Eternal Echoes

On living water

I have been pondering the power of shame and the fear of exposure, powers and fears that often cause us to hide from ourselves and push us either inward to a place of  self-loathing or an outward place of masquerade, and I suspect that the two are often held in tension while we hide from the truth.  But we fail to acknowledge our fears and our shame to our own peril, for I have come to believe that they are a strange gift, and can introduce us to ourselves in a powerful way. Struggling with my current depression and the reasons for that depression have caused me to dare to encouter my shames and my fears, yesterday I was helped in this trough an encounter with the Woman at the well that turned my thoughts upside down!

It began with the text, the woman leaves the village with her water jar, though empty it is heavy with shame, a shame that she wants nobody to witness, hence she leaves the village at mid-day, when others are sheltering from the heat she makes her way to the well.  As my Spiritual Director and i pondered the text she pointed out that as it was mid-day the woman would cast no shadow, and pondered the psychological danger of that, Jung is keen that we engage with shadow work, but acknowledges the difficulties of it;

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"The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge." 

Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14

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I recognise this struggle within myself, despite the discomfort of the heat of mid-day, like the woman I find that it is easier to avoid my shadow than to deal with it, what she didn't know was that she was about to deal with it, for Christ whose light reveals our shadows was already waiting for her at the well. The story unfolded, he asked her much to her surprise for a drink, and then offered her living water in exchange. Curiosite piqued she acknowledged her desire for this living life giving water and he drew the truth from her. The stagnant shame that she carried within was drawn out by his gentle questioning and his affirming acceptance of who she was. In a sense she had bared her soul before him and he (unlike others) did not condemn her. In a  sense he restored her to herself, allowing her to be herself an accepting her for who she was. I wondered then what it felt like to have such a burden lifted from you soul.

We hear so little about Samaritan theology, but like the Jews they too were longing for the coming of the one who would put things right, they called hi the Taheb or Ta'eb, the restorer, or the star. In the last days the Samaritans believed that he would come and usher in a new day of justice, rebuliding the temple on Mount Gerizim. Her question to Jesus regarding the correct place to worship, this mountain or Jerusalem is a classic who is right and who is wrong question; but he reveals another way, the way of Spirit and of truth where living water is available for all.

As I pondered all of this I was able to begin to tell the truth about myself, in meditation I used Sieger Koder's image of the Woman looking into the well and seeing herself reflected in its depths, with Jesus reflected alongside her looking at her with infinite compassion. How must she have felt to be viewed in such a way, how do I feel, can I recieve such a gaze?

I began this post by talking about fear and shame, and have to report tat once again in the face of love they are washed away. As much as I might like to cling to them for the distorted safety net that they provide they have no place where love is concerned. Exposure is no longer terrifying because it simply reveals our true self, our image of God deeply loved and cherished self, in the face of that the stone of deciet is rolled away and new life can begin.

We enter life through life giving water, to be born and re-born of the Spirit; and I agree with Richard Rhor in his meditation yesterday that Salvation, or being bron anew is an ongoing process, he stated that;

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"Salvation is not a divine transaction that takes place because you are morally perfect, but much more: it is an organic unfolding, a becoming who you already are, an inborn sympathy with and capacity for the very One who created you and everything else too."

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Or to quote Jung again;

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To confront a person with his shadow is to show him his own light. Once one has experienced a few times what it is like to stand judgingly between the opposites, one begins to understand what is meant by the self. Anyone who perceives his shadow and his light simultaneously sees himself from two sides and thus gets in the middle. 

Good and Evil in Analytical Psychology" (1959). In CW 10. Civilization in Transition. P.872

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So what happens when your world is turned upside down by love and you are issued an invitation to enter into life afresh? I want to share with you how Koders image spoke to me when I turned it upside down. I find myself with Christ looking through the waters of rebirth at what it might be to take a childlike leap of faith into newness.

Surely that is what propelled the woman back to her village, the blank disapproval of the disciples had not touched her, it was joy and living water within her that propelled her to run in amongst those who had condemned her to share her news.

Living water sets us free, the Spirit does not accuse or condemn, but gently waits while we reveal our truths, our hurts, our pains, and our percieved failings. The miracle of living water is that cleansed and healed all of these can become catalysts for real and sustained growth.

I am grateful to the woman at the well for shining her light upon me so that I could see my shadow in a new way.I could encounter, accept and even love the parts of myself that I usually hide. There was no shame, only compassion, but compassion was born of truth not a mask, nor a percieved need to conform to or please those around me. I have allowed that to die away and fall like an autumn leaf, and while I recognise that this is and will continue to be an ongoing process I am grateful for the streams of living water that have begun to flow afresh in my soul, and all will be well ( no pun intended).

Image; Deep flow (mine)

 

 

 

 

do we not bleed?

I am writing yet another blog post about the treatment of vulnerable people, every week I meet people who have been affected by cut backs and Government Sanctions, people who are struggling to eat, a man who asks us for candles because he cannot afford electricity and we cannot afford to help everyone with everything. This week a young couple asked if they could have an extra food bag, they were struggling to make ends meet with the effects of Sanctions and because her Disability Living Allowance had been stopped, they had applied to the Local Council for help but were turned down because they had money coming in on Friday, it was Monday! It was Monday and she needs to eat when she takes her medication, so we give out candles, we give out extra food bags, we give out clothes and whatever we can to help people.

We are often acused, by our critics, of being a soft touch, accused of believing lies and being taken in, and perhaps we are now and then, but I would rather be taken for a ride on the odd occasion than turn away people in genuine need, people just like me who bleed if they are cut...

People like J&C who have been living in a tent for the past few months, unable to find housing, unable due to a mix up to claim benefits, and falling through every crack imaginable. Every morning they pack up their "home" and carry it around the streets for fear of it being stolen. Every evening they set up camp again where they can, they are in their 50's, they are not unwilling to work, they have worked, life has dealt them a cruel blow. I call them my friends, and yes they bleed...

People like S who has been mis-diagnosed and even refused treatment at a health centre, told to come when it is less busy. People like M, discharged by an overwhelmed Mental Health Service, unable to cope and now homeless, hungry and confused. People, so many people apparently tossed aside, classed as unimportant, unwanted, undesirable! And yes, they bleed...

This last week I saw the system reach a new low in the same way for a second time, T came to Comfort Zone, he could hardly walk, we heard his story, made him a cup of tea and tried to help him. His leg was badly swollen and was becoming more swollen as the evening progressed, we made the decision to call for an ambulance, details were taken, and when it came to his address he reported as homeless. At that point the conversation with the Emergency Services changed, they wanted more and more details, a date of birth, a proof of ID, the reason we were helping T. We waited for an hour and a half, no ambulance came. Two volunteers took T to hospital, he could not walk, on arrival they ( 2 women) asked for help to get T into the A&E department, none came. The next morning T came to thank us for our help. He had been discharged at 1am, with a set of crutches and some anti inflamatories, he had nowhere to go... and YES HE BLEEDS...

I am absolutely exasparated that people can be treated so appallingly in one of the richest countries in the world. I am appallled that people are written off, consigned to the rubbish tip, disregarded and de-humanised. How can we not look into the eyes of out fellow human beings and see just that a human being. A human being created in Gods image just as we are, a human being with needs and fears, with joys and sorrows, a human being who bleedslike we do, like I do...

I am challenged yet again to consider my own lifestyle, to ask what more I can do, to recognise what common humanity means, and to speak out and keep speaking out. We cannot, we must not write anyone off. Richard Rhor reminds us in his book "Dancing Standing Still" that;

"Jesus does ask of us strong moral decisions, but they mostly have to do with changing ourselves, not trying to change other people."

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"Who wouldn't like it if all in the world showed a sense of basic social order and concern? And yet Jesus says in effect, "But that's not what I am here to talk about, I am not here so that polite society can continue to be polite."

Jesus does not ask us to be polite, he challenges us to have eyes to see, to see others, and to see ourselves, to see our common value, our common humanity, our common potential, our common worth...

And yes if you prick us we bleed, but we also heal...

 Paintings mine

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Dear Mr Cameron, it is about more than statistics....

All this...

The Comfort Zone...

tonight we met,

we ate we laughed,

we talked,

we prayed,

we shared stories of hope,

stories of heartbreak,

stories of depth

and of despair,

we hugged,

we loved, 

we fought back tears

and choked on a few

angry words,

there were questions,

frustrations, 

tensions and tears,

in in the midst was God,

opening our eyes

and hearts,

calling us to find him

in one another

and in the breaking of the bread,

a holy moment

to sustain us,

hold us, nourish us

connect us,

and heal us

until we meet again.....

 

The Comfort Zone is a drop in for homeless and needy people in Blackpool it is situated at North Shore Methodist Church, but it is more than that, it is a community of folk who share their lives with one another. There is real love here in the midst of our human brokenness, volunteers and clients mix as one, and often the lines are blurred over who is helping/ ministering to who. Tonight I gave and received hugs, we broke bread together, and I saw the heartbreak of God for his people in the eyes of a young woman more hungry for God than for her jacket potato. I often feel that I cannot do enough, and God comes close and fills in the gaps, we meet him together, and that is the mystery of grace...

God light; On being thanked... ( reflections on self knowledge)

I am reading Stephen Cherry's "Barefoot Prayers" as my Lent book this year and really enjoying his poems. This morning the poem reflected on the issue of receiving thanks, he described the delight and discomfort of it, how we both need and enjoy it and brush it off in embarrassment.

"I want to push it back,

to shake it off,

to negative the positive.

To make it neutral: "it was nothing,";

your thanks is nothing".

But neither were nothing.

I have been thanked for my effort and

skill, diligence and care.

I am thrilled.

Yet still I am cautious, in case

in thrilling something is spoilt,

or lost."

This is something I can identify with quite strongly, for while it is gratifying and encouraging to be thanked it can also be uncomfortable and even make me want the ground to open up and swallow me at times. I do not want the spotlight, and yet stepping in to my calling requires me to step into the light, but sometimes what that light shows up can be discomforting to say the least. When I step into the light I step into a place where I am known, a place where I cannot be false, because I cannot be false in the light, but I must reflect that the true light and the limelight are by nature at odds with one another, and perhaps that is my conundrum.

If I court the limelight, actively seeking attention and applause I am almost always wearing a mask, acting out a role, letting you see what I perceive what you want to see, if I step into the true light then the mask is seen for what it is, a hiding place at best, and a falsehood at worst. I am not decrying good acting or storytelling, which has a place in illuminating and speaking truth to our lives, but rather asking questions of our very human tendency to hide in plain sight. So maybe it is being thanked for not being ourselves that places us in a very uncomfortable position! When we mumble words it wasn't me we reveal a deeper, darker truth, and the true light begins to do its work...

True light, God light shows things up for what they are, but it is not a light that we need to fear, for in God light we find love and grace to cast away the shadows of fear. God light reveals our deeper selves in a gentle, encouraging, gracious and healing way. God light allows us to see ourselves, warts, wonders and all. When we are standing and living in God light and we are thanked we can respond with true humility and celebrating the gifts and talents he has given to us we can respond, thank you, by the grace of God I am who I am...

Journey: When light meets the dark. S Coleman

Depression and gentleness...

I am sitting at the computer with my third large mug of tea this morning and trying to stop myself from beating myself up, for the last week or so I have been suffering from a cold which is refusing to shift. I have visited  the Doctor for that and because I am struggling with a much unwanted visit from the Black Dog of depression, he has told me to be gentle with myself and to give myself time to heal, the cough is probably a physical reaction to stress as much as anything else. So I am trying to be gentle with myself, but I want to go swimming (  I am paying for gym membership), I want to get on with things, and I want to regain some form of normality in my life which has been turned upside down over the last year, and because I want all of this I have a tendency to speak to myself harshly, a kind of pull your socks up type speech...

The trouble with me telling myself to pull my socks up and get on with it is that I can only sustain that type of behaviour for short periods of time, and it involves wearing a mask that declares to the world that I am coping with stuff even when I am not and tears lurk just below the surface. In the midst of everything I have to come to the truth that coping is not being strong and tears are not a sign of weakness, nor are they a sign of self pity. My life has been turned upside down and it will take time to take stock and to re-orientate myself within it. 

To re-orientate myself means that I need time, time, time to re-consider,  time to let go and to forgive, maybe especially when it comes to forgiving myself, I truly believe that the depression for me is part of this, and it is through this that I discover the wonder of the truth that God is always with me, the reminder of this from Psalm 139 is a huge comfort:

How can I get away from your Spirit?
    Where can I go to escape from you?

 If I go up to the heavens, you are there.
    If I lie down in the deepest parts of the earth, you are also there.

 Suppose I were to rise with the sun in the east
    and then cross over to the west where it sinks into the ocean.

Your hand would always be there to guide me.
    Your right hand would still be holding me close.

( vs: 7-10)

 

To deny that I find myself in the depths at this moment would be to deny that God is the one who is holding me close, and in denying that I would loose the possibility of any form of healthy re-orientation. This quote from Brennan Manning's Ragamuffin Gospels has got me thinking:

"The mature Christians I have met along the way are those who have failed and have learned to live gracefully with their failure. Faithfulness requires the courage to risk everything on Jesus, the willingness to keep growing, and the readiness to risk failure throughout our lives." - Brennan Manning

... and it has got me wondering, because when we face our failures and name them for what we are we might just find that we are also facing our gifts and strengths, and in doing so perhaps we will encounter the God who helps us to love ourselves enough to forgive and let go of the former in order to embrace and rebuild with the later. Facing failure and embracing the possibility that it brings us a gift of new possibilities is risky, it involves dying to self rather than covering up, but through it the possibility of resurrection beckons, for acknowledging failure means coming afresh to the cross that has made that resurrection possible.

So often we speak of the cross in terms of victory and fail to acknowledge the depths of Gethsemane before it and the pain of the Saturday that followed, where both Jesus and his followers grappled with total loss, rejection and failure, yet it was from this loss that the world changing resurrection power was released in Christ. It was not instantaneous though, there was a time of waiting, and in a sense that waiting is the place that we live in today, waiting between the now and the not quite yet, identifying with the groaning and longings of all creation for release and completion.

So today I am choosing to drop the mask of coping and choose to be gentle with myself, if you ask me how I am I might tell you so be warned, I won't go into detail but I will tell you that I am struggling with life, but that I am holding on to the God who is holding me and that I know that all will be well in the end.

For the truth is, he sees and knows me as I am and loves me, before now I would have qualified that statement with the word "anyway", but that would imply that a part of me is unlovable, and the mystery of the power and depth of the love of God is that there is nothing in me that is unlovable, I am fearfully and wonderfully made in his image, and the darkness in me will not put his light out, and all will be made new.

 

Walking on ( pondering Luke 9: 51-62)

I haven't been blogging much recently, sometimes life leads you to places where words and thoughts are difficult to gather together in any coherent way, and I guess that is where I have been. It has been a wilderness experience in many ways, and one that has led me to be very honest with myself and answer some hard questions. It has not been comfortable at all and at times I have felt quite lost, but now I have come to the decision that it is time to begin the journey outward, to step onto the road of life again, to look forward and to keep going. I guess that is why this picture spoke to me so powerfully today.

It is called "Just a Shower" and is by the artist David Walker. I think I like it because there is a certain determination about it, the woman walking is not going to be put off by the rain, she is set on her journey, her path is clear.  I think there is a freedom about it too the rain is not hindering her, it is simply a reality for the moment and so she walks on.

As I reflect on this I am drawn back to the Gospel reading for tomorrow, Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem and will not be turned away. He sends his messengers ahead of him to secure accommodation, but on finding that he is set on going to Jerusalem the Samaritans reject him and refuse him any hospitality.  In some ways I guess it is unsurprising that they reject him , although Jesus was clearly different he is definitely a Jew and there was no love lost between the Samaritans and the Jews. That said he had been received by them before now with gladness, but perhaps this new resolve was too much for them, he was set on his destination and somehow that made things different.

The disciples were challenged too, their desire to call down fire on the heads of the Samaritans is rebuked by Jesus and he continues on with them to another place, nothing must hinder his journey. Others come in to the picture, one declaring allegiance and a desire to follow is told of the discomforts, perils and hardships of the journey. Others charged to follow want to put other things first, but Jesus is having none of it. His journey is taking him to the cross, and through the cross to the power and freedom of the resurrection and he calls us even today to walk that road with him, and we cannot get to the resurrection apart form the cross.

We cannot get to the resurrection apart from the cross, this is a deep truth and it calls us to walk the way of the cross day by day, moment by moment. It calls us to set our faces not towards Jerusalem but towards freedom, the freedom that a life set on walking Gods way will bring. As we walk that way we will need to die a thousand deaths to temptations that assail us and to our own selfish desires, each time choosing to set our faces towards the freedom that only Christ can bring, and he will help us for he is no longer bound in time and place, but free to help us on our journey, fulfilling his promise never to leave or forsake us. He is free to send the gift of his Spirit directly into our lives empowering us to overcome even the highest hurdle, and light up the darkest night. He is free, and he calls us into his freedom.

He calls us to follow and it that call he offers us the power and the grace to move beyond our own boundaries and self imposed restrictions. He calls us to follow and as he calls he empowers us to step beyond the restrictions others may have placed upon us. Sometimes we will run forward joyfully, and at other times we will take small tentative step after small tentative step, no matter how fast of far we move he calls us on for he has a plan and a purpose for us, and longs to help us to realise our potential in the freedom that he brings.

He also calls us together, as his people, he calls us to make a difference in the world, as his church he calls us into his mission, to be salt and light, to bring out the God colours and God flavours in the world, and just as I have been on a wilderness journey I believe that the church ( local and national) has found itself on a wilderness journey in recent times.  The world has changed and we have not kept pace with it, in some cases our practices and buildings have become our reason for being and we have lost sight of our true purpose and calling. We have had to or will have to look honestly into the mirror together  and ask questions about our life together, our reason for being, and what the future might hold. At this point it can be very tempting to look back and wonder why things are not as they were, for surely that is how they should be!

Of course if we are truly honest with ourselves as individuals and together we know that returning to the past is not a valid option, and if we did we would soon discover that those ways are not how things should be today, for today is a new day, filled with challenges and opportunities of its own, and while we may have regrets we must not let them hold us back, and perhaps the only way to do that is to deliberately bring them to the cross where we can allow God to take and transform them, and this again will be a dying to ourselves, we may do this with deep sadness, we may do this with relief ( we will probably do it with a mixture of both), but do it we must, because only  in the letting go we will find that new life begins to become possible.

As for me, I have chosen the way forward, right now I am walking through the rain, but walk on I must, and God being my helper, walk on I will, He is my choice, for I have no other.

prayer, vulnerability and the power of God....

Over the last few weeks I have noticed something significant about ministry in the town centre of Blackpool, New Central Church has a Coffee Bar and many folk come in, some are local, others tourists, some of those tourists are Methodists seeking out a Methodist Church ( we do that!). Others though are folk seeking a bit of peace away from the hustle and bustle of the shopping centre and promenade, I've adopted a stance of lurking in the coffee bar with intent and chatting to people, many of those people happily share some of their life story with me, and many of them welcome the offer of prayer or a blessing. I am not surprised by this, partly because those who come in know they are coming in to a church coffee bar, but also because I firmly believe that many people are open to a touch from God.

What has surprised me however is the effect that all of this has had upon me, I find my faith strengthened, and I can genuinely point to answered prayer from a young man who wanted prayer for his driving test to someone who wanted prayer for healing. Earlier this week I had the privilege of praying for a church member, we prayed for his healing, and as we did so we experienced the presence and love of God in a powerful way.

This has been echoed for me in North Shore Church a little way along the coast from New Central, again opportunities to share in the lives and stories of others have opened up naturally and powerfully. Yet in both of these places, maybe particularly North Shore there is a vulnerability, the vulnerability of being called by God but not being sure that we have the strength to step into that calling, and through this God is working, and that is wonderful...

Lord have mercy upon us... 

Be the strength in our weakness, help us to hear your voice, help us to follow you...

hold on....

hope weaves 

her golden thread,

silently, softly,

calling , drawing,

those with

eyes to see

and ears to hear,

take hold, take hold,

take hold

and follow, 

hold on,

 even in the struggles,

and the pain

I will not forsake you,

hold on,

and I will bring

you through,

hold on

for there's a blessing in

the holding,

hold on,

hold on,

hold out

for hope, for

hope weaves

her golden thread,

silently, softly,

even here...

I was chatting with a client at a drop in today, he articulated the Christian hope in a gracious and thoughtful way, seeing hope for transformation even in his darkest struggles.... and I was blessed.

the choice....

i have a choice,

and today i choose life,

life in its complexity,

in its absurdity,

life filled

with challenges,

life demanding questions,

offering few answers,

life in its ups and

its downs,

life to be lived

and breathed,

to be faced head on

and grasped

with determination

and faith,

i have a choice,

and today i choose life

creative,

abundant,

overwhelming,

perplexing,

life...

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i have a choice,

and today i choose life,

i choose life

for life has

chosen me!

church alive......?

Come with me to Church, walk up the path and through the door, I hope that you will be welcomed warmly, but if you have time just take a look around our foyer, you’ll see a Christians Against Poverty Banner letting folk know that our centre is now open, also a collecting box for the Selby and District Food Bank, and a notice board with details of activities and events. What you won’t know is that this has not always been the case, and that some people don’t like it looking as it does, only last Sunday I heard of complaints, people asking what the entrance says about us; I hope it says that we care about the poor, the hungry and the homeless.

 

Now imagine for a moment that you are one of the guests of the family who are bringing their baby to be baptised, you’re a bit confused because you thought that baptisms were private services but this morning the whole church is here; all of these people make you feel a bit nervous. I hope that we’ll help you to relax, and that you’ll enjoy the service; you might be surprised by the fact that we use a screen and video projector and the atmosphere is much less formal than you’d expected….

 

Now imagine you are a fly on the wall overhearing a later discussion, one of the retired Local Preachers has tackled me he thought the service was a shambles, the prayers weren’t right and the sermon not hard hitting enough, “those people need to understand God’s message!” Another member approaches me, “you did well considering those people didn’t know how to behave” is the comment made. I was speechless, and the next comment made me even angrier, “at least they dressed up properly”….

 

Them and us syndrome is a horrible curse, it prevents us from seeing others in a positive light, it puffs us up and fills us with a false sense of pride, it is  distasteful and out of place in the church! As I was processing my reactions to all of these comments and conversations I came across post after post concerned with why younger folk don’t come to, or struggle with church. The first one that challenged me was entitled “Why you can’t solve your churches young adult problem” , the first thing to take on board was a simple statement of fact;

 

“Churches are not perfect- nor should we ever think they will be- but as long as church people do mean things to people who are a little different, don’t be surprised when no young people want to come to your church.”

 

It should be obvious- and of course it is not only young people who will stay away, only today a friend said this;

 

“ I long for something interesting to ponder, something to challenge and inspire, something to give me hope and faith in the future here, something worth putting energy into fighting for - you know, a better world, a healthier environment, greater justice, fairer distribution of resources, world peace. I don't see the Church delivering any of that really, or offering people any great incentive to get on board enthusiastically with it. I don't even feel it's a particularly loving place, so why would I wish to be in it?”

 

Ouch, but she makes a good point, as does the writer of the first article, who continues by asking us some very pertinent questions;

 

“Do we really want young people in our churches? Or do we really mean we want to preserve our values in a younger generation of prototypical images of ourselves? And are we willing to make the gospel compelling enough by trying to actually live it?”

 

If you want young people in your church, go to where they are. Learn what they do. Strike up a relationship and trust the Holy Spirit enough to let you know when it’s time to invite them to church. In the meantime make sure your church is a place that worries about doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8). …”

 

Make sure your church worries about doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God NOT about how people are dressed and whether they “behave” according to our standards. Surely we should be helping people to connect with God by offering an open door a welcome and a place to be, an environment where questions and confusions are heard and answered gently... Which brings me to the second article “Releasing the generations”, written by Bishop Graham Cray. He begins with this:

 

“The relationship between older and younger generations in the Church is complex. Older people can hang on to leadership too long, while younger people (if they stay) get frustrated. Well-intentioned, but often token, appointments of young people are made to church bodies whose meetings can frustrate - or bore the life out of - those same young people. Yet there are also older people looking for someone younger to take on roles they have filled for years – and they can’t find anyone to take their place. The problem is essentially one of power: who has a say and who does not. The issue is also vocational: is each generation respected and released to obey God’s call and trusted to trust God’s promises?”

 

The issue is essentially one of power he says, I wonder if it is also one of fear, fear of what might happen, what might change if we were to let go. In their book “The Human Face of Church” Sarah Savage and Eolene Boyd-McMillan refer to sociologist Max Weber’s observations which point to a cyclical process amongst religious movements;

 

“Weber argued that any great vision require a human process to carry it through time, sometimes in the form of “a man, a mission, a movement, or a monument”. Even with the Body of Christ, the life giving charism has to be embodied in a routine – in some form of human organisation. Yet, life giving visions do not fit easily into neat boxes. So the very process that gives the vision continuing life also begins to kill it. When the maintenance of the institution (which protects the charism) becomes the institutions primary purpose, the death of the charism is on the horizon. Only spiritual revival or reform will re-ignite the gift.” (Savage and Boyd-McMillan 2007. p4)

 

A church that is willing to let go and pass on the power, that is willing to be re-invented for every age is a church that will grow, it’s risky certainly, but the risk of not daring to do so is surely more costly for it will result in our ultimate demise, a picture we see all too often! Cray continues;

 

It is not the calling of young people to preserve or continue the church as it is but to engage in God’s mission in a way which will inevitably shape the Church of tomorrow. If we are to engage with the UK as a mission field with its sheer scale and diverse complexity, we need the missionary gifts of young people today - not just tomorrow.

 

So we need to consider our ways, how we share leadership and power, and dare to risk  leaving behind what we have to travel to a new future, but of course there is more, for what is Church without God. Let me take you back to our baptism service, during the intercessions which took the form of a power-point display set to music I offered people a chance to respond to God by offering a blessing for those that wanted one, a couple of church members responded, but then something powerful began to happen as a number of the baptism party began to come forward, some of them were in tears, the Spirit was moving, and I too began to weep. I believe that THERE IS A HUNGER FOR GOD planted within us, and that hunger was stirred as folk came forward, they hadn’t expected it, they hadn’t looked for it, but equally they could not resist it. That leads me to a third article by Shane Raynor entitled “When Christianity gets boring” and while I don’t agree with the thrust of his article that young people stay away because church is boring I do find truth in this:

 

“Christians have spent a lot of time figuring out how to get people to church, but we haven’t always done a lot to establish them in the faith once they’re there. That's partly because we’ve largely reduced faith to activities and programs or to creeds and doctrinal statements. And many of us are chasing a Christianity that’s a figment of our imaginations. We’re looking for the faith of the church fathers, the faith of Luther, of Calvin, of Wesley... sadly some of us would actually settle for a Christianity that’s a snapshot from somewhere in time rather than explore the infinite God of the now!”

 

…sadly some of us would actually settle for a Christianity that’s a snapshot from somewhere in time rather than explore the infinite God of the now! I want to cry out- surely this is not true, but sadly deep in my heart I know that it often is! We look for methods and fixes, for programmes and solutions, and fail to seek God, the author and perfector of our faith, God who can do immeasurably more in us than we can begin to ask or imagine. Raynor exclaims;

 

“…since the power and presence and person of God are anything but boring, that tells me we have a disconnect between experiencing God and experiencing church. “

 

Another Facebook friend posted a comment from a young man who says this;

 

" I did a YouTube video the other week on the reason why church has made me contemplate leaving. I'm 31 and have only been a Christian for two years. The two main reasons for me, and it seems to be echoed by others around me are lack of discipleship (we are just left to get on with it, questions remain unaswered) and too much noise. Church tries to be 'trendy' loud music, bands, messy church. All great concepts but what myself and others want is hard, straight up answers to questions and silence. Church is not boring, its just failing to connect with what young people really need....God"

People NEED GOD, not just young people but people of all ages, sizes, colours and backgrounds, we were made for God, by God and NEED a real relationship with God who loves us more than we can possibly imagine. People need God, and the church is called to know, and nurture that need, to call forth life by growing changing, and adapting, sharing the life that it has received allowing it to flow out into the desert places of this world causing the desert to bloom. Life should no be kept in a neat box, safely shielded from the realities of the world, if we do that with life it will die, and we will be lost….

 

Jesus says:

 

Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

 ^14-16"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. (Matthew 5)

Maybe we need to remember;

 

“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. “ (Ephesians 3)