Author Archives: robryan65

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About robryan65

fallible human, like a phoenix runner spouse, father, grandpa, Jesus lover, creative, real ale, rum and malt whisky drinker dancing - expressing only personal views.

5000 answer to prayer!

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icon_christ_loaves2We just had a good, no exciting (!) DCC meeting. I never thought I would ever anywhere write that sentence in my life …. but there you go, I have. My DCC are a great bunch of people … they must be because they put up with me!

Tonight I changed the agenda around a bit … we spent the first part of the meeting looking in our bibles and searching for a story that we felt we could identify with as a church now, and why we felt that story was important to us. The idea came from Holy Conversations which I am currently reading.

A number of stories ‘appeared’ which we spoke about. There was Esther, the Exodus, The woman at the well, Daniel, the road to Emmaus, Ezekial, Love your neighbour …. but none of these seemed to resonate with everyone. Until, that is, someone suggested the feeding of the 5000.

When this story was shared I saw the DCC members change … body language changed, there was enthusiasm, people talked of how it seemed to link with us … the disciples had very limited resources but thousands to feed …. just like us trying to reach the thousands of people here when there is only 12 of us. The disciples brought what they had on that day and Jesus took it and multiplied it so they had more than enough …. this is our prayer on the peninsula; that through our little gifts and ability God will do amazing things. Other questions and parallels came…. so it seems we have a story which we can relate to at the moment, at this point in time.

Over the next few weeks we are going to look into this story, study it, think or dwell on it when we can and talk about it lots when we gather. It is my prayer that through this story we will learn more about us as church and our purpose.

Food for thought 

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We had our third Agapai last night in its new format. There were 5 of us which has been our largest gathering yet (apart from when the archdeacon visited). A new person joined us who has only lived in the village for a few days and she is looking for community.Agapai felt like a welcoming community last night. There was food, sharing, serious moments, lots of laughter; there was prayer, hope and sharing of bread and wine. There was acknowledgment that God is at the centre of what we do.

All these things were exciting to see. Most of all though, and what I was really excited about, was that there was acceptance. There was real acceptance and the start gas of trust. I can’t be sure but I kind of feel that if any casual observer looked in on Agapai last night that they would never have guessed that we did not know each other very well, or that that particular group of people had never met before. The openness and acceptance showed something of the uniting spirit of God. 

It was a joy to be at …. I’m praying that we continue and grow! 

Lights of prayer

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IMG_0651I had the pleasure of catching up with old friend Jonathan Oloyede last night as he visited the east Greenwich parish to teach about prayer. He was an inspiring speaker, as ever, and people seemed both really encouraged and enthused by what he had to say.

As well as teaching and talking of expectancy he shared this video of dominoes. He used it as a metaphor for prayer … that as we do our bit …. well watch the video and you will get the drift!

A ‘little bit’ he suggested to everyone was to set your phone alarm to mid-day and then take time out to speak the Lord’s Prayer. I have suggested to the Holy Trinity community that we could do this.

At the ned of the evening we gathered around the map of our patch. If you click on the pic you can probably get a bigger image … although HT is in the wrong (it’s old) place … to gain an idea of where we are working. While looking at the map we prayed for light to appear and for lights to come on … that resonated with me quite powerfully … as I pray for Christians and those interested in faith around the peninsula to be visible and to join with others to get involved in this community.

This weekend we saw new people. Tonight a new person is coming to Agapai. I pray this is the start of something new. Amen!

 

at-one-ment

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IMG_0648On Sunday night we had what I thought was a really good 18:01. It was also the largest attended one so far (13 people!) … and although numbers are not what it is about, it is true that a greater number of people really helps when we get to our discussion time.

The theme on Sunday night was unity taken from John 17 where Jesus talks about being at one with God …. I termed it ‘at-one-ment’ and suggested that this unity consist of us being at one with God, at one with the wider church and at one with the rest of creation.

To try and illustrate this I got people to roll together 3 different colours of play doh. We started with 3 separate colours that became one uniform colour after being rolled together for just a little while. The picture shows the three stages.

I suggested this is what ‘at-one-ment’ looked like.

The discussion time brought out lots of points and developed our thinking further. Someone pointed out that the play doh with the marble effect of three different colours was prettier than the one uniformed colour.

Someone else then suggested that the pretty marbled effect might be prettier but was a safe option as far as unified lives were concerned. The one uniform colour maybe illustrating a scarier reality …. for to allow ourselves to integrate in true ‘at-one’ment’ with God, church and world was quite a step of risk and challenge. 

I felt something special occurred with us as a group on Sunday evening …. maybe something else new is being birthed here too!

If the idea of stuff like this grabs you …. come join us as we attempt to develop church here in a  new way.

birthing … something!

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Wednesday ev5e046d53-f183-4819-88c2-21e3e639efb1 copyening saw the second of our ‘new’ community meals of Holy Trinity.
A few of us gathered, we ate together a pretty tasty meal (#blowmyowntrumpet). We shared our stories of the week, in other words what had been happening and what, if anything, we felt God may have been doing in our weeks.
We asked what we needed prayer for and prayed for each other.
On some nights we might find someone has something to share as a thought or question which we would then chat about around the table.
We then shared bread and wine together using a very simple liturgy referring to how long bread and wine has been shared. I think it is also important that as we try and develop something ‘new’ we remain aware of how deeply rooted in history and tradition this practice is and how central it is for intentional Christian community to grow

The time ‘felt’ good and right.
It felt like a time of encouragement and building up.
It felt like a time of connection with the wider church and faith.
I am fairly committed to thinking that if ‘church’ is going to be birthed and grow in this place then it needs to be through community that wants to spend time together, a group of people that as it meets and grows learns to trust and share and live life together. That then, in my mind, becomes intentional community.

We are still in very early days, we are still pretty much learning as we go along. It is early days but we have birthed something ‘new’ on the Peninsula.

If this sounds interesting to you … and live near enough to join us … then please do!

Happiness course

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happy-course-logo-100hI recently joined a training day with Livability and have now been trained and am licensed as a Happiness Course leader.

When I went to the day I am happy (yeah yeah great pun!) to admit that I was a little sceptical about the title … it raised a few eyebrows in some of my circles … but the material is really excellent and I am looking forward to delivering our first Happiness Course here on the peninsula. I am fairly convinced The Happiness Course could be of real benefit to local communities and to churches seeking to engage with and support community.

I am excited about this course as I believe this is a course that could be really helpful to a broad spectrum of people. This is not a faith based course, but it is a course that churches can become licensed and offer for the benefit of their communities. The course looks at what happiness is and what makes us happy, it asks whether happiness levels can change or whether it is genetic … it is a very interactive course, with a mixture of teaching, video, interaction, problem solving etc. The course consists of four 2 hour sessions.

On the Peninsula I am not only asking when we could run this course … but also where. One of my frustrations with being here is the lack of public or community space to do things. I do have a few ideas though and so I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

If you are on or near the Peninsula and think you would be interested in the Happiness Course (check out thee weblink) then get in touch ….

mind body spirit at Olympia

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IMG_0009Over the last few days I have been part of the Dekhomai team once again at this years MBS festival held at Kensington Olympia. Here I have been involved in Ruach Cards, the Jesus Deck, praying for the healing of people and generally being a listening ear.

It was great to be part of such a great team of like minded and creative, caring people once again and a real privilege to spend time with the people visiting the mbs fair. I have, once again, as I am every year, overwhelmed by the things that people are carrying and desperately want to share. Over these last few days I have been moved to tears by stuff that people have openly and courageously shared with me. I could share here anonymously, but that in some way feels like I would be betraying their trust.

This years event was again a great mix of spiritualities, mindfulness and lifestyle practices.

Some observations I noticed from this year:
There seemed to be more men around who were genuinely searching. In the past there have been men who were ‘tagging along’ with partners. That seemed less this year.
People seem to be searching more for meaning and have a deep seated need to be listened to. The issues people were sharing were incredibly deep painful stuff … in the past we have had this but this year I noticed a massive increase.

I want to post here a thank you … to the team who welcomed each other in once again … and for the people who invited me into their lives for a little while … for both I will continue to pray.

Thank you.

 

homes .. not halls

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the-word-homeI have been struck in the news recently by a lot of discussion around how we support refugees and others that are homeless and need support. There has been a good response from churches who have been talking about making use of empty church buildings or empty church houses or even halls and stuff like that. While that is a positive response I am not sure it is the correct or best response.

I will try to explain my thinking with a hypothetical situation. Take, say a family from a war torn country arriving here in need of shelter. We are aware of an empty house in one of our towns and we house them there. They know no one. They are in a new land. They are trumatised. They are in a new country with new customs, new rules, a new language. I wonder if this approach results in a continuation of a feeling of isolation. It is definitely a step in the right direction … but is there more we can do … is there more that God might require of us?

I believe people seeking shelter need more than just a building …. all of us need connection with the rest of humanity, all need to know they are accepted, loved, cared for … wanted even to add to the community we find themselves in . Living alone, where you know no one, can simply generate isolation and feelings of rejection, no matter how best the intentions.

Maybe, instead of our halls, we need to be offering our homes?
Maybe, instead of placing people into our empty sanitised buildings, we need to invite people into our messy cultural rich loving homes.
Maybe we need to open our family life and invite others into it.
Maybe ‘finding somewhere’ is easier than ‘inviting in.’
Finding empty buildings for people may be an easier option … inviting a family to live with you, and learn about culture and community with you, to eat together and learn together is a much harder thing to do.
Inviting people in, though,  gives a more solid footing to growing in community … it is just that for many of us it is so hard to do.
I include myself in that …. but it does not stop the niggling feeling that we should be doing more.

What does this mean for me? I don’t know!
What about for our church HT on the Peninsula … again I don’t know!
What do you think … any comments on this … am I way off the wall in this thinking?
Homes or halls?

 

agapai

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IMG_0008Agapai is the name we have chosen for our Wednesday evening get together. It is a word that is used to describe the meals and get togethers of the early church and so it seemed a fitting name.
I spoke of the changes we had made to how we worship here a few months ago. Last week we reviewed those changes and asked how we felt things were going. We also asked what we thought was good, what was frustrating and what was lacking.

Out of that process came the thought that Agapai had started to lack in its purpose. We started to meet to talk about the kind of church we wanted to be but with just a few people this became quite a draining experience and described as ‘just like work’. We made a decision that instead of talking about various formats that, instead we would be it. This resulted in last night’s Agapai having more of a purpose.

As always we met to eat. As we ate we answered two questions:
‘What has God been doing this week?’ and
‘What do you need prayer for?’
We then prayed together before simply sharing bread and wine.
On occasions we might add some kind of brief ‘thought’ into this mix.

As the evening drew to a close I reflected and had a great sense of us now starting something different on the peninsula. We have started a place to share our stories, to eat, to pray and break bread together …. that in itself is a pretty good start I think.

So …. if you live on or near the Peninsula and you are looking to join a small fledgling Christian community that is seeking to grow and be a positive influence …. then why not pay us a visit …. all are welcome!
(more details on the HT website)

Today I ate a £5 note!

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5-pound-note-series-e-2002-frontWell … ok …. I chewed up half a £5 note …. and it was yesterday!

One of the fun things I get to do as a team vicar / chaplain is lead Collective Worship (assembly to those of us from my era!) in each of the three schools in the Koinonia Federation. Yesterday was one of those CW days and the theme for this term is ‘Love’ with John 3:16 as the central verse.

I wondered what to speak about and then decided to adapt something I saw someone else do using a £5. First I asked the children who or what they loved. Then I asked what love was …. a Y2 girl answered ‘being there for someone you care about no matter what’

I thought that was a pretty cool definition of love.

I then took a nice £5 note out of my pocket and asked if anyone would like it.
Obviously all hands went up. I then ripped it in half (to gasps of shock!), screwed it up, danced on it, and finally chewed it up in my mouth (yes!!! my flipping mouth after it had been on the school hall floor!!!) to sounds of ‘eeewwww’
I then asked if anyone still wanted the £5 note. Most still did.One child got the £5 to take home … when I asked why he wanted it he said ‘well, it’s still a £5’

The more I talk to people, the more I seem to be seeing and hearing that this image of a loving God, a God that sent a son because he loved the whole of creation (humanity as well!) to save them, is being lost. The image of a ‘loving you no matter what’ God seems to be being replaced by an autocratic, rules based, angry demanding God.

That is not a god of good news.
That is a god of fear.
That is a god of oppression and hate.
Following a god like that unsurprisingly results in a ‘faith’ like this. I can’t bear to have such a sickening picture on my blog …. a faith of hate is not a faith rooted in a God of love.

So … today … in this first blog for a while … I want to leave a message that I left the school with yesterday …. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
That means God loves you and is committed to you no matter what ….
if you feel that you have been treated badly,
or you feel worthless
or you feel like you have been ripped in half
or screwed up
or chewed up and spat out;
if you feel any or all of these things,
God loves you.
Because
at the end of the day
(like that £5 note was still a £5 note)
you are still the person that God created
you are still that person that God loves
and nothing can change that.
Nothing at all.
Amen.