New Kid on the Blog

Referring back to my desire to foster a community where we tell stories, which was a blog post some while ago... here ... Here's some more thinking about how we can follow Jesus' example in inviting participation in the sharing of the stories of faith. This is a repost of a blog I posted in a previous incarnation at 'Grace Ground' - where I posted as a part of my last church group 'The Five Alive Mission Community' - I didn't manage to keep up that blogging regime (surprise!) but I do want to preserve this post.  I might not write in such a way now, this is two years old, but the heart is still what I would want to say.  I have recently rewritten this post for our local Paper too... I might post that here after publishing in order to compare and contrast! Tell Me I was on a ‘Life Coaching’ day yesterday provided by my Diocese to explore the possibility of either training some Clergy in Life Coaching or offering this facility with regards to worki...

Actually, this post could also be called 'Falling in love again' (sung in a sultry Marlene Dietrich voice, preferably) because my last week of retreat has been the cause of some enlightenment, some struggle and some joy as I have learnt to stop and pray in a way that I haven't addressed before - or at least not in the way I did last week! My immediate thought was that I must put a gratuitous picture of Marlene Dietricht here, just to add to the visual impact of the post.... even though The Blue Angel from which the song was originally taken is the story of a less then salubrious woman who specialises in seduction.... more details on  Lady Garfunkel's Song of The Day: Falling In Love Again .. Actually prayer being seductive isn't such a bad analogy - really entering into prayer is something that can consume and inspire, it enchants and it can become almost obsessive.  But this is part of a journey I have been on and I am getting ahead of myself.  So let's rew...

Hey, in stark contrast to my NaMoWriMo progress, I've managed at least one post a day for my NaBloPoMo! So here's another one... Definitely a modern fave for today's choice Donald Miller, though some of what he says seems much more conservative than the central premise of the book, offers a broad and thoughtful look at the state of Christian Faith today. It's all about looking at 'spirituality' in a new way. Whilst holding on to the core values of following Jesus, with plenty of illustrations from his own spiritual journey, he seeks to question lots of the baggage that we put on faith in the name of the Church. It's a personal reflection, and doesn't claim perfection, and as such is a glimpse into the search for meaning in our present generation. It's a very easy read, with no taxing theological verbage, and at the same time is filled with the presence of Jesus walking alongside this guy in his search for meaning. It's a good book.

Today's NaBloPoMo post is a spiritual classic God of Surprises is one of those books I can't say much about, you need to read it for yourself. It's about spirituality always having the ability to surprise, and the book does too. It's not a high-fallutin' kind of spirituality, but accessible, easy to grasp (though hard to practice) and full of depth and riches. A book to come back to again and again.

Last week saw one of the most profound evenings of our course for training worship leaders. It was very enjoyable being able to listen to the speaker, rather than being one of the leaders, as we had a guest from the Diocese who came to talk about 'remembering'. Whilst much of it was focussed around how we structure services of remembrance - for important events, for Remembrance Sunday (the UK version of 'memorial day'), for those who have died etc etc there was a lot of deep thought went on about what it means to 'remember'. I was struck again by how important 'remembering' is to us as human beings. As we re-member we integrate our history, both our personal history and our identity, and the 'big picture' - national identity and faith history into what it means to be ourselves. Remembering well is about bringing together all the disparate parts of our lives and making something whole. So in our gathering week by week at Church we are re-membe...

Grace We need more of it. Or rather we need to allow the Grace on offer from God to soak deep into our bones, our hearts, our lives. I always said that if we had children I wanted to call one Grace. I like the tradition of calling Children after virtues or Saints of the Church. In the end Katherine (meaning pure) got Grace as a middle name, not quite sure how that happened but giving her a very Irish name didn't fit so well with my wife, so Katherine it is. But Grace is a wonderful word. It is the reason I do all of this Christianity stuff, it's the lifeblood of faith, coming straight from God, through his Holy Spirit and due to the life and work of Jesus. Grace upon grace, that's the promise of the Bible. Grace is our reason for forgiveness, our inspiration for faith, our foundation for love. People who are grace-filled shine with the light and life of Christ. I long to be someone through whom grace may abound. I've been reading Miroslav Volf's book 'Fre...

On the catch up again, i like this one, partly because it is so easy to respond to... ...harder to live by. What three main rules, standards, or morals do you live by? Well my answer is straightforward and comes straight from Jesus! This is not to try and sound all 'high-fallutin'' but because as one of the first Bible verses i ever learnt off by heart this has had a profound effect on my life for as long as I can remember. Mark 12.29-31 29 Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” 31 The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ This was Jesus' response to the question 'what is the greatest commandment' but i do think it breaks down into three parts (rather handily) Love God - with everything you are, no limits...

sorry, that should read Lack of Devotion s It is Holy Week, in case anyone was in any doubt about that, and it is the time of year when deep thoughts should be thunk and spiritual things should be dwelled upon, but I've not got time to think about that as my HW observances mean that I'm taking a service every night alongside the usual meetings and visits which I am trying to keep up. Oh, and a funeral which i finished a couple of hours ago (hence previous thoughts). It's all going well, but there hasn't been the time for meditation and stillness such as we encourage our congregations to indulge in over this time. The service last night (a Holy Communion with prayers for Penitence) was moving and powerful, tonight's Holy Communion with prayers for healing is always a valuable and thoughtful service, so I am feeling spiritually well nourished, but as for quiet and devotional time that's lacking a bit, so if you want some deep thoughts for Holy Week you'll ha...

and to dust you shall return. Turn from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. An unusually serious thought for Ash Wednesday, taken from the Common Worship provision for the day. Enough said for today, i think

Further to my comments a few weeks ago on Donald Miller's book Searching for God Knows What: Bearded Women, Alien Philosophers, Lovesick Teens, and the Gospel of Jesus I have just read a chapter in the book which I thought was spot on - it was about morality and how the church has often prioritized morality and living by a set of rules over an encounter with the living faith which comes from knowing Jesus Christ. Miller phrases things beautifully and I am not going to quote large chunks of his prose but commend the book again, despite the shortfalls i mentioned before. One of the things that really struck me was the way he pointed out that the writings of Paul and the early Church don't give the idea that the purpose of the Gospel is to condemn the lifestyles of those outside the church, but to call those of us who are followers of Jesus to live lives which reflect the values of the kingdom of God. Those of us who are Christians are called to live by higher standards, of fai...

Not a sermon written for today, but for the same Sunday three years ago - my sermon slot for this morning was ably covered by some puppets!!!! Readings: Philippians 1.3-11 Luke 3.1-6 Year C Advent 2 Preparing The World Christmas approaches, the shops are packed, decorations are going up, turkeys are being chosen (or nut loaves depending on your preference), carols are being sung, parties are happening, presents are being wrapped, postmen (and women) are complaining, plans are being made, TV guides are being searched for all the best programmes - and into the middle of all this comes a voice: “Prepare the way of the Lord…” It’s not a very loud voice, compared to most of the noise of Christmas, in fact it’s easily missed. It seems to be the quietest voice of all in today’s Christmas - but that doesn’t mean it’s not there - “Prepare the way of the Lord…” It’s so quiet, but it’s insistent, it keeps on calling, even when hidden it keeps calling, even covered in wrapping paper, tinsel, pr...

I don't think anyone in my Parishes knows this blog exists, so i feel confident that posting this sermon the night before won't be giving any sneak previews... My offering for this week... 4 before Advent (2006) RCL Year B Principal Changes, Chances and keeping our focus I expect many of you have heard of the seven last words of Jesus from the cross – they form part of our Holy Week services as we think of the deeper meaning of Christ’s final thoughts – ‘Father forgive them’, ‘It is finished’ and other such phrases. Well there are the seven last words of the Church too – or at least according to one of my theological lecturers there are The seven last words of the Church – that is, the words that often come before the death of a Church – are this BUT WE’VE ALWAYS DONE IT THAT WAY I hear that quite a lot – there’s a variation on the theme in that if something is done once in the Anglican Church it’s an innovation, if it is done twice it’s a tradition. We are very good at getti...

Thanks for the encouraging comments to my last post - it seems that time out is something of a luxury for many of us! There's an ancient Christian tradition of 'slowing' which is referred to by John Ortberg in his book 'The life you've always wanted' (naff self help type title, good book - I've probably said this before) - it is something that i have sought to undertake, as a kind of spiritual discipline, something that i do consciously to remind me of God's call and sway on my life. It involves simple stuff, not always rushing to get to places, weeding out the diary so there is plenty of time to travel, driving in the slow lane, deliberately choosing the longest queue at the supermarket and that kind of thing - not exactly rocket science, but when it becomes part of the fabric of life it creates a whole new mindset. Of course i am my own worst enemy when it comest to this, as recent posts would attest, but when i do follow this course i find my attit...