Moot Lent

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Tonight I had the pleasure and privilege and speaking at the Moot Eucharist and sharing my homily on Lent. I attempted to ask what Lent was about and shared a story of when I was stuck in the desert which was one time that I remember well as a time of reflection. I think Lent is a time of Divine reflection, but also that it is a time to rediscover our personal identities and what we are created for. You can read the whole text here if you are interested, it’s less than 3 pages long with 1.5 spacing – I like to be brief.

I have loved my placement at Moot. The community is one of genuine love and respect. I have noticed over the last few weeks that we have seen a lot of visitors. I have also noticed how they are quickly included in conversations as circles and groups naturally open out to welcome others in. Moot does not seem to be a place of cliques – that in itself is refreshing to see.

Next week is my last ‘official’ Sunday at Moot. I don’t think It will be my last time here though as I feel very much a part of this community and I would like the relationship to continue.

Friends and Curry

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This weekend I am thanking God for friends and curry.
We ate curry and laughed with friends on Saturday night.
We ate curry and laughed with friends at Sunday lunchtime.
I enjoy friends, and I enjoy curry
Thanks God!

Guantánamo – do something

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Received from Amnesty this week. It’s shocking to think that it has been over five years since the US authorities first transported ‘war on terror’ detainees to the military prison at the naval camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Half a decade on and not a single detainee has yet been put on trial. The only trials in prospect are unfair military tribunals.

Please join Amnesty in calling for the closure of Guantánamo Bay.

A few weeks ago at London’s uber-hip Truman Brewery 300-plus clubbers, all dressed as Guantánamo Bay ‘detainees’, joined Physical Jerks to shuffle for justice in a recreation of the infamous US detention centre in Cuba. The event was a big success – raising over £1500 with all proceeds going to Amnesty International and European Dialogue – and produced some incredible pictures of clubbers clubbing (at a club) as Guantánamo detainees…an incongruous image, to say the least.

Check out the pics on Flickr: here and here.

The club night’s organiser, Seb Cumberbirch, said: “We wanted to use a London club environment to send out a serious political message – but to do it with a sense of fun. Now the fun’s over, it’s time to sort out proper trials for the guys banged up without rights at Guantánamo.”

Here are some great web actions on the Amnesty Terrorism, Security and Human Rights pages:

great friend

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I had a great day today.
A good sunny drive to Tenterden and back.
There I met my good and very valued friend Dennis, who is director of Weald YFC, and heard about exciting plans he has. Den is a man of great vision and ability and I always feel refreshed after coming away after a time of sharing dreams with each other.
It’s great to have such good friends.

ask more!

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‘I think we should ask more questions about each others stories’.
That is the thought I cam away with yesterday after the funeral and remembrance service for granddad Brown.
As well as being amazed at the bravery of my mother in law and aunt and uncle in law who all had the courage to speak during the service, I was struck that although I knew we were saying goodbye to a fantastic man, I knew so little about him.

Sometimes we want to ask about peoples stories but feel we are being nosey. I don’t think we are, but if we are I came away yesterday wishing i had been a lot nosier!

RIP Granddad Brown

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Sarah’s granddad is being buried today.
Please remember the family in your prayers.

It’s been a real privilege knowing
this man of God.
His deep faith
is something that struck me
when I first met him
some 20 years ago.

I shall always remember
his great sense of humour.
The glint in his eye when
he saw the children.
His love for his family
his wife
his son and daughters
his grandchildren
his great grandchildren
even his ‘grandchildren-inlaw’
His heart was massive
He always had time
Everyone loved him
Because of that he will be missed
He set a great example for us all.

The last few years we have seen
him slow down
but when he was awake
when he was ‘with us’
the eyes still sparkled
the grin appeared
with the God given faith that
was so dear and close to his heart.

I am grateful to God
That I got a chance to meet this man.
I am grateful to God
That my children knew their great grandfather
I am grateful to God
That grandad Brown is now at peace with his creator.
If there was anuthing he wanted more than
to be with his family
it was to meet his creator.

With certainty these words rang out when they met:

Well done my good and faithful servant

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?

weekend reflections

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It was Sarah’s birthday yesterday and rather than but a present she wanted me to go with her to Bluewater so she could chose something (not a vote of confidence in my choice!) and then have a meal somewhere.

This we did, and it was great to just spend a few hours together with no real time constraints upon us. It was quite odd though to see lots of people shopping on a Saturday night and quite sad to think this was happening every Saturday night.

Bluewater needs a YFC worker! Maybe I should look into this. The number of teenagers just wondering around was amazing. This is a place where a skilled worker could possibly offer support to young people – not sure if I like the sound of Bluewater YFC though!

Sarah was excited about her present trip and Beth was excited as she heard that she has got her first choice school of Chatham Grammar for Girls. It’s been quite scary to see the stuff in thenews about children not being allocated places. This can’t be right and I hope we are never inthat situation here. Congratulations Beth!

After church today, where we ate together, we had good friends come round and demolished good coffee and good wine. Interesting that this months theme is ‘fellowship’ as I think I experienced good fellowship this afternoon, and rarely experience it of the same quality in church. Is it possible to experience fellowship in a group of hundreds of people, or can it only really be experienced in smaller groups that can have real opportunity to get to know each other?

Whatever … it was experienced this afternoon and I enjoyed it. How can we experience this more I wonder?

A new time in history

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A great night in Ivybridge last night!
Cold, wet, dark and yet still around 120 people turn out to see this exciting ministry launched in Devon.
The meeting had energy, excitement, passion, unity and a desire to see lives of young people transformed. It was great to see how much Elis and theteam hav achieved in such a short apace of time.
It was great being there and we now have 64 centres in the UK. The fact that we have launched 3 new centres this month alone at a time when the church statistics show a message of decline is surely miraculous in itself.

All our centres are fantastic as they are staffed by a diverse bunch of dedicated people,united only in their love of God and desire for God’s mission amongst young people.

On the way home I was able to catch up with Lucy, who became Director of Taunton YFC in November. It was exciting to hear of her plans and to see again the energy and drive that this woman of God is already bringing to the centre in just how the team operates and office is set up.

Spending time with people like Elis and Lucy is both a pleasure and privilege.

Two centres.
Two sets of people sold out for mission.
Two key times in history for them both.

Offline to Ivybridge

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I’m going to be away for a couple of days.

Wednesday night we are launching Ivybridge YFC down near Plymouth which should be a good event. If you are in the area why not pop along and say ‘hi’.

Ivybridge is too far to drive there and back in a day, so Richard and I will be camping in a Travelodge for the night. I’m then looking forward to catching up with Lucy at Taunton YFC before I drive back home along the A303 sometime on Thursday.