Thinking back over the NAM conference there was one part of one presentation that really bugged me - that is, annoyed me - it was too simplistic and triumphalist and missed some big questions about how the churhc fials to care for its own.  You can find the story that was read to us here.  It makes for good reading if you want to take a certain stance on what Christian life is about, but not if you you ask any question of it.

No, I'd never heard of Chuck Templeton, but I wonder what it was that cost him his 'orthodox faith' and drove him from the church.  What honest questions was he forced to face alone and unresourced?  What issues challenged his beliefs?  Where were the people who would love and support him?  Presumably still on some happy cloud counting decision cards.

And I've never heard of Bron Clifford but who looked out for him?  Who said 'you're drinking too much?' Who said 'are you struggling financially?'  Who offered help to him, his wife or his two downs syndrome children?  What pushed him over the edge into self-destruct mode?  Some pastors had a collection to buy him a coffin - where were they when he needed them in life?

Maybe these men were arrogant and deluded, I don't know.  Maybe they fouled up big time.  But even so, who was there for them?  I may have moaned about the long list of 'thou shalt nots' that the NAMs had to sit through, but at least someone cares enough to tell them.  I hope also we all care enough to walk with rather than merely censure those who struggle and fall.

From this:

To this:

To this:

To this:

As Jesus was leaving the temple one of his disicples said to him, "Look teacher!  What massive stones!  What magnificent buildings!"

"Do you see all these great buildings?" he replied.  "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

The LORD gives, the LORD takes away, blessed be the name of the LORD.

Demolition next door is nearly complete and already the footings are in place for the first of the new houses - by close of play today the intention is to have footings in place for five out of nine...

What struck me yesterday when I got home after four days away was how much more light there was without the great Victorian barn next to my humble abode.  Is there a parable in there somewhere?  I wonder!

At the NAM conference (see yesterday's post for overview) Karen Smith took as her theme 'ministry in the meantime' and spoke on two threads: waiting with Christ and walking with Christ.  The meantime - the space between now and what we dream of and, maybe (my thoughts here) between the resurrection and the eschaton.  The now and not yet.  She spoke of Eugene Peterson's concept of the 'ministry of small talk' and I found myself reminded of a phrase I have used about 'the God of small things.'  It isn't all about zillions of conversions and streams of baptisms, it's about the little things we do 'in the meantime' about the everyday actions, words, thoughts; about the things we get right and the things we struggle with.

She used the parable of the growing seed (Mark 4, just before the mustard seed) and that while the person gets on with everyday life (sleeping and rising) the seed grows, they know not how, but grow it does.  Back in the days when I was a Sunday School teacher we spoke of planting seeds, alluding to the parable of the sower/soils and the epistular (is there such a word?) allusion to Paul planting the seed, Apollos watering it but God making it grow.  But this week I was taken in a new direction with it all - the seed of a smile, a gentle word, an hour at a bedside; the everyday cycle of getting on with the job...

There is much waiting going on here in Dibley, folk on hospital waiting lists, folk waiting for their children's weddings and new babies, folk waiting for the final breathe... but in the meantime...

God of the meantime

Who shares with us the waiting

And the walking

And the wondering

Grant us patience

Grant us courage

Grant us hope

Amen

Just got back from the NAM conference at Hothorpe where I acted as a group facilitator.  I have had a great time - though I'm now pretty tired and still have a service to prepare from scratch...

My memories of my own NAM conference are that it was hard work and to a high degree a round of negativity - don't have sex with your church organist (as if....), don't help yourself to the collection, don't abuse your position, don't send texts to under 18's and don't have any fun in church.  It was important stuff to be told, don't get me wrong, but it was all extremely heavy.  The one blessing was that I made one or two new friends in my the small group of which I was part (Hi guys!) and the closing communion service remains as a moment of deep meaning.

So, it was with some trepidation that I set off on Monday.  The heavy stuff was still there, but the experience was, for me anyway, very different.  In Ian Coffey and Karen Smith we had too very different and very interesting speakers, and I was blessed with a lovely group of NAMs to work with.

My secret to a happy small group?  A bottle of wine (or some orange juice) in the evening session and spending the final, morning session sitting out on the lawn as we prayed with and for each other.  My group members were a diverse lot - different ages, colleges, theologies and churches - but each one was a special gift to the group: one brought humour, another vulnerability, still another quiet contemplation and yet another clear insights.  We talked, we laughed, we prayed, we communed (over wine and crisps...!) and we shared in the few set tasks we'd been given.

At the end of the final communion service we were invited to metaphorically place the special thing God had given us into our 'non-writing' hand and hold it tight as something to take away with us.  My special blessing, the thing I take away?  The honour and privilege of sharing with these eight NAMs in particular and the other 50 or so in general.

They may go home as I did and moan about the 'don't do this' language but I hope that just maybe they, too made a few new friends, found something to hold onto and went away blessed.