A Skinny Fairtrade Latte in the Food Court of Life

This is a definition of a sacrament I heard today and (fanfares from my sacramentalist heretic friends) it is one I can buy - though not necessarily as my very long suffering friend, who shared it understands, it because she would link it to a promise that God meets us, and I haven't got that bit (yet...?).

Today God met me in Mrs Bridges Tea Rooms * in Leicester where I enjoyed a wonderful smoked salmon, avacado and various other bits baguette washed down with cranberry presse.  So that would make that a sacramental experience (which my friend would own, in theory anyway (it may not have been so for her)) if not a sacrament per se.

I'd still argue that the two rites Baptists celebrate are ordinances even if they are also in some sense sacramental (ha, I'm not giving in THAT easily!!).  I think the dicipleship. obedience, aspect is too important to dismiss, as is the case in some sacramental theologies.  (Not suggesting you do friend of mine)

I guess the truth is that its a bit of both and a whole lot of neither - otherwise we have it too neatly stitched up and cease to allow God to be God.

Anyway, thank you kind and generous friend for food for my body and food for my mind and for giving me a space where God, in you, met me.

  *  Caution though, Mrs Bridges is a wonderful place but you need real old fangled cash as they don't accept cards!! 

I do wonder what the world is coming to sometimes!  In the last week I've heard two accounts of leap year madness...

• an assertion that the extra day means people have to work another day and so should be paid overtime for it
• an assertion that this is a 'free' day and so people don't need to go to work

In all my 45 years I've never heard any such nonsense before (although I do seem to recall hearing that in Germany when they began daylight savings hotels adjusted bills to reflect the extra/lesser hour).  Is this just greed gone mad?  I always thought the only concession of Leap Year's Day was that women could propose to men - though in our culture maybe that's now just an ancient memory.

Maybe the March madness will be a little more sane?!

Right, no more distraction, must get some admin done before lunch time prayers...

Scripture Union have just published a set of books which tell "the 10 most iconic stories from the Bible'" - the 'Must Know Stories.'   What intrigues me is how they decided which 10 to include - and why.  Some would be in my top 10, others probably wouldn't.  I am intrigued, and more than a tad disappointed, that the cover picture on three of the four features apples and snakes - could we not have had something that expresses God's love and creativity rather than human sin and finitiude (the fourth book, the second aimed at 5-8's has Noah's ark on the cover).

So here's their top ten - what would you change?

1. The birth of Jesus
2. Jesus' death & resurrection
3. Adam & Eve/creation
4. The good Samaritan
5. The 10 Commandments
6. The prodigal son
7. Noah's ark
8. David & Goliath
9. Daniel in the lion's den
10. Feeding the 5000

I hope they don't appear in this order - the Bible is confusing enough anyway but if we begin with Jesus (a good place, I'd agree) and then move all over the place in time then we might be causing as much confusion as we overcome.

I'm not seeting out to knock the books - I'm sure they are a great resource for people who know how to use them, just not sure these are my top 10 stories or the order I'd tell them.

Another one hit my inbox this morning.  Because of careless forwarding, I now have the email addresses of around 200 people I've never heard of and mine has been sent to a similar number.

This one, perporting to be a missing child, has been around several months, some have been going around for years.  Such emails are malicious and prey on people of good will who innocently pass them on.  At the same time poeple may be mssing real pleas for help becuase they have grown cynical.

So, I bcc-ed a reply to the fifty or so people in the tranche of which I was a part asking them to check www.hoax-slayer.com or something similar before they pass emails on, suggesting that they use 'bcc' rather than 'to' and that they strip out addresses before forwarding messages.  Hopefully these people will now think for 2 minutes before they pass on messages rather than wasting 2 minutes forwarding hoaxes...

Of course, by the time I'd checked and replied, the sender had sent me more spam mail...!  Grrr.

Way back when (almost five years ago) after what seemed yet another kick in the teeth during the ministerial settlement process a friend of mine said "make like the Psalmists and shout at God."  So, today when I am feeling the weight of all that is happening in this little corner of the world, here is my Psalm of Anguish, posted not (I hope) from vanity or self pity but because (a) it helps me (catharsis) and (b) I suspect there are others who feel much the same sometimes...

A Psalm of Anguish

I don’t know what to do, O God,

I don’t know what to do!

In the night I wake with anxious thoughts

By day I drown under issues and events

How much more, O God?

How much more?

This little church, these folk you love

(You do love them, don’t you?)

So battered, so bemused,

So exhausted, deflated, berated…

Hold them in your arms

Shelter them beneath your wings.

How is it of you, O Lord,

To allow such pain, such anger?

How many feet will beat a path to my door

To weep, to shout, to seek answers?

“What kind of a God would do this?”

“Is there even a God?”

Each broken one for whom Christ died

Each wounded soul longing for embrace

And my only answer “I don’t know,

Yet still I believe, I trust”

Is that enough, O Lord?

Is that enough?

To bless and live

To curse and die

To tomorrow

Or to be bound with bitterness

In the now

Lord, I cannot understand,

It is all too much for me to comprehend.

Yet I will choose blessing:

Your servant will refuse discouragement and defeat.

I will follow you, wherever you lead –

Even a valley dark as death,

Even waters that flood over my head,

Even to a precipice where I stand and tremble.

God is my refuge and strength

An ever present help within the struggle,

Therefore I will defy fear

Though the ground give way under my feet.

The steadfast love of God never ceases,

God's mercies never end

They are renewed every morning

So great is God’s faithfulness.

I am no wiser, O Lord,

As to why,

But I choose to trust:

Choose to believe

Choose to hope

Choose to live.

Today has been very mixed - but ended with a really positive planning meeting for the Good Friday outreach event.

So here's the plan...

We have booked the Community Centre which comprises two fairly big halls and a lounge area.  In one hall we will have children's activities staffed by a team of about 8 mature women who do this every year and must not be crossed!  They are good workers and even managed to meet us half way on plans for the day, so I am relieved.  In the second hall we will have 8 installations to help people focus creatively on aspects of the Easter narrative - from help yourself communion, to video of crucifixion, to a powerpoint sequence, to a prayer wall, to anointing with scented oil...  In the lounge we will serve refreshments and then, towards the end of the morning, invite everyone to gather for a 15 minute mini-service with two songs, a reading a quick input and a prayer.

It was a really positive meeting, and most folk who came are excited about the possibiltiy of reaching folk who don't otherwise come to church.  There are a few grumbles that it's not a 'proper' service but rather a space to 'be.' However, as I pointed out this is a churches togther initiative, and betwwen all three traditions we have the sum total of one minister available - me.  So this is about as good as it's going to get - and it is good because there are around a dozen people willing to make it good.

This morning I am preparing material for GB Young Leaders training on Saturday - and this year I've landed faith issues as the Chaplain is on maternity 'leave'.  In the middle of one of the suggested activities - quite a good one - came the throw away line "explain the Gospel to the girls."  I guess the writer has in mind the ABC or Turn-Take-Trust-Thank models.  But it made me smile - if the gospel really could be explained in 2 minutes surely we'd all have done it by now...

Is there a theological distinction between 'separation' and 'divorce' such that the former does not (sic) 'dishonour Christ's church' but the latter does?  I don't think there is, I think this is western, secular, legal definitions being snapped up by sincere but struggling individuals to give themselves a get out clause when their theology and experience don't match up.

In the case of either of the above (because there is a practical/legal distinction even if not a theological one) how should the church respond - as discipline or pastoral concern?  My leaning is pastoral in aim but practically similar in outworking - viz that the person should be given 'time out' from any roles or responsibilities to work through what is occurring in their life, to re-evalaute and then, once the dust has settled to pick things up if that is judged the right way forward.

What does anyone else think?  I am treading a tightrope with my folk as this one affects our  congregation - just one more little storm for us to weather!

A person goes to see their minister to tell them they believe God is calling them to a church 2 miles away.  It is the church in the community where they live, and the minister is of the view that people should. where possible, worship and serve within their own community.  Trouble is, this person has a key role in the church's outreach work, reaching around 70 people a month, many of whom have no other church connection.  Not withstanding that God just may be calling someone else to fill this gap, the project now looks incredibly vulnerable and the already overstretched minister simply cannot plug this gap.  The upshot is that it is likely that this project may fold - and even though the minister is willing to be proved wrong, the implications have to be considered.

What does it say about God if this project, successful and well respected, having a positive impact on so many people's lives, has to close?  What is the impact on the commerical enterprises who now have this project written into their business plans?  What questions will be raised about the kind of God who would, seemingly, abandon this project in favour of something else, as yet unknown?

I am trying - and failing - to think of any Bible stories that speak of those who are left behind to pick up the pieces, trying to work out what might be an appropriate damage-limitation theology.  I am wondering how I will explain to people who do not understand the idea of Christian calling, never mind calling away from good, Kingdom work, why this person has moved on.  I am trying to work out what is the way forward for this initiative - and how the whole thing fits in the fragile, cliff-edge situation of my little congregation.

So, can anyone out there help me?  I need something to help me reflect on this in a theolgocial way - and apart from a few good ranting pslams, I'm a bit stuck.

Unless an ear of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.

But if it dies it produces many seeds.

(John 12:24 NIVi)

At this morning's prayer meeting this verse kept coming into my mind.  Whether it was me or God or a bit of both who can objectively verify?  But it wouldn't go away, so I shared it and no one accused me of heresy!

Unless an ear of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed.  But if it dies it produces many seeds.

Is this what is being said to our little church?  I do not know, but I do wonder.

If I have an image in my mind, it is that we are on the edge of a cliff that has been steadily eroded over time.  As a result, what was once fairly safe, with a nice view of the sea, has become increasingly dangerous and is now precarious.  At the same time the sea has been getting more stormy, we have moved from a few little squalls to full force 9 gales, and the waves have been getting steadily bigger and more menacing.  Now it almost feels that I can hear the rumble of an impending tsunami.  Will we choose to sing "we have an anchor" even more loudly, will we step back from the edge or we will be swept away?  I honestly do not know.

This much I do believe:

• that God called me to this place at this time for this reason
• that God is faithful
• that death is part of life, and resurrection without death impossible
• that if this grain of wheat must die, and if it falls to the ground, despite the fallout and blame, the seeds can be spread far and wide, to extend the harvest of the gospel.

I am convinced that it is valid for a local church to die, if that is what is needful, in order for the seeds to be released for another planting.  I am fairly confident that, if this is the time for it to happen, I can, with God's help, walk the path to allow this to happen, and still see that as a vaild conclusion.

At the same time, I wrestle with the fear that I'm crying wolf (is this really the edge or not?) and the human fear of being scapegoated if I am proved right.  I am not entirely sure about putting this on the old www where anyone at all can see it.  But If I don't am I then colluding with the ostrich mentality that has brought us to this place?

Unless an ear of wheat falls to the ground and dies - may God grant that I, and we, have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the church.