Maybe I have a simplistic attitude to this, but I am glad this vote has happened and that this decision has been made. We’ve waited 18 years in the Church of England for this equality for women.
I pray that this will help the church to give a fuller representation of a God who loves and cares for the whole of creation. Surely a priesthood of equality is a better image of god to present to a world in need of reconciliation.
The Baptist Union and the Ascension Trust are holding what looks to be a good event this Saturday at Brixton Baptist Church looking at Gun and Knife crime.
You can download a flyer and more details here
Today I met up with Lyndsay at Chislehurst YFC before zooming off to Bluewater to meet up with Leesa and get my mac sorted.
I’m really going to miss this aspect of my job – traveling around the country meeting up with excellent, creative and inspirational people.
Today I want to thank these people as I have been truly inspired and experienced God in our conversations.
I’ve been the proud owner of a MacBook Pro for around 2 months but there has been a little niggle with it which I got around to sorting out today with Apple in Bluewater.
I booked myself a Genius Bar consultation online for 2.00pm and was promptly seen at 2.00pm. The young woman looked at my Mac and saw the problem immediately and said ‘it should not do that I think we need to replace your machine rather than repair it’
So … here I am new machine, no hassle, no unnecessary waits and they transferred all my data for me while I went off and had a coffee.
Ok some may say there should not have been a problem – but when I have had problems with HP, Dell, PC World or whatever it has never been this easy to sort.
Thanks Apple – I’m enjoying being an Apple customer … I may just look at the iphone in a few days …!
Over the weekend I went to see Kung Fu Panda with Joe.
I must admit I was not really looking forward to the film and I would far rather that Joe chose Prince Caspian to watch … but I gave him the choice and he wanted Kung Fu Panda.
The film was excellent – very moral with a self identity message, but also very funny and very watchable.
My favourite quote, which will no doubt appear in a future talk or sermon:
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”
We had a great time in church this morning.
Sarah led an excellent service in which 3 of our young people were baptised by full immersion.
As is our custom the 3 young people shared with the congregation why they wanted to be baptised and I always find this an incredibly exciting and personally challenging event at St. Mark’s.
Today, as always, all the reasons were different; one wanting to acknowledge the difference that Jesus has made to her life, one as a response to a message that an angel had given him and one because he wanted to publicly state that he now owned his own faith as he had grown in a Christian family.
Three completely different reasons and 3 completely valid reasons.
Yesterday I renewed my season tickets for Gillingham FC. £500 for 4 tickets seems like a bargain (helped by U11’s being only £50 for the season). As an aside we were able to move all our tickets to one row so it will be fun to all sit next to each other.
But – I can’t help wondering whether this is healthy fan commitment, or whether it is foolish and blind faith. Or maybe, in actual fact, there is no significant difference between the two!
Lots of stuff has been said about GAFCON.
I am so glad John Sentamu is the President of YFC and I’ll be sad to lose that link with maturity, graciousness, love, wisdom and integrity when I leave.
I am pleased to be part of a church that is led by two archbishops that want to stay open to dialogue and preserve our tradition of unity in diversity, rather than believing that they have exclusive rights to orthodox Christian truth.
May God continue to bless them.
Last night I ran what I think will be my last bit of training given with my YFC hat on – a bit of an end of a chapter really. Tonight I was with the trustees of Peninsula YFC which are based on the Hoo Peninsula in Medway.
We looked at some governance stuff and then chatted a little about our roles on the group and that it is right and healthy for the trustees to have a renewal policy – in fact it is recommended by the charity commission. Some people clearly have the gift of setting things up and when things are running start to lose interest or feel a bit of a spare part. It’s important that these people feel they cam move on.
This leaves me with a question around staying with a group or a community.
If you no longer feel you contribute is it right to leave, or if you feel that your time of contribution has passed should you leave?
If we think in this way are we mis-treating people because we are only interested in what they offer to us as a community or group rather than just accepting and valuing them as a person?
There is a clear distinction here between a group tasked with a particular job and a community. A group is task focussed and everything revolves around the task and so people with the right skills come and go. A community is people focussed and revolves around the people, changing its outlook and activity to reflect the people that make it.
I have often dealt with a number of issues of misunderstanding when people have mixed the purposes of groups up. Task groups are not communities and communities are not task groups.
I was in Brighton yesterday. I love this place and find myself always pleased to visit such a wonderful city. Sadly the weather today meant I did not hang around too much.
I love Brighton because it is one of those few places I have been where people appear, on the surface, to be quite accepting of diversity. Different fashion, tribes, followings can all coexist by accepting each others differences. Many may not recognise this – but it seems to me that God is clearly present within this city.
I was in Brighton today meeting with about 12 church leaders who are just wondering about a YFC centre and what it might look like in the area. I don’t know what will happen from the meeting – but I really hope that YFC and the local churches of Brighton can work together. There is certainly a lot of scope and opportunity in such a wonderfully diverse city.
The Shiny Headed Prophet 