The priority agenda for Jesus,

and for many of us,

is not mortality or anxiety,

but unrighteousness, injustice.

The need is not for consolation or acceptance

but for a new order

in which we may all live together in love.

In Jesus’ time, therefore, as in ours,

the question of revolution,

the judgement of God upon the present order

and the imminent promise of another one,

is the language in which the gospel must speak

 

Yoder is quoted again in todays Advent thought. This quote really resonates with me as I view Christianity as a way of life. Often people talk of needing to be comforted by God or helped by God or blessed by God. All of those things are things God chooses to do … but actually, in todays western church I agree that what we really need, above comfort and all of that is challenge.

As we prepare for the coming of the christ child during Advent we should have a great desire to be challenged by Christ. This is a time of great sacrifice and gamble by God. The challenge for us, I guess, is how do we allow that sacrifice and gamble determine how we live?

At this time of Advent rolling into Christmas, with images around us of cosiness and comfort and love …. I want to see challenge and risk taking and gamble …. life without challenge … well is that even life at all?

Today I caught up with Ian, my mentor, in Scooter Cafe in Waterloo, which is probably one of my favourite places in London to have a coffee. As I walked there from the station I was shocked by the realisation that I have not had coffee since before I was ordained as this was a place where I did a lot of my thinking, essay writing and reading. I found the creative ‘vibe’ here to be something that was easy to tune into … and today was pretty much the same.

I think it is fair to say that I have been struggling over the last few weeks to grasp what is happening around me and the correct way forward. Today, probably more so than at any other time in my life, I saw the immediate importance of having someone you really respect totally outside the situation, who understands what you are about, who can speak wisdom in such a way that things rapidly become obvious.

This morning we spoke about many things and I was able to view things from a different perspective. Most importantly I have come away with a plan in my mind, a plan or idea for us as the gathering  community that I hope will promote our growth, serve our identity and so make it easier for people to understand what we are about.

Today was a good day … and tomorrow morning it just so happens that i see Sister Diana, my spiritual director, in Edenbridge so that should help as well!

The moral of my story …. we all need people, friends, mentors and spiritual directors and inspirational places to keep us on track.

I attended another beautiful funeral this afternoon. I met Brian and Adela about 2 years ago. In that time I have come to know them as a couple massively in love with each other but who have that ample embracing space within their relationship which allowed them to be very interested in the lives of others around them. Brian died on 21st November and I won’t be the only one who will miss his smile and laugh around Rochester.

Today was a day of courage as Adela and Joel, one of Brian’s sons, reflected eloquently what Brian had meant to them. Joel spoke of his dad ‘always seeming to be going somewhere’ and the excitement of that. Adela told us that one of Brians passions was metal detecting and he found interesting artefacts, some held in the British Museum. The Times ran a 2 page interview with him as a result of this passion and Adela remembered that the reporter described Brian as ‘an anarchist with the heart of a poet.’ That is such a beautiful description of a gentlemen that I really wish I had met a lot earlier. Brian is probably one of the gentlest mans I have ever met, with eyes that overflowed with stories to tell.

The service ended with this amazing ancient gaelic blessing:

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.

May The deep peace of the Creator God be with all who mourn Brian this night and for always.

The title pretty much sums yup the variety of topics that we covered at our last pub theo session. At times the discussion got heated and at times I felt a need to play a devils advocate kind of role to fuel the flames …. the discussion was live, fun, noisy and challenging.

I was very conscious of people around eavesdropping on conversations and wonder if one day one of those people will venture into the group. I still reckon people want to engage with questions. WE all naturally question, I believe it is a human attribute, and yet there are few places today where people can go to debate anything.

pub theo is a place to debate anything and everything. It’s right that at times it should become lively as we disagree with each other but still get on together. If you missed this one then you will have a little wait before the next pub theo, which will break for Christmas meaning the next time together will be in The Golden Lion on Monday 30th January. As there is a 2 month gap we agreed to try and read Rob Bell’s Love Wins and chat about some of the stuff in that …. so a topic like heaven and hell, who is in and out, is hell a literal place … and stuff like that!

Maybe see you on 30th Jan!

I am not ashamed of my faith. I am not ashamed of Jesus. I am not concerned about people knowing what I believe. I am happy to talk about my faith and never been prevented from doing so.

I have been ridiculed for my faith and lost  friends because of it. But that has also happened as a result of my political views and opinions. That is not persecution, that is the freewill of humanity.

I am ashamed, however, of the Not Ashamed campaign that is, once again, peddling its Christianophobic view which is, quite frankly, ludicrous! They have a premise of and talk of persecution and discrimination of Christians in this country, and yet we have Christian schools (which, actually, discriminate against people who are not Christians in both pupil intake and staff). Parliament starts with prayer daily with MPs even having their own chapel for daily services.  Christians are not persecuted in this country …. to say we are is to heap insult on Christians and other faith bodies across the world who really are persecuted for their faith …. Muslims in Bosnia, the Karin in Burma, Christians in Zimbabwe,  Sikhs in Pakistan … the list could go on. But … in the UK, Christians are not persecuted.

The campaign also speaks of ‘not compromising Biblical teaching’ and this is where the campaign, run by Christian Concern, really narrows to an exclusive and discriminatory slant of Christianity. The Biblical teaching they talk of is a right wing evangelical understanding of scripture … which would, and does, exclude a lot of committed, hard working and unashamed Christians. They, like myself, are not ashamed of our faith, and certainly not ashamed of Jesus Christ, but could never sign up to a campaign that rejects, excludes and misleads in the (apparent) name of the gospel.

I don’t read a gospel that excludes or follow a Jesus that discriminates.

Bodenheim writes this morning in Disturbing Complacency that Advent is ‘a time of critical reflection on our life and faith both as individuals and as communities …. During this time we make room for confession, we drop defensiveness and we acknowledge that we are not God‘.

In her comment, Bodenheim, I think, sums up my biggest distress/shame with this campaign. The Not Ashamed campaign think they are 100% right. They believe their reading and interpretation of scripture are the only valid reading and interpretation that can be. They are as dismissive of other wings of the church and their interpretations as they are of other religions. I believe they think they have the monopoly on truth and faith …..

Only one possesses complete truth, only one has the monopoly, only one is right  …. and that one is God.

Advent is a time to remind ourselves and acknowledge that we are not God.

One of the very special things about my life and role is that I get to visit and sit with people in very special circumstances when the only word I can use to sum of what has hapened, or the situation I find myself in, is ‘privilege’.

Today I sat with someone I have spoken to lots on my travels since ordination while they died. There was me, the man in the bed and his brother.

The man was 92 and even a few months ago he was still talking about ‘the old people’ in the hospice who he tried to cheer up because ‘they were old and had outlived everyone and so had no visitors.’

At 92, I guess he knew the reality and pain of that statement.

Today was not a sad occasion as such, although he will be missed and those in the room shed a few tears. I wanted to mark today by recording something about how much of a privilege I had to be included in this very intimate moment with these guys as we said goodbye and watched life ebb away as death flowed into the space.

The funny thing …. and this is always the case. I went to support and be there to help. I came away with so much more than I gave … which always seems the case in everything I do.

I had my games maker interview yesterday as I have applied to volunteer as one of the 150 or so chaplains throughout the olympics and paralympics.

I was impressed by the organisation and timing of the event. It ran like clockwork, and people were going out of their way to be helpful. If this is an early indication of quality of organisation then people are not going to be disappointed. (well apart from those who are looking for things to complain about)

The interview was fairly thorough and I felt quite tired, as well as excited, after the end of the interview even though it was only around 30 minutes long. I found out just before the interview that around 75% of people applying to volunteer for the chaplain roles will not be offered positions. They have received far more applictions then they thought and I guess, on the above figures, they must have had around 600 people apply to volunteer to be chaplains across the games. I think that is pretty cool.

I’m quite excited about the possibility of volunteering for the Olympics So … a 1 in 4 chance is not that bad …. so here’s hoping. I could know as soon as the end of October.

Yesterday saw an incredibly mixed day that is becoming the norm in the life of a pioneer curate based in a cathedral.

Yesterday was our patronal festival in the cathedral. For those of you that don’t know this means we celebrate the life of our patron saint which happens to be St. Mary the Virgin. So yesterday’s eucharist service was big and long. New choristers and staff members were resented and accepted on the cathedral foundation. It was also a Kings Sunday which means the scholars from Kings school attend. The service was packed with people, very traditional and we finished at 12.15 which is unusual for the well timed cathedral.

The service was good. God was connecting with people and peopled were being changed in some wat through that encounter.

As it was the 10th anniversary of 9/11 we designed a symbolic installation which gives people opportunity to leave comments and reflect. Over the weekend I have found myself in conversation with people who have found this opportunity helpful and painful. We ended our patronal festival yesterday gathered around this memorial and placed the altar candles there.

The afternoon it was a complete change for me as the gathering gathered in the crypt to look at dance as a topic and ask the question ‘what is performance and what is worship’. I think this turned out to be one of the most engaging and fun gatherings we have had for a while.

In John’s gospel when asked about worship Jesus says, ‘God is Spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth’. We talked about this and thought there was something here about partaking, about integrity and about engagement and transformation. We came to an agreement that it’s easy to say that soem styles of worship are performance (e.g. dance, choir, bands), but that these are performance only if we let them be. If we engage with God , even if that engagement is through observation, then it ceases to be a spectator sport and becomes worship.

It was a good time together and we left each other with the challenge of how we ensure that God is the centre of our worship, particularly as we agreed that worship is a lifestyle rather than an activity.

So … a fairly mixed Sunday but one that serves as a good illustration for our worship discussion at the gathering. Yesterday I experienced many different ways of engaging with God through different services, conversations and activities … I had a personal preference and enjoyed some more than others .. but I also strongly believe that all were as valid as the others …. it’s great we have such a big God who designed lots of different people …. if there was only one way to worship imagine how monochromatially boring that would be!

There’s not a lot to say at times like this.
The shock has been well expressed by others.
Those livingn with the reality of the riots are far better placed to make statements than me.

I received this prayer today from the CofE comms update: