Eternal Echoes

Beyond our comfort zones...

I lead the Circuit World Church service this evening and was greatly encouraged by the stories I heard this evening. I invited Ann from Hope Trust, a charity who take aid to Zimbabwe, and Dave a young man who will be leading a team of young folk to help with building schools and other similar projects in Zambia.

They both spoke with passion and with a real sense that God has not only called them but provided for and challenged them. Ann spoke of the God who lifts us from our knees with the promise to support and equip us, while Dave spoke of recieving much more than he gave.

Through their stories they revealed to us afresh the God who goes both before and behind us, the God who calls us beyond our comfort zone to bless us. After the service people were expressing a real hunger to know this God in a deeper way, to break free of our constraining traditions, and expectations....

Maybe we will find it as we answer his call to move beyond ourselves...

Learning to sail... discerning the Spirit

Over the last couple of days my role as shore crew and photographer has been swapped for the role of sailing crew in our dingy Wild Goose. I have sailed before, first as a teenager taking part in junior racing, and then now and again when Tim has been abandoned by our girls.

My sailing skills are very rusty, and this weekend has seen me experiencing a huge learning curve. Tim thankfully has not minded my rather clumsy attempts at moving around the boat and we have enjoyed sailing together.

As we negotiated the racing circuit this afternoon I began to remember the need to keep making small adjustments to my position within the boat and to the sail that I was responsible for. Sailing on a lake has brought some interesting challenges, including the strange and shifting winds. The winds are affected by the hills and trees surrounding the lake and can change direction quite suddenly. I am glad that Tim's' experience of sailing means that he can spot the wind-shifts and react accordingly.

Tim spoke of sailing the boat in sympathy with the conditions, and how not forcing moves and working with the winds gained the best from the boat. I have been reflecting on that in the light of Jesus words about the Holy Spirit;

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)

You cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going; as far as the wind was concerned today that was certainly my experience, but those who were used to reading the movement in the trees and the ripples on the water knew otherwise. They could see the wind, they were listening and watching for it. They were utilising the power of the wind to the gain an advantage and make good progress.

This watching and waiting and listening exercise was carried out while the boats were underway and called for constant vigilance. It made me wonder what might happen if we Christians as individuals and as a church were so attentive to the moves of the Spirit, and if we actively sought to work in sympathy with what we observed and sensed.

One crew out on the lake were doing some quite aggressive tacking, forcing their boat to roll into the wind, which gained it some momentum, but it slowed up again. Tim believes that forcing the boat through a tack might gain a momentary advantage but will ultimately prove detrimental. I wonder whether we mirror this sometimes as we rush into activities and dive headlong into " new ideas" without correctly discerning the presence and move of the Spirit amongst us.

As far as sailing goes my moves are currently the result of one who is out of shape and out of practice....  and I ask myself where I stand with my ability to respond to the winds of the Spirit.

Walking...

Tim and me are enjoying discovering new walks, this excellent web-sitehas helped. So today we drove into Thirsk and bought a map and a sandwich and headed out onto the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors. We walked for 11km ( approx 6.8 miles) with a stop for lunch.

Friday has remained my day off and we hope to discover new routes every week, by the time we had covered 4 miles today we found ourselves overlooking a great view, visibility was not excellent but we enjoyed it anyway. The sandwich was very welcome, and we really enjoyed it, having discovered a shop in Thirsk where they made exactly what we ordered as we watched. Fresh bread and fresh salad! Normally we would make our own but this mornings departure was complicated by the necessity to bury the gerbil who had been y our family pet for the last 3 years, Mr Tibbles. He was over a year old when we took him in and had lived a good life, I was rather surprised how upset I was.

Right now we are relaxing after our evening meal, I feel rested and rejuvenated. It has taken me a long time to realise that caring for myself is the only way I can care for and serve others, yes there will be times when I am called to give more than I feel able to, but by caring for myself when I can I stand a better chance of being able to do so.

Two weeks in.....

I have:

1. Attended numerous meetings whose main aim was to arrange other meetings.
2. Attended Synod.
3. Visited folk in hospital.
4. Attended my welcome service, a good but odd occasion, the welcome was lovely, but I felt a a bit like an exhibit!
5. Visited the Chapel Stewards for all three Chapels... just to listen.
6. Contacted five schools.
7. Been to a coffee morning.
8. Visited a local Lions Club fun day ( admired the dog show and chatted to a tarot reader).
9. Led back to back communion services.
10. Attended and listened to a Bible Study group.
11. Been to a Toddler Group- and listened.
12. Used a day and a half for preparation and study.
13. Talked to the Dance Class leaders who use one of the Chapels everyday.
14. Walked, most of these places are within walking distance ( once I cycled).
15. Taken both days off ( walking on the Yorkshire Coast and in the Peak District).

Today I will:

1. Visit the local High School
2. Speak at Women's Fellowship
3. Lead devotions at the Circuit Meeting

Tomorrow is blocked off as a study day.

I look at this and wonder why I feel that I have done nothing, and am glad that when challenged about my need for a day off that I dug my heels in and refused to shift. I also continue to remind myself that listening is my primary task at the moment. If I listen I will learn how to pray, right now my prayer is usually "help".... I am very grateful for Angela Shier Jones advice:

"Putting a piece of plastic around your neck is not a substitute for prayer."

Thanks for that Angela it is well with remembering.... more wisdom from Angela here.

I am still discerning the difference between being a Presbyter and a Lay Worker, for ( beyond the sacramental role) there is loads of overlap... the main difference is the way in which the Church Members treat you... there is something wrong there. If we truly believe in the ministry of the WHOLE people of God then we need to start living it more fully!!!

Thoughts on the Lords Supper/ Eucharist part 2

My first post on this topic created quite a discussion and can be found here.

This evening as part of my ongoing training with the Methodist Church I attended a Worship Consultation Group meeting, the purpose of this meeting is to help me to reflect upon the worship services I lead, and with the help and insight of others to learn and to grow through the process. I count it as an enormous privilege to have such support, the chance to reflect both constructively and critically upon worship services I have led and prepared is very helpful.

Last Sunday I was let off quite lightly, my only participation in the two services I attended was to make promises and to read the Epistle. This week it will be different, I will lead and preach at two Communion services with quite a short gap between them. The first will be at a smaller Chapel, the second at the largest Chapel that has been trusted to me.

On my notice board is pinned a small cream card, signed by both the President and Sectary of Conference, it gives me Authorisation to preside at the Lords Supper, it is not my right to do so as I am not yet Ordained.

I was asked about Authorisation this evening, how I felt about it, and how I would have felt as one who is called to be a Minister had it been denied. I was also asked about how I felt about this coming weekend. These then are my thoughts;

Had authorisation been denied I would have been disappointed, I have been on a journey towards Ordained Ministry for a number of years now, and there is a sense in which this makes sense as the next step along that journey. It feels right, that is not to say that I am taking the responsibility lightly, and I do see it as a responsibility.

To help folk to enter into a space where they are able to receive the sacraments should never be taken lightly, the words (liturgy) and the setting are important, through them we enter into the eternal story. The story that is old and yet ever new as it renews us, challenges us and transforms us.

To celebrate the he Lords Supper is to enter into an act of vibrant and living remembrance, we and we do this through an enactment ( a drama if you like) of the Last Supper itself. We receive bread because Jesus broke bread, we receive wine because Jesus shared wine and we remember with the privilege of looking back with some understanding through the lens of the cross, and yet we also acknowledge that this is a place of mystery, a place that we cannot hope to understand and in doing so we open ourselves to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

To be the one who recites the words of institution is an awesome task, and it is perhaps at this point as a Minister that enormity of the call I have responded to will hit me with full force....

I was also asked about what I would wear; I suspect my Super caught sight of the Cassock Alb hanging in the corner of my office the other day. I will not be wearing it, I will wear a suit (jacket and skirt) and a clerical blouse. I do not feel the need to robe, the robes I have were given to me and will be used if and when the occasion demands it, but Sunday by Sunday I will be myself, my clothes if any will be the invisible to all but the discerning robes of righteousness that Christ has prepared for me, and should they be soiled or spoiled from time to time then I will trust in his mercy and forgiveness to restore them. Does that sound super-spiritual? I do not mean it to....

I finish as I often do with a poem maybe I do my best thinking here....

The table is laid

and as the

invitation is re-issued

it joins the

eternal

echo

of love

freely given.

Responding

to loves call

people

come,

and come again

to share

in this most

mysterious of feasts,

sharing bread,

sharing wine,

and remembering.

Yet no one voice issues the

invitation,

but myriads of voices

through the ages

speak as one

and through the one

who gave all

for all,

that all might

receive

and live.

As we celebrate

we connect

once again…

once again…

Come let us enter,

let us celebrate

loves feast…

 

There is more to say of course, and there will probably be more from me later, but I'd be interested in any thoughts folk have to add.

Tomorrow morning...

Tomorrow morning I will make promises, promises to hold before the folk in the places I serve. Promises to hold God's story before them, to preach the gospel, to administer Baptism and to preside at the Lords Supper. I do so with awed wonder that God has called me.

Tomorrow morning I will promiseto call others to holy living, and even though I struggle with this call myself in my weakness I will promise to do so.

Tomorrow morning I will promise to hold before the Methodist community in this place the committment of God to the wider community, and this being my passion I will do so with joy and celebration...

I make these promises not in my own strength but by and through the grace of God, knowing that I serve and will be served in his name, knowing that the prayers of many friends uphold me, and inviting them to hare the journey and the task  with me.

Because I am concious that I do not make this promises alone, but to and with the community of the Snaith and Selby Circuit, tomorrow morning I have chosen to ask  others to sing the servant song to one another....

I like this unglossy and unpolished version, it speaks to me of the down to earth and real people that we need to be for one another. By the grace of God we are what we are! I pray that smehow we can live out the true meaning of this song for one another and for

Strange conversations.......

At a meeting yesterday:

A: So Sally where have you moved from?

Me: Downham Market in Norfolk.

A: Ah you must have been young when **** was the minister there then.

Me: Quite possibly, but when I was young I lived in Singapore and Malaysia.

A: Oh so what was church like in the East then?

Me: I haven't got a clue, we went swimming on Sundays, my parents were atheists, my mum still struggles with my faith.

A: Oh, but now you are a minister.

Me: Yes I came to know God in my twenties, it felt like I'd stumbled on the worlds best kept secret.....

A: So you didn't know **** then?

Me: No I didn't?

A: wanders away in search of other people who might have known other ministers he has known......

I am a convert, is that really so strange?????? Surely this is what we pray for, surely this is what the gospel is all about, I went on to become a disciple, but with conversations like this, and this is not the first I have had in this vein I wonder that anyone is discipled at all. There are times when Methodism has ceased to be a move of God and operates more like and exclusive club! When this happens we have lost the plot!

Busyness and space....

I spent some time today slotting appointments into my diary; the vast blank spaces are beginning to fill up. This is both a good and a bad thing, it has certainly added some structure to what was a blank canvass, but I am wary of the whole thing becoming overcrowded. Having hit the ground running in my previous appointment as a lay worker I found myself suffering from burn-out after two years and really don't want to go there again.

One or two friends who are ministers seem to thrive on constant busyness, but I know that I don't, I need space, and if I don't make space then it shows. I don't excel at last minute preparation, and although I am aware that at times that is simply how things will be I don't want to make it a practice. How can I possibly hear from God if I don't sit still long enough to listen?

Maybe then it is a good thing that one of the first events we were invited to here was greeted with a gracious but firm refusal, along with a promise to visit at another mutually agreeable point....

Tomorrow Tim and I are taking a trip into Selby to buy a couple of OS maps of the area, we hope to find some good local walks. Last Sunday after church we headed out to what will be our new sailing club, very different to Snettisham Beach, but that is OK. We were warmly welcomed and enjoyed a walk around the lake. The sea is out of reach for weekly sailing, but accessible for days out, and we are looking forward to some new adventures.

I am looking forward to the work too, but take with me an awareness of the dangers of being submerged in ministryto such an extent that I loose not only myself but the God who created the wind and the waves, the hills and the trees.

 

Ripon Sailing Club

moving on.......

I am sitting in my now empty shelved office, in a house that is almost completely packed into boxes, the freezer is defrosting and the fridge is cleaned and empty. We have eaten take away (out) for the last two nights as the cooker in the Manse exploded yesterday, which was quite a relief as I didn't feel much like cooking after clearing and sorting all day....

We did take a trip out to the beach today to return trophies, and drop off some magazines so we stayed for fish and chips and chatted with friends...then it was home again to the final bits of packing and sorting before the removals lorry arrives tomorrow morning.

Tim and I will take some final bits to the recycling centre before we drop off a few library books to a current ERMC student who has promised to return them for me, some are Wesley House books but the wonderful Barbara has said she will deal with that ( amazing woman!!!), she deals so patiently and gracefully with a bunch of mad ordinands!!!

Finally I have just carried out what is possibly my final act of ministry to the people of Downham Market, for the last 6 years we have used a prayer "post box" as an installation in services and prayer tent outreaches. I have always promised folk that their prayers were between them and God, so tonight I proffered those prayers along with a brick of incense I burned them, using our BBQ as a fireplace. I was surprised how emotional I felt as the incense filled the air and the prayers and their box were offered as a sacrifice of intercession and care.

And so tomorrow we move on, there will be another prayer box filled with new prayers and thoughts, some will be similar, but none will be the same... I love that thought, we are all unique, we may be similar but we are different, we are special and we are loved by the one who created us more than we can possibly imagine....

...that is as true in Norfolk as it is in Yorkshire, and so we move on..............

...see you on the other side of our move.....

Twelve days....

I am sitting at my desk and trying to take a step back to think about the last twelve days;I feel as if I have been caught up in a fast moving soap opera script, and the writers have just taken a break to focus their attention elsewhere!

Twelve days ago my home started filling up with family members, they were coming to celebrate my eldest sons' wedding, by the day of the wedding there were 14 0f us at lunch time. Paul and Louise's wedding was a joyful family occasion.... and we moved on

... to a yard sale, because we are moving house, and raising funds to send my youngest daughter Jo on a mission trip to Zambia....

Preaching is normal for a Sunday, but with the busyness of the week it proved a challenge, our minds were preoccupied any way as n Tuesday we dropped Chris and his girlfriend Ness at Downham station...

Chris was to be admitted to the Royal Brompton Hospital for surgery, which was thankfully a great success... it has been a long time coming!

While Chris was in hospital with Ness wonderfully supporting him we prepared for another wedding, this time for a young friend. We helped to set up the reception venue and sorted out various instruments for the band at the ceremony, I was privileged to be invited to preach ...

....Tim and I stayed for the wedding speeches and headed off to London to collect Chris and Ness....

Time for a rest???

No, time to travel down to Essex for a family get together to celebrate my mother-in-laws 70th....

Followed the next day by 2 services, first my final service and sermonin Downham Market, and then a Circuit farewell service where God was praised and we were thanked for our ministry...

... a rest?

Well not quite because to add to the excitement Emma my eldest daughter was left stranded by an ineffective train service. Tim and I are grateful to Ann and Mike her boyfriends' parents for rescuing her!...

And now, I am sitting at my desk trying to take stock, next to me is a pile of prayers and blessings written during yesterdays service by the folk who were there. The prayers are for our whole family, and we are grateful, and not a little overwhelmed...

No wonder I can't think.....

Right, back to the packing in 20 days we will be living in Yorkshire!!!

Through all the changing scenes of life,
In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
My heart and tongue employ.