of those who has dealt with returning candidates told me they always impose some breathing space and yet I have realised that for some this is the very opposite and the candidate is later found suffocated because they needed the oxygen of engagement and the hope that comes from regrouping and reassessing. Vocation, like combat, is often laid our and the paths are assumed to be straight, and then the first round is fired and the terrain is discovered and before you know it there's a bit of a rethink on the cards!

So there we are, some initial thoughts created from the experience and example of some that I have met. I hope it is helpful and that you see this as an invitation to internally discuss the stages open to you in supporting a candidate and externally with all, and any, who will do so (I'd love to because I want to be someone who helps restore the broken and testing vocation has great potential to be that thing that bears people!

Can we fix it?
Yes we can!

*If you have the report before you. The first engagement might not have that and even if it is in the hands of the candidate they have to show it to you (or permit you to have a copy).

** Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is famous in the grief, loss and bereavement side of being a minister. She listed five attributes that might, or might not, occur and even re-occur when someone has suffered a loss; and loss is about more than death of a person (it can be a career, a limb, a prized possession and much, much more besides - including the perceived, feared or realised loss of vocation and calling!):

The five traits are: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

Called? Wrong result and responses!

So, continuing with the story of the lovely lady who wasn't so lovely because of her experiences relating to having offered herself for ordination and having explained where she was, let us continue...

As I said in the first post of this series, this young lady hadn't just been knocked back but had, more tragically, also been knocked down and the eyes of the beholder see those two words, 'I'm sorry'.

Having invited her to share her feelings and the situation following the conference in terms of engagement with those who had stood with her on the vocations trail and what she thought the letter had said I found myself in the midst of a real firestorm as the pain and anger and frustration and other stuff poured out of her. So much so that I'm not sure that I quite know where to start (it didn't seem right to ask her to wait whilst I got a pen and paper and wrote it all down, she wanted a pastor not a secretary!).

But here's the essence of it all:

From the closest to her on the journey the response was, 'Oh dear, we must get together when I'm free!'

Her supporting cleric, after some muttered words of comfort, then said that she wasn't expected to attend the church council (PCC) meeting and would not be expected to shadow them anymore in the light of the 'No' that she had received from the selectors!

Tears running like rivers my young lady went on to tell me how a few days later she'd had a call from a friend who had been at the PCC meeting where the Vicar had told the gathered audience how their candidate had 'failed selection!' Her friend rang to make sure she was O.K. and to invite her out for a coffee (what did we do before Costa I wonder?).

I have to admit that this is where I took the opportunity to mirror her pain, frustration and anger as the inept behaviour of her Vicar took a hold of me (I'm still available should the bishop consider creating the joint posts of diocesan hitman and arsonist - although as they weren't from our diocese perhaps that needs to be part of the Archbishop's Team: Over to you ++Justin). I can understand the confusion and pain felt by someone who has a congregation member return from conference and be wounded by the subsequent happenings but what I heard was perhaps the most downright pastorally inept actions I have ever encountered.

As we talked I realised that she had in fact been 'binned' by her leader and, like those who attempt to make the grey beret that is SAS theirs, she had effectively been RTU'd (returned to unit) - a single act that adds humiliation to the disappointment of the wrong outcome. It was now some weeks since the letter and although she'd seen a vocations person who had offered tea and sympathy and the promise of support in continuing exploring her vocation, the Vicar had effectively sidestepped her and because of this she had now absented herself from that church. The problem was that I couldn't blame her for doing so!

I asked who had contacted her in the church family and found that you could count those who had offered support on two fingers, the rest had kept their distance and, as her anger had risen, increased the distance to escape the fallout. Her own family were confused and wounded by the lack of effective support and her friends, some from other churches, were encouraging her to 'shake the dust' and move on where she could be used and loved in equal measure.

So I told her to go and challenge her Vicar over the response and the distancing and to ask how she was going to stand with her. I told her that it would be O.K. to cry, acceptable to shout and just a little too far to take a stick or sharp object (and at last I got a laugh!). 

I told her that what she had shared was neither 'something else' (like Lay Ministry) or a 'never again' but was merely ('merely' here being at the same level that says Hiroshima was merely a bomb someone dropped!!!) an invitation to step back, read what was really written rather than the interpretation that had been taken on board, and return with the bumps in the road flattened. It was people pointing out issues that needed some tinkering with rather than an epic fail and the end of the world - just an extremely painful episode on the way to giving birth to a new ministry. 

So we chatted a bit more and we prayed (the first Vicar to do that with her - how shameful is that?) and she left to visit her relative (looking like Marc Bolan on a bad day with all the smeared mascara and stuff - thinking now I ought to have told her :-(  ) and hopefully return home to make an appointment with her Vicar.

And that's my conversation in a nutshell. Names, locations and the like have been changed to protect the wounded and the guilty alike (who says I don't do Grace?).

And I'll end this entry with a plea: Brother and sisters, if you see someone caught up in journey to vocation then handle them gently; correcting in love and guiding with hope and the understanding that whatever part of the journey they are on, there but for the grace of God it could be you!

Deal with them as you would wish to be dealt with.

Encourage those who are discerning their call and pray for those who work with them.

And best of all, ask God what your calling is and have the courage, like my young woman, togo forward with it and to continue even when other make that journey harder - for we are all weak and flawed at times: That's why we need Jesus, innit?

Pax

Called? What does discernment look like and do?

Last week I found myself engaged in brief conversation by a lovely young lady who wasn't in lovely young lady mode - the reason for this being that she had recently been to the Fens for a selection conference and not only been knocked back but had also been knocked down - and this got me thinking.

Bur first, for those of you who don't know the process the CofE use to select people for training, let me explain the what and how of the whole shebang - and then we can look at the lovely lady and her experience:

Initial Exploration

Having shared the feeling that you think God might be calling you to 'do something' in the Church you might find yourself engaged with by your own minister or pointed towards the DDO (Diocesan Director of Ordinands - the person who puts candidates up to the bishop for approval to attend a selection conference) who will either see you and start the process of discernment rolling by continuing with you or by passing you on to a local vocations advisor (like what I am).

Either way you will start to look at calling and how to test it and understand where it is pointed and many other criteria that selectors (people who will interview you at a BAP or DAP*) will be looking for. Sometimes the journey may branch off in directions that lead to Lay Ministry or perhaps Church Army or other directions: But is should always be done with (and for) you and never to you. If you feel uncomfortable, confused or troubled - Tell someone immediately. 

Preparation for 'Conference'

Once those on the vocation trail are satisfied that there is evidence of a calling then you might find yourself in a reading group where you will read (duh!) a variety of books and discuss them with the others. This gives you a chance to engage with others and dialogue in ways that might be a bit alien - but it is all part of the preparation (especially when some of the group are a challenge: Just make sure the 'challenge' isn't you!).

There will be meetings with the DDO (or one of their team) to discuss the criteria in more depth and draw out your views and feelings regarding what you feel and have experienced thus far.

There might be the added bonus of finding yourself enrolled in a course of study (I love the Old and New Testament distance learning courses from St John's or London School of Theology for this). Don't worry if you find yourself asked to do a bit of study, this is merely there to demonstrate to yourself (most importantly) that you can cope with the academic stuff and it will also help selectors see who they have before them.

The Conference itself
Three days at a conference centre where, once you've got your room squared away, things kick off with the 'Personal Inventory': Forty minutes of 'quick fire' questions which relate to the three selection interviews - Education, Pastoral and Vocation. 

Then there's a pastoral exercise to think about: 500 words to someone with a problem (I'll let them have my address!) that needs addressing (and here's a tip - offer support but don't be directive

The sun comes up and after breakfast and a spot of church you get a chance to share your presentation and get a discussion going: But remember you are leading and being led so you have to be as switched on for the other's presentations as you wanted those around you be for yours!

Then they feed you and it's into the selector's interviews which are challenging and, if my conference was anything to go by, require sleep directly afterwards! The next day you'll have more selector interviews as required to ensure you've done three and then there's a bit of decompression in the shape of the Eucharist and off you go to your homes where, if you are like me, you'll have no idea which way is up and how you've done.

Then comes the wait for the letter: Generally there are three outcomes (an a hint: People don't 'fail' a BAP or DAP and it is not a rejection of those who have attended. Well not that I have seen - but that's not how others might perceive it):

NOT YET - This is a 'Not recommended',but it should have the added 'not at this time', because you can return and play again at a later date.

SOMETHING ELSE - Where ordination is not discerned or indicated the path of Lay Minister (or perhaps Church Army) is suggested. The whole thing is about putting round pegs into round holes and so where a square peg is found, a square hole will be suggested)!

NEVER - I was shocked when I first encountered someone who was effectively told 'Don't send this person ever again!'

So there you have the scene set for the next act (which will probably be tomorrow as I'm rushing out again for a meeting - oh deep joy!)

* BAP - Bishop's Advisory Panel: Two and a half days away where you undertake certain exercises and engage in interviews with a view to being selected for training for ordained ministry (stipendiary or non-stipendiary - that means paid or unpaid)

DAP - Diocesan Advisory Panel: Time away where you are interviewed with a view to becoming an OLM (Ordained Local Minister) in the diocese in which you reside.

Being Collared (3) - All Member Ministry

Being ordained is an interesting reality because there are so many people out there who see Church as a clerical entity. The old days of 'Father knows best' may have (thankfully) gone but there are many who would like it to continue, albeit in a modified form, and not all of these wear dogcollars!

I get to talk to quite a few people who are keen to see the clergy:

• Bring people into the church
• Build up the congregation's numbers
• Manage the finances such that the Parish Share is paid

and more besides.

On the other side of the line, there are many clergy who would like to see the congregation members:

• Fulfil their baptismal calling - reading, praying and sharing the Good News of Jesus, the Christ
• Witness to those around them and bring them into the church family
• Pay just a little bit more so that the Parish Share can be met

And, again, more besides.

Recently, engaged with a rather tired and frustrated cleric I realised that the goal of the all-member ministry church where the tasks are taken up by those in the pews who are seeking to find their calling, ministry and passions and engage with them to build up the Church and themselves is not the universal 'holy grail' I had hoped it was. 

For this person's understanding of all-member ministry was: 'Do what you want!'

Interestingly, their understanding of 'being collegial' was: 'I'll let you!'

Now, it may come as no surprise to find that the cleric in question was one of those exceedingly clever clergy who had managed to 'get their church down to a manageable size' by the exercise of their visionary ministry. When pressed further the familiar mantra that 'it's easier to do the job yourself' was to be heard - and this is true, for:

• sharing the needs
• demonstrating what's required
• watching someone else have a go
• watching them fail
• picking up the pieces (and making it work)
• picking up the volunteer and dusting them off
• explaining it all again
• doing it with them
• watching them do it (knowing you could have done it quicker, better and . . . )
• dealing with the 'concerned' people (who could have done it better but never volunteer)

All takes time. After all, who else would do this sort of thing with volunteers?

Oh yeah, Jesus!

For many years I have heard church members tell me how much they wish the Vicar didn't do 'everything' (some have added 'so well') and have moaned at whosoever would listen about how they could do it (and better). Now I have tried for years to get them to do that but invariably the money has never been put where the negativity and moan was. In fact, some of the most promising people have been the biggest curse in this area - for having ability and opportunity and still managing to step aside from the task and take up the moaning role is, I'm sorry to say this, nothing less than a curse.

Now, if you're a church member and have thought you could do something in church were you given the chance - God has heard your prayers and delivered 'All Member Ministry' to the building you call 'church'. 

Clergy - open your arms, put down your heavy loads and take the time to teach the people how to do the stuff that needs doing (yes, I know it is harder than doing it, but this 'lazy man's load' will pay dividends later).

Congregations - look at what's going on and where you see a need you can meet, stick your hand up and shout, 'Pick Me!' You'll struggle (even if it's only because of the dogcollar) but you'll soon find yourself equipped, released and seeking others to work alongside you (because there's no point in starting a mini clericalism model now, is there?) and the church will grow and be a place of joy.

 . . . and the Vicar can go fishing ;-)

Being collared - knowing your place (1)

Here's what will be the first in a series of many regarding exactly what it means to have the ring of confidence*, that is the dogcollar, around your neck.

Those who visit cathedrals on a Maundy Thursday are often quite affected by what one of the called the 'last man standing' show that is the celebration of our calling. For those who have never been it goes like this:

Everyone stands - and because we all have that baptismal calling that marks us as Christ's and call us to live as strangers in this world rather than of it we pray for all the people of God. We celebrate the callings everyone present has and having prayer for laos (God's people) they sit.

Now we pray for those who are deacons (diakonos), those who are called to serve the Church to equip the people in it to make Christ better known and serve them in humility - this is the 'foot washing' role, the waiting at tables that frees the priests for higher things - and having given thanks for them, they sit.

Tine to pray for the priests (Presbyteros), those people who are called to 'lead God's people in the offering of praise and the proclamation of the Gospel'. The Shepherds of the flock who teach the word and minister the sacraments - and having given thanks for this bunch, they also sit.

Leaving the bishops, those called to be the guardians of the faith, to shepherd the shepherds and to lead the Church in mission and to be a cohesive and enabling force for the people under their care and to work in unity with the other bishops to bring about a consistent family.

Were there any Archbishops (we have two - Justin and John) then I guess the bishops would sit and we'd all celebrate the über pointyhats and the cohesive and unifying force that they are. They are the national voice of the church what we belong to and are the place for spiritual, practical and media directiveness (a word I found in an American article recently that need to be used once then burned).

So there we have it - a quick explanation of the structure of ministry within the Church of England.
Tomorrow (if time permits) we'll have a look at what it means to have been collared and what you can, can't, should and shouldn't do if you are.

So there you have it - last man standing is, could there be any doubt, Justin Welby. But now you have (I hope) a better understanding of the base roles and positions of the people around you.

And the best bit - regardless of who you are, if you're a believer then you are laos and that's ALL of us. The other jobs are just added

Can't get better than that - can you?


* Confidence because those who wear them are (supposed to be) called, tried, tested and approved and submissive to the word of God and the people placed in authority above them and have an integrity when it comes to teaching, believing and living according to Scripture. (note the 'supposed')

A love that speaks of sacrifice

A love that speaks of sacrifice
Comforting words at Easter as we speak of Jesus the Christ
Stirring words as He stands before the Sanhedrin
Intellectually challenging words as He stands before Pilate (twice)
Mocking words as He stands before Herod
Bloody awful words as the scourge bites and the nails pierce
Triumphal words as the tomb is found empty

Words that ring true as the phone rings at three in the morning
As someone across the square makes a beeline for you
Or the person who once stood shoulder to shoulder with you
(Or should have)
Denies and dismisses you before all who will listen
Challenges you to take up your cross too

And the pain
The barb that tears?

The believer who,
glibly,
easily,
carelessly says:

'I could never
 I would never
 I don't want to - It's not my calling'

The cruellest barb of all

Giving members away - the key to growth?

Just a quick thought regarding church growth is that I come across so many places where the people are all inward looking and the last time they send someone off to be trained in any form of ministry in the wider Church was before any of those attending were born.

What makes it fun is that those who see to release their members into serving the wider Church generally find themselves blessed with growth and in fact the more they give away the more they seem to have. That doesn't mean that we do it to get members but it does seem to be the reality that there is a quid pro quo with God and membership.

So, here's a challenge tomorrow- why not take a look at the people around you and ask God what calling they have, for we all have a calling on our life, and then work out how you can support it?

You never know you might be pleasantly surprised (and they may be totally gobsmacked too)!

Let's make 2014 the year when we release our members into their ministry and find the joys of being a 'sending church' eh?

'Twas the week before Christmas...

And unlike the well-meaning attempt by one of the Police Forces to do something or other with the poem which deals with night before Christmas there's no stressing out or drink or sexual nastiness and blinking awful verse.

Here we are - just a week away from the nativity of the blessed Babe and I have just two Christingle services left. Seems like weeks since I did the first Christingle of the Advent season of the season (the reason being that it was weeks ago!) and yet here we are - glowsticks at the ready and virtual Christingle loaded and good to go. . . And I'm still excited!

There are still carol services to be done (loads of them) and candles to light (that's why we call them candlelit) and mince pies and mulled wine and Communion and ... Well, you know ... Loads of stuff.

There's still loads of time for people to tell me how, 'This must be your busy time!' Ironically, all the time is my busy time (and you thought I just worked one day a week) and the funerals crowd in as grief and Christmas trees clash and fight for the number one slot. There's still people who need communion at home and still more who need a listening ear and a gentle touch amidst the sea of life's problems.

Yes, it must be 'my busy time' - but that's true of every day that God gives me, because that's the nature of the calling (and the man) - so here's a gentle plea:

i. Please pray for those who daily toil is situated within the walls of God's house.

ii. Please don't assume that everything is squared away and sorted - use your eyes and head as see if you can offer assistance.

iii. If it looks like it's going wrong then, having discerned it, get stuck in and resolve it.

iv. Please don't tell your friendly dogcollar that you don't need to come to church on Christmas Day because you've already been if you went on Christmas Eve! Perhaps that should be 'Don't tell me' - but the reality is that Christmas Day is, along with Easter, one of the most important 'red letter' days in the Church's calendar.

v. Did I mention pray?

Have wonderful final week of Advent - our tree goes up this weekend and Christmas will be welcomed in to our home (the twelve days eagerly awaited and the journeying Magi awaited) - May Christmas be a blessing as we celebrate Jesus, God's wonderful Christmas presence.

Pax

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 :-)

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.

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

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

Mission - getting them in isn't enough!

This has been one of those weeks that just has lasted for ever and yet gone by in a flash; one of those where you have done much and still managed to leave undone the things that you wanted to do! (an experience I'm sure we all share from time to time).

There have been so many highlights ranging from ALPHA course through to doing school assemblies through to engagement with people at the other end of the age range; mingling, and celebrating, with fellow believers and giving thanks for them to wondering whether, despite their labels, they are even saved!

I cannot believe that anyone who is in the Christian family can fail to be 'missional'; that ability and desire to see others come into knowledge of Jesus, the Christ, and through that knowledge to come into relationship with the Father through Him - and yet I do. For truly the, 'I'm not an evangelistic,' cries of some to the 'maintenance and parochially-minded' lack of real endeavour others I bump into almost cause my fingers to crack and my chest to tighten. 'How can we not be 'mission-minded'?

How can we ignore the calls of Jesus as written in Matthew 28:

'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.'

How can we fail to see that people coming into the building is great, but it's not salvation, for salvation is this:

‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 
‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ 
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? 
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?
As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’

I mentioned this passage (Romans 10) to someone last week as I tried to explain that increasing the church's 'footfall' (the number of feet on the ground: visitors) is great but 'getting them in' is only part of the job, we need to engage with the people who come in and be there for them when they come with needs.

How can they believe unless they hear and how can they hear unless we tell them?

And of course, we're not all sent, are we? We're not all called to look like Jesus, to love those caught in error, to bind up the brokenhearted, comfort those who mourn, heal the afflicted and all that stuff are we?

Oh no, it appears that we are - so what are we going to do?

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?

Vocations - Looking at language

One of the consistent things that I find occurring when it comes to helping people discern their calling to ministry is the use of language.

People will often come in speaking of 'authority', a word that will cause many to immediately harbour doubts about the reason for the calling that is being claimed, when what they mean is perhaps more correctly labelled as 'testing, submission and of having been approved'.

On my journey, one of the important things in ordination was the fact that those who are ordained are:

1. Recognised as having a 'calling' to something within their own fellowship,
2. Are approved by that fellowship and sent to the DDO (Diocesan Director of Ordinands) or vocations adviser,
3. Are examined and, perhaps after additional elements (readings groups, etc.), are sent to a selection conference (BAP),
4. At the BAP the person is engaged to help clarify the nature of the calling and the best way it can be developed,
5. Having been selected, training tales place and once this is completed the person is offered to the wider church (sending diocese having first choice if there is a suitable 'title post') and ordained.

What we have here is a process by which those who ordained can demonstrate that they are:

i. Have been tried, tested and approved

• The selection process
• The training experience
• The Title post

ii. Are in submission to those above.

•  It is here that, taking the model of Nehemiah, that we can see that those ordained have authority because they submit to authority.
• Just as an officer in the forces is saluted because they hold a commission, it is the queen (whose commission they hold) who is being saluted, not the person - this is devolved power through submission to the monarch.
• Are 'primus inter pares' (first among equals). This doesn't make them the 'Daddy' but makes them someone who is collaborative and supportive of others - true authority.

The motto of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) is 'Serve to Lead'.

On the first day at that place one of the staff asked us who the greatest leader was. Being in the big concrete sleeping bag that bears the name of a certain great leader theirs was the first name out of the bag, quickly followed by many others until, exasperated the Colour Sargeant asked where the padres were and who was it they worked for?

yes, the answer was 'Jesus'! Someone regarded by as a great leader because He came to serve. This is the true nature of authority - submission and service.

I hope this helps clarify some of the thinking around vocations

Pax





*Those who were not selected (this is not 'rejected'*) will be offered help in discerning their vocation and may return to a BAP at a later date or find their calling fulfilled in  a different area of ministry. This is not the end of 'calling' (of which our baptismal calling is the greatest calling we have).

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

Ordination - Is there an easy route please?

Had an interesting conversation with someone today regarding an easier path to being ordained. They didn't want to go to college and weren't sure they wanted to go to any form of 'selection' conference because it sounded a bit stressful. Not only that but they only wanted to be ordained and remain in their 'sending' church (where they were already working and doing services.

I asked one of my favourite questions (after the 'how' and 'why' questions), "What would ordination do for you and what could you do without it that you couldn't do now?" The response was a new one for me because the answer was, "Nothing - I'm already doing it now!'

Impressed I asked the questions:

Leading services - Yep!

Worship - Yep!

Praying - Yep!

Preaching - Yep!

Involved in the communion service - Yep (and in fact they told me they were already 'doing communion' when their minister was away)!!

I asked where they were (outside of our diocese) and why they'd called me (because someone they know knows me and thought I'd be able to advise) and then got more involved with the more pressing questions after which it transpired that they were in a multi-benefice setup and the clerical person had told them that they needed to get ordained so they could 'formalise' what they were doing. After more discussion I realised that what they wanted was to be ordained to the group of churches and those alone (what we call an ordained local minister where we are) and no more.

I've suggested that they have a chat to a local ministry advisor in their own patch or even arrange an introduction to their DDO. Oddly, what I find interesting here is that this conversation appears to have been prompted by a cleric who was looking to make their local help more official and I can understand why (five churches in the group is reason enough) but I am also left wondering what I could have done further?

It was only a couple of days ago that I was in a group where I brought up the increasing desire to convert any adequate or able lay person into a minister because of the workloads and pressures and here I am perhaps facing yet another of this being flesh in this instance.

I'm left wondering what some clergy see ordination as being and how they discern calling?

Gis' us a clue? Has anyone else encountered anything like this I wonder?

Pax