42

Nearly caught my tail

Just one last sprint and today I think I will have cracked it and caught my tail.

Back from the 24/7 prayer room at 1:45am, then back again at 8am to collect some materials and catch a particular person for prayer before off to school from 9:00 till noon. Prayer room for ministers meeting from 12:30 til 2:30, back home, realised I have lost my mobile phone, hence   manic search everywhere.

Pack to go away for the night, prepare for showing the Rainbows (youngest section of the Girl Guides movement) the prayer room, prepare for a prayer meeting in the prayer room, arrange for a bed delivery to my Mother-in-law.

No at 5pm off to the prayer room for the Rainbows, then to Mother-in-laws to setup the bed, then the prayer meeting followed by a 2 hour drive to my brothers for the night (he lives much nearer the Christian Resources Exhibition I am going to tomorrow).

Can't even begin to think of all the things I have forgotten today.

A few months ago it sounded such a good idea to tie the 24/7 prayer in with Pentecost - now thinking that the prayer is great but oops for the diary.  Fortunately things look a bit more sensible by about Tuesday next week.

Lucky I only need to work one day a week :-)

It does not get better than this

What a wonderful morning. I got to spend the whole morning talking to three separate classes of year 1 kids (ages 5 & 6) about the Bible.

What is more I get paid to do it. Wow!

We had a great time.

You gotta love being a minister - can anything be better than talking about Jesus to kids who want to know more?

Whooo Hooo - sorry a bit jazzed up by this :-)

24x7 progress

Just an update to say that updates are tricky this week. We are now well into this year's 24x7 prayer week. Glad to say that more people than ever have signed up on the rotas. We started on Sunday at 4pm with Cafe style worship and so far we have only been closed for 3.5 hours each night - not many volunteers between 1:30am and 5am :-)

As always I am finding this powerful, challenging, exciting and attractive.

Off to School for the morning to talk to 3 lots of year 1's about the Bible so got to dash,

Spirit Lite

This is a fantastic sermon (or maybe short essay) from Kim Fabricius, a must read: Spirit lite.

10 things I believe about the Holy Spirit

There has been a lot said in recent days on the Holy Spirit in Churches. Many wise words have been written by Tim and Peter (their posts have links to much of the debate). At the same time there is a debate on claims for revival (or devil worship - depending on people's strong opinions) regarding Todd Bentley
I made a side comment on the subject in 42: Just watch it go. Now I want to lay things out in a little more detail.

10 Things I believe about the Holy Spirit

1. The Holy Spirit is active in the world today
2. The Holy Spirit enters a person at conversion, this may or may not be accompanied by visible gifts of the Spirit. Christians cannot be divided into two types or classes: Spirit filled and plain.
3. There are gifts of the Spirit (tongues, healing, prophetic words etc) given to people today, but not all gifts of the Spirit are given to all Christians
4. Many Christians (but not all) experience a dramatic, sudden "baptism" in the Holy Spirit. This does not mean the Holy Spirit was absent before this experience.
5. Churches should be praying expectantly for people to be filled by the Holy Spirit
6. Churches should be expecting the Holy Spirit to be active in their midst in both dramatic and gentle ways. If the Holy Spirit is not active then the Church needs to be concerned and seek change.
7. Christians should be constantly seeking to be filled with the Spirit both because we "leak" and because there is always more to experience and learn of God.
8. Not all Christians filled by the Spirit will speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues is not a test of whether someone is a Christian (or a Spirit filled Christian).
9. Christianity is about far more than just "Spirit filled" worship.
10. Many Churches that experience dramatic blessings of the Spirit seem to end up splitting over divisions about the work of the Spirit and the level of welcome to those with or without dramatic gifts. This connects with a tendency to judge and exclude people who have had different experiences to ourselves. It is not a good thing.

It is quite hard to limit yourself to 10 things about the Holy Spirit, there is a lot more that could be said, but instead I will simply end with:

Come Holy Spirit, Come

links for 2008-05-08

• Eco-Congregation
  Updated site
  (tags: environment, christianity)
• jonnybaker: proost article
  Discount voucher
  (tags: christian, resources, worship)

Just watch it go

Just got in after over 7 straight hours at chapel, sitting down and watching my day off tomorrow fly out of the window.

At least the morning was gentle. Some errands, some report writing, some preparation for the afternoon and time for a coffee with a colleague (thanks Mike your £8.99 cappuccino maker is excellent).

Then preparation for and contributions to WOT (worship on Thursdays), today I was in charge of the food which was sausage casserole with mash and veg, followed by fruit salad (and/or cake) and ice cream. That all disappeared very quick.

My WOT time included nipping out of the kitchen to lead a time of worship and reflection on Pentecost. I have been following (and silently supporting) Tim and Peter in their Holy Spirit posts, so we did pray for everyone there to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  That was after talking about various images of the Spirit at work - Fire, Dove, Wind etc and working out what it means to have a heart on fire etc.

After WOT went straight into preparation of the room for 24x7 prayer starting 4pm on Sunday. Looks very good with various zones, while we have had zones in previous years it is quite different this time with a sort of Arabian tent above the middle of the room.

Got to go down in the morning so the Mothers Union don't panic when they come in for their coffee morning :-)

Training as a faith representative in the Northamptonshire Emergency response team all day on Saturday, so I will need to catch up with a few other things on Friday, especially with 3 services, a church lunch and a church tea on Sunday.

Missed Grand Designs Live tonight, pity given it was the Eco House awards. On the other hand living in a manse makes eco houses not very relevant (sadly).

Atonement poetry

I seem to be feeling very poetical at the moment, anyway I love this one by Sally: Eternal Echoes: Atonement.

Butterfly, Chinua Achebe

I used this poem on Sunday evening: Butterfly, Chinua Achebe.

Speed is violence
Power is violence
Weight is violence

The butterfly seeks safety in lightness
In weightless, undulating flight

But at a crossroads where mottled light
From trees falls on a brash new highway
Our convergent territories meet

I come power-packed enough for two
And the gentle butterfly offers
Itself in bright yellow sacrifice
Upon my hard silicon shield.

It seemed to fit nicely with the start of the reading from Acts 1:6-11 which begins:

So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

The disciples still want to speed on with the old agenda (the one Jesus had been showing was wrong for years), the violent agenda. What Brian Wren might call the MAWKI (Masculinity As We Know It) agenda.

On fish as a solution

In a comment on connexions » Politics we read dh spouting forth:

Also, Thatcher wasn’t against entitlements but that one should look to persona responsibility first. “Give a person a fish you feed them a day. Teach a person to fish and you feed them a lifetime.”

I don't want to start on how I disagree with this view of Margaret Thatcher, nor do I want to digress into a view of her politics and the impact on this country.

But I do want to point to a better way of using that saying as a Christian. Shane Claiborne writes:

We give people fish. We teach them to fish. We tear down the walls that have been built up around the fish pond. And we figure out who polluted it.

Now that is something I can identify much more with a wider breadth of the teaching of Jesus. What a far better way of seeing that saying for today. Imagine the difference it would make if politicians thought and acted that way with focuses on:

• Sharing
• Empowering
• Justice
• Restitution & Reconciliation

Still it is not all. You could take this saying further by adding:

• Worship of the creator of the fish and the people. 
• Confession of our complicity in the lack of fish that affects people
• Community and sharing (inc sacraments).
• ...

That is from Shane Claiborne "The Irresistible Revolution living as an ordinary radical"

Percentage Christianity

I am going to complain, in fact I am going to rant. But I need to do it quickly as I need to go out again.

Why is there so much percentage Christianity about? By that I mean claims that "The gospel is x" or "y is central to the gospel". I continually see claims (on just about every side of the Church) that a particular one thing is what the gospel is about.

Rubbish!

If the gospel is about only one thing then that one thing can only be ... everything.

So yes the gospel is about

• centrality of the cross
• Spirit filled Christians
• salvation
• justice
• peace
• community
• Scripture
• sanctity of life
• worship
• prayer
• evangelism
• mission
• and the list goes on and on ...

But the gospel is not JUST about any one of these things, it is about them all. It is about the whole of our lives. Everything!

The gospel should impact every element of us (our inner selves, our homes, our work, our worship, our play, our waking, our sleeping, lour loves, our hates, the unwashed dishes, our neighbours, our enemies, our countries, ...)

So why is it that people keep taking a small slice of the gospel and saying "THIS IS THE GOSPEL"? I say throw out your tiny views and images of God, grasp the bigger picture and go for Christ Lord of All!

A good life

Just sitting down, eating lunch and reflecting on a good life.

This morning I cycled over to Thrapston for one of our regular Hope 08 meetings. There is so much happening in Thrapston with all the Churches working together that nobody can keep track of it all. Anyway as well as a good meeting it was a lovely ride, came back through Stanwick Lakes (lots of cyclists about which is great) and felt life is good.

This afternoon I have a meeting with my Superintendent so will be riding off to Higham Ferrers in a few minutes - it is such a lovely day that there is no way I am going to drive.

One of the wonderful things about being a minister in the Nene Valley Methodist Circuit is that so much is happening that we are moving properly (and for Methodists quickly <grin> ) away from any idea that things need a minister to happen. Instead we are working our way to being accurately described as a Spirit powered, Mission shaped Circuit - and you have to love that. It means that there will be even bigger celebrations of Pentecost, whoo hoo!

My friend getting accredited

This picture (which is number 10 on this slide show Baptist Assembly - Saturday) is of my friend and former colleague Rosemary during her accreditation this weekend.

Rosemary is moving to Bridgewater from Ringstead. I am very honoured to have been invited to preach - for at least 90 minutes I think she said - at her induction service in July. Of course I was happy to go as I can include a visit to St John's Street Cycles a fantastic bike shop.

Toast and Ascension

So today is Ascension Sunday and others have preached powerful sermons or great stories.

At Ringstead we did neither of those, instead we spent a good part of the service making and eating toast. We had some bad puns about popping up to Heaven.

However, the main points were from Acts 1:6-11 about the need to Wait for God (like we waited for the toast), the Power of the Holy Spirit (like the electricity powers the toaster) and the need to Share (tasks in making the toast and the toast itself).

I should get extra points for corny links to songs eg "We want to see Jesus lifted high"!

We also used a development of a way of leading prayer that I used in that last week with kids at WOT. It uses hands:

• Both Hands held pointing up - pray for ourselves, Ask for blessing of the Holy Spirit
• Waving right hand - offer a prayer of thanks for the person on your right
• Waving left hand - pray for the needs of the person on your left
• Both hands held wide - pray for the whole world
• Hug yourself - imagine Jesus giving you a hug, tell him about the things you are sorry about and hear him saying I love you, you are forgiven.

Finally Just to note in passing that apparently Monday sees the start of National Bread Week - see www.welovebread.co.uk

Raunds 24x7 Prayer

Starting on Sunday 11th May (Pentecost Sunday) at 4pm we have our next 24x7 Prayer Week.

This will be my 3rd in Raunds (I think there were about 3 before that).

So far we have seen increasing interest and use of the prayer room each time. This time we are a little better organised (at least in some ways) as I managed a trip to Ikea yesterday and so we have oodles of candles, plus some fabrics to decorate the prayer room.

Also give the new service from the Methodist Church the event will be advertised at The Raunds 24x7 Prayer Week see Connecting with The Connexional Noticeboard: The Methodist Church of Great Britain for details of this service.

Find out about the future of cycling

Sadly I can't go to Find out about the future of cycling

May 10th in Cambridge, organised by CTC but open to non members.
 

Howto feel kinda sparkly

I have linked to Cecilia before for her graceful responses to hatred.

Now she has an encouraging post on holistic health in: Closeted Pastor: Health Check-In.

Everything is Cultural!

Got into some very interesting discussion on: Everything is Cultural! at Leaving Munster.

A great day

Sunday was a great day today. I guess a lot of this is a result of new energy and life having recently had a weeks holiday.

I have presided at two communion services (Thrapston and Ringstead), plus been at a Circuit Youth Service. Our circuit youth group (currently called JAM, which [obviously] stands for "Jesus And Meals"), prepared and led the service, providing their own band and everything else. All had a good time of worship, both thoughtful and joyful.

They are a good bunch, today I got to meet some of the parents for the first time - that is good as a larger bunch of us (including these parents) will be going to Greenbelt together this year (I suspect it will be well over 20).

Mike, one of the team of presbyters in the circuit who has a triple role (presbyter, evangelism enabler and supporter of the circuit youth work) however was not there being on holiday (I know, shouldn't be allowed).

For the service I got the task of hanging the 8 foot dove that JAM has made on their recent Holy Spirit weekend. PJ thought it looked more like a Mark IV Spitfire (I thought more like a dive bomber myself). Peter told me it was hanging upside down as the wings were at the bottom rather than the top (I pointed out the requirement to have something to attach the string to as being the reason - but it could just as easily been Mike and I knowing nothing about zoology).

In accordance with official JAM policy we ended with cake and drinks, sadly I had to leave for my next service before the clearing up was complete (and after that one we had chocolate animal shaped biscuits!).

Then have had a gentle evening watching Dr Who, Scrapheap Challenge, and Bremner, Bird & Fortune with various members of the family.

Future of the Church

I have been wondering for a while on whether to contribute to the debate on some Methodist blogs about the future of the Church (see connexions » Efficiency, connexions » Responding to decline (again): Change and connexions » Gotta get a system - I'll leave you to find the other side, it shouldn't be too difficult from the comments on connexions).

I have wondered whether to write a response to those views which make me despair for the future of the Church, ones that seem to be full of aggression and vindictiveness.

In the end I have decided not to play that game.

You see my experience is quite different. Like many newish Methodist Ministers I have come into ordained ministry later in life after a career in other fields. I am not some naive, wet behind the ears graduate who has never touched the real world.

So I now work within a Church that has problems, that has at times in it's history lost its way, one that does not have a reputation for rapid change.

What do I find here in this Church?

• I find loving and competent people determined to know and serve Jesus.
• I find dedicated people giving huge amounts of time to the Church, to their communities - all for the Kingdom of God.
• I find an openness to change (by no means everywhere, but in more than enough places and people to give plenty of hope

But more than all these things, I find the Holy Spirit at work - changing lives, transforming situations. I see people experiencing the love of Christ who forgives, heals, restores. I see the creative energy of the generous Father in new opportunities, new lives, new ventures.

When I was young I was frustrated by the slowness of the Church in adopting skills, techniques, processes from business. Now, rather older, I rejoice in being part of a Church where God is at work creating, redeeming, giving life. A Church in which we can face death through the real hope that only comes from God dying for us and then bringing resurrection and new life. Now I rejoice in the diversity and generosity of his love.

For me the future of the Church rests in the hands of the God who loves me - despite my failings. What a wonderful thing that is. Hallelujah!