Ascension

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Tonight I attended my first ever Ascension service, and also happened to give the homily at this one. This has caused me to think a lot more about the ascension than I would usually do. The Ascension is not something the churches I have been part of have really ever marked or celebrated; I guess this is something to do with Ascension always being on a Thursday. We celebrated tonight in the cathedral with the Eucharist and a bubble machine …. I would explain, but maybe it will entice more people to come next year!

I was struck that Luke pays little attention to the actual Ascension itself – in 11 verses he devotes 1 and a half to what actually happened. Instead, I think Luke is saying what is far more important is what is said. It’s easy to get into discussion of whether this really happened, what is a cloud, is this symbolic … and if we do that we are in danger of losing the point of all of this.

First, I think it marks a change – Jesus ministry on earth is over and the church’s ministry is to start. First, however, there needs to be a pause while the disciples await the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Tonight I spoke about pausing, I drew parallels between Alan Sugars apprentice and the Jesus apprentices. Sugars Apprentices wait in fear of being fired by the ominous finger point; the Jesus apprentices on the other hand wait in excitement to be fired by the fire tongues of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.

I think Ascension is all about being ready to wait for the Holy Spirit. It’s above living in the present and not gazing into the clouds of the future. It’s about making ourselves ready to be used by the Holy Spirit as we swap between tasks, whether they be major tasks or normal everyday activities.

It’s amazing to me that this just follows a long line of waiting stuff in the Bible … the wait of Advent, the wait of Lent, and now the wait between Ascension and Pentecost.

Free Suu Kyi

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Dear Friend

Today was day four of Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial, but the outcome had been decided before she even stepped into the court. Only in Burma could someone be tried because someone broke into their property, and refused to leave. Aung San Suu Kyi has already spent over thirteen years in prison, if convicted, she faces a sentence of up to five years. We are determined to make sure this does not happen.

In the week since Aung San Suu Kyi was first detained the Burma Campaign UK has:

· Briefed journalists about the situation and helped many journalists get into Burma to report what is going on.
· Coordinated a global day of action with demonstrations in more than 20 cities.
· Been in regular contact with governments urging them to take action.
· Organised an email action campaign to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and which has generated more than 14,000 emails. Under increasing pressure, ASEAN has now put out a statement expressing concern.

Our task now is to turn words into action. We need to continue lobbying governments and Parliaments. We need to mobilise support from the public and celebrities. Most of all we need to build pressure for the United Nations Security Council to take concrete action. The Security Council is the only body in the world with the legal authority to force the dictatorship to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners.

But campaigning costs money, and we need your support. Please support us at this critical moment. You can donate via our website from any country in the world.

We will never stop campaigning until Aung San Suu Kyi and all the people of Burma are free. Please help us bring that day closer. Donate now.

Thank you,

Anna Roberts
Director
Burma Campaign UK

God’s answer?

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I have been reflecting quite a lot recently which has probably been brought on by essay writing and preparing to be interviewed.

I have been particularly struck by how God has ‘changed my heart’ as I notice I have a real love for Rochester and the people of Rochester. This has developed over the last few months. It seems to me that God has given me a call, I have responded and then as I have sought to develop within that calling he has changed my heart towards the people I find myself with. I used to have a real passion for Gillingham, and still believe my ultimate calling to be there, but for this moment in time that passion is now for Rochester.

I have been struggling with a decision over the last few days over whether I should continue going to one location which has not been as easy as others. I thought my time in this location was coming to an end and I had kind of thought this would be my last week visiting there, but in the last few days I have had significant conversations with people (after months of wondering if I was invisible) and now I am not so sure.

I wonder if God has brought me across these people in such a way as to show me that this is still a place that I should be visiting. Certainly to stop now and not give these people a chance to chat more would not seem a wise thing to do.

Wish God could just be straight and obvious sometimes!

half a day in the life of a curate

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Another interesting day today which looked to have ‘traditional curate’ type day written all over it.

After morning prayer the day continued with my regular review meeting with Adrian. We chatted a little about my essay and a lot about the priesthood. He asked some interesting and challenging questions – such as ‘after priesting will I be different in W/spoons?’. After reflection I am not sure. It’s easy to react and say ‘no, I’ll just continue the same’ or even ‘yes, I’ll feel different and so act different!’

The truth is I don’t know as I don’t really know what is going to happen, how I am going to feel. I did not think ordination as a deacon would really effect how I felt … but it did. Something happened! I don’t think I am talking ontological change, but I’m not just talking functional or role change either? I prayed, made promises, and asked God to give me strength to carry out certain tasks, and something happened!

I’m still processing all this stuff and think I will continue to doso.

So – how I will act in w/spoons following this and how people will react to me is still quite a big unknown. I know as we get closer to the priesting in June there is an increasing feeling of being incomplete within me. It’s hard to explain and express. It’s a little like knowing there is a need to move on.

Following this I met with Jean and we chatted about mission and stuff. We put together a way forward for engaging with next years sweeps festival which I am quite keen to explore.

I then spent some time ‘rehearsing’ the eucharist service with Neil. I will celebrate my first eucharist as a priest in the cathedral the day after I am ordained. I feel ok about this at the moment, but I know the nervousness will increase as the day gets closer. Going through stuff with Neil today was incredibly useful. Despite sitting through many eucharists over the last few months, I was surprised how much there is to learn.

After this I met with Matthew for lunch. Matthew is a priest and my small group leader from KCME. WE had a great chat about how things are going. Another good time.

2nd gathering

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Saturday was a pretty special and amazing day.

WE had our second gathering of people at our house. We worshipped together, thought about and discussed some of the names given to Jesus in the gospel of John and prayed together. We then ate together and generally caught up with how each other was.

On reflection the remit was too wide and we should have focused on one or two names. In the end we did and thought more about Jesus as light and Jesus as word. We will concentrate on Jesus as the vine at our next gathering which will be roughly a month away.

These gatherings excite me. It’s a privilege to journey together and see people of all ages interacting and learning from each other as well as enjoying just being with each other.

I still find it amazing that we have come so far in a relatively short space of time – it’s exciting to be part of this, if a little scarey as none of us know where it is that we are actually going!

fresh expressions interview

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I had a bit of an unusual day today. After staff meeting I was interviewed for a feature that Fresh Expressions are doing this month on fresh expressions and cathedrals. I have been keeping my head down but knew this time would come as there are not many of us involved in such things.

The interview questions for the podcast were quite good and caused me to ask some serious questions of what I am doing. I am also part way through writing an article that goes with the podcast on my experiences of waiting as I do so far.

The whole process has been very helpful in causing me to rethink through not only what I am trying to achieve but who I am and where I get direction and strength from. For the first time in quite a while I did not feel daft when I was not able to answer the ‘where are you going?’ question. I don’t know as I feel that I am quite blindly following God in all this.

As we move forward sometimes I feel I am getting a better idea, and then other days feel I am just as much in the dark over all this as ever I was.

The interview today, however, did remind me how fortunate I am in my role. It’s easy to take all this for granted but being based where I am, with the excellent people around me, with the permission to take time to create is amazing. Whn I think too much about it I am quite bowled over still!

Anyway … I digress … if it sounds ok-ish, when the podcast and article are up I’ll let you know.

Choices

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Today has been one of those days when a dad may be proud. I am a proud dad!

I have just returned from the St mark’s youth service where Tom was the speaker for the evening. I may be a little biased, but Tom was very very good. He spoke about choices and combined a good mix of humour and challenge to deliver an outstanding talk to his peers and a good number of older people who were there as well.

Well done Tom!

LeftRightLeftRightLeft

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Coldplay’s latest album comes as a free download here. A great collection of live recordings which are already now on my ipod!

Bollywood comes to Rochester

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You nevr quite know what to expect when working at the cathedral.

After evensong tonight I walked out the door in the world of Bollywood. The story of a beautiful princess kidnapped and brought to England resulted in the princess being in Rochester and the hero trying to rescue her.

It was fun to watch for a little while …. but I drifted off when I realised the director was not going to give me a part fo play.