Category Archives: God

the downpour

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The scene on the M11 and M25 looked something like this today as I drove back from spending the day with Jim (Director) and Stuart (Chair of Trustees) at Cambridge YFC today. On one occasion it was weirdly scary as the water flung up my the wheel of the lorry next to me was actually thundering down on the roof of the car. The rain suddenly came and went in great dramatic form.

Sometimes God’s blessing is just as sudden and dramatic – I guess we could not cope with a continual downpour of blessing; maybe we would be washed away.

Despite the weather it has been an exciting couple of days in London and Cambridge looking at mission dreams and strategies. Jim has not been at Cambridge long but already a great plan is coming into place and I’m looking forward to seeing young people lives being transformed.

Retreat reflections

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The retreat at Nympsfield was excellent and one of the best we have been on. This was largely due to the fantastic mix of people we had at the centre. YFC is incredibly fortunate to have people of great character and integrity directing our local centres.

We based the retreat around some of the stuff from Jamison’s Finding Sanctuary. I paricularly liked the prayer walk we developed for this time away. I think the experience alowed us a different interaction with God which was complemented by the rain (!). For the walk we wrote some of the liturgy and used some liturgy from other sources such as the Northumbria Community.

Our first station was the local church. Inside the church in a time of quiet we prayed for our loved ones left bhind at home.
The second station was the gutter along the side of the road. In the rain water was slowly flowing down the hill and as we watched we offered those gutter parts of our lives to God and askd him to wash us.
As we left the gutter we reflected upon the story of the Emmaus journey and noted that Jesus met these two men on the journey, not back at home nor on the destination. We stopped in the middle of nowhere and asked ourselves ‘what do we miss in our striving from A to B rather than noticing our journey?’
Midway on the walk there is a great viewpoint across the Gloucester countrysideand we considered creation and Genesis 1, thanking God that the same creator created and called us.
On our return we stopped at the crossroads which was busy and prayed for guidance. Finally, back in the village we paused outside the school, a place of young visions, new dreams and potential; here we asked God to refresh our vision for where we were.
The whole experience lasted about 75 minutes.

The walk was a highlight for me, but so was the Pigs Ear – sucha wonderful real ale in the pub across the road from the nuns.

On the retreat I felt God telling me I needed to realign my life (just thought this could be the recentring of months ago!)and reconsider what is important. I also felt God calling me to be happier and content with a simple pass mark on my theology essays so that the family have more of my time – not just the dreggs which is what I think they are getting at the moment. I’m looking forward to sharing this in my tutorial at the end of the week!

Gilbert and George

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After spending some excellent time with a member of the Moot community yesterday morning I took some time out to have a wander around the Gilbert and George exhibition at the Tate Modern. I did this with a purpose of putting myself in a different space and setting to hear from God.

The exhibition is outstanding and it is incredibly hard to visit this and not be affected, or emotionally jolted, in some way. I went particularly looking to be challenged in seeing God in this part of his creation and was quite surprised by how this happened. The art work is amazing. The sheer size and boldness of Gilbert and George’s work is impossible to explain and seeing them in books and on screens is a very poor imitation and the reality of their raw shock and boldness needs to be experienced to be believed. Life, one of my favourites, on the left, for example, is 4.5 metres high by 2.5 wide. It’s hard to describe how something so ‘larger than life’ can take your breath away!

So where was God … amazingly in the ordinary of humanity. The work is very much about everyday life. We think there is nothing particularly spectacular about the subjects that Gilbert and George use (in the main!)but the media they use draws our attention to it and reminds us that, actually, our everyday ‘stuff’ is quite spectacular in itself.

I think that is the amazing thing about God. God is present in the ordinary. In fact, God is ‘at home’ in the ordinary that we call creation. We easily lose sight of this. Jesus spent these 40 days in the desert, as an ordinary everyday man; thirsting, being hungry, being a normal human being.

The plain ordinariness of that life is truly spectacular.

If you get a chance to see this exhibition, I’d recommend you take it. Some of the pieces will disturb you; some may even anger or repulse you. The Tate website is excellent and you can see all the pieces in the room guide by clicking on each room – but as I said, that won’t do it justice.

A New Day Dawns

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This is a powerful prayer written by Alison Browne, a brave young woman who died on June 1997, aged 21, from cystic fibrosis. This is one of the last poems she wrote. I am using this as a basis for my reflections today:

When I am strong I will fight,
And when I am weary of the fight
I will rest in you,
Knowing that you can carry me for a time.

In my fight I will draw strength from your love
For your love cannot be beaten –
When I am alone,
When I fear the icy touch of fear,
I will take it in my hand
And hold it out to you,
And in the heat of your love
It will melt away –

When my heart feels isolated,
When no one cam comfort me
And the crowd serves
Only to remind me of how alone I am,
I will look within myself where you wait
And I will remember to allow you to love me –

Then, when the joy is so strong
That I cannot take life in quickly enough,
I will remember to take a moment to sit with you
And appreciate the beauty you created –

And when the night comes,
I ask only that I be alive with peace and faith,
So that I may not fear
The new day that lies beyond.

God of rules or compassion?

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Last night we touched on an interesting situation in acceptance within church.The scene was of someone from another religion, in this case a Hindu, coming forward for communion at a service. Someone immediately said they would not give communion to someone who was not baptised. My immediate reaction to that was a ‘no’ as that would exclude many Christians I know, not least many in denominations like the Salvation Army.

But what of the situation … should the table be open to all, or should we have rules that people need to meet before they can be included and take part? It’s an interesting question and it was clear we were not easy with the situation and had too little time to talk it through properly.

During the short chat I thought of Cornelius from Acts 10. All the rules said this man should not be included. Peter was breaking the rules and customs by even going into his house! Yet … this man, and others present, were filled with the Holy Spirit when all the rules said they should not have been.

God chose to break the man-made rules in their attempt to box Him into a containable, controllable form! As a result, Peter suggested they should baptise Cornelius and his household and visitors as God had already worked!

Maybe sometimes our ‘rules’ need to be considered in the light of compassion and what God seems to be doing.

Live spectacularly

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Over the holiday we watched Jack when it was on TV.

At the end, Jack makes an emotional speech which includes the following:

“When a shooting star streaks through the blackness turning night into day, make a wish and think of me and make your life spectacular. I know I did.” -Robin Williams as Jack.

I believe God speaks through film and reckon this is a reminder of Philippians 2:15 where we are called to shine like stars in the universe.

I don’t make resolutions at New Year as they never last – but if I was going to, Jack/Williams/Paul’s statement would sum up my aim.

Happy New Year.

God Giggled

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This poem by James over at Sunday Papers sums up the wonder of the incarnation.