Journal: Palliative care and beyond

I find myself engaged with end of life situations on a regular, almost daily at times, basis and each is as individual as the people involved with it. The blessing is that few die alone, the curse is the pain and guilt, the missed opportunities, the leaving others behind as only one person goes through the turnstile at the end of it all!

Recently I chatted to a lovely lady who has been working in a hospice 'up North' for a number of years; and it was an enabling and inspiring thing as she told me of her working life and the people she worked with. The shock came in the comment that whilst it was a great environment to work in, there were days when she would gladly swap her well-funded, well-equipped, workplace for the other end of the scale NHS just to see a patient walk out having been mended rather than ended! This was something that hit home as I generally get to visit loads of people and expect just that - not that I don't get my fair share of terminal bedside hours.

It was also a bit of an eye-opener to be told that whilst everyone in the place she worked was committed to the job they were doing, it was - all things considered - a job. She spoke of how the volunteers and the environment gave people some idea that everyone in her workplace were some sort of saintly people, "But I work with people who are there because it's a good job with good hours, pay and environment. To paraphrase her comments, "We have our good days and bad, the days when we clock in and can't wait to clock off again, and days when we are the people the customers like to think we are. We are human!"

There are times when we all need to be able to step back and 'just do the job' without placing all of ourselves on the roulette wheel. It's something I'm rubbish at and I wonder if it's something I need to learn. That said, like the nurse in the hospice context, people have this image of the kindly, compassionate and caring cleric: Totally committed and willing to walk the extra mile, giving all of themselves and more to their role. And they are disappointed when their expectations prove to be fals.

The task is to be true to ourselves whilst also maintaining an integrity. To minister God's Grace whilst  living in it ourselves. To do what is needed without destroying ourselves or our families or denying the care others need whilst perhaps denying their expectations. Whilst denying our own expectations and the excesses they might create in us and others.

The knock at the door on a day off because the person knows you'll be at home combatted by telling people that the vicarage is not a workplace but a home and they aren't welcome; something that living over the shop, and the person I am, could never do. The denial of the expectation of others because, like the nurse said, "It's just a job at the end of the day!"

I work alongside someone who is available on a 7*24*365 basis and whilst I recognise that I'm not able to keep those hours, I also realise that stuff happens in that timeframe too - and that means that I'm 'on call' to meet those needs - providing triage and when necessary being out of the door - because we deal with life (and death) in all its richness.

The observation that 'things can usually wait until the morning," and the idea that there are few emergencies that can't wait until the morning, whilst perhaps reasonably true in the final analysis, is a bit flawed in my opinion. Tell that to the mentally ill parishoner who calls at 02:00 in a flat spin and panicking. What they need is a voice at the other end - it might take five minutes, it could take two hours  (and it does some days) but an answerphone and office hours don't just deny expectations (which apparently I have wrongly created) but create something weak and destructive too!

Now that's an invitation to a punch up - isn't it?

Lord, today has been a tricky and challenging day - the people before me .have been a blessing; a fragile and fragrant flower found in a shell scrape of sucking mud amidst the carnage of combat - the  demands and the skirmishes taking their toll. But you have been with me, my rod and my staff, my comforter, my guide and friend. Your love has fed me, forgiven me and encouraged me to press on.

For those in end of life situations - the terminal and the bereaved - may I shine your light of hope and love.

For the mentally ill, may I be their rock and anchor - that those in the storms may be held fast whilst those in the quicksand might find their feet on safe ground - as you are for me.

For the homeless, may I have the wisdom to act, and to hold fast, that needs are met and the right things done in the right way.

Lord, for a challenging day, with pain. Sadness, loss and triumphs too - what can I do but thank and bless you for all You as in, for and too me?

Journal: Week Off - day one

Well it wasn't the seaside!

The cherry on today's cake goes to the person who asked whether I was enjoying my holiday and, "Was I at the seaside?" Today has been, according to a colleague, "Like his normal day!" and ironically perhaps I found that to be rather helpful and perhaps it can help me to set my high water mark for the rest of the year.

"Living over the shop means that the only way you can take time off is to go away," said another person (who lives almost two miles from their church); and they were probably right as I found myself engaged in pastoral matters which could neither be put off or done by anyone else (and I mean that - I'm not clinging to stuff or being a martyr). But the results and the conversations on the way made it a great day indeed.

So what have I learned today?

Sometimes you need to act boldly, stand in the gap, pray your socks off, and take a bit of control to see a solution take shape. Much like the 'God's garden' comment - you should have seen it before I got working in it! Poor old God, gets all the blame for outcomes where we have been inactive, doesn't He?

Paperwork will, like the poor, always be with us.

People will always expect you to do things, regardless of the label you've given the day!

God will always shine through.

So it wasn't a day off - but I can move that to next week - but it was a day to be thankful for and to celebrate encounters, successes and blessings. Feeling chilled and looking forward to a final day of paperwork.

Hallelujah!

A quieter day

What a really nice day it was yesterday - there was some interesting challenge and some great blessing and space to relax and reflect and from that, to rejoice.

The week now done has brought a number of challenges, opportunities and joys; it has also provided as few frustrations and the potential for the odd sigh or two along with the odd tear or two as well: But that's life, isn't it?

I've been saddened by the ineptitude of some around me and even more saddened by the needy who crave success in numbers and opinion rather than merely get down and get on with the stuff they are called to do and the people they are called to be. Those who are looking to enhance their career and to place themselves in the right place to be noticed. Part of me hopes they get what they want (although if they do they will be yet another pebble on the scale pan marked 'nuisance') and the other part prays that that they do their career planning and their 'dancing for the grown ups' a very long way away!

There's nothing I can look back in regarding the week that causes me to rue what I have done or the man I have been - a miracle and a blessing indeed - but there has been much that has caused me to count the cost and to earnestly pray as those around me fail to have the wherewithal to pay it. So we look to the God who 'owns the cattle on a thousand hills' and His son.

We all fall short and at the end of the day all we have is to be found in the choices we have, and others, have made. We meet the challenges head on or we sidestep or hide from them, using the cover of dealing with it on another day until the days are used up and the options are reduced to zero.

There are so many Bible passages that cheer, inspire or caution - each resides within us, standing to attention like a soldier on parade when numbering off. This week Hebrews 3 has been a real friend to me:

"Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. ”

We have no idea of the day or time when our temporary stay here will end, nor any prior notice of the day when the Lord will return and so we live each day as if it were our last whilst relishing and enjoying it as if it were our first.

For a week almost done I can but pray for those who have needs, commend into your care those who have gone, and pray for those who remain.

May I preach true today and have walked straight in the week gone - and now, 'today' may I restore, comfort and enable all around me (including the man I see before me in the mirror) by the power and I dwelling of Your Holy Spirit.




Comm: 77
Hrs 61
telephone: 161
Texts: 134
Email: 208

It's not like booking a holiday!

Like many a Friday gone, the day started with things funereal and ended with Kid's Club with a funeral/pastoral filling for the sandwich which was a very mixed day indeed.

There were a number of pastoral moments where needs were engaged with and prayed over and the initial feeling of impotence and the desire to get out there and make a solution happen crashed together to challenge and frustrate. It can be so hard to see things through God's eyes and to step back that little bit so perspective and clarify are found. It can be such a challenge not to merely go out and make it all go away, but the quick fix is usually nothing more than a temporary fix as experience with some of the Welfare Officers I have encountered shows.

Some time back I had someone come into my reckoning and they were part of an obviously failing marriage. As I started to get to know the couple I became aware that this was a situation made worse by a well meaning person who, upon being told there was marital strife, merely passed over a handful of tenders and told the husband to, "Buy her a bunch of flowers, take her out for a good meal and take her to bed!" This was apparently the key to mending everything. It took the sting out of things for a few weeks but as the tears and turbulence returned the plasters were washed away and discontent turned to a sense of fatalistic despair.

What was needed was a change of heart and lifestyle from both of the players and it took some time to see that the pressures of an accompanied posting were taking their toll. A family moved from their home and a job which demanded many weekends away. Although the Bible affirms the fact that it is not good for us to be alone, sometimes it is not good for us to be accompanied it seems. Suffice to say that dialogue was engaged and shared values, goals and hopes - and fears - enabled the couple to celebrate what they had and to remove or adapt what they had to put them on the path towards what they wanted.

The well-meaning desire 'make it happen now' turns the provider of the solution into one who can usurp the role God should have. What we need is good note-taking, sound prayer and a large dollop of active listening.

For those with whom I have engaged today, the bereaved, the soon to be bereaved, those progressing towards the door and those who only want their own front door.

I thank you that you are the answer. You are Jehovah Jireh - the God who provides.

I praise you that you truly are Jehovah Rapha - the God who heals.

I worship you for you are Jehovah Shalom - the God who brings peace.

Lord I lay before you the encounters of the day and the needs of the moment which press and challenge and give you the temptation to seek to be Christ for the people rather than lead them into His presence.

For the blessing I have hopefully been today I praise you; for the block in the pathway I may have been I come before you seeking forgiveness and teaching; for the people and situations tomorrow brings I pray You will be my first port of call and my strength and ability rather than the last resort when my limited abilities fail.

The greatest challenge I have is to help people die well as to live well, with You, until the last day comes. The greatest gift I can give is the call of the writer of Hebrews to take the day assigned to us that we might amend our ways, bolster our faith, and seek the Lord: I thank you that the name of that day is TODAY.

Help me never to lose sight of that and not live in the triumph or regret of yesterday. The hope and desire of tomorrow but to live in, and for, the only in which I can act and make a difference: today.

Hallelujah.



Comm: 77
Hrs 56
telephone: 147
Texts: 112
Email: 186

How many ropes can a cleric swing from . . . t

i. . . in a day without falling off? This was a question posed to me by someone today.

They said I was like Tarzan swinging from tree to tree - they didn't mention whether they thought I was doing the yelling bit, but I hope that in their minds eye I was! "Don't you ever stand still?" they asked. I merely smiled and reminded them that drinking tea whilst on the move was hazardous and swung on.

Today went like this: admin, pastoral, meeting, pastoral, pastoral, ring hospital to check on member, book home visits, lunch @  Church 'drop in', funeral visit, FDs, pastoral, Kid's Club, Communion service (baptism of Christ), DCC meeting. Loads of ropes and in between them plenty of telephone calls and texts. I've never thought of checking before but there were 26 mobile calls and 32 texts. I didn't manage to be behind the desk much today so only managed four calls on the landline - non 'spam' emails numbered 38.

I'm trying to cut down on electronic communication and will, where possible, try to engage by telephone or in person. It isn't any less efficient and the opportunity for people misreading the content or the tone is remember, they merely have to cope with me; which is probably equally confusing :-).

I realised today how much the ABEND (abnormal end) that is death - that system crash where life encounters a zero and comes to an end - affects people. There are the people who examine the code and seek answers, there are those who tear their hair out and get in a bit of a tizzy, others still who stop to reflect on the event and the impact it brings, and those who merely put the hat and coat on and withdraw from it all.

Funerals firmly in the four digit realm I always expect to encounter the unexpected and am rarely disappointed. From just me and the deceased in the crem, the 'walk through', the deceased waiting outside in the hearse whilst we do the service and the secret cremation before the funeral - and more besides - the options are many and the realities expand to keep you guessing.

But funerals are the bested bit of my life - they bring pastoral opportunities and the chance to debug and restore the lives of the bereaved such that they continue stronger and calmer through, and from, it all.

The pastoral, especially the home Communion, is another joy - Church and belonging made real for me and the person/s before me. Add to this the chance to visit in hospital and take the light of Christ into that place and the cake just bets bigger and tastier. The opportunity to be one who 'comes alongside' (parakletos - it's what the Holy Spirit does with us) is the opportunity to bless ourselves, and I hope the people we are engaging with, it's not work at all is it this ministry life - just time spent generally partying.

So Lord, for all the engagements today, may they have shown your love and compassion. For those who I know with needs, may they have been met and situations salved just a little more. Thank you for the lessons I learned yesterday - may I put them into practice today.

I thank you for Jesus, the Christ, the word made flesh and as we celebrate His baptism I thank you for mine - keep me faithful to my baptismal calling - keep me rejoicing in the salvation I have been given through the life, death, and resurrection of this God made man.

And for the person who asked me to do this: comm: 49 and hrs:15 (just realised it's a day off tomorrow - so should stay static).

A day of many parts

The day started with the usual routine of daily Office, usually occurs anywhere in the morning from 03:30 onwards (usually finding itself at 04:30 it seems as the first thing I do when I wake). This is the opportunity to read the Bible and pray, setting up the day that follows as the spiritual equivalent of porridge for it sustained me throughout the day, in the stillness before the dawn aririves.

I blog the readings each morning (there is a growing group of people who use the condensed form I post as part of their introduction to doing the Office) as part of growing discipline in myself and others.  So, Office done, there's some post-production work on a recording to be sorted and then it's into the church building to set up for the Thursday Communion and the drop-in that follows it. Chairs out, orders of service and Bibles on the seats, lay up for the Communion, fill the urn (and turn it on - always important). Then it's the tables and chairs, biscuits and stuff for the two hours that follow after the Eucharist is done.

I rejoice at the Psalm in Communion today (118) it's like a sweet jar full of old favourite sentences and they bounce around my head all day: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone - Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord - Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Words that sustain.

How sad that we have lost the Psalms as part of our public worship in so many places - sadder still the contraction to just two readings! Jesus, the Christ, is the capstone which holds it all together - Hallelujah! We share the word and celebrate the resurrection and recommit ourselves to shime in the dark places of our town - for we are salt and light.
What does that look like?
How will you use me to make You known today?
Where will my feet take me and what do I need other than You?
So many questions and challenges buzzing, then and now as bed is made my hiding place with you.

The drop-in was amazing, so many people with so many issues, yet laughed and encounter and the joy of being family for those who known the Christ and those perhaps a little far off - just as it shou,d be for first they stop, then the sit and then they recline - aren't people amazing and isn't God great?

Onto a meeting and finding joy in the shape of a nearby church and the steps to be taken there - little steps bring a great distance in the passage of time - the key is to take them! Back to the START course where it transpired that when looking at who our hero is Jesus want mine! Shock or what?
We talk and look at the heroes society has in its sportsmen and women: overpaid, indulged, living wrong lives and et emulated and applauded, is that what a hero is? Move on to great leaders, commanders, businessmen and women: is victory or success the key to making a hero? Nah, when we look past their achievements and their fine words we find feet of clay,

As we talk about why I live the life I do, flawed fallible, excited and generally weird I mention that I am, and do, because Jesus is MY LOVE, and that's the word - it is LOVE, not HERO, that we need to be thinking of and looking to emulate, to please and to follow. How absolutely amazingly wonderfully brilliant is that? His love endures for ever.

Buzzing I prepare and head of to ke a bunch of ten ann eleven year olds around a church building and share some of the wonderful treasures, explaining symbolism and imagery, and making the love of God as seen in Jesus, God made man, known. Making time running around the church and pointing out stuff that is usually missed - making connections - explaining liturgicalbits and giving little hooks  and sowing seeds. How I love this life which so many others seem to think is a job. I'm working, and for, with the person I love - can it get any more wonderful?

And it does - for I find myself in the ditch it's the woman I love, half a pint and a pork pie and some time to chat and meet new people and enjoy the woman whose lives surrounds and sustains me also.

Lord, I am just so very blessed!

All before me was joy today: The engagements, the conversations, the opportunities seen and taken. The written word and the living Word filling and sustaining and guiding me.

Thanks for a great day - same again tomorrow please?

Dear diary: A stunning week closes . . .

Time for a bit of reflection:

Communion celebrated (I preside and we all, as the people of God, celebrate the Eucharist - just saying) in a variety of settings (church, home and care home). A privilege and joy and, not unsurprisingly, one of the areas that has lifted my head, made me buzz, filled me with hope (realised in Jesus, the Christ) and put an added spring in my step.

Funerals conducted in church and Crematorium this week (realised that with 56 on the clock so far this year that it's been a light year and wonder whether that's good or bad?). This week's have seen some me working amazing people who were unsung heroes with so many things to commend them. Interestingly the average age of the four this week was greater than my overall average of 87 - also different from the norm was the fact that the men outlived their wives - usually the other way around!

Started the week with a stunningly joyful, fun-filled and celebratory funeral and the theme continued until the final trip to the crem' on Friday - good to have smiles and laughter as well as tears and solemnity making their appearance.

Engagement with people was, as ever, a mixed bag, and the ability of people to screw things up is always amazing - but the ability to bring clarity and Christ into situations makes the role of pastor and priest a joy - it is no coincidence that I buzz most when engaged with people, don't think I'm ever going to be in love with proecedure and paperwork so I'll leave it to those who enjoy it and thank God for them whilst I head in the opposite direction.

Cherry on the cake this week was someone coming to Christ and beginning their journey into the world of faith. Can there be anything better than seeing someone 'born again' and reconciled to God theory the atoning actions of the Christ? Realised how frustrated I am that I do so little real evangelism and so much of the treadmill. If I were someone who did new year's resolutions (only ever done one - resolved not to do any and kept that one) I'd say 2017 will be a year of winning souls - instead I'll say it more and look to making that happen.

So impressed with Hope - so frustrated with clergy! Why is it that clergy wait for someone to hand them a weapon when they are facing the enemy and merely need to stoop down and pick one up from the ground? When the enemy is before us we take up whatever weapon is to hand and engage them robustly  and with overwhelming fire. But prayer is at a premium rather than commonplace and all around me I find people managing decline and reading from a spreadsheet when they should be populating heaven and reading the Bible!

So blessed to be part of the worshipping communities in Leyfields, Coton Green and Hopwas - Christmas Market, Ladies Craft, Friday Freiends, drop-In, Kid's Club and so much more have been a blessing this week. The school's work is just monster and the opportunities for engagement endless. Amazed I can find time to stop praIsing you Lord.


Sadness of the week has been the person who will never fail because they will never attempt anything  - seems that's the way to be well-regarded by so many - seems to me that this is the reason Church is struggling :-(

Lesson of the week has been the realisation that I as much as I love reading and praying and growing in my knowledge of the word this is something that I have come to regard as something I do when work is done rather than something that's part of the work I do - so another note for 2017 - study, prayer and developing my theological and ministerial skill sets are going to be part of the working week.

Joy of the week are many but topped by Phillip's baptism and the gift that he is to the people of God. To work with people who eagerly desire to know Christ and to celebrate His death and resurrection in the Eucharist is sublime - what a week: Bath and Bread in the spotlight.

So much to thank God for - my paucity, His immensity.

Hallelujah

What's the 'best' bit of the job?

It's amazing how many people ask me that question during the week, and when they do there are normally a few assumptions made along with the asking - so how's about we have a quick consideration of what they think might be true concerning me and my ministry:

The most common assumption this time of the year is, with Christmas just around the corner, that I'm coming up to my 'busy' time. In fact this is a smoke and mirrors moment because I always feel that the run up to Christmas is perhaps one of my quietest. Since people assume I'm busy, they leave me alone and so I'm left with the highly visible carol concerts, Christingles, school plays and the like  which in turn confirm my busyness. I'm never any more busy during the Christmas run in and what is before me is always, generally speaking, fun.

The most common assumption all year round is that weddings must be the 'best' bit and funerals (which is where the topic is often raised) must be the worst, or at least saddest, and therefore probably the 'worst' bit! Here, perhaps surprisingly for the many who present me with the, "I bet weddings are the best bit of the job, aren't they?" I have to say that that title would go to the funerals I conduct. This generally results in a bit of a shock and the question, "Really?"

One of the most amazing opportunities I have is that of making the experience of someone about to be in the same physical space with a loved one for the last time as positive and enjoyable (a word people often look shocked at) as it can be. If I can bring the person to life in anecdote and confirm the positives and demonstrate how the negatives we're part of the journey and therefore part of the person (without diminishing the person  making things a curse) and do all this with the opportunity for them to laugh, smile and remember the deceased - and in so doing create a service the deceased would enjoy being at (because they are, aren't they?)- then I've done it right.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy weddings, but they are a different animal and the connections made (regardless of how hard you work at them) are not the same as those made at a funeral.

The most common 'funny' assumption is that old chestnut which states hat we clergy only work one day a week, and that's Sunday. Of course, being a bit of a fundamentalist fanatic (a label I won after telling a churchwarden in a place I was visiting that he needed to be modelling Christ for the congaregatiin and the community of which he was a pillar) I have to tell them lthat, because of the fourth commandment, I never work on Sunday! Now that's an invitation to an interesting conversation for sure!

And I don't work on a Sunday - I worship - just as I have done on a Sunday for as long as I have realised my salvation lies in Jesus, the Christ, and called myself a Christian. Oddly, some of those I meet (including clergy) seem to think that being a cleric is a job and that when they have a Sunday off this means they don't have to go to church* - church on Sunday is not a workplace to be set free from, to see it as that is to forget that underneath it all we are all laos (The people of God) and reduce calling to nothing more than yet another job, albeit a job of a very different kind.

Perhaps that's why some of those I meet tell me of how they operate Office hours, answerphones going on outside of them, and how the Vicarage is their home and not a place that people should be visiting coming to engage with them.  Meanwhile I long for the days when the daily routine was walking (or in some other way covering) the patch and engaging with the people of the parish.

Ministry is about relationship and relationships are about people and underpinning, and overarching, that is the reconciled life in God the Father. enabled by the Holy Spirit, won for us by Jesus, the Christ.

So the real answer is all of it, all of the time - yes even at 2:30 in the morning when one of those in the patch who is mentally ill is having a crisis, because we stand with them as Christ stands with us - and who knows, they might just be an angel ;-)

So Lord, Thank You for today, the opportunities, the blessings and the challenges, keep them coming.

* I love holidays amd the opportunity to go worship somewhere different and, best bit for me, be on the  receiving end of a blessing.

More reasons to be cheerful

Another day done and I can reflect on more privilege-laden happenings:

The joy of engaging with those who are suffering from the debilitating effects of dementia; an awfulness in which the sea of confusion slowly comes in and leave less of the beach for the person to exist on until they are overwhelmed and lost in the waves. Yet, even when the tide has come in, the enagagement with those who are now all at see in the shape of the Eucharist, the surfacing of the person as the Lord's Prayer is recalled and said from a small reef amidst it all, the lights coming back on - drawing merely upon the past remembered or making connections because of the externally, never to be forgotten?

I know what I think :-)

And then more engagement with someone who mourns the loss of a loved one. The privilege of being asked to make special that last moment when a departed loved one is in the same physical place with them for one last time. Surely one of the most important roles a cleric can have as we seek to make sense of a life now ended and point to a hope made real, and realised, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.

An then there was the opportunity to discuss love and duty and to explain how 1 Corinthians speaks of a love that makes a habitation, a shelter, for the focus of that love in the storms of life. To join the dots such that we realise that love calls us to do what is right and that duty is merely the obverse side of thc coin we call love - and reflect on the reality that those who march away to protect strangers, in doing so, exhibit a greater love - one which may call on them to lay down their lives.

Add to this the usual round of conversations with funeral directors and people seeking simple answers to astounding questions; the challenges of seeing sin break lives and those broken merely seeing it as 'bad luck' - how do we explain that playing in the train track is likely to get you hit by a train and knowing the words 'sin, self and selfishness' all need to feature in the cast list at the end of the tragedy before you - and still restore them gently?

And yet, as ever, we manage it because to do it any other way would be to potentially cause us to stumble too!

Just a glimpse at a day where blessing and the Christ have been found in amazing quantities - another day when the privilege of a dogcollar and and ever-present, loving, God make bed a happy place to reflect on and look excitedly for the next day to come.

Lord - I love you!

The privileges of ministry

It's just after one in the morning and the day has come to a close - and as Wednesday makes its appearance I have to say that I can't express the joy and gratitude I have in my heart for an amazing week thus far.

Sunday rocked - an early communion with a bunch of faithful people saw us celebrate 'Christ the King'

The a change of venue and the amazing privilege of baptising someone and being part of the beginnings of their journey into the Christian faith (doing the START course with them being a joy indeed) and breaking bread with another wonderfully diverse bunch of people.

On to another service elsewhere before gathering in the town centre to do three performances of a  'Living Nativity' as part of the town's Christmas lights being switched on. The rain fell but the people stopped and in the midst of so much secular, Jesus was given space to remind people who the Christmas thing is all about - priceless opportunity or what?

And then another church and the final Communion of the day. 

Monday saw what must be one of the most joyful and complete funeral services I think I have conducted and to find yourself in a Crematorium with a bunch of happy, smiling people, in that setting, as final farewells are made and the word 'celebration' is made real in the light of the realised hope that is Jesus. That's something you cannot fail to smile at  and praise the God with whom I work for!

Today saw one of the most enjoyable, and energetic, school assemblies I have done for ages and as the buzz from that still echoed in my being I found the mood change and had the privilege of standing with one who has been bereaved and looked with them to the love of God and the hope that is made real in Jesus.

And as for today? Bed beckons and tomorrow (now today) will be another day of challenge, meeting new people, taking Communion into care homes and the homes of those who can no longer leave their own four walls, and much more besides I'm sure. There will be divine appointments and the opportunity to minister God's love made real in Jesus, the Christ, and His amazing sacrifice for us.

Ministry: A privilege and a joy - more than a job, it's a gift to those who do it and (I pray), a blessing to those on the receiving end of it.

Hallelujah or what?

Goodnight Lord, and thanks for an amazing day!

Mission Shaped Introduction

For the next six weeks, beginning tomorrow (Wednesday 23rd September), Tamworth will be hosting  a Mission Shaped Introduction course. This has to be one of the most impressively effective courses I have attended or delivered as we look at what 'mission' really means for those who call themselves Christian and for those who pass by the church buildings without a clue about what really goes on in them or the message they long to tell. 

This is a course which seeks to get us to think of the ways in which we can bring the Gospel into the lives of people where they are and when they are able to receive, and hopefully, live it for themselves.  

It is about thinking of new ways of being, and doing, Church: Often referred to as a 'Fresh Expression'. Which, for those who aren't sure about what a fresh expression is, here's my definition:

Christians coming together to live the Christian message in ways that those outside of the traditional (or inherited) church can understand and embrace. 

Basically it is: Christians 'doing church' for those who are not church.

Many people, when they hear the words 'fresh expression', if they have heard the term before, jump to the conclusion that this is 'Messy Church*' but in many cases they would be wrong because there are many more forms of fresh expression than that.

What we are actually talking about is planting new communities of Christians, these are what we usually refer to as 'church' and that can cause some real difficulties in the minds of some and the realities of others.

What the Church needs today is a combination of the older and 'established' expressions of church working together with newer 'fresh' expressions to build a Christian community across our villages, towns and cities. We call this a 'mixed economy' model. What we are doing is creating new churches to work with the old: The problem is that some think that we are merely creating something to bring people into the church that the new church came out of - here's an example:

St Blogspots, residing in it's wonderful Norman building, offers Messy Church' to the people around them. The project goes well and by its first anniversary there are eighteen families coming to the services and it is beginning to develop its own identity and character. Just after the first birthday celebrations one of the PCC members asks when those who come to Messy Church will be seen in the 'proper' services and is more than a little disgruntled to be told that they quite like will never come. "What's the point of us paying for it if they're not going to come in to our (declining) services," they ask - And they ask that because what they thought the PCC had agreed to sponsor was 'Messy Evangelism', something that would bring people into their services! 

Whilst some of those who come to the fresh expression might indeed come to services in the sponsoring church (or one of the sponsoring churches if sponsored by a Churches Together group) the reality is that what you are hoping for is, like any parent; for the child to mature and become an independent adult with a good relationship with them.

There are many views regarding the venue of these fresh expressions and all of them are right and yet many of them are also perhaps just a little wrong too. Here's are some attitudes I have encountered to reflect upon:

i  If we 'do' the fresh expression in our church building that makes it ours.
Our service, our people, OUrs, do you hear me, OURS! (you can add a maniacal wahahaha if you wish!)

ii. If you 'do' the fresh expression in a different building (venue) then we just have to wait until they are led into the church that gave them the money to do it!
After all, we paid for it and so it is ours.

iii. If we do a 'fresh expression' then we might lose some of the members of our own church to it (and the subtext here is that they are already losing member) so surely it's better to keep those we have rather than send them off to start their own thing. The should be committed to ours.

iv.  if we do a fresh expression and it is successful it could become more popular than our church and they'd soon forget that we are the parent and they are the 'daughter*' church - they might take the place in the hearts of the community that is by virtue of the time we've been here, ours!

v. If we did a fresh expression and it took off and worked and attracted young people and those who have never come to church that would be great. What a privilege to have been part of birthing a new Christian community here. We long for the day when we can have like-minded partners working together for the Gospel in fellowship together.

We find thinking like this because we are all human and struggle when the places we cherish are also struggling. Our desire to see Christ proclaimed can sometimes be tempered and even chilled by our desire for stability and maintenance of the familiar - and with the right mindset and actions both of those can be achieved without being limited as Church or as a person. This course is a remedy and a spur to achieve great things for God (and be blessed as well).

This is what the Mission Shaped Introduction (and the fuller course which may follow on) is all about. So here are detail of our MSI course:

And if you can't attend ours, then ask your Vicar / Pastor / Minister about running one in your church, deanery, Churches Together group

or contact Fresh Expression by clicking HERE

* Messy Church is a fantastic coming together of people as a church in its own right. It is attractive to families, accessible for all ages and fun - and there's often a meal and a chance for real engagement and encounter: Just like the early Church. It is about creating a new structure, not a tunnel into the church that might have started it off as a means of bringing people into their building (that's Messy Evangelism).

* 'Daughter church' - a term far too often used to point to a church that is inferior or subservient and under the control of, or at least looked down upon by, the 'Mother Church'. We should have partners and flat structures in church (and that works both ways for those in churches founded by an older parish church).

Ministering or Administrating?

Public health warning: Rant and soapbox ahead - may appear nuts!

Yesterday I had the misfortune to find myself at the hands of the facile observer, the sort of person who looks at someone with their arms crossed and proclaims them to be defensive because they once read something somewhere (back of a cereal packet perhaps?) that said that and the making of this 'knowledge' theirs has made them an expert! 

I am sure you know the type - the sort of person who issues the trite statement as if they were bringing forth tablets of stone written from on high (my least favourite is the person who utters the awful, 'Assume makes an Ass of you and me!' epigram). I'm sure those who read this will know someone who matches the photofit I am creating.

But, for me at least, the thing that disturbs me most is the retreat of those who should be winning souls and proclaiming Jesus, the Christ, into spreadsheets, flowcharts, organograms (AKA organisation charts) and the like seem to be turning ministers in to administrators. 

I engage with people who were pastoral and up close and personal with people who have become distant and working in personnel (Human Resource Management [HRM] rather than Human Resource Development [HRD]) and this is wrong. HRM manages people - HRD develops them (or so I was taught when doing that sort of thing). One checks attendance and sickness and disciplinary stuff whilst the other seeks to equip and enable people to do the job well. The problem is that all around me I see little passion for people or development but loads for administration and meetings; parameters, guidelines and reviews being the order of the day! (aaaaargh!!!)

I find people who should be ensuring that the church they are in and the Church around them is singing from the same song sheet but instead they are carried away by spreadsheets instead. Rather than call upon God they call yet another interminably boring meeting and try to arrange the deckchairs on a ship which is destined to sink when what is really needed is the services of a pilot who will help us plot a course through, or away form, the icebergs and potential perils before us!

I am an evangelist, pastor and a (lightweight) theologian by calling, nature and passion. I love people, the excite me and stimulate me to say, do and be things I might never have imagined. The Gospel is the fire in my belly and the desire to see people live life at the fullest and be the best they can be is something that fires me up and keeps me mad (was going to say 'sane' but realise how many there are who might just disagree with that).

I am an Anglican priest because I believe in the Church of England I have found an expression of Church, a denomination,  with so very much going for it. Our liturgy is biblical, our worship* is at times sublime and our consideration of the whole of the Bible (thanks to the lectionary) all-encompassing and enabling and our traditions and practices generally spot on (or at least somewhere near).

So as I go to break bread and pour out wine I will issue this plea from a lowly, probably inadequate in most departments, cleric to all who minister (lay or ordained):

+ Put aside the management speak, the spreadsheets, flowcharts, organograms and the like.

+ Stop planning for grow and instead preach the Gospel, build authentic Church and enjoy growth** instead.

+ Regain the gift of being a minster of the Gospel (and we all are called to be ministers by virtue of being baptised so this is something that applies to us all) and pick up your Bible and read; fall to your knees and pray - asking, thanking and praising; sing God's praise and make a joyful (even if not tuneful perhaps) noise.

Let's bring the Church back to the place it should be as the different, counter-cultural, voice in the wildness of today's frenzied society.

Or you carnage another business meeting to ponder over the BOPs and the Share and other really important stuff - but as you do yet another SWOT*** analysis ask yourself whether you are the 'S' column or the 'W' insofar as Church and discipleship and 'doing the stuff' is concerned.

We need to be good managers - don't think I'm not saying that - but most of all we need to be passionate, informed and focussed Christians who are managing their spiritual households.

Are we?

*Worship: Not just the music! Anglican worship is the words and the music, the liturgy guides our work and the music gives a chance to sing spiritual songs, the prayers are more than 'gimme' moments for this too is worship. Worship is a multi-faceted, multidimensional and exciting thing: all encompassing and life-enabling in itself.

** Growth: When asked by a senior clergy person about growth recently my response was, 'I'm hoping you mean growth in the spiritual sense.' Sadly they meant it in the sense  of BOPS (Bums on Pews) and so, sadly, it continues :-(

*** SWOT: Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat. You make a list of the four categories and see where to applaud, where to be worried and where you need to work to survive and to grow. A really useful, although just a little hackneyed, way of getting people to think. But it works when used lightly and intelligently.

So What do you Do all day?

This is one of those 'funny' comments that grace my life every so often and I guess that, not being in any way unique (whilst being unique in every way!), others in the clergy are blessed with the same comments too!

It's an odd thing but when this particular cleric steps into the dressing up shop and become 'Rev Ben' rather than 'Mr Ben'. Of course I'm assuming you know who Mr Ben is - in case you don't, let me set you straight. Mr Ben was a great cartoon character from the seventies who would visit a 'dressing up' shop where he would 'dress up' and have great adventures - these days I have come to realise that it called 'ordination'!

Today has been pretty much extraordinary in the way that it has been so amazingly ordinary and yet, as is almost always the case, so extremely special.

By the close of play today this day will have seen me engaged in:

+ a communion service where we ran out of seats and just kept adding them.

+ an opportunity to meet with lots of really lovely people and just enjoying spending time with them listening to their stories, laughing at their jokes and getting involved with them and being 'real'.

+ taking communion out to people who are no longer able to come in to the church building and be 'Church' - so 'Church' comes to them and the relationship with Jesus, the Christ, the lone(ly) Christian and the Lord (through the Eucharist) is once again celebrated and made incarnate!

+ helping people make sense of the loss of a loved one and help them to plan one last opportunity for them and their loved one to physically be in the same place.

+ being the voice of reason and reconciliation as broken people, and relationship, are brought back into one and healing, forgiveness and love gently collide.

+ being the Christian presence as members of a uniformed youth organisation parade and spend time together as cadets.

+ planning the funeral of a young person whose loss is painful and unfair for all who are involved and confusing for those who assumed that 'three score and ten' were the norm'. Death of a young person, especially when this natural act is down to natural causes, brings a sadness all of its own and raises many questions where God, and the person representing Him, need to 'man up' and take the questions on the chin without evasion or flinching.

Add to this the usual round of emails, telephone calls and the like and you get to realise that what your average Vicar does requires anything but an average response. Mix in a little paperwork (and there's always paperwork to be done) and the picture is complete.

So a request for those who have a Vicar, Pastor, Leader, Whateveryoucallthem, in your expression of Church.

Please pray for those who are engaged in the pastoral role that they will:

i. Never lose sight of the high calling that they have to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and minister His love to all that they meet; Christian, theist and atheist.

ii. Never see those they engage with as anything other than the image of the invisible God made visible and, with that in mind, give them the time, love and respect that this deserves.

iii. Remember that the role is done WITH God as partners and friends rather than work colleagues or employee and Employer. We live with God first and foremost as brothers and sisters rather than mere co-workers; a reality that is borne of relationship and sacrifice on God's part.

iv. Never forget that there are others within their own family who have a right, and a call, upon their time and that balance is always the key (especially when unbalance is the reality).

Pax

More than 'Just a service' - Funerals

Again I have been reminded of just how wonderful it is, and how amazingly privileged I am, to be involved in the ministry of conducting funerals. For although people often look at me as if I have a screw missing when I tell them that, 'Funerals are the best bit of my job,' but this is the God's honest truth.

I don't think we can do anything more meaningful and important than to ensure that the last opportunity to be in the same place as a loved one is made as positive and as smooth as possible, especially in these days when we don't seem to grieve or mourn as well as we used. I meet some people who fail to grieve in any meaningful or restorative manner such that, as witnessed by the death of Princess Diana, when tragedy strikes elsewhere - all the pent up grief is expended in one outpouring. An outpouring that is rarely proportionate or healthy.

One of the tasks of the minister is to point to the (realised) hope that we have in Jesus, the Christ, and as we do this we assist those who mourn to celebrate the life of their loved one; laughing and celebrating where it is appropriate and weeping where it is inevitable and (and it is) essential. The problem is that often, listening to the service before that which I am to do,  what I hear is still plaster sainted, wrongly placed and plaster removing deliveries.

I reckon every funeral takes (at least) a day of work from first encounter to the end of the service and there have been some that stretch this beyond that (especially when there's travel involved). Looking at the year thus far I can confidently say that funerals have taken up over a quarter of 2014 and so, as I reflect on a year almost passed' a plea:

Please remember that a funeral service, be it church, graveside or crematorium, is something really important and much more than, "Half an hour at the Crem!" ( as one person dismissed it).

The energy and engagement, the emotional demand placed on the minister and the intellectual  challenges - where wisdom, gentle guidance and finely honed counselling skills are all demanded - is something to be understood and supported by church members. Supported by prayer and understanding that when people find themselves in a place where they need a neighbour - the neighbour that is Church and the hope that is the Christ, is our primary and of the utmost important role.

Funerals - not a service but a ministry where we come alongside the bereaved - truly an opportunity to make resurrection and parakletos (the 'coming alongside' that is the hallmark of the Holy Spirit) a reality in the life of those with a need.

Oh, you wanted me to do it!

An intriguing conversation in progress at the moment where one person has taken on a role in the church and the expectations and assumptions of them, the dog collar and the members are all rather disconnected and the body that is Church is rather disjointed. All in all it's rather reminiscent of a lecture I had whilst learning the role of an Industrial engineer where the lecturer brought the 'self made man' into the equation.

"The problem with many 'self made' managers is that many of them have put themselves together without any manual or construction guide and if what they do works in and shape, size or form then the assumption that they're got it right is enough to keep them repeating their mistakes until they, you, or the organisation dies!"

The real problem appears to be that those who do stuff in a Church setting are rarely properly trained to do whatever it is that they do - even when they are the problem exists in that those who do are rarely told what is expected and how they are expected to do it - and this might well be the problem with the person I'm conversing with.

Consider the hypothetical situation whereby someone takes on the role of feeding, watering and generally caring for a church's Gerbils. Now they do this on behalf of the dogcollar, the person who normally cared for the Gerbil (being charged to do so when they were licensed to the church) so that the dog collar can move away from Gerbil husbandry and move on to other more pressing needs within the Church; a situation that finds its parallels in the creation of deacons in the early Church (see the book of acts).

Now all goes well at first and the 'Gerbillator' waters, feeds and keeps the dear little creatures happy and content whilst the dogcollar goes of to do whatever it is that they've been freed up to do. A few weeks pass and there are reports that all is not well with the Gerbils; so the dogcollar pops by and casually takes a look at the situation. The reports are true and indeed the Gerbils are unhappy and generally just a little uncared for.

"This is all your fault," cry the Friends of the Gerbils, "You're the Vicar, and you've let us all down - we are unhappy and all feeling uncared for!"

The poor old dogcollar, taking it on the chin, issues a 'mea culpa' and changes the straw, feeds the Gerbils that remain and mutters apologies to all who hear (and they do!) of the poor animal husbandry on offer at St Funtzbuckets by the Green. They are universally acknowledged as b
'being poor'  - the woeful goings make for a very sad situation indeed.

A few days later our hapless dog collar bumps into the 'Gerbillator' who is full of smiles and wearing their Gerbil Minister Badge with pride. Upon asking how things are going (knowing full well that they are perhaps a little out of control already) the dog collar is stunned to hear that all is going 'wonderfully well' as the keeper of the Gerbils has been away on an eight-week cruise around the world!

Out comes a bundle of photographs of the places visited and the meals consumed and for dessert the comment is made that some of the members are quite concerned about the Gerbils and the care they have received from the church (which of course means the dog collar)!

So, taking courage in both hands, the dog collar remarks, "But that's your area of responsibility!"
The response is one that every person who dares to delegate fears: "Yes, but I've been busy doing my own thing haven't I?"

Now, unless some church I know nothing of does have Gerbils, this is hopefully a safe portrayal of the conversation I have been having. My friend is stuck somewhere up a gum tree because at the end of the day they are indeed responsible for the delivery of whatever has in my story become Gerbils!

The reality is that what should have been done has not and at the end of the day and in the final analysis (and all those other great expressions) - the blame lies quite squarely at the dogcollars feet (but should 'blame' ever be part of Church I have to ask - another thought for another day!).

The problem is that we are entering the world of 'can't live with them - can't function without them' and this is where it gets interesting.

My friend has encountered this before and when they tried to address it the previous Gerbillator left in high dudgeon because 'too much was expected' of them. Not only that but supporters of both the Gerbils and the Gerbillator also left because of the poor care exhibited and the way their friend (the Gerbillator) was treated - going off to the promised land, a place of straw and water (milk and honey don't do it for Gerbils you know), and overflowing Gerbil nuts (the food, not the characteristics of the congregation - mind you, now I think of it ....).

So some pleas:

If you take on a role, discharge it as well as you can - make sure you have what you need to do the job and if you decide to take a world cruise (or just go to Blackpool for the week) please let those who need to know that you're not doing whatever it is that you're supposed to be doing so they can arrange cover (or you could do that yourself) and make sure that no Gerbils are injured during the making of that thing called Church!

If you happen to be a leader in Church - please make sure you keep a weather eye on the things happening (or perhaps not happening) on your patch - it might upset those who are doing stuff (but it is NOT 'checking up on them) but it will avoid the mea culpa situations later. It's good to do regular chats and have staff meetings and the like but it's the stuff you find out from others (usually as they're leaving) that speaks loudest.

AND

If you're doing something and it's going wrong - or perhaps you're not doing stuff and that's why it's going wrong - switch on the grey matter and talk to the dog collar, not the rest of the blessed Church, because the minister, not those around you, need to know there's a need to be resolved - it's called being team.

Now - when my friend reads this will they show it to their Gerbillator I wonder?

So this Vicar come up to me and says: Hip Hop

This should have turned up on Friday - but some deep (and challenging) issues cropped up to get in the way - so instead it's a 'start the week' offering:

Making the ALL in all-member ministry real!

One regular topic for conversation (when it's not funerals) is that of making 'all-member ministry' mean what it says!

The conversations can be condensed into two distinct categories (the first being perhaps the most ironic):

Laity who won't share the toys

Clergy who won't share the toys

On the surface it seems that those who are 'doing the stuff' are unwilling to share that role but it's not quite as simple as that. Let's look at some of the tales and hopefully the increase in understanding will start to clear the log jams. We will do a story a day -

Story the first
In one church there was a strong lay ministry group (they were not lay ministers in the 'authorsied ministry' sense) with areas of responsibility for various of the areas within the church (pastoral, prayer, music, teaching, evangelism, etc.). This group regarded themselves to effectively cover all the roles of the Vicar (with the exception of Communion) and they saw themselves as running the church.

Had we the privilege of looking at the minutes of their monthly meeting we would have found that whilst the Sunday service happened, little else did! In reality this group was largely ineffective in terms of anything other than keeping the lights on. Those who came forward, especially those who were not part of the power base that was the team, were sent empty away with various reasons (for there was always a reason) given for the fact that they couldn't join in the ministry.

Of course the reality was that although these people were doing little, they had the power and were not going to give it up or even share it! (The first of our reasons for impotent all-member ministry)

A church member, who we will call 'A', came to see the person responsible for prayer in the church and told them how they felt God was calling them to lead intercessions and be someone who was engaged in the prayer ministry of the church. This request was met with a refusal on the grounds that they needed to be trained before they could do that.

Not to be put off 'A' asked what the training was and when they might be able to do it only to be met with the response that, 'The course hadn't been created  yet, but when they had, they'd let them know!' And so the prayer area was once again safe from the incursion of 'unapproved' members and the power remained where it was.

Some time later, when people were praying for one another in the service, the prayer leader came up to 'A' (who was praying for someone) and stopped them because they were not permitted to do that!

Now, I am assured that there were no spiritual reasons, no obvious sin, no chequered history or any other impediment that caused this person to be stopped - it was all about power and authority!

Not long after this episode the minister of the church left, leaving the 'team' to maintain their position of power, and the people to be dominated by them.

The happy note to this story is that the new minister came in and after a few twists and turns 'A' was encouraged to lead the intercessions during the service - and they were amazing. Their prayers matched the sermon and readings and touched people greatly.

Now this story speaks volumes of the faithfulness of 'A' in that they continued in the church and patiently waited until the call to be a prayer in the church was recognised, encouraged and released.

It speaks of the potential for those engaged in an area of ministry, and perhaps especially for those who see themselves as 'leaders'*, to seek to make it their possession and the means by which they are given power and authority.

It fires a warning shot across the bows of those who lead and those who volunteer. The minister, resigned to the fact that the exclusive clique that was the leadership team were running an exclusive and almost totalitarian state within the church, left them to do what they did with the service because it was the path of least resistance which brought the minimum of conflict. (our second point in this journey!)

I'll leave you to think about this scenario - and welcome any anecdotes, observations and learning points from you.

Happy Thursday

* I have met many who want to be 'up front' and to be applauded and recognised - even fostering the dream that one day they will be the doyen of thousands, out there and being applauded for their sterling ministry and shining life - the problem is that what they brought was valid, worthy and potentially beneficial to the Church, but was self-serving rather than seeking to serve Christ. This is a challenge to us all to examine ourselves and our reasons to be offering ourselves for ministry. As ever we return to one question: Who am I doing this for?

Why (and for whom) are we doing 'church' ?

It seems to me that regardless of who you are the time comes when we need to stop and ask ourselves those vital question: 'Why am I doing it?' and 'Who am I doing it for?'

Recently I have encountered situations where these questions needed to be asked and they needed to be asked of those who 'minister' (with and without dogcollars), regular and irregular attender and even, perhaps especially, those who don't come too!

It seems to me that the answer to the first question, at least in the case of those who profess to be Christian, goes something like this:

1. Because it's Biblical
2. Because it upholds Biblical standards (if it's not to be found explicitly)
3. Because it's the right thing to do (includes 1 and 2)
4. Because it blesses, edifies and builds (and fits with 1to 3)
5. Because it makes us live, look and think like Jesus (fits 1 to 4)
6. Because I want to help others understand and grow and have 1-5
6. Because I want to do it because of points 1 to 6

Where I have struggled is that place where I find myself with people who claim to be Christians who manage to miss some, or even all, of the points above. Of course this simplifies the answer to the 'Who am I doing it for?' question because the answer is obvious - they're doing it for themselves!
Mind you, the reality is that often they don't have the honesty, integrity or courage to give that answer. Stop for a moment and ask yourself who you, if you are Christian*, do things for. The answer might be multipart for often the first answer is different to the reality. The options I've recently encountered (which might mean stated or concealed) have been:

1. I'm doing it for God but Family/work/hobby make me do something else!

(AKA the 'Someone else excuse')

2. I'm doing it for God but don't have the time to give what I would like to
3. I'm doing it for God - is there anything else I can do to help?
4. I'm doing it for God and noticed this needed doing!
5. I'm doing it for God and noticed that there's more you could be doing (combine with 2)
6. I'm doing it for God and know exactly how church should be done

(just don't expect me to be there or do it - I'll merely point stuff out and criticise!)

7. I'm doing it for me - it's all about me, me, myself! (can be accompanied by maniacal laugh)

In case you think I'm wrong (and of course I could be +) here are a few examples from real life (across a variety of church groupings and denominations) so you can make up your own mind:

A. The people who have wanted to preach or lead but were annoyed that God got the applause not them - after all it's all about them being 'leaders' and up front

B. The people who have changed the way services were done because they didn't like the theology or the format or the music or the .... (add your own bit) - because it's about me being happy not about the people who have come for years and the place they're in (innit?).

C. The people who were always ready to complain about the things they didn't like, demanding change, but were never willing to actually offer to do anything themselves - because 'church' has to meet their needs (often they didn't know what they were, but they wanted it to satisfy them).

D. The people who come infrequently and complain that they don't feel at home (no surprise there) and they don't like the changes the new people have brought (because we have to keep it ready to please them whenever they decide to visit) and wish the children would be 'kept under control' and long for the days when 'church was done properly'.

E. The people who come when there's nothing on the box and Dobbie's (a garden centre) aren't doing a cheap tea and scone and discount day on a Sunday - because after all, it's about picking the best entertainment available to them.

F. The person who comes and prays and stays to help and comes back again to help with the Kid's Club and comes again and does it stuff the next day and the next and the next and the next - Yeah that's a '3 & 4' from the second list!!!

G. The people who comes almost every Sunday and ensures that even when holidays arrive the minimum of Sundays are missed because they want to be there - church is an important part of their life and they live in ways that make that obvious.

So there we are - take a look at the person in the mirror and see how the two questions are answered by them and then play the game with others and see where they sit on the scale. I was amazed when I tried this with a bunch of people who thought themselves to be the movers and shakers - the power base of their local church - and yet by the time I finished realised that they were not and this perhaps explained the difficulties the church in question was having.

All of them were out for whatever it was that made church what they wanted - and yet oddly, although some were great at loading guns and pointing them - few had the courage (or application) to get out and do what was needed to make the church fly!

A challenge indeed :-)

(or as one colleague said when discussing this - 'Too provocative - better to just get on and do it yourself - less stress and hassle!')

Pax

* 'Christian' is a variable rather than constant for many I meet who claim this label appear to be anything but for a myriad number of reasons!

+ But I have to add that I'm not (wrong that is!!!) ;-)

Eternity - Where will you spend it?

Here's a little discussion starter (number one in a series of three):

This is, for most people, the pivotal question  - yet sadly it is a question that I find is increasing asked less and less by those who consider themselves to be 'Church'. The reason for this is often because we ('Church') fear that we might be regarded as judgemental should we challenge the attitudes, lifestyles and behaviour of others.

I am increasingly being told that we ('Church') don't have the right to challenge others - and not all of those doing the telling are to be found outside of the Church or the walls of the buildings that house them. And you know what? Those who tell me that I 'don't have the right ' to challenge are absolutely correct, for we ('Church') don't - we have the duty and that's more compelling.

But the problem is that we want to be popular - you remember 'popular'? This is the mechanism by which we refrain from admonishing behaviour that stands opposed to that which God tells us is the best option for us. We applaud 'choice' even when we can see that the logical outcome of that choice is something less than the best for them that take it. We retreat into an impotent faith that meekly proclaims that, 'God wants everyone to be happy' (regardless of the path taken or the place that it leads) and avoids passing any opinion that might be unpopular.

If confronted, this Christianity merely smiles, changes the subject or nods and says nothing at all! It works on the premise, 'If you can't say nothing popular then don't say nothing at all*!'

After all, as another minister recently told me, 'Saying nothing condemns no one.'

The problem is that my colleague (not an Anglican) and their words are wrong because in fact they and the person they failed to warn both stand condemned. Let's put it another way:

If a car mechanic knows that the brakes are potentially dangerous and send the car out with your family in it and the fail, killing them all, would you consider the mechanic responsible for the deaths?

If you considered the mechanic to be guilty would you consider them to be even worse because they knew of the potential for loss of life and did nothing about it, allowing the passengers in the car to continue on their way with the potential for death hanging over them and yet doing nothing to even warn them?

If you answered 'Yes' to either (or both) of those questions then you know how God views us when we sit and smile or nor and say nothing. He will view us in the same way you've just regarded our fictitious mechanic!

And taking it a step further: If the mechanic told you (in their defence) that they didn't warn them of the potential for something fatal because they didn't want to upset the passengers, would you consider this to be a viable defence or merely something that condemned them further?

When we see people with the potential (or even the reality) for death, perhaps not immediate but at some stage, yet we do nothing about it - and when they end up dead (because of the situation we did nothing to warn them about, that's how God will regard us too!

* a corruption of the words of St Thumper of Bambi - it's not just the Bible that gets rewritten I'm afraid!

Lichfield Diocese - Going for Growth

Lichfield Diocese have taken a look at the 'Going for Growth' themes that has been with us for a few years now and although we are being encouraged to 'use words' elsewhere, what we have is a graphic representation for the five themes.

This is an exciting and valuable way of communicating the themes and of signposting and making the ministry opportunities and our missional engagement immediately visible.

The logos are: