Be careful - people are watching

It always comes down to choices doesn't it?

The choice to bless or curse, to believe or reject, to do right or do wrong.

The choices we make always have an influence on others and all too often it seems that ‘Church’ (that collective of voices and attitudes) knows more about what it dislikes than what it believes. ‘The Church’ excels at making choices without thinking what it communicates to the rank and file believer and the world outside it. We speak and the God we claim to follow becomes the God we represent and speak for.

A few weeks back, sitting in a local pub, engaged in conversation, we found ourselves discussing the Church. “The problem with the Church is that it is stuck in the past,”said one of the people present. I could only say I wished it was, especially if that past was the Church in the book of Acts. As the discussion continued another person chipped in with the observation that the past the Church was stuck in the fifties. “Church is only concerned with the ‘high and mighty’ whilst ignoring ordinary folk,” said another.

As I tried to explain the realities of the Christian witness that is the church (the local expression of Christians together where I am) as I know it to be today I found myself wading through a raft of views which positively acknowledged my position yet railed at Church and what it stood for or was perceived to be. Distant stand offish clergy who were desperate to get people into their churches with its irrelevant message telling the people around them how they stood for whatever it was that would win approval.

“The Vicars I’ve met are like politicians. They’ll say whatever you want to hear to get you in,” said one of the more animated. “But you’re not like that,” they added as they sought to ease the pain and be kind.

No matter how much they acknowledged the work and ministry we were doing, the sticking point was ‘Church’ as they perceived it to be. Perceptions shaped and affirmed by the press, the clergy (the dogcollar makes us both spokesperson and model) and anecdotal tales. They generally liked the things they thought Jesus said but they just didn’t like ‘Church’ and didn't know enough Christians to make ‘church’ real for them.

What my conversations with the world regarding Church tell me is that it is out of touch with it. Our attempts to appear in and with it don’t only look fake but also make us look absurd. We are regarded like a Vicar we had in our town in the late sixties who, donning a chunky pullover got a guitar (with rainbow guitar strap) and called everyone ‘man’ and became a figure of gentle ridicule!

Of late I’ve been accused of being part of an intentional deceit. The guilt was by association rather than commission, but that didn’t stop it stinging!

We're too desperate and so we look to recruit ‘ethnic minorites’ so we can parade them to remove the charge that Church is predominantly white. Across the globe the Anglican Church is definitely not a white majority group.

Church is generally too old and so we look to young vocations in the hope this will change the PR and see them (as one person put it) like ‘Judas sheep’ who will lead the young into our church buildings.

We engage in sexual politics which affirm lifestyles, gender issues (which confuse gender and sex and uses the words as if they were one and the same) and approve of just about anything that crosses our paths with the mantra that ‘Jesus just wants us to be happy’. Actually the truth is that Jesus wants us all to be holy.

The Christian Church has always been inclusive - today we have the danger that we are making it permissive in our attempts to attract people. We have always welcomed people to ‘come as they are’ in the realisation that having met with God they will leave different.

I pray for vocations to be explored and encouraged in all of God’s people that all might fulfil their baptismal calling. I struggle as I find some people groups highlighted and sought out to the apparent detriment of other groups. I am frustrated when someone obviously called is restricted because they will have passed the age of fifty by the time ordination occurs. I despair when the reason for this is given as “Best use of our financial resources.” Ageism appears to be one of the very real problems the Church has today and the view that only the young can win the young denies the experiences I have had over the years.

The reality is that we are making choices which lead us to think we are dressed to win people and build Church whilst the world gazes upon our nakedness and laughs at us as we reinvent the story of the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ in our own context/

I’ve scribbled this as part of the scratchpad and a memory dump this blog is. I do it to stimulate and help me dialogue internally (and externally as I talk with God and other people) as I look to move forward. If you stumble across it, I hope it helps you in your context, and I welcome comments and discussion for this can only (generally speaking) be helpful.

Church us about welcoming all who are ‘far off’ and the realities are this:

‘Nothing we’ve been, nothing we’ve seen, nothing we’ve done, or will do. Nothing future, present or past can ever separate us from the love of God’

AND

‘Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore them gently. But be careful to make sure that you do not fall into sin correcting them.
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.’

Simple innit?

Journal: Give me just a little more time

Looking like a very interesting month as the number of funeral services keep on growing! Monday saw a ninety-five year old lead me to the Crem' on a motorcycle hearse - a life of military service celebrated - a good day's work indeed.

Looking up I realise that there are still eleven funeral services involving church, Crem' and graveyard before the month's end - how cool is that?

It's a month with new challenges as I look towards Saturday and speaking at a men's breakfast, the following week I'm doing a talk at a dinner and have a couple of other interesting things like it suddenly pencilled in too! Perhaps I need to stop losing weight so I can become a big fat movie star!!

The month has been tinged with sadness as friends from church have left us. Our beloved Ivy has gone, Larry is no longer with us, Michael has finally succumbed after a long and valiant fight and Brian is with us no longer - having had a tough end to it all. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

It's a sad thing but having worked in, and with, teams most of my working life I have to say that the one place I have never really found a true collegiality is in the Church. I pray for the churches in our town and consider many to be, if not friends, acquaintances - but the standing together and working for one another such as is found in the engineering world has not been a defining or enduring reality.

I've realised that in recognition of this I am slowly slipping away from the opportunities to engage in shared nothingness - I really can't be bothered with the dissipation and the game-playing, life's too short and the task is so big. It's not that I want people to do things my way; I merely want them to do!

I saw someone I know this week and whilst I'd usually stop and engage with them, this week I realised that they'd been part of Church and had now, passing fad passed, moved in to their next passion of the moment. It was at that moment that I thought, "I don't have the time for this!" and so, praying for them as I went, left them in the distance without them noticing I'd ever been there and carried on to do the task in hand. My presence only seems to cause them embarrassment so it was a win-win outcome I guess: But it is tinged with a sadness that leaves a dent on the paintwork.

It is always sad when people you think are with you prove to be no different that the Christian heroes of the Bible. They deny you at the point when things are troubled in the same way Peter did in a courtyard and like the old Lone Ranger joke where surrounded by a screaming horde he turn to his native Indian companion and says, "Just you and me against all these," hears the words, "what do you mean 'you and me' white man?"

Lots wife told him to 'curse God and die' because she wouldn't go with him - a bitter integrity we sometimes lack in the world of Church.

The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church of Christ - we will leave that to the Christians :-)

Lord, thank You for the privilege and challenge of Church,
Help us to stand as one and to have an integrity that takes the world's breath away.
To be different through the love we share,
To be courageous and honest,
To be loving and kind,
To follow You and never to count the cost.
Make me, make us, more like You.

Journal: A green day

Today was taken up with pastoral things and green things as I found myself in a couple of locations talking to people about ethical, morals and the values and standards that define us and our nation.

Would that the world and the Church embrace the same Values and Standards of the British armed forces. (remembered by the mnemonic CDRILS).

Courage: Moral and physical
Discipline: Self and imposed discipline
Respect: For others and for oneself
Integrity: WYSIWYG - are you/we what we tell people we are?
Loyalty: All found in that one word really
Selfless Commitment: Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friend

As I look at new recruits as they make their first contact with the military and begin their first day of training I wonder what they will look like when they pass off the square at the end of it all.

As I look at the Church I see what I fear most in the world as fewer and fewer of the Values and Standards are upheld and more and more people tell me what Church should be in their, often puffed up and dismissive of others, view.

One thing the Church is becoming is certainly not a mighty army. Is it any wonder that so many speak of decline when the world has so infected the Bride of Christ? It seems the grace and love that saw it grow became ingpfected by the leaven of power and politics under the Holy Roman Empire and the death knells are being rung by those who wish to see the world and Church become one - but not in an evangelistic sense - tragic.

As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Father God, the Bride of Christ has taken on the mantle of Gomer and now sleeps with others in the name of integrity and inclusiveness and yet displaying duplicitous and exclusivity. Mutual flourishing  has become a pot of wilting flowers detached from the plant such that eventually both will surely wither and die. Many I talk with share things in secret for fear of being outed as dissenting voices and  merely remain silent. The conditions by which women were given their pointy hats have been trampled down and there is no shame apparent.

Lord, have mercy upon us and renew a right spirit within us, Your Church.

Forgive us Lord, for we know exactly what we do,

Saint's Days: Fake News

Once upon a time, in a land of volcanoes and dragons, lived a Viking Chief by the name of Trump the Newsslayer. Trump was named after the Viking tradition of noting the first response of the Father upon seeing the new addition to the family. Oxblood the Great's father slew an ox in his son's honour. Rollo was named after his Father passed around a tune of chocolate toffees in celebration. Erik the Red - well his dad just painted the town red and partied for days. But sadly, for Newsslayer, his Father having partied hard during the labour merely stood and emitted noxious fumes at the news.

And so it was done!

Trump was a man who instilled fear in many of the people around him and eschewing the words found in the book of Ecclesiastes in one of the Bibles his forebears had removed from an Island on the East coast during one of their conquests, he treasured the songs of fools and the approbation of the weak-minded rather than the company of the wise.

But his name was made, not by slaying dragons nor by his good words or actions, but by engagement with 'fake news' wheresoever it might be found - even creating it where none was to be found so that the challenges could be laid down. From Bowling Greens and their tragedies through to awful non-happenings on the shores of the Viking lands - Trump's voice was heard!

And although rape, loot and pillaging had gone out of fashion across the globe, the poor were still fair game (especially when so many of them perhaps foolhardily followed him) and the rich and wealthy (of whom ironically, he was one) were a good target against whom to mobilise the rabble and appear valiant.

Suffice to say - 'Fake News' was never eradicated - in fact so much of the contemporaneous writings of the Newsslayer's time describe something rotten not in the state of Denmark but in the town of Washing (aptly named because over the years that it existed there had been  much whitewashing and washing of dirty linen to be found there).

So today - as we remember that martyr to the truth - the irrepressible saint of fake news and the opponent of so many - let us offer up a prayer in his honour:

Trump the Newsslayer

Loving Lord, Living Word, 

Today as we remember Trump.

Fill our words with wisdom, 

May our keystrokes be struck with honesty and integrity. 

May we pursue those who misrepresent the truth,

And hear the voices that need be heard over the noise of deceit,

Keep us faithful to the the goals of justice, mercy, and humility,

And strengthen us to overcome obstacles, 

And withstand the chattering and posturing noise of fools,

In the Name of the Living God. Amen.

ps. Apologies to real Vikings and their descendants everywhere ;-)

pps. Watch out for the many great stories in the 'Annals of Trump' (Coming soon)

It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of fools; this also is vanity.

Journal: walk on by

"The things we walk past without comment, turning our gaze away, are the things we give approval to."

This was very much one of the stand out comments of the day for me. We all too often ignore the things that we know are wrong and yet, away from the event or person, decry the actions we have silently permitted to happen. Just as our nation is policed by consent, to too do bad people act by consent - event when those around them give it tacitly by looking the other way.

One of the biggest criticisms I attract relates to getting involved. "Ignore it, it has nothing to do with you," people tell me, but if I ignore it then the wrong stuff will continue to happen, won't it?

Someone caught 'in a sin' should be restored 'gently' - for to act in any other way might cause us to sin as well. (Galatians 6) - is a key passage. But some clergy have challenged this over the years asking what gives me the right to decide that something is sin, and they ask who has appointee not me as judge. But surely 'sin' (as much as so many hate that word) is so often obvious and evident and made clear by reference to our Bible and to our innate sense of right and justice.

Sin appears in so many forms and yet so other the Church seeks to turn a blind eye to whatever is going on in the mistaken belief that it will somehow present a gentler and more acceptable face to the world around it. But the road for those who sin and are permitted to continue to do so is paved with our good intentions; and (in my experience) those whose sins are ignored never become members of the Church - so we have before us a lose/lose situation.

And when the day dawns and the day of the Lord arrives, I have a sneaky feeling that the Boss will undoubtedly have a word with us regarding our 'allowing people to do stuff that leads to death' ; so the goals against us are stacking up as we keep on approving the wrong stuff.

"Don't ask, don't look, don't think about it," are all stances I have been advised to take regarding sin over the years. But foolishly I have asked, looked, thought and even used words people dislike. Is it gentle and loving to ignore adultery? It is cruel and harsh to use that word when talking to one of those engaged in it or is it honest?

Someone once asked me what the Church would think about their relationship: "How would the Church describe the way I live," they asked. My response was. "Well, I think the label that best describes the situation you're in is fornication," said I hesitantly and just a little embarrassed at being put on the spot. "Ooh, I hate that word," they said, "It sounds awful and makes it look like I'm doing something wrong. I wish I hadn't asked!" But they did and the only answer I. Oh,d give was an honest one. This person remained in the Church and shortly after the conversation their status changed - did I have any part in that? Would the situation have remained as it were if I had mumbled platitudes?
Who knows?

Today I have had my standards challenged - have they slipped? The answer is, "I hope not," and the reality, "Probably!" I think we all face the perils of the assenting smile as we remember St Thumper of Bambi and the, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nuffin' at all," advice - one of the more polished paving slabs on the road to hell.

Lord, help me to always make my words mean something - for my yes and no to be what they appear and my assessment of the situation before me to be loving, honest, and kind.

May we, Your Church, be salt and light to the world around us,

This place of reflection is here initially for me to dialogue internally and gain insight and perspective. It first appeared as an extension of this blog for some of those looking at creating their own journal as part of the their journey to discerning vocation. The Morning prayer is there also for that same purpose: to create the discipline of prayer. Dialogue, insights and experience of others concerning this entry is always welcome - all grist to the mill.

What was that!

One of those days which promised so much on the diary and delivered something completely different when the doorbell rang!

Expected travel and ended up staying at home - a day of encounter nonetheless but it was varied and yet somehow frustrating. Feeling myself to be totally at the hands of other people's folly, forgetfulness and general shortcomings and yet in the dock; the missed targets of others lying at my feet!

There are often two tensions in life. The first is caused by the words of Jesus which call us to treat others as we would have them treat us. The second come from the lips of St Thumper of Bambi in that, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all!" I try to express myself honestly and to .make my yes be yes and my no be no' - Not always a popular move. Try the other tack and say nothing and this is taken as assent, which I don't want to give. I'm happy, at times, to say that I'm not sure but will let it go it life cannot be lived by abstentions; it requires courage, honesty and decision!

So I stand by and see things split so people get to do their own thing - it's not mine and has little to do with me and the proletariat cheer in the streets because they're doing stuff. The rulers of the kingdoms are happy because stuff is getting done. But shouldn't we all be doing it in one name and as one people?

Discipleship calls us to make our way through this world making Jesus, the Christ, known and we do it as family (that is Church). All I have ever sought in Church is unity and dialogue and working for each other to do the stuff and yet my experience has been isolated endeavour with division always a hand's breadth away. I love it when I can celebrate the triumph of others and relish the opportunity to engage with and support what others are doing. But I experience that so rarely - is this my misfortune or am I just getting what so many others are getting?

Church is about people, and I love people. It's about Jesus, and I love Jesus. But it seems we are too busy; wound up in our plans and structures and outcomes and demands to get more in the plate and more bums on the pews.
Is this strangling the Church?

Shouldn't we be a party rather than that which we are making Church?

Where are the people who are passionate and on fire?

Are they missing because we, the clergy, are not setting them alight with a zeal for the Lord?

Have we made Jesus everything He isn't and find ourselves looking for commitment where joy and zeal should be?

Have we stopped looking to see new creations in Christ and born again being something exciting and life-giving?

All these questions to be answered and the fear that the problem might be me - am I doing too much, or too little, or doing it in the the wrong place, or doing the wrong thing? Colleagues tell me to do less, thinking I work hard (am driven) because of some desire to prove myself, and yet the reality is that the tide is rising and the time to get people to the safety of the high ground is short. I think of the words that speak of those in Noah's time partying and getting married and having a good time just a few ticks away from the flood and see us not about to be in the same boat. I look at the cross and the salvation that is at hand and, seeing my life changed, want that for others.

That's the role I've taken. That's the role I was given. All I have is Jesus, in and out of season. I'm a bond slave, chosen to have my ear pierced and to be the property of my master even though I am a free man, and in this become the freest man of all.

I write this journal here so others may dialogue with me should they wish. I do it to,be as privately honest and I am publicly assumed to be. This is not about posturing or looking good, for I fear for many I rarely do - and yet isn't this the 'fool for Christ' bit?

I visit people in their homes, and in the care homes, and communicate them and communicate with them. I cry at their losses (where no one sees lest I usurp their grief) and I celebrate their joys. The richness of this wonderful ministerial life I live.

My over-zealousness, my oft misunderstood attempts at honesty and the hope for dialogue which is so often dashed to the ground, expectations unexpectedly dismissed yet again. Where I find like minds and passionate defence in unapologetic ways I rejoice for we are not out to build our piddling kingdoms but one triumphant Kingdom with the Christ on the throne.

Lord, may I have done that in some small way today. May the things in me that distract become less and the things in me that look and smell like Jesus to the world be made greater.

I am left with the words of Wynne Lewis, amazingly used and confusingly gifted - I'm sure he should shave sold used cars: "Victor, you often look like the world to the righteous people in Church and yet you look and smell like Jesus to the world outside our doors. Never let that gift slip from your hands!"

If that is mine and Christ is with (and within) me,  who or what can stand against me and the Gospel of Christ? I love my life; my Lord, my family, my friends and those who I call brothers and sisters. Help me to serve them as Christ came to serve us.

Who is building your house today?

I was taken up by the opening words of Psalm 127 and then struck down by them as I reflected upon what they really say. How often have you heard this Psalm used as a bit of prooftexting in a sermon to speak of vision and 'working with/for God'?

But have we really ever stopped to think about the emphasis and impact of the passage as I've scribbled it below:

Unless God is behind it - we labour is in vain.
Unless the Lord defends it - we guard it in vain.
Up early and bed late - working with God or because we don't trust Him?

Unless we are in step with God, we labour in vain. The problem is that we don't seem to do a lot of listening to God when it comes to what He wants, in fact whenever I find myself in a 'vision' setting it seems that the majority of the process is about telling God what we want Him to do! The people around me know what God wants and so never bother to ask Him or listen for an answer and that all-important direction.

Last night I saw a programme where a man was setting out to restore/develop a castle yet had no drawings or plans, everything was in his head and eventually (through a number of factors), the project stalled, stumbled and failed. How many times have I seen this sad reality enacted in the world of Christian endeavour that is mission?

Who is the architect of the building we seek to create?
Who has drawn up the plans?
Who is the project manager for that which we seek to build?

Moving on the next line smacked me around the head (in a nice 'God awareness' sort of way - Thank You Lord!) as I recalled something I have recently read by a man who turns science upside down to make it look like his ideas of what God has done, and wants, are supported. But unless God defends it, any defence we create is defined to fall and, as in the case of this man, damage the reputation of the God we serve.

Isn't God big enough to defend His own Church?

Now I'm not saying walk away and leave the ramparts such that there is no defence, but conflict has always been about taking stock of the situation, gaining intelligence and listening to orders from the chain of command. Too often I find no one is listening to God (or reading the book He so kindly gave us) but instead are setting out to defend what is undefendable in a ways that look like war crimes!

So let us cease fire and gather round the Boss of an orders meeting (which we call 'prayers' in a military setting - ironic that, innit?). We should be fighting intelligently and with an obvious integrity!!!

Then comes a sour, barb, thorn and concern for me. I get up early to do my daily Office (the prayers I promised I'd do when I was ordained) and more often than not hit the sack when tomorrow has become today: what does this line do for me?

Am I trying to prove something or seeking to 'outlive God'?

Are my actions working with God or working hard because I don't think God is up to the task?

'God gives His faithful people rest,' that's what it says in the Psalm. Well I get enough rest (usually) so I can breathe a little easier here I guess. But we do need to make sure that, once again, what we do comes out of listening to God.

How do those three lines at the top work for you?

Are you listening in the same way as I, and others, obviously aren't?

Failure to do so might just render our action to be not just in vain but perhaps vanity.

All yours Lord.

Church Growth strategies: 'That 'Back to Church' thingy!'

As always we start with a reminder of Hauerwas' comment:

Church growth strategies are the death rattle of a church that has lost its way. 

The problem with many strategies is to be found in the fact that they involve making a conscious decision to do, or use, something to bring about a desired outcome. One of the things my management and Industrial Engineering training taught me was that whilst it is possible to learn how to cluck and purchase a chicken suit: Unless you can learn to lay eggs, you'll never really be a chicken!

And that, people, is the problem with so many of our churches (and other institution and clubs): Looking and sounding like that which you wish to be is useless if it isn't what you really are! Being 'authentic' is the only way because people see through the posing and the masks we all wear.

Yesterday I found myself engaged with by a cleric who was making grumpy noises about the 20th September and the planning required for this year's 'Back to Church Sunday' (B2CS) - although they referred to it as, That 'back to church thingy!' 

I listened as they moaned about having to organise special stuff for the day and how the 'members'* are so keen to have it but struggle to think of new and excitingly attractive things to put on as they seek to 'bring people back' to Church.

Because this is perhaps some people's only church growth strategy I thought I'd interrupt websites for an hour or so (but part the third will be here soon) and reiterate a few points regarding 'bringing people back'. So here we go again (hold tight):

How can you bring people back to a place they have never been to before?

What we are really talking about in the effectively post-Christian age (second generation post-christian where I am!) is bring them in for the first time. The problem is that the 'BACK' bit is a something of a red herring and perhaps it's should be called 'Bring them to church for the first time' Sunday!

The second problem is that whilst it is brilliant to lay on barbecues and bands and other great attractions., this is a bit like: 

(Sorry Martin)

In case you're wondering, I am a big supporter of B2CS and think it is one of the better things that we can do as a means of reconnecting with those who might have left and a really positive way of attracting those with no previous history too.

BUT

We need to make sure that the situation above never becomes reality! 

We need to have some integrity in the way that we present ourselves and in the way that we 'do' our church services. Yet when I made this point to the colleague who was moaning they just moaned louder about the people that they called Church and the unattractive services that they put on.

The answer is simple:

a. Remedy the naff services - gas the choir, shoot the music team - exile the organist - learn to preach - right the wrongs - cure the ills - rejoice in the changes!

b. Get rid of 'welcomers' (because all too often they ain't at all welcoming) and build a congregation who are not just welcoming but the sort of people who will bring people in as well. This is what brings people back on the second week!

Not bands

Not barbecues

Not the false stuff 

Jesus calls us to be authentic and real people: That's what those outside would like to find when they come in to our buildings.

And if they do - the tend to stay.

__________________________________

I'd like to recommend a 'Season of Invitation' as something that those who would wish to see their church engaged in bringing people might consider. This offering from B2CS tells us that it takes a few throws before the new people begin to stick and so it works on a series of engagements that build relationship and help people to be comfortable (just make sure that you're bringing them in from your own patch rather than those of of others ;-) ).

Pax

* Anglicans don't have members, we leave that to the other churches. We have 'parishioners (they live in our patch what we call a parish). and we have communicants (those what take communion) - simple innit? So why do we so often talk about our members then?

Church - More than services

It is a truth that should be universally acknowledged that Church is about much more than our mere presence on a Sunday or being engaged in the mere delivery of the normal round of services... and yet this truth is not, for some, a reality. The trap is set for so many of us in Church in that we become so bound up with church services and so taken up with our own voices and opinions, being so caught up with whatever Cause célèbre rings our bell, that we lose sight of the very Gospel itself.

Now these are hard and harsh words I know; words that will cause some to suck in their breath and lean upon their indignation and self-righteousness - and in doing so make what I write more true than I would ever wish it to be.

It is so terrible that we might find ourselves occupy a world where we are more taken up with numbers, sexuality, gender issues and politics than we appear to be with the Gospel. So awful that we could turn our pulpits, our eyes and our hearts from the cross of Jesus, the Christ, and preach the world and it's views as holly writ.

The trap of being so caught up with delivering services and being so bound up with emails and meetings and being approved of that we become impotent with regard to the ministry to which we are all called: That of making Christ known and through this knowledge reconciling the world to God.

As we begin our Advent journey I have come to realise that, looking in the reflection that I see of myself in the lives and activity, I need to draw a line and commit myself to preach the only thing I know for sure:

Christ, and Him crucified and risen; for Church is this first and foremost and upon this rock we build.

Not the pathetic struggles over sexuality - not the championing of talismanic approaches to ministry for calling is about being called, not recruiting the young or the BME or women or any other group we might see as good marketing. If we preach the Word and proclaim the Christ and reconcile people to God though Him everything else will surely come together. We may not always use words to do it - for our actions, our witness, and our passion often speak louder than we ever could.

But when we do use words we need to ensure that the profane, the unprofitable, and the usurping of the privilege we have through Christ is not usurped by self.

Church - not an island!

For those who have mailed me asking where I vanished to, the answer is 'nowhere' I merely took some time to step back and reflect away from the blog as part of a bit of spiritual discipline. It wasn't because I was too busy and it wasn't because I was sleeping in a hammock in the garden (brrrrr) - but what it was turned out to be fun and rather worthwhile.

I am struggling with Christians who seek to make Church work for them by means of one of the most powerful things known to man: The 'Someone else's problem' field.

This creation born out of an astute observation from the late Doug Adam's makes known something that is truly the most invisible thing on the planet - and this is perhaps one of the most effective curses acting against the Church today.

Let me explain:

I was recently made aware of a situation where some wrong action on the part of a leader from elsewhere was made apparent. When I asked what the person telling me was going to do about it, their response was, "Oh, I thought I'd tell you!"

"Fair enough," thought I as I asked them, "But why tell me, what can I do?"

The response was so very typical of Church as a breed of people for what they wanted was for me to do something about it because they, "Didn't want to get involved and especially didn't want to end up in some form of confrontation over it!" But of course, as a leader, it was OK if I did!

"But if you have seen it, surely you should address it," I said (feeling myself being painted into a corner), "After all, that's how the Bible tells us to handle it." 

But the person who had brought the complaint was going to have nothing to do with it. They knew that what they had seen was wrong but in the name of peace they chose to cover the sins of others and compound their own sins in the process.

I have to bring the bus to stop outside the book of Ezekiel's and looking at chapter thirteen make mention of the comment about those who seek to lead God's people (here they are 'prophets' but we can rely upon this as relating to all who are leaders - and those who follow - I reckon):

"'Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, 

and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, 

therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. 

Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, 

and violent winds will burst forth.

When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, 

“Where is the whitewash you covered it with?”

My problem is that I, like the many others who see things and remain silent, may be found at time to lack the moral courage to make the stand I should. 

My problem is that when I have made the stand, the perpetrator of the wrong merely ignores any correction and continues in their wrong behaviour.

My problem is that when I have taken my complaint to those above me, they merely act as if nothing has been said and so add warrant to the wrong behaviour.

Finally, at the tip of it all I find the comment, "Oh well, that's not our problem is it, that's a problem for another church." The reality of course it that it is problem for the whole Church and to permit, or turn a blind eye to it, because it's, "Not our problem," is to permit the Church to be tainted and wrong and it is in this that we permit the Church to be hypocritical and wrong.

Never have the words, "Let those who have ears, let them hear," had some much relevance.

Church: Never a place for secrets

Many years ago when the earth was young and I was a very green cleric I stood up infant of my new congregation and told them that I regarded Church as a place where secrets were taboo and that whilst some things needed to be kept as confidential, that was the way I intended to work whilst with them.

Over the years this has brought some great challenges to the way I worked and there have been times when colleagues have told me that it is a policy that, "Whilst great in principle is dangerous in practice!" There have been times when I have also been cautioned regarding the fact that I will speak the truth in love and unless faced with something that needs not to be told, will tell the truth. Time and time again friends have told me that being open and honest is a dangerous path to tread - but regardless of their council I have continued as best I can down my chosen path.

The problem is that whilst I know many in church leadership who operate on the same principles as me and yet, if what I hear from others is even half true, the practice of many on the other side of the altar rail is quite markedly different!

It is a sad to say this but it seems that many in Church are pretty poor at telling the truth and the rumour mills and doublespeak factories are, in some church congregations at least, working overtime. James (chapter three) says this of the tongue:

"A small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. 

People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.

Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? 
Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? 
No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring."

I have been greatly challenged by the secrets and the potential divisions I have been made aware of recently - is it any wonder we struggle to build our congregations if we cannot be open and honest with those whom we call brother and sister?

How can we hold before us the image of the invisible God and offer up curses against them?

How can we sit in our pews and stand in our pulpits if we have more faces than Janus?

God calls us to an integrity of living and the pursuit of a character that seeks to follow and emulate Jesus, the Christ.

May those who have ears, hear and those who have tongues use them wisely and for the edification of the whole Church and their own church families in particular.

And a word of encouragement to those who minister and have told me of their struggles: Never lose sight of who it is that vindicates us and intercedes for you. Truly we have one who stands between God and man for us.

Hallelujah or what?

One of those 'deja vu' moments: non-Christian friends

Life, it seems, is |a funny circuitous old thing and this has been brought home to me as, oddly, I have had a 'repeat conversation' with someone along the same lines as one I had some twenty-five years ago - and, being brutally honest,  it was all a bit surreal and just a little unsettling!

The conversation at the tail-end of the last century was taken up by the fact that the person on the other side of the conversation didn't have any non-Christian friends; they'd been to a conference and had been challenged as to how many 'unsaved' people they counted as friends. "Well, errr,you see, well, I don't actually have any," was the reply, "All  my friends are Christians you see!"

This response brought gasps of shock and derision  accompanied by tutting, head shaking and general acts of disapproval from those around the room. The speaker, a real 'soul winner' who is still going strong (and using the same jokes and stories they'd lifted from others then) today asked how they thought their ministry, "Could ever be valid when they lived in a Christian ghetto!"

Lunch saved the poor soul from further accusation (although not from the withering gazes of many of the obviously 'much more Christian' delegates around them) and, me being me, I decided to befriend them - something that proved a little difficult because they'd been on the wrong end of the many zealous soul-winners and were just a little wary (mind you, that might just have been because it was me) - and soon had them laughing (much to the disgust of some around us).

The bloke started telling me of the work they were engaged in and how when he started he was the only Christian in his group of friends. Then, one by one, they got saved and now, with a dozen or so in the fellowship he was helping to pastor, there were none left. The fellowship now numbered around sixty people and they were looking for inspiration as to how they might disciple those who came and spread the net further.

Seeing one of the assembled delegates looking at my new best friend with what can only charitably be called sneering contempt I decided to emulate the Mars Hill model as best I could and moved off to engage with them; and immediately it was obvious that I had picked a winner. My companion was part of the leadership team of a church plant from one of the names in 'being Church' and those standing with them were all on first name terms with many of the great and good in the Ghetto that can sometimes be called 'Church'. 

We chatted about how many new believers they'd seen during the first few months ("None, but we're hopeful!")

We chatted about how many friends they'd seen come to faith ("None, but a prophet is always without honour in their own land aren't they?)

The conversations continued and it soon became obvious that this little team were not only a team, but they were all friends too. In fact it soon became obvious that this little group were in fact the ONLY friends they really had (well them and the some of the others involved in the 'plant') every one else they referred to as friends were in fact acquaintances of the most cursory kind - but that's how friendships start so well done them (and I mean that in the best sense).

The bell rang and in true Pavlovian sense we rushed back in to be further enlightened as to how we might best build Church and then, sufficiently enabled we were asked what was the most exciting or enabling thing we'd learnt during the day. There were a few people who stood up and said nothing much about nothing much and then it sort of trailed off and one of the people on the team, knowing me, looked straight at me and said, "No one with anything more to add?"

And that's where it all went a bit downhill for some I guess as I stood up and told how I'd learnt how it was more apparently acceptable to have loads of non-Christian friends rather than loads of friends who had become Christian! I went on to point out that a bloke who'd been quite sorely treated over having no non-Christian friends needed in fact to be applauded for having introduced them to a new way of life. Not only that but the 'successful' among us were apparently not seeing the very growth that we had come to learn about (and to be honest I wondered whether the 'experts' really knew about it themselves - after all they were generally people who came, spoke, 'saw that hand', prayed and moved on!).

So the conversation I've just had with someone who has seen neighbours, friends and others come to faith through relationship (anyone else remember 'Friendship Evangelism' and Leonard Albert - a great chap?) and yet feels 'got at' because they've no non-Christian friends left!

Now that demands a pat on the back, a free meal and a reminder that it's about 'one telling another' and lives on the premise that unless we make real relationships with people and tell them then how will they know and where is authenticity in the Church.

A great conversation that left me praising God for people who bring growth and one that rekindled the passion for the lost in a more direct and dirty manner - a real wake-up call that made me hearken back to a time when I was an evangelist first and foremost and not a peddler of ersatz cobblers and shuffler of meaningless paperwork - anyone out there fancy having a new friend (or two)?

There's always a bigger picture

It's often the case that we can find ourselves taking a position and making a stand and yet, standing back a little, can find that we are being duplicitous and are in fact (often in the light of our posturing) either naive, hypocritical or even just plain stupid!

A few years back, having put on a service to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, one of those present made a statement about the end of genocide, focussing strongly on the expression, "Never again!" Another person nearby joined the conversation and pointed to Rwanda and Cambodia as examples of genocide and asked how well 'never again' had done in the light of them. The response to this was, "Oh, we meant in Europe when we said it." Undaunted, and not to be shaken off, back came the question, "Isn't Bosnia in Europe?"

The reply stunned everyone standing within earshot of the speaker as they returned, quick as a flash, with, "But we meant Western Europe!"

The problem is that whilst we might be shaking our heads in despair at that story, many of us are still living in the same reality as our 'never again' person. We all have areas of duplicity that are fostered by self-serving desires and mindsets. Some are simple to see and others are cloaked in upbringing, tradition, inherited attitudes and cultural aberrations. Some are so clouded by prejudice and politics that we fail to see them and the fact that we cannot see through them either.

A couple of examples to fuel the conversations:

FAIR TRADE
The person who claims to be Christian and yet rails at the fact that the Christian shop stocks Fairly traded goods.

I met one of the people who fit this category in a Christian shop and they were asking why they should be paying more to help people in another country. "After all," they railed, "Doesn't charity begin at home? Why are we being asked to give money to them?"

Now I can't express the vitriol and venom behind the word 'them' in type alone but as we talked I found an inherited negativism for the 'them' from foreign lands. These turned out to be the same 'them' that, "Came over here and took our jobs, our houses and all those benefits!" Here before me was a really lovely person - a 'good' Christian - who was, surface scratched, manifesting something quite unchristian and rather distasteful.

THE 'GOOD' MEMBER
I found myself approached by a member of another church with a view to them gaining my support regarding what they considered to be abuse from their church leader.

The issue, as reported, was that one of the members of the church had been engaging in wrong (biblically, morally and possibly legally) activities. This had been reported to the leader with the response that it was none of their (the member's) business. This position was solidified by the fact that the other person was billed (by the leader) as a good giver and a longstanding member who had done much in the past. The final shard that pierced the heart of the complainant was the words, "You make sure you have your own house in order and stop looking at other people's lives!"

My response was that on the surface what I was hearing sounded very wrong, but I was hearing just one side of the argument and, as Proverbs 18 tells us, one side always sounds right until the other side is heard. I asked if there might be other perceptions, viewpoints and facts that could have been missed or misrepresented - to which the answer was a responding 'No'.

Two examples (I have hundreds) - both of which show how easy it is to be human and have stuff that lies out of the usual public view. We all have things that are in conflict with the laws of God and yet not only consider ourselves to be 'good Christians' but continue in that belief whilst nurturing and maintaining the wrong.

The key to being a 'good' anything (theist or non-theist) is for us, when we identify such a wrong attitude to address it. We must address it in ourselves and in others with acceptance, understanding and the same measure of love displayed at all times. We need to be open and honest with ourselves and others - this doesn't mean that we need to tell everyone, but we need to address the issues and seek resolution and reconciliation with God and between others. We all have to potential to fall, this is human, but the potential to cover our wrong attitudes and acts, this is sin!

We are called to be whole people - for this is what integrity is.

We are called to be honest people - for this is what Christ demands.

We are called to be people who bring unity through forgiveness, reconciling acts and love - for this is who Jesus the Christ, is.

Now, how hard can this be?

Where's that mirror?

The Kocho massacre

Wherever you look today you will find reports of Islamic State fighters putting to death many (up to 100 according to some reports) Yazidis in the village of Kocho some 30 miles away from Mount Sinjar. Eyewitnesses tell of  ISIS members arriving and attempting to indoctrinate them for five days. They were then assembled in a school where they were asked to either convert to the Sunni religion or be executed. The rebels were said to have arrived in vehicles and have commenced the massacre in the afternoon.

The men who refused to do so were executed in the afternoon, which witnesses said lasted for about an hour, while women and children were boarded in buses and taken to an unknown destination. Survivors also speculated that the women may have been brought to the city of Tal Afar, where the ISIS group is said to be currently gathered.

The killings come not long after President Obama's planned evacuation of Yazidi survivors in Mount Sinjar had been put off on the grounds that it was too risky for US troops or that those who perished in Kocho were under no immediate threat. To compound the (call it what you will) madness there are some who are keen to arm the Kurds and point them at the IS fighters!

Will we never learn?

Will we stop reporting 'potential genocide' and start recognising that what we have is 'actual'?

I was quite convinced by Richard Dannatt's call for direct action on the grounds that the UN needed to act and how those who have contributed to the situation (and they surely know who they are) and the ceding of 'legacy military equipment' to the IS forces all conspire to present a scenario that demands integrity and compassion. Pity those who should be hearing it apparently aren't :-(

International Conscientious Objector Day and the fog of . .

Well it should be war but instead it has to be misinformation and manipulation! I say this because so far this morning I have heard three people speak on the issue of conscientious objectors. All were spot on when they spoke of the integrity and courage of so many of those who were abused and berated for maintaining their position and the attitudes that existed in 1914-18 and into today's mindset.

One spoke of the courage that so many of them exhibited as they formed part of mobile hospitals and carried the wounded from the jaws of death (facing death themselves at every turn) - one of them, Lance Corporal William Harold Coltman, VC, DCM and Bar, MM and Bar, one of the highest awarded soldiers being a hero of mine, was sadly not mentioned (but deserved to be).

Another spoke of the inner sanctity of life and how this needed to be heard to stop us being involved in taking life around the world in the name of serving the oppressed.

The error, and perhaps intentional misrepresentation, came when all used the word 'kill' in the context of Exodus 20.13 and explained how this shaped conscientious objectors then and now and this is the focus of my concern for the word, as I understand it, is of not 'kill' but 'murder'.

Now in a world where we can move from 'sex' and 'gender' and assume them to be one and the same it is perhaps no surprise that many also view 'kill' and 'murder' in the same way - but of course there is a great, and most important, difference.

Murder is the unlawful taking of life - regardless of the circumstances or situation - it is something that the British Forces take extremely seriously (as do all who are signatories of the Geneva and other conventions). There are strict rules regarding conflict and the way that it is enacted. This is why we have extensive teaching on the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) and why all those on operational duties have in their possession a 'Rules of Engagement' (RoE) card - something that outlines when, why and how deadly force might be taken up - because soldiers don't (or should not) murder anyone!

Killing is the taking of life in circumstances that are not regarded as murder. If someone is sentenced to capital punishment, regardless of how one might view that issue, they have been killed. If someone loses their life through an act of self defence, then the other party walks away without the stigma, or penalties, that is associated with being a murderer. Taking a life to stop a criminal act, always regrettable as it is, is not murder either.

The Bible is quite explicit on the use of the word 'Murder' and this is how it is translated in the majority of the translations (the King James Version and it's many variants being the majority user of 'Kill'). Murder, in the Exodus context was (and for this I draw on the rabbinic teaching I received whilst studying Jewish Christian dialogue): The unlawful taking of life and the taking of life by mischievous or culpable negligence. The negligence part amazed me for it meant that should a workman cut corners to complete a job (say fitting a wheel to something or building a wall) and that causes a failure that takes life - they were guilty of murder.

So having made the point that life may be taken legally or illegally and, I hope made it clear that military engagement is not about committing murder but stopping it, let's move on to pay tribute to Coltman (and the many like him). If you can make it to the Staffordshire Regiment's museum at Whittington (between Lichfield and Tamworth) you can find his medal and WWI trenches named in his honour too.

Coltman saw action but came to the decision that his Christian values were in conflict with carrying a weapon and so, already tested by war, exchanged his rifle for a stretcher and served his nation and his God. A man of undoubted courage and Christian commitment - but don't take my word for it. Here's his entry in the London Gazette:

For most conspicuous bravery, initiative and devotion to duty. During the operations at Mannequin Hill, north-east of Sequehart, on the 3rd and 4th of Oct. 1918, L.-Corp. Coltman, a stretcher bearer, hearing that wounded had been left behind during a retirement, went forward alone in the face of fierce enfilade fire, found the casualties, dressed them and on three successive occasions, carried comrades on his back to safety, thus saving their lives. This very gallant NCO tended the wounded unceasingly for 48 hours.

William Harold Coltman VC, DCM & Bar, MM & Bar

So today, please take a moment to remember ALL who have for reasons of conscience made decisions that have changed the direction of their lives and the regard of those around them. I applaud people who think and challenge that which is before them because of their belief (and lack of belief too) and act with integrity.

Please pray for those who seek to be peacemakers in wars that deny the taking up of arms and for those who do bear arms and travel to foreign lands.

Please pray for those who through ignorance might decry and belittle those who for reasons of faith or philosophy that they would find within themselves charity and understanding - if not to accept then not to oppose in ways that deny God's love.

________

One of my desires is to help people with their choices and to remove misinformation and misunderstanding wheresoever I can - hence part of this entry today. Another is to recognise, honour and celebrate courage, integrity, justice and mercy - after all that's what God calls all people to exhibit isn't it?*

ps. The 1916 Conscription Act brought into be a 'conscience clause' which gave the right to claim exemption from military service and yet the instructions to the panels who heard the applications (and there were almost 17,000 of them) was to deny them and get as many in uniform as possible. All part of the same mindset that shot brave men who had been broken in mind and spirit. A sad part of our history indeed!


*Micah 6.6-8

Hello - Can you tell me what the job's like?

The beginning of a rather interesting telephone call as one of those considering applying for a job engaged with me. Of course they didn't ask the one important question (are you going for it). Of course, even if I had been I'd have answered exactly the same way because I'd like to think that vacancies are all about having the right person in the post - after all, it's not like we're in the world now, is it?

What made it interesting was my ability to see the parish as a complete entity with four separate buildings whilst the person on the other end of the line see one!  Still, it was fun to talk about a place where the churches work together so well and to dwell on a fantastic past (Capital city of Mercia you know) and an equally promising future. The web presence is A work in progress - but better than it was (I hope).

So here we are - just a few days and the applications will be in and the sifting will be done - wonder who else might pop in, for it's always fun when someone appears and says they're thinking of moving in and then starts asking about ASA, Parish Share and the like - you know, the stuff you usually ask when thinking of joining a church :-) or telephones and asks about the job (been from same college or friend of a friend so far).

Exciting times ahead :-)

Getting our minds right about immigration

Many years ago I placed a poster on the staff noticeboard advertising a meeting for those who wanted to support a 'Britain for the British' group of which I, with my Dutch name, was the Chairman. The Secretary was a chap with a German name and the Treasure was a bloke of Polish extraction.

Few got the joke at first but the point, from our side at least, was clear - three European names attached to three people who couldn't be more British (Cockney, East London and West London respectively) if they tried. Yet there they were, the National Front types, making their claims that immigration was the curse of our nation.

Today I have heard the same views (from a different, sanitised, party) and heard about how it is in the national interest to restrict access - and I don't disagree that when it comes to economic migrants there is merit in this thinking, especially when it means that those whose lives are threatened or are disadvantaged.

In my reality, ever since Windrush's West Indians started arriving, there has been disapproval for those people who, 'Were coming over here and taking our jobs!'  This is what I knew to be the case (as a ten year old) and it was reinforced by Powell's 'River of Blood' (and who knows, perhaps he will be proved right one day I guess) speech and the resultant (1971) Immigration Act (where access for dependent's was restricted) and it is confirmed again today by UKIP (what a fine and upstanding political party they are) and the poster below:

Nothing like the bigotry of days gone by at all:

What does the Bible have to say about it all I wonder? Leviticus 19 says:

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."

Zechariah 7 has something to add too:“Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

The presence of people from other lands has made my birthplace (London) the wonderful place it is. From the Hugenots and the Jewish settlers (Old Jewry in the city has a wonderful synagogue) through to those from other places today. All that we should ask is that whilst bringing their cultures they embrace, and live within, ours with respect and that we return the compliment.

It is to our pride and credit that we, as a nation, have sent our men to battle for the weak and oppressed and opened our arms to them. 

Please do not support unfair attitudes to immigration - use your brains and hearts the way God intended.

Blue Sky Thinking - Inclusivity

This is one of those thoughts that has caused a fair bit of dialogue - but perhaps that's because what it says is real!

Now that's a thought in itself, innit?

Blue Sky Thinking - Blame

Listening to the radio today it seems that some are looking at the Malaysian air disaster and asking the question, 'Who is to blame - who can we sue?'

Oddly it appears that this attitude is being supported, nay encouraged, by legal firms - now there's a surprise - and so perhaps this thought is also their mantra:

Blue Sky Thought - Assassins

Assassins come in more than one shape or form.

I inhabit a world where I encounter wounded and broken people who have suffered at the hands of those who have smiled and spoken kindly. Always good to examine our hearts to ensure that we are always WYSIWYG* - this is the call that being Christian places upon us.


*What You See Is What You Get