New Kid on the Blog

It's been quite a time here in the Five Alive Mission Community.  We've had some important and quite significant funerals, a wedding, all of the usual end of term and Christmas events and in this past couple of days an almost solid thirty six hours of services - with an eight hour break between 1am and 9am... so I and my colleagues did get some sleep!  It's a funny thing this Church business, we see people who we never normally see at the services over the Christmas period and some of our regulars make themselves scarce!  And in any year we never know whether there will be more or less than the previous year at any of our services... which so easily leads into the spiral of either self congratualtion or self mortification depending on which way the figures have gone in any year.  Of course we know that the important part of what we do at Christmas is to preach and share the Gospel, and our self worth as a Christian community should never be based on how many 'bums...

I was asked to cover another funeral today, one which I had already had notice of and knew that it may be slightly contentious for me to turn down because there was an expectation that 'the Vicar' should be the one to take this service.  So I wrestled with whether or not to do it and then handed it one of my exceptionally able and hard working colleagues to do, and she was very willing to do so. This comes hot on the heels of a request to make sure that a 'Clergyperson' was present at another service because the minister taking the service wasn't ordained.  It wasn't that this minister is unqualified, unlicensed, untrained or unknown to the community where the service was taking place, but simply that this other minister doesn't have a clerical collar.  Perhaps obvious from the title above, I had to say no to that too. Don't get me wrong, it is a huge privilege and an honour to be asked to take part in these events.  I know that some of the requests ...

Getting fed up with myself!  I like blogging, when I've got time to do it, it has proved a helpful way of getting ideas 'out there' and has been somewhat therapeutic - though sporadic blogging, I have realised, doesn't get the kind of conversation going that I have really appreciated and my fave responders all seem to have fallen off or quit commenting... So I've been wondering whether just to leave New Kid to gently fade, or whether to delete it from the blogosphere, or whether to find an alternative way of blogging, or even whether to commit myself to a little bit of blogging most days... though such a commitment may well find itself bringing more guilt if and when I don't end up doing it. A twitter friend of mine suggested joining a blog community - so even when not actually blogging myself I can be a part of a group that keeps up this whole thinking out loud idea and get some feedback when I do actually blog.  Then I was followed by a blog community on...

A colleague, who is also a great friend, found herself all of a tiz over other things happening in her ministry and asked if I had a sermon for the 4th Before Advent Year A on file anywhere - well, it seems that I have never preached on this particular Sunday before, so I set about writing a sermon that may well never be preached by me!  I may use this as inspiration for the same week in three years time when the same readings come up again, but don't know if I will want to say exactly the same thing!!!  This is a taster, the whole of the sermon can be found at New Kid Deep Stuff by clicking on /more/ 4 Before Advent (2011) Year A RCL Principal Micah 3.5-12 / 1 Thessalonians 2.9-13 / Matthew 24.1-14 The End Is Nigh! You have to feel sorry for Harold Campion.  Perhaps you heard his name on the news back in May when on the 21st of May this chap predicted with absolute certainty that the end of the world was coming and that the world would be destroy...

Today was one of those days that had a bit of the 'duty and the joy' about it... For those who don't recognise the reference it comes from the Eucharist Prayers of the Alternative Service Book 1980 - when the priest begins the prayer at Communion with these words (traditionally called the 'Sursum Corda') the congregation's responses are in bold type: The Lord be with you And also with you  Lift up your hearts We lift them up unto the Lord Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God   It is right to give thanks and praise  It is indeed right, it is our duty and our joy , at all times and in all places to give you thanks and praise.... etc Sometimes having that role of priest and pastor to the people of God feels like a joy, other times it feels much more like a duty.  Today saw a lot of the joy - after an oversleep start to the day I made it to my 9am service with minutes to spare, and it was lovely - sparsely attended, but that happens s...