Deep Thought

Christmas Card

2011-12-19T20:44:00.000Z

As regular blog readers will know, I am never organised enough to do cards and gave in a few years ago. Instead I once again offer a video Greetings card to you all.

In this one, there are various images of the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary as described in Luke 1.26-38.

It has made me think too of the great poem by Nicola Slee (available in The Book of Mary - recommended purchase!):

Fiat (Luke 1:38)

I uttered myself

I claimed my voice

I was not afraid to question

I held my ground

I made my yes

looking straight into the angel's eyes

(any slave girl could have been beaten or raped for less)

There was no mastery here

Nothing was taken from me

Everything was given

Here I am:

See me

Listen

Consider it, if you will as an invitation to listen out for God this Christmas and an encouragement to find your YES.

Merry Christmas!

Preaching on John the Baptist take 5

2011-12-11T20:59:00.001Z

You would have thought that having preached on John the Baptist no less than four times (which begins too look less than it did when I had been in ministry only five years now I've clocked up nearly ten!) that I would have a John the Baptist sermon for every eventuality but as it transpired the sermon I had forgotten to write for this morning (until yesterday afternoon) was on John the Baptist but NOT on the readings I had preached on before. So it was that the sermon below came into existence in only a couple of hours. I didn't have high hopes for it but in the end was rather pleased with it.

(readings below)
Our readings this morning talk to us a little about the Nature of God but rather more about what the nature of those who are called to follow him should be. This is apt as those words addressed to John the Baptist "What do you say about yourself?"

We heard about the Nature of God as light. As our Gospel reading said, John“came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”

Light is an important part of Christmas - very much if the lights on one of the houses in my street are anything to go by - but also in the original Christmas story – the star leads the magi, we light a candle each Sunday on our advent wreath and of course, as we heard in the Gospel, Jesus coming into the world is described as light

You might think of that famous painting The Light of the World by William Holman Hunt with the figure of Christ knocking at a door – an old wooden door with no handle and with weeds growing up in front of it. It’s a beautiful painting rich with imagery – a fallen apple at Christ’s feet, his lamp cut with small stars looking much like a Christmas lantern his golden crown also interwoven with thorns.Hunt when asked said of the painting

"The closed door was the obstinately shut mind. The weeds the cumber of daily neglect, the accumulated hindrance of our spiritual idleness. ...It is the door of the human heart, and that can only be opened from the inside."

Hopefully we are those who have had the courage to open that door and let the light of Christ into our lives. Because our readings today also talk about our role. Like John, We’re NOT the light but we’re here to show the light – a bit like a film or slide projector, projecting light onto the wall. The projector may be a very complicated piece of equipment – it may need special skill to set it up and get it just right but the projector is not the thing we want people to look at but the image it projects.

We, like John, need to testify to the light through our lives. We’re not saying we have to be perfect but the way we Christians live says something about the God we believe in. Paul was writing to the people at Thessalonica about how their lives should be shaped.

“to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.”

I’ve been leading assemblies this week with our CE secondary school at Wolverley and talked to the students about the importance of peace in our faith and in many faiths – for us Christians it is so important that we make peace with each other every week. As I said to the students, this is because we as Christians don’t think we are perfect and we don’t always get it right but we try to be as good as we can be. And although it reads like Paul is expecting the Thessalonians to be perfect the fact that he also includes the words “Beloved, pray for us.” Shows us that he didn’t think he could manage to live up to his own words without the support of others.I think Paul’s list is one which encourages us to think about our attitude, about the way we look at life. It’s about having a positivity of life. Rather than letting the door to our heart get choked up with the weeds of worry, of bitterness, fear, hatred, anger. Giving in to those strangling weeds would make us like the poor characters in Narnia where it is Always winter but never Christmas. Paul urges us to “be patient... rejoice always... give thanks in all circumstances...do not quench the spirit”. This is a bid for a non cynical attitude, a positive outlook. We might think that there are some circumstances where there is nothing that we can give thanks for. With the world’s finances where they are and personal finances for many people giving concern, we might think it is all pretty bleak – how can there be any cause of thankfulness.

I found this idea challenging when I was in Peru last year. In a place where people had virtually nothing: No running water or sewerage, no prospect of work, little help from the government and yet in the midst of this we sang the Taizé chant Nada te turbe: Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you, God alone is enough We heard a sermon about how perfect love casts out fear and the priest then gave an encouragement for even those in the poorest part of the city to show charity with the words who is so poor that they cannot afford to give their neighbour a cup of tea or help move rocks from outside their house?

This incredibly positive attitude reminded me of a story I once heard in Taizé of a group of Christians in Eastern Europe who were imprisoned in a camp during the communist regime of the USSR. One day they found a blackberry growing through the fence and one of them suggested that the person who counted the most blessings in that day would get the small piece of fruit. The next evening, people in this horrible environment came together with dozens of blessings including moments of wonder at creation and small kindnesses they had been shown by others. These lists of blessings encouraged them all in the toughest time.

I think Paul’s message to the Thessalonians and to us is not that we need to make a great show of our lives. We’re NOT the light but here to testify to the light. We don’t need to do that in a blaze of glory but in our own way. In giving up your seat to someone laden down with bags, to letting a car out at a junction, to smiling at someone, stopping for a cup of tea and a chat with someone who doesn’t get listened to, making a small contribution to St Mary’s breakfast club or to a homeless charity for or buying a gift for the Shuttle’s Christmas Gift Appeal.

What do you say about yourself?

As Desmond Tutu has said:

“Do your little bit of good where you are;

it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world”

So where in all the preparations for Christmas are you letting the light shine through your life?

What little bits of Good can you remember to do so that together we can all overwhelm the world with light?

The readings were:

John 1:6-286There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. 19This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” 21And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said. 24Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” 26John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” 28This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-2812But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labour among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; 13esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. 15See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. 16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise the words of prophets, 21but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22abstain from every form of evil. 23May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this. 25Beloved, pray for us. 26Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. 27I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all of them. 28The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Young Minds

2011-12-01T17:43:00.001Z

Worth watching this video then head over to young minds website to read the manifesto.

How are you waiting?

2011-11-27T11:36:00.001Z

Ok so it's been a while ...

I preached this morning at a small family community church in our team who are so warm and friendly - a place where EVERYONE shares the peace with EVERYONE else!

The Readings were:

1 Corinthians 1:1-91Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— 7so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Mark 13:24-3724“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened,and the moon will not give its light,25and the stars will be falling from heaven,and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.26Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 27Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. 28“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 32“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

• Two different ways of telling the same story
• Bible all about stories & reflecting on its own story – Mark’s use of Isaiah in Rabbinic tradition & Paul talking about Jesus
• Different stories of Christmas
o Fluffyo John Lewiso Sado Scrooge
• Juggling Stories & finding Christ
• Challenges

We seem to be getting slightly different stories from Mark and from Paul in our readings this morning. Mark tells us that we won’t know the hour and that we must be alert:

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.

He talks of the signs of the end times and a blustery day like today seems quite suited to his theme of

“the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”

Paul tells us that we have been enriched with all knowledge through Christ and that we should wait eagerly.

“for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This seems a little conflicting – the one rather fearful and wary the other confident and joyful. One of not knowing and one of being equipped. Yet people can have the same message with a very different story. Both are telling us to be waiting but they tell it with a different outlook. We can sometimes forget that the Bible is not only one big story but also a collection of stories and one which references itself. The Bible reflects upon itself in the way it tells the story and retells itself. In our Gospel reading we have a good example as Mark describes Jesus retelling words from Isaiah – reinterpreting the story for the present time. Reflecting the original meaning but also bringing that story into the present with its own meaning. He also retells this message not just through scripture but in a very short parable:

"It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch."

For many at this time of year there are different stories around about the approach of Christmas. Many of them are around in our shops or on our televisionsThere might be the fluffy fairy-dust filled Disney dream of a perfect white Christmas – that chocolate box image of the smiling perfect family gathered round a glowing fire with all the presents they desire.Or there might be more of an adventure or twist to the tale – some of you may have seen the John Lewis Christmas advert. We see a child frustratedly waiting for Christmas – counting down the days with grumpy anticipation . Yet when Christmas day dawns he rushes PAST the vast pile of presents at the foot of his bed and instead rushes to give his carefully chosen present to his parents.There are those for whom the approach of Christmas brings sorrow, desperation at the thought of not being able to afford it, sadness at missing family or at family disputes. A time not of joy but of stress and depression.There are also those unreformed scrooges who talk only of the waste of money on frivolities – excess food, extravagant gifts and blind consumerism for a meaningless commercialised winter festival.These four different ways of telling the story can give a very different message although they are about the same thing,.

Now I’m not sure any one of us has exactly those stories - I’m sure we each have our own distinct story of Christmas. How do we balance the stories of our faith, of the Christ child lost under the pile of tinsel, baubles and presents. We are conflicted with our right desires to express our love for families and friends through time together and gifts at this annual accustomed feast and our need to tell our Christian story of the greatest gift ever given – God’s gift of his son to the world as a poor, helpless baby.Of course we are waiting for Christmas, yet our readings both talk of waiting not for Christ’s first coming but his second. In our stories of Christmas, where does this return of Christ come?

Advent is our chance to remind ourselves of that coming of Christ not just at Bethlehem but also of his coming again. We may be caught up in all the distractions this season brings – card writing, present buying, gift wrapping, cake baking, mince-pie crafting, party going, carol singing, cracker pulling but the church calls us to live also outside this secular Christmas Wonderland story and to inhabit a story of expectation.

So, as you begin advent, I wonder what your story of Christmas is? How do you tell others the story of Christ’s coming through your life and through words? People may be asking a lot “Are you ready for Christmas?” but perhaps the more proper question for us is “Are you ready for Christ?

Dreams of Hope and Home

2011-08-30T16:11:00.003+01:00

Fantastic time at Greenbelt again this year. Fabulous friends to camp with and an awesome team of friends new and rediscovered at the Performance Cafe. Yet again I focussed on the things I could experience then and there which I couldn't anywhere else so I failed to get to any talks - thinking instead that I can download those later. Couldn't possibly get that experience of the witty and awesome Duke Special, the divine Edwina Hayes, the liltingly lovely Yvonne Lyon, the delightful Gentry Morris, the blissful Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies, the hilarious Folk On... and so many more. So I spent a lot of time in the Performance Cafe or catching up with friends here and there. Apparently a new member of the team commented to another "Sarah knows a lot of people doesn't she?" and it was wonderful to meet and chat with so many people I do know and, as ever, chat to people I had never met in queues for loos, pies and gigs!

I spent a lot of time looking out at the gathered crowd either during worship, from inside the Performance Cafe tent, from the grandstand across the site or from the tented warmth of the tiny tea tent and thinking that Greenbelt really is a small taste of heaven. It is a foretaste of what the Kingdom could be like. It is the world if it were made up of people who follow the Way of Christ. Mark Thomas has tweeted that he was surprised by how much he liked Greenbelt (ranking it only behind Glastonbury as his favourite festival of the year) and I think those of all faiths and none can see that Greenbelt is a great place of loving community. A place of the Kingdom. A place of Love, Compassion, Justice, Freedom (as our diocesan 2020 Vision group has it).

So my spiritual tanks are re-fuelled by some awesome music, some experience of community, a LOT of laughter, some peaceful worship, some uplifting worship, takign part in The People's Bible, viewing some artwork (officially in the Methodist Art collection and unofficially in some glowing robot sculptures and painted feet).

I've returned home with a signed Dave Walker Tshirt, a few scrapes and bruises (and some welly rub!), three new CDs, a peace of heart, some deeper friends, a commitment to keeping in touch more with some of my once a year friends and a readiness for all which this term has to offer, with the beginning of my training for ordination, a new school year which will include the Worcester Diocese Clergy Conference, Gloucester's Rock the Cathedral, The schools weeks at Taize, The Midlands DYOs hosting the DYO conference and so many more unanticipated delights!

My favourite lyrics of the weekend from Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies*

"they said Jesus shouldn’t heal a man on Sunday
he shouldn’t eat with sinners and he shouldn’t have fun
well some rules are just waiting to be broken I guess
so I think it’s time I started breaking some"

*unlike someone else who loved I feel like Popeye with a mouth full of spinach

Sermon at Malvern Priory

2011-08-14T14:36:00.003+01:00

Just back from Malvern where I was presenting a Worcester Spirit Mark Bronze Award (a sign that the church is welcoming to children and young people) as well as preaching and running some creative prayers. It was a great morning and the text of the sermon is below. As they are fully digitized you can also have a listen when they pop it up on the website here. The text was Matthew 15 21-28 Jesus and the Canaanite woman who asks for her daughter to be healed and FOR ONCE I did what we always joked about in training for preaching - I began with an anecdote about a dog!

It might be useful to know that I took a stuff "puppy" toy with me but this picture of Peggy should pretty much have the same effect!

This is our dog Peggy. She is a bouncy frolicking dog who bounds up to people she’s never met and gets very excited when she sees people she has met and yet when we sit down to a meal she is a model of good behaviour – sitting perfectly with eyes that say “I’m the best behaved dog in all the world” as she watches eagerly to see if anybody drops a tiny bit of food on the floor and then she rushes in to gobble it up. When our nieces who are 4 and 1 are at the table Peggy thinks that the little one is her best friend in all the world as she is very good at dropping food. Even though Peggy knows that she gets a lovely bowl of dog food after we’ve finished eating every evening, she still waits for those little crumbs that fall like a dog that gets no other food
In our gospel today this image of the dog sitting under the table waiting for the scraps is used in rather a shocking way. What’s most shocking is that it’s Jesus who seems to be referring to this woman as like a dog “It’s not right to take the children’s food and feed it to the dogs” on the surface I’m sure many of us would agree with that statement but Jesus is not just talking about children and dogs. The conversation with this woman is about the preconceptions, the prejudices that were around in those days that Jewish people and Jewish Rabbis would not waste their time on non Jews they only looked after their own and, out of character for Jesus, he seems to take this position saying in effect you’re not one of us so I’m not helping you but of course he doesn’t mean what he says instead he’s testing out the prejudice of the woman and those around him – even of his disciples. He is bringing all this prejudice into the light. Jesus’ message at the end of this passage and throughout the Gospels is clear – his love is freely offered for all. Jesus calls us to love our neighbours, to love our enemies even. God’s love is for all – not just for the Jews and that’s still true – God’s love is not just for those who are “in” – who go to church regularly, who call themselves Christians but for all people. That’s why it’s so wonderful to have people here together – some who have been to this church every Sunday for many years some who have been only a few times and some who are here for the first time. ALL of us part of God’s family. As we know family is about so much more than the people we are related to and the baptism today is all about family. Baby X has got new Godparents and more than that has been welcomed into the family of the church, into God’s family – a family that welcomes and loves everyone – all those who are in the church, those who have only stepped into this church for the first or second time today and those who have never been in this or any church.

I’m sure none of us this week have missed hearing about the violence in the streets of many of our cities. Many of us may have been tempted to call the young people involved “dogs” or worse perhaps and yet Jesus’ message today says that even these unlovely and unloved dispossessed looters are offered God’s love. This is not to say that their actions are anything but wholly unacceptable that their behaviour is excusable but it IS forgiveable as God’s love is about forgiveness – as tough as forgiving people can be. The reasons for their disaffection to society to those they call rich to those they see as sitting at the table eating a fine meal while they search for the scraps. What love have these young people received? What faith do they have in the authorities or for some in their families? What hope do they have for their future with youth unemployment at 19.7 per cent (Labour market statistics July 2011 issued by Office for National Statistics) with university fees set to be so high many will see them as unaffordable and with house prices rising so much that they will never be able to own their own home.

None of this excuses their actions – many other young people are in similar circumstances and are NOT rioting or looting but still facing tough times. Young people I know were condemning the violence on Facebook, others were in Birmingham and elsewhere helping with the clear up. Churches too were showing that like Jesus with the Canaanite women they are giving more than crumbs to those young people who no-one else cares for – Street Pastors and youth workers have been out helping to talk to and listen to young people in London, Birmingham, Manchester and in other places affected.

What is there that we can do to build up community? How can we be sure that everyone comes to the table and is welcomed to join in the feast? So that no-one is left to scrabble for the crumbs? This church does a great deal to welcome children and young people but this is not something which is achieved and then ticked off the list. Like this baptism today, it is not a one off event but the beginning of a lifetime as part of the family of God. How are you building up that family as a church and Where in your life do you see opportunities to show God’s love to those that feel unloved? Or to put it another way – who in your lie deserves more than just the crumbs?

Double-Take

2011-06-14T08:41:00.001+01:00

Great video which a few people have flagged up lately. It's one of those best viewed twice (when you've seen it once, you'll understand why!)

"Rights" of Passage

2011-06-06T11:38:00.003+01:00

Well this would have been a useful book a few years back!

The Journey of Christian Initiation
by Paul Avis, Martin Davie, Harriet Harris, Christopher Hill & Stephen Platten

It's described as:

This helpful volume sets out to clarify the Church of England’s thinking about baptism, confirmation and admission to communion, and addresses some very practical questions in relation to ministry in this area.
Discussion of the topic is grounded in the New Testament and the early Church, and is traced through the development of the Church’s theology and practice of initiation from the mediaeval and Reformation periods up to the present. Drawing on the Book of Common Prayer (1662), the Thirty-nine Articles and Common Worship, as well as on Scripture and the Church’s tradition, it sheds light on contemporary practice and understanding, which can – and do - vary locally.

Anglican approaches to Christian initiation are also explored in relation to those of other churches.

Hopefully a useful read now for churches thinking about admission to holy communion before confirmation and considering that age old question of "what age confirmation?"

Not read it yet as it's just out but hope to get hold of a copy soon.

No Hopers, Jokers and Rogues

2011-06-03T11:13:00.003+01:00

I think the title of this song for me encapsulates the Gospel and who it was that Jesus went to. The tune is irrepressibly positive and I think the genuine friendships of the group come through in a way that is quite tangible.

I played it yesterday in the office and poor Emma was humming it within minutes!!

Yet it's not just the tune but these awesome lyrics that ring through with faith, hope and love.

Come, all you no hopers,
you jokers and rogues
we're on the road to nowhere,
let's find out where it goes
It might be a ladder to the stars, who knows
Come, all you no hopers,
you jokers and rogues.

Leave all your furrows in the fields where they lie
Your factories and offices;
kiss them all goodbye
Have a little faith in the dream maker in the sky
There's glory in believing him
and it's all in the beholder's eye.

Turn off your engines and slow down your wheels
Suddenly your master plan loses its appeal
Everybody knows that this reality's not real
So raise a glass to all things past and celebrate how good it feels.

Awash on the sea of our own vanity
We should rejoice in our individuality
Though it's gale force, let's steer a course for sanity

I'm really hoping they might feature in the playlist in between acts at the Performance Cafe this year. If not it will certainly be on my ipod when I'm there!!

Surrexit Dominus Vere - The Lord is risen indeed!

2011-04-24T08:18:00.002+01:00

This Taize chant for me is one of such joy that it really encapsulates the sense of Easter morning. Happy Easter one and all.

Hello God, this is me Lulu

2011-04-23T09:22:00.003+01:00

I am so proud to be an Anglican this Easter. First Bishop John suggests our schools should be rediscovering their original foundation aim to be serving the community and now it turns out Archbishop Rowan has taken time to respond to a letter from a six year old in Scotland. You can read the article to discover the context but what made me smile was how much it is not just a standard letter or in an adult style but in one which is trully wonderful:

Dear Lulu,

Your dad has sent on your letter and asked if I have any answers. It’s a difficult one! But I think God might reply a bit like this –

‘Dear Lulu – Nobody invented me – but lots of people discovered me and were quite surprised. They discovered me when they looked round at the world and thought it was really beautiful or really mysterious and wondered where it came from. They discovered me when they were very very quiet on their own and felt a sort of peace and love they hadn’t expected.

Then they invented ideas about me – some of them sensible and some of them not very sensible. From time to time I sent them some hints – specially in the life of Jesus – to help them get closer to what I’m really like.

But there was nothing and nobody around before me to invent me. Rather like somebody who writes a story in a book, I started making up the story of the world and eventually invented human beings like you who could ask me awkward questions!’

And then he’d send you lots of love and sign off.

I know he doesn’t usually write letters, so I have to do the best I can on his behalf. Lors of love from me too.

+Archbishop Rowan

I think my favourite phrase just has to be:
"Then they invented ideas about me – some of them sensible and some of them not very sensible." I remember someone once saying that a sign of someone who really knows there stuff isn't that they can describe it in intelligent language and with lots of technical words but that they can explain it in simple terms to someone who knows nothing about it in a way that they can understand. Just goes to show what a great theologian ++Rowan is.

What is a church school?

2011-04-22T08:29:00.002+01:00

Interesting prominence given to the Bishop of Oxford's comments on admissions to church schools and whether or not (or to what extent) schools should give preference to "Christian" families in the TES and featured on the Today Programme.

Rob Bell Wins

2011-04-21T14:15:00.003+01:00

Went to hear Rob Bell talk about his new book Love Wins which has been the centre of a lot of controversy from people thinking this means Rob is a universalist (which for many implies that there is no need to live a Christian life). He talked about the image of the city of God in Revelation which has an ever open door (21.25) and it reminded me of the poem about Judas Iscariot which talks of the eventual acceptance of Judas and his own acceptance of the love of God and today again Bishop John preached at the Chrism Mass about the woman who washed Jesus' feet and how we, like Simon the Pharisee, need to learn lessons from those who know themselves to have sinned and know themselves forgiven.

He asked what would our churches be like if each and every one of us willingly allowed ourselves to be changed - that unlike Simon the Pharisee we did not only invite God into our lives but keep our lives the same but like the woman we allowed ourselves to be changed.

The poem concludes like this:

'Twas the Bridegroom stood at the open door,
And beckon'd, smiling sweet;
'Twas the soul of Judas Iscariot
Stole in, and fell at his feet.

'The Holy Supper is spread within,
And the many candles shine,
And I have waited long for thee
Before I poured the wine!'

The supper wine is poured at last,
The lights burn bright and fair,
Iscariot washes the Bridegroom's feet,
And dries them with his hair.

Re the Regeneration Summit - Igniting Change

2011-03-18T17:43:00.001Z

Some interesting developments now on the Regeneration Summit website with footage of the day which our Bishop John attended and which fed into our CandY at Diocesan Synod day. Check out the videos by young people.

If you're very eagle-eyed you might spot Bishop John on this video:

Those there signed a pledge:

Gathered in Sheffield for the Regeneration Summit we are excited by all the positive work with young people across our nation. We rejoice that so many young people are involved in the life of our Church, yet we yearn for more.

As Bishops and Church leaders we pledge ourselves to find new ways to listen to the voices of young people, and encourage them in their Christian walk. We will work to enable young people's voices to be heard better both within our Diocese and the national Church. We will seek to find new ways to empower young people both in leadership and ministry. We will endeavour to work with colleagues to enable new mission initiatives with young people, and consider if new financial resources can be made available to support these.

As young people gathered at the Regeneration Summit we affirm we will work hard to encourage and support our church leaders. We will pray for our Bishops, and so all we can to bless their leadership amongst us. We will work positively in our local churches, to encourage our leaders. We pledge ourselves to pray for our friends, and to try to find new ways of sharing our faith with them.

Together, we commit afresh to pray for the Church we love, and to ask God to work a miracle amongst us, that He would use us to help many more young people across England come to a living faith in Jesus Christ.

Book update

2011-03-11T13:25:00.004Z

Ok so the book is available as you know and if you want to know more you could listen to this interview. I appear to be in the pleasant company of Bishop John Pritchard slightly further down the page so scroll down to that too and have a listen!

Sing unto the lord a new song

2011-03-02T19:01:00.003Z

So despite the nasty cold I ventured to work today. To be honest sitting here on the sofa with the laptop seems far more achievable. I'm planning a service of the word for our office tomorrow and its the day commemorating Charles and John Wesley.

I found a lovely sermon by Archbishop Rowan Williams (which you can perus at your leisure but what really excited me also this great list of SINGING INSTRUCTIONS below from John Wesley himself.

I had thought about having some singing tomorrow but as I have little voice for speaking I think it rather unfair to ask the few others who will be there to sing so I am heading to itunes!

I feel I am failing at number three - as weakness and weariness do seem to be hindering me somewhat at the moment! Anyway... enjoy!

I. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.

2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.

3. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a single degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.

4. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, then when you sung the songs of Satan.

5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.

6. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.

7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

From John Wesley's Select Hymns, 1761

Church in the World

2011-02-28T20:26:00.002Z

As hubby and I had a few days away in York last week, I had some brain space to do some random thinking. I pondered the place of churches in the community especially as we wondered around York and Whitby. Being a visitor I was able to have those unknowing eyes which we in our own churches can never have. I saw lots of churches in York but not a great deal of Church. There were buildings but little evidence of Christian service. Now to be fair, I was being a tourist and not living in the community and was there midweek but I was surely like many others. With a viking festival on for the week I wondered how the churches had engaged with it and there were events at churches but only as venues it seemed. I contrasted this with the proliferation of crystal shops in Whitby cashing in on the ghoulish reputation as beign the place Dracula landed in England. How about how the churches engage normally? The minster sadly charges for entry (and I'm sure that is a sad necessity for the community) but the neighbouring St Michael le Belfry offered a space for quiet and reflection, with a gentle welcome and a clear sign that the congregation are an active church community. I did spot the Salvation Army with its usual list of all kinds of social action. Some of the churches do seem to have been transformed into particular ministries - one for a club for the elderly and one in a village was a gallery and arts centre.
We need perhaps though to be visible outside our doors. I spent a lovely afternoon in sunshine listening to a pair of buskers and these could easily have been a pair of Christians sharing songs of hope.

I'm aware that these are somewhat vague ramblings and only the beginnings of thoughts about how Christians should be visible in our communitites. My current conclusions include:

We can't rely on our churches to be visible signs of our Christian communities as people see them as interesting historic buildings not as bases of mission.
We need to be seen outside our doors
We need to make our buildings seem more open from the outside and easy to enter.
We should be seeking out parts of the community culture where we can engage and show we exist - a church team at the local pub quiz? an ancient style service featuring during a viking week? a chaplaincy to the local shops/schools/hospitals/prisons
As individuals we need to be bold in talking about our vocations as Christians to the jobs we have be that teacher, carer, gardener, musician, artist etc

The Call comes in the Midst of Life

2011-01-22T17:13:00.003Z

With some heavy borrowing from Rob Bell's Nooma Dust, my sermon as intended for tomorrow! May change over breakfast of course and mostprobably at the pulpit/lectern as usual!

The Call comes to you in the midst of life
The Call comes to you in the midst of life
The Call comes to you in the midst of life

In today’s gospel we hear about Jesus call to his disciples to follow him. He walks by the sea of Galilee and seeing peter and Andrew and James and John he says “Follow me” Nowadays we have far more complex recruitment processes of adverts and parish profiles, application forms and interviews and references. Jesus However walks past and says “Follow me” sounds rather unprofessional really. Actually his words are not as simple and ordinary as you might expect. These were the words with which a Rabbi would traditionally call someone to be their disciple.
(from Rob Bell's Nooma Dust)

Education was huge in Jesus' day, and the system that Jesus would have probably grown up in and learned from was very specific. Jewish education was made up of three primary sections: Bet Safar,Bet Talmud & Bet Midrash
Bet Safar: Usually from the ages five to ten, it was a time taught in the synagogue by the Rabbi. During this time, good Jewish boys memorized the Torah - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – the first five books of our Old Testament memorized by the age of ten.
Bet Talmud: Progressing on from Bet Safar, it continues from the age of ten on to fourteen. During this time, the student would continue his memorization of the Psalms, prophets, and the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament). It wasn't uncommon in that day for a good Jewish boy to have the Old Testament memorized by the age of fourteen. The student would also during this time begin to learn the art of questions and answers. In our western civilization today, we are into information transfer, but in those days, answering a question wasn't quite as direct. A rabbi might ask a student what is two plus two? Today, we would spout off the answer of four. But back then when a Rabbi would ask what two plus two was, a student might answer with, "What is the square root of sixteen?" This not only told the Rabbi that the student heard and understood the question, but was able to process it and respond with a question of his own. So you see, when we find Jesus in the temple at the age of twelve (Luke 2), we find him doing just what a boy of his age would be doing, questions and answers with the elders.
Bet Midrash: At the age of fourteen, the best of the best would continue to apply oral and written law from the Talmud, the Mishna (the earliest oral version of the Talmud), and years and years of commentary on the scriptures. Each Rabbi would have their own interpretation of how to live out the Torah. You see, you have the law itself and then the Rabbi's interpretation of the rules required to obey the law. The Rabbi's rules were called his yoke. When you studied under a Rabbi, you took his yoke upon you. But Jesus came and said His yoke was easy. That He isn't about endless lists of rules and regulations (Matthew 11). If we understand this we see that, when Jesus is speaking, He's not just picking words out of the air; He's speaking as a Rabbi would.
So, at the age of fourteen, the best of the best, the Oxford and Cambridge of the Jewish boys took another step. All Jewish boys wanted to be Rabbis, because teachers were the most respected people of the day. At fourteen, the Oxford and Cambridge would approach a Rabbi and request to become his disciple. The Rabbi would then quiz the boy. If the Rabbi quizzed you and determined that you were good enough, that you were indeed the Oxford and Cambridge, he would say, "Come, follow me, take my yoke upon you and become my disciple." And at that time, the boy would leave everything, (home, mother, father, synagogue, community…) and devote his entire life to being just like the Rabbi.
Now there is always the possibility that the Rabbi might decide while quizzing you that you are not the Oxford and Cambridge. He would say, "Obviously, you know Torah, but you don't have what it takes to be just like me. Go, have children, pray that they become Rabbis, and ply your trade." Go learn the family business and live a good life that your sons may grow up to be better than you. And that brings us back to the text,
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers; Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fisherman. What were they??? Fisherman…Why? Because they didn't make the cut! A Rabbi had probably told them they weren't the best of the best, and sent them to "ply their trade". Jesus goes to the losers and rejects and calls them! "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
Now, how many of you, honestly will say that this has never made sense to you?
But that is what happened! There is no more. Nothing is missing. The author didn't leave anything out. You see, Jesus was a Rabbi! He is calling disciples! He thinks they are good enough, even though others did not. He's giving them a chance to fulfil their dream.

The Call comes to you in the midst of life
The Call comes to you in the midst of life

And the place where Jesus meets these disciples is not some specialist disciple recruitment centre or even the job centre plus. These men are going about their normal lives. To hear God’s call doesn’t require you to go out of your way. God’s call comes in the midst of life. In fact, it often comes when you are doing something at which you are talented, skilled or gifted. God sees your gift and calls you to use it for the kingdom, not just for your work. It might be that you spend a lot of time organising things or listening to people and God calls you to put those skills to organising a charity event, or listening not just to customers but to those in need of a listening ear and maybe even a shoulder to cry on. It might be that you have fabulous skills in finances or sewing or carpentry and God calls you to help as a church treasurer or run a project helping teenage mums to craft clothes for their children or fix up the cloakrooms in the local school. These skills might not be simply your work skills but the things you take so for granted; the gift of hospitality of baking of smiling and being friendly. All these things can be the root of God’s call to you.

The Call comes to you in the midst of life
The Call comes to you in the midst of life

I know in the church we can often think that there are those who have a calling to ministry in the church and the rest of us just have jobs or tasks but it is so not the case and making that clear is exactly what Jesus was doing by calling the unlikely candidates such as Fishermen, a tax collector like Matthew, a doubter like Thomas and a zealot quasi terrorists like Judas Iscariot. Jesus was showing that the call can come to everyone. It’s not just about the Pharisees and all their rules but about each and every human being listening to where God is calling them and following. Paul in his letter reinforces this. The message of Christ doesn’t come “with eloquent wisdom,” but simply and with truth so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. Jesus deliberately didn’t call the usual suspects as he didn’t want to replicate the law driven religion of the Pharisees. He wanted real people and so he called real people who would not be caught up in philosophical arguments but would tell the Good News. As Paul says For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. In a climate when, increasingly the church is mocked by comedians and by newspapers, this concept is more than clear. The message of the cross can seem like foolishness, passed on by the ones who didn’t make the cut to follow the best Rabbi but Jesus teaching is not about SUCCESS but about love so his call doesn’t go out only to the top notch people but to each and every one of us. We’re not following after different Rabbis as Paul says it’s not about “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” but we all follow Jesus
I suppose the question is how does the call come? How can we her it? For some it is a clear and blinding as it was for Paul on the Road to Damascus and as daunting and clear as the call to Ananias who healed Paul’s blindness – putting himself in the path of the man who had been campaigning for the death of Christians. I have known friends who have woken one morning with words clear in their mind, calling them to somewhere. It might come in the guidance from friends, from reading scripture, from the revelation of a glorious experience of God’s creation. It might come through our own prayer or be shown through the prayer of others. For others, the call creeps up on us. Sometimes, in fact, we don’t see it until we look back and see our footprints with God’s walking alongside.
From my own life I remember frustration at two points in my life when I didn’t see it until later. Both times, I was still where had been for some time and really felt I should have moved on – I felt that God was calling me on to new things but I hadn’t yet reached them.

(personal story)

I’m sure Peter James, Andrew and John didn’t think they wanted to be hauling nets but off with some great Rabbi and yet there they were – where they needed to be, in the midst of their regular life, so that Jesus could walk by and call “Follow me”

Where are you working at your nets?

Where will Jesus come to call you?

How will you respond?

The Call comes to you in the midst of life
The Call comes to you in the midst of life
The Call comes to you in the midst of life

The texts for this morning:
Matthew 4:12-23
Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Booked up!

2011-01-08T12:42:00.005Z

So the penultimate set of proofs for the book has come through with promise of the next and final set to follow. It's all feeling very real! Launch date is 31st January. I can't quite believe how long ago Phil and I started on it all. It's lovely to see the project finally come to this point. I'm also getting slightly itchy fingers about what the next project might be? Moving Images Changing Lives 2? It's a possibility (and I must admit I still view films with a mind to potential clips for work with young people!) but I'm not sure if it's the way forward. I've got a few training courses lined up this year which may take my time but I do like to be mulling something over for a while anyway! When we started the project we were both very sure that there was a great need for a course for young people to help them explore confirmation and I'd like to think that I'd work on something else that was very much linked to the need of those working with young people or the direct needs of young people themselves. Any ideas wise people of the blogosphere? What do you want that isn't out there?

update : CHP now has a page for it too! and one for me as well!

Praying

2010-12-31T19:24:00.003Z

Now some of you might expect a post on here to consist of a resolution to blog more (which I know I should) yet that is not what I'm posting in fact.

What I want to reflect on instead is the process of the creation of this painting below. It may not even be complete as yet as the paint is still wet! This is one of t hose pictures that I've been living with for some time. the roots of it may got back a very long time but the more recent prompt came in November at Youthwork the Conference.

I've tried to capture what prayer feels like. For me I have times of deep connection with God when I get a sense of the Holy Spirit very tangibly moving between my open hands as a living, warm power. I also get a sense of purple, if that makes sense. I've tried to capture these things in this picture but it's still not quite enough. trying to capture something so other-worldly in a static form is always going to be wrought with difficulties.

I'm still not sure that this really conveys how prayer feels but painting it has made me reflect on my experience and wonder how prayer feels for others. It's one of those things people don't often feel comfortable talking about but I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience to mine (or one totally disimilar!).

What colour is your prayer?

A little Christmas gift to all

2010-12-16T18:25:00.003Z

Conspiracy Theory

2010-11-29T14:54:00.002Z

How about looking at Advent in a whole new way... as a conspiracy!

Nice theory shown in this video:

Advent Conspiracy from Morning Star Church on Vimeo.

Twist my words

2010-11-25T18:42:00.002Z

Just played around with Channel Four's Twist my word page - could be a source of fun with a group of teens - or youthworkers!! Not quite enough verbs for my liking but rather proud of this bit of surreality! (not sure it works so look here!)

The Colour of Hope

2010-09-04T15:57:00.002+01:00

It's been a while since I've been on here as I've been in Peru for three weeks then at Greenbelt.

I had a wonderful time at both and am still processing a lot of what happened before I hurtle into the preparations for Rock teh Cathedral Again 2010 which is 3 weeks today.

One thing that sticks in my mind was the celebration at the end of our time with the Christian communities in Lima when there was a song I'd never heard before. It began with the children from one school sinign it and then ALL the schools joined in and then we were all dragged up to dance to it (English people dancing to South American beats is not a pretty sight but it was wonderful!). The song (reproduced below) nearly brought me to tears at the start and by the end I was so very filled with joy. It rather summarised my whosle experience of Peru; expecting all the time to be brought to tears by the sheer overwhelming poverty of places and then stunned by the richness of hope in people there. One of the priests preached in a church with no roof on the text when Jesus told the Rich Young Man to give everything he had away to the poor. He contrasted the richness of community which he sees in the pueblos jovenes (what we might call shanty towns but they call young towns) and the poverty of love which is present in some of the more affluent houses. To preach on charity to people with barely ANYTHING was astounding but as Juan Carlos said, "which of you is so poor that you can't give your neighbour a cup of tea?"

There is a richness of grace in Peru which I could not of imagined before I went there. two million people in Lima have no running water and the pueblos jovenes go on as far as the eye can see in some places. In one area, where we visited a church and its work with children, there is a water treatmentworks which at night time sends a foul stench across the whole community but the water goes to water nearby crops or is pumped back into the sea while the people there have to pay $2 for a barrel of water. And yet in the midst of that the church had a flushing toilet (an advance of some of our centuries old Church of England buildings!!)

There may be more reflections to come but for now here is the song (it is available on itunes!)

Color Esperanza

Se que hay en tus ojos con solo mirar
que estas cansado de andar y de andar
y caminar, girando siempre en un lugar

Se que las ventanas se pueden abrir
cambiar el aire depende de ti
te ayudará, vale la pena una vez mas

Saber que se puede, querer que se pueda
Quitarse los miedos, sacarlos afuera
pintarse la cara color esperanza
tentar al futuro con el corazón

Es mejor perderse que nunca embarcar
mejor tentarse a dejar de intentar
aunque ya ves que no es tan facil empezar
Se que lo imposible se puede lograr
que la tristeza algun día se irá
y asi será, la vida cambia y cambiará

Sentirás que el alma vuela
por cantar una vez mas

Saber que se puede querer que se pueda
quitarse los miedos, sacarlos afuera
pintarse la cara color esperanza
tentar al futuro con el corazón

Saber que se puede querer que se pueda
quitarse los miedos, sacarlos afuera
pintarse la cara color esperanza
tentar al futuro con el corazón

Vale más poder brillar
que solo buscar ver el sol

Pintarse la cara color esperanza
tentar al futuro con el corazón

Saber que se puede...
Querer que se pueda...
Pintarse la cara color esperanza
tentar al futuro con el co
razón

thanks for this translation

The colour of hope

I know what’s in your eyes with just looking at you
(I know) you’re tired of walking and walking
and walking, always in circles in the same place

I know that windows can be opened
to change the atmosphere depends on you
it’ll help you, it’s worth it once more

To know it’s possible, to want it to happen
to get rid of our fears, to expel them
to paint our faces with the colour of hope
to tempt the future with our hearts

It’s better to get lost than never having boarded
better to fall in temptation than give up trying
even though you see it’s not that easy to start
I know that the impossible can be achieved
that sadness will go one day
and it’ll be like that, life will change and change

You’ll feel your soul flying
for singing one more time

To know it’s possible, to want it to happen
to get rid of our fears, to expel them
to paint our faces with the colour of hope
to tempt the future with our hearts

To know it’s possible, to want it to happen
to get rid of our fears, to expel them
to paint our faces with the colour of hope
to tempt the future with our hearts

It’s better being able to shine
than just trying to look at the sun

To paint our faces with the colour of hope
to tempt the future with our hearts

To know it’s possible
to want it to happen
to paint our faces with the colour of hope
to tempt the future with our hearts

Sermon 1st August

2010-08-03T12:16:00.003+01:00

As it's Lamas day (historically the day of the first harvest) it's very apt to have this reading about a man harvesting his crops and filling his barns and then makingplans to make bigger barns to putall the rest in.

Our lives can be a bitlike that too. We can fill our lives up with things like shoes, dvds, books, cars, houses a bigger house and what does it get us?

(demo with rocket balloon which gets filled and filled with things- it wasmeant to fill up and then fly aroudn the church but instead it burst - which ended up being far more dramatic!!)

I’ve got a friend who likes to have all the new gadgets. First it was the ipod shuffle and then he wanted more storage so he got the ipod nano then it was the ipod touch the ipod itself and now of course he wants an ipad – with as the advert says “more books than you can read in a lifetime”. There is a desire in each of us to accumulate more and more STUFF. Just like the foolishman in the gospel reading, we can focus on all the STUFF in our life on the storage of our music on our ipod, on our cars or houses, new plants for our garden, new shoes, new books ( a personal downfall!) or just more money. What is it about all this gathering of possessions that drives us so much?
“Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions”
This need for the status symbol, I think is about our need to feel that we are important. We want these things because somehow we don’t feel that we are important enough without them. I remember the terror of the teenage angst that no-one would like us if we didn’t wear the right trainers or listen to the right music but as adults are we much better?

This desire to accumulate is not of God yet not because the objects themselves are inherently wrong. A car may be a status symbol for some but for others it is a vital method of transport. For sportsmen the right shoes matter a great deal. The right plants give us food and medicine. The books give us knowledge and the music on our ipods inspiration. These things are not inherently wrong but if we have a burning NEED for them it is. Such a need is not of God. It is something which goes against God’s view of each of us. God doesn’t think we NEED these things to make us important. God think every single one of us is important already.

Some of the most beautiful things in the world are natural: a peacock feather, a rainbow, a child’s laughter (as Michael and I heard a lot yesterday watching our 3 year old niece play with our dog). You can’t possess such things. Yet of course all of these things that we do desire come from God’s creation – some with a bit more human intervention than others. If perhaps we view creation from God’s point of view we might see it differently. He gave us an earth abundant in strong resilient metals like God and silver yet we chase after it for its “value” when it’s real worth is something else. There is abundant food across the earth and yet some have so much choice and others so little.

I’m going to Peru this week as part of the diocesan group. (and I need to take photos of my church to show them - so while I'm up here nad you're all sitting there whereyou can't move *click* and the choir too! *click*)

In Peru we’ll see real deprivation. Of the 29 Million population 45 % live below the poverty line. Some of you may have seen the news on the BBC website (though I’m sure many will not as it’s not made the front page) that 400 people have died in the mountains in Peru so far this winter because of the severe cold at night – temperatures of -240C. We’ll be going to the pueblos jovenes the young towns areas where people from the country travel into the city and build whatever they can wherever they can: Where water is delivered every fortnight not every time you turn on the tap. Where, perhaps people are more able to value what they can do not what they possess. In some ways perhaps they are rich and we are poor; Rich in hope; Rich in faith despite it all.

This need we have for material things is not of Christ as Paul tells us “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”. Now I don’t think Jesus or Paul are saying we should possess nothing at all rather that we should be modest in what we do possess. Yet it is more than that. It is not a mere absence of possessions but a focus of the mind not on things earthly but on things heavenly. Jesus said: “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” This is not a call to sell all you have (though Jesus did suggest that for some!) but to be focussed properly on God not on Money –render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and to God that which belongs to God as Jesus said another time.
What does this change of focus look like?

Remember where this story begins. A man asks Jesus to MAKE his brother share his inheritance with him. Is Jesus saying that the man should be focussed more on the matters heavenly – on their shared bereavement; on the bond of family; on their faith in God rather than on the financial resources of a deceased parent.

As Paul’s letter shows this is not just all about material possessions but also about the status associated with them and all that that might imply. It is not about being rich or poor, slave or free Jew or Greek anymore. NONE of these things are what we should be focussed on. Rather our focus should be on Christ. I don’t know how many of you have access to the internet but the Diocese of Oxford has put up a marvellous pair of videos encouraging people to see God in their lives in all kinds of places not just in church. To FOCUS themselves on Christ through what might be thought to be non-holy activities. The film shows a choir singing, a woman gardening, a grandmother making Jam with her grandchildren, a man leading life drawing class on behalf of a church. Notice all of these things involve some form of creativity; Of joining God in the delight of creation. I hope some of you might get a chance to go to their diocesan website and have a look.

Yet it’s not only about focussing on God in our lives but because of that focus, changing the way we interact with others. As St Paul writes.
“you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.
That new self is available to each of us. And when it becomes hard to live up to that standard; When we find ourselves getting angry or malicious, that is not the end of that new self, no. Paul says that new self “is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.”
So we can turn away from focussing on possessions, we can turn to God our creator and meet with him in all kinds of mini acts of creation, we can act towards each other in a way that is Christ-like and yet if we fail to do so that is not the end because there is always the chance of renewal; Of repentance and a new beginning.

In a possession focussed world, there is no such renewal. Oh there are new things – always new things we can chase after and desire but the possession of those things will never give us satisfaction. Such completion only comes in turning to our God and focussing our lives on following Christ in spirit and in truth

Readings for the Day:

Luke 12:13-21
13Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” 16Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
Colossians 3:1-11
3So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
5Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.
8But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

Prayer Spaces in Schools

2010-08-01T08:34:00.001+01:00

There's a new web page to help you resource prayer spaces in schools. Check it out here.

Creative Prayer

2010-07-24T13:04:00.003+01:00

I really like this Heaven in the Ordinary video from the Diocese of Oxford. It offers ways that all sorts of people can connect with God in churchy and non-churchy ways! I especially enjoyed the reflections from young choristers on what happens when they're singing as it resonated with my experience at their age.

see part two here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdqfpedev0A&feature=related

Sermon on Mary and Martha

2010-07-18T17:03:00.002+01:00

So it was one of those marvellous moments this morning when the lvoely lady stood up to read and, although the book of Genesis was open on the lectern, she produced her own translation (NRSV rather than KJV so gets my vote normally) and readColossians not Genesis. Mini panic ensued but then I realised I didn't have that much on Genesis after all so just planned to cut it, stepped up to the pulpit and preached something like that below. I got some lovelycomments afterwards. One woman was pleased to hear a woman talking about Mary andMartha and not a man saying "Good little Mary being all meek and sitting listening at the feet of a man":

Genesis 18:1-15
18The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. 2He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. 3He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 4Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” 7Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. 8Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
9They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

Luke 10:38-42
38Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 41But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Are you a Mary or a Martha?

There seems to be an assumption that people are either one or the other. We are either the prayerful sitting at the feet of Jesus kind or the making the tea kind. The older I get the more I realise just how wrong that assumption is. Clearly the women who followed Jesus from their descriptions in the Bible were prayerful AND active. How could you partition their act of going to anoint Jesus’ body on Easter Sunday as either work or prayer. Rather it is that after which we should all strive Prayerful work.

I always used to think Martha's story was a CRITCISM of those who seek to show their faith by works but in the mellowing of the years and especially in my last role I began to understand that this is in fact no condemnation of those who put their faith to work but of those who work rather than seek faith. Martha is not someone who has rejected Jesus and chosen work instead. No if you remember the passage it begins:

“Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home”

It is Martha who makes the first move the invite Jesus in. Jesus' words to Martha are not that she should NOT work but that she should be aware that only one thing is necessary; faith in God. He does not say that Martha is WRONG to serve but that she is DISTRACTED by her works from what really matters. She is busying herself to “get it all just right” rather than spending time with him.

In fact a clergy colleague suggestedto me that it is Mary who isgetting it wrong in someways by breaking the female stereotype of service and instead just sitting and listening like a male disciple!

Our Old Testament story backs up what Martha’s intentions most probably were. Martha knew the importance of HOSPITALITY of inviting people into your home; of feeding people. Of inviting God into your home. However Jesus’ message to her is that she rushes to feed him without seeking to be fed herself.

Abraham and Sarah entertain these strangers and feed them but they themselves receive great news in the process. Their hope is fed. Even if it brings Sarah to giggles rather than prayers (too often my downfall!)

Both these stories show us that gathering around a table with people and with God is not just about what is on the table physically but about what God is offering us in the form of spiritual food.

In a world where we strive to succeed and where long hours are seen as the goal and often an indication of a job done well, I think many of us need to hear those words that Jesus spoke to Martha. As with so many of Jesus' most powerful speeches, he begins by calling Martha by name (twice in fact). Can we each hear that message so personally? "You are distracted by many things. There is need of only one thing." Indeed more than that, can we show that message to others? Far too often I find myself entering that most bizarre of stag contests - who has over-worked the most? "You think YOU've had a long week? I had a meeting every evening this week AND I'm working on Saturday AND Sunday and I haven't had a WHOLE day off in two WEEKS!" "I haven't had a day without some work in THREE weeks!"and the four Yorkshireman-esque discussion continues... Why do we do it? Do we really believe that we are BETTER for burning ourselves out in whatever work we do?

When I first started in youth work I was told of the great numbers of youth workers who burn out in the first two years and until a few years ago year I hadn't seen anyone burn out but I regret that In my third year of youth work I saw a wonderful, caring and inspired youth worker work herself into the ground (no it wasn’t me!). When there is so much GOOD work that can be done, I know that it is amazingly difficult to rest, to stop and do something totally pointless like... read a novel, watch a film, have a lie-in or just veg out... but that is exactly what we all need at times; some time for ourselves. Jesus knew this and often took time out for prayer as well as for meals with friends.

My dear friend, when she was taking that time out, urged me that I should take note before I push myself to far and I have certainly heard that message from her and from this reading.

What work do you have to do that is so important today or this week? Is it because the work is important or because YOU want to FEEL important?

In the grand scheme of things much of what we do is not vital and earth-shattering, no matter how it might feel to us. IN her busyness Martha gets snippety at her sister who isn’t so busy (how many of us do the same?) Jesus wanted Martha to know that she was a precious child of God no matter how busy or un busy she was, no matter what anyone else was doing or not doing and that the only thing she needed to do was to turn towards God. Not to worry about all the things that needed doing to feed everyone but to come to the table and be fed by God.
Is it only us busy ones that need to change though?

When Jesus speaks to Martha about her rushing around, he’s commenting on her distraction from her relationship with God. You don’t have to be busy to be missing that connection with God. It could be that you need to engage with God in a new way.

It is possible for those contemplative prayerful types to take up a practical task and it is possible for those who roll up their sleeves to take some time out to pray. It doesn’t have to be a choice of one or the other!

I've been on retreat to various different places and I must admit I struggled a little staying in one community of sisters who were Marys – actually some of them were literally Marys – but my point is that these nuns prayed and kept quiet time most of the day. The community was relatively small and the young active nuns even fewer in number and so it wasn’t so surprising that there were people supporting them doing the cooking and the cleaning. Another nunnery I stayed at however was the opposite. On my first evening there a gloriously pink faced sister brought in the dinner which she had so obviously slaved over in a hot kitchen, another dug in the garden for the vegetables that went into it and yet another washed it all up afterwards. These sisters were no less holy. Less quiet but not less Christian!

Whether you’re more a Mary or more a Martha, remember this week to focus on God through quiet or through practical service. However you do it remember to take time to come to God’s table. To take time to be spiritual. I know for many people this may seem like a great challenge as the ever-rolling to do list looms forward. If it begins to feel like that this week and you feel yourself spiralling like a Martha into distractions. Listen for Jesus calling you by name and reassuring you.

.... There is need of only one thing.

Unblogged

2010-07-17T19:44:00.002+01:00

I discovered today that my poor blogging hasmeant that Deep Thoughtno longercomes up top on Google if you look for me. You still get me but hte Sarah Brush search doesn't take you here. I think it's clear I have been slacking excessively. I'm about to be in Peru for three weeks so it's not likely to improve in the short term either but there should be a sermon coming up here tomorrow after I have resisted the temptation to opt (as it's Mary and Martha tomorrow) to preach the following:

"I've been rather busy this week, much like Martha, I'm sure we all have. Let's be more like Mary and spend 5 minutes in silence!"

It might just work though

Preaching Premonition

2010-07-14T15:48:00.002+01:00

I had a curious feeling this morning that I was due to be preaching on Sunday - not in my diary and not on the rota. I happened to be phoning the church office to talk to our rector and asked the secretary to check and she verified that I wasn't due to preach until 1st August. Strange.

So I get on with various tasks and then get a call asking me to step in for someone and preach. That explains it then!

So now I have 500 words of Sunday's sermon (former blog reflections can be so useful). I get to preach on Mary and Martha which is rather cool. After my recent retreat experiences I may have a few things to say on that topic which is cool. I do have a whole new reflection on being an extravert and being on retreat which I may finally type up but it'll have to wait until I've done the sermon and the creative prayers for Sunday afternoons Family Fun Day and the final planning for a parish youth/children leaders training day and tweaked a few of the slides from this morning's assembly. Hmmm... Mary or Martha which am I today - it's so hard to tell...

Lovely video

2010-07-02T15:17:00.002+01:00

I saw this on youtube and thought it was fabulous.

Consider the sparrows...

Sermon for 6th June

2010-06-06T09:55:00.001+01:00

Readings:
1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24)
Luke 7:11-17

We enter ordinary time today, the time of the church a time when we’re not bound by the church calendar to be thinking of particular highlight events like Christmas or Easter or as more recently Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. It’s that time of the year for the church families when there are no family birthdays! That means two things – firstly that we can spend time as a church family being family doing our regular things. Secondly it means that we are presented with the rich harvest of the Bible; with the stories of the church past that speak to church present an d tell us of how we should be shaping church future.

And as we enter the church family time, what better time to be welcoming a new member of our family? Baptism is not only about that one special day but that welcome into the regular every week every day -ness of the family. I heard from my brother on Friday that Michael and I are also welcoming a new member of our family as my sister in law gave birth to their second daughter Constance. Welcoming a new member of the family is such a delight whether it’s a new baby like Constance or like ____________________ or whether it’s a new member of our church family in the form of a new visitor to our church or someone newly baptised or confirmed. These are times of great joy for the family.

Unfortunately families also face times of sadness, as so many families in Cumbria faced this week. The experience of grief is common to many of us and in some ways the stories we’ve heard from the Bible this morning may seem rather unhelpful to those who have lost loved ones in Cumbria or elsewhere. These stories would bring the experience of those families into sharp relief. Picture it if you can, a small town called Nain and everybody has come out to support this poor woman who has lost her young son. Middle Eastern mourning is so very verbal, there would have been wailing and moaning. All this emphasising that with this son’s death, the family line ends and she faces destitution. Then Jesus enters and seeing the grief he touches the bier on which the coffin is being carried and then those words, “Jesus gave him to his mother.” And the community rejoiced saying “God has come to help his people” How many families in Cumbria now wish Jesus could do the same for them? How many might once more ask that eternal question: How can there be a God when there is such suffering?

I think what the gospel reading today shows us is that though the world may be one in which there is suffering and sometimes great tragedy, that does not mean that God is a vindictive God. No, when God in the form of Jesus is faced with such a tragedy he is moved to compassion and does all he can to help. The Old Testament story shows us that being moved to compassion by such things is not just the role of Jesus but of all those who believe in God. Elijah too is moved to compassion by the widow he meets. These two stories show that God’s compassion is available both to individuals or families and to whole communities. God’s compassion is there for us if we like the widow of Zarepath, retreat into our home in sorrow or if we are mourning as a whole community, like that at Nain or those in Whitehaven, Lamplugh, Egremont, Frizington, Wilton, Gosforth, Seascale and Boot.

How can there be a God when there is such suffering?

I think for those of us that do believe the better question is:

Where is God when there is such suffering?

These two stories we heard today tell us of two widows met at the point of need and provided for by the servants of the Lord. Two acts of service not self glorification as prophets: Yet also two different settings one very public one very private. So too the church now serves many of those today who are bereaved, both publicly and in private, helping them through the initial grieving and shock. I was so pleased that the vicar of Whitehaven was one of the first local voices to be heard responding to the tragedy and is still at the forefront of much of the coverage. The church is there for people not just with the planning of the funeral but also for the more long term in being family for those who have lost members of their family or those without family. I was listening to a programme on Radio 4 a few weeks ago about loneliness and hearing many people talk about their isolation from their immediate neighbours, the loss of family through divisions or grief or the great distances that globalization now places between some families and which lead to isolation for many people in our global world. I heard people talk about their loneliness and I thought how blessed we are in the church that we have a community around us. The widow of Zarepath had no-one but her son. The widow of Nain, likewise faced a life of isolation without her son. Unlike today neither of these women could have gone and got a job or received state benefit. A widow was dependent on the charity of family or, like the widow of Zarepath, faced starvation and death. This is why so much of the bible talks about the importance to care for widows and orphans because without such charity and help as showed by Elijah and Jesus they faced destitution.

For example, Deuteronomy tells the people of Israel not to be too careful in their harvest but if they miss sections, to leave it for the widows and fatherless (much as Ruth and Naomi gleaned from the fields of Boaz)

The two stories we heard therefore call us to help widows but also those whom society overlooks just as the society in the bible overlooked widows.
The Letter to the Romans shows that Christian service encompasses being there for people at their point of need – just as Elijah and Jesus were

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.Romans 12.15

These two stories remind us that our faith calls us to serve those society shuns and who is “society” but us? Who do we shun? Drug addicts, ex-offenders, the uneducated, the Asbos, the young people “hanging around”. How the list could go on! The greater question is;

how is the church sharing bread with these people as Elijah did with the widow at Zarepath?

How are we bringing hope back to them as Jesus did at Nain?

How are we bringing people in distress to a place of praise with a cry “God has come to help his people”?

These stories today remind us clearly of two important things about Our God.

Our God is a God of the individual
Our God is a God of the community.

The question for you today is – How are you showing that in your individual actions and how is our community reflecting God’s presence?

Get down with the kids

2010-06-01T09:20:00.002+01:00

OK some people sometimes think that to relate to young people you have to be young or at least be into all the things they're into and their music etc. I say that anyone can work with young people if they are interested in engaging with young people, if they're prepared to listen to young people and BE THEMSELVES. Let me show you Exhibit A:

Thought for the fortnight

2010-05-27T11:26:00.002+01:00

If you pop over the Worcester Diocesan website, you'll see a little link to the current thought for the week (which in true Anglican tradition is up for two weeks!) this time by me! Just one of the many things that's kept me away from the blog lately!!

Ascension

2010-05-16T10:32:00.002+01:00

This is the prayer stations that one of the groups of young people designed at our weekend away at the Chellington Centre a few years ago. All I gave them was the passage from the Bible and they did the rest, using the cuddly toys of all the group to create the crowd and Jesus and fixing up the string and choosing the music. This really captures something of the mystery of Ascensiontide

Sermon 2nd May

2010-05-02T22:24:00.002+01:00

This is the sermon I preached this morning in Kidderminster (with some added ad-libs on rock badgers in reference to the Leviticus passage - couldn't resist)

I don’t know if you’ve been watching the debates with the three leaders over the last three weeks. Sometimes it has been very easy to see the difference between the three - if only from their 3 different coloured ties! At other times it’s harder to see the difference. I was listening on the radio each time and there were moments when I wasn’t sure if it was Brown, Cameron or Clegg who was speaking, as it seemed there was little difference between what they were saying in their answers to questions from the public.

Peter in the reading we had from Acts this morning is facing that same accusation. Those Jews who had followed Jesus from the start saw that Peter associated with gentiles and they were worried that they could see no difference between Peter and those he was with. These Jews were worried that Peter was losing his distinctiveness. Peter’s visions of that great cloth of all the unclean animals (as listed in Leviticus 11) which Jews were not allowed to eat is not about diet but about God emphasising that his followers are not distinguished by their outward rituals but by something more fundamental.

Unlike our political parties, Christians don’t distinguish themselves by the colour of their rosette, their tie, or even the balloons they hand out to children, as I saw in Worcester yesterday. In our gospel, Jesus makes it clear that the difference for Christians is much deeper than such outward appearance. It is more substantial some might say and although it may be simple it can also be the most complicated. Jesus describes it in this way:
“34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This love is not all about fluffy feelings and hugs. It’s not all about family. Jesus says his followers should love each other JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU and he says this just after he has got down on his knees and washed their dirty feet, just after he has humbled himself to their service. Now, as we hear by Peter’s first reaction to Jesus’ telling him he must wash his feet, this would have been shocking enough from a Rabbi but of course this statement also comes just before he submits himself to ridicule, torture and execution for the sake of humanity-when Jesus was asked how much he loved humanity and in reply he opened his arms and said this much.

The self sacrificing love that Jesus shows is that which can distinguish those that follow him from the rest. THAT is the kind of love for each other that Jesus is talking about. That is what makes Christians distinctive.

I hope very few of you have seen the way in which the BNP has sought to use Jesus in their campaigning. A colleague from Dudley showed me the fliers he had received from them which suggest that the BNP is the only party for which a Christian could vote and I quote “without betraying the Lord Jesus Christ”. They have also suggested that Jesus would vote BNP. To suggest that the sometime refugee in Egypt who cured Samaritans and Jews alike, who associated with the outcasts who instead of leading an uprising against the occupying Roman Empire, preached a Gospel of Love to suggest that Jesus would vote for a party which is fundamentally racist is truly shocking to me.

Now a sermon is clearly not the place to canvas or seek to influence you to use your vote for a particular party or candidate and I don’t want to do that. I do however want today to ask you all to reflect on those words of Jesus when you exercise your vote this week.

So often we may go to the ballot box seeking what might be good for ME – who will cut my taxes? Who will increase my benefits? Jesus’ words call us to love not just ourselves but one another. In our voting this week, as well as in our living, how can we as Christians express our concern not just for ourselves but for our whole community? Our whole nation?

I don’t suggest an answer only those questions.

Now it may well be that our votes in this constituency, represented as we currently are by an independent candidate have no direct impact on who is in government yet we can still as Christians support our MP whoever it may be and whatever the government might be through prayer.

According to Jesus’ model, those in leadership are not those who are elevated, exalted, singled out and honoured but those with a willingness and a duty to serve. We can pray that all those who are standing are doing so with such service in mind.

Whoever may be in government after this Thursday, there are tough decisions ahead and as Christians we can pray for wisdom and that they sense that duty of leadership with a sense of servanthood.

Now I know you may think that politicians can’t change. We’ve certainly heard some very damning evidence of their lack of selflessness in the expenses scandal. You may think that prayer can’t do it. Yet I want you to think about another aspect of the two readings we had this morning: Of the journey of Peter that we see in those two readings.

In the gospel we see that zealous and eager young man that dared to try and walk on water. The all or nothing Peter that refuses foot washing from Jesus and then demands nothing less than a whole bath. In Acts we see a much more mature Peter. We hear that he explains something step by step. That he feels strong enough in God’s faith to move away from the ritual diet of the Jewish tradition because his God shows him that there is nothing unclean. Peter starts out as an impetuous young man who is very focussed on himself a young man who would race naked from the boat to greet Jesus. Who would refuse Jesus’ offer to wash his feet. Yet the Peter we hear about in Acts has grown into himself. Grown into the ROCK on which Jesus founded his church. He trusts the Holy Spirit to speak through him, he trusts the vision from heaven and he trusts that God has been revealed to the gentiles. He has been CHANGED by his faith. He goes against what he is comfortable with and against his personal desires and acts on love for those around him. He speaks gently and patiently with his fellow Jews, he associates with non-Jews which would have been anathema to him before and sees that though he always thought the Jews were a chosen people that God has given the gentiles the repentance that leads to life. The gentiles - that’s us. Through Peter’s loving service the church grew beyond the Jewish community, beyond the Holy land and throughout the Roman Empire and came here and now spreads across the world so that 2.6 Billion Christians across the world now have the chance to do the same.

This is the kind of change that living according to Jesus’ rule of love can bring. This kind of change IS possible. I hardly dare imagine what our parliament might look like if 650 members of the House of Commons acted according to that love whatever their personal faith?

Just think what could happen if we too showed that love? If each one of us here thought about those around us more than ourselves. Then the world would really know that we are his disciples.

Now no-one will know this week how you vote (unless you chose to tell people) but how will people know that you are one of Jesus disciples this week? How will you show love for one another this week?

How will your Christian faith be reflected in how you work, how you drive how you vote, and how you treat others ?

The readings:

John 13:31-35

31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Acts 11:1-18
11Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. 2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” 4Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. 6As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ 10This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. 11At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. 12The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; 14he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ 15And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” 18When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

Are you sitting comfortably

2010-03-24T11:28:00.002Z

I wouldn't want anyone to fall over at the shock of there actually being a post on here.

We're just over half way through a week of school assemblies based around some FABULOUS resources from schoolswork.co.uk and I am really pleased with how they've gone so far. We'vegot a good balance of relevance(including Florence andthe Machine which has gone down even better than I expected!) and religion. We have Bible passages and yet also words of wisdom from Nelson Mandela. I also get to weild and mallet and smash a couple of chocolate Easter eggs as students look on in horror!

This is all part of me really enjoying work at the moment. What with recording a reflective prayer walk at the Uni recording studio and composing a new resource for young adults groups with the training and development department, I'm loving the creativity!

Hopefully the new burst of creativity might also result in more blogging- you never know!

Women in Youth Ministry

2010-03-19T10:30:00.001Z

I received this in an email from an American colleague. If you are a woman in youth ministry do please have a look at their survey

Amy Jacober and I are doing research in preparation for a paper on women in youth ministry, which we hope to present at the January 2011 IASYM conference. We, along with Kara Powell, have analyzed the results of the US version of our survey which was launched last November. We now hope, with your help, to see how women youth workers in other settings both understand and experience youth ministry. Our projected January 2011 paper will be a comparison and analysis of the US survey (947 respondents) with those who respond to this invitation.

The survey covers a wide range of topics. As you will see, we have focused some questions on issues relating to youth ministry and feminist ideologies and how these have intersected in your experience as a youth worker.

We know your time is valuable. We ask you to invest some of that precious time here. It will take about 10 minutes if you just answer the “click on the appropriate choice” questions. If you want to say more, however (and we hope you will) there is ample opportunity in the survey to narrate to your heart’s content.

We hope you’ll find the questions themselves interesting. Some questions may make you mad. If the later is the case, we want to hear about it.

Just click on the link or cut and paste into your browser.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PZJXR28

If you want to see the research paper that will come out of this survey, you can indicate as such at the survey’s end.

Thank you! We expect the results of the survey to be of help to women in youth ministry (volunteer or paid) as well as those who do youth ministry education.

Sincerely,

Amy Jacober, Truett Theological Seminary, Waco, Texas.

Leonard Kageler (Nyack College, Nyack, New York)

Sermon on Disaster and Cana

2010-01-18T18:19:00.002Z

My sermon from last Sunday with Haiti much in the news but the following readings for the day:

Isaiah 62:1-5
62For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch. 2The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. 3You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 4You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. 5For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

John 2:1-11
2On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

I must admit that approaching preaching this morning after all the news of the disaster in Haiti I was very slow to get going with what I might say to you this morning. It does happen. Then I turned again to the passages we were to have from the Bible and those opening words of Isaiah really spoke to me:
“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch. 2The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give”
How could I be searching for words when silence about so terrible a disaster is just not possible?
When “natural disasters” which seem so Unnatural happen people have very different reactions to them in terms of their faith.
Some see it as yet more evidence that there is no God or, worse still, if God does exist, to quote Bruce Almighty:
God is a mean kid with a magnifying glass. And I’m the ant
Others who claim to be Christians see it as a sign that God is making a judgement on people. In this instance the google search reveals that the latest loony idea is that the nation of Haiti made a pact with the devil 200 years ago and this is the result. Now clearly these people have not read Luke chapter 13 where Jesussaysvery clearly that people who suffer such accidents are not receiving judgement. Talkingabout thosekilled in the tower of Shiloah. He says:
"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
This categorical I tell you NO is a rare phrase and clearly significant. Our God is not a God of vengeance.
Fortunately, still others respond to such a disaster in love, in generosity, in charity, in action and in prayer.
From where we are, there is very little we can physically do. We may respond financially and many have I’m sure. The sorrow is that the abundance of aid which there is cannot reach the vast numbers of people affected as the nation is in such great turmoil with the government buildings and infrastructure so utterly devastated.
Yet what we can do is pray. Pray for those who are trapped or injured, those who have lost loved ones, jobs and homes, those who have gone to help them. Now I’m no great theologian. I remember when I was training long debates about what happens when you pray William Temple said
'When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don't pray, they don't.'
Martin Luther King (who America commemorates this week said:
'To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.'
I was reminded of a programme a few years ago called “The Search” there was a point where they were looking for an entire circle and there were part circles drawn all over this ruined abbey and only from ONE point could you see the complete circle. I think sometimes prayer is the process of getting into the right place to see things the way God wants you to see them. And from that point of prayer we can see where God truly is in Haiti. Though the cathedral and churches are destroyed the Anglican Bishop Duracin is among those who have set up a tent village on a football field,bringing a glimmer of hope in a dark place. God is there with them.
The Gospel we had to day we heard of a time when Jesus was present for people in a very ordinary part of life – a wedding- and he offers a surprising gift in the form of wine. And he was there with his mother. This story gives us a lovely insight into that relationship of mother and son. She points out that the wine has run out and even though his words seem to suggest he’s not going to do anything she tells the servants to “do as he tells you”. What a mother! Now some see this first miracle as somewhat frivolous. Perhaps that is its greatest feature. These people did not NEED wine like they needed food and shelter. Yet this gift made life better not just possible. Here we seeGod’s generosity: The creator working with his creation for the benefit of his creatures. At Cana the people saw an amazing abundance when everyone believed there was total scarcity. And it wasn’t just good enough wine. It was amazing. Better wine than they had had before- now that’s a great surprise. And God is a God of surprises. A God of the unexpected. I wonder when in your life water has been turned into wine for you. When what you needed was given but with such generosity that it was so much more? Now according to allkinds ofsociologists and psychologists, we have a certain hierarchy of needs- the things we need are at different levels. There are the basics like water, food and shelter, then the added things like security and safety and then the rather more luxury needs like family and friends. I think this whole idea rather misses the mark. Jesus’s ridiculous abundance of generosity is so very different. I’m sure that wedding couple would have been better served with something sensible like a house and yet the richness of the wine meant so much more. Those people in Haiti clearly need the basics and yet they also need hope. Victor frankl who was imprisoned in Auschwitz claimed that a man could live several days without food but not without hope.
As Christians we are the hope holders in our world. It is something not always valued by others over the more tangible things in life. Jesus is often called the water of life but he also offers us the wine of life .Not just that which we need but more and abundant gifts. Of course there are times when this abundance seems very far off indeed. There might be times when we need to be there when the wine runs out for others in their lives. And with very little we can be there as Jesus was with only water and yet offer them something so much greater than they expected.

When has water been turned into wine in your life?
How might we be present for others when the wine runs out?

Christmas

2009-12-22T23:10:00.003Z

Ok so the blog has been quiet - apologies for that.

I've also failed in the Christmas card department but there you go. So Merry Christmas to all!

I have however discovered a wondorous Christmas recipe in the form of Willie's Chocolate mince pies. Michael the true mince pie fan is less keen but I think they're delicious!

I had thought of givine you all the joy of the Muppets' Bohemian Rhapsody but instead, in honour of all the folks in snow in High Wycombe (and elsewhere) at the moment, my virtual Christmas card is courtesy of Simon's Cat. Enjoy!

Down and Up

2009-11-15T11:30:00.002Z

I was off from work with a bit of a nasty bug the week before last - getting that real God-given imperative to STOP and not do things fora while. It was worthwhile for sure. When I was feeling much better, Michael and I went to see UP which is an excellent film. It is deeply surprising. It's not the cheery happy-go-lucky film you might expect it to be. It mixes deep tragedy with hope and manages to tell the story of a lifetime in only a few minutes with great expertise. having chatted about it to various people since, I've discovered I was not the only one to blub during it either (one person told me they saw it in 3D and found the 3D specs a handy thing to hide behind!)

What UP does have is an amazing sense of HOPE, of the impoprtance of dreams and the need to reconnect the generations, something a friend of mine got me thinking about at a meeting in London the other week. Today, when I was exploring a project I've been pondering for a while, I came across a site which no doubt I'm behind the times in finding and you all know about it already but it is new to me and intrigues me. the site is called 43 Things and invites people to register things they wantto achieve in life, in terms of personal relationships, dreams, aspirations, achievements or goals. Now I've never been much of a person to know "where I want to be in5 years time" the few times I HAVE made such goals, God has nudged me gently to realisation that the opposite is going to happenand be so much better most of the time too! I'm not sure I'm going to be registering my 43 things (or more or less I don't think it HAS to be 43!)

What fascinates me about the siteis that you can see other peoples aspirations and the goals they've achieved, how long it took them and how it made them feel. The site also groups people's entries underheadings and you can see the most popular ones according to type. So for all of us working in ministry, it might be useful to know that the top ten aspiration sin terms of spirituality and belief for this entirely random selection of people are as follows:

1. be more spiritual
2. find a religion that will fit my beliefs
3. tithe
4. read the bible
5. pray more
6. meditate
7. go to church
8. witness a miracle
9. meet the Dalai Lama
10. become an ordained minister

Now I don't suppose there is that much surprising in there. Christianity has a fairly strong presence but that's to be expected asmost entries are probably from the US. What it mademe think about though is that the spiritual dreams and desires of people in general are not asdramatic and exotic as we might think. When we're working in ministry, we may tend to need everythign to be the latest, snazziest most alt., emergent piece of unique worship. We might think the Psalm has to be just right, the candles in the right places, the vestments perfect and co-ordinated, the worship band the best they can be, the actions in perfect unison, the drama well-timed and audible etc etc etc. Yet the people want the inspiration to meditate, the pray more, to read the bible, to be more spiritual.

Sometimes I wonder why it is I and so many others find a true spiritual home in Taize and I realise in many ways it's because it manages that great simplicity. The music is solidly Bible-based, melodic, yet not showy or "catchy". The community encourages you in a simple way to pray more, to be more spiritual not just at times in the church but in serving others in the simple things. The Bible is at the centre od so much that is done there, through the books the brothers write, through the art and music they create and the sessions they lead with young people. Now I know that this great simplicity has many complicated systems that keep it going - organising food for 6,000 young people three times a day doesn't just happen - and yet the simplicity is what counts. Why is it though that finding that simplicity can be so much more complicated?

I've been watching a bit of Diarmaid MacCulloch's new series on Christianity and our 2000 years of Christian history can be a source of great inspiration but also a burden of disputes and complications. I think my favourite line so far was this:
"Jesus taught that it was more difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle - and some Christians listened to that!"
We can over-complicate our lives and our churches when we look to the trappings and the consumer culture of getting church just how we want it. Sometimes the simpler things work better.

Sermon on Bible Sunday

2009-10-26T18:13:00.001Z

Sometimes I have heard people describe the Bible as a book that has all the answers. That might well be an apt starting place for a sermon on Bible Sunday. I remember when I was at school receiving my Gideon Bible and being intrigued and, in truth, encouraged by the sections that said, “Where to look in the Bible when...” You’re distressed, feeling lonely, grieving. As a teenager that was very reassuring. That in times of crisis, there was this book I could turn to for the answer to my problems. At times, when I was distressed about something I would turn to these pages and they would direct me to a passage that brought me some comfort. At other times I would look up the relevant chapter and verses, only to be bemused as to why this particular passage was suggested.

As St Paul says, when I was a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. Now I am an adult, I have put away childish things. Well now I’m no longer a teenager I don’t expect the Bible to open at exactly the right place to give me just the words I need. I don’t expect the Bible to have all the answers. No instead, I know that the Bible has all the questions, as our readings today show.

I can imagine that someone in Job’s position would have found the suggestions in the back of the Gideon Bible, fell a little short of offering him comfort. His family killed, his wealth lost, his health poor. Where is comfort for him? Not in the words of his friends and advisers but in speaking with God, in understanding that he does not understand, in realising his tiny place in a vast universe and yet the enormous love of his creator.

As it is Bible Sunday today, I can tell you that the book of Job is in fact a personal favourite of mine. That and the book of Philippians. I wonder what your favourite books might be? Job is a favourite for me not because the poor man suffers so much but because of a few things it features. There is the witness of Job’s youngest adviser, Elihu who offers the greatest wisdom and is not chastised by God as the other three friends of Job are. Elihu says

"I am young in years,
and you are old;
that is why I was fearful,
not daring to tell you what I know.

7 I thought, 'Age should speak;
advanced years should teach wisdom.'

8 But it is the spirit in a man,
the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

9 It is not only the old who are wise,
not only the aged who understand what is right.

10 "Therefore I say: Listen to me;
I too will tell you what I know.

As someone who works with young people, this passage is a great encouragement to those I work with.

There is also a wonderful passage describing the wonders of creation in God’s response to Job of “the storehouses of snow” and “the place where the light dwells” and the passage we have today, Job’s realisation of his place in the world as one creature of the vast creation of God. Can we extend that to see not only ourselves as that beloved part of God’s creation but also to see that each of those around us is such a part? For Job this revelation is confirmed when he prays not for himself for his own sorry situation but prays for God’s forgiveness for his friends.

The question I get asked very often, especially by young people is

How can you believe in God when there is so much suffering in world?

I tend to respond, How can I not believe in God when there is so much suffering in the world?

In a world of great suffering, the idea that we are alone in that suffering is too terrible for words. These two Bible passages both speak of an individual’s relationship with God and what that can offer in times of sorrow. That relationship is not with some distant unknowing God but in one who humbled himself in the form of servant and being part of the world felt deeply for those around him.

In every suffering, Christ is with us, in his tears over the death of his friend Lazarus, clearing the temple of those not honouring God, calming a storm on a boat, being castigated by the Pharisees, seeing a Rich Young Man doing everything for his faith except the one thing that was most important, the giving up of his wealth, washing the feet of his disciples who still did not understand, praying for release in the Garden of Gethsemane, on trial before the Sanhedrin, in pain on the cross, seeing the fear of his disciples in the locked room at his resurrection.

This is a God who wants to be in relationship with his creatures. The Bible tells us about God as a guide book tells us about a place we might be going on holiday. It’s an excellent guidebook written by people who know the place well and have experienced it themselves. They are very personal accounts of other people’s relationships with God. This book of Job is like a private diary of one man’s journey with God. The guide book is no substitute for being there though. We can only know God personally if we spend time with God, personally and corporately.

Our church communities are places where people can meet with God and come to know what God is like. That’s something of a challenge to us isn’t it? When people see our church community they are seeing a glimpse of the God we believe in: Seeing a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. What would someone see in our church? Committed service, love, praise, unity, a family of all generations, from diverse backgrounds, serving separately during the week and joined on Sundays in worship? How might we as a community show that Kingdom even more clearly to those who join us on a Sunday, to those who visit this church during the week, to those who live within our parish?

I’m developing a lot more questions here.

So, if I’m saying the Bible is full of questions, where do we find the answers? The answers come through prayer and reflection upon those passages.

Jesus asks the blind man:

“What do you want me to do for you?”

What would our answer be to Jesus’ question? For ourselves? For our church? Would we trust that God could accomplish for us what we want? Could we like Job, honestly say:

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Yet it’s not only about our own relationship with God but our relationships with each other. Job who has been through so much personal tragedy finds favour with God when he prays for his friends: When he looks beyond himself to God and to those around him. Job describes his experience much like that of the blind man in the gospel

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.

Have you both heard and seen God? Have you heard about God but not seen him at work in your life or in the work around you? Seeing God, meeting him intimately however doesn’t result in some self importance and pride but in a deep awareness of our own failings and yet God’s love for us despite all of those failings.

So what would your answer to Jesus be:

“What do you want me to do for you?”

The question is in the bible the answer is to be found in your deepening relationship with God. In your deepening relationship with those around you and in the deepening relationship of this church with the people of its parish. May we all find this deepening relationship and find more questions...

Job 42:1-17

42Then Job answered the Lord: 2“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ 5I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

7After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.” 9So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

10And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. 12The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. 13He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. 16After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. 17And Job died, old and full of days.
Mark 10:46-52

46They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” 50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” 52Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Life in all it's fullness

2009-10-26T17:59:00.004Z

This is post number 10.10 so I thought it only apt to share the lovely news that I have a picture in the exhibition of the Worcester Society of Artists at Worcester City Museum and Gallery.

The picture is this one, which I finished only recently.

Tonight we're off to our regulare meeting which is an appraisal of the paintings in the exhibition. I did hear some whispers that the person doing the appraisal is a bit tough though!!

Ministry Palette

2009-09-22T19:51:00.001+01:00

Ministry Palette
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

A quick post with a picture I did this evening. It's a response to Bishop John Pritchard's wisdom which he shared with our diocesan clergy and lay ministers today. He talks about ministry being something beautiful for God which is individual to each of us but painted from a common pallete of three colours:
Gold - the Glory of God
Red - the pain of the world
Blue - the renewal of the church

I had several interesting discussion about how this whole metaphor might be expanded and explored and it has rather planted a seed of an idea in my mind which I might well pursue.

In the short term I responded with this picture using just red yellow and blue - actually something of a challenge. I found not using any white very difficult I did manage some green orange and purple from the mix and wonder if those three primary colours lead to the three additional colours. Bihsop John spoke of Green being our own lives - perhaps as I understood it being built from the renewal through the Glory of God, Purple being a specific ministry of service (renewal and pain combined) perhaps a priestly one and orange being healing/ forgiveness (Glory of God and pain of the world combined).

These are certainly just germs of a further thought and the painting is not quite what I usually would end up with because of the restricted pallete (none of my trademark cerulean!!) and wonder what the place of WHITE might be in the palette. One of the vicar's questioned the absence of black as well. hmmm...

A thought in process...

prayers like incense

2009-09-20T18:47:00.002+01:00

I can't quite believe that I haven't blogged about this already but looking back it's not there and it hasn't been that long!

So I went to my artists group a couple of Mondays ago for the appraisal night (my first). The idea is that you bring a painting (or 2 it seems - I wasn't brave enough to take more than one out of the car!!) and then a professional artist appraises it and the group as a whole respond with helpful feedback.

I took along the Are we human or are we dancer canvas

Not unsurprisingly the feedback was almost universally positive for everyone so it was nowhere near as daunting as it might have been. Nonetheless, after about a month long hour my picture still hasn't been put up on the appraisal easel and the lovely mature lady next to me start pestering the man who was in charge of putting the pictures up to put up mine because "this young lady hasn't had her picture viewed yet" and some people were already on their second painting. Now the evening had consisted so far of many landscapes, some of them really superb, others in progress (that WAS brave) and others needing a little something to improve them. There were a few notable exceptions. I was personally struck particularly by the large canvas board with a picture of three HUGE red onions - we're talking the size of basketballs. It was very well done and yet one couldn't help but ask WHY? The same lady also presented a really endearing picture of a live chicken sitting in a basket. Now those of you that know my work from the blog may well have figured by now that, as happy as I am with my work, it certainly doesn't fall in the landscape or onions/chicken category! So I was actually getting increasingly nervous.

When they put my canvas (in reverse) on the easel the man putting it up raised his eyebrows and I squeezed the hand of the lovely lady next to me (who I had only met that evening!) When Giuliano turned the painting around to show to the assembled company there was a chorus of an intake of breath! I was trusting this was "in a good way" and then Giuliano went on to compliment the movement the colours and the composition, the smooth lines of the figure etc. What struck me most were two things he said which Michael keeps repeating to me:

"This is art"

and

"do some more".

People did seem genuinely positive about it and some were intrigued by the title and I had to try and explain the origin!

prayers like incense
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

I was mightily encouraged. Unfortunately it has then been a rather busy time until today when I was able to get back to the canvas I started a while ago and I think I have now finished though I may need to wait til morning to be sure!

This painting falls in with a group of others I'm thinking of pulling together for a collection but that is still a thought in process so more on that in the future.

Inspiration at Work

2009-09-14T21:40:00.003+01:00

A friend of mine put up a link to what looks like a VERY cool site for those in work. Workplace Inspired describes itself as:

"a Watford based group which exists to support local Christians at work. With networking events, great speakers, specialised teaching and prayer support we can help you to live out your faith at work. We have regular events, but we are also happy to visit your workplace if you ask us to. We also provide specialist services for Christians in business, including mentoring for any Christian in the business world. And if you have an idea about starting your own business, then check out the Kingdom Business School."

The website itself looks very cool and I think this is probably true of what WPI is going to be able to do for people too.

Salt 'n' Light

2009-09-11T23:08:00.003+01:00

Just finished making this video (somewhat belatedly due to vet visit with out older dog - we're getting results back from biopsies next week) for the youth event tomorrow.

Calm after the storm

2009-09-07T13:47:00.003+01:00

So the whirlwind which is September is in full steam. All sorts of STUFF needing doing NOW and a big event this Saturday. All that with a new puppy in the house is certainly "interesting times". Two rays of sunshine from the LONG NOW that is Greenbelt 09 today though - a thank note from the venue manager of the Performance cafe and a mention of the Performance Cafe and our team on the blog of someone I met at GB this year.

Bless you, Bless you

2009-09-02T20:22:00.002+01:00

Ok so the song is still whirring round my head in a smiley way (somewhat needed in the frantic whirlwind that is the first day back!) so, for the rest of you here is Jim Moray's own video of the All of You Pretty Girls:

What A Performance!?

2009-09-01T14:14:00.008+01:00

So this year at Greenbelt, I was volunteering for the first time (last year I did some bits on a stand but only really as a punter who was a bit helpful. This year I was official and fully equipped with volunteer wristband, courtesy showers, free teas, meal vouchers, arriving on Thursday, a GORGEOUS hi-vis jackets for certain times at our venue and the best of times with my team at the Performance Cafe. What more could a volunteer ask for than to be volunteering AND listen to some great live acts in a venue with scrummy food?

It did mean I didn't get to everything I might have done but I did get to Blessed's mass of the trinity (and persuade a few others to witness its special integrity and innovation) and to a youthwork practitioner's session with the beautiful Pip Wilson who was also a regular visitor to the Performance Cafe (clearly a Greenbelt Trustee of discernment!) The Sunday morning service was non-eucharistic but contained some powerful symbolism in the Hebrew/Arabic readings, the olive stones and olive oil and the stories and songs of a people divided in what is called a Holy Land. Made doubly special for me by sharing it with a new friend and a group of strangers. This new friend was part of our little village at the campsite, a friend of a friend drawn together by canvas and bacon butties! We had such a wonderful laughing time together and a little bop to the electronica of Royksopp. It was also a chance to catch up with all sorts of people including some of the young people from the diocese and some other DYOs - all this helped a little, perhaps, by my offer of muffins via facebook.

The Performance Cafe was such a lovely place to be with some great performers and a really lovely crew of volunteers (from our own team and from others drawn to us!) who really worked together well, I think, to make the venue a welcoming place where we got in all the people we could to see the performers. It was a really satisfying feeling to manage to squeeze another 20 people in who were desperate to see their favourite musicians. Highlights for me there were probably Yvonne Lyon (again- she's on itunes) and Gareth Davies-Jones (on itunes) and for a little more chilled out the smooth sounds of Jazzelation (sample here). Another bonus was Roger's (the venue manager) choice of interlude music including Jim Moray's All You Pretty Girls which is just so perky!

Curiously in all of it, a friend and I agreed that for both of us, the most spiritual experience came at the Comedy venue with Barbara Nice's Hiya and Higher. She encouraged us all not to worry about the Credit Munch, not to fall for the consumerist myth but to look to all that we, as human beings have in common. We shouldn't feel low but in meeting each other (and saying HIYA) we can feel HIGHER. The time concluded with the audience selecting a short length of wool to represent how low we felt at the start with all our worries then the audience, through its links, passed around the ball of wool and when many connections had been made, this wool was attached to some helium balloons that were released into the sky. So how low did we feel and how high do we feel now? Through building connections with those people we felt as high as heaven.

It's difficult to convey just how deep an experience this was and at the same time gloriously funny. There was not heavy over-politicised polemic but wonderful and glorious authenticity from a woman with such a big and beautiful heart!

Sermon on Ephesians 4.25-5.2

2009-08-09T12:33:00.003+01:00

Ephesians 4:25 - 5:2

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

I remember early on as I was preparing to get married, many people gave us all kinds of advice about married life. The one that stuck with me most clearly was drawn from the very passage we had from Ephesians this morning:

“do not let the sun go down on your anger,”

It’s good advice not to go to bed before sorting an argument out but I think letting the sun go down on your anger also means more than that. It means letting the anger become part of you without going away. It is a concept that has stood us well in our marriage over the past three years. There have of course been times when each of us have been frustrated with the other but I think it’s fair to say that we have dealt with disputes and differences pretty well and without resorting to a great deal of shouting or plate smashing. Yet this passage isn’t just about married couples but about community as a whole. Anger is allowable. Righteous anger at injustice is certainly something we are sometimes called to in our Christian witness but if that anger moves from the sin of the injustice to anger at the person who has done it then we ourselves enter into sin. Hence Jesus turning over the tables in the temple is an example of righteous anger but one of the disciples cutting of the ear of one of those who came to arrest Jesus is sinful anger.

What is there that really makes you angry?
Poverty?
child abuse?
MPs expenses?
Watching the England Cricket team go all out for 102?

I know for me, that sitting in my car I become much more angry than I do anywhere else. I tend to be the kind of person that lets people out of side roads in queuing traffic and gives way to bikes and pedestrians but every now and then I can get really angry when I’m driving. At people driving dangerously, selfishly or just plain badly. I also get angry when I see people mistreated. As someone who works for the church you might think that I work in the most perfect environment but I find myself filled with (what I consider) righteous anger When youthworkers phone me up to share troubles and woes and the way the vicar’s been treating them or young people tell me that they feel excluded by their church because they’re wearing jeans or a hat. Am I right to be angry? I think it depends on what I do with that anger. If the anger prompts me to right a wrong and encourage a repair to a broken community then yes. If it means I get wound up and shout at someone then perhaps not.

Anger can be a really transforming emotion. It can turn us into people we don’t want to be doing things that would normally be unheard of for us. If you think of the incredible hulk “don’t make me angry. You won’t like me when I’m angry” Bruce Banner changes into a giant green monster with little reasoning and a great deal of violent temper. Now I’m sure no-one here transforms THAT much when they’re angry but I think that story tells us a great deal about anger.

People disagree about how we deal with anger. Some say that having a good shout, a good rant, punching a cushion or even the wall lets them vent their anger while bottling it up can be poisonous and damaging. Others think that shouting just winds them up and makes it all worse while taking a step back, taking a breath and counting to ten works better.
So we can be angry and we can act upon that anger but only if we do not let the anger control us.
I would say that Paul is one of those who argues for soothing away anger and channelling it rather than acting upon it:

"Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you."

Paul’s writing not just about anger of course but about modelling our lives according to Christ: Giving up anger means acting in a particular way; being forgiving of others, of the big things and the little things. Sometimes we are called upon to speak the truth about a situation and to help resolve it as St Paul wrote:

"So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another."

Yet that truth should only be spoken without malice or bitterness.
The truth can often be the thing that causes us to be angry. Very often the truth can be a cause of much contention – of division and of anger as much as lies. If my neighbour is going on a date and looks decidedly ridiculous in a bright purple dress and orange shoes and asks me if he looks nice – in telling the truth am I being kind?

It’s not just clear cut is it? It requires thought and reflection.

I think moments of truth and moments of anger might be perfect times for some theological reflection. Now this may sound heavy but it needn’t be. Theological reflection is merely thinking about where God is in an issue, where we are acting within what God would want and where we are going against that. It can be as simple as looking at the situation and asking WHERE IS GOD HERE? Or it can be looking at a situation and asking “WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT THIS”

What does today’s passage say about it?:

“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear”

Brutal honesty is not of the Gospel but words that build up the community and build up those around us can be powerful things. The little ways that we show our Christian faith to those around us can be the most powerful.

The diocese has just said farewell to Brenda who worked in our parsonages department. She was the first voice I heard on the telephone when I had accepted this job and a lovely warm welcoming voice she was. At her retirement party she told us all about how working in the office had been such a joy. This was due principally to what Mark, our diocesan surveyor (her boss) said at the end of every day EVERY DAY: Goodnight Brenda, have a good evening and thanks for all that you did today.

Every single day, Mark said those words of gratitude and encouragement to the person he worked alongside and what a difference they made to that community.
So this week, when that sense of anger starts to swell up in you, think of what St Paul says. And in each interaction with the people around you this week, think about what words might give grace to those who hear them for the building up of the community?

1001 uses for a blog*

2009-08-02T17:08:00.003+01:00

I can't begin to describe the sad excitement I experienced on finding this fabulous site.
Vicipaedia is a Latin wikipedia which works in the same way as the usual wikipedia. I may just have to brush up my Latin and write a few pages :o)

For example here is the page on Pliny the Younger and Virgil.

* This is the 1001st post so I thought I'd better get back to something faintly daft and totally Latin!

The history and future of chaplaincy

2009-08-02T16:40:00.003+01:00

This morning I was introduced in the church where I was preaching as the Diocesan Youth Chaplain (rather than Officer). I rather liked the concept and it got me ruminating.

I've been a chaplain in my previous role both for a university as part of an ecumenical chaplaincy team and at a children's holiday camp where I was responsible for the well-being of teenage volunteers (some of whom were inclined to work full throttle for the first two days then end up keeled over by day three). Currently part of my role is a chaplaincy co-ordinator at one of our Church of England secondary schools.

When I started setting up the chaplaincy team at Wolverley we looked around for some good models of school chaplaincy. Most school chaplains seem to be those where there is either a full time or half time employed chaplain and I met with a man from the Bloxham Project that bring such chaplains together. However our model is one more akin to my experience of university chaplaincy - with a team of people who give a certain amount of time every week or every other week. This is a similar model to local FE chaplaincy, town centre or work based chaplaincy.

A while ago Bishop Alan blogged about the nature of a chaplain and I found his description quite profound:
"someone who learns and listens carefully to the languages people use to express themselves, a spiritual interpreter, someone who can hold the lines and ask key questions of any and all, including themselves"

I like that role of spiritual interpreter. I think it is a fantastic expression of what we so often do. In my role as a school chaplain I find I use a lot of youth work skills and I think they may well be equally applicable in other chaplaincy roles.

It ocurred to me when Jim referred to me as CHAPLAIN this morning that the very word itself is one we've sometimes considred revising - what does it mean after all? What do people think when you describe yourself as a chaplain?

Well with my history background I know full well where the term comes from and it's not as simple as you'd think. Yes is comes from the word chapel which is obviously a place of worship and of course the chaplain is the person who works in the chapel just as a chatelaine is someone who works at a chateau. Hang on a minute though... why is it a chapel not a church??? Well there were NO CHAPELS until after the foundation of a religious building deidcated to St Martin of Tours. Martin, a former soldier turned bishop, is one of the major saints in France and he was venerated through the precious relic which he left behind in the form of his capella. Story has it that while he was still a soldier Martin, on seeing a poor shivering man at the gates of the city of Amiens sliced his long military cloak in two and gave half to the beggar. That night in a dream he sees Christ wearing the cloak and as a result left the army. Now his cloak was called a capa and the half cloak (using the traditional diminuitive suffix of -ella) was a capella. The ecclesia built to venerate St Martin and house the relic of his cloak was called the capella sancti Martini. The first chapel.

This may all seem rather an aside but I think Martin's model is a fantastic one for chaplains:

To work from where you are
To see the need and respond in that moment
To use the tools that you have
To reflect upon that experience and see where Christ was IN that experience
To be willing to be CHANGED by the experience

I think there are other key characteristics/tips which serve a chaplain well.

The power of hello
There is nothing like a dining hall full of teenagers looking at you funny to fill you with trepidation. I know my team were certainly fairly daunted when the first started. What it takes is a nice gutsy and cheery "hello". The ice is broken and a conversation can ensue (or the group can look at you like you're an alien and move away slowly!). We had the chance to meet the new year 7s when they came iin for a trial week last term and spent a lot of time walking around and smiling and making ourselves. We will be KNOWN to this group before they even start.

I am with you always
Now chaplains can't always BE there but being known to be available and being VISIBLE is a vital part of the role. This might be via the scary tv screens displaying our cheery faces (along with the hockey team, the latest sceince trip etc) all around the school or via a room associated witht he chaplains, a web page, an email, a text service.

I am not a number
It's really important, in my view, that the chaplains be seen as separate from the structures of the school. It's a tough line to tread because, of course, we work alongside teachers and within the same building and guidelines but we are NOT TEACHERS. No-one owes us homework or decides if they get a C3 (or gets put in the cloud as it was in the primary school I worked with before!!) or a detention. If there are issues raised, we might need to share those with the school as pastoral issues that may need support nonetheless we still stand alongside the pupils rather than within the structures. We spend a lot of our time with pupils in non teaching time to emphasise this.

I am what I am
Young people may not agree with your beliefs as a Christian (or believe you can REALLY believe "all that") but they generally respect them. Being true to your own faith as a chaplain and being willing to EXPLAIN it to young people is vital. They are curious and want to know. I think the best question I've had lately was when we hosted the God Gazebo at the school summer festival. We set up a chill out space, offered young people a comparative tasting of fair trade and non fair trade chocolate, gave them a chance to suggest ideas for our forthcoming chaplaincy room and put up info about who we are and what we, as chaplains do and might do. Sitting on our VERY comfy giant bean bag, one lad asked me, "So, is that what Christianity's all about then, chilling out?" I grinned and replied that "as Christians we see the value of taking time out to be quiet and reflect and perhaps to pray, so yeah!"

Busy doing nothing
When I was a youthworker I used to joke about being paid to each pizza and watch films. Being a chaplain can seem, for our team, like being paid to eat canteen food (in some places I think you would HAVE to pay me!!). A lot of time being a chaplain might seem like it achieves little. What we do can be so unmeasurable. "All we did was..." We have had days when we've really not had great chats with young people beyond what lessons they had and whether they liked them or not but these are all vital steps along the relational journey. Being there in these times makes it possible to be there when it really matters.

I feel special
In addition to the regular hanging around time, it's good to have some special event or day to boost the profile of the chaplains and engage with a larger number of pupils. OUr God Gazebo at the festival was such a fantastic time meeting loads more pupils than usual. I think the 3.2kg of chocolate may have helped but that ran out half way through our time and we still had plent yof visitors. We're going to be using Breathe and an arts competition in the future.

Stairway to Heaven
It's important to allow relationships to develop at their own pace. Remember, you're probably not spending a great deal of time with each individual group so don't be surprised if they're not sharing their whole lives instantly. As your profile in the school improves, with each new person you might start from a slightly better position. We've stopped having to explain who we are now as our pictures are so often all over the place but we still have to build relationships with individuals.

Same difference
Young people are not all the same. There is no miracle question/topic with young people. There are certainly topics worth trying and open questions rather than closed questions are certainly more profitable in having a two way conversation. We often start with questions about how the day's been going or what subjects they've had. We even get on to television, sport and films but even with these topics, you can't guarentee that every young person watchs Big Brother/Britain's Got Talent/Football/Rugby/Harry Potter. So don't expect to get it right

Knowing me Knowing you
Remembering who you have spoken to and something you spoke about and hopefully their name makes a big difference. Saying "Hello again" rather than "hello" can take you that step further each time. Recalling what you chatted about before and asking how it went or whether they watched the next episode makes the young people aware that you actually care. Asking them by name is even better. A log book as a team might also help to keep a clear picture of who you've chatted to and maybe which year groups you need to reach out to more.

Come as you are
Chaplains can come alongside young people in the early stages and get to know them but to progress well, the dynamic needs a shift to young people coming to you as a chaplain. All of the above should make you someone who is approachable.

You'll never walk alone
Taking time out to reflect on how sessions have gone is important whether as a chaplaincy team activity or on your own. What went well? What could we do better? Where was Christ in our work today? What shall we do now to move forward? Having people supporting the chaplaincy with prayer is also a good plan. It invovles people and supports the work.

So I wasn't really intending to write so much but as it was post number 1000 I suppose it's fitting.

RYP

2009-07-03T20:46:00.002+01:00

I was once again astounded by the awesomeness of young people today.

A 17yr old lad who was a Christian sadly lost his life in a tragic swimming accident this week. I had never met him but he had been to diocesan events in the past (before my time) and was known by at least one of our youth council who invited me to join the facebook group in his memory. From Monday to today the group grew to over 750 members with over 150 wall posts, a video and over 70 photos. They also organised their own commemoration today at places of significance to them. 80 confirmed they would attend and then today there were many more who came along. I got a few other adult Christian types to come along with me and we stood (somewhat awkwardly) at a reverent distance from a large number of young people who had decided their own way to mark this lad's death. There were flowers and candles, messages, exchanges of stories about the fun they'd had together and even some music - Blink 182 from a digital device & a few things on guitar.

We had tooled ourselves up with packs of tissues and passed through the crowd offering them where we thought they might be needed without intruding on what was very much THEIR time. There were times of quiet, times of chatter and even laughter and of course times of tears. I think my favourite moment was when one of them shouted "right everyone shut up a minute!" it was so much more direct than adult church would be and it worked. the quiet gave way to the sound of a guitar and some girls singing.

We as adults made it known we were there. Even though the young people clearly supported each other, I think my colleague put it right that our presence was still impotant.

We're offering a similar presence for young people at the funeral which is due to be at the cathedral. We're again offering copious supplies of tissues, some squash and a space for those who might find the funeral service too much or the too out of their usual experience.

I found myself reflecting on how I had tried to makes saggestions of Bible passages and offered a memory book and some bubbles for people to blow in commemoration to the young person I did know. When it got to the large group of young people it was so clearly for them to decide what they did. I took that step back. I don't know how much of what I offered they actually used and in a way it doesn't even matter. I think I would still offer the same in future but be equally happy for my suggestions to be recevied with thanks but left unused. Grieving is such a personal process and I think often all we can do is offer our presence with those in mourning.

These are the times when there is no need for words. Words in fact would be too much. Presence and the gentle offering of a tissue said so much more about the Gospel than a theological explanation of salvation could ever have done today. Perhaps that true in many situations.

God Gazebo

2009-06-24T21:42:00.001+01:00

God Gazebo 1
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

I finally got the four panels of the inside of the gazebo painted today. It's certainly a lot harder to get acrylic to go on to the plastic in a way which is appealing to the eye. I'm much happier with the last three panels I did than with the first when I was really just getting a feel of how the paint was moving.

Disappointingly the silver paint just looks grey so my plans for using silver and gold have changed.

I also need to work out whether I want to put something on the outside too. I might just write GOD GAZEBO on the outside of the segment I like least!!

I am on leave and my colleague told me off for doing this when I'm not working but it was FAR TOO MUCH FUN to count as work and I was able to take such a leisurely pace doing it. If I'd been doing WORK I'd have felt really guilty about taking so long as there are so many useful things I could be doing!!

Let me know what you think anyway.

In addition to the inside painting I'm working on some bead hangings and one of the pics shows M on the outdoor bean bag (covered for painting!!) which we've bought for it. There will also be some thought provoking things for the young people to look at - when we've thought what might be provoking!

The Word became pasta

2009-06-09T21:43:00.004+01:00

I was making some soup for supper today and had one of those cheesy non-holy but could have been holy if I was a little loopier moments.

I opened the mini alphabet pasta which I bought ages ago in Spain (the tiny stars having been finished) and in opening the packet four letters spilled out onto the work top.

The first letters to come out were an echo of creation...

A
D
A
M

freaky!

Of course if I was Italian it might well have had a different "creation moment" as I created

D
A
M
A

which means woman!

Michael was suitably unimpressed but we did still look for messages in our soup (as I used to when I was a child!!) All I got was DOT and AXE...

I might just have to have a go at the PlayPaws Alphabet Spaghetti game tomorrow as I'm in the mood!!

Or you could go play with the alphabetti spaghetti word generator! - makes a change from scrabble on facebook and you get to choose your own letters !!

Sermon on Isaiah 6 - not the Trinity

2009-06-09T21:35:00.002+01:00

I was preaching at St Mary's in Kidderminster on Sunday one the following passage:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
Isaiah 6:1-13

There was also a baptism so the sermon brief was to focus not on the Trinity (for Trinity Sunday) but on the reading and the baptism. So they had the following - or thereabouts. I've taken out the baby's name which I did use - just so you know I didn't call her "this baby" all the way through!!

What an amazing image of God in all his glory in this vision of Isaiah. This has been a journeying passage for me over the years -of mixed meanings – it has spoken to me in different ways throughout my life.

I really love the graphic description of the place. When I was a child this was especially true.

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke."

I really loved that image of the angels with all those wings and especially that great long robe spreading through the court. I was rather into stories of princesses with long dresses and I rather pictured that long road like the wonderful dresses in my Ladybird edition of Cinderella!
That really graphic image spoke to me very strongly when I was young.

Then when I was a little older and studying history, the thing that struck me about this passage was that, as much as it is a description of a vision, it was a vision located in TIME by the writer. “In the year that King Uzziah died.” According to most historic record that’s in 740 BC. This vision is not some vague story for any time. It’s a vision that a real person had at a particular time. It has a particular place in the story of God and of his creation.

In my life in ministry, that moment when Isaiah says “here I am, send me” has been significant many times. When I was thinking about changing careers from sensible history teaching for something as mad as youth work, I heard this passage. When I was welcomed into my new role as a youth minister, we had this passage. When I was thinking of moving jobs, leaving family and friends behind, this passage made me realise there would be some SENDING by God and that I was ready. “Here I am send me”

Does Isaiah sound ready though? That’s not where he starts and it’s not where I started with this passage. I’m sure it’s not where this baby starts her journey of faith with this passage either.
No Isaiah starts not as one ready but as one aware of God, aware of himself and prepared to change.
He knows he has seen God but he feels he’s the wrong kinda guy from the wrong kinda place. God however transforms him and turns his life around.
That’s what each of us today together with this baby and her family, seek to do in joining in this baby’s Baptism and re-living our own baptism.

We may think, like Isaiah that we’re not really ready or worthy but it’s that turning to God and showing a willingness to be changed by God that we begin our journey. It’s not a magic wand though, far from it, there will be things that draw us away from God as well as those that draw us to God.

It was also with some sadness that I learnt another way this passage had significance for me. someone who was brought up in the same church as me is not now someone who includes religion in his life. He and I were chatting a few years ago and he told me that this very passage was THE one that, as a young teenager, made him decide NOT to keep coming to church. Why? He told me that he thought if the angel needed tongs to pick up the hot coal then that made no sense of God being Almighty so he couldn’t be.

A pair of tongs was a stumbling block for him. There will always be stumbling blocks for all of us. Things which make us doubt, make us question. Question ourselves, question those we love, question the value of life, or the existence of God. Yet ours is a Gospel of stumbling but also of getting up again. Just like a child when she starts those first steps only to land back on the ground. this baby won’t stop there. She’ll get back up and try again and again. Jesus once told a man that to enter the kingdom of heaven we must become like little children and I think that was certainly one part of it – falling down but getting back up again and trying again and again. As we get old we sometimes feel more inclined to give up when it’s difficult but it’s never too late to start trying again.

And I still hope that my the young man I mentioned might do that in time. And the time I see the most hope for that has been since he became a father. His daughter is now two and I have seen such a transformation in his life. He sees the world in so many different ways.

Something so tiny as a baby, can change the world. This little child here can make us see things in a different way. Today we can look again at our own faith as we’ve shared in this baptism. You as parents must see things as people changed by this tiny form.

I think when we look at a young baby, and for parents, looking at your own children must be even more powerful, when we look at a young baby, we get a small tiny inkling of how God must feel looking at the world, at his creation, at each one of his little children.
We look with the eyes of love,
the eyes of hope,
the eyes of forgiveness of anything.
And I don’t know if you’re like me when I look at my own niece but I wonder just what she might achieve in this lifetime that is only just begun. Where might life take her?

And this is how God sees Isaiah in this vision. Full of Hope and Love and curiosity about what this beloved child will do. It’s how God looks at each one of us. God sees our failings and is ready to forgive them as he does Isaiah. God sees with the eyes of a loving parent, a hoping parent, an expectant parent.

Today we have offered this child to God’s care. To the potential of God’s call
To the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
We can’t know where God will send this baby yet. What her life may contain. But know for sure. God has hopes for her and hopes for all of us. His voice is there asking “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
That question is not just for Isaiah – it still rings out for each of us if we have the ears to hear it.
The question is
What is God’s will for you this week?
Where will God be at work in you this week?
Where and when will be your opportunity to say
“Here am I send me!”

Making Hay while the sun shines

2009-06-06T14:04:00.004+01:00

So it's raining in much of the country today but last week I was at the Hay on Wye Literary festival hearin Rowan Williams in conversation with A. N. Wilson on the subject of religion in literature, particularly Dostoyevsky about whom ++Rowan has just written a book which AN Wilson reviewed here. (The Guardian has reported on some of the session here) It was an inspiring discussion, an official ear-wigging on a conversation between two great thinkers, as my colleague put it. It was certainly interesting enough to prompt me to think about reading The Brothers Karamzov as my curate when I was 16 endeavoured to encourage me to do but which I have still never read. When I've finished my current book (Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - most illuminating mix of fact/fiction now recommended by Richard and Judy but I did spot it a while ago!!)

The words that struck me from the archbishop, aside from those on silence which the Guardian picked up were those of this question:-

"Is there something about the grain of the universe that obliges us to love?"

These words prompted me to the following:

++rowan 2
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

Lost sheep

2009-06-01T17:33:00.001+01:00

I really liked this - unfortunately I don't seem to be able to download it but I can post it!

The Parable of the Lost Sheep from vanmmoocow on Vimeo.

Do you need a secret millionaire?

2009-06-01T12:11:00.003+01:00

A long blog silence, for which apologies. I have got some pics to put up when I'm back on the laptop from - one of them a sketch inspired by hearing Archbishop Rowan Williams in conversation with A. N. Wilson at the Hay Festival last week - but before all that I thought I'd share the good news for local charities out there...

If you've seen the show the Secret Millionaire, you'll be familiar with the way that people have offered money to community groups within particular localities. The Big lottery Fund and Channel 4 have now launched a new joint fund called the Secret Millionaire fund:

"The Big Lottery Fund and The Secret Millionaire have teamed up to give viewers of the programme a chance to act on the charitable inspiration fuelled by the show. Lottery funding worth £1 million has been lined up for people to apply for, or nominate projects to apply for grants of between £300 and £10,000 from the Secret Millionaire Fund.
From here you can nominate or apply for The Secret Millionaire Fund.

nominate a community project.

You can propose a community project or organisation you think would benefit from BIG funding. BIG will then contact the organisation to see if it is eligible to apply for this small grants scheme and send out the relevant information.
apply directly.

If you have an idea for a project that can bring real improvements to the lives of communities, and can pass a simple eligibility test (see information below), you can apply to Secret Millionaire Fund.

In both cases Lottery grants are awarded following an application and asseesment process which takes up to 8 weeks. For more information see the link to the right.

If your application to The Secret Millionaire Fund is successful Channel 4 (or RDF Media the production company who make the programme) might choose you for filming that will appear on the Secret Millionaire website and possibly in future editions of The Secret Millionaire. You will be asked to opt in to this at the point of application. Accepting or declining will not affect the outcome of your application."

One Step Beyond

2009-05-21T23:29:00.008+01:00

Ian and Alice have already put some stuff on the blogosphere about the DYO network conference. We had some painful discussions about some financial issues (in which we are not alone, I know) and some inspiring words from Chris Curtis, Peter Ball and Tony Cook among others, laughs, discussions, magic and even a coach trip with old fashioned commentary thanks to Nic!

I found myself in an even less word oriented reflective place than usual and took very few notes. I did however do some more Holy doodling and also had a discussion about just that with one of my fellow DYOs who is also a fellow doodler.

I very much appreciated the Eucharist with annointing which we concluded with and was WOWed by the creativity of young people which Chris presented us with.

dyos are
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

sea and sky
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

vision
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

call
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

mission marks
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

Fingerprint on Every Soul

2009-05-04T17:06:00.002+01:00

Fingerprint on Every Soul (Human/Dancer 2) close up 4
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

Instead of working further on the last painting I did (I wasn't sure if it was finished or not - I'm still not fully sure!!) I decided to do something that might complement it or partner it anyway. So again I took the lyrics of Human and focussed instead on the line" 'cos I'm on my knees looking for the answer." Intriguingly I also seem to have brought in a creed that we shared at our team meeting earlier in the year:

We have heard about you, God of all power.
You made the world out of kindness,
Creating order out of confusion;
You made each one of us in your own image;
Your fingerprint is on every soul.
So we praise you

We have heard about you, Jesus Christ:
The carpenter who left his tools and trade;
The poor man who made others rich;
The healer who let himself be wounded;
The criminal on whom the soldiers spat
Not knowing they were fouling the face of God;
So we praise you.

We have heard about you, Holy Spirit.
You broke the bonds of every race and nation,
To let God speak in every tongue;
You made disciples drunk with grace;
You converted souls and emptied pockets;
You showed how love made all things new
And opened the doors to change and freedom.
So we praise you.

Iona Community, Scotland

Human/Dancer

2009-04-30T21:09:00.002+01:00

Human/Dancer stage 2 2
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

This latest painting - which started off VERY differently was inspired by the words of the Killers song Human (se lyrics below). I particularly like the "cos I'm on my knees looking for the answer to are we human or are we dancer" which says a lot to me about prayer. We're all searching to understand who we are as humans and as people within society. Are we dancing to someone else's tune or by being a dancer are we being more free than mere humanity allows. I'm not entirely sure what the lyrics are about but I rather like the fact that I don't know!!

I started with one of those canvases which I love doing where I merge colours and created feathered joins between them. Then when that had dried I entended to add another layer of the same over the top but it ended up quite different! The layer I added over the top I then scraped away to give a kind of washed over effect and that which I scraped away then got moulded together to make the dancer. I then thought I might change the background a little to show some of that movement and changed it completely or rather added yet a third layer. I'm still pondering whether I want any more figures in the picture or if I want to add some colour to the figure. I never intended her to remain green as it didn't look right but it's growing on me!! Michael, when he first saw it used the word impressive which is still making me grin with a little touch of pride. He doesn't always like what I paint (which is reassuring because then I know he means it when he does!) and impressive is a pretty encouraging word.

I did my best to notice
when the call came down the line
up to the platform of surrender
I was brought but I was kind
and sometimes I get nervous
when I see an open door

close your eyes, clear your heart

cut the cord
are we human or are we dancer
my sign is vital, my hands are cold
and I’m on my knees looking for the answer
are we human or are we dancer

pay my respects to grace and virtue
send my condolences to good
give my regards to soul and romance
they always did the best they could
and so long to devotion, you taught me everything I know
wave good bye, wish me well

you gotta let me go
are we human or are we dancer
my sign is vital, my hands are cold
and I’m on my knees looking for the answer
are we human or are we dancer

will your system be alright
when you dream of home tonight
there is no message were receiving
let me know is your heart still beating

are we human or are we dancer
my sign is vital, my hands are cold
and I’m on my knees looking for the answer

you’ve gotta let me know
are we human or are we dancer
my sign is vital, my hands are cold
and I’m on my knees looking for the answer
are we human
or are we dancer

are we human or are we dancer
are we human or are we dancer

Weekend Creativity

2009-04-26T13:48:00.004+01:00

Long (but great!) day yesterday hosting Breathe at a Youth event in the south of the diocese. Some really good reactions to it which is always pleasing. To relax I've been a bit creative too firstly by beginning a new painting (not sure where it's going yet but about to hit it again in a sec!).

Human/Dancer stage one 6
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

I also crafte this rather lovely dish of scallops with spaghetti for lunch - scrumptious though I say so myself. I'm very fond of scallops but they're a bit of a luxury. Fortunately they're one of the few items of seafood Michael will eat so we both enjoyed this. It's always fun creating a "new" dish - a bit like being in Hell's Kitchen this week! Still wouldn't want to be there though :o)

Spring Spaghetti
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

God our father

2009-04-24T20:42:00.005+01:00

A friend of mine posted a link to this video on her facebook. It is just amazing (It comes with a tissue warning).

Being me I couldn't leave it just at the video but I've looked into it a bit. Team Hoyt haven't just done this triathlon but are in fact 6 off from doing 1000 events and speaking to corporate events for massive companies such as Morgan Stanley, GlaxoSmithKline, Google and American Express .

Father and son team Dick and Rick Hoyt don't restrict themselves to these achievements either. Rick is a graduate of Boston University and Dick is a retired lieutenant colonel in the air nation guard and a friend of the "President's Council for Fitness. They also front the Hoyt foundation which seeks:

"to integrate the physically challenged into everyday life. One way to accomplish this is to educate the able-bodied, making them more aware of the issues that the disabled face every day. Another is by actively helping the disabled to participate in activities that would otherwise be inaccessible to them."

I am deeply impressed. I think the word CAN'T just lost its meaning.

Ethos Narratives

2009-04-21T12:21:00.003+01:00

I'm off to one of our local YMCAs today where I'm helping their CEO engage with the residents there on the issue of the Christian ethos of their organisation locally. The question of how big the C is in YMCA seems to be a matter of debate in many YMCAs and the outworking of their Christian service comes across in many different ways around the country. They do have very clear Christian underpinnings in the form of the Paris basis, the Kampala Principles and Challenge 21 but the question was about exploring that in our local setting.

When we were looking at how we might engage with the issue of stating our ethos, I came up with this idea (no idea if it's original as I don't read widely enough to be sure!!) of using Ethos Narratives.

Rather than saying just as Christians we believe all people are equal (Galatians 3.28 et al) and so we have an equal opportunities policy etc., etc. I suggested that we chose for ourselves various stories from Jesus' teachings - mostly parables as it turns out - which say something of how we work and why we work; which tell the story of our ethos rather than theologising it out. If it works, the idea will be that we can then use posters, videos, modern translations, sculptures, artwork, songs which tell these stories to help those who provide and use our services understand what it is we're about.

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about this. Is it new or I have I subconsciously borrowed the idea from somewhere!!??

Sermon on Thomas

2009-04-21T12:10:00.003+01:00

Last Sunday I was at St Peter's Pedmore and I preached on the appearance of Christ to Thomas:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:19-31

I focussed on the idea of seeing is believing, picking up on the idea of there being many things we see which are not true (the amazing things peopel can do with airbrusing photos and film) and things which we can't see but which we know are true - electricity, magnetism, dark matter etc.

I got the congregation making windmills out of pipe cleaners, some beads and a little template I knocked up which had the words "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" on. I said that people can't have God proven to them and they can't see God but they can see God working through people if people allow the Holy Spirit to move them. I challenged them therefore to be like the windmill - to be a visible sign of God working in the world.

One of the funny things about preaching is that often you come out with something in the middle of a sermon which you hadn't been expecting to say. I had that on Sunday. I had a teeny idea about covering the fact that many people have doubts but I took up the theme of contrasting this with the coomunity of faith. I said that we gather in such communities so that they are always communities of faith. Even if we have our own doubts that day, the community of faith still has faith and so we are still within that community of the faithful. I assured the people that ALL CHRISTIANS have doubts at some point, using the example of Mother Theresa and this wonderful quotation from Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the revelation that Mother Theresa had doubts:

“Mother Teresa wonderfully was no plaster cast saint. She has helped to affirm many who are passing through this period of desolation and dryness when God seems so remote. St Theresa of Avila after one such bout cried out in frustration to God, ’No wonder your friends are so few given how you treat them!’ My regard for Mother Teresa has been enhanced. Doubt can be an integral part of faith, when the evidence is never so overwhelming, so incontrovertible. St Thomas is our patron Saint for doubters. We live by faith not by sight and frequently the evidence does not make the leap of faith redundant.”

Rain and Snow final version

2009-04-08T19:59:00.002+01:00

Rain and Snow final version
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

Here at last is the painting I blogged about before which I finally finished at the weekend.
It's inspired by this passage:

"As the rain and snow come down from above and return not again, but water the earth, bringing forth seed for sowing and bread to eat, so is my word that goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me fruitless, but will accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the task I gave it."
Isaiah 55.10-11

It's not really like any other painting I've done before in style. It's also the same size as the last painting I did which I still love. I'm a little undecided about this painting. I know it's done and as it should be but I'm not sure I particularly like it. Does it show what I wanted it to show - almost perhaps but I can't say for sure it does the whole thing. I rather like the way the text can be read as it is but also with the paired verses alongside each other that compares rain/snow with word.

Not quite sure where it's going to go as yet!

So uncertainty all round. Apt for Holy Week perhaps...

Who do you love?

2009-04-07T13:21:00.003+01:00

The fantastic we love our youthworker charter has now launched. There are lots of resources including the wonderful Dave Walker's cartoons especially commisioned for the charter.

If you are part of a church which employs a youthworker, check out their 7 point charter:

We will pray and support
We believe that our youth worker needs spiritual support in their work with young people.

We promise to pray for our youth worker and keep their needs a high priority in the church’s prayer life.

We will give space for retreat and reflection
We believe that taking time to think and pray is just as essential for our youth worker as organising events and meeting young people.

We promise to encourage our youth worker to use part of their schedule to give space for retreat, reflection and personal development.

We will provide ongoing training and development
We believe that learning the skills of youth work is an ongoing process and that it’s important to continually invest in professional development.

We promise to set aside time and money to provide this for our youth worker.

We will give a full day of rest each week
We believe that taking regular time off helps maintain our youth worker’s passion and energy for their work with young people.

We promise to actively encourage our youth worker to take a day away from their role each week to do something different.

We will share responsibility
We believe that having a youth worker does not release the rest of the church from our responsibilities towards young people.

We promise to encourage everyone to play a part in volunteering, praying for or supporting young people.

We will strive to be an excellent employer
We believe that it’s important to have clear structures and procedures for recruiting and employing a youth worker, and to provide supportive management structures.

We promise to follow good practice guidelines in the way we employ our youth worker.

We will celebrate and appreciate
We believe it’s vital to acknowledge what our youth worker is doing and the commitment they have made to work with young people in our church.

We promise to make sure our youth worker knows they are appreciated and we will celebrate their achievements.

I'm so pleased to see that this is finally here. All churches employing youthworkers wiull get so much more out of their youthworkers by following this.

I can almost hear my blog readers asking - what about we love our vicar/organist/sunday school teacher/curate/flower arranger/verger/chorister/warden/deacon/cleaner/worship leader/house group leader/children's worker/steward/lay reader/evangelist*?

Well perhaps this should spur us on to look at all those whom churches employ and all those who give their time for free.
*delete as applicable

Firepit Fine dining

2009-04-04T21:59:00.002+01:00

Michael and I lit up the firepit for the first time this year tonight. I decided that I was a little bored with what I normally do on the fire pit (jacket spuds in the ashes, garlic mushrooms in foil and roast pork with apples/cider). So this evening we ventured into oriental territory and had the following:

Red cooked Roast Pork
Marinade a pork roasting joint in 4tbsps soy sauce, 2 tbsps brown sugar, 4 tbsps sherry, 1 tbsp chinese five spice, 1tbsp sesame oil, 2 inches ginger finely chopped, 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped 4tbps rapeseed oil and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. After marinading, place the pork in a foil tray and pour over the marinade. Wrap all this in two layers of foil and place on the embers of the firepit for 2 hours.

Coconut noodle soup
thinly slice 1 carrot, 1 stick of celery, 1 onion, 2 spring onions, 1 inch ginger, 1 radish, 1 green chilli, 2 large mushrooms. Heat oil in the pan (you can start this indoors if it's easier!) Add all the chopped veg and sweat for a few minutes. Add 1 tsp lemon grass, 1 tbsp bouillon powder, a dash of oyster sauce, a tsp of miso paste, a dash of mushroom ketchup, a dash of soy sauce and stir. Then had a carton of coconut cream, a pint of water and a tbsp of sesame oil the juice of one lime, a slug of sake and one whole bird eye chilli (optional!). Bring to simmering point. Transfer to the firepit and, when the pork is nearly ready, bring it to the boil. Add two portions of wholewheat noodles and simmer for three minutes (or as per instructions).

Serve in bowls with a couple of big ladels of noodle soup topped with a fresh slice of red cooked pork.

Delicious!

Chocolate Bread Pudding

2009-03-29T14:34:00.002+01:00

Michael and I are quite bad at eating up bread. Personally once it gets a bit stale I don't like it anymore. I love FRESH bread. So we often end up with the end of a loaf sitting waiting for someone to eat it. I sometimes make breadcrumbs or bread and butter pudding but once we've have b&b pudding once we seem reluctant to have it again the next night. So... what to do?

Well I have a husband who is fairly well guaranteed to eat anything chocolatey and I know bread pudding (rather than bread and butter pudding) keeps well but have never made it. Is there such as thing as chocolate bread pudding? Well despite a few recipes claiming to be just that they seem to be b&b pudding with rich cream and chocolate (whereas I was hoping to use milk and cocoa!)

In the end I found a Cranks recipe for bread pudding and adapted it as follows:

8oz (225g) Stale bread hacked into small pieces
1/2 pint (284ml) plus an extra 4tbsp (60ml) milk
3/4 cup of cocoa
1/4 cup boiling water
5oz (125g) Dried fruit - whatever you like but adding something like apricots to the usual raisins is cool
2oz (50g) grated butter
4oz (100g) Brown sugar
1 heaped tbsp (20ml) mixed spice
1 egg
nutmeg to grate

Put the cocoa in a small bowl (or large mug!!) and add the boiling water, stirring to a smooth paste. When it is smooth, gradually add in the 1/2 pint (284ml) milk.

Put the broken bread in a large bowl and add the chocolate milk mixture. Stir thoroughly. Leave to soak for 30mins at least, and give it the occasional stir. The longer you leave this the better really!

Put the oven on at Gas Mark 4 (180C/350F)

Add the fruit, grated butter, spice and sugar to the large bowl. In a small bowl (the same one again if you like!) whisk the egg with the 4tbsp (60ml) milk. Add this to the laqrge bowl and mix.

Press it all into a shallow oven proof dish (we use one of those funky teflon flexible ones so no need for lining paper) Put this in the oven for 45 mins until set. Then remove from the oven, slice and have at least one piece for yourself then put the rest on a plate or in a tin to eat later!!

Inter-seed for us

2009-03-29T14:28:00.003+01:00

This is my sermon which I preach (well mostly!) at St Mary's Kempsey this morning. It was a wonderful service of the word led by Vision 33 the youth group and their youth leaders and thoroughly enjoyed and supported by the larger family of the church.

The Gospel for the Sunday was:

20Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
27“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. 34The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. 36While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.
John 12:20-36

It’s Spring time and I don’t know about you but I am planting seeds in my garden. It’s also Lent, a season for planting spiritual seeds of faith as we approach Easter. Today we hear Jesus also talking about seeds in our Gospel. I think what Jesus said about seeds was a very important thing and I want to plant that seed in your memory too.
What I want to focus on – demo through seeds
Now I’m going to need some help with this.

I’ve brought some rather special seed packets with me. I need 7 volunteers to help me.

Now these seed packets are a little different to ordinary seed packets. For one – they’re a bit bigger. They also have a very strange thing. Normal seed packets have the seeds on the outside and a picture of what they grow into on the inside. These seeds packets are a bit different. They have a picture of the SEED on the outside, so you can’t tell what they’re going to grow into. It makes you think that if you bought these seeds – all you would get would be exactly what it shows on the seed packet. Lets have a look inside.(we open them each in turn to reveal poppies, pumpkins, sunflowers, wheat, a butterfly, an iris and a passion flower)

So we see all these beautiful things that they might turn into. But they will never be these things if they stay as they are (turn over the cards to reveal the bible quotation)

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

In the passage today, Jesus talks about his forthcoming death and resurrection as being a grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying in order that new life can come. Jesus also goes on to link it to what a life of discipleship means

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.

The Bible can sometimes feel like rather a distant story. One about then – about the people of Israel, about the disciples. But in the passage we heard today we have a link. The passage begins with some Greeks wanting to see Jesus. Now, I don’t know if we have any Greeks here today but those Greeks stand for each one of us here. Jesus has been preaching to the people of Israel but this is a point when he declares it is not JUST for them. No Jesus says:

32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

This Good news is not just for the descendents of Abraham, Isaac Jacob and Moses but for everyone.

That’s still a challenge to us today. The Gospel is not just for people who already believe. For people who already come to church. It’s for everyone and God calls each of us to do something about that. For me, helping people work with young people, I seek to engage churches in looking not just at what they are doing within their churches but also at how they are relating to their community. To their schools; to the young people who hang out in their churchyard because there is nowhere to go. Not just to the young though, to parents, to those who are living alone, to the retired.

32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

In the Gospel of John, when he talks about fruit, he means community and in this passage Jesus calls into formation a new community that thinks and lives differently than society.

When we look to serve others, it can often mean we need to give up things for ourselves. This doesn’t mean that we become nothing. It means we become more than we could have been if we had looked only to our own ends. He talks of those who walk with the light.

Those who walk by the Light, meaning Jesus, those who embrace the Light, who allow the Light to penetrate their being and shine through them, they become united as a family of Light, the children of Light, the children of God. Together they shine in the midst of darkness and show the world another way, just as Jesus has. In the face of the cruel violence that puts Jesus on the cross, the children of Light respond by creating a community that bears witness to the Light of Christ, a community that keeps the Light burning even though the world tries to extinguish it. The ember of light kindled by Jesus is multiplied through his followers as they become lanterns aflame with Light for the world. And we can only do that if we, the seed, allow ourselves to be planted.

Each person here is the fruit of seed sown by our Christian predecessors. As the diocesan youth officer, I suppose I’m a bit like a Garden consultant. What seeds are being sown here in Kempsey for the future fruit? I know there are certainly some very gifted young people who work with our youth council and I’m sure there are others. How is Kempsey looking after its garden and its saplings?

God sees each of us as we see normal seed packets. He sees our full potential and the full potential of those around us. Just think what a difference it would make to our world if we, like God, saw everyone not as they are but as the amazing person they could be. Sometimes we focus far too much on what we are now. We look at the world from the inside of a seed packet. We see our safe seed-like experience and shape and want to stay with that.

God sees what we can grow into, what we can transform into. That transformation can bring us to something new and wonderful. A caterpillar to a butterfly and acorn to an oak tree to be built into the beams of a great building, a boat that sails the oceans, or a table where people share a meal.

We have a choice to make: will we simply sit in the seed packet - they're usually made of foil so rather shiny and appealling. Or do we dare to be planted and wait to see what God transforms us into?

Youth and age

2009-03-20T11:50:00.002Z

I was looking for a video of the Philosopher's Song on the Monty Python feed on youtube yesterday (like you do) and couldn't find it but did see this fantastic piece from John Cleese about youth. I think it also says a bit about age too.

Son et L-ewe-miers

2009-03-19T22:59:00.003Z

Never let it be said that the countryside is behind the cities in its use of technology. Check out this AWESOME video. Thanks to L for linking to it on her facebook :O)

On a related note - Wallace and Grommit A Matter of Loaf and Death is out on 23rd March - hurrah!

Fully Booked

2009-03-17T15:20:00.002Z

Apologies for blog being quiet (perhaps I should count how man times I've posted that phrase over the years!). I have been occupied with trying to finish the book Phil and I are putting together. We had two solid days of reviewing over the weekend only to decide what we really needed was an extra session. It's a good session even if it has meant we're not finished as we had hoped to be by the end of the weekend. We are so very nearly there though.

We came up against the issue of how we select the film clips we suggest people use as we found ourselves needing to find a scene which helps people explore the character and person of Jesus. Our clips are often focussed on a concept and then it's a lot easier to find a clip that helps people explore an idea. This time we were looking for a clip that would say something/everything about Jesus himself and everything we looked at wasn't good enough. I suppose that's the lesson in a way.

Ian seems to have been focussing on films a bit too lately. Firstly recommending a re-watching of About a Boy (timely in fact as it was then on TV!). I've always loved a particular scene in this film when the boy has a mini rant about his life and how tough it is and Hugh Grant's character just doesn't know how to respond and resorts to a word that would be against most Conduct policies! I really like what follows which is the angst of the adult about their failure to help and the young man who feels so much better because, even though the adult he'd spoken to hadn't SOLVED the issue, the adult had listened, had shown that he understood how the boy felt and expressed his empathy with him. It shows that sometimes what we say to young people when they confide in us may sound like the lamest most pathetically useless response but to them it could mean all the world.

This is also the film/book from which a fantastic short-hand phrase for a VERY BAD DAY comes. "Dead-duck-day". If that makes no sense... well you might just have to watch the film!

About Face

2009-03-04T21:46:00.003Z

I'm just back from a fantastically inspiring and thought-provoking evening with the YMCAs from the region in company with Malcolm Duncan of Church and Community (formerly of Faithworks). there are many wise things buzzing around my head including the contrast between Empire building and kingdom building, a new ten commandments for the YMCA, clarity at the centre so that edges can be fuzzy and so much more.

This however is what stood out most. It was an image and a story so there's no surprise that it was the most powerful and memorable bit of the evening.
This picture, entitled Bear glare was taken by Sergey Gorshkov and won the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007 prize for the category of animal portrait.

Now it is a very striking image. that alone has a great impact. However the story of how the picture was taken is even more powerful. I'm told that Sergey went out with his young son to get some picture of salmon jumping up the river and was standing in the water waiting with his son stood behind him. He's concentrating REALLY hard on getting this image of the salmon (you can imagine him really wanting to capture that triumph of will over adversity that is embodied in the leaping of salmon upstream towards their spawning sites in that moment of sheer faith that launches a fish out of water). Sergey hears a splash behind him and thinks his son is messing around. this is confirmed by the son tugging at his waders, "Dad... dad", "Not now, I'm trying to get a picture of the salmon" "dad, you really need to turn round" "I'm busy", "Dad you REALLY HAVE TO TURN ROUND NOW!" He turns round and is faced with this sight which he manages to capture on film (and live to tell the tale).

This story says... sometimes we can be so focussed on the task we think is very important that we miss a great opportunity. If we're lucky there might be a young prophetic voice near us who tells us we need to make a radical turn around and face in the opposite direction. What we see when we make that dramatic change might fill us with fear but will in the end lead to what we need/want to achieve.

Doodles from Noodle brains?

2009-03-02T14:03:00.003Z

Some great news for me this week. Firstly, it seems that doodling, as I often do at conferences, is now acknowledged as being useful in the retention of information as I have argued it is for me!

Unfortunately, there's not much excuse for my lack of blogging lately, aside from my busy times at work.

I'm currently reading Mark Yaconelli's new book Helping Teenagers to Pray. I've nto read a great deal of it yet but is certainly been worthwhile read so far.

Word on the Street

2009-02-16T18:13:00.003Z

Really love this video, filmed on a mobile in the streets of New York and Sydney. Not true just for those cities.

Is it enough just not to look away?

Does buying my copy of the Big Issue make it better?

Or rather, as today chatting to the guy selling them saying I only had 30p in cash and wishing each other a "good day" make a difference?

Well I think the sharing of humanity with someone can make a lot of difference to people who feel ignored but without other help its effect is not enough.

I have the Wycombe Winter Night Shelter in mind at present at that which inspired it in London. Its not part of my call here at present but I may have to make some fish cakes this week out of nostalgia!!

What is chaplaincy?

2009-02-15T19:00:00.004Z

We've just had our first two weeks of active involvement in the school chaplaincy, following weeks (if not months, in fact) of working out what it means for us and for the school. We have a carefully crafted document which states what we'll do and what we'll not do. we want to focus on the young people in more pastoral terms rather than the more lesson-based style of schools work. So our plan is to begin with what my first vicar referred to as "vicaring about" (or dyo-ing about in my case and curating about in the case of two members of our team!). It's a detached model really but within the school setting, mostly the canteen. For us it seems to have been a good start. We've met the young people in their informal setting rather than in the class-room. I hope to keep you posted about how it goes.

It's got me thinking about it all. There are all kinds of full-time chaplaincies out there but part-time chaplaincies in schools, hospitals, sports clubs, shopping centres and town centres are on the up. However... what is chaplaincy? What does it mean?

Well Bishop Alan posted this fantastic definition of what a chaplain is:

"Someone who learns and listens carefully to the languages people use to express themselves, a spiritual interpreter, someone who can hold the lines and ask key questions of any and all, including themselves."

Any thoughts and wisdom on that one people?

Snow Roo

2009-02-05T17:47:00.002Z

Snow Roo full length
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

I was endeavouring to do a snow dog but it metamorphosed into this Snow Kangaroo.

Interesting moment when I heard some people walking past our front garden and was caught in a moment of panic - should I let myself be seen, as a grown woman in her 30s, playing with snow... Yes I told myself I totally should!

25 random things

2009-02-04T20:48:00.002Z

Ok so this is from Facebook but it will be heading there too...

Rules: Once you've been tagged, write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

I was born in Belgium
I married Michael in 2006 after we met through an internet dating agency
I've just finished a painting which I almost can't stop looking at
Last year I had to read some Anglo-Saxon at a Cathedral event - this was part of my studies I was convinced I would never use.
I jumped out of a plane a few years ago but had the foresight to be attached to a parachute and have a long list of sponsors in aid of the hospice charity that looked after my mum when she was ill.
For a large period of my childhood I believed I was born in a tent (for some rather odd reasons)- I am not sure when I realised this was not the case!
I like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I bought all the Harry Potter series with the children's cover as I didn't feel the need to pretend I wasn't reading a children's book!
I've been learning to draw dragons since Michael finished his book which features them.
Last week at work I claimed to have instituted a "nearly clear desk" policy in contrast with my VERY untidy desk at home.
I love painting with the colour cerulean. Well I love painting as it brings me closer to God but this is a colour which really makes me smile. I also use a lot of yellow!
Taize always feels like home when I get there.
Cooking for people makes me happy and I love to cook new things. This week I cooked with seaweed for the first time.
Often I get songs stuck in my head - these range from the ridiculous ("peanut butter and jelly" song my American friend Debbie taught me over 10 years ago, the moonpig advert and spider pig) to the sublime (Beati Quorum via, I was glad, Mil e tre etc.)
I fulfilled a lifelong dream by seeing Niagara Falls a few years ago and might get the chance to see the Nascar lines next year (which were also "on my list")
When I was teaching Latin, my student feedback forms included comments on the accuracy of my drawings on the board - cows were good but hands needed work. I also took up the challenge to teach the gerundive through the medium of song using the Beatles and Hildegard of Bingen.
I had a lovely Christmas in 2008 because my niece got on so well with my dog Eddie and LOVED her Peppa Pig umbrella.
I love Peking Duck pancakes.
I support Oxfam through regular giving and we had an Oxfam wedding list alongside our normal gift list. Michael claims this was to determine how many camels I was worth - the answer was NO camels but a toilet, teaching packs, goats and lots of plants (among other things).
During my revision for my A levels I relieved my stress by doing a jigsaw puzzle which featured a large number of smarties. It seemed they really DID have the answer.
I've recently started in a role as chaplain to a secondary school and really enjoyed it. Being asked if I was a sixth-former was not the only reason.
I was giggling yesterday because our dog Eddie got very excited about his new toy - a large red plastic ball.
Now Barak Obama is President I can stop pretending it's Jed Bartlett.
Michael and I discovered a new game called Carcassone which we bought with some Christmas money and we love it A LOT.
This year I made a new year's resolution without really meaning to - I'm not buying a new book until I have read a book I already own but have not yet read. Since making this commitment I have read two books and bought a new one!

Snow go

2009-02-02T21:35:00.002Z

Couldn't resist this gadget from Bishop Alan's site. I'm contemplating whether or not I can get to and around London for a meeting on Wednesday.

Genesis completed

2009-02-02T16:19:00.001Z

Genesis completed
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

So in the snowlight of this afternoon I managed to persuade myself finally that Genesis was finished. There are still things I would tweak but I know I would be tweaking them for all eternity The finalising included a rather unnerving editing of the wave with the addition of some cerulean, some adding of red to the sky around the birds and some filling in of green in the tree where it was a little thin. There is also a little silver on the wave now. I decided that the birds are now as they are even though they're not as perfect as I'd like because in display they won't be quite as visible anyway as they're right at the top.

Finishing this and the snow have planted another seed but I'm not sure I'll get to that very soon as I have a few things in the diary but with the snow, you never know those might get postponed!!

The canvas is approx 1m wide and 1.3m wide.

Creation and Recreation

2009-01-26T17:12:00.002Z

Following my own explorations of evolving images in creation in the last post, I saw this video which Paul Bayes popped on his site. It originates from Willow Creek and I think it is genius! I am also thinking .... hmmmm... lightbox and sand hmmmm....

Genesis 3

2009-01-24T15:49:00.001Z

Genesis 3
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

So hopefully I have now finished this painting which has appeared on here in various forms. This has been a fascinating painting for me to work on as, unlike other paintings, I have lived with it for so long. This is partly because the canvas is HUGE so takes a long time to cover in paint and partly because the content has ended up being elaborate and more detailed than I often do.

Like the image of Christ on the cross I painted a while ago this image rather came to me and lived with me for a while (even ending up in some doodlings at the conference earlier this month).

I've tried to capture a sense of creation. Of the separations into light and dark; earth and water and the springing into life in tree, leaves, fish and birds.

What was rather challenging was the perspective as it doesn't conform to regular rules so working out how to make things look right when the world hasn't really settled its rules yet was a real work in progress.

I've recently reworked the leaves into birds and fish but may still need to work on them - though it will be a refreshing change to be painting something else!

Hartbeat

2009-01-18T18:34:00.001Z

IASYM1
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

In memory of that great inspirer of creativity in children, I am putting up one of the doodle pictures from the conference I was at recently. This was one which I was penning when listening to Andrew Root on the absence/presence of God and Reggie Nel talking about remixing culture for youth ministry.

I never actually felt brave enough to send my pictures in to Tony Hart but I certainly enjoyed seeing other children's pictures and the exciting things that Tony himself did. All that plus the wonderful Morph - who could ask for more.

I know I'm turning old now as I'm so nostalgic. What I wonder is this - My generation grew up with inspirational presenters like Tony Hart and Johnny Ball. Where are the current generation getting inspired?

What has the Church of England ever done for us?

2009-01-16T16:23:00.002Z

Often I find people a little negative about the Church of England because it has SO much history and sometimes rather too much baggage and yet we sometimes forget all the GOOD stuff that goes with years of wisdom and experience; rich liturgy, beautiful, buildings, inspiring music and deep-rooted community engagement that is so deep we don't always see it.

Reminds me of this clip which I used to use in my history class... perhaps it should have featured in the confirmation course!!

Prayers for Barack Obama

2009-01-15T18:26:00.002Z

At our Diocesan Office Eucharist today, we focussed on Barack Obama and his administration as he prepares to take office. I was asked to lead the prayers and came up with the following. I'm still not certain if they're just TOO cheesy but they were much appreciated!

In the name of Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit, let us pray to the Father

For Barack Obama as he takes up office and for all the leaders of nations Lord give them wisdom and guide them with your spirit. To each of us as we serve you send your Holy Spirit. Lord if you guide us YES WE CAN

As Barack Obama prepares to begin his time in office with a National Day of Community Service through activities dedicated to serving others in communities help us in the diocese to see how we may best serve those around us. Guide our Bishops and all those who lead your churches to bring your Kingdom. especially today we remember...
Lord if you guide us YES WE CAN

The World is torn by many conflicts and disasters. In the midst of them all are the children of God, frightened in the dark. Lord guide us to bring light to places of darkness.
Lord if you guide us YES WE CAN

There is darkness too in the lives of individuals who are suffering from sickness or distress. We pray especially today for .... and those known to us named in our hearts or on our lips... Lord help us be your ambassadors to those in distress
Lord if you guide us YES WE CAN

Lord you are the same yesterday today and forever, you know our pasts, you are with us now and you guide our futures, in the words of Barack Obama, Lord help us “pursue our individual dreams, but still come together as one family” of humanity Lord in each of our lives show us your way forward for us and show us how we too may show the way forward to others
Lord if you guide us YES WE CAN

The Modernisation of Church

2009-01-12T11:38:00.002Z

One of our fabulous admin staff found this over the weekend. Love it! This is dedicated to all those who seek to bring lively worship and vibrant community into their churches and finally to all those Mrs Beamishes out there... the church still loves you.

Plough Sunday

2009-01-11T14:10:00.005Z

As Owain, my rector, said this morning I managed to "bring the house down" with my sermon - mostly in the sense that part of the roof fell off during the service! It did make it all rather exciting.

I also had positive comments about my sermon which people enjoyed. The basic idea was to give each person a craft pipe-cleaner and focus on the bible passage of turning swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks. During the first part of the sermon they crafted something that symbolised farming (even with the young farmers in we managed a collection of models that would offend no-one's grandma!) and then I asked them to turn that model into something that symbolised them, their skills, talents, their future. So we had pigs cows, rakes and spades turning into laptops, basketballs, icecream tubs and telephones!

Here's the text of the sermon - I didn't stick to it entirely and I elaborated in places too but this is MOSTLY what people got:

I've just recently come back from a conference of youth ministers from around the world and we shared a lot about what we do in our own countries. I told them I was preaching this Sunday on Plough Sunday and their reaction was worth seeing! The Australians, South Africans, Norwegians and Americans all seemed amused or bemused at the whole idea. To be honest when Iw as asked to preach this morning I felt a little daunted as I don't know much at all about farming except that which I learnt from some farmers like Mr Bennet here at the Three Counties Show or on a TV programme I saw last night about people trying to use Victorian farming equipment.

To help you get an idea of how something can feel a little strange I’ve given you each a pipe-cleaner. Yours to fiddle with during the sermon but you will need it later. If you like you can form it into the shape of a plough or something else related to farming.

Of course the importance of agricultural life was not something strange to the people we hear about in the Bible. Familiar parable of the sower which we heard this morning and so many other Biblical references. God wants humanity to be involved with the land. As we heard in our first reading from Genesis

Now ploughing isn’t something I had particularly paid attention to in the Bible and was surprised just how many I found particularly in the Old Testament which in some ways is the part of the Bible when the ploughing took place, when the earth was prepared for Jesus’ coming:

Elijah’s call of Elisha - he’s ploughing when Elijah comes to wrap his cloak around him and calls him to follow.

Hosea advocates ploughing as something worthy of doing
“Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.”
Hosea 10:12
There’s even some simple yet I’m sure useful advice in Deuteronomy
“Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.” Deuteronomy 22:10
When psalmists want to demonstrate someone is toiling very hard, they mention ploughing:
Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.
Psalm 129:3

Ploughing is also a symbol therefore of making an effort:
The books of Job and Proverbs warn against laziness and malice:
As I have observed, those who plough evil and those who sow trouble reap it.
Job 4:8
A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
Proverbs 20:4
The apostle Paul uses ploughing as part of a description of there being different roles for people in life:

“Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.”
1 Corinthians 9:10

Now I can’t pretend that I know a great deal about farming. I’ve not grown up here. Real solid ploughs haven’t featured much in my experience. However, when I was at university, I studied the Life of Richard of Chichester (born near here in Droitwich) and he began life ploughing his parents' farm before training to be first a lawyer and later a priest and bishop in which role he was renowned for his particular care for his people, visiting them on foot and ensuring everyone received services from clergy for free.

Richard is a real example of someone whose early beginnings were so rooted and grounded in the land that they later influenced the way he continued his life. Devoting regular time to the care of his people as he gave care to the land of his yeoman father’s farm. So if you've started life in agriculture, be warned - you could end up being a bishop!

Many clergy and ministers today still have the plough at the heart of their ministry. Even if they don’t know it. Because there is a verse in the bible, which features often in the daily morning office of the church, which clergy the world over say every day.

It’s a passage which features not just in one book of the bible but in three; a passage I want us to focus on.
The books of Isaiah, Micah and Joel all use this marvellous phrase which honours farming and ploughing as a good and honourable occupation in contrast with the negative course of action in violence.

It was probably first used by the prophet Isaiah writing during the Israelites exile in Babylon as a statement of looking towards a hopeful future with God as Lord:
He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Isaiah 2:4

This passage is repeated again in the book of Micah, again at a time when people hoped for a better future
Micah 4:3
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
It holds ploughing up as a symbol of a community which is faithful and has hope. A community which works at preparing the ground in expectation of the future.

Then the third time this idea appears, the prophet Joel takes up the same words but he turns it around instead of a prediction of the future he turns it into a command an exhortation to the people to turn from their passive nature to aggresion
Joel 3:10
Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, "I am strong!"

This idea of beating swords into ploughshares, of putting away war and violence and turning to engaging with God’s creation is a fantastic image for me.

Unfortunately I also know that many people involved in the countryside are no longer able to use their ploughshares (or their modern equivalent). It’s not war that drives you to beat your ploughshares into something new as in the Book of Joel but economic viability. For some of you, the idea of fighting against modern economics, like the NFU does like in November last year when it attacked the Supermarkets for their hard nosed tactics

NFU president Peter Kendall accused the big supermarkets of "beating up" their suppliers (Guardian 14th November 2008)
Of course nowadays we don’t turn our ploughshares into swords to fight the big supermarkets. (Much as we sometimes might feel angry enough to do so) People from the rural communities sometimes, like Richard of Chichester, have to turn their skills and abilities away from the farm towards the courts, the board room or parliament. Others might have to turn away completely from agriculture and take up other paths.

So what are you beating your plough share into?

I’d like you now to take your pipe-cleaner and shape it into something that symbolises something you’re very good at, or the career path you want to follow or something about your future.

If you are still working with the land it might be you’re doing so in a different way. How have things changed? How might they change in the future?

While you do that I want to take all that ploughing we have done through the Old Testament and find ourselves with the ground prepared for the New Testament. For Jesus. He too uses these images from farming often:

Firstly he urges people to consider that they are precious to God not because of anything they do but because they are part of his Creation
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Luke 12:24
And he uses the specific reference to the plough, much like in the old testament as something which symbolises faithful working
Jesus encourages people to plough and not look back.
"No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9.62
Jesus is urging those who are willing to hear that they need to find their path and to follow it as faithfully as someone endeavouring to push a plough in a straight line to get a straight furrow.
Personally I find it hard to keep a straight furrow in my work.
I only manage it by focussing on God
How is it for you I wonder?

What work is it that you’re doing for your living?
What work is it that you’re doing for your community and the world?
What work is it that you’re doing for God?

The apostle Paul takes this up as we heard before:
“when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.”
1 Corinthians 9:10
When we work for our livings and for God we do so as part of a great community. We plough the land for those who will come after us in this community and in this world.

What kind of world are you ploughing?

A prayer of Richard of Chichester
Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits which you have given us,
for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.
Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,
may we know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly,
day by day.
Amen.

UPDATE: An honourable mention from my rural colleague - he even has pictures!

Twelfth Night or what you will

2009-01-06T21:49:00.002Z

So the Christmas decorations should all be down... really must do that!

Yet these words from Howard Thurman which I heard for the first time today encapsulates for me how that de-christmassy-ing should be done.

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

Autotheobigraphy

2009-01-06T20:11:00.005Z

This is just one of the many "long words" from over the last few days. When I was anticipating going to the IASYM conference I rather suspected that it would feel rather too full of long words and academic posturing. I was so pleasantly surprised!

The conference was a fantastic three and a half days of wisdom tempered with love; of passion-filled commitment to resourcing youth ministry to the best of their abilities; of wonderful creature of God engaging all their abilities of mind and Christian ministry in a synthesis of heart and head.

I was privileged enough to hear Pete Ward not only speaking eloquently about his latest publication but also playing some gorgeous blue grass interpretations of some traditional hymns. I also met so many wonderful people from Norway, Australia, South Africa, The Netherlands, Germany, Scotland, Northern Ireland and America with fantastic stories and reflections on their work.

A few weeks ago, the chair of the association had also asked me to respond to the final keynote of the conference this morning. Daunted as I was by the prospect, I accepted and was delighted to respond to a colleague from the Netherlands on the subject of communications in children's work, linking that in to our own work with young people.

As well as all the brilliant sessions, there was some good down time too - well-lubricated book launches, great chats of the amazing food provided by the Cambridge college staff, a great jaunt into Cambridge University Press and other bookshops in the city (not to the pipe tobacco shop unfortunately as the branch closed on Christmas Eve - sad news for my best beloved!) late night chats putting the world to rights and a great shindig of music from lots of different members.

One thing that has already come out of it for me is the decision that, having discovered that academia and youth ministry can blend so well without detriment to either ministry or mind I will be looking again at my medieval studies and see what comes of that!

I'm still distilling it all and hope to reflect further over the next weeks.

Strictly not dancing

2008-12-29T12:57:00.003Z

Michael and I listened to a fabulous programme on Radio Four on our way down to dad's on Christmas Eve morning.

It was all about the RUSH of life and our perceptions of TIME.

It featured the marvellous sounds of the bells of a clock planned to be in the middle of the desert which are based on something composed by Brian Eno designed to be unique for every day for the next ten thousand years (you can hear a bit of them here) as part of the LONG NOW foundation and some wonderful reflections on the busy rush of our world. The prototype is in London's science museum but if you want to see the real thing, it will take you, as they say themselves, "at least a day to get there" on a kind of pilgrimage. Understanding that it will take time to experience and engage with this clock.

This idea of slowing down life is something which I've really noticed since we moved to Worcestershire away from the Buzz of the South-East commuter belt. I've noticed that time is NOT as rushed here as it was in High Wycombe. I didn't think it was juts me and apparently it has been measured that some places ARE more rushed than others. I think Worcestershire is a much healthier non-rushed society and I love it, I have to say. There were examples of some fascinating endeavours to sow life down... I think taking a tortoise on a lead with you was my favourite!

I shall be keeping an eye on the Long Now Foundation from now on. It wasn't just the programme as a whole that struck me.

There was one chap Tom Hodgkinson on the programme who talked about Puritans and what impact they had on how we perceive time. The Puritans took away all kinds of the festivities that marked and measured times. He said that they stripped away all the joy and insisted that life was hard and getting to heaven a struggle. I think the enlightenment generally rather the Puritans alone is responsible for it really but I agree with the sentiment. What he said that really spoke to me though was this:

"Life Before the Puritans Life was seen as play, you could call it a Dance, and life after the Puritans became a race."

I've been musing over this over the last few days and it is SO TRUE. Life now seems to be a contest not a creative interaction of different creatures moving alongside each other. In all we do we try to do our best yes and to out-do others, to better OURSELVES, to make ourselves the winner. How different would this be if we instead focussed on life as a dance not a race?

Dances and races both use energy but a dance is about beauty and style in each moment. A race is about passing others in speed or height.

Dances and races both involve skill but a dancers skill is for the delight of others while skill in a race is about surpassing the skill of others.

Dances and races both have an ending but a dance flows from start to finish and ends with a satisfying flourish or a calm conclusion whilst a race ends in a burst of energy and exhaustion.

Which would you rather your life was?

Sermon 21st December 2008 Advent 4

2008-12-22T13:17:00.002Z

This is my sermon from last Sunday. I was leading a service of the word in a rather busy team of churches where the clergy where around and about leading yet more carol services in various places!

The readings for the morning were:

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans 16:25-27

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:26-38

I decided to focus on the Gospel. Each member of the congregation was given an image of the annunciation (found via google images) before the service started.

So it’s nearly Christmas… but not quite. And we’re taken back this morning, back in time 9 months or so in fact from where we’re about to be to the moment when Mary first learns that she is going to have this child whose birth we will celebrate this week!
As St Paul put it; it’s
“the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26but is now disclosed”
That’s a passage we have all heard many times I’m sure. It’s a story we’re familiar with and yet I’m sure we all see it rather differently in our minds. Have a look on your seats (you may have already spotted them!) and you’ll see a few ways that various artists over the years have depicted that moment of annunciation. Now there are some very different styles some traditional some very modern. You may like your image or you may dislike it. Respond to it honestly.
Some have a very tangible ANGEL figure whilst others show something more of a presence or a glow. Some have Mary just sitting quietly in her room, in others she’s looking out the window or in a garden. Or she’s surrounded by flowers or bright colours. In some Mary is very still and quiet and submissive in a prayerlike or meditative pose. In others she is actively engaged in conversation with the angel or perhaps questioning – How can this be?
How would you paint or sculpt this story or make it into a film or a piece of music perhaps or a dance?
There are two elements of this story which I would want to focus on if I were painting it. Two elements which stand out for me as the most important
The first for me is this element of the otherworldly coming into the ordinary.
Why do you think the angel had to say, so very quickly, "Do Not Be Afraid"? There’s an ANGEL right there in front of her. And the Gospel rather coyly describes this as;
“she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be”
Now, I work with teenagers and there are not many teenagers I know who would have responded quite so calmly to a supernatural being appearing so suddenly and calling them “favoured one”. It reminds me in a way of that lottery advert they had a few years ago with the giant hand coming down from the sky and pointing at someone with those booming words “IT COULD BE YOU” and I think that’s why this element of the story strikes me. It COULD be any one of us. Mary was no-one particularly illustrious or famous. She was just like one of us until that day. And God sent her this message as her to serve him.
Now I’m not saying it’s going to be that clear for each of us when God calls us to do something. I don’t think there’ll be hundreds of different of classical paintings of the moment that God called one of us to be a teacher, to help at a local charity, to befriend a neighbour or sit with someone who is ill.
The second part of this story which really sparks something in me, is not actually the news that Jesus is to be born. That is an amazing gift to each and every one of us. A gift we may take for granted or be so unable to grasp that we can’t even begin to describe it. No the element that gets me is Mary’s response.
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Ok so there’s some initial doubt that she can possibly have a child without there being a physical father. Yet so very quickly she comes back with this YES. This complete submission to God’s will. God calls her and she answers that call.

That’s what I would want to show in a painting. Not just a passive beatified and serene Mary but a Mary saying YES with all her being.

So my painting would be of the otherworldly coming into our world with that call and Mary responding YES to that call.

The reason I’d want to paint that is because I think this story really encapsulates God’s call to each of us. I don’t know what God might be calling you to. I do know that he is. I know that God says to you, as he says to Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you… Plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” And if that’s true at any time it’s all the more true at Christmas. A future and a hope. That is what we look forward to and we find that future and that hope in listening to God’s call and in answering it as Mary did.
So when the Lord calls. Will you answer as she did
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Saying yes to God

1. When is it hardest for us to say yes to God?
2. What makes Mary able to say it?
3. How can we follow her example?
4. What is one way we can show God's love this Christmas?

Christmas Card in Video form

2008-12-17T21:12:00.005Z

For those of you who don't receive one of the rare cards I've sent out (Yes I actually HAVE sent some this year - it's a "oh we've moved house" thing!) I've put together a little video using some of my paintings and doodlings and a track from a CD recorded at the fabulous church of St Mary and St George in High Wycombe where I guest non-starred with a friend of mine in the alto section for a choir from Stokenchurch. It's a setting of the words below which is, somewhat appropriately considering we're now next door in Worcestershire, the "Herefordshire Christmas Carol" preserved by the great Ralph Vaughan Williams (who's anniversary year it is!)

I love these words and won't be singing them this year for the first time in many years as I'm not in a choir at Christmas for the first time since ... er... well probably since I could string two words and a few notes together!

The words tell us what Christmas is all about. Not something that happened 2000 years ago but something which began so much earlier and continues today:

This is the truth sent from above
The truth of God, the God of love
Therefore don't turn me from your door
But hearken will both rich and poor

The first thing that I do relate
Is that God did man create
The next thing which to you I'll tell
Woman was made with man to dwell

Thus we were heirs to endless woes
Till God and Lord did interpose
And so a promise soon did run
That He would redeem us by His Son

And at that season of the year
Our blessed redeemer did appear
He here did live and here did preach
And many thousands he did teach

Thus He in love to us behaved
To show us how we must be saved
And if you want to know the way
Be pleased to hear what He did say.

If you're very clever you may pick up a few unspoken Scriptural references through the pictures - not just the ones with words!

Christmas blessings one and all...

Muppets vs Puppets

2008-12-08T15:20:00.004Z

The young people who came with me to a national event down in London about the Youth Evangelism Fund couldn't quite believe I was so freaked out by the puppets that were shown. I don't know what it is but the human puppets that feature in most incarnations of Christian puppetry wig me out completely. The animals and weird muppety creatures... all fine. People puppets - FREAKED.

This is peculiar really as I LOVE the Muppets (Beaker is sitting on my desk right now!) and am holding out as long as I can before watching Muppet Christmas Carol this year. Yet there is that big difference. In the muppets, humans were always humans and muppets were always muppets in all the colours of the rainbow (even though it's not easy being green).

My youthwork colleagues in my last job thought I was joking when I told them of this phobia but realised it was true when we went to the Christian Resource Exhibition and I had to run the gauntlet of smiley pink furry faces. They did try some aversion therapy and Costa (my mini monkey puppet) still travels around with me in my work bag!

All this has got me thinking about The Muppet Christmas Carol. The followign will have to do for now though... apologies to my more catholic readers... they don't do an Advent song but I have put it in seasonal colours!

Beard, madam?

2008-12-08T14:41:00.004Z

I'm grinning to myself a bit today as I received a rather bizarre request yesterday. If they can't find anyone else and as I'm quite new would I dress up in a red coat and don the white beard for the sunday school party. "You'd have to speak in a deep voice, of course" said someone who was recently dressed up as a human sized Christingle (yes there does appear to be a recurring theme going on here!!).

It has all made me think about those very silly scenes from the Life of Brian now, by the wonders of modern science and the generosity of the Pythons themselves available on Youtube.

The Life of Brian really was misunderstood as being against Jesus. All the Pythons, in preparing to make the film, re-read the Gospels and came back decided that they couldn't knock this guy as he was honourable... the CHURCH however... totally open to ridicule for some of its curious practices and sometimes lemming like behaviour!

If you're sitting comfortably

2008-12-01T13:54:00.005Z

You might not be in too much shock that I'm blogging twice in one day!

I had the privilege of doing a lot of waiting over the weekend - a true introduction to Advent. Unfortunately about seven hours of the waiting was in trying to get Photostroy to save my intercessions video only to resort to redoing the whole thing on Windows Movie maker (grrr!).

Anyway the service at Alvechurch was in fact great and the video and other alternative prayer opportunities went down really well. people had the choice of planting a seed of prayer, making bead crosses (thank you Fiona!), colouring celtic knotwork or watching the video as an inspiration to prayer.

I was also oreaching for the service and wanted to give peopel a powerful image to help them think about the value of waiting and the difference between waiting around and waiting actively.

I used the symbolism of bubbles and balloons.
Bubbles take no effort and are pleasing but don't last and you can blow as many as you like but they will never stay long.
Balloons take more effort and skill (knot tying) and will last that bit longer. Without the effor thtough a balloon is just boring.

I then took out a rocket balloon and poitned out that these took stretching, a special inflating straw and much more puff. However the extra effort is worth so much more as it produces something exciting.

I went on to speak about how much more effort it would take to inflate a hot air balloon but how much MORE AMAZING that would be.

Below is the text of what I might have said had I stayed by the lectern but, as I am wont, I wandered around and spoke slightly different (no doubt better) words.

(to be added later today)

Take that you doubter!

2008-12-01T13:44:00.003Z

Ok so I had a scary moment last week. It was a bit of a shock...

A few weeks ago while ont he way to the Diocesan Board of Education meeting, I switched on YouthComm radio (as I tend to when I'm in Worcester as I can't get it for much more than a few miles outside the city or at home!). A song came on which had really powerful words and was then followed by another song as I pulled up in the car park so I wasn't able to catch who was playing it. It went roudn in my head and the lyrics stuck with me. the words I heard were these:

"Let’s make a new start, The future is ours to find...
Arms open wide
Yea the world starts to come alive
Today this could be the greatest day of our lives
and the world comes alive and the world comes alive"

I had images of using them at Christmas or Easter for talks etc.

Then shock! horror! I discover it's a Take That song. Noooooooo!

I remember htis happened before with Will Young. Iheard three songs over a few months which I thought were by George Michael ... only to discover that I liked Will Young's music. It was good. I even bought the album.

Does this mean I'm turning into a Take That fan??? Please, no!

Something for the weekend

2008-11-28T19:06:00.002Z

Has your youth group done every outdoor activity there is? Stuck for some new ideas? I picked up information about a fabulous organisation called Treasure Trails. Not only does the pack offer you a walking guide to help you get them out in the open air but it also gives you a puzzle to solve - either a treasure hunt, murder mysery or James Bond style spy trail. There are trails in Worcestershire and Herefordshire (particularly handy of you're staying at Woolhope Cockshoot - there's one in Ledbury!) There are also trails for Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Enjoy!