Eternal Echoes

The Jesus Deck

Following the ROMBS conference this weekend, and spending a lot of time again using and explaining the Jesus Deck with folk, I have decided that now is the time to write about how I use it, why I use it in that way, and the amazing way that God speaks through it.

What is the Jesus Deck?

It was designed as a set of playing cards by the Rev Ralph Moore, in consultation with various Scripture and Theology Consultants, in the pack is a set of instructions for games and a description of each card. The cards themselves are an attractive set of playing cards well presented in a black box with the words Jesus Deck in gold block writing on the cover. They are divided into suits according to the gospels and contain pictures of events or stories form the life of Jesus.

The booklet is fairly helpful when it comes to looking at the colours on the cards, but that is about as far as it goes, and I wonder what Rev Moore would make of them being used as an outreach tool by folk involved in engaging with the new spiritualities that abound today.

Using the deck in a fair/ exhibition

Using the deck in a spirituality fair or exhibition is an exercise in cross cultural translation no matter how you use it. Some practitioners having set up their booths will simply use the Deck as one thing amongst many, offering people who are interested the chance to choose one card and entering into a conversation from there. Stories of the right card for the right person are many, including one from John Drane about a woman who picked out the card showing Judas hanging from the tree; the consequences of that were astonishing and really do point to the God who goes before us!

I use the cards in a form that emulates a five card lay from a tarot deck, when a seeker comes for a reading (you will note that my language is becoming enculturated here) I invite them to sit down, and if they wish I explain a little about how the Deck tells the story of Jesus. I might then offer to pray that the (Holy) Spirit would guide the cards so that the right ones are laid down. I then shuffle the deck lay the five cards and we begin.

I ask the seeker (querent) which card they feel most drawn to, and from then on the reading becomes an activity of three way listening, to the Holy Spirit, to the scriptures through the cards and to the seeker. As I have already said I am amazed at the way that God works through this tool, speaking clearly opening up deep conversations. Some folk have received guidance, others affirmations, and still others deep healing through these readings. Even when I am teaching folk how I use the Deck and they think they are coming for a demonstration rather than a reading the cards act as scriptures two edged sword and lives are changed in the process.

Taking a risk?

I have been asked on more than one occasion whether I think I am taking a risk in using these cards. My response is that yes I am, but that it is no more dangerous than expecting God to speak to me through the pages of the Bible! I also believe that God calls us to take risks and not to stay within our comfort zones, and that S/he is infinitely more creative than we can possibly imagine.

Accountability

I will say however that this is not an ill thought out venture into the unknown; there are precedents for this kind of work in the book of Acts. John Drane noted at the weekend that Paul adapted the way that he approached proclaiming the gospel for the people he was speaking to. There are a number of people working in this field and we do share with and question one another. We also know one another well enough to ask the question if we think that one of us has lost the plot. That said, the question must be asked; is God here? If he goes before us where will the journey take us next?

The end of a reading at Southminster Spirit of Life Fair.

 

Mock up of a booth for 2 readers- not as tightly presented as we might like, this was not an exhibition but gives the idea of the set up.

Tarot, crystals, and more; ROMBS Reflections 2

This is my second post on the ROMBS Conference that was Sheffield this weekend. In my last post I talked about my journey, and how I became involved in the Mind Body Spirit/ New Spirituality arena. In this post I'd like to tell you about some of the things that touched me deeply over the weekend.

I think the first thing that struck me has also been mentioned by John and Olive Drane, quite simply that there was not a cross word spoken, people listened to one another with grace and respect, and found that they were listened to in the same way. Perhaps this was because no matter what our theological positions or church backgrounds everyone attending was a practitioner, and all were keen to learn from one another.

The second thing about the conference was the creativity that was evident, people were imaginatively engaging with the New Spirituality culture and asking themselves "where can I find God here?"

Included in the creativity was an engagement with Tarot, I have blogged about this before, causing quite a debate! It is enough to say that then as now the inspiration for this engagement comes from John Drane, through his book co-written with Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson; Beyond Prediction. Another inspiration in this field at the weekend was Ole Masden (with thanks to Jonny Baker who was also at the conference for the link to this interview). Ole led the Eucharist on Saturday morning, bringing the elements of creation into the liturgy.

 

Another area that was new to me was an opportunity to consider talking about crystals, taking into account the well documented thinking about their meanings, and using them as catalysts for conversations. Olive Drane had made a beautiful wheel of life lay out, and I found the chance to sit with Olive, John and a group of others both moving and inspirational!

I attended workshops on Dream Interpretation, and Angels, and enjoyed a late night discussion where the conversation ranged widely, through which we grappled with questions about the wonder of our own createdness and questions about chakras and whether auras are actual phenomena. As someone who sees/ discerns auras when praying for others I contend that they are; more in a post to follow.

My reason for being there was as a trustee for the Journey Into Wholeness team, and also as a practitioner within the MBS exhibition arena. One of the things that surprises me again and again is the way that God goes before us, and surprises us by appearing in unusual places. In the exhibitions one of the things that I do is read the Jesus Deck. This is a pack of cards- not tarot, but similar that is designed such that the four suits depict the gospels. I usually pray with the person who comes for a reading and then lay a set of 5 from the shuffled deck, asking the enquirer which they are drawn to. I have never laid a set through which God by the Holy Spirit has not spoken, in a sense they become pictorial words of knowledge. Whether in the exhibitions, at teaching sessions or at home for some reason, and one that I do not fully understand God uses this tool in remarkable ways, it would be wrong to share the stories of others, but this I know, people have received deep touches from God and real emotional and spiritual healing through these encounters. This weekend was no exception.

Two lasting impressions were that God was with us, and is in this, and continues to speak in surprising places. Olive Drane had picked up a book on colourstrology whilst in California, everyone who engaged with it found that it was spookily accurate, it is certainly a good conversation starter, through this unusual medium God spoke to me, a simple command; "be gentle with yourself"! At the final Eucharist led by John and Olive we each felted a stone in response to the scripture, this now sits on my desk as a reminder of the journey I have been on, alongside this sits a pebble on which I have written the word grace, an indication of God's redemptive power at work within us!

Auras to aliens and much more; how I ended up at the ROMBS Conference in Sheffield

I have just returned home from Sheffield and the first conference in the UK for practitioners in Mind Body and Soul Outreach. I really enjoyed the weekend, and enjoyed meeting up with old friend and other folk who have been working in this field in some cases for many years.

 

It was suggested on by a few people over the weekend that we should tell our stories, and probably in doing so tell the story of how the conference came into being. My story of becoming involved in this area began over ten years ago with a deepening dissatisfaction with who I was and where I was spiritually. I had come to know God through Jesus, when my son Chris was diagnosed with a severe heart condition just after he was born in 1985. I joined a pretty conventional church whose theology would probably be best described as evangelical- conservative evangelical, for someone from a chaotic background it gave a framework and order to life and faith, and I appreciated the support and encouragement of my new church friends.

 

As I grew in faith however I moved beyond acceptance and began to question, very soon I found myself knocking into boundaries and feeling constrained, spirituality was not a popular concept, but it was something I craved, something within me was empty, and I wasn't sure what to do with it/ how to seek the depth of connection that I felt I needed.

 

In 2001 I was invited to be involved in a team that was going to place a stall into a Mind Body Spirit Exhibition in Colchester, Essex and I was instantly both intrigued and suspicious, I wondered if we should be going into an area that I had been taught was spiritually dangerous, but at the same time wanted to know what these new spiritualities were and how they related to Christianity. To borrow a question from John Drane I wondered if I could ask; "Do Christians know how to be spiritual?" With this question burning in my heart and mind I decided to join what was to become the Journey Into Wholeness project.

 

John came and led a series of training sessions for us, alongside this Church Army Evangelist Penny Horseman taught us how to engage with our spiritual journeys creatively through Rob Frosts Essence Course. I was hooked!

 

From that point onwards discovering and engaging with people in the new spirituality movement went hand in hand with my own journey, I found that areas I had stayed away from because I had previously thought them to be no go areas became new ways of relating to God and catalysts for my own development and growth. My faith became more holistic, and I began moving away from the mind body split that had dominated my discipleship (although I still struggle in this area, especially when it comes to body image).

 

I was so challenged and encouraged by my first venture into a Mind Body Spirit Exhibition that I wrote a report ( this is a later report) that was picked up and published by a couple of magazines and the project took off, I was asked to help others place similar stalls to ours into other MBS Exhibitions, at that time they were growing in popularity and appearing all over the country. Between 2003 and 2006 a further seven Journey Into Wholeness groups were formed as more and more groups of Christians became interested in engaging with the thriving culture of new spiritualities.

 

The more I did the more I came to realise that other Christians/ Christian groups were also stepping into the new spirituality arena, many like me had found themselves dissatisfied with traditional church yet passionately in love with God through Christ, and this produced within them a burning desire to connect with other spiritual seekers. Others were joining New Monastic Orders of forming New Communities/ Expressions of Church. I think we would all say that the journey we find ourselves on has opened up an awareness of the expansiveness and creativity of God, and we have begun to breathe more freely. The Exhibitions themselves have changed in size and shape and frequency over the years and I will write more about that in a later post. My journey has taken me from exhibitions to town fairs and markets places, but perhaps the biggest change in me has been the realisation that I will encounter God in unexpected and wonderful places, the S/he is at work in and through so much more than I would ever have thought possible. Yes discernment is essential, but I have been surprised by the positive and unexpected light on more occasions than I have been by the negative and darkness.

 

The Conference this weekend brought together over sixty practitioners from various traditions, theologies and areas of the UK. Our journeys have been unique, in some ways similar, and in others very different, for this weekend they brought us together and I for one was very encouraged by our meeting (s). Where else could a group of Christians get together over a glass of wine or two and begin a discussion on aura's that some how worked its way around to alien abductions????

There is much more to tell, and I will try to write more this week, I have yet to mention tarot, crystals, and hang drums!

 

A view across the MBS Exhibition in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

Many Thanks to Steve Hollinghurst and Howard Gardener for organising this Conference.

JiW

I am off for the weekend, thinking about MBS stuff. More on Monday!!!!

singing in the quiet room?

singing in the quiet room?
Originally uploaded by Sallys journey.

well, it amused me!

Incredible? Banks, train robbers and the resurrection.

This post is copied form the Thought for the week, published in The Citizen, a free newspaper distributed in the North Norfolk area. It made me smile, and told a few home truths! Written by Father James Fyfe- The Roman Catholic Priest for the Parish of Hunstanton:

"We recently celebrated Easter Day when Christians celebrated the new life which Jesus won through his victory over sin and death, revealed by his resurrection from the dead.

It is not simply a bare commemoration of a past event because we say Christ IS risen- never to die again. Death has no more dominion over him. Alleluia!

For many people Jesus is remembered ( if at all) as just another figure from history and they find the idea of resurrection literally incredible!

I wonder if you remember something that happened on 17th April 1964?

It was the so called Great Train Robbery when a gang of 12 stole £2.6 million pounds in used notes from the night mail train travelling form Glasgow to London.

At the time some people compared it to the rather romantic robberies from films about the Wild West in America- that is until they remember that the train driver Jack Mills was left a broken man, and that the gangs only motive was greed-pure and simple.

It was the biggest robbery ever carried out in Britain, and for their infamous work sentences tptalling 307 years were passed on the culprits- all for stealing £2.6 million.

Nearly 50 years on we have recently witnessed more financial losses, caused not by an organised gang, but by people in charge of banks and buisnesses whose greed and ineptitude is causing people to loose much more than the money stolen by the train robbers- by a colossal percentage.

Yet what has happened to them?

Have they gone to prison?

No.

Have they been fined?

Again, no.

Unbelievably, the banks and buisnesses they brought to near ruin have had to pay them bonuses.

Now THAT is what I call incredible."

Good on you Father James, it is about time we called a spade a spade!

Feeling flat, recognising privilege

I am feeling flat, in just under twoweeks I am supposed to hand in a 6,000 word assignment for the Hermeneutics Module of my MA, I am disinterested and uninspired! Three weeks after that I have to submit my thesis proposal, that I am a little more excited about, but still am really lacking in energy.

Chris and I have just arrived home from a hospital appointment in London to see his Cardiologist, instead we saw one of the registrars, who hadn't done his homework, so we will call the hospital again tomorrow. Hours of traveling and waiting, I am cross, I can only imagine how Chris feels!

I am also aware of the need to pack, and am looking at years of accumulated stuff that needs sorting through..

The grass needs cutting...

..and I quite simply want a break...

I know the academic work will get done, as will the packing, the hospital need prodding and poking into life, they had a couple of emergencies to deal with this afternoon which is fair enough, but we travel a long way...

... and then I think of the photos I see of mothers in Africa who walk carrying their children for many miles, and for whom medical intervention is not the cutting edge quality care that we have experienced in London... and I realise how easily I fall into a pattern of grumbling.

I am tired, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Today was frustrating, but the Brompton have always treated Chris well, we are privileged to have access to some of the best medical care in the world.

The grass will get cut, and the move will take place, even here the Methodist Church will take care of the details. As for the break, I am not preaching in this Circuit after July, and won't start again until August, I have three weekends of to attend friends Ordinations...

I have VERY little to complain about!

A liberating text…..

 

Can these words set me free?

They certainly

hold the power

to bind me….

 

but can they set me free?

Do they free you?

Are these words more than

mere words,

is life

contained here?

 

If there is life

here,

how do I find it,

can I grasp it

and ask it

to fuse itself

with mine?

 

Or has the invitation

already been issued,

and have I ignored it,

or misunderstood

its intentions?

 

Is there life here?

Can these words set me free?

They certainly

hold the power

to bind me….

 

 

I have been pondering the Bible as a liberating text, and wondering why so often it is portrayed as restrictive rather than liberating. My first encounters with the Word of God were the explorations of a teenager whose curiosity had been piqued by something that seemed mysterious and generally inaccessible (I did not come from a churched background). Since then I have been on a roller coaster ride with the text that sometimes seems to bring life, and at others to take it away. Like many others I have suffered abuses at the hands of those who use the word to constrain and control; I have been given many, many Biblical reasons as to why I should not be ordained; passionate promises have been cooled by ridged laws, and I must be honest I struggle with the Bible, not only because of the text itself but because of the way that it has been used and abused through the years.

 

I struggle with the text itself because of its twists and turns, its affirmations and its contradictions, its records of abuses and successes, of faith and of doubt .I love the Psalms because I see in them a raw honesty, a daring challenge to God to step into his creation, and a real admission of personal failure and weakness. I love the gospels because of the their subversive nature ( if only we have ears to hear it), but so often I struggle with the history books of the Old Testament, and the letters of the New Testament. I have questions which reaise questions of their own…

So I'm wondering how others encounter the Bible, are its words, words of life, do you have questions, do you have a favourite passage/ passages?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pondering Parables 2- a personal reflection.

She sat on a bench watching our Good Friday Walk of Witness, a single mother whose children had been taken into care. They'd been to church from time to time before the family was split up and sent in different directions, and I wondered what she made of our readings and prayers, did they offer words of hope and comfort? Did we offer any hope at all?

 

He watched too, from the roadside, he has been in and out of church, and in and out of prison, his desire to change keeps being overtaken by his desire for alcohol. He hears and believes but keeps on getting lost in the wilderness of temptations that surround him. I wonder what he makes of us, our songs and our prayers, our very middle class way of being. Do we offer any hope at all?

 

Do I look at them and sigh, thinking to myself, there but for the grace of God go I? Do I look and see wayward backsliders, folk without the moral fibre to stick with the programme, or does Jesus challenge me to see something different?

 

Jesus told this story:

 

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep but loses one of them. Then he will leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the open field and go out and look for the lost sheep until he finds it. When he finds it, he happily puts it on his shoulders and goes home. He calls to his friends and neighbours and says, 'Be happy with me because I found my lost sheep.' In the same way, I tell you there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes his heart and life, than over ninety-nine good people who don't need to change."

 

The parable calls me to repentance, it calls me out of the holy huddle intent upon its usual Good Friday practice, and face to face with the one who carried the cross; in his eyes I see the pain of rejection felt by those who we so easily pass by. His look challenges me to leave the crowd and to pursue those who are lost, and suddenly I am aware of his overwhelming love and compassion towards them, aware of how gently and lovingly he desires to carry them home, knowing full well that they might wander again.

 

But who am I in Jesus stories? Do I need to look to another parable to identify myself/? Am I the older brother in the tale of the Prodigal Son; or perhaps the Levite in the story of the Good Samaritan, so intent on God's business that I fail to see God's heart?

 

Whoever I am, I have been challenged afresh by these stories; stories told over 2,000 years ago, at a different time, in a different place! Stories that had the power to shock, challenge and provoke, stories that still do exactly that if we are willing to hear them, and do not relegate them to the place of nice tales for children or simple folk!

 

Jesus parables stand out as unique amongst New Testament teaching, neither Paul nor Peter taught in Parables their teaching is often systematic, clearly thought out, with a definite appeal to reason and for action. The parables of Jesus are by contrast stories, stories intended to provoke and raise questions, stories that demand a response, but stories nonetheless. The meaning and purpose of the parables has been the cause of much debate down through the centuries, to deny that they have something to say to us in the twenty-first century would be to refuse to hear the debate that has swept up so many in a search for understanding.

 

I believe that the parables I have quoted and referred to in this post spoke to me down through the ages because people are essentially people; the tale of a shepherd recognising that one of his sheep is missing and setting off to find it, still speaks to us of our inherent value in God's eyes. The stories of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan carried with them a particular challenge on that day, they came to mind more easily than John's admonition to love as Christ loved us, and much more easily than one of Paul's more complex statements carrying a similar challenge.

 

So when asked what the parables have to say to the twenty-first century I have to conclude that human nature being what it is the answer is that the parables have pretty much the same to say to the twenty-first century as they had to say to the first century…. but of course the fuller answer is much more complex and nuanced than that!

 

Pondering parables

I am currently tackling a hermeneutics assignment which asks the question: "What have the parables of Jesus to say to the twenty-first century?". I believe that too often we reduce the parables to being nice tales for children and thereby miss their power and impact, I want to challenge a view that we cannot hear them afresh today unless we fully engage with the original context. I am not saying that we should ignore the original context but want to highlightrecent liberationist interpretations and to show that through bringing a hermeneutic of suspicion to the text the new hearers have gained a valid understanding for their context. I am aware that one of the problems in this approach might be to read them with no reference to the remainder of the text, and no eye to their place within the canon, so...

I need some feedback:

1. Do you believe the parables haveone clear meaning, or are they multi-layered and multi-faceted?

2. Are they as applicable to a twenty-first century hearer as they were to Jesus original listeners? Why/ why not?

3. What are the pit-falls/ problems in preaching/ teaching on the parables?

 

Your views and comments will be gratefully received!