Last Sunday was my first opportunity since my licensing to wear my blue scarf with vestments at the cathedral for a friends ordination as deacon.
Regular readers will know that my own church doesn't use vestments, and so I had to borrow a cassock and surplice from another church for the occasion. So as I set off to the cathedral, i grabbed the borrowed things and set off.
Come the moment to robe, I put on the cassock, put on the surplice, and then realise the scarf is still on the hook upstairs at home. AAARRRGGHH!
I asked to borrow one, and was directed to the main vestry upstairs - where f course I bumped into the bishop who challenged me on security grounds, and i had to explain to him what a total loser I am.
Finally, I found someone who had a spare one.
This guy does conjuring tricks as part of his preaching, and so the scarf had a picture of a magicians hat with a cross coming out instead of a rabbit, and loads of little pockets down the back to keep his tricks in. Now you can think what you want about using conjuring tricks ion a sermon, but isn't that idea of pockets a handy hint?
Wednesday, July 4
A bit more upbeat!
Mrs has been a little more upbeat these days.
The church’s evangelistic café used to be in a side street and had to close down because although it was spiritually very successful it wasn’t financially viable and charity laws gave us no choice.
So we have moved the café into what was the church’s lounge, which has big windows onto the town’s main street. Trade is up! But this has created a need for extra manpower: to get to the café you have to go through the church foyer, and so you need security and a welcome team to direct people to the café and the toilets, and generally answer questions and chat to visitors.
In the past, Mrs has tried helping in the kitchens, but her rheumatoid arthritis means that she can’t safely carry hot drinks and food around. She also declined the other main evangelistic role of getting involved in deep serious conversations with the clients: she feels her own life is too messed up and full of doubt at the moment to ‘preach’ to others.
But she has taken on a role in the foyer welcome team, which is not physical work nor does it mean getting too deep into conversations, it just needs a smile. She can do this without her own emotional rollercoaster having too much impact. So at long last she feels that she has a role in the church where she is helpful and valued. It is a real breath of fresh air.
Now if she can get pregnant as well, we will really celebrate!
The church’s evangelistic café used to be in a side street and had to close down because although it was spiritually very successful it wasn’t financially viable and charity laws gave us no choice.
So we have moved the café into what was the church’s lounge, which has big windows onto the town’s main street. Trade is up! But this has created a need for extra manpower: to get to the café you have to go through the church foyer, and so you need security and a welcome team to direct people to the café and the toilets, and generally answer questions and chat to visitors.
In the past, Mrs has tried helping in the kitchens, but her rheumatoid arthritis means that she can’t safely carry hot drinks and food around. She also declined the other main evangelistic role of getting involved in deep serious conversations with the clients: she feels her own life is too messed up and full of doubt at the moment to ‘preach’ to others.
But she has taken on a role in the foyer welcome team, which is not physical work nor does it mean getting too deep into conversations, it just needs a smile. She can do this without her own emotional rollercoaster having too much impact. So at long last she feels that she has a role in the church where she is helpful and valued. It is a real breath of fresh air.
Now if she can get pregnant as well, we will really celebrate!
Thursday, June 28
Predestined to eat cake
Culture in our office is that you bring cream cakes in on your birthday. Now there's about 350 people here, so the way it is done is that you buy enough for your team and close friends, and then a few extra.
You then put the cakes on a tray near the aisle, in full view of everyone. You tell your friends and team to dig in, and you might also send out an email to a wider group of friends. (One guy today sent a global email to the whole office).
Your friends and team therefore get all the cake they want, sometimes seconds as well. But if anyone you know and forgot to invite passes by you give them a shout 'come and have a cake'. The cakes are also next to a communal area, so anyone that doesn't know you can also have a cake. If you don't know the person, common courtesy is that you check its OK before grabbing. Usually the people that don't know you, walk on by and don't ask. But if they do it will not be refused and you have a new friend.
This is how I see the Biblical doctrine of predestination. When you buy the cakes you know who they are for, but anybody can have one. Those that love you, that the cakes are intended for, take them eagerly. But you will be very happy if others accept the open invitation and become your friends too - they are not excluded.
Christ died for everyone. Some he has predestined to be saved, others will reject the open invitation of salvation and friendship. There is a theoretical category of people who have not been predestined who do take up the offer, but I'not sure how this works theologically and in practice I think this category is virtually non-existant. People who do take up the open offer usually discover afterwards that they were in fact already on the list, so to speak. And those that reject the open offer were not excluded from the opportunity, its just that they tend to be those who did not want the friendship anyway.
Any illustration is bound to be full of flaws, but this is the best way I have come across for explaining how I understand predestination.
You then put the cakes on a tray near the aisle, in full view of everyone. You tell your friends and team to dig in, and you might also send out an email to a wider group of friends. (One guy today sent a global email to the whole office).
Your friends and team therefore get all the cake they want, sometimes seconds as well. But if anyone you know and forgot to invite passes by you give them a shout 'come and have a cake'. The cakes are also next to a communal area, so anyone that doesn't know you can also have a cake. If you don't know the person, common courtesy is that you check its OK before grabbing. Usually the people that don't know you, walk on by and don't ask. But if they do it will not be refused and you have a new friend.
This is how I see the Biblical doctrine of predestination. When you buy the cakes you know who they are for, but anybody can have one. Those that love you, that the cakes are intended for, take them eagerly. But you will be very happy if others accept the open invitation and become your friends too - they are not excluded.
Christ died for everyone. Some he has predestined to be saved, others will reject the open invitation of salvation and friendship. There is a theoretical category of people who have not been predestined who do take up the offer, but I'not sure how this works theologically and in practice I think this category is virtually non-existant. People who do take up the open offer usually discover afterwards that they were in fact already on the list, so to speak. And those that reject the open offer were not excluded from the opportunity, its just that they tend to be those who did not want the friendship anyway.
Any illustration is bound to be full of flaws, but this is the best way I have come across for explaining how I understand predestination.
Tuesday, June 26
A God who answers
Mrs Roman Catholic in my workplace prayer group attributes the 'miraculous' healing of her mother to my prayer at last week's meeting. Well, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who prayed, but it's nice to get this kind of feedback.
Her Mum had gone through surgery many years before and since they stick a tube down your neck as part of the general anasthetic and she has a small windpipe, she was injured and could not eat solids for 12 months. She recently had another operation, and [I don't quite get this bit] didn't tell the anesthetist about the previous problems. So, after she woke up, she found she could not eat any solids again - hence our prayers last week. And now, the 'miracle' is that within a week of that prayer, she is eating virtually normally agian. ie 7 days compared to 12 months.
[I have used inverted commas around 'miracle' etc since that is what we are calling it but I can't prove that that is what it is]
Her Mum had gone through surgery many years before and since they stick a tube down your neck as part of the general anasthetic and she has a small windpipe, she was injured and could not eat solids for 12 months. She recently had another operation, and [I don't quite get this bit] didn't tell the anesthetist about the previous problems. So, after she woke up, she found she could not eat any solids again - hence our prayers last week. And now, the 'miracle' is that within a week of that prayer, she is eating virtually normally agian. ie 7 days compared to 12 months.
[I have used inverted commas around 'miracle' etc since that is what we are calling it but I can't prove that that is what it is]
Monday, June 25
The rollercoaster calms down
We have done a bit of research.
It seems that many of our worries are a consequence of the early signs of menopause, rather than anything else.
This is good in some ways and bad in others. The irregular periods are not a series of mini-miscarriages or failed implantations, they are just irregular periods. And quite a lot of the sensations may be menopausal rather than fertilisation, implantation, etc. So our emotional rollercoaster can now ease off a little. Fewer false hopes, fewer let-downs. The bad news of course is that there is a reduced chance of pregnancy – it’s harder to get the timing right and conditions in the womb are less favourable. But this also means that the possibility of two eggs being released is slightly greater, which might render the twins she wants.
It seems that many of our worries are a consequence of the early signs of menopause, rather than anything else.
This is good in some ways and bad in others. The irregular periods are not a series of mini-miscarriages or failed implantations, they are just irregular periods. And quite a lot of the sensations may be menopausal rather than fertilisation, implantation, etc. So our emotional rollercoaster can now ease off a little. Fewer false hopes, fewer let-downs. The bad news of course is that there is a reduced chance of pregnancy – it’s harder to get the timing right and conditions in the womb are less favourable. But this also means that the possibility of two eggs being released is slightly greater, which might render the twins she wants.
Thursday, June 21
Shrek and Disestablishment
I don’t normally do film reviews, but Shrek has been on telly again recently.
I love Shrek. It’s great having kids as an excuse to repeatedly view it.
Shrek tells us a huge amount about misjudging people based on first impressions and prejudices, based on half-heard and misconstrued conversations, about tolerance, about the layers of personality, about walling oneself in.
And all of this is wrapped up in a fabulously good yarn, a great fairytale. There will come a time in the future when people don’t realise that this is a relatively new creation and not a genuine fairytale passed down from our ancestors. It has all of the makings of a classic that will not fade and be forgotten.
The only force against this is the number of references to popular culture, television programmes and songs, which may become dated. And yet although in general I hate detest and despise musicals in the strongest language, it is largely the songs that make me like it. The peaceful music while Shrek eats his tea, Fiona’s song that bursts the bird…fantastic. But greatest of all is the application of “I believe”. My kids think I am mad, as join in loudly, mixing the songs theme of belief in love with my own belief in Christ.
My only misgiving about the film is a very subtle nuance at the end. Fiona’s marriage to the evil dictator was in what is clearly a depiction of a Christian church, lead by a priest in a bishop’s mitre. But her marriage to Shrek takes place in the woods. And so the image of a pagan nature-wedding is subtly promoted over a Christian wedding. And the paganism is very subtly presented as being the right way, in contrast to the heavy handed dry state church.
This is so subtle and nuanced that I am probably the only person in the world to think his way.
Perhaps it is a consequence of the association of Church and state. If the state is evil, so is the church. If you rebel against the state, you rebel against the church.
Christ said “My Kingdom is not of this world”.
I don’t want a US style separation of Church and State, each blind to the other. Neither do I want church where a potentially Muslim prime minister appoints the bishops, and where a bunch of pagan, Jewish, Muslim, agnostic and atheist and even some actively anti-Christian MPs approves the prayer book. There has to be a middle way, where the church is independant of secular authorities, but where there is dialogue between them.
I love Shrek. It’s great having kids as an excuse to repeatedly view it.
Shrek tells us a huge amount about misjudging people based on first impressions and prejudices, based on half-heard and misconstrued conversations, about tolerance, about the layers of personality, about walling oneself in.
And all of this is wrapped up in a fabulously good yarn, a great fairytale. There will come a time in the future when people don’t realise that this is a relatively new creation and not a genuine fairytale passed down from our ancestors. It has all of the makings of a classic that will not fade and be forgotten.
The only force against this is the number of references to popular culture, television programmes and songs, which may become dated. And yet although in general I hate detest and despise musicals in the strongest language, it is largely the songs that make me like it. The peaceful music while Shrek eats his tea, Fiona’s song that bursts the bird…fantastic. But greatest of all is the application of “I believe”. My kids think I am mad, as join in loudly, mixing the songs theme of belief in love with my own belief in Christ.
My only misgiving about the film is a very subtle nuance at the end. Fiona’s marriage to the evil dictator was in what is clearly a depiction of a Christian church, lead by a priest in a bishop’s mitre. But her marriage to Shrek takes place in the woods. And so the image of a pagan nature-wedding is subtly promoted over a Christian wedding. And the paganism is very subtly presented as being the right way, in contrast to the heavy handed dry state church.
This is so subtle and nuanced that I am probably the only person in the world to think his way.
Perhaps it is a consequence of the association of Church and state. If the state is evil, so is the church. If you rebel against the state, you rebel against the church.
Christ said “My Kingdom is not of this world”.
I don’t want a US style separation of Church and State, each blind to the other. Neither do I want church where a potentially Muslim prime minister appoints the bishops, and where a bunch of pagan, Jewish, Muslim, agnostic and atheist and even some actively anti-Christian MPs approves the prayer book. There has to be a middle way, where the church is independant of secular authorities, but where there is dialogue between them.
Monday, June 18
After Alpha, and baptism II
Well, it seemed to go OK. I, in my role as "Mr Anabaptist disguised as Anglican" was able to explain my position to the group, while accepting that otehr views exist. "Mrs Roman Catholic" also stated her case, and "Mr Elder in a URC church" also spoke a lot. "Mr Former Baptist now Anglican Church Warden despite not being confirmed" was very supportive of me. The Alpha Candidates were all completely new to the idea of believer's baptism, so they have learned something new at least, even if it is only that there is a range of views.
Perhaps more profitable was a pre-session chat about who and what are angels, from a question from a candidate.
So - if you prayed for the session, I think you can safely say your prayers were answered. Thank you!
Perhaps more profitable was a pre-session chat about who and what are angels, from a question from a candidate.
So - if you prayed for the session, I think you can safely say your prayers were answered. Thank you!
Tuesday, June 12
After Alpha, and baptism
Our workplace Alpha course has been a success. Of the five candidates, two have had to stop attending owing to work commitments covering for sick colleagues - sounds like an excuse to me - but the other three are really solid. At the end of Alpha they didn't want to stop, so we have been carrying on with a general beginner's bible study group leaders book.
We are starting to make plans to merge this group with the pre-existing prayer group whose members organised the Alpha course. Step one, make the meetings on separate days so that attendance at both is possible.
It's my turn to lead the study group next Monday - session three, Baptism. The first paragraph of this book asserts the need for baptism after coming to faith, discounting infant baptism as a post-Constantinian invention. Personally, the author must have read my mind. But I don't own the group which is much more ecumenical and includes a Roman Catholic and several other Anglicans, and so I will have to lead the session with due respect to the pro infant baptism members while somehow maintaining my own integrity.
Even if you strongly disagree with my views, plese pray that the session will be marked by unity rather than controversy, and that while the whole spectrum of opinion is discussed the conclusion may be in line with what God wants rather than with our own theological agendas. Or yours.
We are starting to make plans to merge this group with the pre-existing prayer group whose members organised the Alpha course. Step one, make the meetings on separate days so that attendance at both is possible.
It's my turn to lead the study group next Monday - session three, Baptism. The first paragraph of this book asserts the need for baptism after coming to faith, discounting infant baptism as a post-Constantinian invention. Personally, the author must have read my mind. But I don't own the group which is much more ecumenical and includes a Roman Catholic and several other Anglicans, and so I will have to lead the session with due respect to the pro infant baptism members while somehow maintaining my own integrity.
Even if you strongly disagree with my views, plese pray that the session will be marked by unity rather than controversy, and that while the whole spectrum of opinion is discussed the conclusion may be in line with what God wants rather than with our own theological agendas. Or yours.
Mortgage blessings
My long awaited mortgage advance has been approved in principal, so now I can refurbish the basement and make it 'habitable' to local authority building control standards, and let my kids sleep somewhere that doesn't have damp encrustation on the walls.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)