For the last few months I have been making use of eBible which is an excellent resource, particularly when planning talks or wanting to do some study.
eBible allows you to have various versions of the bible on the screen in parallel as well as having online commentaries which are referenced verse by verse.
I have some free invites for this to give away and so if you are interested give me a shout.
I had a fairly long day working in London yesterday and while reflecting on my various meetings I became aware that the one thing that connected yesterday together was dreams, some great, some ok, and some plainly ridiculous!
The start of the day was at the chief execs meeting of NCVYS where the first part of the morning was given to a Tory MP and his team to share with us their ’emerging youth policy’. It was interesting to hear but quite saddening as they outlined a dream of all 16 year olds having a 5 week residential to look at citizenship and stuff (I must admit my mind drifted a bit!). I was amazed at the arrogance to think that all 16 year olds should go on what I think it basically a boot camp! After Tom’s GCSE’s we will want to go on holiday, not say goodbye to him for 5 weeks, and I’m sure (and hope) many other parents would feel the same.
After a few challenges on how this would happen the MP said they would make it happen and actually said ‘this is going to happen’ – thankfully he has to get through an electorate first and the odds of that happening are at very best 50:50!
My meetings in the afternoon were with YFC people to hear about their dreams. I met with Dione to hear about the progress she is making in Wandsworth. The experience was so different to the morning in hearing a dream that was well thought out and had the interests of young people at its core and was manageable if a little challenging. I then met with others working in London and heard of their aspirations and dreams for their areas. Again it was like being in another world – meeting with people with nothing to prove and only God to impress.
At the end of my refection (call it Examen if you like) I reflected on how releasing it is to have only one person to impress – that one being God. I do not need to think up ambitious unattainable sound-bite dreams to impress a group of people – I simply need to be wanting to impress my creator.
The letionary today remembers St Thomas Aquinas, who was a pretty cool bloke setting a great example to commitment to vocation – despite being locked up by his parents and various tricks played such as having a ‘temptress’ thrown into his cell to attempt to cause him to deny his calling. It makes fascinating reading!
This story today has challenged me in my commitment to my calling.
In the Anglican church one of the canticles that could be read this morning was A Song of the Word for the Lord which is based on Isaiah 55, which has always been a special chapter in the Bible for me and one that I needed reminding of in my current mind state. It speaks of God’s thoughts being different and not necessarily making a lot of sense at the the time. But more than this, Is. 55 states clearly that God’s thoughts are higher – they may not make a lot of sense but they are higher,or purer and sounder, than my thoughts could ever be.
A key verse is:
Return to the Lord who will have mercy
to our God who will richly pardon.
Today we have an opportunity to let people know that they can return to a God who has mercy and accepts (which I believe is what I am called to do) – how come too often we are able to portray a God who judges and rejects?
Today is a day for remembrance, reflection and thoughts on action.
The picture is of shoes at Auschwitz. A few years ago I visited the Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and remember being stunned into stillness and moved to tears as I turned a corner and saw a similar scene set up which seemed to bring home just a tiny bit of th reality of the magnitude of what happened.
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust have a lot of resources nd info online.
The Passion, which wil be screened on BBC1from Palm Sunday looks to be another good quality broadcast which could give opportunity for a lot of discussion and chat about Jesus.
For ides for how this could be used look on the Churches’ Media Council website.
… when it’s adults having a moan about teenagers!
Find more from Mark here.
I’ve had a googlemail (@gmail)account for a little while which seems to be ok.
I don’t know what others’ experiences of gmail are … but so far so good!
Anyway … I have some free invitations to hand out to join – if you are interested then get in touch.
received today:
It’s all go on Pakistan. President Musharraf arrives on these shores tomorrow (Friday) and is due to meet Gordon Brown on Monday. And then there are the elections scheduled in Pakistan on 18 February.
The likelihood of those elections being free and fair elections looks pretty unlikely at the moment. During the recent State of Emergency, Musharraf dismissed most of the senior judges and replaced them all with his cronies. He’s also been responsible for detaining without trial thousands of lawyers, journalists and human rights activists.
Tomorrow, we’re issuing a press release condemning Musharraf’s actions and stating our belief that Pakistan is on the brink of “political catastrophe”. The press release should be up on the Amnesty site first thing.
It goes into more detail about the wide range of human rights violations that are ongoing there and also what we’re calling for. We could really do with these issues being spread far and wide, so it would be great if you could blog on this.
In the meantime, details of our concerns can be found here.
Then on Saturday (26th January), Amnesty is taking to the streets with a demonstration outside Downing Street. The event is being led by lawyers in support of their colleagues in Pakistan and starts at noon. Feel free to spread the word and do come along if you can.
I love this picture and the publicity that is produced by Moot.
These events through Lent are both imaginative and will challenge spiritually.
I’m glad to be able to get to some of these events and point to them here in case you don’t know about this.
The blog has been quiet as it has been a busy few days.
On Monday morning we met to talk more about Hope 08 in Gillingham. Plans are going well and people are catching the vision that it can be about about small individual acts of transformation.
On Monday evening I met the core team of Harvest, where I will be on placement for the ext few weeks. It was a good group of people, good food and good discussion without avoiding difficult issues. I’m joining them again on Sunday for worship and then hope to be interviewing and chatting with a view people and learning mor of what they think about the Holy Spirit and evangelism in their setting.
On Tuesday I made the short trip to Westminster to join in the first meeting of the learning network for Fresh Expressions from a catholic and contemplative tradition. It was good to meet up with these people and I hope this is going to be a real support where we can share stories and ask questions in the future.
On Wednesday I caught up with Lyndsay from Chislehurst YFC. It was just great to hear of her plans and I look forward to seeing them become a reality. During the evening I attended the Diocesan Advisory Council for Mission in Borough Green. It’s a privilege, too, to meet up with these people who are sold out on mission.
As I drove home after the meeting I reflected on the various worlds that I have the privilege to sit in. Catholic/contemplative one day, Pentecotsal/Charismatic another, Evangelical on still other occasions and so on … and so on.
Personally I think it is great to be able to meet with so many different groups because as do I think I experience different aspects of God in different ways as I listen and learn from those I am with. It is already interesting for me personally to notice that I do not seem to fit entirely in any of these camps. Try as I might I can’t seem to put a protective box label around me. I can and do enjoy and relate to certain aspects from each tradition, and I believe it is possible to learn from all traditions in an attempt to be authentic in worship, mission and lifestyle.
It’s this ‘holding in a healthy tension’ that the Anglican church has been quite good at in the past.
The Shiny Headed Prophet 