mixed sunday

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The blog has been quiet for a while. The reason has been that I have been feeling pretty wordless since Monday and, in time, I will share this but it is not right to do so at the moment.

Last Sunday (am I really that far behind!) was a pretty good day. The day started by taking up a great opportunity to preach St. Augustines, a parish church (which happens to be the parish I live in), in which I have known some people for a little while. It was good to catch up with people and I seemed to get positive comments from my sermon, which got some people asking questions – which is always my aim when I preach! I came away thinking this is a great parish church looking at ways in which it can engage well with it’s community.

In the afternoon we had the first gathering of 2012. I guess we are developing a way of working or ‘tradition’; and it seems to be a developing tradition that at the start of the year we do ‘the journey’ which I have blogged a lot about elsewhere.

The journey gives us a safe opportunity to consider where we are with God and where other members of the community are. It reminds us that the Christian life is a journey of good and bad, of joy and sadness, of cruising and battling. It reminds us that all of these stages are valid, all are necessary, and so all are ‘right’ places to be in in their season. Most importantly, it reminds us, and shows the younger members of our community, that Christianity is real and we don’t need to pretend it is easy. It shows that having difficulties and questioning God are not signs of ‘back-sliding’ but are actually signs of discipleship being taken seriously.

Last Sunday – two totally different gatherings, but both rooted in prayer, faith and worship of the Creator God. That inclusiveness and commitment to engaging with a theological diversity is one of the things I love about the Church of England!

1000 fresh expressions …

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The latest survey on attendance has, for the first time, researched Fresh Expressions and the news is both exciting and encouraging. This paragraph from the report quoted on the Fresh Expressions website show that the bold step a few years to try something different os starting to make a difference:

The first ever statistical analysis of fresh expressions of church has concluded that there are at least 1,000 CofE fresh expressions or new congregations across the country. Around 30,000 people attend fresh expressions each month who don’t attend traditional regular services, equating to an average of around 40 people per participating parish exploring new forms of church – the statistical equivalent of an additional diocese. Almost all dioceses have reported fresh expressions or new congregations with over half of these initiatives aimed at families with young children.

While that is exciting I read this with just a tad of frustration. I still come across senior church people that tell me ‘fresh expressions is not working‘  or that ‘fresh expressions will not exist in 3 years time‘ alongside Beth Keith’s research which quotes, ‘Many pioneers, while affirming the principle of the mixed economy, did not have positive experiences of working within it. Whilst they were aware of the pressures felt by the wider Church through declining attendance and resources, they were frustrated that the maintenance of existing churches reduced the opportunities and resources for mission and evangelism. For example: pioneers repeatedly reported issues with mixed posts where pioneering aspects were not clearly defined. Maintaining existing churches, fulfilling traditional curacy requirements, or working in church structures remained an ongoing pressure greatly reducing the opportunities for mission‘

I sense across the nation a certain ‘attitude’ within church (not everywhere but in lots of places) that was there towards people involved in full time Christian youth ministry. It was an attitude or belief that these youth ministers were just doing this work for a little while before moving in to real ministry. By real ministry was meant work in church with adults.

Sadly from discussions with others I think that attitude with pioneers up and down the country still exists …. the attitude that says ‘pioneers are doing this for a period and soon they will ‘grow up’ and want to do real ministry.‘ This time the real ministry refers to traditional church ministry.

Personally …. i don’t see my ministry that way … and my hope is that this piece of research will allow us all to acknowledge the real contribution that Fresh Expressions is making.

Burma update

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The release of Aung Sang Suu Kyi was an amazing day, but there is a tendency, I think in the west to think that now Burma is ok. If only this were true … but things are progressing!  In the last few days many high profile political prisoners have been released in Burma.

Those released includes Ko Mya Aye, father of Wai Hnin, Campaigns Officer at Burma Campaign UK. Ko Mya Aye wanted us to pass on a message to supporters: “I would like to give my best wishes and many thanks to all the supporters of Burma Campaign UK, and people from inside and outside Burma for encouraging us and continuing our movement. This is one of the happiest days of my life to be with my family and continue my activities towards for democratic Burma. Thank you all.”

Wai Hnin is delighted her father has finally been released, speaking with him earlier today. “It was wonderful to hear his voice,” she said. “But typically it didn’t take long for him to start talking about politics, and how we must keep campaigning for the rest of the political prisoners to be freed.”

Ko Ko Gyi, another one of the leaders of the 88 Generation Students who were jailed again for their role in protests in 2007, and released today, told us; “Long ago you could just close the door and be in a dictatorship in one country, but now because of globalisation the role of international community and campaign groups has become very important to help those countries in dictatorship, so I would like to say thank you so much to all campaign groups and international community for their help for Burma.” (Ko Ko Gyi also joked with Wai Hnin about the fundraising bungee jump she did in 2010, which he heard about on the radio while in prison.)

Ethnic Rohingya MP U Kyaw Min, who has been in jail since 2005 and was also released today, also wanted to say thank you to Burma Campaign UK supporters, saying: “I really appreciate your support. Now we must work together to free those left in prison.”

These releases are fantastic news, but there are still many prisoners left in jail, and the laws under which released prisoners were arrested are still in place. We’ll be in touch soon about a new campaign to ensure independent monitors can enter Burma’s jails and assess how many political prisoners still need to be released.  You can read our media statement about the releases here.

 Ceasefire in Karen State?

In addition to the news on political prisoners,  there was another significant development, the agreement in principle of a ceasefire between the military-backed government and the Karen National Union (KNU). For many decades the Burmese Army has been committing horrific human rights abuses against the ethnic Karen of Burma. If the ceasefire does go ahead, and is followed by genuine political dialogue to solve the root causes of the conflict, it will be a very welcome step. However, what has happened is just a first step, there is still a long way to go.

Bwa Bwa Phan, a Karen community representative who used to work and volunteer with Burma Campaign UK, has written an article in Irrawaddy Magazine which explains why many Karen are still cautious. You can read the article here.

Developments in Burma this week show that campaigning does work, and is appreciated by those in Burma struggling for true freedom. We must keep up the pressure to keep making change happen.

You can donate to Burma Campaign UK – if you can please do … you can see from this update how our support is making an incredible difference.

Happy Birthday!

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18 years ago today our lives changed forever.
Tom was born.

I don’t think we could ever imagine what an amazing 18 years that would be. Sure … there have been frustrations, arguments, exasperations … but the 18 years has been made mainly a great time of joy, laughter, fun, and immeasurable proud moments.

My son is 18 today … and I want to publicly shout from blog/social networking (which was not even around when Tom was born!) how amazingly proud we are of you. It’s been an amazing 18 years and I hope and pray that there are many more to come.

Tom – you surprise me every day with your creativity, passion for justice and desire to be a help to others … you have a cool grasp of Christianity and I pray you don’t lose that … but most of all …… you are just a great guy and I’m well proud to be your dad …. and your mum is well proud to eb your mum!

Happy Birthday … and have an amazing day!

a need to do something …

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To be creative you actually have to do something. It involves putting your imagination to work to make something new, to come up with new solutions to problems, even to think of new problems or questions. You can think of creativity as applied imagination.
Ken Robinson, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

The last few months I have been struggling to think ‘what next’. There is a pressure (my current role as a curate will come to an end in September and I will need to leave the cathedral) and sometimes pressure to act can be stifling.

I guess I have been struggling because when the question ‘what next?’ has been asked I have not been sure how to answer. I’ve not been sure how to answer because I have not been sure what I want to do next. Or, as a ‘good’ Christian what I really mean there is  .. ‘what God wants me to do next.’ I do think, though, if you are trying to follow God that you sense that and my interests are given by God.

My problem of not knowing what to do formed a vicious circle of inactivity. I didn’t know what next, got frustrated when thinking what next, so stopped thinking what next, which meant I didn’t know what next. And round and round that went.

Until a couple of weeks ago.
I felt the need to ‘do something’. I felt challenged by a still small voice to simply write. To write my thoughts and see what came.
Pages came … and pages.
But amongst those pages ideas crystallised and started to take shape.
And then …
almost like an epiphany moment when mist cleared
my vision became clear.

It’s not that the vision was new or developed then in that flash of a moment. It was as if the ideas were always there, but I needed to do something myself to draw them out.

So … now, I have a vision. Soon I hope to be able to share it a bit more widely … watch this space I guess is the best I can  say …

But Robinsons quote, which I read today over at Lateral Action, struck a real chord with me experience over the last few months. We can think, we can dream, we can talk, we can think and ream some more … but at the end of the day we need to do something and it is in that ‘doing’ that we start the creative process.
 

something forgotten … something not yet learned

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I am currently reading Doug Gay’s ‘Remixing the Church’. I’m reading this out of interest due to a number of recommendations, but also as part of my ongoing training as I will discuss and pull apart the content with Trevor, the guy in the Diocese who is responsible for the reflective and theological part of my ongoing training.

I particularly like a quote at the start of chapter 4: ‘There is always something forgotten that can be remembered and something not yet learned that can be discovered‘. As far as worship and ‘being church’ goes that kind of sums up what I am trying to achieve and, essentially, what I am about.

Somehow, and in some way, if church is going to be relevant to spiritual seekers of today then she needs to be able to sit in that space where she is able to reclaim practices from our tradition as well as dream and create as she learns new things. I have written of the need for a ‘rolling reformation‘ before but I think Doug Gay’s language of remembrance is far more helpful here as we try to rediscover practices that we used to do but, for some reason or another, have forgotten about.

From my point of view, as someone that is trying to birth new ways of being church with people that don’t connect with inherited church as it is, the sitting in between space is not a particularly comfortable place to sit. It is often a space of confusion and tussle for myself and a space full of misunderstanding for others. As things are remembered and things are learned it become a space that is constantly moving and regularly changing …. a rolling reformation of thoughts, beliefs and practices. A space where I regularly re-think, change and have to admit I was wrong. A space of change … It’s certainly not a boring space …

So … the unending question remains … what has been forgotten, what has yet to be learned ….

 

 

touching the tent

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Today I attended the annual Diocesan New Year service. THis is a service when Diocesan staff and cathedral staff get together, worship and hear from the Bishop. It’s quite a cool occasion and a chance to meet new people and catch up with friends.

This morning Bishop Brian preached. He told us he was going to preach about something that was important. Something that was universal. Something that lots of people admitting to doing in surveys, whether they were Christian or not. He was talking of prayer.

Bishop Brian spoke well and provoked discussion as we walked away from the church this morning. One description of prayer that particularly grabbed my attention was his description that prayer was ‘touching the tent.’

To put this in context he spoke a little about camping. He asked the question, ‘when it rains, what must you never do in a tent?’ The answer, of course, is that you must never touch the tent. If you do you make a connection that allows the water to come through and soon you have a very wet tent.

I like that gift of an image of prayer. Prayer is touching the tent to allow God to flow into an otherwise dry situation. Touching the tent makes a difference, a connection is made … what follows may be a drip, a trickle or a flood … but there is no doubt … the tent will have been touched!

at least there’ll be a draught!

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One of my Christmas presents this year from my lovely mother-in-law was a trilogy of poetry anthologies I have been wanting for a little while. I have been dipping in and out of these since Christmas day and think I have adopted ‘The Door‘ a poem by Miroslav Holub as a motto at least for the first part of 2012. This year I have not made any resolutions as such …. or maybe I have …

Go outside and open the door.
    Maybe outside there’s
    a tree, or a wood,
    a garden,
    or a magic city.

Go and open the door. 
    Maybe a dog’s rummaging..
    maybe you’ll see a face,
or an eye,
or the picture,
                      of a picture.

Go and open the door.
    If there’s fog
    it will clear.

Go and open the door.
    Even if there’s only
    the darkness ticking,
    even if there’s only
    the hollow wind,
    even if
              nothing
                          is there,
go and open the door.

At least
there’ll be
a draught. 

 This year will be a year of change for us. My curacy at the cathedral is coming to an end by September. I know what I want to happen next, but that is in the hands of a higher authority … and by that I mean the God who created me!

The blog has been quiet since Christmas Day because I have needed space to be able to make that statement above … you know – the one about believing I know what I want to do next! There has been so much activity and I have been immersed in such great stuff that I have neglected to take time out an think and mull and dream …. and most importantly listen.

I have been pushing a few doors of enquiry because I have grown up in the wing of the church that says ‘that is how you do thing’s. I was always told you push doors and see if God opens them. Sometimes that is right.  I also think sometimes we can use that as an excuse. Sometimes we all know that if we push doors lightly there is no danger of them opening! Sometimes I have fooled myself into thinking I have pushed a door when I have merely nudged it lightly. Sometimes I even wonder whether God is bored of opening the doors which he has given us hands to open ourselves! Maybe there is a need to grow up and take responsibility? … just saying!

Rather than just pushing, sometimes it is necessary to fully open doors, step through and experience what is on the other side. There is always the option to turn around and close the door afterwards. As Holub says … ‘if nothing else there will be a draught’ … it won’t be the same … the door is not opened in vain. So … these last few days I have been opening doors to see what happens!

So … I guess I have kind of made some form of resolution … to open, not push, the door!

surprise!!!

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who would think that what was needed

to transform and save the earth.

might not be a plan or army

proud in purpose, proved in woorth?

Who would think, despite derision

that a child should lead the way?

God surprises earth with heaven

coming here on Christmas Day.

(John Bell)

Lapland – living in the eternal now

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Yesterday we had the beautiful experience of visiting Lapland with some amazing friends. It was an early start (waking at 315am!) and a round day trip of around 3000 miles but it was worth it.

The scenery was stunning (as you can see in photos here) and it was cold … but not as cold as it could have been. But, most of all – I believe again … I stood in Santa’s cottage, had a chat and shook his hand – he is real and it is all true!

I noticed in our short stop that the way fo life was very calm and relaxed. Those same two words sum up the climate I experienced – cool, calm and relaxed. I noticed something similar in Antigua, although there is was hot, calm and relaxed.

Both lifestyles have a stark contrast to what I experience in 21st century Medway, and the UK generally, where we seem to rush around in a society that seems to place value on personal ‘busy-ness’ rather than valuing people for simple who they are and enjoying and making the most of ‘the moment’.

In our UK society I fear that we miss so much of the present around us in our speed of wanting to achieve and do better and earn more and achieve more …. it is as if we don’t ever fully appreciate anything because we are constantly looking over our shoulders to see what others have or what others are doing.

During Advent we are challenged to slow down and consider the moment of Christ entering this world and asking ourselves what that actually means for us at this very point in time. One thing I have become increasingly aware of this Advent time, is that we can only really exist in the eternal now … the past we cannot change, and the future we cannot predict … now is all we have.

In Lapland yesterday I saw the reality of people living in the now …. I pray this Christmas time that I may be able to grasp that reality of living in the eternal now.