Quote for the Day

That man is perfect in faith who can come to God in the utter dearth of his feelings and his desires, without a glow or an aspiration, with the weight of low thoughts, failures, neglects, and wandering forgetfulness, and say to him, "Thou art my refuge, because thou art my home."  ~George MacDonald, "The Child in the Mist," Unspoken Sermons

Photography and Prayer

Thinking today about how photography and prayer can engage. I certainly often have the thought that photography is very close to prayer. If I am making a landscape photograph then in a sense I am not far from eg Psalm 19. I rather like this blog of Bill Walsh I came across:

9 Reasons I'm a Photographer
I'm not here thinking of using photographs as part of prayer (though that can be invaluable), but photography itself as close to prayer.
Take Psalm 8:

3 ¶  When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Making a photograph (as against taking a snap) involves considering. It involves stopping, looking, reflecting, seeing.
C.S. Lewis speaks of "the divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic reality in which we all live" (Preface to George MacDonald: An Anthology.)

Maggie Ross in The Fire of Your Life, p 16, who there seeks to widen our understanding of visions, to embrace the secular understanding of vision as well as the mystical, says:

"The mystics find the universe, seen and unseen, in hazelnuts, grains of sand, and wild flowers. Their visions communicate to us a vision, a perspective, that widens the lens of our hearts, enabling us to glimpse through their a depth of field we had not dreamed existed."

Although she does not mention photography, I can only imagine that the references here (lens, depth of field) are intentional analogies. And in fact, the photographer in photographing such and other items and events, is doing exactly the same thing.

So this takes us beyond photography as prayer to photography as vision.
Perhaps for me it can be a way of helping live out these
10 Resolutions for Mental Health

Beetbox Nativity

He pitched his tent among us

Willesden and Stepney: John 1:14: Christmas poem 2011 John 1:14 In the contradiction of the gods of Mammon and the lords of Misrule In the pavement legalities of occupatio...

Quote for the Day

"Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good."
-Vaclav Havel 

Between: It's time to embrace uncertainty

A helpful and thoughtful blog by Jonathan Evens

Between: It's time to embrace uncertainty: It's time to embrace uncertainty Susanne Moore argues in today's Guardian : "The world is full of people proclaiming about stuff they don't...

Human Rights

I found myself getting angry at the reports that's Devon Council is being taken to court for beginning its proceedings with prayers. The argument is that the human rights of those who do not believe are being abused.

To which I want to say, What about the human rights of those who do believe in God?

I am not suggesting this is a Christian or good response. But as news items do not often get me angry, I have been pondering it.

From time to time I am at a 'secular' committee where proceedings do not begin with prayer. It always seems that something important is missing, even if only the opportunity to stop and say to oneself: this is an important meeting; I must stop, focus, prepare, that I may make good decisions.

Unfortunately silence is not an option for the Devon Council. Even that is alleged to abuse human rights.

My anger? I realise how important words are to me. They create the universe we and I inhabit. By this I mean that they create a climate in our minds, individual and corporate. So, if there is not prayer, I am being required to live out a lie. This abuses me, if I may for a moment be a fool.

As a fool, I do not object to a majority decision not to have prayer. But I do object to a minority veto.

However, this leaves me wondering what my response as a Christian should be. The example of Jesus is to respond with grace, mercy and truth. How might we do this as a Christian community?

The importance of words for our health and well-being presses itself upon me. This is therefore a gift that I might offer others in a 'secular' context. (I use quotes since I don't subscribe to the sacred/secular divide but it is useful shorthand. But perhaps I need to challenge this language as well.) After all, Jesus said, You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

The lie being propagated is that to banish God-language is to somehow be more impartial, to use language that surely any reasonable person should agree on - neutral language.

At this point 'David Bentley Hart's book Atheist Delusions may be of help. At p 21 he writes: "Modernity's highest ideal -it's special understanding of personal autonomy - requires us to place our trust in an original absence underlying all reality..." "[A]ll judgment, divine no less than human, is in some sense an infringement upon our freedom."

Hence, he points out choice, not what we choose, is for us the first good (p 22). And thus we deny both a God who is beyond us and also a stable human nature which would confine our decisions within certain inescapable channels.

So what actually makes me angry is the folly of the situation. On the basis of a leap of faith, that there is no ultimate reality not even human, we are banished from using faith language. It is a poverty of thought.

But how then to speak? How do we speak to those who for the most part are blinded because of the culture around? For we can only use the words and the forms of thought that are to hand.

Perhaps a rediscovery of prayer may help. A friend and colleague is also careful to listen to what it is that others are praying about. This is a healthy corrective to most praying when we are anxious to speak, or to be silent, or to listen to God, but place less emphasis on the listening to one another.

But surely this is hinted at in John 20 (If you forgive the sins of others they are forgiven) and is implicit in Romans 8 when Paul speaks of God's Spirit praying through is. Incarnation is true in prayer as much as anywhere. God 'articulate' his purposes through us. And so it is that if two or three agree on earth it shall be done for them in heaven.

So how doe we speak of prayer in a 'secular' world. Perhaps we can speak of prayer as the ultimate listening to one another. The Christian sees this as part of the Spirit's work. But it is also true at a lesser level, when we truly hear each other. This is not merely beginning with silence; it is using that space of time to articulate what is in our hearts at a deeper level. If we are not ready for that, well, silence is a good start.

Festival of Preaching

I attended on Saturday the Festival of Preaching at Chelmsford Cathedral, run by the College of Preachers, with Bishop Stephen as the key note speaker. What came across to me was his reality as to the hard work of preaching. But he then took us in to some very helpful insights. These are a few of his thoughts, though it is hard to get the flavour of a very inspirational address.

He quoted David Ford, 'I remember preachers, not sermons'. Sermons can carry great meaning, but the actual words fade. But we remember, say, the passion of the preacher.

How can we remain passionate in our preaching? For the best visual aid is the preacher themselves.

Are we seduced by the microphone? Probably best to assume it is not there at all. But more than that:

1. Regularly invite feedback - from someone who loves you! Have we had serious feedback since our training or curacy? 'Preacher is a gruelling business... Though it is an art it is also a craft' - Colin Morris. Look at today's Stand Up comics to learn about the craft of holding attention. The modern Stand Up comic tells stories, not jokes. Instead of a linear logical sermon, we casually stroll around it looking at it from different angles.

2. Dare to experiment with the form in preaching. Eg speak as a character in the gospel rather than about the story.

3. Rediscover and Recover confidence in the medium. Discover that preaching works. Be very clear who you are trying to please. Preaching ought from for time to time to irritate, to get under the skin. Don't be afraid to be naughty as a preacher.

4. Get yourself evangelised! Return to that first love.

Lots to do to put this into practice but I look forward to the challenge.

Between: Disabled people are being betrayed

Between: Disabled people are being betrayed: Ekklesia has an excellent short research paper which maps out the contours of a revolution in Britain’s benefits and welfare system. Th...

Undefended Leadership

Last night I dreamt that I was being threatened in my home on behalf of someone who wanted to live here in my place. In my dream I found myself ashamed of how all too easily I could become aggressive.

Fear quickly controls us all. Johnny Cash could sing powerfully of "The Beast in Me". We all know that beast.

Sometimes I and colleagues share about the loneliness of leadership. There are pressures that we bear alone.

Simon Walker's book, The Undefended Leader, speaks of leading out of who you are.

He contrasts the authority of the Nelson Mandela's of this world with commonplace leadership. All leadership is based on the use of power. But great leadership he suggests involves being honest about vulnerability, involves being willing to lift the veil on one's own weakness.

This is not easy. Leadership often involves not only dealing with conflict but also navigating around situations that sometimes are barely understood. In such situations it is difficult to understand one's inner psyche. Control and dominating seem to offer an easy and safe escape from chaos. The result is the creation of communities in the image of the leader. This is the temptation for those who tend to regard the world as a favourable place, which can be influenced. It is safe - on their terms. For those whoe see the world as unfavourable the temptation to define the world in their own image is much more explicit.

An alternative is to adapt to circumstances around: leadership that sees which way the wind is blowing and leads in that direction. It is difficult to influence people do you 'go with the flow'.

Both those that adapt and those that seek to shape their communities in their own image lead out of a need for approval. And for those who see the world mainly as a dangerous place, and who have little trust in themselves or others, the tendency will be towards caution and defensiveness.

What is the solution? It comes in finding a proper source of approval. Billy Graham was once asked how he felt about speaking to the Queen. He responded that it was no different to meeting anyone else, for he spoke with the King of Kings every day (my example).

How can such security be nurtured? In a discovery of who God is.

"[I]t is the compassion and unconditional generosity of God that compels him to reach out to those in need, even though they do not deserve it. This idea, of course, turns religion on its head. Religion is the social phenomenon in which human beings offer service to various divinities. According to Jesus and the writers of the New Testament, this activity of religion has nothing to do with God at all. God is not someone who is served, but someone who serves." (p118).

At p.119 he says that there is a choice to be made. "Do we choose to experience life as a possession that may be taken away from us, or as a gift generously bestowed on us?"

Quote for the Day

"Apostolic ministry is authenticated by suffering and empowerment, not by claims of positional leadership. with its institutional levers." - Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, 159

Quote for the Day

"Leadership in the Church has to be both missionary and pastoral. The separation of these from one another us always a distortion of churchmanship. They are one insofar as they are rooted in something still more fundamental, in discipleship, in following Jesus along the way of the cross in such a way that those whom he calls may be enabled to follow too, and that so God may be glorified in them (17:20-23)."

Lessle Newbigin, The Light Has Come - an Exposition of the Fourth Gospel, on John 21:15-19

St Paul's Cathedral - see and hear this

http://postmodernbible.blogs.com/postmodernbible/2011/10/a-visit-to-st-pauls-encampment-occupylondon-occupylsx-digicreativity-gb11.html

I was really impressed by Giles Fraser of St Paul's the other evening on the news. It is bearing fruit - visit Pete Philips here for the art, and prophetic comment of the demonstrators.

The banner 'grow the real economy' is a heartening cry. Gathered around St Paul's, there is a poignancy to the protest. Eugene Peterson reminds us of the "Apocalyptic Pastor" ('The Gift')  In an earlier chapter he writes of what we all as Christians believe: "... I believe that the kingdoms of this world, American and Venezuelan and Chinese, will become the kingdom of our God and Christ, and I believe this new kingdom is already among us."

The demonstrators rightly remind us of the crisis this world is in. How apt that they are camped right next to St Paul's. And thank you St Paul's.

PS For more, visit Phil Ritchie here:
Phil's Treehouse: Segment of lost gospel scroll found: ‎'On reaching Ludgate Hill, Jesus entered the precincts of St. Paul's Cathedral and began driving out those who were speaking out against th...

Thank you to Phil Ritchie for this...

Click on the picture for Phil's comment

Psalm 111 verse 1

Hallelujah! I give thanks to God with everything I've got—
   Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation - The Message


A great verse, and a great verse for those of us preaching today.

Famine in Somalia

This brings it home:

Famine in Somalia [Infographic]

Being Coached

Just back from an excellent 5 days at 'Renewing Vision' conference with other clergy at Glenfall House, Cheltenham. Amongst very good input was that by Claire Pedrick of 3D Coaching. We had all completed a survey (mine just in time), not knowing what it would reveal about ourselves - always a bit of a worry!

In the event it was extraordinary how helpful the insights were. There was a 50 minute coaching session together with other input. I found myself being mirrored to myself with extraordinary accuracy after only a few minutes' conversation. But that wasn't the point of it of course. The value was that I able to seek advice on the basis of the insights revealed

3D coaching use DISC as a tool - details here:
www.3dcoaching.com
I won't try to explain though it is quite straightforward - the link should give what you need if you want to find out more.

Some years ago I discovered how important it is for me to give time for study, refection and planning during the week. I seek to give 2 sessions to this per week. It is a time of stepping back, catching vision hopefully prayerfully) and then doing diary work on the basis of this.

But I now realise how important both sides of the equation are. The 'Catching Vision' ('I' in the survey - but not the same as Myers-Briggs) side of me needs then to be able to translate that into planned action ('C'). Otherwise I simply become frustrated or overwhelmed by a sense of what needs to be done. I now understand why it is that is easy for things to hang over me. When catching vision, I need to be able to give it back to God through, in part, what I then do. I also need to be able to trust that my organisation is up to it and things do not get lost in the darkened places of my study or computer or business.

It is freeing to realise that the things that can be a burden reflect two aspects of who God has made me both struggling to be heard. I need to spend time with God on both. Rather than simply asking for God's peace (a prayer which was rarely fully answered) I now find that God has answered my prayer in a much more profound way. This will though mean me changing my pattern of life, with an understanding of what is needed.

To a significant extent I have known this all along. At one point I was told -'You know what you must do". Indeed, 'tis true. The advantage of 'time out' is that you can listen to the still small voice, and then hopefully act on it.

When I said 'yes, but', the response was - 'so you want to run on an empty tank'.

Starkly put, incredibly helpful, and proving to me how important it is that we all learn to mentor (disciple) one another. As Bill Hybels says somewhere (I think), he takes the important decisions of life within a few feet of someone else

Certainly so this week. May I know the grace of God to indeed Go in peace' and I put this into action in serving the Lord in his way, not mine.

Bishop David gave the keynote address of the Study Day at St Paul's Harlow on the value of public art.

Bishop David gave the keynote address of the Study Day at St Paul's Harlow on the value of public art.
The first example of Public Art in the Bible is the bronze snake of the book of Numbers. Moses said, Look at it and live. A good inspiration for any public artist.
The bronze snake prefigured the death of Christ on the Cross.
The symbol of the Cross is probably the most used symbol around the world.
Why Public Art? Some opening suggestions as to why it is really important for all.
1 it helps provide an identity, a rallying point.
2 It raises aspiration.
3 It lifts our eyes beyond the humdrum of daily life.
In our own time there is no better example than the Angel of the North, which has raised the aspiration of the north-east.
Andrew Motion's poem 'What if?' at Sheffield station reproduced in huge writing is another example. And Banksy teaches us that there is no distinction between high and low art - just good and bad art.
Public art is especially important now. So many of our communities are dominated by multi-national global images e.g. KFC, Costas etc. Theses are overtaking our communities so that the individual identities of our communities are being crowded out.
What makes human beings distinct?
1 Hunan beings need to be inspired, a vision beyond little old me
2 The need to belong to and aspire to something different.
3 There is that in is that nerds beauty
4 We need contemplation.
The arts point to God, the essence of beauty.

Together We Stand on Commn Ground

A very interesting evening yesterday thinking about the cultural context for mission. What thing are fundamental to the Christian gospel and should not be changed, and what should be adapted as part of mission? Hudson Taylor adopted Chinese dress, and there was great controversy. How do we reach across the cultural barriers in England today?

Pastor Wiseborn of the Church of Pentecost shared Revelation 7:9ff. Wiseborn shared his vision that a day is coming when we shall be a multitude of people from different nations, tongues etc, worshipping God together.

He then spoke of the Ghanaian church where his own church was authentically Ghanaian as against an imported (my word) style e.g. Anglicanism. The Church of Pentecost was founded by someone from Northern Ireland. He contextualised the gospel, as Jesus did in becoming a man. There had been great growth as a result. As major denominations had gone down a similar course more recently they too have known growth.
Hence for example we need to sing songs that have a contemporary ring. Otherwise, people will say that church is boring.

This means we all need to make sacrifices, all give up things we value. We will do this better as the black and white churches learn from one another The white church is good at bringing care, the black at speaking to the spirit. We need to have both together. We should seek to bring our strengths together, which will help us understand our cultures and reaching out.

Thus an African is from a status-related culture. Hence we need to value them by quickly giving them a role in the life of the local church.

Revd Philip Jenson (from Ridley hall Theological College, Cambridge) spoke about what he has learned through the Old Testament, his specialist field.

1. Corporate v Individual. We are a very individualistic culture. The African culture is much more corporate, as is the Old Testament.

2. Suspicion v Trust. Westerners are very suspicious of everyone and everything, because there are so many things around. Thus the English come across as cold. But any strength also has it's dangers. We need to learn that God made the world good.

3 The Psalms - these include laments and praises. We perhaps need to recover the laments since so many lives are full of hurts and guilt etc. Need both cross and Resurrection - Praise and Lament.

I then concluded by thinking about how we deicide what is essential and those things in which flexibility is needed. The Book of Acts gives us good examples. The Christians, in struggling with these things, valued:

a. The Scriptures, inspired by God. In being obedient to the scriptures we are part of the Community of Faith over time
b. The Works of God. In Acts these included e.g. the gift of the Holy Spirit to Gentiles. The work of Christ is obviously central, something which they would have taken as read
c. The Present Community of Faith, as we take counsel together, seeking prayerfully to rely upon and listen to the Holy Spirit at work in our midst.

Uncomfortable

This week's lectionary readings from Micah have got me thinking about the fact that Gospel can be (nay, always is) uncomfortable. The message of judgment for Jerusalem was not welcomed. Nevertheless, the Old Testament always (I think) mingles grace with its judgment. The tree is cut down but there will be new growth from the stump (Isaiah)


This strikes me as apt for our society at the moment. And I look forward to reading David Bentley Hart’s The Atheist Delusions (see also Nick Baines' blog) as to what that might mean if his thesis is anywhere near correct.


The today I come across the words of David Bosch in the magnificent Transforming Mission, quoted in Alan Hirsch's The Forgotten Ways:


"Strictly speaking one ought to say that the Church is always in a state of crisis and that its greatest shortcoming is that it is only occasionally aware of it... Let us know that to encounter crisis is to encounter the possibility of truly being the church." This makes me look upon the idea of the Reformation Church as continually being reformed in a new, much more dynamic light.


I realised some time ago that I have lived much of my life seeking stability. If only I can understand this or that, or achieve the other, then all will be well and there shall be peace in my soul.


How tempting it is to want to preach the same message to the world, in these days of crisis.


But Micah and Bosch will not let us do either, either to the wider world or to the church - and indeed in myself. The continuing crises and struggles are part of our Cruciformity (to quote the title of an as-yet unread book.) Gospel means embracing these, wherever they may lead. Be it in church life, or personal struggles, or the way that I find myself more and more challenged to really 'see' the huge struggles of those I meet every day (echoed in newspaper headlines).


I must not flee these challenges but meet them head on. This is the calling of Christ.

Opportunity Knocks

It was fascinating to hear the Bishop of London, following the riots, referring to churches as (I think I heard) 'Community Hubs'. This may be a very helpful phrase as we seek to express what 'church' is about. 'Church' has become a religious phrase, which the equivalent wasn't in the early days of the church.


'Religious' language reinforces the public / private divide, which we need to take every opportunity to overcome.


There are vast needs in the communities of which we are part. God always provides though there are deep challenges as we step out in faith to serve him. This is for example true for Foodbank in Harlow which is seeking to expand.

Foodbank and Street Pastors draw us together in Christ. 'We do together those things best done together and apart those things best done apart.' Healing on the Streets offers another opportunity. Dave Welch and Ron Kingsmill are giving a lead.

We face many challenges, but we face them together as we step forward in Christ.

Let us be in prayer for Zimbabwe

This is the text of a recent Press Release the Anglican Communion Office:
Posted On : August 16, 2011 9:30 AM | Posted By : Admin ACO

ACNS: http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2011/8/16/ACNS4925

An Anglican priest in Zimbabwe and his family have been evicted from their home by priests loyal to excommunicated bishop Dr Nolbert Kunonga. Others across the diocese have also been ordered to leave.

The Revd Dzikamai Mudenda at Mabvuku, his wife and their extended family, were forced to leave St James Mabvuku in Harare in the wake of a High Court judgement that Dr Kunonga had interim custody of church properties.


Other priests living in parish rectories have received stamped copies of the High Court judgment from supporters of Dr Kunonga who, in one case, were accompanied by the police. The priests, including Friar Joshua from Bishop Gaul College, have all been told to move out.

The Rt Revd Chad Gandiya, Bishop of Harare, said yesterday that alternative accommodation has been found for Revd Mudenda and are preparing for the eviction of their other priests.

“Our parishes are busy finding alternative accommodation for them,” he said. “We don’t know who he is going to put in these houses. This is not going to be easy at all. It will disrupt their family life and ministry. I have been busy this evening getting in touch with my priests and encouraging them.”

A recent judgment in Zimbabwe’s High Court that upheld Bishop Chad appointment as Harare’s bishop also gave Dr Kunonga custodianship of all church properties—ones that actually belong to the Church of the Province of Central Africa.

“Kunonga was given custodianship of CPCA properties when he no longer a member of our church and province and he is now evicting CPCA priests and we don’t know who he is going to put in these houses. God help us.”

The Anglican Church in Zimbabwe has been under attack from the excommunicated bishop, Dr Nolbert Kunonga, since 2007. Kunonga, with the support of police and henchmen, has seized CPCA church property and used violence and to break up church services. In a recent media interview Dr Kunonga was quoted as saying he aimed to control the 3,000 Anglican churches, schools, hospitals and other properties in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Malawi.

See also:
http://nickbaines.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/logic-and-law-in-zimbabwe/

Question Time

The Archbishop's words are well worth pondering...

Archbishop speaks in House of Lords

... not only for what he says but for the manner of his speaking.

Someone blogged elsewhere a helpful reference to David Ford's excellent book 'Christian Wisdom'. One of the things that Ford there points out is that Job's comforters represent God as being judgemental (p 103). But in fact for much of the book God is "powerfully interrogative. In the Prologue his first to statements are questions, and his whirlwind speeches are pervasively interrogative without much hint of answers or directions.. Both history and creation generate more questions than answers. But they also generate cries and despairs."

Much of Ford's book is a reflection on the cries and despairs of scripture, not least in the experience and life of Christ. In the context of Job he points out how God's response in the whirlwind to Job's desire for annihilation is to evoke and revel in the limitless possibilities of all creation (p109). This is not a cheap comfort. Ford writes: It is as if an almost unthinkable hope can only be suggested by a delicate opening up if the imagination through reworking the very images that had earlier powerfully expressed despair."

A brief summary can do nothing like justice to Ford's wonderful book; the danger is that these brief quotes will misrepresent his subtle and nuanced writing. The best think is to read it as a whole.

And I can't help but think that our Archbishop has read it and has sought to apply it's thinking in his response in the Lord's.

Tomorrow I am speaking on Matthew 15:21-28 (the Canaanite Woman's Faith). I think that at the heart here is Jesus raising a question (for the benefit of his disciples). A move is made from 'stigmatising' the woman as being an outsider to someone who is welcomed. The danger at the moment (eg BBC Question Time) is to come up with quick solutions that stigmatise and judge. This all too easily fails to listen to the cries of despair and offers easy answers.

When I have faced bereavement, 'comfort' comes as the grief does its work. I rarely find solution in intellectual answers but rather in a deep-wrought change which means that old answers and problems are seen in a new light. We too need to let grief do its work. Thank you Rowan for your lead.

Publish Post

Prayer for our Cities

Evangelist Changing: A Prayer

And how to pray for our cities and towns

Prophets of Gloom

The prophets of doom and gloom are those who are surprised by the repeats of history – reality intruding into the fantasy of permanence – and whose hopes are limited to the recovery of what got them into the anxiety in the first place. Security is not to be found in such fantasy, but in living now in the light of the future, having learned from and built upon the past. - Bishop Nick Baines

Tribute to John Stott

Phil's Treehouse: The faithful preacher/teacher: "As a Christian teenager in the 1970s there were two writers who had a major influence on my discipleship, C S Lewis and John R W Stott. Over..."

I would add that John Stott's last book, The Radical Disciple, is a wonderful distillation of a life's ministry rooted in scriptures and the love of our Lord and his people.

Quote for the Day

"We must seek, not to speak of God, but rather to be that place where God speaks."
- Peter Rollins, How (Not) to Speak of God

Prayer and the Press

Around us swirl accusations and counter-accusations. Empires and governments seem unsafe. Where does power reside? Where is there safety?

True power lies with God, and the person in prayer knows more about power than anyone (albeit it a very special sort of power, true power, not  usurped power.

Eugene Peterson is poignant in his book on Revelation, Reversed Thunder:

'Out of the silence, action developed: an angel came before the altar of God with a censer. He mixed the prayers of the Christians with incense (which cleansed them from impurities) and combined them with fire (God's spirit) from the altar. Then he put it all in the censer and threw it over heaven's ramparts. The censer, plummeting through the air, landed on earth. On impact there were "peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake (Rev 8:5). The prayers, which had ascended, unremarked by the journalists of the day, returned with immmense force - in George Herbert's phrase, as "reversed thunder". Prayer reenters history with incalculable effects. Our earth is shaken daily by it.'

- Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder, Ch 7 (a commentary on Revelation, relating to Revelation 8:1-5. I am not quite sure if I would interpret the phrase 'reversed thunder' as  he does. He seems to suggest it is the prayer returning to earth; I think George Herbert in the poem from which the phrase come - see below -  has in mind that prayer is thunder rising from the earth to the heavens cp thunder which comes from 'heaven' to earth. But the  introduction of the image is helpful and it is easy to adapt Peterson appropriately.)

It is worth quoting George Herbert's wonderful poem Prayer (1) which Eugene Peterson refers to in the phrase "reversed thunder":

Prayer (I)

Prayer the Church’s banquet, Angels’ age,
God’s breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth;
Engine against th’ Almighty, sinners’ tower,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days world-transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
Exalted Manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well dressed,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood
The land of spices; something understood.

Text of Address for today's Civic Service at St Paul's

There were three readings, but I spoke to Deuteronomy 6:1-9.

Building Societies often use an image of children to encourage us to start planning for the – their – future. I have one here: ‘me&my little ones’ Inside it says ‘I’d like to give them a good start in life’.

What are we going to give our children? What inheritance are we giving, for example to the choir who sang so wonderfully today? An important question for us all whether we be Chair of School Governors somewhere, as our Chair of the Council is, a teacher, a parent, as we are here as we seek to strengthen our children’s work – SPYK.

Last week I was in a school and had with me this painting, done by my daughter when she was in about Year 11. I was waiting for something when a child came up to me and said, ‘Wow, that’s wonderful’. We started talking about it. ‘I could never do anything like that’. ‘Well’ I said, ‘my daughter was around 16. You are 9. In a few years, perhaps you could’.

He got to showing me his art workbook. In it was a fabulous cartoon. ‘Did you do this?’ ‘Yes’ and he took me to show me more in his classroom. On the wall was a large cartoon. ‘That’s mine’. ‘Wow’ – and I meant it. It was like a character out of a Hannah Barbera cartoon. But with its own distinctive look and character

In my small way I was giving him an inheritance. I was setting his hopes in the future. Maybe one day he will go on to produce great art or cartoons, because I or much more likely his teachers have encouraged him.

Our words are powerful things. There was an Enid Blyton ‘Famous Five’ book on the table. ‘I’ve probably read this’ I said, ‘I know’ he said. ‘You told us in assembly so we’re reading them’. Oh dear, the educationalists won’t be pleased with me!, I thought.

Our Old Testament reading included these words:

 ⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.^[a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. – Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Some of our young children are binding the commands of God on their foreheads. Or better to say, in their foreheads, as they learn our memory verses or other parts of the Bible

Mums and dads are giving their children an inheritance. I see the value of that inheritance when I take funerals. What people have learnt in their childhood stands them in good stead in the crises of life.

When one of our daughters was on a French trip in Boulogne, she and a Hindu friend and a Jewish friend got lost. So they decided to pray and ask for help. Our daughter prayed not because we or she are especially holy. Rather, that is what you do. You ask God’s help at each moment of the day. If you are in difficulty, you pray. And after they had prayed someone said, ‘I know where we are’, and their prayer was answered.

My father passed an inheritance to me.

·        Orphaned

·        Brought up by Barnados

·        Not allowed by his family to take up the job he wanted in the early 1930s

·        D Day and Dunkerque, surviving the war

He then studied and worked hard and sacrificially, and made a home for mum and myself. He was determined that I should have the opportunities he did not have. And he succeeded, and passed onto me all that I am. I am the inheritance my father passed to me.

The biggest inheritance we give to our children is ourselves.

An ancient Jewish saying goes; "With each child, the world begins anew."

We give that new start as we provide as much as possible, like my parents did for me, a stable home where love endures over time because of the faithful constant love of mum and dad. Where both mum and dad’s love is invested in their son or daughter because she or he is their offspring. The old saying ‘Blood is thicker than water’ contains much wisdom.

I remember once for fun playing off mum and dad. I told each that the other wasn’t happy about something, and stepped back to watch what would happen. Well, it stayed at the fun level. But what their love hadn’t been secure? What if I had caused a row, what if that row had broken their marriage, what guilt would I carry now?

This of course is the Christian ideal. And the ideal for many other too, not least Judaism on a day when I will quote the Chief Rabbi. Things go wrong. We must as a society know how to welcome not judge those for whom life is less than best – every one of us here.

But we must also never forget that it is less than best – that there is an ideal for which we all strive even if none of us succeed. It is good that we do not condemn, but there is a difference between condemnation and discernment.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I must begin to close:

It takes faith to have a child. I guess we have all known people without some sort of faith. I recall a woman I knew decades ago for whom life must have gone very wrong. ‘They shouldn’t bring children into this world. It is a wicked world’ – as she pointed out every piece of litter on the pavement.

It takes faith to have a child . It takes faith that there is a future for them in the world. To quote the chief Rabbi:

faith that we are here for a purpose, that we are part of a larger story that began long before we were born and will continue long after we are no longer here, that we have duties to the past and to the future that are not of our making…                                         Times Online May 21 2010

Faith is not something for Sundays, or Saturdays, or any single day come to that. Faith is either to do with every day, every family, everything we do, or it is not faith.

Maybe the biggest deception has it that you can put faith in a compartment, in a box. That is your private affair. That is a matter of opinion. That we, in this context, should not bring up our children in any faith but let them decide when they are older.

An oak tree once decided to have an acorn. But the oak wasn’t convinced whether it should be an acorn or the seed for some other kind of tree. It decided to let the acorn decide for itself.

Thought for the Day - Blessing

 It is remarkable how easy it is to bless others, to speak good things to and about them, to call forth their beauty and truth, when you yourself are in touch with your own blessedness. The blessed one always blesses. And people want to be blessed!

Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved

Silence

'The perfect never say anything of themselves.... They only say what the Spirit suffers them to say.'
- The Monk of Mount Athos, Archimandrite Sophrony (his biography of Father Silouan, quoted by Michael Ward, Planet Narnia, 250.

In occasional better moments, I seek to discern what God's Spirit is doing through the day, seeking to follow Christ's example. But often I wonder where God is at work, or whether I have lost the plot of faith. No doubt I often have, but perhaps sometimes it is because I need to trust to the silence: those moments of waiting for God's words or acts, like Jesus waited when confronted by the woman taken in adultery.

Sometimes perhaps I need simply to wait. "The meaning is in the waiting" - R S Thomas: Kneeling

I sometimes worry how this links to prayer. Despite what I write and read and find in the scriptures, I find within myself a sense that I ought to be asking, or at least, ought to be asking more. I think of verses such as Paul's 'pray all the time' (1 Thessalonians 5:17). I guess there is a balance here, but Stephen Cottrell (our Bishop) is helpful. I quote from CPAS's Church Leadership for Summer 2011: "In that slightly irritating way of hi, St Paul says 'pray all the time'... I don't think he means 'do that activity we call prayer all the time'. I think he means 'make your life a prayer' - arrive at that point where you are so inhabited by the Spirit that your life is translucent of the gospel."

In the Lord's Prayer, we pray 'Your kingdom come'. This is a request, but it is also very general. I must say, I find that God 'answers prayer' much more when somehow I am in that state of being alert, prayerful in myself, to God's kingdom coming. Especially I learnt of this when I was visiting my mother in her final illness in hospital. There would every day be some sort of 'God moment', if I may put it that way' which came out of the blue.

Jesus spoke of 'watching and praying'. This is probably very similar, if not the same. C S Lewis, in Letters to Malcolm,, Ch 14, writes: "We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labour is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake" (- emphasis his.)

Between: Big Society mapping event

As churches in Harlow seek to engage with all that is happening in town, this from Jonathan Evens is helpful:

Between: Big Society mapping event: "Today I spoke on the Big Society in Redbridge from a faith perspective at the Big Society Mapping Event which I have been involved in or..."

Thought for the Day

"Where, except in uncreated light, can the darkness be drowned" - C S Lewis, Letters to Malcolm, Ch 13. I visited this chapter prompted by the final pages of Michael Ward's fascinating book 'Planet Narnia'.

Images, the Digital Age and Worship

I love the hymn which I came across this last week from postmodernbible blog, especially these lines:

Where we nurse a fading image

of the Kingdom drawing near,

build upon our silent longing

make your vision crystal-clear.

Let our lives and lips reveal you

in the journey we’ve begun:

so that hope, in being faithful,

loves ‘til death is overrun.

Children and Society

Came across this at postmodernbible blog from the Methodist Conference:

"1 in 3 children grown up in poverty. 13.5 m people in poverty. Sign of times is that increasing. By 2015 by 15m. Inequality increasing - incomes/wealth. If rate of increase continues, 15% will be owned by top 1,000 in country = return to Victorian society. Poverty in UK means that you have 10 years less life than others. Inequality increases as you go through school What is the witness in a community where poor and rich live side by side?"

These are notes taken by the official blog reporter at the Conference so though 3rd hand are likely to be reliable. The relevant paper is here:
Poverty and Equality.
This may be interesting on the Big Society:  Big Society

Children and the Kingdom

Our young people and children gave us a superb weekend. On Saturday it was 'Tea at the Savoy'. Savoy style tea served in a Savoy style way. On Sunday our two groups (St Mary's and St Paul's) planned and led both services.
I'm presently thinking towards a Civic Service when the theme will be 'children'. I've been pondering Jesus' words in Matthew 18 and 19. Though most sermons focus on the qualities of children we should develop I have never been over-struck by this approach. Children aren't, for example, especially humble or simple.
What strikes me is that Jesus commends childlikeness in all that it means. Dependant, rebellious, fearful, playing, and so much more. As children we will be all of these things -  'children' of our heavenly Father, just as the disciples were.
Perhaps at the root is dependence. Children are objectively that - even if they don't realise it some (much?) of the time.
Rowan Williams writes of how we need to protect children from early adulthood. They need space where they can play at adulthood without over-much responsibility. In that way they grow into it.
So, children grow up, and we need to grow down and learn to be children again.
I'm all for getting younger!

St Paul points to the Cross

St Paul points to the Cross, a photo by Martin Harris in Harlow on Flickr.

Ephesians 5

Ephesians 5, a photo by Martin Harris in Harlow on Flickr.

The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd, a photo by Martin Harris in Harlow on Flickr.

Thank you to Jonathan Evens... Between: Art as prophecy and dialogue

Thank you to Jonathan for this, especially as we are meeting today to talk about art in the parish...


Between: Art as prophecy and dialogue: "I've just read an excellent post by the Indian artist and theologian Jyoti Sahi entitled 'Dialogue and the Imagination' . I heard Jyoti spe..."


Jonathan links to: JYOTI ART ASHRAM,
who there writes, "The creative work of a Faith .... is not just about incarnation, or embodiment, but is directed towards human transformation, change, and Resurrection. Faith in that sense, is the imagination; it is a way of seeing another reality, and working towards its realization."

Quote for the Day

"We don't know enough about the unknown to know that it is unknowable." - G K Chesterton

"Clean the Windows"

... Not a note from my To Do list, but given to the Church Council as we met for our Awayday last Saturday.

"Clean the Windows", so that others may see in to our lives and see a Community that is different, that is holy. And so that we look outwards into the wider world, and God's call.

It strikes me today how much Bishop Stephen's words in his Pentecost letter, say something very similar. "[W]e need to be a people of prayer. We need to let our relationship with God in Christ shape our lives so that the way we live day to day is distinctively Christian. This isn't easy. We live in a beguiling and seductive world. Often our lives seem indistinguishable from everyone else's. We need to let the faith we celebrate on Sunday overflow into the lives we live on Monday".

This also links into our planned focus for the Autumn on onwards, seeking to learn how to 'mentor' one another in the Christian lives. This will help us get in Good Shape. In the new year we are looking towards studying a course called "Shape'. This helps us all think about God's call to us - what Shape we should be, in all of life.

May our Lord be guiding us. This is his work; but we are worker's together with him in his kingdom.

And a Thought for the Day

"I have spent my life watching, not to see beyond the world, merely to see, great mystery, what is plainly before my eyes. I think the concept of transcendence is based on a misreading of creation. With all respect to heaven, the scene of miracle is here, among us" (quoted in More on Marilynne Robinson by Roger Kimball)

Phil's Treehouse: To make things new that never were

Phil's Treehouse: To make things new that never were: "We name you wind, power, force, and then, imaginatively, ‘Third Person.’ We name you and you blow… blow hard, blow cold, blow hot, blo..."

Between: New Statesman and Big Society

Between: New Statesman and Big Society: "This latest edition of the New Statesman has been guest-edited by Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams , and has managed to put the..."

Having read something of what Archbishop Rowan actually said, as against what he is said to have said, a breath of fresh air from Phil Ritchie here:
http://philipstreehouse.blogspot.com/2011/06/rowan-round-up.html

The New Statesman article majors on a very real concern for the gospel - fear. References to policies for which we didn't vote etc., and to cynicism about the Big Society are not criticisms but factual observations. He points out the lack of public debate about key issues at the last election. There is discussion as to what priorities there should be. It strikes me as a thoughtful well-timed intervention.
Eliot's The Wasteland contrasts (I think!) the fragmentary culture of his day with the prophetic questioning of the Old Testament prophets. Here we have some genuine questioning.

The Emmaus Road

Have read (well, skipped!, must delve deeper) Salley Vickers', The Other Side of You, in preparation for a sermon. An interesting article by her, also relating to the Emmaus Road of Luke 24 (and Eliot's The Wasteland) here:
http://www.salleyvickers.com/pages/books/the_other_side_of_you.htm
If we take her insights to a higher key (they actually did see the Lord), what insights does this gives into this key passage in Luke?

From here:
http://www.caxtonclub.org/reading/2001/Feb2001/musings.
(by Robert Cotner) we can learn how Eliot referred in The Waste Land to Shackleton (on whom I did something of a project some years ago). I quote from the site (but the whole article is worth reading):

"The link between poetry and exploration came full circle for Shackleton in the year of his death, 1922, of a heart attack in South Georgia as he was about to begin another trip to Antarctica. T. S. Eliot, in "The Waste Land," a poem which many consider to be the hallmark poem of that era, wrote:


Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
—But who is that on the other side of you?


Eliot’s footnotes attributed this passage to Shackleton’s South (1920), in which, as Eliot wrote, "at the extremity of their strength, [they] had the constant delusion that there was one more member than could actually be counted." This "Fourth Person," as it came to be called in Shackleton’s writings, was the conscious presence of another being among the three explorers as they hiked the uncharted, never-before-traveled winter mountains in gale-force winds and knee-deep snows of South Georgia, on the last leg of the journey to save their marooned colleagues. This mystical experience, Shackleton wrote, must always be a part of the "record of our journeys."
By virtue of his unstinting love of his fellow men, Shackleton repeatedly gave up his dreams and risked his life to insure their safety and well-being. As an explorer, it seems to me, we should call him intrepid; as a leader, undaunted, as a person, perhaps, St. Ernest."


Can this give us insight into the book of Hebrews as well?

Great poem

Great poem by Malcolm Guite posted by Phil today:

Phil's Treehouse: Ascension: "We saw his light break through the cloud of glory Whilst we were rooted still in time and place As earth became a part of Heaven’s st..."

Rethinking Spiritual Growth

Rethinking Progress

"Our hard work, therefore, means coming to a greater understanding of his work. As I mentioned a few posts ago, in his Lectures on Romans Martin Luther wrote, “To progress is always to begin again.” Real spiritual progress, in other words, requires a daily going backwards." -Tullian Tchiviidjian

Phil's Treehouse: Consider

Phil's Treehouse: Consider: "I first came across this picture Consider the Lillies by Stanley Spencer when Stephen Cottrell (now Bishop of Chelmsford) led a meditatio..."

Marriage

Preparing for a wedding today, have revisited Bonhoeffer's 'Wedding Sermon' of May 1943.What wonderful words from a cell.
Especially struck by: "It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love".

Law and Gospel

I enjoyed reading Julian Baggini's "Welcome to Everytown" three years ago - a study of the typical English person by reference to the most average post-code district (part of Rotherham) where he went to live as part of his research.
In the May edition of Prospect he writes an interesting study of lying - "The Whole Truth". In passing he refers to his book "Complaint: From Minor Moans to Principled Protest", where he argues that moral ways of thinking are increasingly being replaced with legalistic ones. "We think more of our entitlements, rights and strict legal obligations and less of what is required to be a good person" (shades of Nick Hornby here, who explores what it is to be good in "How to be Good").
It looks to be interesting and I'll add it to my long list of books I'd like to read. Is there a sense in which, when religious faith takes a back seat, we need more rules and regulations to keep society in order? Certainly Christian faith speaks of the heart, the will being renewed (Romans 7 and 8 come to mind). Christian faith which does not lead to more godly living is not true faith (James). But other traditions looks in this direction as well, not least Judaism. For example, my favourite Psalm, 19, speaks of delighting in the law of God. This is a renewal of the heart, which a view of the Old Testament as legalistic (within some strands of Christian theology) does no justice to.
Tom Wright and others are helping us see the Old Testament in a new light. It would be interesting to engage Tom Wright with Julian Baggini to seek insight into where our culture is going.

There is No One but Us

From HOLY THE FIRM
by Annie Dillard

“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? There is no one but us. There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on the face of the earth, nor in the earth, but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time, that our innocent fathers are all dead--as if innocence had ever been--and our children busy and troubled, and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready, having each of us chosen wrongly, made a false start, failed, yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of pleasures, and grown exhausted, unable to seek the thread, weak, and involved. But there is no one but us. There never has been. There have been generations which remembered and generations which forgot; there has never been a generation of whole men and women who lived well for even one day. Yet some have imagined well, with honesty and art, the detail of such a life, and have described it with such grace, that we mistake vision for history, dream for description, and fancy that life has devolved. So. You learn this studying any history at all, especially the lives of artists and visionaries; you learn it from Emerson, who noticed that the meanness of our days is itself worth our thought; and you learn it, fitful in your pew, in church.”

Kindle

I am surrounded by fire.
Kindle on the adverts. Kindle - download from Amazon. Kindle what? A fire, that is what I kindle. Seems a long way from the cheap plastic I held in my hand when I looked at a Kindle.
'Words' - words too can seem cheap and plastic. But words can and do change the world. The Middle East - driven by words, words kindling fire in hearts.
The Word became flesh, and kindles fire with us. Like on the Emmaus Road. The fire is kindled every day, but sometimes we do not recognise it. But the kingdom of God is at hand (Mark), within us (Matthew), kindled.
G-O-D-I-S-N-O-W-H-E-R-E*
The still small voice, kindled within (as well as against the prophets of Baal) - there, waiting for us to listen.
*(suggested by Peter Rollins)

Thought for the Day

... [P]rayer is fasting. When we pray, consciously or unconsciously, we make room for Christ's indwelling and the Spirit's work. In conscious still-prayer we gently exclude every conscious preoccupation in our lives: activities, thoughts, distractions. We are saying no to ourselves in order to say yes to God, so that Mercy may indwell and change us; we are gaining control of our desires so that in the moment when God kindles us into flame we will be able to lose control, to yield entirely, and not run in terror in the opposite direction.

Thus we can say that fasting, rightly understood, is prayer, the famous 'practice of the presence of God,' or heartfulness, an opening of our hearts to the full light of God, awareness of God at every moment in our deepest being.

- Maggie Ross, The Fire of Your Life, 'February'