A Skinny Fairtrade Latte in the Food Court of Life

Today was our HMF fundraiser during which I led two lots of prayers.  I used extracts from this year's DVD along with two prayers from Crumbs of Hope by Clare McBeath and Tim Presswood.

The first extract - 'United in Mission,' the first of the 'extras' on the DVD - uses a montage of clips from past HMF videos including that wonderful moment when Ida said to David Coffey, in response to a question about how they'd coped over the years, 'we'd no flamin' option.'  If you don't (didn't, she died last year) know Ida, (or David Coffey who's just in the left hand side of the shot), she's the white haired lady with the lovely smile, who laughs.  The church at the close, behind the wire fence, is Mersey Street Tabernacle - Ida's church.

Here are the prayers, in case you don't have access to Clare's and Tim's book and would like something that makes the connections ...

Prayers from a Home Mission Church

Everlasting One

The everlasting one who has travelled with her people

Across the bounds of time and place

Through birth, growth, and death

Weaving in and out of the joy and pain of our lives.

Come, let us gather before the faithful God

The everlasting one who calls us to share our journey

Through the decades, wherever we find ourselves

From our beginning to our departing

As we weave the joy and pains of our lives together. 

Keep us Keeping On

Faithful God We thank you that you don’t give up on us

Keep us keeping on  

Give us patience not to give up on you

Keep us keeping on  

When the time ahead is uncertain

Keep us keeping on  

When progress seems slow or non-existent

Keep us keeping on  

When we are weary of working within the system

Keep us keeping on  

When the challenges of our world seem too great

Keep us keeping on  

When the burden of caring gets us down

Keep us keeping on  

When we are tired and worn out

Hold us in your love

Prayers copyright Clare McBeath and Tim Presswood/Inspire publishing 

PS If you have a problem with feminine language for God, you could use 'God's people' since God is neither male nor female.

PPS We raised £125 for HMF, so all in all it was a worthwhile event

On Tuesday someone made a B_I_G mistake.  They told me I needed to carry out a 'fire risk assessment' for Girls' Brigade.  This is not a good thing to say to a former professional risk assesser because it meant I asked hard questions they couldn't answer, and then they asked what I meant by a 'designated assembly point' and the blue signage (as shown left) that ought to be in place advising fire action. Hmm.

For any Baptists, the BUC guideline on Health and Safety, C.7 is helpful and has some useful websites to visit.  I'm sure other denominations have an equivalent.

I also found a nice one page tick-box thing here which basically does the job for you.  Unless you are trained and know the HSE stuff, don't try getting all clever (and my professioanl opinion of some of the schools' risk assessment stuff is unprintable).  Also make sure you know the difference between a 'risk' and a 'hazard' and between a 'risk assessment' and an 'evacuation plan' or 'emergnecy plan.'  Otherwise I get unpastorally irritable!

Alternatively, in exchange for some large quantities of fairtrade chocolate I can come and do it for you ...!

Oh, and if you don't know, a fire assembly point sign, which should be located well clear of premises and with enough space to safely gather all your people, looks like this: -

That said, I've never yet seen one at a church.

I am contemplating an autumn sermon series on Habakkuk on the basis I do not know this book at all and recently I have heard several people quote from it - including one person who felt the need, in their prayers, to remind God what Habakkuk said.  Anyway, as I don't know the book, I also don't have any commentaries on it, though I do have one or two more generally on the 'minor prophets' and a few of the ubiquitous whole Bible in a thousand pages variety.

Anyone help?

Watching the news on TV last night was utterly demoralising.  On this 'small island' so much tragedy, largely eclipsed by the departure of one powerful man and the installation of another.  More interest in creating a (syndicated?  It was identical on BBC and ITV) montage of images accompanied by the 'bittersweet symphony of life' than the hearses carrying the coffins of young men, or the family whose uninsured home has been destroyed by the floods, or the mother of yet another teenage boy stabbed to death simply for looking at someone.

As I mowed the lawn ready for Saturday's HMF coffee day, I was keenly aware that only an hour or so's drive away were people trapped by floods and others mourning tragedy, and pondered what a bewildering land this is.  I am truly puzzled by the idea of Mr Blair becoming a 'peace envoy' and I fail to see the need for the Diana concert on Saturday (but then as a friend told me recently, I'm an old cynic).  If we could put a fraction of the energy into really addressing issues that affect the lives of 'little people' - from flood defences, to affordable insurance, to knife and gun crime, to low self-esteem... - then we might have something to celebrate and commemorate with photo-montages and concerts.   And that's just on this small island.

Today's BT contains a little article about Bevin Boys and finds our very own Baptist Bevin-boy and former BUGB General Secretary, the Revd Bernard Green.  He worked, so the BT says in the "South Leicestershire Colliery in Coalville."  This would not be a good thing to say to people round here!  Coalville is not in South Leicestershire, check a map!  South was, so I am told by locals, the name given to the area, now a small village, some 2-3 miles from Coalville.  You call such places Coalville at your peril - I have the scars to prove it!  People here simply talk of 'South Colliery.'

If Revd Green, then a 19 year-old lad, worked in South, then one of his nearest Baptist churhces, at merely mile or so away, was Dibley.  Did he worship here?  I don't know.  Maybe he worshipped at the one a couple of miles in another direction.  Do my people know?  Again, I don't, yet, know, but I suspect not.  Is it judged relevant?  I doubt it.

I'm not really questioning whether or not we ought to know the answers to this (I think we probably should know if he worshipped in our congregation) or even if his presence was relevant (he wasn't the only Baptist Bevin-boy, plenty of my congregation, and others, were), I am just amused that the BT, in its inimitable way, and with a very different agenda from local congregational history, reports this.

Our Congregational History offers the following on WWII:

"... in 1938 the Rev C W Gregory came from Shore, but resigned three eyars later. The Rev C Walter Rose BA commenced his ministry in June 1942, during World War II, with its terrible upheavals and strain, leaving an aftermath of problems for Church and Nation.  Our own locality was more fortunate than many, and the Church at [Dibley] sustained its life with considerable vigour."

I assume it was WWII, not Rev Rose's ministry, which left the aftermath...!  The "considerbale vigour" was matched by a reduction in membership of more than 30, so I now know how to descirbe my own ministry better.  And as for a whole World War summarised in three sentences, even I couldn't manage that!

Also in this week's BT it says that Gildersome Baptist Church in Yorkshire was rebuilt in 2000 - not when I went there in 2003 it wasn't!!!  It has been refurbished, but that's not the same thing at all. 

Can I really give any credence to anything I read?!  And what does all this mean for my research.  Hmm.

... it would not get very good marks for presentation.

Ok, this is not orginal, someone else will have done it so much better, somewhere else, but I am too bog-eyed from proof-reading to look.

Neither Paul nor Jesus (as recorded) give references, simply asserting 'it is written.'  Of the few references supplied in the New Testament one of them (I can't remember where, but "it is written") is blatantly to the wrong prophet.  I'll let them off publication houses and page numbers - a tad tricky with a hand written scroll...

Paul in one of his letters (Romans?) manages to submit an incomplete sentence - long, complex, even erudite but... 

Mark's Greek is almost as bad as mine, he muddles tenses and clearly did not have a 'proficiency in Koine Greek' certificate before he registered.

Any others?

I think this is proof I need to lie down in a darkened room!!

Over at Faith and Theology I came across this rather fun 'meme.'  I am pretty safe that no one will ever tag me with any 'memes' and to be honest they are usually more fun to read than to respond to, but this one I quite like, so here are a few off the top of my head comments...

I confess that I have never heard of most of the theologians people blog about

I confess that I never understood a word of my philosophy of religion classes but still managed to get a good mark for the assignment

I confess that I have long forgotten which heresy went with which heretic and never really cared anyway, because I think that so-called heresy is a necessary corrective to, well, heresy of the so-called orthodox variety

I confess I'm a happy heretic

I confess that I'd like God to be a universalist even if I can never quite get there; if not can God be anihilationist please

I confess I don't like theological labels

I confess that I often wonder if one day I'll wake up and think its all a load of tosh (but after 30+ years of wondering that, maybe I won't)

I confess that I like debate and sometimes play advocate for the dark side just to make it more fun

I confess that I am stubborn, pedantic, workaholically-inclined and have an odd sense of humour

Oh yes, and I also confess that Jesus is Lord and I am truly glad to count myself among his followers

A late night blog trawl and I saw something that sounded like I ought to have read it - a reference to What is a Healthy Church? a USA publication that picks up 'nine marks of a healthy church' as follows: -

1. Expositional preaching
2. Biblical theology
3. Biblical understanding of the Good News
4. Biblical understanding of conversion
5. Biblical understanding of evangelism
6. Biblical understadning of Church Membership 
7. Biblical church discipline
8. Promotion of Christian Discipleship and growth (one for you Kez?)
9. Biblical Church leadership

I have no idea what the book actually says, but these 'marks' sound somewhat different from those in the UK published  Healthy Churches Handbook which are as follows: -

1. Energised by faith
2. Outward looking focus
3. Seeks to find out what God wants
4. Faces the cost of change and growth
5. Operates as a community 
6. Makes room for all
7. Does a few things and does them well

I know which set I prefer, and it's not American!  So I don't think I'll feel too bad about not having read this imminent new work or its predecessors in time to write about it. 

Why, I asked myself was I getting 'Congregational Studies in the Uk' every time I referenced said book directly from Endnote?  Yes, it was 'UK' in the data entry table but, aha, Chicago 15th A does not like the UK or even OK or indeed anything much except USA.  Chicago 15th B likes UK, but does other things I, or my supervisors, don't like.  Oh, I love it, not, but it is quicker, and more accurate, than manually typing in all the references, which as I have 158 at the last count, is definitely a good thing...

At least I have now found out how to make it reference doctoral theses correctly from said format, but there's still some tweaking needed here and there.

Ah well, into the final stages of editing now...

UPDATE

OK, so another ten minutes of messing around and I discover in the 'preferences' menu that I can set UK as something for it not to alter the case of, have found out to do multiple citations prperly and half a dozen other useful things.... Grrr.

Someone at church passed this story to me today (I later found it online).  It is decidely kitch, and may induce vomitting in some readers, but I like it, if only because we get away from the old bloke in the long white frock syndrome...

A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey.

When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park, just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her some chips. She gratefully accepted and smiled at him.

Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Again, she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

As twilight approached, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, "Mother, what  did you do today that made you so happy?" She replied! "I ate potato chips in the park with God." However, before her son responded, she added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected."

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime! Embrace all equally!

Have lunch with God....... bring chips. 

(Or, if you want something a bit more Biblical - it has faint echoes of Matthew 25 and Hebrews 12:2 (I know how to use a concordance!))