Category Archives: seite

Day 4 and 5

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An interesting couple of days at SEITE.
I’ve been discussing Issues in Theology with Simon Barrow of Ekklesia, looked at the armour of God in my bible study, sat in a fantastic coffee shop in Canterbury thinking about mission while reading a couple of chapters of Exiles, and heard some great insights from 2 Muslims, Saira Malik a lecturer from Kings and Dr. Usmani from Maidstone Mosque who told us that Jews Christians and Muslims should get along well together as we are all cousins and have no need to fight each other with the common ground that exists.

Simon was good and I found it interesting to see that some did not accurately listen to what he said and became defensive on issues such as church schools. He was arguing for a different thinking whereas people heard ‘I am against and we should not have these’ rather than ‘if we have these they should not discriminate as that is not a Christian value’

I feel God challenged and spoke to me in the ‘3rd space’ of the coffee shop(you’ll have to read Exiles for a definition) – which makes me smile as I have not been able to find God in most of the structured and tightly controlled worship that we have experienced this week. I know that is an issue with me rather than the people planning and leading worship as I can see that others are being incredibly challenged and the worships sessions themselves are well planned. It’s just for me, at this point in time, I feel I need quiet and time to listen from scripture rather than fill space with words.

Highlights of the last 2 days …
sitting outside Buttermarket with good friends people watching!
a Wetherspoons Curry!
laughing over silly things
Old Specled Hen AND Bishops Finger on tap – a pub from Heaven!
speaking with those that have widely different theological views from me – and yet having friendship of respect and love which will hopefully exist beyond SEITE – that’s got to be a sign of the Kingdom of God!

And now … 7.20am so off to the Crypt! Have I metioned that the lectionary readings are Song of Solomon for the mornings! St John of the cross has interesting interpretations which do not seem to tie in with the immediately obvious interpretations which are a bit much at 7.30 in a cold cathedral crypt!

Day 3

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Well … I was right!
God was asleep yesterday morning!
It’s probably the thought of singing hymns at 7.30 that put him off.
The rest of the day was spent looking at childrens work.

The real highlights of the day were the bible study and the case study that we went through in our small groups. I don’t think I learnt anything today in the main sessions that we could not have taught each other as a group with the skills that are already existing in this gret bunch of people. Once again experts came in, but I think that it’s in the sharing of ideas amongst ourselves and thinking aloud together tht the real ‘training’ occurs. If colleges could get their head around this they could save a lot of time and money!

It’s interesting that in training we are reminded that we are all individuals – yet we all have to do the same training so that we can be sure we all cover the same stuff. Bizarre! I feel a rant coming on so best stop!

The major highlight was escaping to the pub last night and playing Jenga while supping Tanglefoot Ale!

Anyway – must dash to the cathedral for prayer … 8am this morning – God must have made a complaint!

SEITE Easter School Day 2

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Well morning prayer happened at 7.30 and I was there physically!
I heard a gentle snoring and wondered if it was God being gently woken and wondering why people have to worship Him at such an early hour! Apparently Rowan Williams was around – so maybe as a pioneer minister in training I can grab him for a coffee and chat about where he sees things going in the future and how pioneers can be both effectively trained and recruited!

Monday was funeral day – so we’ve looked at funeral services, looked at coffins and caskets and asked all the questions we would want to ask from a very helpful funeral director. The day was actually very useful and nowhere near as morbid as you might expect. I think I have learnt quite a lot today.

I’ve been forced to think a lot about death recently and feel my ideas around what is happening and what the Bible says are evolving. In many ways it is not something we think about often – probably due to our belief that things will not happen to us. Interestingly in my conversations with people death and what happens are becoming topics and do not seem to hold the big taboo that they used to. I find that quite intriguing? Is this a consequence in a bigger interest in spirituality and health and all that?

Highlights of the after hours program was the watching of The Life of Brian while Jeremy and I ran the bar for the night and part of Casino Royale while enjoying some nice whisky. Nice to end a thoughtful day back with the fun basics of good friends and good laughter!

SEITE Easter School day 1

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Just arrived at SEITE Easter school and have the delight of staying in the accommodation of Kings School Canterbury. I’m staying in Meister Omers. If I throw a stone out of my bedroom window I’m pretty sure I will hit Canterbury Cathedral. It’s a privilege to be here.

Despite the privilege it was hard to leave Sarah and the children today. I didn’t want to go. 8 days is a long time and I’m missing being at home already.

Monday we are looking at funerals – this will certainly be the most ‘interesting’ bank holiday I have spent! And … tomorrow is an early start – morning prayer at 7.30am in the Crypt! Is God even awake at such a silly hour!!!!

Long Silence

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It’s been a long silence on the blog as it’s been a busy time.
The weekend was taken up with Ordinand training – one of the highlights pushing a friend back from the pub in a wheelchair (she told us she needed it!)on Saurday night through the rain – but I guess you had to be there.
Another highlight was just chatting with friends and learning more from each other. It’s quite scary to think we will be ordained in around 18 months time – watch out world! Can’t wait to get the robe allowance ‘cos then I ca afford to but a nice apple mac!
Still another was drinking green beer with ‘the boys’ in Herne by on saturday afternoon while we watched some football and rugby. The landlord had addd green food colouring to one of the barrels which produced deep green beer with a bright green frothy head which looked quite cool. The e numbers from the colouring seemed to leave me a bit wired inthe afternoon when I should have been feeling sleepy after a few beers.
On top of all this – we even managed o do some training and lectures. Not a bad weekend!

Eucharist

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At SEITE for the past few weeks we have been studying the origin of the Eucharist, which has been quite interesting in many ways.

It strikes me as quite interesting that Cranmer produced a liturgy to enable people in the 1600’s to be able to take part and understand in the Eucharist itself. The language was normal everyday language (the vernacular) for people living then. My question – why do churches still use this in their services some 400 years later? I wonder if Cranmer meant for this to happen, or would he scratch his head in confusion at seeing people use his wonderfully coomon language of the time being used in the way it is today to give an impression of a far off and irrelevant God?

By all means lets keep the structure and some of the ideas; but surely it needs to be reframed for a postmodern era and developed into a form with resonates with people where they are today.

It has been interesting looking at different views based around what happens with the blood and wine. Discussions around does it change into the actual blood and body of Christ transubstantiation), is it just symbolic (a visual aid as Zwingli says), or is it somewhere in between – being symbolic but more in some way. I think I’m with Zwingli here, but with a plus – God is present in some mysterious way which is achieved without the bread and wine actually turning into flesh and blood.

I must say I have struggled with some of this. It’s not that I have difficulty believing Jesus is somehow prsent in the elements, the bread and wine, of the Eucharist – my problem is believing God is present only there. God is present in the creation, God is present in the normal every day actions of people, God is present in the fantastic art of the world. In light of this, my problem is understanding how God is present in a unique and different way in the bread and wine.

Surely if we are saying he is particularly present in a special way at Eucharist then we are saying the prsence of God in our normal everyday lives is somehow a second class presence. Is that what we are saying, and is that what we are meaning?

Any comments?

my essay

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I hate essays!
I fail to understand how they help show my understanding. I believe all they show is that I can construct a logical argument and that have read some books. A few days after writing the essay it is very easy to forget the arguments I’ve written about.I’d much prefer a short interview to test my understanding which I am sure would be more fun to mark and more helpful in the learning process even if more stressful.

So … one of my current essay titles:

In the light of modern scholarly understanding of the history of Christian initiation, is it possible to present a convincing theology of infant baptism?

errr … YES!

now, why do I need to write another 2499 words?

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.

questions on funerals

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The weekend was surprisingly an excellent weekend. Justine was superb at leading the weekend and as well as offering training, offered space for us to think and explore. I think I learned a lot this weekend. There is no way that just a weekend teaches us all we need to know about death, dying and bereavement for our future roles, but this was a good start and we have been given some wise insights and ideas.

Just one simple thing – I guess I had not focused before that vicars do more funerals then they do of other things such as baptisms and weddings. Unlike the former, funerals cannot be neatly slotted in and planned for as death is outside of our control.

It has made me think in my role within emerging/fresh expressions of church. What will funerals look like in this setting? Is there a need to develop something ‘contemporary and significant’ to enable people to say goodbye or will there be a need, in fact a desire and expectation, to have a more traditional approach? I certainly feel there could be a need for personal involvement in the ritual rather than a sit back and watch consumerist default. I find myself asking, however, what this may look like?

Certainly the two major funerals this country has experienced over the last decade or so, those of Diana and The Queen Mother, seem to imply there is a ‘both and’ need here. With Diana we saw a national contemporary response with thousands of bunches of flowers. With the Queen Mum there was the more traditional walk around the coffin. Interestingly people of all ages did both, and the likelihood is many of the same people attended both events and marked both in these significantly different ways. But I guess both involved doing something.

Maybe then, the important thing is to remain open to peoples needs and desires which could include mixes of both the contemporary and traditional … or maybe even something else.

Anyone ‘out there’ got any experience or ideas?

weird coincidences

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Weird how some things happen.

I learned of Kim’s death on the SEITE weekend around an hour before being given a questionnaire to fill in for our next weekend … on death, dying and bereavement. I wonder how that weekend, in 2 weeks, will go?

I texted Sarah to let her know. Her response was ‘I had a feeling it would be today!’

I received the text when I was walking down the stairs with my phone as I had the idea to phone Steve for around 15 minutes.

weird coincidences?