Monthly Archives: November 2012

beyond the edge

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I’ve had a pretty varied last few days which has left me mulling over the words of Archbishop Rowan on belonging and the history of the church being renewed from the edges rather than the middle. The audios and the videos have now been uploaded on the fresh expression website here. They are all worth taking the time to listen to.

I think I agree that the church seems to historically be renewed from the edges. As I was listening to Archbishop Rowan last week I was envisaging myself as one of those people linking with those on the edges, looking for people on the fringe to be involved in this renewing. Looking for people to ‘tap on the shoulder’ of those that think they do not belong and remind that they do.

I have wondered this week, however, whether that is the case and whether that is, in fact, my role? Do pioneers work on the edge or do pioneers need too go beyond the edge. The edge still has a recognisable boundary, a place of safety or reference. We do not know what is beyond the edge, because we don’t go beyond the edge, for then it wouldn’t be ‘the edge’.

But I wonder … I wonder whether people on the edge want to belong because they are aware that ‘belonging’ is a possibility. Beyond the edge, however, I wonder whether this is as true. I’m not sure people beyond the edge need reminding that they belong because I’m not sure that people desire to belong. I believe a number of people living  beyond the edge do not have the word ‘belong’ in their vocabulary  They do not desire to belong because they have never belonged and not aware that belonging somewhere is a possibility. Belonging has never been an experience.

As well as people working at the edge, pioneers need to be people that are inspired in going off track, into the wilderness, beyond the recognisable fringe. They need to search out those areas where there are no obviously recognisable paths. They have no need of a map as they are drawing the map as they journey, mapping out various paths and many dead ends as they travel, usually alone, into new areas. Rather than working at the edge, they are creating a new edge.

And so I wonder – are pioneers called to constantly re-create a new edge for people to move towards? As they create that new edge, how do they show belonging is a real possibility to those who have never had any concept of belonging.

I need to think about those questions a little more ….

it’s all about belonging. simples!

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Yesterday I had a great day at Following the Missionary Spirit.

Great because it was good to catch up with friends I have not seen in a  little while, great because it is always energising to be in a room with lots of other people that are passionate about mission and see opportunities rather than barriers, and great because , as always, Archbishop Rowan imparted real pearls of wisdom.

There was simply loads packed into this day.
Some words that hit me:
‘we need to go further to stay where we need to be’ Martyn Atkins
‘we need to remember we work from a place of powerlessness’ Annie Kirke
‘the key to the future with fresh expressions is understanding what we have been given for the journey’ Bishop Graham Cray
and there was so much more …. but…

In particular I was challenged by Archbishops Rowan’s words on belonging. He challenged us to think why church should be of interest to people. We, church, should be interesting because the church speaks of the possibility of belonging. In the gospels. he reminded us, Jesus reaches out to those who think that they do not belong, and he taps them on the shoulder, causing them to turn around (repent) and realise that they do belong.

My whole current ministry, every incarnation of it that I can think of, is spent with people who tell me that they do not belong. Many of them think they are not good enough to belong anywhere.

Our role, my role as a missioner, is to remind such people that there is a place of belonging for them. That place is church, maybe not church that you or I recognise, but that is why my role is to create … and that’s quite exciting!

I left the day with a renewed commitment to take up the challenge …. to be with those who feel they don’t belong (that’s the easy bit) and show them that they do!

embarrassed … and more

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What can I say?
Along with many others, I feel a whole kaleidoscope of emotions following the vote of Synod yesterday.
I actually cried.
I genuinely felt sick.
Today those feelings do not seem to have relaxed much.
I feel pretty ’empty’.

Today I find myself totally embarrassed to be connected with the Church of England. Despite that embarrassment, I still love her, which kind of infuriates me. Maybe St. Augustine felt similar when he cried, ‘the church is a whore but she’s my mother!’

Today I have heard and read comments. The comments claimed the measure did not get through Synod (I can’t say wasn’t voted in … because the overall majority still voted yes!) due to alternative provision for those unable to accept a woman bishop. Yet … the ‘no’ speeches yesterday were, in my opinion, far more about the old arguments of male headship ….  nothing new from 20 years ago when I started Christian ministry. Surely we already dealt with that when the church correctly voted for women priests!

20 years and it seems we have gone backwards. Not only am I embarrassed but I believe the nation now sees the church as an embarrassment. As a clergy person in a pioneering role in a town with real people who can’t understand why we don’t have full inclusion already … I am concerned how this will effect the mission of the church. I fear the trust relationship we have with many will be lost …. no one wants to trust an embarrassment or a joke! That is clearly what we are. And, there will be consequences in that relationship in our communities.

There is a clear issue here that I do wish to voice. It’s fairly obvious to me that how Synod works needs to be addressed. If Synod members are truly representative, as in vote according to their electing diocese wishes, then this measure would have passed easily. If people were voting with integrity and following the wishes of those who elected them, then only the representatives of two dioceses should have voted no. It seems people have got elected and voted on personal grounds rather than acting as the representatives they should be. I struggle with that.

These people have deprived the church of God ordained female leadership ….. and you only need to look at the church to see that we are not functioning properly, due to that deprivation. Without an inclusive house of bishops we are incomplete.

But for now this gets us nowhere.
All we can do is pray.
In this season I find strength in the morning prayer canticle based on Isaiah 43:
‘I WILL make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert’

I pray, O Lord, that you make that way soon!

on retreat ….

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Due to some generous friends I am going on retreat from today until Wednesday. I am staying in a cottage in Birchington and intend to use the time to pray, to reflect, to write, to walk, to take photos as I walk and pray and reflect.

I always find sitting beside the sea to be a thin place for me … a place where I can easily feel connected to God. So I am looking forward and and hopeful for theses next few days.

The timetable works well as my retreat will end with a drive to Edenbridge to see Sister Diane, my spiritual director.

See you Wednesday.

individuals or persons

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On Wednesday i joined others at the Moot base for another conversation about monasticism. I was glad to be invited to this, partly because it gave opportunity to meet up with people, other practitioners, I have not seen in a while and to hear from various traditional monastics which was the main aim for this particular gathering.

I like the format of these conversations, which are held within a eucharist service that rolls out slowly across the day. Three speakers delivered for 10 mins each before we chatted about what was said around tables. We would then break for coffee before encountering the next part of the Eucharistic liturgy.

For me this is quite key and gives a certain grounding and rootedness to the day, reminding me that whoever we are this is all about Christ.

I was challenged a number of times during the conversation. As I think I am involved with a group of people that seem to be going down a new monastic route, I heard a lot of gems from traditional monastics on this day which have caused me to pause and think. Two conversations grabbed me in particular:

Brother Colin spoke about enclosure and living in enclosure. He went on to say that ‘enclosure is a place where we are trained to be attentive to God so that our hearts become attentive to God when we go out.’ he then blew my mind with ‘I then become an enclosure for God’. That is a comment worth thinking through. As someone interested in new monasticism with a growing dispersed community, I started to wonder how we can give time to the minet of enclosure where we are. If Brother Colin is correct in his definition, then as a community we need to eb able to develop this practice.

Later in the day Sister margaret Theresa spoke about Solitude and Communion. Again I was struck by the amazing wisdom which only comes from those that are dedicatedly following this lifestyle. She quoted the following after saying that humans can be individuals or persons:

individuals are those who live and survive by asserting themselves against others, creatures who must either devour or be devoured. THose who can only become themselves by separating themselves from others; they can only become themselves at the cost of others.

persons: those who live and survive not by asserting themselves against others, but by finding themselves in and through others. In freely giving themselves to others, they are not lost but renewed. They can only become themselves in relationship to others; and far from the process of ‘becoming themselves’ being at the expense of others, it is most profoundly with and for others’.

This holds, of course, with our doctrine of the Trinity where we see the three persons of the one God living as community, freely giving themselves to each other as well as to us.

In a world that seems to worship the free choice of the individual, I guess we need to be asking how do we live as persons? What would this really look like in my community … and what would ‘being renewed’ really be like?

I left Wednesday inspired, challenged and deeply thoughtful.

And finally …. if you live near me in the wonderful county fo Kent and you like the sound of this new monasticism thing … get in touch … lets keep the conversation going … lets see God working through as we freely give ourselves.

 

 

I am doing a new thing …

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I have come to draw significant strength and encouragement from the Daily Office over the last few years since being ordained. I tend to follow a pattern of using Morning Prayer from Common Worship in the morning and then something else for the evening … which could be COTA liturgy, or stuff from the Northumbria Community, or Moot and sometimes Common Worship again.

Morning Prayer for the next few weeks (called the season from All Saints Day until the day before the First Sunday of Advent ….. (why use one word can you can make up a whole sentence!!))

I know some people struggle with set prayers and saying the same wortds over and over again. I find, however, that as I say familiar words, or words set down, that God breaks in in some unexpected ways. I have been massively struck, challenged and resonated with the words of the canticle, A Song of the new Creation,  said each morning during this season:

1‘I am the Lord, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King.
2Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
3‘Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
4‘Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
5‘I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
6‘The people whom I formed for myself,
that they might declare my praise.’

As a pioneer this is a canticle that I have read, re-read, loved, hated, been inspired by and been frustrated by. But these words of God, that come from Isaiah 43, remind me that God is working, and that God is working in fresh new ways.

I received two very encouraging emails this morning and one spoke of a time spent in Jordan trying to look for Canaan as Moses did. This person shared how their view was obscured due to the dense pollution that is now there, and then went on to offer maybe we need to struggle through the pollution to see the promised land.

I believe that person to be very wise. Not just in my patch, but in most places, there is pollution, both obvious and more subtle, that we may well need to see through, or plough through, before we can start to see where it is God is taking us or what in fact God is doing.

One thing, however, I am sure of …. I may not yet quite perceive it …. but God is doing a new thing …..

moot weekend

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It’s been a pretty amazing weekend.

On Saturday I caught up with friends from Moot who were having a weekend away at the Youth Hostel just down the road, around a mile and a bit from me. (for those of you that don’t know I was on placement with Moot years ago for 3 weeks, which became 6 months which has developed into a good relationship spanning around 7 years). It was encouraging to be amongst a whole group of people who simply ‘get’ what I am trying to do. Our locations and context may be different but our aspirations are fairly similar.

I was able to have a longer chat with Ian and able to share more deeply how things were going. Ian is simply great as helping me to see the possibilities and options before me and I felt incredibly refreshed and much lighter in my spirit after talking for an hour or so.

In the afternoon we wandered down into Rochester and, of course, I had to introduce both my old and new Moot friends to Deaf Cat being the best coffee shop in Rochester! There we were able to chat and share some more.

On our way back to the youth hostel the group in my car wanted to have a look inside the cathedral. It was good to see some friends in the cathedral as well! There are two stunning art exhibition; Art for Evensong in the quire and the Poverty Over exhibition in the lady Chapel, both of which are worth a visit in themselves.

Having good quality time with my Moot friends was an excellent way to spend my Saturday … even if the Gills were playing at home in the FA Cup!

experiencing the holy

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Todays daily meditation from Richard Rohr…On these “thin days,” as the ancient Celts called them, All Saints Day and All Souls Day (Nov. 2), we are invited to be aware of deep time when past, present, and future time all come together as one. On these pivotal days we are reminded that our ancestors are still in us and work with us and through us. Protestants thought it was about “worshiping” saints, but that largely missed the point.

Actually this is a Christian meaning for reincarnation, which Christians also called “the communion of saints” in the Apostle’s Creed. This was the common and corporate notion of the human person. It realized that our ancestors are indeed in us and with us (as modern DNA studies can now prove), and then early Christianity added maybe even for us! We were quite foolish to make fun of many Native and Eastern religions, which we dismissed as “mere ancestor worship” who usually had the more corporate notion of personhood, far removed from the myth of modern individualism. All Saints Day is a celebration of all of us precisely in our togetherness, which is why the New Testament (in twenty places!) called all God lovers “the saints.”

Discuss ….