acclimatisation

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Today as I went around my normal everyday stuff I met a young woman from Russia who was visiting friends in Gillingham. Why on earth would you come from Russia to Gillingham!!?

Anyway … we got talking and in typical British style I got onto weather as I attempted to show some intelligence by guessing that in Russia the temperature would be around -20C. Apparently I was spot on but the girl then aid something that surprised me. Although she has only been here a few weeks she said that when she left the house she still felt very cold which I found quite bizarre! She is used to -20 at this time of the year and she is feeling the cold in 10 degrees! Could it be that her local context tells her she should be cold as its winter and so she is cold!

Isn’t it amazing how quickly the human body acclimatises, or adapts, to the surroundings it finds itself in? It seems to like to find, and rest in, an equilibrium.I wonder if this is one of the issues with church today – we are no more than a bunch people who have adapted into the sort of church we are told to be by our local context – the church should stay out of politics, the church should not make unnecessary demands, the church should not rock the boat. A good steady equilibrium is good for us all!

Have we acclimatised?
Have I acclimatised?
Is this such a bad thing?

I think maybe it is. I think maybe we have succumbed to trendiness and a longing to be accepted. I think maybe this longing has resulted in a watered down slightly corny faith. I think maybe this has resulted in cheap gimmicks to make Jesus acceptable.

I’ve remembered Jesus was unacceptable 2000 years ago to the majority mindset.
Should it be any different now?

I want to live out an authentic faith with others, not an acclimatised one that people don’t notice or see no need for.

Gilbert and George

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After spending some excellent time with a member of the Moot community yesterday morning I took some time out to have a wander around the Gilbert and George exhibition at the Tate Modern. I did this with a purpose of putting myself in a different space and setting to hear from God.

The exhibition is outstanding and it is incredibly hard to visit this and not be affected, or emotionally jolted, in some way. I went particularly looking to be challenged in seeing God in this part of his creation and was quite surprised by how this happened. The art work is amazing. The sheer size and boldness of Gilbert and George’s work is impossible to explain and seeing them in books and on screens is a very poor imitation and the reality of their raw shock and boldness needs to be experienced to be believed. Life, one of my favourites, on the left, for example, is 4.5 metres high by 2.5 wide. It’s hard to describe how something so ‘larger than life’ can take your breath away!

So where was God … amazingly in the ordinary of humanity. The work is very much about everyday life. We think there is nothing particularly spectacular about the subjects that Gilbert and George use (in the main!)but the media they use draws our attention to it and reminds us that, actually, our everyday ‘stuff’ is quite spectacular in itself.

I think that is the amazing thing about God. God is present in the ordinary. In fact, God is ‘at home’ in the ordinary that we call creation. We easily lose sight of this. Jesus spent these 40 days in the desert, as an ordinary everyday man; thirsting, being hungry, being a normal human being.

The plain ordinariness of that life is truly spectacular.

If you get a chance to see this exhibition, I’d recommend you take it. Some of the pieces will disturb you; some may even anger or repulse you. The Tate website is excellent and you can see all the pieces in the room guide by clicking on each room – but as I said, that won’t do it justice.

exciting YFC stuff

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It’s exciting times in YFC.
You can see our new building’s progress here.
This is a very exciting YFC opportunity in Scotland:

Missional Development Worker
To be at the centre in the future, you have to go to the margins today Edges support great diversity, facilitate movement and are highly fertile.

You will be working with this established YFC local ministry as it expands into the next phase of development.

We are seeking a highly motivated, creative, passionate and dynamic person for the advance of new expressions of church and ministry across the Highlands & Islands of Scotland. This visionary, entrepreneurial and innovative person will deliver training and support in a number of settings, both urban and rural.

Applicants should possess significant levels of experience in working with young people, across churches and team leadership and management, They will also need a sound grasp of contemporary missiological thinking and social entrepreneurship. The post will involve driving over a wide area; clean license essential.

Salary: c.28K, depending on experience. For Application forms & details, contact Iain Clyne on iain.shem@btopenworld.com or 07795064635.

Closing dates for applications: 15th April. Interviews: 7th May. To begin early summer 2007.

Laze with God

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Giles Fraser is one of the first columns I turn to in the Church Times and this week he writes very simply on Lent.

We are too often far too purpose driven and concerned about what, and how many, outcomes are being achieved through our general busy-ness. I know this is often the case for me as I do not feel I have achieved anything unless I have ticked off at least 5 tasks before my coffee break at 10!

Lent is a time, says Fraser, when we could give up this purpose driven lifestyle with its obsession with targets and do things to reflect, or find ‘space’ without asking what we can achieve from the time.

‘Lent – a time to laze with God’ – I like that idea!

I wonder…

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On Friday, before joining the Hope 08 meeting in London I made the time to go to the Hogarth exhibition at Tate Britain. It’s fantastic and worth the visit – but be prepared to wait 6 deep away from paintings before you can get a good view!

I was struck by this painting of Moses being handed over to Pharaoh’s daughter as outlined in Exodus 2:10. Hogarth seems to have captured the atmosphere amazingly. The tears of the natural mother and the excitement and expectation of Pharaoh’s daughter leapt out of the piece with a clean and innocent contrast of mothers emotions.

I was captivated, however, by the look and stance of the little boy Moses. Not wanting to leave his mum, but bravely stepping towards the held out hand of his new foster mum while clutching tightly onto the robe of his tearful mother, not wanting to let go, but knowing that he has to. Knowing, in fact, that his survival depends on this simple, but incredibly brave, small step.

And than I wondered as I tend to do at such times…

Did Jesus feel like this when he left his fathers side to join us on earth?
Did he take those brave steps tearfully while clutching the cloak of God, worried about leaving, but knowing he had to go?
Was Jesus scared in the same way Moses was scared?
As he stepped away from the presence of God, did God himself cry while Mary eagerly awaited his arrival in her arms?
A divine human contrast where loves causes tears and joy over this child?
Were those cries of the babe in the manger, cries of a saviour leaving his God?
Sent out from everything he had ever known, into the unknown of his creation?
I wonder…

when …?

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Rabbi Yoshua ben Levi came upon Elijahthe prophet while he was standing at the entrance of Rabbi Simeron be Tohai’s cave.
He asked Elijah,’When will the Messiah come?’
Elijah replied, ‘Go and ask him yourself.’
‘Where is he?’
‘Sitting at the gates of the city.’
‘How shall I know him?’
‘He is sitting among the poor covered with wounds. The others unbind all their wounds at the same time and bind them up again. But he unbinds one at a time and binds it up again, saying to himself,
‘Perhaps I shall be needed: if so I must always be ready so as not to delay for a moment.’

(from Tracate Sanhedrin as quoted in Nouwen’s The Wounded Healer)

seasons

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Todays lent thought from the Northumbria Community:
‘We are all very subject to seasons; yet these seasons are there to make us eventually seasonless. There is only one way you are ever going to learn to triumph over all seasons, and that is to go through each and every season … may times. When you can reckon the sound of abundant rain and the hot blowing of a dry spell exactly the same, then you will be nearing the land of maturity.

my recent mission journey

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The last few days have been a good few days covered my dream, vision and mission. I’ve been on a mission journey to various parts of the country.

We met to think more about Love Gillingam 2007 with some exciting developments, particularly a new partnership with another church joining the mission.

Meeting with Jim at Cambridge YFC, an incredibly gifted guy, to hear about his great dreams to develop mission with young people in that area.

I caught up with Jerry at Newmarket YFC who travels at light speed sharing his love of God with young people through a massive schools work.

Taking time to reflect on my experiences of the last few weeks with Jean Kerr, my spiritual director, was liberating and forced me to think how these experiences could affect my future life.

I had coffee with Paul at Wycombe YFC and got excited with his vision for co-ordinated work with people across the town.

Meeting with Ian from Moot, is always invluable to reflect on my placement and talk more on how this community has grown through a model of engaging contextual theology. Being a member of the Moot community has left me with a beautiful picture of what community can be like and this has profoundly affected my dreams for my future ministry.

An exciting few journies.

A New Day Dawns

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This is a powerful prayer written by Alison Browne, a brave young woman who died on June 1997, aged 21, from cystic fibrosis. This is one of the last poems she wrote. I am using this as a basis for my reflections today:

When I am strong I will fight,
And when I am weary of the fight
I will rest in you,
Knowing that you can carry me for a time.

In my fight I will draw strength from your love
For your love cannot be beaten –
When I am alone,
When I fear the icy touch of fear,
I will take it in my hand
And hold it out to you,
And in the heat of your love
It will melt away –

When my heart feels isolated,
When no one cam comfort me
And the crowd serves
Only to remind me of how alone I am,
I will look within myself where you wait
And I will remember to allow you to love me –

Then, when the joy is so strong
That I cannot take life in quickly enough,
I will remember to take a moment to sit with you
And appreciate the beauty you created –

And when the night comes,
I ask only that I be alive with peace and faith,
So that I may not fear
The new day that lies beyond.

1st day of Lent

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It will not have escaped you that today is the first day of Lent.
There are a number of Lent Blogs to keep an eye on, particularly here.
Lent is a time for simplicity, to rid yourself of stuff and try to focus more on God and the coming of Easter. It’s not a time of diets and de-toxing for our own gain advantage it has become for some, but a time to free us to worship in a simple and more pure way. This ties in well with my re-centreing.

On this first day of Lent I have been thinking about the desert and how Jesus went into the desert for 40 days. Often the desert is seen as a harsh place, but it can also be a place of rich discovery.

I remember when I was younger in my Qatar visiting days that I would walk with friends in the desert and it would not be unusual to discover things behind sand dunes, or under the sand,which were surprising and quite exciting discoveries. Other times, in our madness, we would run on the Hash through the desert and again be amazed at some of the things we saw.

Currently I am in a bit of a mental desert, which I am seeing as a positive thing which excites me. It’s not always fun here, and I certainly have not lost God or not hearing God – it just feels a little dry and laboured for much of the time.

I believe the desert is a place where we have to look to God, and that as we do we rediscover a little more of who we are and who we are created to be. In my Lenten desert I am hoping to rediscover more of my identity – to discover more of what is at the centre of me.