Category Archives: seite

seite community

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I’ve returned from a good weekend with friends. The content of what we learned was OK, but the pace was a bit slow and I think we could have achieved more .. but I’m not complaining as it was great to spend time with friends. It’s an interesting time as we all share what will be happening after ordination and start to focus on the fact that we are in a series of ‘last of’s’ in this little community that we have unintentionally formed e.g. the last time we will be at this particular place as a group etc.

Highlights of the weekend …
seeing friends
laughing with friends
cheering England on to victory
leading the pub in song during the above match

lowlights …
hearing the (not so)mighty Gills loose 5-0!
sitting in lectures
being away from the family

On reflection on the weekend I think I have given myself a job. My ongoing thinking around community caused me to consider on the way home how we have developed this community as a year group.

I don’t think we intentionally planned to do this, but the strength of the community is clear for all to see. Rather than setting out to develop a community, we set out to listen to each other, to respect each other, to be honest with each other, to look out for each other, to try to learn from each other; I think in the exercising of these values we have developed a meaningful and strong community. It’s a community that I know I am going to miss at the end of this course.

As I anticipate building community in the future I think it is these values I need to exercise rather than think in an intentional building way. Rather than having set ideas, a set plan with a pre-determined way ahead I wonder if the only set criteria need to be those values of respect, love and honesty?

Sacred Day

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Today has been a packed, but wonderful day.

I started in Tooting United Reformed Church to meet with some people to chat about the centre. We had a good conversation around the topics of urban and multi-cultural ministry.

After a brief stop for lunch at my favourite food stop in Westminster (favourite due to the size of portions and friendly family that run it) I managed to catch up with Ian who acts as my consultant for this last year of my training. We had a great chat around leadership in emerging church, my view of sacramental theology, how I saw myself as a priest and what this means in new forms of church. I really appreciate this time and it has given me a mass of thinking to go through.

Following this I met god friend Nichola at The British Library and we visited the

Sacred

exhibition. There are a few days of this left so if you get a chance go visit as its both amazing and free! Seeing the beauty of texts hundreds (and in some cases 1000!) years old is amazing. The sheer care and time in producing them is an act of worship itself.

From the British Library we headed to the Mudlark for the customary drink and food before lectures at Southwark cathedral. Tonight we looked at ethics around marriage and singleness and how eschatology and pneumatology have a bearing on them. (confused … want to know what that means? … get in the queue!)

An entertaining journey home with 2 lecturers put a good end to the day.

As I reflect on the day itsef, I can recognise God in the ordinary, the everyday as well as in the special and extrardinary. In a very real way today I have experienced God transcending the barrier which we have created called secular / sacred as today I clearly experienced God in both.

the end of seite until september

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The weekend away was great for a variety of reasons.
If you are interested in the end of year review the photos can be seen in y Flikr album – trainee priests showing their performing talents.

Highlights of the weekend:
as ever being with friends
drinking with friends
eating with friends
laughing with friends
my friends at SEITE are just great people who I count it as a privilege to spend time with

Lowlights
missing the family
missing friends that were not there
a talk I just did not ‘get’ on Friday evening
saying bye to friends I may not see again

Tonight was my last SEITE night in Chatham as for family reasons I need to stop going out on Monday nights – so from September I will be joining my Southwark friends on a Tuesday evening instead. I’m quite looking forward to that.

the end of another academic year.
assignments handed in.
marks waited for,
prayers for that magic minimum of 40%!

The end of the second year leaves a sobering thought. In 12 months time this will all be ending for me, and something new will be starting. This will sound weird, but its only just starting to sink in that this course has been life changing and that, at the end, my life is possibly never going to be the same again. Now that does start to scare me a little. That’s a lie – it starts to scare me a lot!

Getting home tonight was odd – there was nothing to do for SEITE, nothing to read, nothing to think about writing and so I did this really odd thing … I sat down with a real ale(a great fathers day present!)and waited for Sarah to come in from the youth group and then we had a chat.

Feels weirdly strange to be back and start to be a human living in the house rather than a work and essay machine which is what I have felt like.

I’m free!

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There was no one in the house just now to hear the shout of ‘YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!’

I feel a bit of release today. About 2 hours ago I finished my last SEITE assignment which has come as a shock as I thought there was no way this would happen until Monday afternoon – the deadline is Monday evening. It’s weird – sometimes you get a little inspiration and before you know where you are you’ve completed the task! This is the first assignment I have been happy with, which is a worrying thought as sod’s law makes me think I’ve done badly – but hey, it’s finished and I am past caring at this stage in the year. The last term has been pretty demanding as YFC has been busy too.

I feel a great sense of release as for the last few days I have felt pretty much handcuffed to the desk in every spare moment I have. I’m looking forward to re-gaining my life for a little while, returning to books I want to read, catching up on friends blogs, spending more time with people that matter (by this i mean my close family who I have neglected recently) – but that all has to wait as I’m off today for the last SEITE residential weekend i Canterbury in a couple of hours – so off now to pack!

who’s insane?

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It’s been quiet here for a few days – a consequence of having too many assignments to do in a short space of time, combined with being busy dealing with ‘stuff’ ad mission proposals and retreats in YFC centres! It’s an insane time!

That’s not at all a complaint, as I love it when I am busy. I love it when I am under pressure to perform and meet deadlines. I love having to think on my feet and troubleshoot. It does, however, seem to zap energy and I have not had the energy needed to think about writing something here.

It would be wrong to share too much work stuff, but for assignments I have had to write a funeral for a sudden death of a youngish mum of 3 children, which was a real challenge, and justify why I did what I did; reflect on what I have learnt from this years preaching module (I must confess not a lot!), reflect on a conversation I have had with one person, and currently I am working on planning as session for women on stress as part of a Lent course and write an essay on what social psychology can teach us about hoe people act in congregations. The deadline for these last 2 is next Monday … 6 days which I was relaxed about – until I realised we have our last training weekend this weekend! So effectively 4 days for 2 assignment … woohoo! I think I may go insane …

I think I love being busy as the buzz means I do not have to question too much what is going on, instead I have to get on and do things as there are things that desperately need doing.

In my daily office, the Northumbria Community are looking at the desert others and fathers over this month, and there have been some great thoughts that I have taken into the day. I particularly loved this:

Abba Anthony said:

‘The time is coming when people will be insane, and when they see someone who is not insane they will attack that person, saying: ‘You are insane, because you are not like us.”

So … is it me, you, or have we all lost it?!

can our worship be mission?

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I have had a much needed day at home today catching up on a mass of emails as well as adding some finishing touches to a couple of minor assignments.

Yesterday I spent a good time with Bishop Brian, the Bishop of Tonbridge, to think about what might happen with me as a pioneer minister beyond ordination. It was an interesting conversation and I was very pleased with what we spoke about – watch this space!

Bishop Brian posed an interesting question to me to think through. It was a question of mission and worship and he asked me how, in a pioneering sense, do we bring worship ad mission together. How, in fact, can we (or even, is it possible to) to make our worship missionally and our mission worshipful?

It’s a question worth considering, and he even lent me this book to delve into to start to answer my questions around this and community – so I’m now keen to get on with SEITE assignments and finish so I can read something I want to again.

The really funny thing is – and I have only just realised this a few seconds ago as I look for a link to the book on Amazon – is that this is Bishop Brians’s own book. When he said this was ‘my book’ I assumed he meant his personal copy … but it seems he is the actual author. The bishop told me this and I made no response or comment at all!!! It’s not that I never looked impressed, I didn’t even really look at the bbok at all unti I got home! Good job I’m not in this for promotion! As it is I may need to start looking for another diocese!!!

so … worshipful mission, missional worship hmmmmmm maybe I shall start to read the book and make some positive comments quick!

Touching the Shadow?

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I had my SEITE annual review today.

Before I met with my personal tutor I had to complete quite a hefty self assessment form asking questions about my formation, my theological training, my spiritual life and so on and so on. This time I also needed to complete what the Church of England calls ‘Appendix B’ which those with the power use to help in making decisions about where the curacy is to be held.

I had difficulty completing this as I have to choose what sort of parish I wish to be based in, whether it is charismatic, catholic, conservative, liberal etc etc. I had difficulty mainly because really I stand in that centre ground and am far more interested in the churches willingness to try anything regarding fresh expressions and allow good experimentation with strong oversight and accountability than I am about where it sits on the theological spectrum.

Anyway, I guess I’ll get a chance to chat about this with the bishop in a few weeks time.

In the meantime – it looks like the acting is going well as the college seem happy and look like they are going to recommend I continue training! mwah ha ha – only another year of fooling them to go!

But in seriousness, the implications of appendix B hit me today as all this is now starting to take on a reality of fresh significance as with not a little apprehension I dare to try and touch the shadow of God and hear from him something of what may be lying in wait for me.

weekend reflections

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This SEITE weekend was one of the best – a close second to Death, Dying and Bereavment. There was certainly a lot more laughter as our opening task was to write down on large sheets of paper all the words we could think of for sexual organs and practices. I’m not sure how it has formed me for the future – but it was a great laugh!

As ever though the real highlights of these weekends for me are spending times with friends laughing, moaning, crying, apologising, eating, drinking …. all those kinds of things that friends do. Particular highlights again involve a wheelchair but I won’t go there! A boat trip along the river to Maidstone with ‘Jezza’, ‘Mouldy’ and ‘NicNic’was a spur of the moment thing which was a cool way to spend some of the afternoon. Grabbing a pint in the Little Gem before the next lecture was also great.

Looking back on the weekend it seems we are fairly open and honest with each other and again I find myself hoping that this will continue beyond ordination. It always strikes me as sad that in clergy circles people seem to be in competiton with each other, or at least suspicious of each other. We have a year group at SEITE that enjoy and trust each other and like being together – maybe we can start to change the church! I wonder …. how many other ordinands have had that thought over the years!

There are a number of other thoughts and questions that this weekend has broght to the surface which I think I amy write about over the next few days when I have had the space to reflect more.

a monastic week?

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It’s going to be an interesting rest of the week.

I’m going to Nympsfield early in the morning to take part in leading some of the retreat for our senior directors and local staff. Nympsfield is a great place and the nuns are great at looking after us. If you are ever looking for a good quiet contemplative and catholic retreat centre then the Marist Nuns at Nympsfield come recommended.

We will be encouraging our workers to slow down and take a more contemplative and quiet approach to rediscover God in places. It’s going to be an interesting time and I’m particularly looking forward to facilitating a discussion around what we do when things go wrong. This will be interesting as its an area which few tend to want to talk about. I’ve also put together a prayer walk with stations, a kind of linear ‘walk out and back’ labyrinth for one afternoon and am interested to see how that will work.

I return on Friday but will immediately leave again after changing bags and join with SEITE colleagues at Aylesford which is run by Carmelite Friars. This is our sex and sexuality weekend – so again an interesting topic!

There will, as a result, be an enforced fast of blogging from now on!

Day 6 and The Borg!

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A day on marriage.

The highlights of today was the talent evening and a thought came to my mind – why are all these creative and talented people becoming vicars – they could use their gifts in much more creative initiatives. In many ways this is quite tragic!

I then thought that it could, though, be very exciting and a great opportunity. If these people continue to use their God given talents after they are ordained it could have a fantastic impact on their mission. I really hope this happens, rather than a Borg assimilation into a world of Common Worship and doing things the correct ‘Anglican way’.

My prayer for today :

‘Lord, protect me from being assimilated into the Church of England’