Here's my bit for the paper, and for the first time ever... it is in advance!
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
A Sermon for Pentecost!
Woohoo - it's celebrate Church day!
Here are my thoughts and words from this morning, at least the script - there was a fair amount of departure from said script!
Here are my thoughts and words from this morning, at least the script - there was a fair amount of departure from said script!
Year C Pentecost (2013) RCL Princpal
Celebrating Church
Today is a celebration – a day to celebrate Church! Not a phrase we use very much – hooray let’s celebrate Church is not the usual attitude I have experienced in my years of ministry. And for those of us in the business of leading within the Church our minds are more often than not on ‘how’ we are doing Church in any given week and how the component parts are going to fit together when we get there!
It’s not often, I suspect, that any of us really think about what it means to be Church and why we ‘do’ Church. We just get on with it – sometimes struggling, sometimes anxious about what is going to happen.
So to hear the stories of Scripture – the amazing start of the Church at Pentecost, or Jesus talking in terms of doing things greater than him through his Spirit – seems a bit distanced, a bit abstract… not really the kind of Church that we are used to.
But WHY NOT? [More]
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Thursday, May 09, 2013
A Review of Sinner's Creed audio Download
This is a surprisingly honest, thoughtful, reflective account of the Creed frontman's experience.
From the vivid opening statement of a 'fall from grace' (and from the balcony of a hotel) through the rollercoaster of Scott Stapps life this is an honest, intelligent reflection on the story of a creative, thoughtful, troubled soul.
A more cynical listener might dismiss this as Stapps trying to explain his reasons why all of the criticisms levelled at him are unjustified. If one listens carefully, though, there is an almost brutal honesty about his own failings, the pain he has felt and darkness that has often been overwhelming in his life.
The big surprise is how articulate Stapps is about his own faith and life - obviously he's a creative singer and writer, but the way he is able to talk openly about an abusive father, substance addiction, his own 'hero complex' and rejection of narrow Church experience is a revelation.
This six and a half hour opus is well narrated with plenty of expression, the content compelling and the style easy to listen to. Recommended listening!
I had a free download copy from Christianaudio, but didn't have to be positive, this review is all my own opinion!
A more cynical listener might dismiss this as Stapps trying to explain his reasons why all of the criticisms levelled at him are unjustified. If one listens carefully, though, there is an almost brutal honesty about his own failings, the pain he has felt and darkness that has often been overwhelming in his life.
The big surprise is how articulate Stapps is about his own faith and life - obviously he's a creative singer and writer, but the way he is able to talk openly about an abusive father, substance addiction, his own 'hero complex' and rejection of narrow Church experience is a revelation.
This six and a half hour opus is well narrated with plenty of expression, the content compelling and the style easy to listen to. Recommended listening!
I had a free download copy from Christianaudio, but didn't have to be positive, this review is all my own opinion!
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
It's all about the blogging baby...
Well, it does seem that today I have overdone things... Whilst I have the impetus I am making the most of it... So here is a thought for the week
We Have Been Away For A Little While
.... but now we are back
A little bit of Trek humour there, with words from the Romulans in Star Trek The Next Generation.... Though we might question the merits of bringing the Romulans back anyway... but I digress...
Yes yes yes, it has been a while, amazing how time flies. The irony being that this Lent, during which I didn't managed to blog once, I set out to have a slower, more reflective approach to this season of penitence and praye. It turned out that it was my busiest most frenetic Lenten season ever so all of my hopes of thoughtful blog posts disappeared, as have the weeks! Now we are nearly at the end of the Easter Season and once again the time which seemed to abundant weeks ago has slipped by.
So much for all my 'mindfulness' practise, my 'slowing' and indeed my 'praying'. Not that I haven't been praying, but not in the centred, reflective way I was expecting to. Which leads me again to question both the wisdom of my own model of working at this time, and whether I am trying to live up to unrealistic expectations in my own ministry, as so many Lay and Ordained Ministers end up doing.
Of course I am in a more reflective/nostalgic/thoughtful/slightly panicky mode anyway with our impending move! That also means we are clearing out ready to ship off - some stuff being sold on eBay, some on Amazon Marketplace, some via Garage/Car boot/Yard sales.
So if I seem distracted, I apologise. I might go for a flurry of blogging activity as I seek to get things straight (at least inside my head) in the coming weeks/days/hours... including a whole lot of 'Thought for the week' recordings I have been meaning to record and post, but for now this is a quick hello, and a watch this space. Hopefully you wont' have to watch for too long!
Too good not to post
It has (again) been awhile, I could have spent hours writing up the experiences of the past few weeks but have been processing them rather than proclaiming them. Maybe I'll come back soon, but for now, this moving piece of poetry is too good to miss. It was taken from The Blog of Kevin and comes from the remarkable Saying Goodbye Charity that is there for those who dealing with the loss of a baby. There is lots in this short video that deals with the theme of loss for any of us, and it is beautifully put!
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Sermon Catch up...
Not posted at' Deep Stuff' for a bit, so here's the beginning of the sermon from Sunday just gone.... with a link to the whole thing at the end...
Lent 2 (2013) Year C RCL Principal
Honesty and Trust
If someone came to the Rectory telling me that they hear the voice of God, I must admit that I would think the worst. Just as if someone approached you telling you that they had conversations with the almighty then we might feel a little disturbed. This is not the kind of person we want to sit next to on the bus….
BUT Imagine what it would be like if we could talk to God freely and hear his voice! If we shared such an intimate relationship with God that we were able to sit and chat and be chatted to in return. [More]
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Back In The Day...
We have started the Big Sort Out - which is how I am describing (with intentional capitalization to make it clear this is an 'event') the preparations for our move to our new life in Canada and our new Spiritual Home of St John the Divine in Victoria, BC.
Of course this could just be an excuse to get rid of lots of the crud we have been gathering for decades and replacing it with new crud. This is something we, as a family, seem to excel at! But this isn't a post about de-cluttering, emotionally, spiritually or physically - that's something that a quick google will reveal is talked about to the point of cliche...
There is one good quote about Clutter though, which I will share with you.
That'll do.
No, the thoughts that inspired this blog post, if inspired isn't too big, pretentious or overstated a term, were all the more mundane. I realised that as I started sorting (well, we have four months) I have lots and lots of cassette tapes...
I wonder how many of us still use cassettes. Of course when I was in my teens they were the best way for us hip young things to get our music from place to place, and we loved making copies of songs to present to that special person, or to a best friend, to share music that meant something. I loved looking for cheap cassettes in the stores around Notting Hill and I have pretty much kept all of my cassette tapes. In fact I am now trying to sell/give away/clear out many of them. Though I am dumping the ones I recorded myself, compilations, copies of vinyl LPs I own etc etc I am sorting the rest out. And here is how some of them look (my gallery)
You can click on any of these if you want to see my sometime ropey, sometimes inspired musical tastes over the years between 1981 and the mid 90s, which is probably when I had pretty much stuck with Cds, and being the techno-bunny I am most of the stuff I listen to is now MP3/iTunes stuff, or Spotify, or even (recently) various musical podcasts and Cross Rhythms radio. The cassettes are all available, by the way - just email me :-)
But seeing all these cassettes (and many more) brought back vivid memories of where they came from, how it felt to get hold of them and listen to them, the excitement of hearing music for the first time and of working out what I liked or not. I chose the title because of all the feelings that these cassettes have brought up and the reflections they have caused - the phrase 'back in the day' is a recent addition to common English, I believe - I think we used tend to say 'in the old days' - but that sounds a bit too historical, so I have decided on a title that suggests more personal reflection!
These cassettes cause me to remember the feeling of discovery - there were few outlets for learning about music in the UK in the 1980s, the magazines (which you couldn't listen to), the radio (which was quite circumscribed), the occasional record shop that would let you take a quick listen if it hoped you would buy something (not the case in the little Market town I grew up in) - we also had 'Top of the Pops' - a weekly TV show with music from the charts, and women who danced wearing jumpsuits or leotards called 'Hot Gossip'.... But on the whole music was shared around friends, and we relied on each other to get to know different stuff!
I was quite proud of the fact that I had discovered 'Christian Music' - the UK didn't have the big Church networks, Cable TV and music production facilities of the States, so there were few Christian Artists and few outlets for their material here. I found a bookstore in the nearest City to my town and I would save up to buy a Cassette of Petra, or Amy Grant, or whatever was in favour at the store that week.
The idea that there was, somewhere, a culture of music and events, and mega churches, and 'Christian Celebrities' and TV shows and all that jazz was exciting and encouraging for our group of friends, who felt like (and probably were) 'Yokels in The Sticks' and whose experience of Church was small, sometimes even small minded, and insular. It was exciting to see that there were people elsewhere in the world who were creative and dynamic and musical and talented and Christian! Though I would steer away from many of the commercial aspects of the 'Christian Culture' now, and would never knowingly watch a Christian TV channel I still appreciate the broader perspective that these things, or even the idea of these things, gave me.
And so now I am packing up many of these cassettes and selling them off or giving them away. I have much to be grateful for about the journey that these were a part of, and lots more I could say - and don't get me started on my heavy metal phase.... will see if I can get that photo uploaded sometime :-)
Of course this could just be an excuse to get rid of lots of the crud we have been gathering for decades and replacing it with new crud. This is something we, as a family, seem to excel at! But this isn't a post about de-cluttering, emotionally, spiritually or physically - that's something that a quick google will reveal is talked about to the point of cliche...
There is one good quote about Clutter though, which I will share with you.That'll do.
No, the thoughts that inspired this blog post, if inspired isn't too big, pretentious or overstated a term, were all the more mundane. I realised that as I started sorting (well, we have four months) I have lots and lots of cassette tapes...
I wonder how many of us still use cassettes. Of course when I was in my teens they were the best way for us hip young things to get our music from place to place, and we loved making copies of songs to present to that special person, or to a best friend, to share music that meant something. I loved looking for cheap cassettes in the stores around Notting Hill and I have pretty much kept all of my cassette tapes. In fact I am now trying to sell/give away/clear out many of them. Though I am dumping the ones I recorded myself, compilations, copies of vinyl LPs I own etc etc I am sorting the rest out. And here is how some of them look (my gallery)
You can click on any of these if you want to see my sometime ropey, sometimes inspired musical tastes over the years between 1981 and the mid 90s, which is probably when I had pretty much stuck with Cds, and being the techno-bunny I am most of the stuff I listen to is now MP3/iTunes stuff, or Spotify, or even (recently) various musical podcasts and Cross Rhythms radio. The cassettes are all available, by the way - just email me :-)
But seeing all these cassettes (and many more) brought back vivid memories of where they came from, how it felt to get hold of them and listen to them, the excitement of hearing music for the first time and of working out what I liked or not. I chose the title because of all the feelings that these cassettes have brought up and the reflections they have caused - the phrase 'back in the day' is a recent addition to common English, I believe - I think we used tend to say 'in the old days' - but that sounds a bit too historical, so I have decided on a title that suggests more personal reflection!
The idea that there was, somewhere, a culture of music and events, and mega churches, and 'Christian Celebrities' and TV shows and all that jazz was exciting and encouraging for our group of friends, who felt like (and probably were) 'Yokels in The Sticks' and whose experience of Church was small, sometimes even small minded, and insular. It was exciting to see that there were people elsewhere in the world who were creative and dynamic and musical and talented and Christian! Though I would steer away from many of the commercial aspects of the 'Christian Culture' now, and would never knowingly watch a Christian TV channel I still appreciate the broader perspective that these things, or even the idea of these things, gave me.And so now I am packing up many of these cassettes and selling them off or giving them away. I have much to be grateful for about the journey that these were a part of, and lots more I could say - and don't get me started on my heavy metal phase.... will see if I can get that photo uploaded sometime :-)
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