retreat

I'll be ordained 'to the priesthood' on Saturday so this afternoon, after a big rehersal at the cathedral, I set off on retreat along with the others being priested, the bishop, and all those being ordained deacon on Sunday.
lots of us basically.
last year's retreat was excellent - partly because it's set in an amazing old convent with plenty of country side around.
We gather for morning prayer / lunch time communion / evening prayer and night prayer. Other than that it's a chance to pray, listen to God and get our heads focused on what we're about to do.

I'm taking a couple of books with me:
'Being a Priest Today' by Chris Coxworth (my principle at Ridley) I've read it once before but, as it does such a good job of setting out the why? what? and how? of the ordained priesthood, I thought it would be good to go for another look.

The other thing I'm taking is 'The Inner Life' by Thomas a Kempis. I've dipped in and out of it - it's one of those amazing books where you read a page and then realise it's so deep, so profound that you have to read the page again and again.
Then you realise that that was just one page and there are another 107 to go...

a book for life I guess...

So, no more blogging until I get back.
except that I want to try and find time to write something about 'Truth' and other faiths because it's been on my mind for days after something I read.
If I get time this morning I'll do it. Otherwise it will be upon my return.

the gospel is not about me

David Hoyle, my new boss, just wrote something in the cathedral magazine which I've been talking about with people for ages.
It's this:
'There's a great temptation in our culture to think about ourselves and about what we might become.'
David points out that the annual guide to retreat houses offers opportunities in the coming year to:
'centre myself', do some 'journaling' and have some 'personal growth' in order to better occupy my personal space.

he writes: 'God help me, even when I am supposed to be quiet I am being invited again and again to talk about myself.'

It is not the gospel. Put simply, Jesus did not take flesh to be like me. The gospel is not about me.
Jesus took flesh that I might be like him.
Christianity is not a test, it is not about trying harder to be better versions of ourselves.
The gospels tell us that heaven is set aside not for high achievers, but for those who might be considered to have failed.
'Blessed are the poor in spirit... Blessed are they that mourn... Blessed are the meek...'

The crucified, risen Christ has not set us a good example, he has lifted our lives to God, and we are not supposed to take them back to improve them a bit. Instead, we are supposed to rejoice and find our home in him.

worth pondering on.

short and sweet

mission statements are compulsory these days.
everyone's got one and I'm sure that as we design our website we'll be thinking of one too...
the problem is, they're often a bit long, or boring or emphemeral or whatever.
Someone told me this morning what Canterbury cathedral's mission statement is.
It's great.

'To show people Jesus.'

I reckon that should be ours too.

what else is a church doing if it's not showing people Jesus?
anything else is just getting confused.

nice.

New York comes to Gloucester...?

apparently the Scissor Sisters are playing at a free gig in the park in the middle of Gloucester...
I don't really believe it but it's in print.

28th July.

we shall see.

not quite there but nearly...

watching the Arctic Monkeys at Glastonbury on TV and suddenly feeling like getting in my car and driving down there.

I guess by the time I'd arrived they'd have finished their set and I'd've missed the whole thing.
I'll stay on the sofa then.

and get some more toast.

365 moving days ago

just realised that it was on this day last year that we moved to Gloucester.
I can't believe a whole year has passed.
crazy.
so much seen, done, heard, learnt, laughed at, frustrated by, loved etc etc etc.

wow.
to think it was 365 days ago that we spent our first night here thinking someone had nicked a bunch of our stuff off the lawn whilst the removal guys were putting our things in the house,
the next day, we found our precious items in a cupboard we couldn't open.
ha.

Alban

Alban was a citizen of the Roman city of Verulamium (now St. Albans) who gave shelter to a Christian priest fleeing from persecution.
He hid the priest in his house for several days and was so influenced by his devotion to prayer that 'he wholeheartedly accepted Christ' (venerable Bede).
When the priest's hiding place was discovered, Alban dressed himself in the priest's cloak and was arrested, tortured and beheaded on this day in the year 250 for refusing to renounce his Christian faith.

he was the first British martyr.

so now you know...

Jacob's blog

Jacob has joined our little community whilst he is staying in the UK (working at Redcliffe).
he's blogging in the mother tounge here:

http://www.dutch-traveller.blogspot.com/

the blog is still young. but worth a look.

rainy?

Glastonbury has begun (thanks! and credit to the BBC from whom I nicked this image...)

Hello! to Ru and Abi, whose tent is somewhere amongst the 170,000 Glasters attendees.
have fun!

also kicking off in the west country this evening is the Christian Surfers UK annual conference.
I hope you have a great time guys - with plenty of waves. sorry to miss it.

be still...

I just found this and thought I'd post it.
you may need to read it a couple of times for it to really click.
unless you're really into Carmelite nuns from the sixteenth century and already know it...

Let nothing disturb you,
nothing affright you;
all things are passing,
God never changes.
Patient endurance
attains unto all things;
who God possesses
in nothing is wanting:
alone God suffices.

(St Teresa of Avila 1515-82)

evensong

this evening I went along to evensong at the cathedral.
the second time in a whole year...
I wish I was able to go more often - small children and tea times make it not very feasible, but I was very glad I went.
a good time to contemplate and listen for God.

the rhythm of prayer and worship at the cathedral is something I guess I wish I could be more involved in
(even though practically it's not really possible in a whole-hearted way).

It wasn't until I got to Ridley and had a rhythm of prayer and worship 'forced' on me that I began to appreciate it.
I suppose this could sound like brainwashing - I certainly kicked against it at first - but over time it seemed to become part of my make-up, part of how I met with God (refreshing after a history of 'free' prayer and worship). The discipline, so alien for a long time, became something I appreciated and eventually needed.
I began to see that I was joining in with words that had been said from people's hearts for centuries before I came along, and would be faithfully prayed by Christians long after I'm gone. I liked that.
Discipline, rhythm and prayer are definitely linked.
Without the discipline of some kind of rhythm I find it can be difficult to make sense of prayer.

whatever,
nuff said...

good to hang out with George this morning.
thanks for the tea!

too old for Glasters?

Glastonbury festival this weekend, but when are you too old to go?
maybe never.
just like Greenbelt, you hear of ancient crones who've been going since the start - something to get them through the rest of the year.
I'm jealous really - having never been.
Reading, yes. lots. but Glastonbury never.
Perhaps, when I'm old, I'll get the chance to go and drink cider whilst watching the sun rise?
who knows...

Richard Wilson art

I just spotted this. it's amazing.
The sculptor Richard Wilson has cut out an egg-shaped section of the front of a derelict building in Liverpool and fixed it to a giant pivot.

Once it is officially up and running later this month, the facade will rotate like a huge opening and closing window, giving passers-by a glimpse of the interior.

don't know if it's on you-tube anywhere. worth watching if it is.

George Whitfield

Dan and Joe and I were out prayer walking this morning. Our route often takes us through the ancient, crumbling church yard of St. Mary de Crypt which fronts onto Soutgate St. in the centre of the city.
I often find myself praying about the place, partly because it is in a bit of a tragic state of diminishing underuse, but also because it has an amazing heritage.
For starters, the rooms extending from one side are the very ones in which Robert Raikes started the first Sunday School. (Not the slightly strange thing we now know as sunday school, but rather a radical social action project intended to educate the working children of the city.)
The church is also where the mighty George Whitfield (evangelist and friend of the Wesley brothers) preached his first sermon, the week after he was ordained in Gloucester cathedral, (271 years ago today)

I copied this about Whitfield from Wikipedia:

'On June 20, 1736, Bishop Benson ordained him. He placed his hands upon his head — whereupon George later declared, "My heart was melted down, and I offered my whole spirit, soul and body to the service of God's sanctuary."

Whitefield was an astounding preacher from the beginning, and within a year it was said that "his voice startled England like a trumpet blast." At a time when London had a population of less than 700,000, he could hold spellbound 20,000 people at a time at Moorfields and Kennington Common.'

mad eh?
I am inspired.
and I would love to see the old place find a new lease of life somehow.
various schemes have come and gone but nothing has stuck.
I'm going to have a think.

prayer-box

so we men met for prayer. reflective, good to share - all good.
afterwards, the box known as X had to come out.
we got round a few games but ended up on football (at which I suck).
however, this time was different.
30 seconds into a game with Jacob, I scored.
oh yes!
nice.

Just like us...

I was reading this on Friday and found a bit that made me smile because it could be our story, here in Gloucester.

Kimball is telling the story of a church that is emerging in California, he writes:

'(Jason and a few others) began meeting weekly in a home. They never formally started or planned to launch their house church. It just happened. This group began meeting weekly to pray with one another and to explore what the Scriptures say the church is. They intentionally didn't focus on what church isn't.'

Although I arrived in Gloucester with a brief to start 'something', the reality of what has begun to emerge is just as Kimball describes Jason's church above. We just started to meet, and we're still meeting - although the shape is bound to shift and warp as life effects various participants.

Lots of things Kimball wrote deeply resonated with me, but there was this in particular:

"Emerging generations long to experience authentic community. They crave to be in a smaller worshipping community where they can have ownership, deeply share their lives (the good and the bad), ask hard questions, and struggle with less than definite answers.'

I reckon everyone involved in what we're growing here in Gloucester would sign up to these words. As we've begun to experience 'small' worshipping community, and realised that there's nowhere to 'hide', that there's no consuming, only participating, I think we've all begun to realise that although there's a cost involved, it's a cost that comes with a generous payback.

bedtime reading...

this is my sixth book about Everest. (Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer)
I love it.
I'm going one day...
the book is the story of the 1996 disaster when 8 climbers were killed in a single night by a crazy storm.

This is the author at 20,000 feet (the summit is over 29,000ft):

"As the morning dragged on and the sun beat down, my head began to pound. My tongue swelled so much that it was difficult to breath through my mouth, and I noticed that it was becoming harder and harder to think clearly."

nice...

He also wrote:

"The ratio of misery to pleasure was greater by an order of magnitude than any other mountain I'd been on; I quickly came to understand that climbing Everest was primarily about enduring pain. And in subjecting ourselves to week after week of toil, tedium, and suffering, it struck me that most of us were probably seeking, above all else, something like a state of grace."

listening to...

This.
'Lost in Space' very mellow drum n bass (on vinyl, naturally) from years back.
good to work to.

monday...

So, I didn't drop the baby yesterday and all was well.
In fact, it was better than that - the baby even smiled throughout the whole baptism!
there was a great vibe for the whole service.
bring on the next one I say.

This morning I met with Chris Neal, CMS man and all round excellent guy.
Chris is an answer to prayer - although I forgot to tell him - but with Guy leaving, I am left without someone to reflect with on the emerging church stuff. My new boss is taking responsibility for priestly formation and all that goes on between me and the cathedral, but by his own admission, he is not hugely familiar with emerging church practice or emergent theology.
So, Chris and I will meet fairly regularly to discuss where things are at with the project, to reflect a little theologically and to stay abreast of developments nationally.
excellent.

I've also begun to read 'An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches', mentioned a few posts back.

Ray Anderson is looking at the parallels between challenges facing the church today and the first-century church in Antioch (where the believers were first called 'Christians'). He argues that in Antioch, Paul first shaped emergent theology, which was different to the parent church in Jerusalem. It wasn't a different gospel but a vigorous appraisal of what constituted the core of the message of salvation, as opposed to social and religious conventions.

The challenge, says Anderson, that the emerging church faces, is having a decent theology for what is happening - a theology rooted in dynamic, biblically informed faith.
I couldn't agree more.

On another note, this evening a few 'men' are gathering at my place to pray. A first for us (not prayer...) but, something we'll trust God has prompted and see what happens.

first baptism...

in the morning I'm off to a local parish to 'do' my first baptism.
the parents of the child don't know it's my first. It should all go to plan so I didn't see the need to make them nervous...

the nature of my role as a 'pioneer' means that I don't do all that much of this kind of stuff. but obviously as an ordained, soon-to-be priest in the CofE, I need to be able to do the 'occasional offices' as they are known.
it'll be a great day, and very profound for the family (I've met them a couple of times).

For me, I guess the interesting thing is finding myself doing infant baptisms at all.
I grew up in a 'baptist' church, where the norm is for adults to be baptised after making a profession of faith. The theology I was surrounded by in the church of my teenage years (a great church by the way!) was that infant baptisms were 'un-scriptural'.
For lots of reasons, I've moved away from this view.
two come to mind at this moment:
1) conversion in the book of Acts is often followed by not only the baptism of the person who has come to faith in Christ, but also their entire household (including children).
2) baptism is a sign of what God has done and is doing, (shifting the emphasis more towards God's activity)

Vincent Donovan describes a great scene in his book 'Christianity Rediscovered':
He has been sharing the Christian faith with a tribe for a year, and he explains that if they want to commit themselves to Christ, the next step is baptism.
They agree, but he then tells them that he will select those he thinks have really understood the faith, and are therefore eligable, for being baptised.
The village elder takes him aside and tells Donovan that as he has shared faith with all of them, either they all get baptised, or none of them do.
Donovan has to do a bit of re-thinking, but all the villagers, children included, are baptised.

New Emergent title

I do some writing for BRF from time to time, which means they send me books.
I got this through the post this morning.
'An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches' by Ray Anderson.

It's not published yet, so nice to have an advance look.

looks interesting. I've dipped into the intro and it's definitely not 'lite'.
- proper 'theology' for a movement that can tend towards 'feelings'?

I'm looking forward to having a flick through.

Urchin Books

After Survivor published a book I wrote in 2005, I wanted to keep writing.
The problem was that I didn't really want to write for the Christian market.
I couldn't see the point.
I wanted to write a book that spoke about faith but which would be read by people who weren't already Christians.

Anyway, I started writing something new whilst I was still living in Cambridge. I finished it in Gloucester last Christmas (06).
It went off to Survivor for a first look, but I didn't think they'd be able to fit it into their marketing.
I was right.
So, inspired by Ian Mobsby's recent effort which was printed by online publisher Lulu.com, I decided to give it a go myself.

Gareth Powell from Moot is designing a cover for me, others are doing other jobs - all quite exciting.

In order to get an ISBN so the book can be sold through amazon etc, I had to launch my own publishing company.

mad eh?

so today 'Urchin Books' was born, and I am now the proud owner of my very own publishing company!
nice.
In a few weeks time I'll put my book out under my own label.
You'll have to look out for it. More infor nearer the time...

vicars live in church don't they?

today our painters finished painting and as one left, he shook my hand and asked if I was a vicar...
he may have caught me leaving the house once in a collar, although I've been a bit spartan with the collar this week.
anyway, I explained what I did (short version - didn't want to bore him...)
and he explained that back in Portugal, where he grew up, vicars didn't come out of their churches.
I'm sure this has more to do with his childhood perception than reality, but even so. He was genuinely surprised that rather than being in church, I was outside, or with my wife and kids or whatever.
funny.
we had a good chat after that.
I hope I bump into him again.

Emerging Worship

we gathered for church last night and for a meal, had our first takeaway.
what a great idea.
why didn't we think of this before?
in our sitting room we have a fairly large, low coffee table which meant we could all gather round Japanese-style and tuck in.
fantastic.
Dan led us in some reflective worship. we've been thinking about worship recently: past experiences, what worship is about, when and where we feel comfortable etc etc.
important thinking to do.
feeling safe / trusting those around us were high priorities.
(years ago I made a few visits to a large church where they were well into hugging. Everyone. Being hugged by grinning strangers didn't make me feel particularly comfortable...)

anyway,
Dan Kimball's written a book called: 'Emerging Worship'

he put this 'worship checklist' at the end of chapter 1. (I've posted it before but it's good so here it is again)
worth thinking about as we plan our worship and think about greenbelt.

1) Did we make Jesus the focus?
2) Did we have time in the scriptures?
3) Did we pray together? (including time of quiet in which God's spirit could be listened to)
4) Did we experience the fun / joy / encouragement of being with each other?
5) Do we take the Lord's supper regularly together?
6) Did we somehow remind each other of the mission of the church and why we exist?
7) Did we enable each other to contribute something as part of the body of Christ?

lots to ponder on...

humility

interview with the bishop went well.
(I never though it would be quite like my worst case scenario.)
in fact it was a really positive time of reflection and prayer.
all good.
Unlike the experience of others that I'm hearing about from various forums, support is clearly high for new things in this diocese. The pioneer stuff remains an apparent priority and is well regarded and widely known about.

In a moment I'm off to my local primary school to lead an assembly on humility.
I love doing assemblies. especially for this lot. they can't half sing! I've been into stacks of schools in lots of different places and I have never, ever heard singing like it.
seriously.
I often have to bite my lip to keep myself from laughing (with amazement) at the sheer volume and enthusiasm.

priesting and the bishop

I'm meeting with the bishop at 2.
he'll be ordaining me 'priest' in a couple of weeks so we have to have a little chat.
I recently had to hand in a 3000 word essay on the experience of my deacon's year and expectations of the priesthood.
hopefully I'll get it back with a gold star at the bottom.

I'm playing our conversation out in our head. worst case scenario is:

'So, Michael, how do you feel the past year has gone?'

'Alright I spose...'

'Oh? Right. Ok, talk me through your understanding of priestly ministry.'

'...' (silence)

'Right... Thank you Michael. That will be all. I'll have my secretary pop your P45 in the post. You can leave your collar with her on your way out.'

security...?

what is this about?

every now and then I find myself on a site that says:
'security: type what you see into the box'

how is typing a row of warped letters security?

what sort of un-secure person does it screen out?

I'm confused.

the Guide

early this morning I was reading something about the need for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in worship.
it came from these words of Jesus (about the Holy Spirit): 'He will guide you into all truth.'
and also this: 'God is a Spirit, and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.'

The author of the book I was reading told a story about wanting to catch a rare and particularly hard to find fish.
He went to rent a boat and the rental guy asked him who he had hired as a guide.
He said he didn't need a guide. He would find and catch the rare fish on his own, thank you.
He asked the rental guy where the best spot was and the man gave him directions.

He didn't catch a thing - he didn't even get to see the fish he was after. Not that time, or the next time, or several times after that.
In the end he was convinced that there were none of these fish.
Before giving up completely, he hired a guide for one last trip - just to make sure.

The guide took him back to the same spot, and after some careful, quiet manouvering they spotted what they were after.
With some patience they eventually managed to catch the fish he wanted.

The point of the story was obvious: no guide = no results.

it was meant to illustrate the fact that in worship, and the Christian life in general, without the Holy Spirit as a guide, we're not going to get very far.
How can relying on our own expertise and narrow opinions (drawn from limited experience of life and the world) possibly be considered a decent guide if we're wanting to know God better?
we'd just be conning ourselves.
Unless God teaches us about himself (through prayer and his word), there's not much we can really know.
we can make stuff up, but that's not quite the same.

prayer

at the risk of sounding over-enthusiastic or simplistic,
I have to say that prayer helped me through today in a profound way.
All kinds of things too, too boring to write about here have been filling my mind and body with aches and apprehensions.
When you find yourself feeling this way, the only thing to do is to pray (and then to realise you don't pray often enough and make a mental note to yourself to be more disciplined about seeking out God's presence in the future).

Anyway, I woke up at various points throughout the night and found myself speaking quite naturally and conversationally with the Lord. I kept it simple and kept going. Over the course of the day I experienced quite a transformation. Nothing physical changed but a deep, subtle inner peace settled over me and continued through the day.
No whirlwind. Nothing immediate either - just a gradual change of perspective and something different in my heart.

Yes, yes, I know the cynic can give any number of reasons for this, but whatever.
They are not me, and when they are in need, and they pray, and there is change, perhaps they will reason it away.
but not me.

Prayer is excellent - and although it can be done in any number of ways, I'm still a big fan of the saying-it-like-it-is kind.
I guess the only thing to say about this is that, whilst speaking to God as we would to a friend is all good and appropriate, when all is said and done, God is not our equal but our creator.
A creator who loves to listen, and who longs to be involved, but still a great and awesome creator whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are not our ways.
anyway, note to self: pray, pray, and then pray some more.

prayer

Red Bull and toddlers...?

we had a great time in Cambridge.
thanks.

I got a cold though.
no thanks...

anyway, my wife just got back in from the shops and told me that she saw a two year old in a pushchair drinking a can of Red Bull...

true.

Red Bull isn't really for kids is it?

no.
not even kids who are dozy.

cambridge

off to cambridge until tomorrow.
should be good.

have a great graduation Ruth!

Gotan Project

I love Gotan Project, so I'm excited to hear they're bringing out a new album in a few weeks: Inspiracion.Espiraci
worth looking out for.

tell the kids

one of the readings at morning prayer today was from Deuteronomy 8:
These were the first words I heard when I sat down:
(strange given yesterday's post on testing:)
'Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.'

lots to ponder.

when I got home I looked the reading up and stumbled over 'The Great Commandment' in chapter 6.
Be good to remember it each day (+ the part about loving neighbours as ourselves that JC added).
I love the way the writer makes it explicit that the people listening need to tell their kids what God has taught them.
The kids aren't just going to absorb knowing what God is like, and how he has revealed himself unless someone tells them.
frequently.

'Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your might.
Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.
Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away,
when you lie down and when you rise...'

The problem? of the God who tests

We're onto part three of our Bible overview tonight at church.
Week 1 saw us looking at Genesis 1-3: how to read it as it was intended by it's writers rather than from a rather peculiar fundamentalist angle, and what it tells us about God being a creator and continuing to be involved with what he has created.

Week 2 moved us on to God making a covenant with Abraham - we loved the idea of God promising to make a great nation out of a childless couple in their twilight years, and then coming good on it.

This evening we move on to Abraham and Sarah's son Isaac.
God is fulfilling his promise but he doesn't seem to be in any rush. All in his own good time. thank you.
Amongst other things, this evening we have Gen 22: God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac and then, when he has proved willing to do so, telling him to 'STOP!'

One of the biggest questions raised by this part of the story is 'does God really test in this way?'

The premise of the story is that he does.

the Why? part is a bit of a mystery.

Abraham's life is set between a couple of contradictions: the 'testing' of God and the 'provision' of God.

These are contradictions that we have to live with, although we often only want one half - the providing part. I for one, am not so keen on a God who tests.
We might even think a 'testing' God is all a bit primative - but this isn't just OT stuff. testing is alive and well in the new testament too. Jesus taught us to pray: 'lead us not into temptation' - not into a situation where we are forced to choose, decide, risk our confession of faith.
The early church records plenty of 'times of testing'.

To flip things on their head, I guess there are also those who want the God who tests but refuse the generous providing. This would be wrong too.

Others (cynical modernists) think 'testing' and 'providing' are both silly. They presume that we must answer to no one and rely on no one because we are completley free and competent.
In the story, Abraham confesses that he isn't free of testing, or competent for his own provision, and the truth is that niether are we.

The problem of a God who tests is particularly felt by anyone looking for a 'reasonable' God.
But God isn't a logical premise who must perform in rational consistency.
God is free and comes as he will.
His ways are not ours, and his thoughts are not like ours. God is love, but to confine God to certain ways of behaving is to miss the point.
God's testing identifies who is serious about faith and who is willing to let God be fully God.

On the flip side of testing, it is also true that God gives gifts that can't be explained or even expected.
So God provides and tests and it's not for us to choose between these characteristics.

all quite heavy.

I'm stopping now.

X-Box, beer, pringles, dips and garlic bread

a few of us 'men' got together to do battle a la X-Box last night.
pro-evolution soccer 4.
I'm interested to see that I am no better at this than when I was a youth worker... (strange, I thought time might have honed my skills...)
good laughs - must be repeated (although next time with a shoot-em-up at which I will reign supreme)

It must be added here that when our women-folk got home they had the audacity to say that we had made the room smell.

Just by being manly in it.

I couldn't smell a thing.

who are we...?

I just re-found this - something I wrote for the wall of the prayer space in the cathedral last week:

'We are a rag-tag group of fellow travellers, trying to work out what it means to be following Jesus Christ in 2007 in Gloucester.
It’s all a bit messy. We don’t have a building (although we use this one!), we don’t quite have a name, and we certainly don’t have a master-plan.
When asked what we’re about, or what we’re ‘for’ we say:
“We’re about each other and Jesus.”
Easy to say?
Maybe, but not so easy to really do.
God has called us together to look out for, and love each other. We’re learning all the time and it’s not always easy, but we’re enjoying the journey.

And God is calling others too. We are growing at God’s pace and in God’s way. We don’t know what we’ll look like in a year or two. We just hope that whatever we look like, we’ll have Jesus in the middle, we’ll know him better, and there’ll be others who we’ve not met yet, standing alongside us.'

nice eh?

Christian Surfers annual conference

I'm gutted to be pulling out of the CSUK annual conference which happens in a couple of weeks.
It'll be a great event. Andy Frost is speaking, and they'll be plenty of time for catching waves.

it's held at a little known farm close to the coast in North Devon.
14 years ago I spent two weeks staying on my own in a busted up old caravan on the very farm at which the conference takes place.
It was a profound time. I spoke to hardly anyone, and spent my days treking down country lanes to get to the sea with my board. It was a bit like a retreat really. Lots of space to ponder life, God etc etc.

I can't believe how fast 14 years has whizzed by...

Ian on tour

Ian and I met a couple of times recently. Because we work in a similar context, I've been digging into his book, which he's about to go on tour with in the USA. The book is very good.
Andrew Jones says the following:

'Everyone should meet Ian Mobsby from Moot Community in UK. He is quiet and reserved, unassuming and profound, somewhat balding, and one of the most thoughtful leaders of the emerging church in the UK. Next week he will start his Emerging & Fresh Expressions Speaking Tour of the USA to release his book and share insights with Americans. He has a lot of cities already lined up but has room for some more.
Ian's book is called Emerging and Fresh Expressions of Church: How are they authentically church and Anglican?'

EmergingChurch.intro

I've been dipping in and out of this recently: EmergingChurch.intro by Michael Moynagh.
It's a few years old now, and there's stacks of better stuff around on the emerging church but, like it says on the cover, it's an 'intro' and it does that really well.
There are lots of little gems in it. I liked this:

'The God for all cultures dived into one particular culture. By becoming human, the Son could only be in one place at a time. The church is commissioned to make disciples from all cultures, but to do that it must be immersed in individual cultures.
No single expression of church can be involved fully with lots of 'people groups' simultaneously. Like Christ, the church needs to be culturally specific. 'The gospel can only be proclaimed in a culture, not at a culture, or as a culture.'

So, as society fragments, the church has to take more varied forms to enter the segments. Single 'one size-fits-all' models of church won't do. But we know that already.

I not sure that I really know what 'part' of culture our emerging community is seeking to engage with. The answers I come up with seem too simplistic. - perhaps it's the part with us in it?

Second Life, valid life?

the virtual world 'second life' is back in the news because it's so darn popular.
I've just discovered that total residents now stands at 6,955,516, and an unbeliveable $1,670,083 (real dollars) was spent in the last 24 hours.

crazy.
there's obviously a serious market out there for living fantasy lives (second life is dwarfed by 'world of warcraft' and several other online worlds).

I think I pretty much get the attraction. Alternative realities are gaining credibility because people invest them with real meaning (not to mention making real money).

But overall I'm not sure what to think.
Is it OK to spend lots of time in a virtual world?
Does it become an acceptable 'reality' if that is where you spend your time / get your sense of worth etc etc.
Is it an alternative but valid expression of community?
Would it be OK if your participation in a virtual world was so time-consuming that it was the only community you were part of?

Anyway, no more questions, I need to get back to Second Life to supervise the servants at my palatial, quay-side villa.

laughing...

I'm just getting some thoughts down early for what we'll look at together on Wednesday night in the next part of our 'overview' of the bible.
something from last week struck me again, so I thought I'd post it.

When God visits Abraham to tell him that Sarah, his (very old) wife, will conceive, she overhears and laughs.
The Lord then says: 'Why did Sarah laugh? ...Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?'

I guess not.
Not if God is indeed God.

I love that.
good to remember what kind of God we are known by and serve.

'For the love of God'

Damien Hirst's new piece of art 'For the love of God' is a diamond encrusted skull.
Yours for £50 million!
I saw Hirst interviewed on TV last night and he said:
'It seems to offer victory over death.'
In the paper today he says: 'I want it to make people feel hope.'

I'm into art.
I'm thinking hard.
Nope...
I cannot see how it offers hope - unless that is, you are Hirst or his agent, in which case it is very hope-inducing.
The skull (cast from that of a dude from the 18hundreds) cost £15 million to make. Not a bad profit if he finds a buyer. which, of course, he will.

No offer of victory over death, but it is an excellent bit of art.
art, afterall is supposed to say something to us about the world / culture in which we live.
If a diamond encrusted skull (and ethically sourced diamonds at that) doesn't sum up our culture very nicely, then I'm not sure what would.
To me it's a comment on the spiritual, emotional and cultural death that results from the pursuit of wealth and the prioritising of image over substance that has saturated our culture.
More: 'certain death', than 'hope over death'

Ghosting at Wychwood

Dan, George and Shane play together in a band called Ghosting.
This evening they're playing a late slot at Wychwood festival.
If you're going, give them a shout. If not, check out their website (ghosting.info) and listen to some of their music.
they're good.
you'll like them.
trust me.

coldcut at Greenbelt

just been on the Greenbelt website and seen that Coldcut 'present journeys by VJ' (to quote the site).
I am very, very excited.
our community are hosting worship at the festival on Monday morning. good job too. if we'd have clashed with Coldcut I might have had to think twice...