letting God be God

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tumblr_llrj0wy6Th1qenz05o1_500Yesterday I had the real privilege of taking a baptism at St Mark’s Church. Sarah and Jo led all age worship amazingly, as they always do, in a way that engaged people in a way that set them at ease but also challenged them to consider God’s word afresh, or maybe even for the first time.

The churches I work alongside do around 40-50 baptisms a year, which in itself is pretty exciting. One of the churches I am connected to has two baptism services per month due to the local demand. In a world that is supposedly becoming increasingly secular this in itself tells me that God is present and engaging with people in this area in a  pretty fundamental way …. by making people aware of their need for God in their lives.

Yesterday’s baptism was special and will stay with me for a while due to the story that goes with it. The person I baptised went on a school trip to a cathedral. In the cathedral, on a normal school trip, just wandering around the building, chatting to friends and listening to teachers, during a week day, with no talk, or exposition, or funny crowd pulling story … something special happened to this person.

The day after the school trip the person was found kneeling by the sofa with hands together. When asked by one of the family what was going on this reply came: ‘I’m praying because yesterday at the cathedral, I met Jesus, and now I want to be baptised.’

Wow!!!
God just did that by …. errr being GOD! 

Sometimes I get frustrated with people who seem to believe that we need to have a certain formula, or do things in a certain way, or have a certain tone of song, before God will act and do anything.  Sometimes I have found people, myself included, to be so sure of how God will behave to such an extent that if those certain things do not happen, they then draw conclusions that God was not there!

How incredibly bizarre is that way of thinking!

There is nowhere in God’s creation that God is not present. A basic principle of orthodox Christianity is the omnipresence of God.

keep-calm-let-god-be-godEssentially, this puts us in the position of dictating to God the way that God should do something. Actually I wonder if that puts us on the border of actually attempting to be God ourselves.

I wonder a lot of the time if what actually happens in the world is that God simply carries on doing what God does … and we can be so boxed up in our thinking that we miss what God is already doing. It’s not God’s fault that people don’t see what God is doing!

Sometimes… just the space, just the realisation that God will be God, and just allowing God to be God is simply all that is needed.

connections

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3d network connectionsI’ve been thinking a lot recently about connection.

That can mean a variety of things. It can mean something about feeling personally connected, or rooted, into something or somewhere. Connection can also be about the six degrees of separation stuff which, supposedly, link us to each other relationally. There is also the connecting side of connection; what I mean here is probably that entrepreneurial ‘stuff’ of noticing things that are not currently connected but could be and produce great positive results from being connected. Then there are the connections we make as we get to know a variety of people in different circumstances in a particular geographical area.

In various conversations over the last couple of weeks I have been shocked, rocked, knocked …. blah blah blah … to realise that I have now been in Gillingham for 26 years! For 24 of those years I have been involved in some form of Christian ministry working alongside the people of this town that I now call home.

During those 24 years a lot of connections with the people of this place have developed. I have been incredibly conscious recently through involvement in some of what the CofE calls ‘occasional offices’ (baptisms, weddings, funerals) how ‘connected’ I have become with various peoples stories. It seems now that it’s becoming more and more common to meet people with whom I have some link through being here for so long.

This week I have met with people who instantly relaxed when they recognised me from running a youth club 24 years ago! They are now 38, with their own children and as we chatted it was exciting to see these people are still connected, through various ways, with the local Christian community. I have met couples seeking to have their children baptised who I am connected to through the past ministry of GYFC. I am marrying couples with whom I have various connections through schools and other stuff. I am welcoming parents who were in various youth clubs at school parents evenings who now have children about to leave school! I am being stopped by people in the High Street who recognise me from ‘somewhere’ and we talk and we remember each other ….

Apart from making feel incredibly old I also feel a stirring of excitement within me. You connectmay ask why ….. well it’s because, without wishing to offend, Gillingham has been a bloody hard place to work in! It’s not been an easy middle class leafy suburb where people have flocked to events and churches. National and international speaker type people have been here and left telling us how amazingly hard a ‘mission field’ this place is. Those were encouraging times …. not! People are honest and searching … and asking … but often we/church/christians have been answering the wrong questions for a significant group of people. (For some the church has also been asking the right questions … so please don’t think i’m knocking the good work of the local church cos I aint!)

But, despite the toughness,  I am excited, because what I outline above are great mission opportunities. By that, I don’t mean people converting, bums on pews and stuff like that, because I believe firmly the Bible makes it clear that is God’s job and not mine; but I take mission to be about lives being transformed, and through that communities being transformed, and by that towns being transformed, then cities, then countries, then … well you get the drift! In short hand, Christians call this ‘the gospel’ … or good news!

To be good news, it;s got to make a positive difference … right? It’s got to be about transformation and love and grace and acceptance. Is it good news if it’s not good news to all?  I’m not even sure if I know what I am asking there?

Gillingham has been a bloody hard place to work in, and continues to be, but God is here! God is working and peoples lives are changing as we are invited to support and serve. God is doing Godstuff and i’m constantly looking to join in with that.

And the point of this post is … well I’m not sure … apart from urging a commitment to rootedness and building connections. It’s worth taking time to connect …. it’s good to connect … we are created to connect!

One of the beauties, and nightmares, of blogging is that ‘stuff’ you write is always there. I often look back a year or two and cringe and ask ‘did I really believe that?’. A little over a year ago I wrote about being rooted here. I’ve linked to this post because, a year on, I still shout a loud yes to this ….
because ….

I hope to continue to be
listening to the heartbeat of the community and responding appropriately …. what else can we do
what other option do we have….
.. time for …
connections ….
Amen

yfc world record bid …

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CroppedImage610216-sponsored-events4Some of my YFC friends are playing 5 aside footie for 48 hours in an attempt to make a new world record and raise funds for work with young people across the county.

Why not go check out what they are doing; and it would be really cool if you could sponsor them too!

Host cafe

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These are my friends and I’m really privileged to be able to say that and be part of Moot. The only sad thing for me is that I cannot get to be with them as often as I would like. This video shows the new cafe … a dream that has taken 10 years to come to fruition. In that time the community, particularly Ian, have shown great patience and a trust in a God who delivers!

They are a great example to all of us of trusting God, waiting, and not looing for quick fix solutions. Oh … and the coffee is amazing too! So … go listen to the story and check it out next time you are nearby.

 

what a weekend!

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IMG_0694What an amazing weekend!

Gills are Champions! After an exciting season, and years of disappointment, Gills are promoted with 3 matches left to play (the first team to secure promotion from any of the leagues), and crowned Champions with one game still to play. We then celebrated as a group of ‘boys’ (while the girls went to see Dirty Dancing) with a curry and beer which is always great to do.

This orning was the APCM of St Marks. APCM’s are not renowned for their newsworthiness but today was lined with a bit of excitement as we were able to read of the load of tuff that St Mark’s is involved in positively in the community. Some established people recently have been talking of returning to ‘the glory years’ when the place was full. My reflection on those years is, however, that we got together to worship and then returned to our homes, without a lot of community engagement. Now, however, people are seriously engaged in their community …. which causes me to think to a large number of people this Christian community is ‘good news’ …. so I believe we are in the glory years and have no need to go back.

Finally my day ended with a trip up to Moot to as we put together more stuff and thoughts on developing an umbrella organisation for new monastic communities. A great meeting, lots to talk about with passionate people who simply want to follow God and see transformation in their communities … simples! It’s always an honour to be part of this group and catch up, even if it was too briefly, with my Moot friends.

That was the weekend … I’m praying the week will be as good!

a God of mystery

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DSC_0068 copyA few things have changed in my life over the last few months. Over the last couple of weeks a few more things have changed.

I have left the prison as chaplain. As things started to gain momentum in Gillingham I was becoming increasingly aware that I felt ‘out of place’ at the prison I was in. I don’t think this was a fault of anyone, or anything, but rather my feelings of being misplaced was simply God’s way of telling me that it was time to devote more time to the stuff I am called to do in Gillingham. The prison was taking me out of Gillingham twice a week, and did not really connect with any of the other stuff I was doing.

So … did I hear God wrong for this ministry? I have never stayed at a place for such a short space of time. Was I wrong? Or am I now being disobedient and should I have stayed? I don’t think I heard God wrong. I believe this was the right thing to do for 8 months, but now it is the right time to move. I don’t know why, or rather I did not know at the time, why I should be moving.

This week, I started a day a week chaplaincy at a local secondary school. It felt so right being in that school this week. If I felt ‘out of place’ in the prison, the exact opposite was my experience in the school. I felt so ‘in place’ it was unreal, backed up by the reaction of people towards me. I consider myself to be there as a servant and I was immediately able to serve people by listening and being a support. The day rushed by and I felt a groan rush up inside me as the bell for the end of the day sounded.

I believe God has led me to this place. I feel more connected in this place, and this role leaves me in the centre of Gillingham which is where I feel I am called to be at this point in time.

In reality none of this makes sense. It does not look good on a CV to leave somewhere after a few months. It does not make sense to leave a place that is paying you well. But … I follow a God who does not always make sense … I follow a God who spoke from a burning bush …. I follow a God who gave a donkey the ability to speak … I follow a God who left the amazingness of heaven to be born in the crap and dirt of  stable … I follow a God who died to conquer death … I follow a God of mystery …. why should I expect things to always make sense?

everyone has a story …

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victoryI simply love Jamie the Very Worst Missionary‘s blog. I have followed Jamie’s blog for a few years. Sometimes she makes me stand up and shout ‘yes’, other times I come away thinking that I resonate with her feelings of frustration with Christians, and others I laugh at her courage and honesty.  Jamie has a real gritty knack of just saying how it is. The reality of mission that she writes about encourages me.

The other day this post, victory, moved me. It’s produced by Jamie’s church and is well worth watching. In this video Danielle tells hers tory. It’s powerful … especially when she hears from God, via the eyes of a deer, that he is sick of not having her, and that, essentially, he wants her back.

This is Danielle’s story … what’s yours?

getting stuff done!

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cofwd2502Recently, and through a mutual friend, I discovered coFWD. I like the website and love the vision. I like the website because it is clean, but what really excites me about this place is the vision:

‘coFWD is a self managed, independent community of people united by one common purpose – getting stuff done. Venture through the doors of our old bank building at the end of Rochester High Street and you’ll find an eclectic mix of individuals from all sorts of backgrounds and disciplines.

Together we’re building a community where people are encouraged to share and develop ideas, roll up their sleeves and get plans and projects off the ground.’

Too often I seem to sit in meetings where people, including myself, talk about doing stuff, and then talk more …. and more …. but actually getting things done and working together to help each other get things done seems to be what drives the community of coFWD … and that’s an exciting thing to see! 

I am part of a group that has  something of a similar vision for Gillingham … watch this space (or get in touch if interested!)

a new volume

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easter gathering 6 bubbly celebrationSo … the gathering had our ‘away day’ with Ian. We started by asking the question ‘What do we mean by mission in a culture of spirituality?’ Ian them led us through ‘what is new monasticism’ using Moot as a working example. We then started to look at forming a rhythm of life and how did would help us in our mission and our lives as Christians in our settings.

As the day progressed I sensed a real intrigue which turned to excitement and then to a permission giving feeling of real willingness and possibility for what might be, and what the gathering could become.

The gathering made a collective decision to start the journey of looking at whether we are a new monastic community by seeing if we can craft our Rhythm of Life. This will involve us in a 6-8 month process but there was a real sense of wanting to do this.  So we will be planning another day away with a facilitator in the next few months.

I am excited, I am worried about the level of work and commitment this will take, I am intrigued as to where this will take us. Amongst all this fear, excitement and intrigue, however, I am convinced that this is the right thing for us to be doing. I will be interested to see what we as a community value about what we do, and what our dreams are for what our community could become.

Whatever happens, yesterday was the start of a whole new chapter for us ….  actually, maybe even more than a whole new chapter, but more like a whole new volume. Nothing will eb the same afte this. Please … continue to pray for us.

spirituality for mission

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spiritI’ve just got home and I’m pretty buzzing so rathe than sleep, I thought I’d blog! Tonight I returned to Aylesford to lead a session of the MSM course as part of my one day a week MACE role with the diocese.

My session was ‘spirituality for mission’ where we looked at the 10 marks of mission spirituality, or of apostolic people. The main aim of the session was to share with each other stuff we have found useful and real life illustrations (testimony) of what sustains us spiritually in ministry.

We discoverd together that apostolic people are people who are learning that they:
are called and sent;
are greatly loved;
see and listen;
travel light;
are people of prayer and the Holy Spirit;
go two by two (and know the value of companionship and community);
bear a message;
are wounded healers (who know how they have been made whole in their brokenness, and have been and are being saved from their sinfulness);
live rhythmically;
are adventurers.

The session seemed to go well, but I am buzzing because of the amazing testimonies that were shared this evening. People made themselves incredibly vulnerable by sharing some pretty deep stuff. More than that …. a number of these people are doing incredibly amazing things like moving to different parts of the country, giving up well paid jobs to be involved in mission, and working in some pretty challenging and exciting circumstances.

I was blown away tonight by all of the testimonies. It was a real privilege to be part of this session tonight … so, to those that stumble here, thank you for all you shared. I’m a little sad not to be with you tomorrow (we have a gathering away day which I am VERY excited about as we meet with Ian Mobsby to look at rhythms of life and ‘stuff’). I will rejoin the group on sunday and look forward to seeing what God has been doing.

Now I’d simply like the ‘buzz’ to deflate a little to enable me to sleep!