meetings and sermon preparation

today has consisted of meetings.

the one in the middle was my Council of Reference - a source of wisdom and accountability. good to share lunch with these guys and to hear their thoughts.

writing a sermon now. it's Ascension day on Thursday and I somehow got myself on the rotor for preaching at the 7am service in the cathedral.

yes. 7am. haha.

(if you're not familiar with what ascension day celebrates, the clue is in the word. still confused? read Acts 1...)

Tomorrow morning I'm meeting with the new diocesan missioner, Andrew Braddock, who has just arrived from Norfolk. his job is to help parishes in the diocese to think about, you guessed it, mission...

If you're free, maybe see you at the Lunchtime Eucharist that I preside at??
(Lady chapel, 12.45 for half an hour. no fuss, no mess, just eucharist...)

Feast Most Excellent

thanks to everyone who came and made last night's feig-feast in the cathedral such an excellent time.

once again an event to lift the soul and remind you why it is good to be alive: great people, fantastic food, good conversation, new faces, brilliant atmosphere...

may there be many more like it!

(the cathedral need to think about installing a video-door-phone-buzzer thingy so that folks can be buzzed in. it's a whole lot of steps when you've let more than a handful of people in...)

Oh, and I'd just climbed into bed around midnight when a crazy (and drunk) girl started banging on our front door.
When I eventually opened it I ended up having a very weird conversation about why 'Chris' didn't live here any more...

odd.

Tewkesbury

over at Tewkesbury today taking part in a curates quiet day at the Abbey.

amazing. I love the place. there's a deep sense of the presence of God, which is hardly surprising given over a thousand years of people praying on in and around the site.

the Abbey gardens were quiet enough to allow space for some decent contemplation.

all good.

looking forward to...

feig have been asked to host worship in the Newforms venue at Greenbelt festival again this summer.
We'll also be hosting worship in the Messy Space venue - a chance for families to do something creative together by way of worship.

Should be cool. Lots to plan.

feig feast 4

among other things, getting ready for the feast on Sunday evening:

slide shows to prepare, music to find, food to cook, drinks to buy, logistics to sort, cushions, tables, glasses, plates cutlery to gather, people to give info to etc etc blah blah blah.

if you're up for it and around we'd love to have you there.

this is number 4. the others have been excellent and very different to one another.

should be good.

marriage in the twentyfirst century...

last night I was involved in the second of four marriage preparation sessions that I'm working through with a couple I'll be marrying in July.

As well as thinking through the service, the (many) practicalities, and the spiritual aspect of the whole thing, it is obviously important for couples preparing to make a lifelong commitment to think through some key relationship issues in a fair bit of depth.

I'm flying a little blind on this one. They don't teach you how to prepare couples for marriage at vicar-school and I'm not doing a curacy in which I can copy my vicar-boss doing weddings. This means I'm having to think back to my experience and combine this with a bit of creative common sense.

I've done a little searching for resources and came up with this DVD / work book by Rob Parsons. It's actually pretty good. They're going for a wide audience but the content is appropriate, well presented and a good platform for discussion.
I'd recommend it if you're doing this kind of thing yourself (whether as a minister or a couple)
Although Rob is a Christian, there is nothing overtly Christian about the sessions.
The focus is on building a good relationship and is clearly based on Christian principles of love, acceptance, faithfulness etc.
The approach might need supplementing if you were working with a Christian couple, but for vicars being approached by couples of no faith, it is a great way to do decent preparation starting from where they are at.


So far, so good. I've got two weddings this summer. By the time Greenbelt comes around I should be a bit of a pro...

St. George's day

Today is St George's Day which, if you didn't know, was first celebrated on 23 April 1222.

so there.

enjoy feeling English. or something.

all day long

spent all day at Cheltenham racecourse. not betting.

bishop's study day with all the clergy and lay workers from across the diocese.
pretty good actually.
decent lunch too.

this evening out to do marriage prep with a young couple. making that up as I go along as I'm not with a training incumbent who does any weddings.

interesting...

couldn't resist...

feig-cafe last night was good.
a nice turnout for these early weeks and a good vibe.

Daniel is doing a lovely job of demonstrating the effectiveness of the lights I recently bought at IKEA...

The Christmas day Dr. Who special is currently being filmed around the cathedral and I couldn't resist sticking a couple of shots up.
The middle one was the view from our cafe kitchen whilst filming was in progress (the snow is fake by the way).
The bottom one was taken an hour after we got home when they shifted filming to outside our front door.
All very exciting... I can barely think today, my head is such a whirl of show-biz wonder.

back home and looking forward to the cafe this evening

We got back from our family holiday yesterday.

excellent. cheers.
yes, I am relaxed. the bottom picture shows you why.

The top one made me laugh.
Someone had stuck it on a chapel of rest that I had to walk past every day to get from our holiday home to the town center...

off

off on family holiday.

no blogging for a week.

new album download from Proost

I subscribe to Proost which means that all their audio and visual resources are available for download.

Just got hold of Harronell. The website says:

'This month's new proost content is an album: Harronell. 15 tracks by Laurence Keith from Sheffield make up a beautiful, soulful and emotional debut with guitar and piano often used to minimal effect creating a sense of space. If you want musical references i was thinking blue nile or album leaf. Go and have a listen in the media player.'

You can buy things from Proost individually without subscribing - worth a visit.

community meal

Great to get together last night to eat, drink, laugh, discuss, look at some bits and bobs from the last chapter of Luke's gospel (Jesus' resurrection appearances), and to
be aware of God's presence with us as we watched and listened to something Dan had put together on the good old Mac.
A special evening, once again, and a reminder that being involved with each other at this time, in this place is a rare privilege.

community meal

this evening we are hosting our regular community meal.

exciting.

I've just realised that by calling it a 'community meal' instead of 'church', Joe and Kim (who are coming this evening) could come every week and not feel like they were being unfairly involved in a church other than their own...

does that work Joe? fancy coming along more regularly? (we love you guys)

we're all part of the Church anyway, so what the heck...

Bonhoeffer...

I am about to go and preside at the cathedral's lunchtime Eucharist, and in looking up the readings, discovered that today is the anniversary of the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (died April 9, 1945)
If you didn't know, Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, a GIANT theologian (got his doctorate aged 21), and a participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism.
He was involved in plots planned by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
He was arrested in March 1943, imprisoned, and eventually hanged just before the end of World War II in Europe.

One of the reading's set for today is from John's gospel, and it's such a blinder that I have to stick it up here:

'Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty... anyone who comes to me I will never drive away... This is the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.'
(John 6: 35-40)

Please support Zoo

Zoo is the man who sells amazing olives in Eastgate market.

He is a lovely man and really trying to keep a business going against the odds.

I try and buy olives from him once a week or so and he always says: "Tell your friends!"

so I am.

Please go and support Zoo-the-olive-seller as often as possible.

cheers!

it is Monday

such imaginative blog-post titles...

anyway, busy, busy, full weekend. which is good. amongst other things we were in Cambridge on Saturday.

they have just opened a new shopping mall (how unusual...) and I spied a Mac store.
fantastic.

didn't go in as, a) it was totally rammed, and, b) I was with my kids (and as we all know, kids and powerbooks don't get on)

check out the trike thing outside though.
only in Cambridge would someone ride to the Mac store on one of those badboys.

can't believe it didn't get joy-ridden whilst it's owner was browsing for a new laptop.

Anyway, blah, blah...

Also went along to the installation(?) of my good friend Kathryn Flemming as vicar at Caincross (nr. Stroud) (where, incidentally, Damien Hirst has a studio)

It was a great occasion and the church was jammed to the gunnels (whatever they are).

If you're reading this Kathryn, God bless with the task ahead! all very exciting (and if you can get Damien into your congregation I'll give you a tenner).

Last night was the second week of our feig-cafe.

All good. Great to see Dan and Big G in aprons. always a treat.
Nice to be laying foundations for this venture. We are starting out quietly (no publicity) but aim to have a place with a decent buzz by this time next year.

If you're around on Sunday evenings and fancy it, drop in sometime.

a great place to pray

Herbert McCabe on prayer...

prayer - or rather, what it's all about - is high on my agenda generally, but was particularly high yesterday.

In the afternoon I made some space for a fair bit of reading on the subject, and in the evening I had a meeting with my boss during which the discussion was on prayer.
I popped into the cathedral to listen to part of the 'John' thing I blogged about yesterday and found myself listening to Jesus praying. Back at home a couple of comments to my wife about prayer had us discussing it in great depth until not long before midnight.

so there we are. prayer.
it's a mystery.

Herbert McCabe writes about prayer in a book titled: God Matters.

He says lots of things, but I particularly liked this:

'It is God who prays. Not just God who answers prayer, but God who prays in us in the first place.'

Our problem with prayer is often a wonky idea of God as 'someone out there' who can intervene to grant our requests if only we concentrate hard enough or do the right things.
But this is nonsense.
God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. St. Paul says: 'In Him [God] we live and move and have our being.'
This being the case, prayer must surely begin with listening or 'tuning-in' and only then become about 'speaking'.
And when we stop to listen or tune in, what are we expecting as confirmation that God is there and listening? If it is a warm feeling then we will be disappointed. Prayer has to do with our hearts before it has to do with our heads and bodies.

In terms of prayers of petition, Jesus himself says, 'The Father knows what you need before you ask for it.'
He doesn't say 'don't ask' because asking helps us to see from whom provision comes and asking forms part of a conversation in which our understanding of God grows.

lots, lots, lots more to say but got to pop out to meet someone...

Base camp

Today boss-2 (John Witcombe, the DDO) flies out to Nepal with his wife.

They are part of a three week trek heading for Everest base camp.

I am very jealous. One day I will get to go...

tomorrow...

Tomorrow evening at the cathedral from 7pm an actor from the States is 'doing' the gospel of John.

when I say doing, I mean he's memorized the entire thing and kind of acts it out.

it's free (donations) and I'm going to go along.

the critics say:

"Brings the New Testament to Life" - The Washington Post.

"An amazing achievement ...riveting!" - The Atlanta Journal

"..glorious one-man performance.." - The Chicago Reader

it's raining today.

just off to preside at the cathedral's lunchtime Eucharist.

it's something I'm enjoying more as I get to know the regulars and gain a sense of connection with people together with God.

this evening we meet for our community meal. it's going to be hard to match Mr Robinson's meat-blowout from last week...

ace

the first night of the coffee shop was ace and excellent!

forgot to say anything about it yesterday.

it was very chilled, with a good number of people (including several new faces), a great vibe, decent music, some laughs, Dan being beaten at chess (twice), and generally a sweet sense that this is full of potential and will be a part of our lives that we thank God for.

so there we are.

slow, small, apparently insignificant beginnings.

hopefully see you there this Sunday (if you think of it bring the papers and a board game).

worth reading...

I've just read this little book 'Heart Speaks to Heart' by Henri Nouwen.

It's a series of three meditations, and takes the form of Nouwen writing directly to Jesus.

I found it massively helpful, as I've found other things Nouwen has written.

here's a little snippet (although this doesn't do it much justice as you need to get stuck into the whole thing):

'Jesus, look at me in my struggle and show me your compassion. You cry out: 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me! Let anyone who believes in me come and drink!' But I hesitate and pull in so many directions.
Often I act as though you are not visible enough, not audible enough, not tangible enough. The world around me is so easy to hear and to touch, and before I fully realize it, I am already seeing, hearing, and touching with much greed and lust - always asking for more and never satisfied.
And, as I run away from you, I accuse you for not being concrete enough, and I say what your own disciple Thomas said, 'Unless I can put my hands in his side, I refuse to believe.'