Monthly Archives: March 2012

19

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19 is the number of days that I have now been on placement at St Stephens … time seems to be flying by.

Being on placement, preparing stuff for parish things and keeping on top of gathering stuff and relationships in Rochester is proving to be quite a challenge, but then … I guess that is why Mission Shaped Church talks of the need for both pioneer priests and parish priests working in a mixed economy. There are things I feel I wish to do gathering / pioneering wise which will have to wait until after Easter … and I trust God that the time will be right.

On reflection, I am enjoying the different experience of working from a parish. I am enjoying the opportunity of writing liturgy and planning services which is something I used to do a lot of but more recently have only been able to do for the gathering, and possibly for Taize services in the cathedral. I find being creative in this way is quite energising and planning with a group of people is always fun.

The last week has seen me in a few of those privileged positions again … supporting a family through a funeral service, visiting a family who wish to have their children baptised. A highlight of the week was listening to Bishop Stepehn Venner speak on ‘How does war (however just) enable or disable mission? Bishop Stephen spoke excellently and really challenged my thinking.

So the week was a pretty varied week … roll on the next one!

opportunities

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Over the last few days I have been a little more involved in my YFC responsibilities which I have found has really energised me as well as given me opoortunity to catch up with old friends.

Last week I travelled to YFC head office in Halesowen for the AGM and a board meeting.YFC is an exciting ministry to be part of at the moment and there are some great job opportunities at the moment. Nationally we are looking fr an HR manager and a street dance team leader – details here. Locally we are looking for directors for both Norwich and Epping Forest YFC. These are two of our longest standing centres with great and diverse ministries … check them out here. It’s amazing to see that we now have 72 centres across the country … interesting that as the church is in decline, the number of YFC centres  seeking to engage with young people across the nation is increasing.

wHile at head office i learned about this new 18+ resource on you tube. You can check out discussion starter videos here.

Yesterday, as a trustee of GIllingham YFC, I was involved in an away day with the other trustees and team members. The day was led by Richard Bromley and was just great. We had fun, we worked together, we thought alone … and I think the upshot will be a better worked out strategy resulting in new and creative ways of working with young peiple. Please hold GIllingham YFC in your prayers! I am convinced we are going to see some exciting stuff happening over the next year or so.

day 13 new experiences

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Yesterday I visited a residential care home – this is a first for me. I visited with some people from St Stephens who run a short service for the people living here every week. I have not experienced ministry in a residential care home before and I have great admiration for those that clearly love this ministry.

I was really impressed by the quality of the care and the home itself. It was a really lovely place to live. I was struck also by the compassion I observed from the church team to both the residents and the staff which was very much a two way thing. The staff and the residents were clerly pleased to see us. This group of Christians really were good news to everyone they met in that building.

It’s interesting to compare this with my level of engagement. I guess I felt pretty much disabled as, if I am honest, I had no idea on what level to engage in such an environment. I had been well briefed but when there I struggled to respond in any meaningful way.

I felt this way in the first few months of my visits to the pub, but in that location I was able and ready to respond appropriately when needed. I felt at ease and ready to respond. Today, I felt something different; I felt unable to respond or engage as if I had to fight to remain open. I did not feel at ease or able to see how to respond. I could see the excellent people I was with leading the way … but for the first time in a very long time I felt myself holding back. If I am honest I think there was a personal reluctance to engage. I am not sure if it was simply being a totally new environment or whether its simply that this setting is just not for me … I guess that question will only be answered in time a I visit more homes.

10 to 12 .. watching from the sidelines

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Days 10 to 12 of the placement have been pretty quiet i guess. I mixture of morning prayer, visiting, listening, planning, preaching and presiding alongside maintaining contact with my new friends and people in Rochester.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of preaching and presiding at the church plant on the Davis estate in Chatham. The informality of this service, while still following ‘the rules’ is something more towards what I believe lots of people are looking for. The real privilege yesterday, though, was a conversation with an older lady who had just visited the Davis estate church 3 times. This was the first time she had taken communion for nearly 30 years. When I asked her how it felt she said, ‘it was special, like coming home.’ To have been able to play a small and insignificant step in helping this lady reconnect with her God was really the highlight of the week. I believe this experience happened because God was calling this woman back … and on this occasion I was able to stand on the sidelines and watch what was happening.

It’s experiences like these that make ministry so so exciting! It’s seeing peoples lives being changed or encounters occurring – not because of anything I or we do, but because there is a God in the world who is always acting in peoples lives. I guess a lot of the time we simply don’t notice … if I had not had the opportunity to speak with that lady after the service I would be none the wiser! As it stands, this one chance encounter reminds me that this is why I was ordained!

 

days 7,8,9 …. rooted in the community

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I guess I am getting into the swing of things at St. Stephens and learning names and understanding how they do things. Yesterday I presided at a mid week Eucharist which surprised me with an attendance of 10 people, which is quite a lot more than I see when I preside at the mid week eucharists in the cathedral. I compare only because I find it interesting to observe and learn what draws people to such a service at 10am on a Wednesday morning.

Most of the people there yesterday were retired in some capacity and the service is clearly important to them. Some were moving next to visiting some homes in the parish with the magazine so our closing words of ‘go in peace to love and serve the Lord’ were said with immediate practical application.

Yesterday ended with atending the Lent course. The Chatham churches are getting together every Wednesday evening over Lent and have managed to get a different bishop each night to talk on a topic. Last night Bishop James spoke to the title, ‘Empowering Mission relevant to our society and culture’. I was encouraged by what I heard.

Bishop James spoke widely around the term ‘empowering mission‘. What empowers mission was an early question and ‘the Holy Spirit’ was an early answer. He then turned the term around and asked how does mission empower people because he believed mission, if it is mission, is about transforming lives and not just saving souls as Jesus makes pretty clear in John 10:10. I wanted to shout a loud front row Pentecostal yes to that … but you will be glad to know I kept my Anglican calm dignity in the back row by nodding slowly but surely!

Bishop James ended his talk by referring to Jeremiah chapter 29 and these word which were written to exiles that, I presume, wanted to escape their exile:
build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters – that you may be increased there and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in it’s peace, you will have peace. (vv5-8)

Sometimes we can feel as exiles where we are; but our role and calling is not to moan but to settle and to be a blessing. As Bishop James said, we need to be rooted in the places we are, listening to the heartbeat of our communities and responding appropriately.

I love that statement and I agree with it wholeheartedly. That is what I am attempting to do in the St Stephen’s parish but it takes a lot longer than 6 weeks to tune in. To be rooted in a place takes time and sometimes it does not happen at all …. but when it does relationships flourish and people of a place become very special. After 20 years of living and working in a variety of ways in the community of Medway I feel like roots are developing and growing well. I can sense and hear the heartbeat and, in my case, pioneering is about the responding appropriately. It takes that long to establish roots in a place which is why I am fighting to stay locally in my next role.

People ask am I moving, can I move and will I move … I could, there are opportunities both in this diocese and others …. but I don’t think I can as I, well we as a family,  passionately feel called to serve the people of Medway, to seek the welfare of the people of Medway, to pray for peace for the people of Medway. When I first came here from Weymouth in 1987 I hated Medway with a passion and could not wait to return to the West Country …. we worked for Holy Trinity Nailsea for 4 years but we came back, believing God called us back here. I can say I have built my house here, I am planting my garden (remember my allotment!) … and I’ve even ‘taken’ (not my word!) a wife and beget sons and a daughter here. As I consider this passage what other response can I make?

I will seek the peace of this city … and in that peace I hope that I will fine mine.