Passion

You don't have to go far in the blogging world to find people blogging about what is wrong with the church. Some say it is bad theology, others a lack of prayer, I tend to bang on about the need to be missional, while others comment that we need to take a marketing approach, some point to hypocrisy, the failure to deal with issues of justice, a lack of love for the poor, failure of community - too much community etc.

I think they are all right, they all point to failures, and as we might expect dealing with these issues may well help reverse the trends, while at the same time highlighting others. One thing is for certain in organisational dynamics whenever something begins to fall over - the knives often turn inward, we look at someone or something to blame.

Another institution which I have a great deal of interest in is my home Football Club, Middlesbrough FC, now when I was a kid living in the north east I was a Liverpool supporter, however when I came to NZ, MFC became a way of me connecting with the bigger picture of who I am, the team gave me sense of connectedness, roots. The Tees is my river, the riverside stadium is my mountain – this is how I know what home is. Middlesbrough like the Church in general has issues they are struggling, the fan base is faltering, they lose when they should win and make stupid mistakes constantly – I said they were like the average Church. They have some real issues, and the knives have turned inwards – it's the manager, it's the goal keeper, it's the lack of strikers, it's the weak midfield, and the heave handed defence, it's the lack of money at the club. While all these reasons for failure are right and dealing with them (like the Church) may reverses the trend I think they also highlight other inadequacies.

The solution the club has come up with I think is brilliant – rather then turning the knives inward they are calling for people to renew their passion for the club, to scream, yell and roar their support so that when teams come they are playing 11 men plus 30000 on the bench. They are encouraging people to be passionate – to do this they have put out a video with a young guy who embodies the club, he's a local lad made good and in that represents 1000 and 1000 of teenagers in and around Middlesbrough. He isn't the most eloquent speaker, nor is he a 'pretty picture' but he embodies passion. I watched it and got shivers down my spine, while it won't make me go out and buy a season ticket, it does make me proud to be part of something bigger.

Passion for the gospel – as good news for all seems to be one thing I see missing in the Church, I myself often find myself feeling ho-hum after attending Church, and I know that many feel that way – things aren't going that well and the passion seems to have gone. I still love Jesus more than ever but sometimes hanging around with his bride can be a little dull. I wonder whether we could reinstall some passion in each other through a similar approach to MFC and put the knives away…

Video link is here: David Wheater - Passion

Church Signs....

I have always loved church signs, and wanted to make one. The ususal approach is to put either some arrogant commnets on them, some irrelevant comments on them or soemthing that makes absolutely no sense to the average person on the street, such as the short lived sign that arose on one of our churches "we are biblical and evangelical", to which I wanted to add "and who cares".

Well thanks to the wonders of modern technology I get to make a sign - hope it makes you giggle .

To make your own click on the link

Bishops Youth Retreat

I just had one of those weekends that makes me think this is the best job in the world. We went up to Lake Rotoiti with 24 young people, and the Bishop of Nelson (Richard) and his wife (Hilary). The idea being that over the course of the weekend Richard would get to know some of the young people, they would here some of his heart and passion for the church and hopefully they would be able to input into Richard's ministry - giving a youth voice to the future direction of the diocese.
The original idea was that this would be a retreat for 20 -30 somethings, to which I said that's a great idea, but there aren't that many of them in the region and we have a large group of teenagers which unless they get significant input will drift away to churches with lots of C's in their names.
So the group which had an average age of 15 met the Bishop, played PS2 Guitar Hero, got beaten on sing star and Buzz by me and sat and listened to Richard, talked with Richard and I hope gained a sense of being part of something bigger.
Friday night was introductions, Saturday morning I lead worship with some reflections and creative prayers, the scape goat stone confession seemed to hit home, with people writing their confessions on a stone and then tossing them into the lake (where no fishing is aloud), to remind them of how God gives us a fresh start - and forgiveness really is forgiveness, it is not to be dragged up again. Richard followed this by talking about conversion, when does it happen, what difference does it make, he followed Simon Peter's story, and noticed how it doesn't line up that well with the standard repentance prayer - but that the whole thing is a journey, closer to God at times, away from God at others. For the average Christian teenager who I have heard said gives their life to the Lord at least 20 times, it was a relief -its', not that they have necessary back slidden but maybe that is part of the journey. Saturday evening was questions and answers - how can i be involved in the church being a major one, how can i share my faith being just as close a second (Ed Stetzer has some good fact and figures on this subject). One thing that was apparent was a desire for these young people to do the right thing, something i have seen demonstrated again and again over this year. Sunday morning being Pentecost focused on praying for people to be filled with the Spirit - coming from a pente back ground it was nice to have seen it done without hype or force but just gently. Sunday too focused on how we here God speaking, and how we know his will, again something that is a huge issue for the average teen.
Well the young people enjoyed it, I enjoyed it and I suspect the Bish got a bit of a buzz out of it, particularly because our region is not one where people 'kiss the bishop's ring" so to speak, leadership and authority is earned int eh hearts and minds of the people through the words, action and character of the leader - I think Richard proved himself able of commanding the young people's respect and proved also that I believe this region has a bright future, not just in terms of ministry to adults but to Young people also.

Thinking aloud about doors

People blog for many different reasons, for me it's a way of thinking aloud, and allowing ideas to gel and also come under scrutiny from others, in doing so I hope to and have seen and heard the Holy Spirit confirm and critique some of my thinking, through the responses of others. When you work in such an isolated position as mine (many hours of people contact, but little in the way of contact depth) it's been a life line. Without thinking aloud I suspect i would have given up on the whole ministry thing by now.

Part of my thinking aloud over the past year or so has been in regards to pastoral ministry, I have blogged many times on my love and hate for the church, and begin to feel like Augustine; when he said; "the church is a whore, but she is still me mother." My dilemma has been what to do with this? Do I still feel I should return to pastoral ministry after my time in my current role? While I am no clearer, and the whole thinking aloud process has helped me in many ways, few other things have give some clarity too.

Last week during a meeting with my supervisor she was telling me of a dream she had of an old dusty house with many rooms, over time some of the rooms had become opened and cleaned and the beautiful things inside distributed to ordinary everyday people. Her frustration had been that there was one room that had not opened up, and she knew she would have to deal with it in God's time. The house represented her life... During a time of prayer after our meeting I felt God saying to me that locked door was unlocked, but she needed to turn the handle inorder to open it fully. I laughed at this as did she because when we talk of God opening and closing doors, we always picture them as being slightly ajar or completely closed, the thinking being that you only go through the doors that are ajar... She took it as a message to try doors, because just because they appear shut doesn't mean they are locked... When she said that i started thinking about the whole pastoral ministry thing, a door in my life that appears shut, but certainly does not seem to be locked.

God incident too was a conversation I had with a complete stranger, who after finishing the conversation said to me - "you know, you should really be a pastor..."

What I do with these God incidences I am not sure, but I think God may want me to have a little faith, and to be a bit more bolder, trying doors, if they are locked they will remain locked, but they may be unlocked. It reminds me of the Jesus feeding the 5000 incident, someone once said to me that the miracle occurred when each person put out there hand to receive -imagine 5000 little miracles - 5000 steps of faith.

I really love this Pentecost responsive prayer from Steve Collins

The Kingdom of God has many points of entry, but they are not always in the places we expect.

So we need to be alert and ready to enter any time, any place we may be called

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked"push"

We will not give up if it doesn't open easily.

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked "changing room."

We will not attempt spiritual exercise in clothes that restrict our movements.

We will enter the kingdom through the door marked "fire escape."

we will not go back into smoke filled rooms to rescue our possessions.

We will enter the kingdom through the door marked "late night opening and all day Sundays"

We will not restrict the time and places of access to God.

We will enter the kingdom through the door marked "silence recording in progress."

We will not miss our part in God's symphony.

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked "Bar staff only."

We will not ignore people who are thirsty.

We will enter the kingdom through the door marked "honeymoon Suite."

We will not keep any part of ourselves from God's love.

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked "to the cells."

We will not plea bargain to escape responsibility for our crimes.

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked "lost property."

We will not get rid of people who have not yet been claimed by God their rightful owner.

We will enter the Kingdom through the door marked "guest list."

We will not have forgotten to have our friends names put on it too.

We will enter the kingdom through the door marked "exit"

We will not continue shopping when God the manager puts the lights out.

We will go through these door in the power of the Spirit, knowing that Jesus has gone through them all first.

Another rant..... Identity and navel gazzing

Around the Anglican church at the moment i hear the word identity thrown around quite a bit - and the need to define who we are before we can engage in the task of mission. What crap, when Jesus sent out the the 12 did he say find out who you are and then go??? I don't think so.
It seems to me that in working with young people and looking at the scriptures the identity issues comes through a process of action and reflection, sitting around in conference rooms contemplating our navels does not tell us anything. Messing our way through the mission of Christ, engaging with those around us, screwing up and saying sorry tells us far more about Christ's mission. Why on earth can we not just get on and Christ's hand and feet instead of being his navel
Don Tamihere often uses a phrase which I think is great and I thinks sums up some of the problem "aren't we supposed to be Angli Cans and not Angli Can'ts."

rural or urban

I work in a diocese that has a mix of very rural and very urban parishes. Though among that there are plenty that are border line too. Last week i went to great lengths explaining to someone that i believed in spite of geography that one particular parish was more urban in it's shaping.
I went to visit that parish yesterday and on arrival had to reappraise my view of whether it was rural or urban. . Imagine my surprise then when i arrived in the car park yesterday to to be greeted by a couple of cows being rounded up by the local vicar..... not quite as urban as I had thought.

What is Anglican Worship?

John over at colourful dreamer, has been thinking hard and getting in to some minor scraps over the subject of worship - particularly as to what constitutes Anglican Worship? While the question of what constitutes Anglican worship and what doesn't may be interesting - it personally think it misses the point, and places the understanding of worship into far too small a box. A box that i don't think reflects the gospel, the early churches understanding of and most certainly the emerging churches understanding of worship.
While it's good to focus on what makes something distinctive, it too easily overlooks what we mean by worship any way.
I think we need to get away from the worship is what we do on Sundays' mindset. Now i hear o lot of people saying that worship is a 24/7 thing and that is it exactly but we say that and still get obsessed with what happens on Sunday - and i think the Anglican worship debate falls into that too easily...
It's interesting to note that the five fold mission of the Anglican Church has only just recently been expanded to six by adding - To worship and celebrate the grace of God...
given this late addition surely what constitutes Anglicans at worship is more then than what we do on a Sunday Morning - Anglican worship then is about:

• Proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom
• Teaching, baptising and nurturing new believers
• Responding to human needs by loving service
• Transforming the unjust structures of society
• Striving to safeguard the integrity of creation, and to sustain and renew the life of the earth.

If what we do on Sunday morning reflects that then surely then we have Anglicans in worship, I guess i am more interested in the worship we offer when we are scattered rather than what we do when we gather.

And I guess a church that reflected some of those values and not just gave lip service to them would be truly exciting, a great place to belong - and dare i say it damned attractive to the world around