Eternal Echoes

21st Century Youth

use There was a gathering of young folk at our house today; they were preparing for their leaving "Prom"- a group of 17- 18 yr olds. They laughed, told stories, ate and had fun together before dressing up and heading off to the dance. With alcohol being legal in the UK from 18, they opted to walk so they could enjoy a glass of wine/ beer or two...

They have returned now and are spilling into our dining room and living room, laughing and joking, and eating... and enjoying on another's company... they've had a great time and they love one another deeply- 3 are openly gay, they all like different music and have different world views, and yet they value and care for one another- they have much to teach us!

Jo and Jon, looking fab!!!

Friday 5, Gifts and talents

My turn to do Friday Five this week; Our Circuit (Methodist) is having a "Gifts and talents day" tomorrow- we have a minister visiting from another circuit who has modified the Myers Briggs personality test and added a few things of his own to run a day where we get to look at ourselves in the light of giftings and of the whole church. The idea is to encourage everyone with the news that there is room for you in the ministry of the church- and perhaps to discover where that ministry might be.....

It should be an interesting day, and one where I hope people will leave feeling encouraged and challenged...

So with gifts and talents in mind here is todays Friday 5;

1. Personality tests; love them or hate them?

Bit of each really, according to Myers Briggs I am an INFP- which is pretty accurate- I can identify with the strengths and weaknesses of this type, knowing this has helped me to focus on self-development and not to try to force myself into a box I don't fit into easily. 

2. Would you describe yourself as practical, creative, intellectual or a mixture ?

I am an intellectual creative, my creativity is centred around words rather than around actually producing something like a painting, or like so many revgals knitting/ sewing- I wish I could be creative in that way, but I don't have the patience or the skills for it. I do like cooking though, and given a handful of odd ingredients can often come up with something unique and edible- often surprisingly good!

3. It is said that everyone has their 15 minutes of fame; have you had your yet? If so what was it, if not dream away what would you like it to be?

I've been interviewed on radio a few times because of my involvement in Journey Into Wholeness - the out-reach programme to the New Age/ Alt spirituality community. Not sure that that constitutes fame though. What would I like to do- ah dream world... I would find a hitherto unknown voice and sing in Bizet's Carmen...ah to dream!

4. If you were given a 2 year sabbatical ( oh the dream of it) to create something would it be music, literature, art.....something completely different...share your dream with us...

I would write, I'd love to write really good fiction, though I'm not too sure of a story line/ plot, and so would probably look at some form of research project into feminist spirituaity and faith.

5. Describe a talent you would like to develop, but that seems completely beyond you.

I would love to be able to paint, or draw- of knit, or sew- just to make something beautiful- something that would last....but first I need to find those two qualities dedication and patience ( with myself)....for if I embark on a project of this kind I usually give up in frustration!

Bonus question: Back to the church- what does every member ministry mean to you? Is it truly possible to encourage/ implement?

I believe that every member ministry is very important, that each member of the church has unique gifts and talents to offer, and that part of the ministers or leaders role is to spot and encourage those gifts. This can often be hard where learnt dependence upon the leaders to do everything has become ingrained in the congregation, and is the fault of ministry teams and false expectations alike.

It can be hard and messy to develop in this way- but in the long run it is worth it!

Post 1,000- a defining moment?

Will you love the "you" you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?

These words have been with me for the past few days- from that wonderful modern hymn "Will you come and follow me?" I find I am both challenged and comforted by them- it is a call to discipleship, to reality and to ministry- all through the acknowledgement that I too am loved... I cannot share the love of God with others unless I am willing to allow myself to be loved, and accept that love...

So I ask myself who do I hide? Is there a real me wanting to be allowed out, a real me covered up by an image I feel I should be presenting to the world?... and I conclude that the answer is probably yes, there is a me in hiding- feeling unworthy of the love of God, and yet it is this me that God calls forth, for this is the real me, the vulnerable me, the one who has no masks of competence to hide behind...

...some things cut us to the heart, today I introduced a group of year 2's ( 6/7 yr olds') to the church; they were excited by the building, by being allowed to investigate the pulpit and font, by looking at the chalice and communion table (I'm a Methodist remember)....we sang a worship song together, I asked where the words came from, and one young boy caused pin drop silence when he answered "from our hearts"... how true....how innocent and how true.... a better answer than on the screen or in a hymn book!

Do I love the me who showed the youngsters around the church today? Yes I guess I do.... but when I get home the insecure me emerges again, the me who knows her faults and failings run deep.... and yet so does God and s/he has called me anyway.....

I am challenged and called forth, to be a disciple, each time we make that decision is a defining moment, faced with the choice I must say with Peter " to whom shall I go, you have the words of eternal life"..... today given the choice, I choose life!

Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In Your company I'll go where Your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

                    Galatians 5:22-26   
    But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, [23] not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
    Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. [24] Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
    [25] Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. [26] That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

How "Geek" are you?

56% Geek

Hmmm I can think of a few folk out there who would beat me by miles....

Edited to add:

Results so far- Gary at 36%

                           Ian at 44%

                           Sam at 82%

But the leading geek so far is Dave W at 84%

Anyone care to out-geek Dave???

Edited again:

Mike says he is 139% geek... did he cheat, or out geek the quiz???

Government bureaucracy and twins... ( or arrghhh)

I have spent the entire morning trying to sort out Joanne and Jonathan's student loans and grants for September....

On-line registration seems like a brilliant idea until you have twins, who have already submitted their passports and birth certificates to the local authority thereby proving they are separate individuals...

...but the on-line registration does not recognise this and having successfully registered Jon it threw Joanne off the register...

..we called to be told that she had the wrong birth date, we assured the official that she did not and was in fact a twin, please could they change the details...

...short answer = no they couldn't Joanne would need to call them herself...

... she did- to be told her birth date could not be correct... but I am a twin she said...

The light came on in the officials brain; "Oh sorry our system does not recognise twins..."

What????

Interesting the government seem to have decided that twins do not exist-am I going mad????

The solution- we were able to register Jon on-line but Jo will have to be registered on paper- luckily we could download the forms from the web-site!!!!!

                              

Tuesday... reflections and links

Mixed day...

Hair-dressers with Joanne- a mother/ daughter thing (she has finished her A'levels)

School assembly- told the story of Jesus calming the storm... great inter-active stuff, lots of participation.

Meeting with the teachers re next terms input, making the most of festivals, they want to celebrate harvest, make the most of advent etc... also a discussion about the visits on Thursday and next Monday- showing the children around the building, I am looking forward to that!

Beginning sermon prep- break to watch the end of the Henman match at Wimbledon ( so glad I did that)

After dinner continuing to read Furthering Culture by Tim Gorringe- a stimulating if rather heavy read- in preparation for Summer School.

And finally some interesting links for today:

A call from Tariq Ramadan a muslim cleric for the abolition of capital punishment, hat tip to Turbulent Cleric, he also point us to an Amnesty International petition to save the life of Delara Darabi.

A link from Steve Hayes regarding Rev Ann Holmes Redding- who calls herself both Christian and Muslim- this is a thoughtful post, and well worth reading.

Tim Abbott points us to a Times article about young people and depression.

And fina;;y from The Ooze- picking up on the environmental debate Flotsamm, and article by Christian Beyer, here is a taster:

A lot of people have taken to pointing their fingers at those whom they blame for destroying our planet. It has come to be taken for granted that mankind has defeated the earth, that because of our efforts, accidental or otherwise, the planet will succumb to a less than gradual death. Drastic measures need to be taken, they say, even if they are at the expense of individual liberty and freedom. All of us will need to tighten the belt.

There is no doubt that the human race needs to improve its stewardship of the planet. We must all try to do a better job, but with kindness and compassion in our hearts. It is all too easy to throw the first stone, making monsters out of the rich and the well off. But it is rarely the rich or the well off who have to pay much of a price in the form of economic suffering or hardship. Many of those calling for personal sacrifices can pull in the buckle a few notches without feeling too much discomfort. But most of the world’s people do not have that luxury.

If we try to turn the environmental problem into that of an esthetically acceptable spiritual challenge, (with all of the inherent noble sacrifices) while writing off the possible economic side effects as merely the gauche and self serving rants of consumerists, then we may very well be consigning many more of the world’s disenfranchised to further turmoil. Turmoil that some of us are so very capable of avoiding.

Read the whole thing here

Gracious God, send us out into your world,

with your eyes rather than ours.

Help us to see not only the bad, but the good,

not simply the ugly, but the beautiful,

not just the worst, but the best.

Help us to see around us the seeds of your kingdom,

and to nurture them lovingly

until that day comes when your will is done

and you are all,

in all….

Amen.

Picture by Farid De La Osa

Note to self...

I need to get back to walking, having spent the last few months studying, I now find I have thyroid problems, and recurring bouts of depression- and though I know walking would help I find I am motivationally at a low ebb. The weather here is not helping....so I guess this post is a request for prayer and a statement to myself...I need to get back to walking; it might even help my bad back!!!

(poppies on the sea wall at Snettisham)

I am somewhere else- essential reading!

I am currently reading "I am somewhere else" by Barbara Glasson. Barbara is a Methodist Minister in central Liverpool, she was sent to the city with no church to go to, it had been closed, and with a commission to see what emerged...

What has emerged is "Somewhere Else" Somewhere Else is the name of the church that is not afraid to engage with people who struggle with the idea of church yet still have an inner sense that God is up to something.

The story of the bread church in Liverpool City Centre is a sign of hope that the church can be different. This account of the life of Somewhere Else is a story of encouragement that challenges unconventional people of faith to risk living out of their own experience and be wonderfully surprised by encountering God on the edge.

Barbara's reflections on this community are missional and personal- she has found her own ideas of Church and God and humanity profoundly changed and challenged by the encounters she has had, with God in the silence, and with the needs and gifts of others she comes into contact with day by day.

I am moved and stretched by some of her reflections;

On Holiness:

Holiness is not a desired faith outcome, something that I can achieve if I concentrate hard enough- it is a gentle gift to those who hold and are held. It seems to be about learning to abide in Gods love- not in glorious isolation but in the company of others. I sense that holiness is not a state of being but a way of being, a verb rather than a noun.....

She speaks with honesty about the tensions and the trials of this emerging community within communities, of learning to be and to allow God to move amongst them. Dealing with and welcoming folk from all different backgrounds Barbara reflects that emerging church is messy. She also points out the base of power and exclusion that traditional expressions of church seem to stand for;

Sometimes society is constructed in such a way that only the powerful will find a voice. In politics in social reform and in the law there are voices that collude with silencing people. This is often manifested in jargon that is wielded as a tool of exclusion by those on the inside. The church is no stranger to this. Laden with jargon and still saturated with a patriarchal frame of reference it has bestowed words on the articulate and the theologically educated. As a result worship has often become a spectator sport for the churchgoer, and an impenetrable mass of in comprehensible ritual for the uninitiated.

I find much to agree with here, although I acknowledge the usefulness of words, and the power of ritual to draw certain elements of the community, I believe that the deeply relational model that Barbara finds herself immersed in is for many folk today the key to finding God. We live quite often in diverse and fragmented groups- people move from place to place, families are dispersed over large areas, and traditional networks are few and far between. Is the call then for the church to become community once again, to discover with one another the way to holiness on the path of discipleship?

Barbara believes that we need to learn to " be " again, to be with one another and to be with God, to stop in the midst of our rushing's and to consider that we are enfolded in love- a part of Gods plan....

When all around us is transfigured and transformed by the realisation that God is present in all things, that whatever happens to us we remain in God's love, then even in the silence we are worshipping.

As I allow the power and depth of those words to sink in I realise that there are moments when I sense God calling me aside as I go through the day, and yet often I choose to ignore them. And yet I recognise that being caught up in wonder at a rainbow or a sunset, or in the smile of a young child, or the beauty of music are doorways to worship....

So too are times shared with one another, in the mess and challenge, in the joys and pains of life- if only we have eyes to see.

I recommend Barbara's book to anyone interested in seeing community form and church begin to emerge from the relational muddle we call everyday living.

Calm before the storm....

How many lightbulbs....

                                                            

Synopsis
Did you know that changing just one high energy lightbulb to a low energy one saves 75kg of carbon dioxide a year? That's 7,500 party balloonsful. This full-colour book provides hundreds of practical ideas for making small changes to your lifestyle that can make a big difference to the environment. In eight sections "How Many Lightbulbs?" will inspire you, your church and your community towards actions that will reduce your ecological footprint, from turning off the tap, to starting a church compost heap. Start making strides to shrink your ecological footprint today. Available from amazon here

Now I could be cynical and ask why we need a book specifically for Christians- are we unable to read other literature... but if it encourages folk to make a difference it has to be good.........

As Christians we SHOULD have something to say about creation!