volunteer roles at GYFC

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94814c23e14f61b2ffff852ad4355564Gillingham YFC have 2 volunteer roles that  they are keen for someone to take on.

I used to work for GYFC (now I am an ex-officio trustee) and these roles will really help us to do some creative stuff with young people because if we can find these gifted people their work will release our youth workers to do more … well youth work!

Do you fancy being the new office manager or the treasurer … why not click on the job descriptions and have a think! You’ll be joining a great team with an amazing director and something that’s really quite exciting!

Tales of a Pioneer Volume 2 part 1

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UntitledIt’s been quiet because I’ve been trying to walk, not run following my last post.
For me this has meant trying to do a little more reading and reflecting during Lent without broadcasting my thoughts here as much as normal. Time away has given rise to some interesting thoughts.

One upshot of this time away is that I have finally managed to write the next edition of Tales of a Pioneer. There’s not a lot in it as it’s early days and things always start slowly.

Volume 2 … because I’ve left Rochester and started again in some ways in Gillingham
Part 1 … because … well it’s part 1.

have a read … pray … talk to me as well!

walk … don’t run

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overcastabI have just returned from an amazingly relaxing time in Cornwall with some good friends. I had some plans for things to do, but actually when I got there found myself to be pretty exhausted and simply happy to be in a good place with good friends.

I spent a lot of time looking out of the window … the view in the photo shows why. I still find I can endlessly watch the sea and become immersed in its movement, as I regularly did as I was growing up in Weymouth. I find even now that I can easily lose myself to the extent of not hearing others when we they talk to me, something that Sarah often teases me over! Clearly, for me, proximity to the sea is something like a thin place.

This time while in Cornwall I was reminded of these words from Rob Bell: (thanks Graham)

Walk, don’t run.
That’s it.

Walk, don’t run. Slow down, breathe
deeply, and open your eyes because there’s
a whole world right here within this one. The
bush doesn’t suddenly catch on fire, it’s been
burning the whole time. Moses is simply moving
slowly enough to see it. And when he
does, he takes off his sandals. Not because
the ground has suddenly become holy, but
because he’s just now becoming aware that
the ground has been holy the whole time.

Efficiency is not God’s highest goal for your life,
neither is busyness,
or how many things you can get done in one day,
or speed,
or even success.
 
But walking-
which leads to seeing-
now that’s something.
 
That’s the invitation for every one of us today
and every day, in every conversation, interaction,
event, and moment: to walk, not run. And in doing
so, to see a whole world right here within this one.
Walking and seeing a whole world, slowing down enough so that I can see that the ground urlI walk on is holy is amazingly easy to do in a place like Cornwall, with friends, while resting and gazing at amazing scenery and beautiful sunsets.
But back in Gillingham it is harder.
The ground here is no less holy than that bathed in the glorious colour of a sunset. It’s no less Godly because it’s harshness is sometimes painful to the eye. Maybe we, I, simply don’t always acknowledge the holiness of the paving slabs because I don’t slow down enough to see. It may not be a thin place, but it is a holy place, holy ground.
I guess my prayer needs to be something like …. ‘Lord, teach me to walk, so that I may see.’

Dust – promise or curse?

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imageIt blows down dry streets in eddies, dead. It gathers in corners. It forms into rich earth, and out of it sprout tiny seeds. It compacts into warm and rich clay, which can be cut and slammed and shaped by hands and wheel into pots, and bowls and little figures of stout women and tiny men. It blows in the stellar winds in furthest space. It is dust.

My thinking was challenged on Ash Wednesday with this beautifully written post over on the Thinking Anglicans website. Today I was challenged again as we visited a tin mine where, essentially tin ‘dust’ is transformed into something of use. I guess i have aways considered the negative and penitential side of dust, rather than the potential. Go read more here

It’s how you believe …

Aside

A challenge from Richard Rohr’s meditation today: Wimagehy is it that Mother Teresa could stand up before crowds of thousands and repeat simple New Testament phrases and seemingly pious clichés, and still blow people away?!

She didn’t say anything new: “Jesus loves you,” she assured us. “We’re all sons and daughters of God, and we have to love Jesus’ poor.” Yet people walked out renewed, transformed, and converted.

She wasn’t a priest or minister. She wasn’t well educated. Her authority came from her lifestyle, her solidarity with human suffering, and thus her pure goodness.

Loving servanthood and foundational surrender are the true basis for teaching authority in the Church, much more than title, vestment, role, or office. Such lives have the living authority of Jesus himself, and need no special ordination or public validation. Jesus says to Simon Peter that he, and we ourselves, must first “be sifted like wheat,” and only then are we in a position “to recover and in turn strengthen others” (Luke 22:31-32). Such undergoing is the seminary that finally matters and that changes others’ lives. It was Jesus’ essential and first “recovery program.”

a good first touch!

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jezTonight it was amazing to see my good friend Jeremy licensed as Priest in Charge of St Paul’s Stratford. Amazing as I love Jeremy and Ruth to bits and it was wonderful simplky seeing them welcomed and already starting to look like they were settling in to this new area. For those of you that don’t know, this parish is about to enlarge dramatically as people start to move into the Olympic village.

Jeremy is a missioner and Bishop Stephen Cottrell drew attention to this in his sermon. He started, though, by reminding everyone that Jeremy was not there to do all the ministry. He reminded them that Jeremy was there, not to do it all, but to ensure that all the ministry was done. I know plenty of ordained people that need to remember that sound advice!

I particularly loved the way +Stephen then took his sermon. He used the analogy of great football players (Jeremy and Ruth are Spurs season ticket holders), saying that what marks a good football player from an excellent one is there first touch. That ability, in one smooth movement, to control, use and pass the ball. Merely good football players usually need a touch to control before they are then able to pass it. They receive and give the ball in a perfect balance.

He used this to say that he prayed that St Pauls would become known as a church that has a great first touch …. that it can both receive very well and give appropriately. I think that’s an amazing image for people to aspire to.

Tonight was a special night with a special person whom I have grown to admire massively over the last 8 years or so. I will be praying and watching and waiting to see that first touch develop. God bless you Jeremy, Ruth and the community of St Pauls.

the fight for freedom

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Django_Unchained_PosterimgresTwo days, two films. Django Unchained at Chatham Odeon and Lincoln at the BFI IMAX.
Two very different films. One classic Tarantino, the other superb Spielberg.
Two great films essentially exploring the same subject.

Freedom and equality.

Tarantino’s tongue in cheek, and excellently directed, film gave a full on violent account of how to gain justice and freedom. This involved making people ‘pay’ for their crimes so that they could not continue hurting others. Spielberg, on the other hand, outlines the wheeling and dealing within the ‘respectability’ of politics; the half truths told, the scheming and the jobs ‘offered’ to ‘buy’ votes. Both films explored these issues through the backdrop of slavery.

The interesting thing that strikes me from both films is that both methods are immoral. But … both methods work to ensure the freedom of the innocent.  Both films seem to be validating an ‘ends justifies the means’ philosophy. I am not sure how I sit with that … and while most of us would not condone or encourage the Django justice system, we support day after day the Lincoln model …. ‘it’s called democracy’ says the main character somewhere in the film.

Is there any difference?
Does my faith require and demand a different way?
If freedom is at stake do the ends justify the means?
I would argue not …

But back to the films … both are great and both are must see films in my opinion, although I will only be buying one on DVD to add to my ‘favourite director’ collection!

from ancient to (post) modern

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IMG_0654I had the privilege of doing some more training on Saturday, this time for the Rochester Cluster of churches which held a quiet day with a fresh expressions flavour in Bishopscourt. This was an amazing place to hold a quiet day and I remember thinking what a privilege it is to be in a  diocese where the bishop opens up his home for parishes to use.

The day started in the ancient crypt of Bishopscourt where I had set up the journey (shown in the pic) to help people consider where they were, at that point of time, with God. As with every other time of doing ‘the journey’ with people we saw that as Christians, and even as Anglican Christians in one small cluster, we were literally all over the map and experiencing different things in our faith. I used this to illustrate that those we meet, and hope to reach, are also in very different places although it is easy to assume we are all in the same place in our Christian place and understanding.

The day was full of discussion and challenge as we looked at the difference between church planting and church birthing. If there was one particular emphasis in each session it was about knowing our community and the value of waiting and watching and learning how the community works.

I really believe that quite a lot of churches and mission initiatives skip this important stage of waiting, or do it for too little a time because the Protestant work ethic demands we work and that we should be busy. It is a lot easier to do things and set things up than it is to seriously ground to a halt and watch and wait. But on Saturday I challenged people to wait, to observe, to learn, to notice gaps, to look for connections and then …. and only then … to think about developing something that is relevant to what’s been observed.

This promoted a good discussion and I want to thank everyone for the way they engaged with what I’d planned and for the challenge they gave to me when we disagreed …. and I would have been disappointed if we didn’t disagree! It’s through discussion and challenging each other that we are able to move forward.

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20130212-075037.jpgToday’s thought from Richard Rohr has got me thinking … sometimes in life you need to sound a little ‘off balance’ to be in the right place.

In finding your True Self, you will have found an absolute reference point that is both utterly within you and utterly beyond you at the very same time. This grounds the soul in big and reliable Truth. “My deepest me is God!” St. Catherine of Genoa shouted as she ran through the streets of town, just as Colossians had already shouted to both Jews and pagans, “The mystery is Christ within you—your hope of Glory!” (1:27).

The healthy inner authority of the True Self can now be balanced by a more objective outer authority of Scripture and mature Tradition. In other words, your experience is not just your experience. That’s what tells you that you are not crazy. That God is both utterly beyond me and yet totally within me at the same time is the exquisite balance that most religion seldom achieves, in my opinion. Now the law is written on both tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18) and within your heart too (Deuteronomy 29:12-14), and the old covenant has rightly morphed into the new (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

holding what gives us life

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gathering logoOn Sunday the gathering gathered once more.

I deliberately planned a simpler time together as I was aware of new people joining over the last few weeks and wanted to allow more time to be able to chat more and get to know each other better as we ate cake and drank coffee.

As well as sharing communion in the gathering style we did the examen together as a group and then shared as much as we wanted to in different size groups, mainly family units. People seemed to be engaging and sharing quite well.  I find the examen useful and think its appropriate for all ages.

I like the use the examen regularly, s it helps me to identify God throughout my day, and yesterday I introduced this using Sleeping with Bread. The introduction to our gathering examen may be found here. This also explains the title of today’s post.

On reflection … the gathering yesterday was one of the most life giving moments of my week. Tonight, I shall sleep holding that thought.