The Golden Compass

Nettes & I recently had a night out watching the Golden Compass, the first film adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s trilogy: His Dark Materials, thanks to Ruth who babysat for us. Being a fan of science fiction/fantasy and having read these brilliantly written thought provoking novels some years ago I certainly enjoyed this adaptation. It is never quite the same watching a film after reading the books, the story did seem to whiz by far too quickly and I must admit to feeling a little cheated as the final scenes of the first novel have been held over to the next film. Nevertheless it was acted, well written and the special effects were breathtaking. I would say that it is well worth seeing.

It is not surprising that some Catholic organisations are calling for a boycott of the film as the baddies are a religious authority albeit in the film called the Magisterium rather than the Church. One thing I enjoy about His Dark Materials is the way that it shows that there is a place in our culture for stories that discuss serious issues in allegorical ways. I just cannot understand Christians who demand boycotts or banning of something just because they might disagree with its message. But as it is a children’s film the question this raises is if we disagree with its message should we take our kids to see it? If you watched the film you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Many films rely and magic and portray behaviour that we wouldn’t encourage in real life. What is disturbing about these stories is much more subtle than this.

You see there is actually a lot in these novels that is good but there is a sting in the tail, so to speak. Pullman critiques the abuse of religious power well even exposing that the force behind it is spiritual and that it can give a false hope in the afterlife. I think that we must be careful not to misunderstand and therefore defend what Pullman rightly criticises. I would see the story as a modern day allegory akin to the fall of Babylon in Book of Revelation or Jesus' parables that criticised the Pharisees. What Pullman offers as an alternative to this false belief in the end is a belief in human freedom. This is a good point but it ultimately stops short the true spirituality that is my own experience. It is not really until the final pages that Pullman’s fervent atheism becomes crystal clear as he preaches, and he does preach, about the ‘Republic of Heaven’ which is ultimately a secular humanist message that I must reject.

This raises an important question of to what extent we should shelter our children from ideas, messages and worldviews with which we differ. On one hand we have a responsibility to teach what we believe to be the truth. But on the other we need to make it plain that there are many other beliefs and ideas out there. They need to be familiar with these if they are ever going to have an impact for God. And as they learn about these we need to trust God that he will lead them into the truth. There are dangers in not letting our children watch the movie that we appear like the Magisterium who hush up dangerous thoughts. Yet if we do choose to encourage seeing this movie we would need to feel conversant enough with the issues raised to be able to discuss them meaningfully with our children and to encourage them to discuss this story with others putting forward their faith as the true answer. With older children who are already secure in there faith this could be helpful both as a critique of power abuse and as a discussion starter with their friends as long as parents are willing and able to enter into these sort of discussions with their children.

So should you take your kids to see it? You've heard what I think. Here are two very good articles discussing the issue further. Kester Brewin says yes. Simon Dillon says no. The choice is yours.

Homegroup on Mission

Last week our homegroup was discussing some of the past teaching in the church. Our focus was one message on Mission. We were saying how practicing the presence of God then this will enable us to have an influence for good on those around us. Luke 4 shows us that Jesus came to deal with poverty (spiritually and physically) and to bring insight and bring liberation from oppression and debt. Yes, we too have the same mission. Where are we doing this? We talked about projects such as our kids club and youth club but also our partnership with Karis Neighbour Scheme. But also we can help the poor and oppressed by changing our shopping habits e.g. consider how products are made or farmed, buy fair trade & not trade with companies that oppress people. We also noted the importance of peace (Hebrew: shalom = wholeness) in John 20::21 "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you." and that Jesus gospel involves teaching all principles including shalom and liberation not just what we thing of as ‘the gospel’ in Matthew 28:19-20 "Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you". We were asked at the end what one thing we could put into action this week as a result of this word. I said that we would buy fair trade coffee for the church on Sunday morning before anyone else got a chance to buy any other coffee!

Men's Breakfast with Hudson Luwi from Zambia

I’ve just got back from a men’s breakfast with Hudson Luwi from Lusaka in Zambia. Seven of us ate and chatted with Hudson at the Reservoir Café and then we adjourned to the Ledbury Centre. I was struck by how Hudson is so humble and unassuming. It was only as the morning progressed that I realised that he leads a church of about 300 and then later that he has responsibility for a few other churches of similar sizes and teaches at a Bible College. It is clear that he lives by his motto of leadership that it is relational, that we lead by influencing people and that we can best influence people by having relationship with them.

How had he managed so much with so little resources? In the West we have so much that our first port of call is to those resources. When we have no access to these things then our first call must be on God. Another insightful comment that he made about Britain is that Christians talk about their faith very quietly. He was saying that we should not be ashamed but be proud to be Christians and not divide our spiritual life from our ordinary life. He encouraged us to be talking about spiritual things at work say just as we do at church.

Hudson was talking about how his church was active in the community for example by giving away clean water. Rather than expecting people to come to their meetings they were actively going into the community not so much to knock doors or preach in the streets but to be available to serve people. He said that they had seen big evangelists breeze in and make many ‘converts’ whom they never saw again. He would rather see Christians building relationships, having one-to-one conversations and serving people.

But what is our ‘clean water’ with which we can serve our community? I wondered. Hudson was saying that rather than making great plans and budgeting lots of money they had followed Jesus’ call to come and follow him. When Jesus called the apostles they knew that the end result would be but not the exact steps to get there. Jesus led them one step at a time. In the same way he talked about how he had taken one step at a time to build their church building from which they are now giving away the clean water and how with God’s help they had even survived opposition from urban gangs.

I am looking forward to seeing more of Hudson and his family on Sunday.

Spiritual Formation and Mission – Part 3

At last here is the long awaited third part of my treatise on evangelism.

I think a very important aspect of my spiritual formation is reading and meditating on the scriptures and sharing my thoughts on these with others. The Bible is my spiritual food so why do I starve myself by avoiding reading it or thinking about it's implications on my life? It is not just reading and re-reading the Bible that is important but understanding what it means to me so that I can apply it to my life. Over the past year once a month in the small groups we have been discussing how what we are learning as a church can be applied to our lives. One theme that keeps coming out in our group is that it is important to take the next step and discuss these issues with those who do not share our experience. A scary thought. Yet passages such as Luke 10 remind us that God sends us out into the world on a mission and though we sometimes feel he is distant actually he is always present. Our security stems from God’s parental care for us. He gives us a secure base from which to venture into the world and initiate such discussions. Often we are afraid to make these true two way discussions. The world has plenty to learn from us and God’s presence with us means that we can learn what is good from anyone as God will lead us into all truth.

But of course sometimes it can be difficult to have meaningful discussions with people unless we have some form of relationship with them. It is very easy to be an inward looking group and just relate with other Christians. In my teaching on the psychology of relationships I point out that there are two important factors in who we tend to relate to. We tend to form relationships with those that are similar to us and think the same as us. And we tend to form relationships with those who we perceive to have desirable characteristics. I think that this is very relevant to Christians. Our teaching often implies that those outside the faith are different and offer nothing except to fulfil our need for evangelism and could even lead us astray. So it is no wonder that we tend not to develop genuine relationships with them. And that we don't see them as equals with whom we can have an honest two way discussion when it comes to talking about spiritual matters. If we cannot even cross this divide how are we ever going to reach those that differ from us in other ways such as in culture, sexuality and class? Perhaps it is time that Christians learn the true meaning of agape, caring for, having fellowship with, facing up to and having spiritual discussions with people that are outside the church just as we do with people in the church.

Any thoughts?

Book Preview: Everything Must Change

From reading reviews about Brian McLaren’s new book ‘Everything Must Change’ it appears to basically look at how Christians can engage in our culture to change the world. Brian sees Jesus message as one that is revolutionary to the world and has implications both sociologically and politically. It’s a great step forward for an American Christian to talk about fair trade and to attack the fast food industry. Where I hear caution about this book in the free use of ideas from Latin American Liberation Theology. I think he might be in danger of being dismissed by American fundamentalists as going liberal. I understand that his view of the end-times is what is called a transmillenial position so that he thinks that even the second coming and resurrection have already happened. I struggle with the implications of this for our individual eternal life. Perhaps he is merely redirecting the focus to a 'Kingdom Now' viewpoint. If so he's saying nothing more than many of us have said for a long time. Elsewhere Brian says that he does believe in the need for hope beyond death but as far as I can see he does not take this to be what salvation is all about. Perhaps he overstating the point but nevertheless this book does appear to be a very interesting landmark in Christian publishing that really does suggest ways of bringing in the kingdom at an international level addressing such areas as our damage to the environment, lack of peace in the world and the growing problem of proverty.

Spiritual Formation and Mission – Part 2

I am struck by the verse where Jesus pointed out that we are to love the LORD with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). I am to love God with everything I’ve got: my emotions, my thought life, my behaviour, my body, everything. Spiritual formation touches every part of me including those parts of my life that are on display to others. This is a normal response to such an amazing God that will appear abnormal to those who do not perceive him. God transforms me from someone who is controlled by his appetites and by guilt. He rewards me. He disciplines me. He shapes my behaviour and my thinking to be more like his own. He heals my body and my emotions. He encourages me when I am discouraged. He gives me the confidence to take risks again when I fail. He restores my sanity. He enables me to overcome my anxiety. I sometimes wonder what people who do not have this experience of God make of all this?

I cannot say that I have endured the trials and tribulations of suffering or persecution that some have. But sometimes in the pressures of everyday life as a teacher and a parent I have felt crushed. Yet somehow I have managed to cope. It is these uncertain situations that God often uses to develop me spiritually. And he does this in my workplace and neighbourhood in front of other people. One thing that I am learning is the way of shalom – the way of peace – the way of non-aggression. I still shout at people sometimes but God is showing me how to live at peace with all people slowly I think I am learning how to overcome my own natural tendencies to assert myself aggressively. God has had to teach me to unlearn some lessons I have learnt in life, to be different from the crowd and not to give in to the pressures around me. I hope that I am getting there. I hope that I am beginning to see how to be the man that he has intended me to be with my friends.

Yes, of course talking to our friends about God is vital too. I’ll discuss that next week.

Spiritual Formation and Mission – Part 1

'Spiritual Formation' and 'Mission' are a couple of terms that I have been thinking about recently and I am beginning to see how they are related. Spiritual formation is a term that is becoming increasingly popular in Christian circles and has always been an important aspect of Christian discipleship. It refers to how we develop spiritually whether for good or for bad. God wants us to develop for good and for Christ to be formed within us (Galatians 4:19). But influences from the world around us may be forming our spirits in different ways. Romans 12:2 says that we can overcome being conformed in this way by the renewing of our mind and so be transformed into God’s image. This refers to the whole of our life and behaviour. Worship, prayer, meditation, Bible study and fellowship all help this process yet ultimately spiritual formation is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual formation is not just an individual process but also as a corporate one. I am fortunate to be part of a church that is really a simple organic group of believers attempting to organise ourselves on New Testament principles. I have to remind myself that what we have as a church is very precious. Today groups like ours are flourishing even though the traditional church in the West appears to be waning. But there is still ground for us to take. For too long we have lacked an emphasis of interacting with our world and our culture. As Christians this is our mission on the earth today. I think that during the twentieth century the Western Church in an attempt to ‘not be conformed’ has withdrawn from the world and so we have neglected our mandate to transform those around us. This is a trend that needs to be reversed. The conclusion that I am coming to is that discussing spiritual issues with those who do not necessarily agree with our world view is a much neglected aspect of our spiritual growth as Christians.

To be continued…

Time With God - Autumn 2007

Our church has just had our ‘Time with God’ - 24 hours of prayer. As usual I did a stint through the night. As before there was music, candles and art materials laid out so that I could chill out in an atmospheric environment while focusing my prayer drawing some graffiti - on paper I hasten to add not the newly painted walls! But this time the rooms were also swathed in sheets with pillows and there was a number of prayer stations. We could add a paper fish we the name of someone to pray for following the theme of being ‘fishers of men’. We could sit on some concrete slabs to pray for the persecuted church seeing a reminder of prison bars. There were plenty of places to write words or prayers or names of people to pray for all around the rooms. There were prompts on the walls pointing us to passages and a material cross on one of the walls. All this added to the experience. I felt that we stepped up a gear or two from the times when there was just flip chart paper to write on. The creativity in the rooms made praying through the night a breeze. Thanks to Andy and Emma who set the whole thing up. We are clearly moving on.

ASBO Jesus

asbojesus.wordpress.com

Birmingham Artsfest

Last Saturday I took Callie to look around Artsfest – Birmingham’s big free arts festival inside and out in various venues around the city centre. The programme was indecipherable so we just went to where we knew things were happening.

We ate out packed lunch in Brindley place during a fashion show of all things. After that we saw some Fallon Gong – a demonstration of Chinese exercise/meditation. Rather than stopping in Brindley Place where we could have made a mask or a lantern we walked towards the museum.

On the way we heard some excellent world music from one of the main stages. We peered into a bar where another really good act was performing but I didn’t really want to stop with Callie. As we carried on we then began to meet characters from Peter Pan: Captain Hook, some pirates and then just as we were wondering if to actually go into the museum the lost children came up to us shouting, ‘Are you lost?’

Gathering at the foot of the stairway in one of the galleries of the museum was quite a crowd. So we sat down and were treated to an excellent children’s choir – the Ex Cathedra Juniors – performing a blend of high church music and children’s songs. Callie sat spellbound for half an hour.

On our way back we met up with Nettes who briefly popped into the stall promoting recycling. It was a treat walking past so many more things going on and then back up the canal home.

Greenbelt 2007 – Part Two

Our Sunday lunch at Greenbelt was a picnic at mainstage listening to Psalm Drummers. We came back to the arena to watch some episodes of Shaun the Sheep on the big screen before going to a family communion at the New Forms Café. Can you spot us on these photos? After which, Nettes look Callie to see Fischy Music while I staid there chilling on a beanbag with a cup of coffee. I think I nearly dropped off but soon the next service started and we were being encouraged to welcome people of different ethnicities and religions in our churches. I then met Nettes and Callie for tea at the Performance Café and I ended the day watching a classical concert of John Tavener’s music.

Monday morning saw me up early queuing for Callie’s token and then having breakfast with Callie outside the Taize worship tent. While she was in her Children’s Festival I went to an amazing workshop with Isaac Everett on how to use a computer as instrument in worship. I was inspired to get my laptop playing and to join the musicians in church. There was still time to look at an exhibition about Forgiveness before I had to pick Callie up. There were some very large decorative kites flying as we went to lunch in the YMCA Café and the largest snake I had ever seen was on display as I queued for our baked potatoes.

After lunch we looked around more before going to a second family service at the New Forms Café where Callie painted a picture of heaven while there was lots to keep the adults occupied on the theme of ‘heaven in the ordinary’. I caught the end of Dan Wheeler’s set at the Performance Café, had a bite to eat and got ready for the final evening. Unfortunately I was so tired after the whole weekend after listening to Ian Archer on mainstage, a bit of drumming at the Chai Chapel and beginning to explore what was left I decided to go back to the tent. Sounds of Delirious could be heard drifting across the campsite as we settled down to go to sleep.

Greenbelt 2007 - Part One

Greenbelt was amazing, as usual. For us as a family it ran really well. We got there set on Friday morning, get set up and had time to look at our programmes. I registered Callie for the Children’s festival and put her to bed while Nettes looked around and listened to Billy Bragg.

I slept really well and spent the next morning, after a coffee at the Tank – Greenbelt's Cybercafé – exploring the exhibitions and shops and stumbling across a guy teaching some kids how to do graffiti. And in the afternoon I went to a service on the grass at the arena – the sort of second/overflow stage. We sat in groups and were given numbered envelopes with instructions which we followed to the numbers on the screen. There were icebreakers, discussion questions and activities including breaking of bread.

In the evening I went to Soul Space - a room at the highest point of the festival for some evening prayers in the theme of the four seasons. Then after failing to get into Bassline Circus I decided to go to ‘The God Delusion’. Although very philosophical and not easy to get my head round it was presented in a way that kept my interest – with stories, puppets and a giant woman with wearing woollen clothes that were unravelling – a picture of how your faith can unravel with doubts and questions but rather than lead to nothing can be re-knitted into something new. Picture by Becky Garrison

Normally I would head off to the tent at ten o’clock but somehow I was awake enough to listen to a gig by Lies Damn Lies and go to the start of Christian Aid’s candle lit vigil for climate change. Of course this meant I was tired the next morning. But we still got to the main communion service albeit the overflow in the arena. I got us a couple of cups of chai from the Tiny Tea Tent and enjoyed the graphics on the screen which we would have missed if we had been in the mainstage area.

To be continued...

Off to Greenbelt 2007

What is Greenbelt? For the uninitiated think of a cross between Glastonbury Festival and a Bible Week and add in some creative worship. It all takes place at Cheltenham Racecourse. One thing that I like a lot is the café culture. A couple of good places that I’ve found to hang out are the Performance Café and the NewForms Café. In the Performance Café there are a number of Christian musicians that I wouldn’t mind seeing after scanning their profiles on the Crossrhythms website. The NewForms Café host two or three creative worship services that I wouldn’t mind going to and it would also be good if Callie could get to these as there are a couple of family services.

This year I want to make sure that Nettes get to see what she wants to. So I’ll be getting up really early to pack the car. When we get there I’ll help set up the tents as much as possible and encourage Nettes to look at the programme in the afternoon and beleive me it takes some looking at - as you have so much choice and need to plan in times to just chill. I want my choices to fit around Nettes and queuing up to get Callie into the children’s festival. I think in the last couple of years I’ve been so excited about what was happening that I didn’t actually give as much thought to Nettes and Callie. It’s probably understandable since it was all new to me, but this year I’m determined to be more thoughtful.

What a friend we have in Facebook

This summer a long with a few others in our church I’ve been enjoying the internet’s latest and greatest social network application - facebook. I’ve also just hooked up with some people at college, staff and ex-students. I’ve now got a network of over 30 friends who are kept posted on what I do on facebook. There are also links to this blog there and anything else that I might have found of interest. On my facebook profile I’ve posted a couple of youtube videos, put up a bookshelf, added a couple of movie quotes. It feels a bit like decorating your room with posters and filling it with stuff.

It began as a way for me to keep in contact with people over the summer as not only does college go on holiday but there are so few people in the church around. In fact there are so many away that instead of hiring the community centre for meetings in august we are just having socials. Last week I bought the veggie burgers and salad as my contribution to a barbeque, this week I really enjoyed the treasure hunt around the reservoir and next week we’re having a picnic in the park. People have also organised a murder mystery evening and a shorting stars party which were both great.

So actually, together with playing with facebook, we’ve been doing a lot!

Time with Callie

This summer I’m spending some time with my little daughter Callie.

Last week my wife Nettes was away all week on a summer school with the Open University working on her psychology project so I had Callie 24-7. Amazingly I managed to keep on top of the housework and take Callie out on a day trip to Weston-Super-Mare with our local Sure Start. We also got out a couple of days to have a meal either at Sure Start or at our Community Centre. I don’t know how I managed it but I also taught Sunday school and led the discussion in the house-group with people coming round for a meal before hand. Interestingly we were talking about parenting what we learn from our children. By Friday I was exhausted.

Nettes is now back so she can take Callie some of the time over rest of the summer. But she is now busy looking for a job to help support herself while she does her NVQ next year. So I am still seeing plenty of Callie. We’ve had some good walks down the canal into the city centre. Both Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Ikon Gallery run time for children to draw or paint as well as look round the exhibitions so we’ve visited both of those and may go back again next week.

It’s really good being with Callie but it can get tiring so I’m really pleased that she’s booked into a summer play scheme for the following week.

Anger Management

For the first week of my summer break I spent a few days at Fircroft College doing an anger management course. Not that I’ve got any great problem with rampaging around. But I enjoy studying and wanted something that would give me some practical insight into myself. It was a men only course with eight students and one male tutor. I found it a very good environment and felt able to discuss matters deeply in a relaxed manner.

The basis of the course was transactional analysis popularised by the book ‘I’m OK, You’re OK’. Interestingly we looked quite a bit at assertiveness training which all about expressing yourself in a way that so that you get a ‘win, win’ outcome rather than being passive and/or aggressive. You see, if we can express our anger assertively we don’t bottle it up or just lash out we actually use it very positively to effect change in our world.

In the course we looked at some scenes from the movie ‘Anger Management’ with Jack Nicolson. And I bought a copy at a discount price but I haven’t watched it all through yet.

Sunday School Church

My wife Nettes and I have just led another family service. This time it our remit was for the kids in Sunday school – which Nettes leads - to share what God had been teaching them. After talking to the kids we came up with a service that basically followed the pattern of what we do in Sunday school with songs interspersed throughout the morning.

First one of the boys went round with a roving microphone asking people what had been happening to them that week. Then we played a game based around John 3:16 which the children had been learning, which brought out the competitive side of the church. We then told the story of Jonah with a couple of children reading. Then we got everyone to discuss and possibly have a go at acting it out in small groups. We then got people out of their seats doing a choice of craft activities based on the story or looking through some of the Sunday school material. We were amazed how much people participated and felt that we had broken through a barrier of getting people to do different activities in church. All this was supported by PowerPoint with photos of the children, their work and quotes from them about what they had recently learnt about God.

We were really blessed with an email we received just after the service saying from a couple saying how much fun they had and that they came away grinning.

Cross Rhythms Reviews

Cross Rhythms Homepage

David Derbyshire reviews albums on Crossrhythms under the name Dancin' Dave Derbyshire. He teaches psychology part time at Sutton Coldfield College and is a part time stay at home dad. He is an active member of Church Alive - a church that meets in an urban community centre and in people's homes.

David's reviews on Cross Rhythms:

Abundant Life: How Loved --- 8/10 Pop
The Afters, Mercy Me & Sonic Flood: Three --- 8/10 Rock
Bebo Norman: The Best Of Bebo Norman - Great Light Of The World ---9/10 Pop
Bethany Dillon: Waking Up --- 8/10 Pop
Bishop G.E. Patterson: Having Church With The Saints --- 8/10 Gospel
Boomshots: The Best Of The Underground --- 7/10 Hip-hop
Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir: I'll Say Yes --- 5/10 Gospel
Carman - Two For One: The Standard/Mission 3:16 --- 7/10 Pop Chosen - That's Not Funny --- 8/10 Hip-Hop
Donald Lawrence Presents The TriCity Singers: The Grand Finale Encourage Yourself --- 8/10 Gospel
Dr Onionskin: Live & Kickin --- 6/10 Dance/Electronic
The Clark Sisters - The Definitive Gospel Collection --- 7/10 Gospel Eve: In The Waiting --- 6/10 Pop
Four Kornerz: Gonna Make It --- 9/10 R&B
Isaiah Katumwa - Sinza ---9/10 Jazz - New
Mission Six: Superhero --- 8/10 Pop
Larry Norman: Confiscated --- 8/10 Jesus Music
LeJuene Thompson - Metamorphosis --- 8/10 R&B
Rebirth - Episode 6 --- 8/10 R&B - New
Kierra Sheard - Bold Right Life --- 9/10 R&B - New
Paul Simon & Friends: A Night Of Gospel Glory --- 7/10 Gospel
Secret Archives of the Vatican - Babylon Halt --- 9/10 Dance/Electronic
Shawnte: So Faithful --- 8/10 Gospel
Shirley Caesar - The Definitive Gospel Collection --- 7/10 Gospel
Steve Jones: No Looking Back --- 6/10 Rock
Strive: The Story before --- 8/10 Rock
The Revolve Tour: Inside Out --- 9/10 Pop
ThingamaKid: Giggle Toons --- 6/10 Children’s
Toby Mac: Made To Love --- 9/10 Pop
Various - Songs 4 Worship Holy Ground Special Edition --- 5/10 Pop
Greg Wollan - Architect Of Beauty --- 8/10 Roots/Acoustic - New

Articles on which David has commented

Signs Of The Times
The Forida Outpouring With Todd Bentley
The Golden Compass
Equality Act (Sexual Orientation Regulations) 2007

Favourite Presenters
Mike Rimmer

Dancin’ Dave is Back

I’ve now got some new reviews – under my old moniker of Dancin’ Dave - on the crossrhythms website after a hiatus of a few years. I’ve just received some more CDs to review so i guess I’m doing a good enough job to be kept on. Of course I’ve been following Christian music in the interim. I still listen to Mike Rimmer on Crossrhythms radio – especially his programme Profile Special that many years ago I used to help put together.

And tonight I’ve just got back from listening to Aradhna who are awesome. They were in Birmingham this evening so I was able to hop on a bus after work to hear them. Thanks Ruth for babysitting! It was good to get to chat with one of the members while we were being plied with wine and onion bargees. I love their chilled Asian fusion worship and they had some great insights into distiguishing Hindu culture from Hindu religion.

There is some great Christian music out there, you know.

Glastonbury

Glastonbury
Originally uploaded by dave & nettes.

Last weekend we went to Glastonbury for an arts festival Grace 07 organised by three churches in our network. On the Friday night I went to a gig with Bosh and Brother John. It was amazing what Bosh could do with his voice and Brother John rocked out with some good lyrics.

On Saturday with Nettes and Callie, I walked to the top of the Tor and down the other side to visit the meditation gardens. Then back at the festival the story tellers kept Callie occupied while I queued at the barbeque. And then later there was circus equipment such as diabolos to keep me occupied while Callie queued to have her face painted and her hair braided. In the evening there was an acoustic set where singer/songwriters told the stories behind their songs. This was housed in the atmospheric Abbot’s kitchen in the ruins of the Abbey. I enjoyed Shaico’s folksy political protest songs but the standout was little Sarah Lehman’s big voice that wowed us all.

Sunday morning we visited Mid Somerset Community Church. Callie was drafted into flag waving that appeared to be a hallmark of their worship. And their potluck meal was a good chance to catch up with our old friend Detta. The worship continued in the afternoon and included a dance troop from Sanctuary in Bristol. In the evening I was inspired by a talk on spirituality in contemporary art by Vincent Stokes.

On Monday as a family we looked around the Abbey museum and ruins before meeting Detta for a bite to eat in the tea rooms. Finally, in an art workshop with Tony Martin, I drew my interpretation of a psalm before heading home the Birmingham on the motorway with a Callie who had had her face painted and hair braided again.

Walkabout

Our church prayer meeting this week took to the streets around the area where we meet. We walked around in four groups praying about our relations with other organisations and churches as well as for God’s presence and wisdom. So we not only looked for other churches to pray for but also places such as schools and police stations and even potential church premises for ourselves. We had been encouraged to look out for inspiration on say posters or vehicles as we walked. Our group saw a skip filled with rubbish. As one of us was an artist who has used rubbish in her art she led us in a prayer about God transforming people’s lives in a similar way. As it was going dark we noticed that every now and then there was a house with a light on. This reminded us that there were Christians scattered around the area shining for God. We also noticed that one house to let was owned by Royal Estates. So we prayed for God’s kingdom to come in the houses around. Finally we thanked God for all these metaphors and more that had been a great encouragement in our prayers that evening.

Church Weekend Away

We’ve just got back from our church weekend away at Cloverley Hall. It was great to get see our old friend Detta - who now lives in Glastonbury. It was our pleasure to ferry her from and to Crewe station.

It was good to start Saturday off with a prayer time as I'd missed Friday's meeting putting Callie to bed. After breakfast we listened to Ian Rawley on a term that has been so overused in our circles as to become meaningless: being a prophetic people. Refreshingly he reinterpreted this as neither withdrawing from our culture or being so immersed in it that we become ineffective but instead being shapers of our culture.

In the second half Carole Rawley did an exposition of Ephesians based on Watchman Nee’s ‘Sit, Walk, Stand’. After lunch and after the Easter egg hunt - for which Callie got a runners’ up prize for her basket - we had a reflective workshop session. There were four stations with various questions and activities relating to what we had been looking at. I chose to identify three scriptures to stand in prayer with. I felt to pick Luke 10:2-3, Proverbs 6:6-5 and Ecclesiastes 11:6 on the theme of work and harvest. All this and a talent show in the evening with Nettes and Callie performing 'Eat Your Peas'. What a day.

Thankfully the Sunday morning prayer meeting was 8:30 rather than 8:00. After breakfast there was worship and reports from areas of the church. Then Steve, our elder, spoke on increasing our involvement in the community around where we meet and working in partnership with other organisations and churches. Over lunch I was thrilled to hear from the creche workers that Callie had been asking deep spiritual questions. And in the afternoon we broke bread and briefly prayed about some issued raised that morning - again using four prayer stations - before departing.

Phew! A great weekend!

Ten Things I Did For Easter

1. On Palm Sunday, Nettes & I taught the kids in our Sunday school, using pictures around the room to illustrate the story.

2. As a couple we did Bible reading and prayer times each night throughout the week including an interesting activity.

3. On Good Friday we broke bread with Matzo crackers together round our coffee table with nibbles to remind us of the last supper.

4. On Saturday Callie and I helped build an Easter garden for a local parish church.

5. Then in the evening I went to their Easter vigil service – a very dramatic lighting of the Pascal candle in a darkened building.

6. On Sunday morning we boiled our eggs with dyes. The one tie-dyed with a red onion skin worked best.

7. I encouraged Callie to wear her Easter Bonnet to church – a hat she had decorated herself.

8. We enjoyed the Easter service at our church especially the talk aimed at the children.

9. For lunch I cooked a leg of lamb and Callie made the table decorations.

10. On Easter Monday a dozen or so of us played 'C is for Chocolate' - a murder mystery jigsaw puzzle game.

A Day at the Museum

We’ve now broken up for the Easter so I’m off college and Callie is off school. And today the men arrived to install our solar panels. So to get Callie out of the house we went to the Museum and Art Gallery. We walked into the city centre down the canal at the end of our road. After changing Callie’s books at the library we crossed the square into the museum…

There is a wonderful three dimensional optical illusion in its foyer that I loved. Up the stairs we met the centre-piece of the whole museum: an impressive sculpture of the fallen angel Lucifer based on Paradise Lost. On our way to and from the Edwardian Tea Rooms for lunch we looked at an interactive Mandela in the Buddha rooms and some wonderful stain glass windows. We spent hours exploring the museum looking at exhibitions of candlesticks, chalices, jewellery etc. as well as exploring the galleries. I was struck by how much religion and especially Christianity is a theme in art – even in some contemporary art. We stumbled across a pair of storytellers telling the story of Ezekiel in front of a painting of the Valley of Dry Bones. Callie sat at the front enthralled for about quarter of an hour. In the archaeology section we found a game of Nine Men’s Morris to play. There were some other children’s activities including some dressing up but Callie’s favourite was making an Easter card.

After our long walk home we are both very tired.

Using Art in Prayer

Last night in our home-group we spent some time meditating on the word ‘lost’. Jesus told parables about a lost coin, a lost sheep and the prodigal son. This fitted in with my prayer on Sunday for those that had left our church over the years and are now journeying on a different path from us. Our meditation involved us creating a collage each on a big sheet of paper with the word lost at the centre. We could look through some newspapers to cut out words and phrases and glue them on our sheet. We could draw, paint or crayon on our sheet but I chose to make a stamp out of some plastic and a piece of string to stamp a pattern over the words which proved very effective. I found searching through for the words and creating the collage an interesting way to pray. My mind focused on those that had rejected and so lost friends as their life had unravelled over the years.

I want to continue the idea of using art in prayer is a theme tonight in our Time with God. I’ll be getting up in the middle of the night to spend a few hours tonight in our church building. In the light of Amazing Grace Sunday I feel to pray for the slavery that still exists such as people trafficking and have in my mind the raising of Lazarus. My prayer is that God will not only bring life into these areas of death but also ‘unwind the grave clothes’ bring freedom to individuals across the world. There usually are some art materials available so hopefully I’ll be able to make a picture.

Generations

Last week I was looking at the work of Strauss & Howe on Generations. It makes a good evaluation of the material on adult development that I am teaching my second years. Just as a man’s (or woman’s) life goes in seasons from pre-adulthood spring to the winter of old age so history goes in similar cycles of about 80 years.

Their theory sees the crises of the depression and World War 2 giving way to the high of 50s prosperity. This was followed by a time of revolution starting in the 60s the time of civil rights, hippies and the charismatic renewal. After going through a time of ‘unraveling’ they said that we will face another crisis at the beginning of the 21st century. This is now interpreted as the war on terror.

So I wonder, as a Christian, what we can learn about our time from looking at other crises. Perhaps there are parallels between what we as Christians can be doing today and what heroes of faith were doing in their crisis. For instance, Bonhoeffer comes to mind, standing in opposition to the Nazi’s. But what sort of political involvement could we be involved in today? These thoughts have partly led me to look more at faithworks again and to sign up as a member.

Could this be one way to be discerning of the times?

Dorothy on Leadership

Recently Callie, Nettes & I went to see the Wizard of Oz at the mac with our church’s midweek house-group.. at the weekend!

The colour sequences were amazing to see on the big screen. They have cleaned up very nicely. Callie was a bit scared of the Wicked Witch but I think she really enjoyed it. She recognised 'Somewhere over the rainbow' as we had just been watching a performance by Tori Amos on YouTube

Interestingly enough I was just stuck by what this film has to say on the topic of ‘leadership’.

Don’t be like the Wizard who is threatening and makes a show of his power but is really a little man hiding behind a curtain.

Who should we be like then?

Dorothy of course.

What a teenage girl as a model of leadership? A girl that is bewildered and lost in a world that appears to make no sense to her?

Yes. You see Dorothy doesn’t pretend to know any more than she does. She has been told that the Wizard may be able to help and that the yellow brick road leads to the Wizard’s emerald city. She is on a journey herself and invites others to join her, because if the Wizard might be able to help her, he might - just might - be able to help others too.

Perhaps we could all do with being a bit more like Dorothy.

Children's Work Conference

Yesterday, Nettes and I drove down to Dunstable for a Children’s Workers Conference which asked some hard hitting questions like ‘Have you read your church’s child protection policy?’ and ‘How does your church engage the children in worship while they are in the main meeting?’

Guest speaker John Hardwick stressed the value of keeping families together on Sunday. I thought that he did a good job pointing out an important key getting all ages involved: story-telling. Stories can work on many levels teaching deep principles and keeping us entertained at the same time. He encouraged us to think of creative ways to tell Bible stories, such as imagining a story from many perspectives, as well as including other creative elements such as hot-spot interviews, action memory verses and even BSL signing. He also suggested having a planning team for All Age Services that included all ages i.e. at least one child.

Sam Donohue from Viz-a-viz talked about his work doing school assembles, RE lessons and after-school clubs. I liked the way that he explained the importance of not coming over too dogmatic by having class discussions and prefixing your statements with ‘I believe....’ and ‘Some Christians think....’ etc. I thought this was a good point for generally for chatting with your friends too. Interestingly he thought that using items that the church finds cringe-worthy and hackneyed, like drama sketches and puppets, could work well in mission work with kids who are seeing them for the first time.

A good day albeit tiring.

The Tipping Point

This week I mentioned to my students one of my presents over Christmas a little book that I read avidly called The Tipping Point

It’s an interesting book about how changes can occur in our society very suddenly with apparently little effort. The drop in the New York crime rate that was brought about by zero tolerance on minor crime such as vandalism is a case in point. The book identifies three rare types of people who are influential in such changes: ‘Connectors’ who at the hubs of social networks, ‘Mavens’ who are knowledgeable about the issue and ‘Salesman’ who will persuade people, consciously and unconsciously, to make the change. As such it is a good discussion of minority influence. There is also plenty of other psychology such as a discussion of the bystander effect. There is a chapter on pro-social media influence that looks at how people have communicated such ideas in memorable ways.

Incidentally, one idea in this book is that 150 is a maximum number of people that an individual can have a genuine relationship. Apparently this is taking off in Christian circles as a good size for a church to spit.

An excellent book, highly recommended.

Role Play of Luke 10

Last night in the midweek home-group that meets in our house we were looking at Luke 10. But this was no ordinary Bible study. Each of us was given a card with a character briefing of someone in the passage – a disciple, a healed person, a neighbour, someone from another town etc. First we read through the passage trying to imagine it from our characters viewpoint. We then had some nibbles and for half an hour or so we role played the character. Just like in one of those murder mystery parties. I was, aptly, the host of the party who was giving hospitality to the disciples. As I circulated it became apparent that the person from the other town had been at the receiving end of the disciples ‘woes’ as they were rejected in that town. You’ll have to read the passage. The conversations gradually came together as one group and the disciple was defending the gospel against the criticisms of the out-of-towner. This sparked off some interesting discussions about the gospel of the kingdom, healing, etc. when we came back for our ‘debriefing’. We rounded off the evening praying about the gap between the faith and experiences of the 1st century Christians and us in the 21st century. We all really enjoyed the evening and were challenged by the topic.

This is Our Church

I just found this little QuickTime video about our church with Steve and Helen Watts who lead it. It’s a pity that the producers used the title Pastor on the video – they’re just Steve & Helen. Technically Steve’s an elder but we don’t use it as a title anyway.

On the video you can see some good shots of our ‘developing city’ making it look very nice with the continental style bars and restaurants all along the canal. I was wondering where the graffiti was. But seriously they pointed out some important things about our church which I feel we are beginning to get a get a grasp of. Of course there is still further to go:

•Even though geographically we are very widespread we are a family based churched living our lives together and having fun.

•We are also church that loves to be involved in the community. With a kids club and a youth club as our mission projects, I think we are getting there.

•Yes, God has blessed us with so many creative people such as a professional mime, playwrights and artists and we are beginning to use these talents in our worship. Nettes and I have a heart for this as can be seen in the Family Services that we’ve done.

•Also it’s true that Birmingham is such a multi-cultural place. We’ve got a lot of refugees and asylum seekers. There is a lot of opportunity here to establish the kingdom. So let’s go for it.

Twelve days of Christmas

We had a great Christmas. We all opened our many presents from each other and a few from friends and family. We worshiped with a couple of our local Church of Englands (our church wasn’t meeting). We cooked several special dishes of food. We had friends visit. We visited family. Tried out their Wii. We even went out for a meal and Callie went to the Wacky Warehouse. Phew!

What all on one day? I hear you ask. But …

Well, our secret is that we have twelve days of Christmas. We are so aware of the pressure that comes with one day that we decided to spread our festivities over a longer period. We de-emphasise the actual day and don’t do too much then but have some really nice meals on other days in the twelve. After each meal we exchange small gifts – so Callie gets a present to open on all of the days. We like to keep decorations low key too mainly just displaying the cards. This year Callie and I decorated the card holders with shapes like autumn leaves. For a tree with have a Jesse tree decorated with items symbolising Jesus ancestors. And also this year an advent crown and some flowers.

Dad's Chill Out

I’ve just got back from a narrow-boat trip on Birmingham canals organised by Sure Start. I was invited as I am part of a dad’s group that chill out at our local Family Centre every Thursday. I didn’t get to the group last week but I understand that they’ve started to renovate an old piano. Now Callie is full time at nursery I missed her coming along on the trip and I’m sure some of the others did too. But never mind, today Callie is having fun on an adventure with the Nursery in Wonderland in Telford.

At last I managed to catch up with Matt at Sure Start and get my certificate from the positive parenting course that I completed before half term with the dad’s group. The point of the course was to discuss some practical methods of behaviour management of toddlers. It was a very good six week course talking about ways of building good relationships in our family, not alienating or harming our children yet at the same time not letting them run riot.

I’m looking forward to seeing the group again next week. Now, I wonder if they remembered to buy the playing cards and poker chips?

Technorati Tags: sure start, positive parenting, homedad

Family Service

Sorry not to have posted to this blog for a while but it’s been eyes down working on preparation for college – lots of PowerPoint presentations, gapped handouts and activities as well as preparing for the Family Service at church. College preparation never ends but the Family Service is now over and it went well.

A Family Service simply means that rather than going to Sunday school, the kids will be in and maybe take part, so it needs to keep their attention. Continuing our series in Nehemiah, Nettes & I were given some passages in the middle of the book full of names. So how did we manage it?

Of course everything was on PowerPoint but I think the key was an edited paraphrase come commentary that was performed by three readers alternating lines. This was split into a few very short sections that were interspersed with exhortations, songs and a couple of activities.

One activity was based around Operation Christmas Child which we as a church are supporting and another involved making a family tree of the church. Very simply people wrote names of someone who had influenced them in their spiritually journey and stuck the leaves on a painting of a tree as a representation of our spiritual genealogy. A very moving experience.

Technorati Tags: creative worship, Family Service

Time with God

Last weekend our church had what we call a ‘Time with God’ weekend. We have our building open for prayer for something like 18-24 hours from Friday night to sometime on Saturday. We have three rooms you can use and the idea is that you book a room for an hour or so or more. The rooms are laid out with a candle, supplies of Christian music and flip chart paper and markers to use how we want. I find it exciting and it enables me to create a wonderful atmosphere for prayer. During this time, among other things, I was drawn to read Luke 10, to pray about our impact on the local community and to contemplate what my part might be. I was particularly blessed this time as there were also some art materials available. So I was able to prayerfully sketch a representation of our neighbourhood with the blessing ‘Peace to this House’ and blu-tac it on the wall.

BTW last Thursday we began our new monthly prayer meetings. And we had some really good prayer activities. I do get the feeling we are moving forward as a church in prayer. Praise God!

Technorati Tags: prayer, art, Luke 10

Teaching and Learning

I can’t make the staff development that we’ve got this week at college focusing on using IT in teaching. But I have been reading this article about a school in Australia that is really pioneering in this respect. I’ve got to work on using my PowerPoint presentations to keep my students attention. This year is quite a challenge teaching in the sixth form especially the GCSE groups. I’m experimenting with different activities and finding some work a little better than others. It’s not always easy to get teenagers to work in groups or even to listen to me never mind each other.

I suppose this is all part of relating to a different culture. It makes me realise that not everyone will want to listen to someone talking for 45 minutes – especially if they have not had much success in that mode of education. I think this has important implications for the teaching in the church. Role on the day when we’ve got a much greater variety of activities including fun creative things to do in meetings and ICT teaching that can be accessed anywhere. Surely such activities would attract and motivate a much wider audience.

Technorati Tags: teaching, learning, church

Mp4s of Celebration 2006

I’ve just been looking at the mp4s of Lifelink’s conference Celebration 2006 on their website. I was inspired by Jim Munson in his leadership seminar talked about the trans-generational church as a relay race. He spoke of passing on faith for the next generation will see greater things than we have. I am itching to see the future the better ideas and visions of which he speaks. I want to inherit what previous generations have prayed for, to practice holiness and take the message to the world. How can we do this? Well…

Alan Scotland mentioned the internet. He pointed out the dangers of escaping the real world to play and chat with anonymity. Yet he also talked about the great opportunity we as Christian have to influence the world for good. Gary Finkbeiner spoke of the importance of how we understand the truth. And Ian Rawley underlined this and also criticised on our culture’s tendency to value tolerance. Interestingly, I am just reading Steve Chalke’s new book ‘Intelligent Church’ which gives a counterpoint to this, by saying that tolerance does not imply agreement but rather a confidence and security to leave others to choose their own way.

Anyway, it's good to see the speakers and to have edited highlights of this conference. Mp4s are a great facility.

Technorati Tags: mp4, truth, tolerance

ebible

I’m just exploring ebible at the moment. Though it contains search facilities and resources such as commentaries what looks most interesting is the way that we can share bookmarks and comments on this system. I’m still getting my head around it but it looks like its potential is to be more of a social network like for instance flickr. So you can look at what other people especially those you’ve nominated in your community are saying about particular verses or passages. It refers to itself as a web 2.0 application. The web 2.0 philosophy is to use the internet much more interactively rather than placing content there that someone might view in the future. So blogs are web 2.0 whereas your standard website with lots of articles would be web 1.0. At college we have a virtual learning environment called moodle which also appears to run on this philosophy. It’s not just about giving access to courses online but also enabling your learners to discuss and debate about the material and enable others to learn from them as well as from the resources. Anyway, why not have a look at this web 2.0 ebible and tell me what you think?

Technorati Tags: ebible, web2.0, moodle

Nehemiah

As a church we have just started a teaching series on Nehemiah. Nehemiah’s job was to restore the city walls of Jerusalem. Interestingly – many years before Nehemiah – Zerubabbel had rebuilt the temple. We can read about that in the book of Ezra. This can be seen as a symbol of the restoration of the church. Perhaps now is it the time to go beyond the vision of restoring the church to also restoring our city, by Christians having an influence in society.

As I read through the book of Nehemiah these ten questions occurred to me:

1.How can we be like Nehemiah who honestly looked at Jerusalem’s walls in ruins yet, like Jesus, with a burdened heart and bended knee was utterly dependant on God?

2.How can we have a clear vision to purposefully work hard to transform our city?

3.How can we as a church community work together in mission to accomplish this?

4.How can we handle criticism, discouragement and even persecution when it comes our way?

5.What can we do to stand for peace, justice and liberation politically and be inclusive, welcoming and generous personally?

6.How can we encourage diverse participation and creativity among our church to these ends?

7.As Nehemiah called people to return to God's word how can we return to these ancient ways and yet communicate them in ways that are relevant today?

8.How can we be honest and vulnerable practitioners of God’s word?

9.As we celebrate our festivals how can we both look back and take hold of the future?

10.How can we identify with Nehemiah and with Jesus?

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Greenbelt - part two

Greenbelt Communion
Originally uploaded byJude Adam.

Last Sunday at Greenbelt we watched the Communion service, with cups of chai, on the big screen in the arena overflow. The Israelites fleeing from Egypt was interpreted in terms of liberation with political implications for today. In the afternoon I went to a meeting that looked at the lamenting and imprecatory psalms where we were encouraged to bring to God our anger from hurts and injustice. I then explored the installations in the New Forms Café, listened in on an impressive short all age service there and visited the labyrinth. After all that I met Nettes and Callie for a meal at the Performance Café. This time we heard the haunting vocals of Levi Weaver who IMHO musically was the best I heard all weekend.

Monday was a Callie day. We looked round the exhibition stalls and bookshop in the mud but thankfully undercover from most of the rain. In the afternoon we went to a Godly Play session to see some of the wonderful resources that this children’s ministry offers. Finally it was off to some children’s theatre with Callie. Exhausted by the evening all three of us went back to our tent realising that we had never bothered to go to the mainstage.

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Greenbelt - part one

Teepee village
Originally uploaded by Roger Saner.

Last weekend we went to Greenbelt. We got up early and arrived at Cheltenham racecourse just after the opening time and there were already thousands of people there - even a few in teepees. In the evening I went to a PowerPoint workshop at the Tank – Greenbelt’s cyber-café – for some tips on technique. And then I dropped into the New Forms Café for a snack, with worship happening in the background. My destination was a gig by Fuse Factory – whose fast paced video-jockeyed images had me transfixed. Projecting on gossamer meant that their singer could walk into and behind images.

I started Saturday early with Celtic style worship from Wild Goose interspersed with contemporary stories of slavery from Christian Aid. Later I went to short session by Revelation – a DJ/dance outfit from Bristol – that used songs that we sing at our church... club style. After lunch in the New Forms Café I had a chance to get a coffee and network with a very wide variety of people involved in creative worship. I had to pick up Callie from her children’s meeting just as we were going to have communion. In the evening I joined in a beautiful Taize worship session that included a very moving few minutes of silence.

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Off to Greenbelt

We’re off to Greenbelt again this year. There are some very impressive mainstage acts such as Kevin Max (from DC talk), Martin Joseph, and All Star United not to mention Randy Stonehill relegated to a lesser stage! It’s a pity T-Bone Burnett has pulled out. Mike Rimmer recommended him to me as a must see act. Last year we found that the performance café was a good place to eat. I like the sound of the artists that are playing there this year such as Levi Weaver, Note for a Child and Shawn McDonald. But I am very interested that the new forms worship venue this year is referred to as New Forms Café. It looks like a really good place to hang out in order to experience some creative worship experiences. I’m not sure if I’ll make it to start the day with Noel Moules with the Burn Band – a vineyard worship group – but it does look good. Nettes has got a few acts she wants to take Callie too but I think Callie will also get a couple of sessions in the children’s area leaving us both free to explore. Perhaps we’ll see the stilt walker or the acrobats. I’ll let you know how we get on.

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The Miracles of Jesus

On Sunday evening I recorded the first part of this new three part BBC One docudrama: The Miracles of Jesus. I was very impressed. Rather than trying to give other explanations for the miracles it actually looked at what the miracles would have meant to the people of the first centaury. I felt that it was very cleverly scripted so that it would appeal to those of us who believe that the miracles were historical fact but at the same time not to alienate those that didn’t. But it was not the denouncing of the fact of the miracles that I feared it would be. Interestingly, the presenter said that the scholarly emphasis is moving away from this towards what he was presenting that was really a biblical exposition of the miracles that was very evangelical in its approach. Jesus miracles were references to or re-enactments of many of the miracles that had already occurred in the Bible. The feeding of the 5000 echoed the manna in the desert. The walking on water echoed Joshua crossing the Jordon. But other miracles like the calming of storm said even more pointing to Jesus actually being divine. I’m setting my video again to record part two this week.

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Holy Spirit

Last Sunday I actually got our churches main meeting. In the last few weeks I’ve been I’ve either been on Sunday school, crèche or visiting friends. All of which I’ve enjoyed very much and I’ve not felt like I’m missing out. But it is good to get back home, as it were.

Anyway, during our worship a number of us were bringing our prepared and spontaneous contributions in prophecy and prayer. These are precious times for us as a community of those baptised in the Holy Spirit to use these gifts. During this time the Holy Spirit clearly encouraged us to reawaken the visions he has given us in the past and that with his power we can accomplish them

It was also good to then hear Mike Rimmer speak from John 14 on how the Holy Spirit is to us now as Jesus was to the first disciples. He is there to answer our difficult questions and to lead us into peace. Mike encouraged us to allow the Holy Spirit into all our lives – not just church life overcoming the sacred and secular divide.

It’s good to be reminded in so many ways of the importance of our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

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Blah!

On Tuesday I went to the ‘Blah!’ tour at Birmingham Cathedral hosted by the Church Missionary Society that was looking into a new grassroots movement that is emerging that calls itself the Emerging Church. Not that I am thinking of defecting at all, I hasten to add! I feel that we as charismatics with apostolic links are in an extremely good place with God. Yet I do think it is good to look at what is happening around the body of Christ to see what we can learn from it to bring back to our own churches.

Ryan Bolger co-author of the book Emerging Churches outlined the findings from his research about how many churches are revising their practices in attempts to be more relevant to their culture. The churches that he looked at the US & UK are investigating their own culture and getting everyone involved in designing new ways of outworking the New Testament in today’s world. I felt that there is much that they are doing resonated with our own values as a church: the emphasis on following Jesus not just as saviour but as a role model, hospitality, community, kingdom, etc.

I feel that an emphasis that is relatively new to us that we can learn from this movement is the importance of creativity reflecting God as a creator. For instance, this was illustrated in the worship sessions by the use of spoken mediations over ambient background music with some enthralling video images. Anxieties about dodgy theology were alleviated by the assurance from those presenting stories from their churches that they are expressing the historic faith just in different ways. One leader Karen Ward explained how her church is using both ancient traditions and contemporary styles in their worship but only as far as they felt that these were consistent with Christ.

I think, used sensitively and with discernment, creative elements such as these could be a way forward.

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The Eastern Bride

I just heard that Open Doors have won an award for this film that brings attention to the restrictions on Christians expressing their faith in both China and the Middle East. It is a drama about two westerners who travel to these parts of the world and experience these effects first hand. By all accounts it is a stunning film.

I am impressed generally by the work of Open Doors in promoting awareness of how the Christian church is persecuted throughout the world. There is plenty of information on their sites. Hopefully these are stimulated us in the relatively persecution free parts of the world to pray for Christians who are suffering. As well as moving into action those who might otherwise have stood by and allowed these things to happen.

I am thrilled that in our church we now has an Open Doors rep. A few weeks ago in our small group we had an excellent time learning about the situation in China and praying for Christians there.

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Extreme Prophetic

When we were in Winchester our friends told us about this website. Extreme Prophetic contains teachings and stories about what is happening in the churches that relate to Patricia King’s ministry based in America. The most intriguing part of this are a few videos that relate to a phenomena of gemstones being found apparently miraculously. There is an account of one man finding a number of gemstones in his garden while having a vision of an angel placing them there for him. There is a shot of him finding it. These videos are part of a sort of video blog of Patricia’s. These are all very recent phenomena. Patricia relates it to a prophecy about God doing miracles this summer. Apparently they’ve just had a big conference where people began to find smaller gemstones on the floor where they were meeting. The hard evidence appears to rule out mass hallucination – of course it could all be a fake – but these appear to be godly Christian people who want to give all the glory to God.

Please have a look and let me know what you think of it.

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A Healing Trend?

Nettes and Callie were on holiday this week in the Isle of Wight with a very good friend of Callie’s (with her mummy too) but I was still at work. I've been reading about Jesus sending out the disciples to heal and preach and getting excited about stories such as this one. A Christian stall for talking to people about faith and to pray for them by laying-on-of-hands... at a new age festival!

I went to meet Nettes and Callie at the weekend in Winchester where we stayed with some old friends of Nettes. We went with everyone to Winchester Family Church with which we were very impressed. Callie enjoyed the Sunday school for pre-schoolers.

The church is part of New Frontiers and is cast in traditional charismatic style but nowadays of course the preacher uses PowerPoint. There was plenty of praying for the sick in response to specific words from God and a couple of testimonies to healings that occurred during that time. The general feeling was that this was something that was an increasing trend.

How did I feel about all this? Well I’d love to do a stint on a stall like the one I’d been reading about during the week.

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Calligraphy

During one of the special times Nettes and I get together to pray in more creative ways that we have dubbed our Sacred Space we were writing out phrases in different calligraphy styles with lots of different papers and pens. This week in our prayer times we had been meditating on the fact that God gives us life. And at the start of our Sacred Space I got some dry bark from the garden and we were contemplating how God gives us life and without God we are like this dried up bark.

I then found this phrase that I liked and wanted to calligraphy in a book called the Wisdom of Solomon. This is a book in the apocrypha and although I don’t believe that it is inspired like the Bible, I think there are plenty of good thoughts there. As I drew these words I was struck by the fact that God made us to receive eternal life because we were made to be like him. Not that I have an immortal soul just because I am human but that God has given me this everlasting life by his grace.

Wow!

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The Lord’s Table

On the thirteen year old tape of David Mansell’s that I recently found, he is talking about the breaking of bread.

His basic message was that breaking of bread is not just as symbol but that it is a spiritual reality. God is really in it – although not chemically as though the bread and wine were Jesus literal flesh and blood – but by faith. As we eat bread and drink wine we receive realities not just symbols. It is the body of Christ. Jesus provides the food at his table and he is the food – his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed.

His exhortation was to refocus church life so that the Lord’s Table is central rather than the pulpit. We are invited to be with him it is not for us to invite him to our meetings. He was encouraging us to see the breaking of bread as the primary reason for the church to get together rather than to see it as something that is tagged onto our meetings once in a while.

I don’t usually find it easy to listen and take notes of someone talking for a whole hour. But it was gripping stuff.

Technorati Tags: Eucharist

Bread of Life

Bread @ Morton's The Steakhouse
Originally uploaded by Miss Peach.

At last I'm back on line! I'm uploading the last few blog entries that were made offline in my spiritual journal. This includes thoughts about last Sundays meeting. For a bit of fun I've included a relevant photo from flickr.

Last Sunday Barry Fitzpatrick - who has a pastoral role towards our church - was speaking on the bread of life from John 6. He was saying that Christ himself is the true and living bread and that nothing can be a substitute for him, not even bible-study, prayer or church! Though these are good things that we should take part in, they can get in the way of us experiencing the living bread from heaven. Just as bread was a staple food in the middle-east - no potatoes or even rice for them then - so Christ is the staple food for Christians today. Only this divine bread can be truly satisfying. And only this bread endures for all eternity. It was truly inspiring talk.

In the evening I was searching through some old tapes in the bottom of a drawer and found an old tape of David Mansell talking about the breaking of bread that I remember was excellent too. I'm really looking forward to listening to that.

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Multi-Sensory Pentecost

Nettes and I set aside time regularly to be together with God. This often takes the form of what we call a “Sacred Space”. We create an atmosphere of calm (not known at any other time in our house!) using throws, cushions, relaxing music, incense, candles etc. They are very special times to us and we have had some great encounters with God through them.

Last night we used this time to celebrate the coming of the Spirit. We started, as we often do, by praying - in British Sign Language - for the Holy Spirit to come. Another aid to prayer which we often use is a labyrinth, printed on paper. Tracing the path into the middle, pausing to listen to God, and then bringing the line back out, helps focus our minds on who God is and what he wants from us. Last night, as we did this we began to contemplate the work of the Holy Spirit, and were reminded on the outward path of our task to take God’s message out into the world, as the disciples did after that first outpouring. I found it strangely exhilarating. We also made fans and used them together with poetic liturgy to reflect on the wind of the Holy Spirit.

But the climax of the night was melting ice cubes – in which we had embedded chains – over a candle. We were praying for God to melt our hearts preparing us to receive his power. Melting the ice was slower and trickier than we thought it was going to be. It was a powerful image of God’s patience and gentleness. It reflected the persistence with which he works to enable us to see his power in our lives. We talked about what his empowering means to us and how we limit it. Finally, we broke bread, anointed each other and asked God for this empowering.

Over an hour had passed. It was very late but, as always when we have these times, the hour had flown by. Why do we so often think spending time with God is hard?

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23rd Psalm

We've just been discussing Psalm 23 in our small group bible study. We discovered a pattern that most of the psalms follow. We talked about how God can renew our souls as we sit silently in his presence. But what was really striking was walking through the dark valley. We saw that difficult situations are often the pivotal in the psalms. It isn’t until we go through it that a lot of the things in the psalm make much sense. Until then they can sound a bit like pat answers of happy-clappy people. After going through the time when we might rail at God, God leads us back to a second naivety. God is not just with us when we are happy; God is with us now in the middle of the problems. It is not that we can fulfil God’s purposes when we overcome the circumstances. Overcoming the circumstances is what the Christian life is all about. It is in the middle of this that we can know eternal life – a quality of life that we experience now as we deal with the dark valley of difficulties.

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3:16

I really enjoyed taking notes from Anna’s talk this morning at church on what it means to be born again. I find that some talks produce more questions than answers – which, I hasten to add - I don’t think is a bad thing at all. The term born again was used by Jesus when speaking to one Pharisee privately who unlike the others was obviously a spiritual seeker. The Pharisees were hypocrites, judgemental, arrogant and narrow-minded. Perhaps today that is this how people sees ‘born again’ Christians? May be the term ‘born again’ has comes to represent all that some people loathe and fear in the same way the word Pharisee has?

But how would Nicodemus have understood the term? Anna discussed this well. She explained that born of the Spirit means our spirit is reborn… when we are most in sync with the Spirit we are most fulfilled… Jesus is the mediator for us in this experience… God is not monotheistic alone... Brilliant!

Yet I am left wondering to what extent we should understand ‘born again’ to refer to a process rather than a crisis. A journey rather than a destination? Perhaps conversations are more important than conversions after all?

Just a thought.

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Communication

Communication problems can be frustrating! In all organisations communication is an important key to getting things done whether its college or some other workplace, church or any organisation. I was recently teaching my access class about two major communication patterns in group dynamics. Some organisations to some extent restrict there communication to hierarchies. So messages are passed down in the form of instructions and up in the form of reporting back. But it is easy to miss people leaving them disgruntled. But more recent wisdom is seeing the value of another pattern – one in which everyone is encouraged to communicate with everyone else. This is increasingly becoming practical with email. I think this must be the way forward.

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School Prayers

Callie has been accepted in the Nursery of a school just round the corner from us. We’ve been searching through Ofsted reports, prospectuses and websites but eventually thought the school nearest her was the best choice. One interesting fact about living in Birmingham is that it is so multi-cultural. So it’s not surprising that the valuing of each other's culture is given a high priority in the school. Great! But in England all school children take part in a daily act of collective worship. Will our multi-cultural locality mean that the worship is not as Christian as in some areas? In the school where Callie will be going there is collective worship in the classrooms three times a week. And during their time there the children also have the opportunity to visit places of worship not just a church building but also a mosque, a synagogue and the gurdwara. Now at home we have taught Callie about our Christian faith and read her Bible stories everyday. Of course we do have the choice to withdraw her from collective worship and not go on the trips. But could these experiences actually be good in helping her to develop her own robust faith? We’ll have to see.