Morning Prayer - Thursday 11 May 2017

Easter Season

Psalm 118
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy endures for ever.

Let Israel now proclaim, ‘His mercy endures for ever.’

Let the house of Aaron now proclaim, ‘His mercy endures for ever.’

Let those who fear the Lord proclaim, ‘His mercy endures for ever.’

In my constraint I called to the Lord; the Lord answered and set me free.

The Lord is at my side; I will not fear; what can flesh do to me?
With the Lord at my side as my saviour,
I shall see the downfall of my enemies.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put any confidence in flesh.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put any confidence in princes.

All the nations encompassed me, but by the name of the Lord I drove them back. They hemmed me in, they hemmed me in on every side, but by the name of the Lord I drove them back. They swarmed about me like bees; they blazed like fire among thorns, but by the name of the Lord I drove them back. Surely, I was thrust to the brink, but the Lord came to my help.

The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. Joyful shouts of salvation sound from the tents of the righteous:
‘The right hand of the Lord does mighty deeds;
 the right hand of the Lord raises up;
 the right hand of the Lord does mighty deeds.’

I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord has punished me sorely, but he has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me and have become my salvation.

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.

This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Come, O Lord, and save us we pray.
Come, Lord, send us now prosperity.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;
we bless you from the house of the Lord.

The Lord is God; he has given us light; link the pilgrims with cords right to the horns of the altar.

You are my God and I will thank you;
you are my God and I will exalt you.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his mercy endures for ever.

Deuteronomy 11.8-end
Keep, then, this entire commandment that I am commanding you today, so that you may have strength to go in and occupy the land that you are crossing over to occupy, and so that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land that you are about to enter to occupy is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sow your seed and irrigate by foot like a vegetable garden. But the land that you are crossing over to occupy is a land of hills and valleys, watered by rain from the sky, a land that the Lord your God looks after. The eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

If you will only heed his every commandment that I am commanding you today—loving the Lord your God, and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul—then he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil; and he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat your fill. Take care, or you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshipping them, for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit; then you will perish quickly from the good land that the Lord is giving you.

You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

If you will diligently observe this entire commandment that I am commanding you, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and mightier than yourselves. Every place on which you set foot shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the Western Sea. No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put the fear and dread of you on all the land on which you set foot, as he promised you.

See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known.

When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that you are entering to occupy, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. As you know, they are beyond the Jordan, some distance to the west, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh.

When you cross the Jordan to go in to occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and when you occupy it and live in it, you must diligently observe all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.

Ephesians 5.15-end
Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendour, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.

The Collect
Risen Christ, faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep: teach us to hear your voice and to follow your command, that all your people may be gathered into one flock, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Journal: where did that day go?

Today was a total rush! Everything was pretty much planned to the minute today, it had to be as there was but a fag paper between the gaps - one of those days where you end up feeling really great and go to bed with a buzz. The day comprised of some home visits for pastoral, Communion and a bit of assistance offered and then it was service planning, some study, some pastoral stuff, music practice and then Bishops Certificate.

Think I'll find I'm struggling with the time thing when I come to log the last couple of weeks, but I have made some differences and am cutting back, so hopefully there will be a little drop in hours.

Next week is a quiet week in prospect - hopefully get ready for some time away and do some study and prayer. No funerals - which feels odd - but time to catch up on sound stuff and do some studio time to make me smile even more.

Being a dog collar is a great role - you determine your day and you get a rush a minute for much of it - you just need to realise it's your life and not your job I guess.

Loads of positive feedback from the Ditch evening - looking to extend it into something a little more in other areas now. All takes Prayer, planning and then the people. But God is good and so it onwards and upwards :-)

Lord for the needs I've encountered today - touch those lives, bring Your healing and breathe in you wholeness and peace.

For the people who are needy and difficult - give me grace and patience.

For the people who are demanding and distracting - help me to show your love.

For those who challenge my moments - help me to look to you and the image of your reality in them and be generous.

And for me - you know my needs, my challenges and my pain: You have me life and I trust You!

Morning Prayer - Wednesday 10 May 2017

Easter Season

Psalm 135
Alleluia.
Praise the name of the Lord; give praise, you servants of the Lord, you that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; make music to his name, for it is lovely. For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself and Israel for his own possession. For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods.

The Lord does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all the deeps.
He brings up the clouds from the ends of the earth;
he makes lightning with the rain and brings the winds out of his treasuries.
He smote the firstborn of Egypt, the firstborn of man and beast.
He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and all his servants.
He smote many nations and slew mighty kings: Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan. He gave their land as a heritage, a heritage for Israel his people.

Your name, O Lord, endures for ever and shall be remembered through all generations. For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.

The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak; eyes have they, but cannot see; They have ears, but cannot hear; neither is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them shall become like them, and so will all who put their trust in them.

Bless the Lord, O house of Israel; O house of Aaron, bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, O house of Levi; you who fear the Lord, bless the Lord.
Blessed be the Lord from Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem.
Alleluia.

Deuteronomy 10.12-end
So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you?
Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.

Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it, yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing.

You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.

Ephesians 5.1-14
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be associated with them. For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
‘Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’

The Collect
Risen Christ, faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep: teach us to hear your voice and to follow your command, that all your people may be gathered into one flock, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Journal: Dying matters Awareness week

What an amazingly immense day spent outside engaging with people as they shopped as part of 'Dying Matters' awareness week. I have had so many conversations with people and taken the opportunity to just 'be' with the people of Tamworth and it was marvellous.

From 10:00 to 16:00 I walked, talked, listened and prayed. I handed out leaflets for a bereavement support group based in St. Martin's (Stonydelph) and conversed with people from St Gile's Hospice   Funeral Directors, and many other people besides.

Back on the Streets on Friday - hoping it stays dry and that I experience more of the same.

There is a real temptation for me to just give up on all the admin and stuff and just soak myself in being out there on the streets - so many needs - and so much joy to be celebrated and made real.

As a society it seems that we don't do death as well as we did. We don't think about it in a healthy way, in fact we rarely think about it unless our mortality (or that of someone we live or know) is threatened. One of the most important roles a cleric has is that of helping people to die well - not a morbid thing, but something of joy and completeness I reckon.

We don't always grieve well either and the spectrum ranges from 'always look on the bright side of life' through to turning the home into a shrine and engaging in a toxic grief that ends normal life for others too. Death is a painful thing, but it is supposed to be and because grief is so often malformed rather than bring healing and a way forward it causes people to revisit the pain with no obvious exit for the roundabout!

So on with the week and the encounters and conversations and the pain of loss and the optimism that a new day brings.

Have I mentioned how much I love this ministry stuff.

Lord, for everything that's been today and all that's before me tomorrow: I thank You.

Morning Prayer - Tuesday 9 May 2017

Easter Season

Psalm 139
O Lord, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You mark out my journeys and my resting place and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but you, O Lord, know it altogether. You encompass me behind and before and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, so high that I cannot attain it.
Where can I go then from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, your right hand hold me fast.

If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me and the light around me turn to night,’
Even darkness is no darkness with you;
the night is as clear as the day;
darkness and light to you are both alike.

For you yourself created my inmost parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
marvellous are your works, my soul knows well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my form, as yet unfinished;
already in your book were all my members written,
As day by day they were fashioned when as yet there was none of them.

How deep are your counsels to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I count them, they are more in number than the sand, and at the end, I am still in your presence.

O that you would slay the wicked, O God, that the bloodthirsty might depart from me!
They speak against you with wicked intent; your enemies take up your name for evil.

Do I not oppose those, O Lord, who oppose you?
Do I not abhor those who rise up against you?
I hate them with a perfect hatred; they have become my own enemies also.

Search me out, O God, and know my heart; try me and examine my thoughts.
See if there is any way of wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Deuteronomy 9.23-10.5

And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and occupy the land that I have given you’, you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, neither trusting him nor obeying him. You have been rebellious against the Lord as long as he has known you.

Throughout the forty days and forty nights that I lay prostrate before the Lord when the Lord intended to destroy you, I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Lord God, do not destroy the people who are your very own possession, whom you redeemed in your greatness, whom you brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; pay no attention to the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin, otherwise the land from which you have brought us might say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to let them die in the wilderness.” For they are the people of your very own possession, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Carve out two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you smashed, and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. Then he wrote on the tablets the same words as before, the ten commandments that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. So I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark that I had made; and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.

Ephesians 4.17-end
Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practise every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

The Collect
Risen Christ, faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep: teach us to hear your voice and to follow your command, that all your people may be gathered into one flock, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Journal: In the Ditch

What an absolutely amazing night - the day was as busy as Mondays usually are with meetings, home Communions and a funeral and then there was the first 'Dying - in the Ditch' - a totally unknown quantity.

Having spoken to people about their endeavours I soon realised that the stand up and hold court, lecture, and the like wasn't the way forward for this event and so it was a beer a low key start as conversations began. But the place was pretty much packed and the noise of conversation and laughter - the topics and the way that people began to engage - had me leave at the end of the night with a big grin.

And so it's onwards and upwards with some planning to be done for the next one and some thinking about what else needs to be done in such a brilliant venue. Ged and Ade, who run the place, were absolute stars for all their help and hopefully this is the beginning of something really effective in the lives of some of Tamworth's inhabitants.

Wasn't a 'godbothering' event - no prayers, hymns, sermons or collections - but an opportunity to bring some sense of peace and healing into a few lives. And I know who I work for.

So Lord, thank You for a stunning day - for those with whom I have engaged a massive Thank You.
Strengthen my arms that the ministry opportunities in this place might be seen and acted upon. Help me to pastor the flock and to steady the wobbly.

Alleluia or what?

Morning Prayer - Monday 8 May 2017

Easter Season

Julian of Norwich, Spiritual Writer, c.1417

Psalm 103
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities; who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with faithful love and compassion; who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.

The Lord executes righteousness and judgement for all who are oppressed. He made his ways known to Moses and his works to the children of Israel. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness. He will not always accuse us, neither will he keep his anger for ever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy upon those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he set our sins from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so is the Lord merciful towards those who fear him. For he knows of what we are made; he remembers that we are but dust. Our days are but as grass; we flourish as a flower of the field, for as soon as the wind goes over it, it is gone, and its place shall know it no more. But the merciful goodness of the Lord is from of old and endures for ever on those who fear him, and his righteousness on children’s children; On those who keep his covenant and remember his commandments to do them. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom has dominion over all.

Bless the Lord, you angels of his, you mighty ones who do his bidding and hearken to the voice of his word.

Bless the Lord, all you his hosts, you ministers of his who do his will.

Bless the Lord, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion; bless the Lord, O my soul.

Deuteronomy 9.1-21
Hear, O Israel! You are about to cross the Jordan today, to go in and dispossess nations larger and mightier than you, great cities, fortified to the heavens, a strong and tall people, the offspring of the Anakim, whom you know. You have heard it said of them, ‘Who can stand up to the Anakim?’ Know then today that the Lord your God is the one who crosses over before you as a devouring fire; he will defeat them and subdue them before you, so that you may dispossess and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

When the Lord your God thrusts them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to occupy this land’; it is rather because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to occupy their land; but because of the wickedness of those nations that the Lord your God is dispossessing them before you, in order to fulfil the promise that the Lord made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Know, then, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to occupy because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place.

Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. And the Lord gave me the two stone tablets written with the finger of God; on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken to you at the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly. At the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have been quick to turn from the way that I commanded them; they have cast an image for themselves.’ Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen that this people is indeed a stubborn people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they.’

So I turned and went down from the mountain, while the mountain was ablaze; the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. Then I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God, by casting for yourselves an image of a calf; you had been quick to turn from the way that the Lord had commanded you. So I took hold of the two tablets and flung them from my two hands, smashing them before your eyes. Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed, provoking the Lord by doing what was evil in his sight. For I was afraid that the anger that the Lord bore against you was so fierce that he would destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him, but I interceded also on behalf of Aaron at that same time. Then I took the sinful thing you had made, the calf, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was reduced to dust; and I threw the dust of it into the stream that runs down the mountain.

Ephesians 4.1-16
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,
‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.’

(When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?

He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

The Collect
Most holy God, the ground of our beseeching, who through your servant Julian revealed the wonders of your love: grant that as we are created in your nature and restored by your grace, our wills may be so made one with yours that we may come to see you face to face and gaze on you for ever; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Can't make it to church - 7 May 2017

We've reached the fourth Sunday of Easter and I've decided to be a bit contentious as we start our journey with a visit to the book of Acts and what is probably one of the most preached, quoted and desired Church experience there is in the New Testament. It's also possibly the simplest of all church growth strategies - or the most ridiculously idealistic way of doing Church - but it is something that should make us stop and think!

How much more simple can it be than this:

1. Get together and share the teaching, break bread and prayers (possibly formal rather than spontaneous).
    [Yep - I can do that!]

2. Get the guys and gals to do some of the 'signs and wonders' stuff
    [Been there - got the tee-shirt. Let's get those arms in the air and get those tongues going people]

3. Hold everything in common, if someone has a need: Deal with it!
    [Yeah, as long as the 'deserve it, after all - that's my stuff we're talking about]

4. Let's do it EVERY day: Everything - the meeting, praying, breaking bread, selling and sharing.
    [Whoa, hold the bus - Sunday's cool but Monday, well that's my night for . . .  [whatever you do]!]

And so, having stopped at step 4. could this be the reason that we don't see the final part of the process before us:

5. Growth! Three thousand people bounding in to swell our numbers!

As much as I'm happy to 'break bread' with people on the grounds that it's what we do on a Sunday in the Communion, eating every day with people, for some that's a bridge too far - after all, it's not like they're family is it?

What's that Sooty, they are family - Get up off the floor Sweep - it's about being Church, it's not that important, is it?

And of course it is and they are family and the fact that the church mentioned in Acts did also see the people live in their own homes - it wasn't a commune (and Jesus was not the first Communist!) - and what they did was sell stuff and club together to meet the needs of those who had them. Well suddenly we've gone from a church growth model to a distinct feeling of unease!

I have been in church settings where someone turned up with a need, so the people clubbed together and bailed them out. Then they came back again with a need and the people bailed them out. And then the same person came back with a need and the people said, "Oi get lost. What do you think we are, stupid?"

It's easy to meet a need once, twice, or even thrice - but where do we draw line? After all, when asking about forgiveness, Peter offers the number seven times. (Matthew 18).

Jesus, who is so often the party-pooper, offers a new number: Seventy times seven! Now He wasn't setting the bar but nodding at the attitude before Him and saying in effect, "Until you lose count of the number of times!"

So here we are at the end of the first reading - I wonder how many will be left in the congregation (and whether there's anyone out there still reading this stuff?) - after all, not saying well done and few of us will be heading for tea and medals at this rate, will we?

Well actually it's not the end because I have the words of so many teachers who tell me that the Acts behaviour was abortive and that, "No one else did the 'money' thing!" What we have here is one overtly zealous, over the top bunch, who did it a bit too enthusiastically. Everywhere else the Christians live like we do now with our own homes, incomes, possessions and lockable front doors. They lived as we do with our own private and personal faith and cared for their own rather than all this showy giving and living together stuff . . . and that's what makes Church what it is today.

Moving on (quickly) we come to 1 Peter 2 and read that we need to do that which is right, even if it causes us pain and suffering!

Talk about a downward slope, seems to me that the readings are just set on 'bringing it down' (as a local friendly clown keeps reminding me). Here we are trying to walk in Jesus' footsteps and we keep being dragged into counting the cost and being sacrificial; not fighting against the struggles but recognising that seeking to do good is not always its own reward.

So I'll stop here and rush off to tell the newspaper photographer to stay where he is as we don't want a, "Successful church does good deeds photograph on the front page after all!"

We do good and we keep on doing good, blessing where there is curse and continuing onwards where there are beatings - the second of two uncomfortable readings thus far. But let's head to John, after all he's always good for a bit of a 'thumbs up' (well as long as you believe in Jesus and all that sort of thing. Surely this can't go wrong, can it?

Ah, a nice pastoral scene where the sheep all stroll in through the gate and that gate, being Jesus, well that's great because after all He is the way, the truth and the life; this is looking good indeed because it's all about Him and us and our relationship with Him. He opens the gate and we, hearing His voice, enter - we follow Him because we know and trust Him. He leads and we follow, sticking to the same path and planting our feet where His have been.

The shepherd leads his sheep and feeds them and engages with dangerous situations to keep them safe (this is more like it, nothing to worry about with this reading). When we are under threat, we all bleat out, "Stranger danger," and the shepherd comes a running to save us. We trust Him and go where He calls us to be in the company of others (Oh no, not that Acts things again!) and keeping to the Shepherd's path (does anyone else thing that sound a bit controlling?) we find abundant life.

All we need to do is to follow Jesus, live together in a public, open and simple way, trusting in Him for our needs and everything else is hunky dory.

You know what, I don't think this story is about sheep or Shepherds at all. In fact I'm beginning to think that this Gospel account has more about the Acts reading that something I might hear on BBC Radio's 'Farming Today'.

What about you?

Father God, the way to life, we are told, is to follow Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life and He will lead us into You presence and into the plentiful life that You give us. You tend and care for us, You call us to be one flock, following in the footsteps of Him who endured death upon the cross for us. Help us to be obedient, constant, compassionate and (The Collect) pray, Risen Christ, faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep: teach us to hear your voice and to follow your command, that all your people may be gathered into one flock, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Acts 2.42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

1 Peter 2.19-25
For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it?

But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; 'by his wounds you have been healed.’ For ‘you were like sheep going astray,’ but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

John 10.1-10
‘Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise a stranger’s voice.’ Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, ‘Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.'

Post Communion
Merciful Father, you gave your Son Jesus Christ to be the good shepherd, and in his love for us to lay down his life and rise again: keep us always under his protection, and give us grace to follow in his steps; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.