Category Archives: faith

pub theo and marriage

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Pub Theo happened again last night, although the conversation never got on to what we planned to talk about. The initial question was asking something along the lines of ‘what do the recent calls for prayer surrounding Muamba and his cardiac arrest say, if anything, about our nation?’

Instead … the hot topic due to the news and quite a long conversation on my sons facebook page (now at 122 comments) was that of gay marriage and the effort being placed by some churches in the signing of the coalition for marriage page to ‘protect’ the traditional view of marriage.

The conversation was pretty one sided last night …. as a number of the conversations I have sat in on seem to be around this topic over the last few weeks. To be honest, I have been surprised how there is a much wider acceptance of gay marriage in parts of the Christian world where I had assumed the traditional view would have been held. I don’t know what this is saying, if anything, about the general view of people or whether this could be seen as a moving of the Holy Spirit or even whether we are drifting into liberalism … but we are in interesting times and this is a hot topic!

One of the frustrations voiced last night, and in 2 or 3 other conversations I have had over the last few weeks, was that a section of Christians were heavily advocating one view as the only biblical view, when in actual fact we know there are Christians, both young and mature, well known and anonymous, on both sides of the discussion. There are Christians that disagree with gay marriage. There are Christians that agree with gay marriage. Is one right and one wrong, both right, or both wrong?

I was struck by these words in guidance to the Methodist church regarding the coalition for marriage petition: The Methodist Church itself is not a sponsor of the campaign or the petition. This is primarily because we believe that the best way to engage with the proposals is through a reasoned response to the consultation. There are also concerns that some of the views evoked by the campaign do not affirm “the participation and ministry of lesbians and gay men in the Church” (statement on Human Sexuality, 1993). As such, for some people, this will be a contentious petition, even though many Christians will choose to support it.

So … whatever our view, it is important, I think, to look at both sides of the issue, engage and discuss and try to make some choice after than engagement and discussion, and so I attempt to give some links below to outline both sides:

an interview with the Dean of St Albans
an interview with Gerald Coates
an interview with Dean of St Pauls
an interview with Archbishop John Sentamu 

We have there four very well known Christian leaders and amongst them sitting on both sides of the discussion.  I am sorry I have chosen 4 men, but I have not been able to find views from others reported so easily online.

And then of course there are 2 campaigns should you wish to sign up for either one … or neither … the coalition for marriage and the coalition for equal marriage.

I hope my choice of interviews and post tries to give a balanced view to help people that come here to consider both sides of this issue.  I have my view … but I respect the view of others who disagree with me. I think as ‘church’ we can disagree, hold differing opinions in tension, and continue our Christian faith journey’s together. What I am very wary of is if either side of this view tries to impose their opinion on the other side or, worse still, questions the faith of those who express a different opinion.

We don’t all have to believe exactly the same …. when we can live together in that tension I think that gives a pretty powerful message to the world.

 

you must ….

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Jon at ASBO Jesus has hit something on the head with this cartoon. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry at I read it …. but I do know that it gives me a sicky feeling which is coupled with a great desire to shout ‘NO!’

I seem to have come across a lot of people over the last couple of months who have this strong view of church … a view that church is a place that breeds robots that all think the same, speak the same and believe the same. There is a strong image of church ‘out there’ that believes chrch is a place where you are told what to think and how to behave. Personally, that whole image scares me to death! I don’t believe the language of Christ, and therefore the language of church, ever included ‘you must’ … unless it involves the two greatest commandments as set out by Jesus when asked  ..’to love  God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind ….. and to love others as you love yourself’. They are musts.

But … we need not agree, we need not think the same, we need not worship the same, …. that makes me think more of The Borg, not the life of a follower of Christ! The Borg (fictional I know!!!) are feared because there is no individuality with a focussed goal of perfection through assimilation. Followers of Christ, the church, are about individuals using their God given gifts to transform their communities and LOVE!

I feel a sermon brewing…. so I’m ending there to reflect!

the allotment of life

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In the Christmas holiday we acquired an allotment from the council. I have been on the waiting list for around 4 / 5 years nd had started to think we would never get to the top of the list … but at the end of the year we did!

Our plot has been neglected a bit and needs a lot of work but we have been slowly working on little bits by clearing rubbish, strimming areas and starting to dig beds for stuff we are going to grow. We have even covered others areas with weed suppressing cloth … aren’t you impressed! The allotment also has a pond on it which Joe is going tombe responsible for which I hope will add to our organic vision for our plot.

This half term week I have spent most mornings working for around 3 hours on the allotment and been loving the space, the quiet and the freedom of working in the outdoors.  It gets quite buy at the weekend, but during the week, it seems, the place is pretty quiet. I have found that the allotment can be a great place of retreat. The regular and repetitive tasks on the allotment such as weeding, digging, sweeping or planting help me as I pray and reflect on what has gone and what may be ahead. It reminded me of my weeks retreat a long time ago with the Northumbria Community when Rob, my guide, set me a bible passage to mull over as I planted potatoes. The repetitive activity of planting really enhanced my thinking and listening to God.

The other week I spoke a homily based on the parable of the sower which was written in my head while working on the allotment. This has traditionally been thought of as a parable speaking of who will be in God’s KIngdom and who will be excluded. I am always uncomfortable with any interpretation which talks of a loving God excluding people. As I worked I rethought the parable and thought of it more as a parable of soils rather than sowers.

I did this as I noticed that all the allotments are identical in size but differ in their proportions of different soils which each allotment having some areas which are very fertile and are being fully cultivated and are fruitful, while some areas are hard and compact and have been paths for years, and will remain paths. Other bits are full of rocks and need ‘sifting’, while yet other bits are quite weedy and thorny and need clearing. I also noticed the plots which always seem to have the owner working on them whenever I visit tend to be the plots which have more fertile ground than others.

In my homily I likened this to our lives and ended
 by saying: ‘If you are like me, (and my allotment!) your life is going to be like a field. Some of is the hardened first soil, some of it is the rocky soil, some of it is the thorny soil, and some of it is good soil. The goal is to till the hardened soil, clear away the rocks, and burn out the thorns so that our entire field becomes good, fertile soil. We are all like allotments with our mixture of life stuff where we don’t want to hear from God and avoid him, mixed with the rocks that trip us up and the thorns we don’t realise are snagging us. But we all have good soil too, those areas of our lives where we allow God to change us.

I wonder whether this parable talks to us more about our personal lives and discipleship than it does about who is ‘in’ and ‘out’ of God’s Kingdom. I wonder if it is more about God challenging us to give over more of our lives to God. As we approach Lent, I wonder if this parable is not so much about who believes the right or wrong things, but about giving up ideas of the importance of ourselves and in that giving up, allowing God to remould us and recreate us into the people we are supposed to be. I just wonder ….

clinging to God

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I traveled to the Sisters of St. Andrew in Edenbridge this afternoon to spend an hour with Sister Diane, my spiritual director. My time with Sister Diane is always good, she listens, she challenges and, most importantly for me, she is quite direct and practical in asking me deep and demanding questions about where I happen to be spiritually.

The last few weeks have not been great, although I can smile about things now. Both Sarah and my futures have been thrown pretty much up in the air and it has been difficult (and still is!) to discern really what God is saying about things. One interpretation of our circumstances could be ‘hang in there and believe the promise in the way Abraham chose to believe the promise in Genesis, despite everything around him screaming ‘no!’ Equally, the interpretation could be it is ‘time to move on, to a new area, and start something new.’ We are open to both although swing more towards the former at the moment – as it seems just too easy to pack up and go and start something new (as in we know how to start new things!) whereas the real challenge would be to stay and continue moving things into the next, unknown, stage. This would take us, and others, to places we have never been before!

As we chatted Sister Diane reminded me that the Igantion way in discerning God was to do everything you could do and then wait, trust and hope in God. I think that is where I am. I have consulted others, listened with people, put togther a proposal and done everything I can possibly do. As we thought together I realised there is nothing else left … apart from waiting, trusting and hoping in God.

I am fully aware that as I wait, trust and hope that God may still be saying move on, and we are open to that. As Sister Diane said, its a time where all I can do is cling to God. So … I cling!

I’m smiling! The situation I find myself in is tough, uncomfortable and I’d rather not be in it – but it is not a bad feeling or a bad place and so I don’t want, or ask for, sympathy or kind words. That word cling can sound negative, but I don’t feel that way. Muscles are aching as clinging can be quite strenuous and painful but … this is positive place and I feel at ease. If I need anything at the moment, I guess it’s other to simply say “I am standing with you … hold on!!!’

It’s probably taken me about 3 weeks to get from the place of sheer panic to this place of peace (which is possibly why the blog has been very quiet in that period). So, please take this as a kind of update on where we are … join us in prayer and waiting if that’s your thing.

So … as I cling …. I wait ……..

I am doing a new thing ….

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‘I am doing a new thing … do you not perceive it?’ … some words from Isaiah 43 which we normally read each week in morning prayer when we are in ‘ordinary time‘.

These are words that have caused me to smile in both delight and confusion as I remember a story about a muslim lady I came into contact a little while ago which I now feel is ok to share . I have already shared it with friends verbally – I’m not sure I understand it; but in many ways that is not the point … the point is that God is God and seems to be working in ways that don’t fit the formula of the established (maybe evangelical) church in which I have grown.

The story starts with a phonecall from the welcome desk in the cathedral. A woman wishes to talk with someone and they decide a priest is who she needs. I am available and so I wandered over to the cathedral. To cut a very long story short, below is an outline of this young lady’s story:

The lady told me she  had quite a weird and confusing dream a week or so ago that had been puzzling her. She also told me as she was walking past the cathedral she felt something within her say ‘you will find the answer to your dream in there’. So … she came into the cathedral.

We chatted generally for a little while and then she started to speak about why she had come into the cathedral. She told me she dreamt that a man was sitting at the foot of her bed and that there was something quite odd about the man. The man was ‘all in white and kind of glowed’ she said and that, ‘and this was the weird thing … he had holes in his wrists and his feet!’

She thought I would think her mad and seemed a little relieved when I smiled and said ‘tell me more’. She then went on to outline that this man spoke to her. I asked ‘what did he say?’ She answered ‘he said “I want you to follow me”‘ and the conversation went on for a while.

I decided I should read a part of the gospel to her. When we got to the crucifixion scene her face lit up and she sat up as she asked ‘do you think that was Jesus in my dream…?’ not really expecting an answer. The woman was genuine, she had no knowledge of the gospel. This was really happening!

After we chatted a little more I asked her what she felt she had done in the dream. Her response floored me … “I have agreed to follow him and kind of given my life to him and go wherever he asks me to go.’ After we chatted some more she asked ‘so … are you saying that I need to become a Christian?’ I responded that I thought that had already happened … and her final response of that day was ‘yes … i think I must be … but can you help me understand what it is that I have done?’

Together for a few weeks we went through some baptism/confirmation material. This person is no longer in Rochester or Kent and for reasons of her safety I won’t say where she is; but as I reflect on the whole incident of a few months ago I am left with questions:

I am left wondering why God chose this woman to meet with in such a special way? I am left wondering how come God can break the rules that I have grown up with since I was 17 … i.e. she should have heard the gospel first , understood it and then given her life to Jesus … this is all the wrong way round! I am left wondering what on earth God is up to. I am left wondering how she is getting on now.

But I am not wondering whether it was God …. for it seems God is doing a new thing ….. and I need to learn a lot more about expecting the unexpected!

Apostolic Living

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I have signed up for this day with Affirming Catholicism on 28th January. It looks a great day and I have had an email saying there are still vacancies.

there are great speakers leading thesessions: Paula Gooder, Mike Oakley, Mark Russell and Janete O’Neill asking the question … ‘what does it mean to live as a disciple of Christ in the 21st Century?’ It’s a question the gathering is centred around and it is a question that I grapple with a day by day basis.

The day is located atSouthwark Cathedral and Borough market on a Saturday is always an amazing experience; so that is where I will be at lunchtime!

You can download a brochure here … so if you are free why not book a place.

rolling reformation a year on!

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Yesterday I got to again deacon in a pretty unique (and technically illegal … sshhh!) service in the Rochester Bridge Chapel. I blogged about the service and experience here last year. The service we used is based on a pre-reformation text and last year the experience caused me to start to think about the idea of a ‘rolling reformation’ … trying to capture the idea that we need to be constantly undergoing reformation type acts as language and symbolism changes with time. A year on I find myself feeling this even more strongly as technology and communication seems to be fuelling a language revolution which is constantly morphing and re-morphing as it takes words that I once thought I knew how to use and give them a totally different meaning.

At the time Annie was kind enough to comment, suggesting that the idea of a rolling reformation should not be limited to religion but that the rolling reformation mindset could apply to other spheres of our life.

I liked Annie’s comment: ‘It is our nature to question and grow and evolve, and it is natural that our faith should do the same – while retaining the central core belief.’

I think that hits the nail on the head pretty much. Our understanding, our language, our expression, our living out should evolve as we grow in our learning and understanding. I wonder if this means it pulls our ‘absolutes’ to the bear minimum as it throws up in the air how we should live as Christians. Events of history, past (such as the slave trade) and very recent (such as Occupy London), show that our faith and interpretation of the Bible can be very very different and seen from totally different ends of a spectrum with both sides using the Bible in support of their stance.

I talk with a lot of people in my role – it is one of the things I love about this job at this time. I talk with people of no faith, Christians and post Christian. We talk about lots, agree and disagree about lots as well. I guess the thing that is open to debate, as I find in conversation with my new friends is what is, in fact, the central core belief that needs to be retained and what is, indeed, up for the light of a rolling reformation reinterpretation!

do it anyway!

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This piece of truthful wisdom just seemed to grab, or resonate, with me today:

People are often unreasonable and self centred.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of alterier motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you.
Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

Mother Teresa, 1979 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

consumed by truth

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Some people have the gift of praying amazing prayers with poetic language that sometimes transports you to heaven! Neil Thompson, our precentor, is one of those people. Neil led the daily office this morning and during the prayers he said something that I have been mulling over for the last hour and a half or so … and which I will take into my day today.

I cannot now remember the exact words but the essence was something like:

‘Lord, let us not be overly focussed on finding truth, but let our lives be consumed by truth’

A simple line, in a simple prayer, but with great volume and amplitude that seems to penetrate the soul.

As I consider this, lots of questions flood into the mind:
‘what is truth?’
‘surely truth is in Christ?’
‘but what about this …?’
‘…or that?’

I have written, no doubt many times, that people’s infatuation with defining, and seemingly great desire to protect, the truth are at the root of a lot of the disunity problems and arguments within the church, maybe even within the world. Certainly, the outspoken supporters of some of the arguments boomeranging around the church at this time do not, on occasions, seem to reflect the love of God which surely will be obvious wherever truth exists?

In my mind, and I acknowledge I have a good chance of being completely wrong, wherever truth exists there must also be love. If, as Christians, we believe God is truth … well God is love too … so both must go together.

What is truth?
I don’t know?
I’m not sure it is even definable or understandable!
But … whatever truth is …. I want my life to be consumed by it!

direction

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Today has been one of those slower reflective days. A walk with the dog this morning, and then an hours drive to the Sisters of St Andrew helped me prepare mentally for my time with Sister Diane, my spiritual director. The deal is pretty much that I talk … and so I needed to think about what I wanted to talk about!

Having an hour with Sister Diane every 6 weeks or so is something that I really appreciate and value. She, like any good spiritual director, listens to a lot of what I say with an enquiring ear and gets me to wonder, or hear, what God may be saying amongst the stress and crap (sometimes) of what is going on. (Life is more of the confusing crappy stuff than the exciting stuff just at this point of time!) She helps me see things in a very different light.

The room pictured is the room we meet in. It is a calm comfortable space where both words and silence seem to be both accepted, nourished and welcome. As Sister Diane says, there is no agenda, the space is here for us to use as we see fit.  

Today I was able to reflect over the last few weeks. The highs of Antigua, the lows of an uncertain future, the struggles of wondering what to do next and the frustration of feeling that people really don’t ‘get it’! (That does not mean people don’t … just that I feel they don’t; two different things!). Amazingly, through each of these, after my time at Edenbridge, I am starting to tune into what God may be up to. I’m not there yet – but I can see a way forward, whereas beforehand I was fairly blind to that.

One little exercise that Sister Diane offered was to read the lectionary text for tomorrow before I go to sleep, and then to pick this up again in my head as I pray on the dog walk the next morning. That’s an interesting idea that I am going to give a go over the next few weeks. Tomorrows Psalm is 37 and verses 3 – 8 seem to talk powerfully into my situation at present. As I walk tomorrow morning I shall carry these words in my head:

3 Trust in the LORD, and do good;
         Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
 4 Delight yourself also in the LORD,
         And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
    
 5 Commit your way to the LORD,
         Trust also in Him,
         And He shall bring it to pass.
 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
         And your justice as the noonday.
    
 7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;
         Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
         Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
         Do not fret—it only causes harm. 

Tomorrow I will try not to fret!