The Holy Trinity has so much meaning for me. as someone who is quickly irritated by ‘Control Stuff’, I just love the understanding I find in the Trinity, that God is relational rather than controlling.  other than that, it’s a tricky concept to get your head round, so wonder if this has a special meaning for anyone else?

NO OTHER PLANS

There is a very old legend, and all legends that persist speak truth, concerning the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to heaven after His Ascension. It is said that the angel Gabriel met Him at the gates of the city. ‘Lord, this is a great salvation that Thou hast wrought,’ said the angel. But the Lord Jesus only said, ‘Yes.’ ‘What plans hast Thou made for carrying on the work? How are all men to know what Thou hast done?’ asked Gabriel. ‘I left Peter and James and John and Martha and Mary to tell their friends, and their friends to tell their friends, till all the world should know.’ ‘But, Lord Jesus,’ said Gabriel, ‘suppose Peter is too busy with his nets, or Martha with her housework, or the friends they tell are too occupied, and forget to tell their friends – what then?’ The Lord Jesus did not answer at once; then He said in His quiet, wonderful voice: ‘I have not made any other plans. I am counting on them.’ George MacLeod From Daily Readings with George MacLeod, Ron Ferguson (ed.) Wild Goose Publications www.ionabooks.com

I’ve cribbed the above quote directly from the Iona web site, unapologetically, as I’d love the chance to chat about it

on one level, it feels like plain manipulation, a ploy to get the overworked to give more, and the broke to cough up. on another it feels like an honour to be given the task of sharing God’s love with our generation

the thing is, though, how do we feel called to do this? is it about sourcing food for the hungry?, or is there a sense we are called to inspire our generation with a vision of a just and magnificent God?

and where does the tenderness of Christ come in, how can we build the love of Christ with others a little outside our immediate circle?

I hope to hear your thoughts on the quote, and any practical experiences of doing God’s work, as in the tales of the Street Pastors, and a big thank you to all the fab people who’ve shared so much love and faith on this blog over the last few months

My children went to ‘proper’ church yesterday with their friend. They were keen to go and we thought it might be a good idea for them to experience a more traditional church service and stuff. Over lunch we were discussing what they did and how it was. My youngest told me they were learning a memory verse, I was quite shocked this was method was still being used- i remember learning memory verses, and then never winning the prize for remembering because i could never remember it!. I guess that didn’t start the  very well as I stupidly spoke out loud my surprise at using such an old fashioned style of teaching. The conversation went down hill from there, apparently they then then discussed the passage ( which was about Jesus calling disciples to be fishers of men). I asked my daughter and her friend if they knew what this meant, odd phrase “fishers of men”. The friend clearly explained it is about getting everyone to be a christian because if they are not they will not be with Jesus when we die.  I began to say that I thought it was actually quite complicated and then used the word hell in my sentence ( can’t remember why!) to which I was promptly told by the friend “they were told about people like me! using words like that, that is a swear word and i won’t be with Jesus if I use those “. Umm now I don’t have a problem with being challenged by my children, but that was not a swear word- i can and do use many!!, and when I do they tell me off and that is right. BUT to be taught that swearing will stop me being with Jesus- sadly it reminded me of another reason why I don’t do main stream church anymore. I struggle with the black and white viewing, the judgemental attitude, not having the chance to question and disagree. It’s made me raise questions – yet again- about how we share our faith with our children, I want my children to grow up knowing and loving God, but I don’t want them judging other people because they have different views, experiences. Just wondered what other people thought, what your experiences are?, am I being super sensitive and unfair? or is it ok to be so black and white in the way we teach children?

I found this article as written by a young person who had encountered a Street Pastor on a night out interesting …

‘Jen. You OK? Good night eh? I found this great video on me phone this morning. It’s me in the gutter being helped up by a bloke in a blue anorak. I’ll send it you if you want. Looks like I fell off me shoes. Tell the truth they were a bit high and were giving me right gyp after a few hours. But it was Lynne’s birthday an you gotta make an effort for a birthday. How you gonna pull if you ain’t got good shoes on? Still I don’t ‘member falling. But I must of. I like the bit where I keep saying it’s OK I can get up and then falling over again cos I’m trying to video myself getting up so I only have one hand free. What’s that all about then? D’you reckon someone spiked the drinks? Anyway we’d had a few glasses of wine and then started doing the shots and one thing led to another and we were off to a club and then I can’t remember. I think I went in a taxi and now it’s tomorrow and I’m in bed with a head and this weird video. Do you believe in angels Jen? Can’t say I do. Anyway angels don’t wear blue anoraks. Can you see what it says on his back? Street something? I used to think that lying on your back in the gutter was a sign of a good night out but it looks cold. Can’t believe I can’t remember anything and still managed to video being rescued. I may have to have me mobile surgically removed one day, God’s truth. What’s that? You’ve ‘eard of them? Street pastors? Well that’s just daft. Who’d volunteer to spend a night out in the cold helping people who get out of their skulls and fall off their shoes? I don’t know anyone who’d do that. Sounds like a quick way to get beat up. Why would anyone do that without being paid? Still, I’d like to say thank you. I’ll have a word round see if anyone knows the guy. I don’t think he saw me at my best. See you. Sooz’

The article may seem a tad contrived but I recognise the scenario as I work as a Street Pastor and this would not be an uncommon occurrence in my experience. I have the greatest respect for the Street Pastors movement for many reasons. Primarily I respect them because they are Christians who are not moralising about ‘binge drinking’ but rather doing something positive, supportive and non-judgemental with young people in our cities across the UK (in over a 100 now). However, the other reason I respect Street Pastors is that it seems to integrate the spiritual and social so well. There is the intention that there should be no heavy ’sell’ on Christianity and yet there is always a team praying about what goes on when Street Pastors are on the streets – at the same time (10pm – 4am!) In my experience the prayer is as vital as the pastoring and on many occasions I have watched situations that looked like they were going to ‘boil over’ fizzle out, or seen the police turn up at just the right moment, or found the words that connect with someone who is suicidal and ‘out of their face’… etc. Street Pastors also seems to me to be a good model of Christians getting on with Kingdom business and forgetting their preoccupation with denominational loyalty and theological hair splitting – sleeves rolled up dirty hands Christianity!

It is an ‘old chestnut’ I know – but I wonder what you think about the spiritual-social debate, some people would say that Street Pastors are too liberal and don’t proclaim the gospel enough, what do you think? What place has proclamation in our faith? Is it good enough to ‘be’ the good news or is this just a compromising position for apologetics? What do you think?

For our service this month we are basing it on the verse in Matthew 11 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

I have spent the week mulling over this verse, really trying to understand it, embrace it, let it seep into my being!, as a way of helping me to think about and prepare for the service. This verse feels so timely to me right now, I have been feeling so tired and worn down, mostly with responsibilities that I don’t particularly want but have some how taken on! One thing I reread during this week was Paul Marshall book ‘Heaven is not my home’, he suggests that rest requires us to “acknowledge that God and our brothers and sisters can survive without us”, he goes onto suggest that true rest requires faith and when we rest we accept god’s grace. Wow i just find that quite mind blowing, simple, but not easy to accept or really take on board. Am interested to hear other peoples views on it.

In an article in Therapy Today, Rev Dr Gerard Byrne on being asked how he reconciles his twin roles of Catholic priest and counsellor, Gerard says “fundamentally I believe that the greatest psychologist we’ve ever had is Jesus Christ and that in the scriptures, the reports of his life and ministry, the way he behaved and lived on earth, we have the blueprints for every encounter that we will have.  He made sense of it all.”

whilst I really like what Gerard’s saying about the power of Jesus’ ministry, I’m wondering to what extent counselling, healing, worship and salvation walk comfortably together?

and where is the role of the church?, should we dive wholeheartedly into a ministry of healing and counselling?, should we find ways to communicate salvation to our generation?,

or, how do we follow Jesus?

Though Jesus looked across Jerusalem with compassion, he wasn’t always ‘comforting’ to those who sort him out, and as a counsellor I’d struggle to be quite as ‘challenging’ as he was at times.

I’d very much like to hear your experiences and opinions, (bearing in mind this is a public blog, so share your experiences thoughtfully,) but do people have experiences of being challenged and finding that helpful?, or comforted and finding that healing?, and do you wish your church was more, or less, involved in healing – or that they’d just use a different approach?  Or what aspects of Jesus’ work, do you feel are relevant to us today?

For myself, I’m very much aware of finding hope and compassion as I’ve grown within my church, though I doubt I’d cope with a public challenge similar to the confrontations Jesus had with women on occasions.  and I can’t see myself telling a deeply religious person, who felt contaminated by dead bodies, that they ‘were like unwashed tombs’!

I feel deeply challenged by Gerard’s words, and think I’ll have to re-read the gospels, in the light of ‘blueprints for every encounter’, – and so am also very much hoping to hear your views

‘Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death

and upon those in the tombs bestowing life’

Easter Troparion

The dark days of Lent are over, the waiting is passed, and this morning we meet Jesus! The joy of the resurrection is revealed, first to the women, and then to all of Jesus’ disciples.

Over the past 40 days we have each in our own way trodden the path of self examination, repentance, fasting and sorrow. Let us now with equal commitment turn our attention to feasting and celebration, for today is the day when all things become possible. May the joy of the resurrection colour every aspect of your life and extend to all those around you this Easter.

Christ is risen!

How does Hosanna turn into Crucify?

I’ve spent quite a bit of time recently thinking about this. How Palm Sunday was such a cause for celebration, and yet public opinion of Jesus seemed to turn over night. How could those individuals who praised him and danced at his entrance to Jerusalem on one Sunday, become his biggest critics in five short days? 

In all probability there were two crowds, those who supported Jesus, and those who were assembled by the Pharisees etc. In my mind though, it is a bit like the way the public seems to attach themselves to celebrities/important people these days. Opinion swiftly moves from hero to zero or vice versa, all due to some very impressive PA machines and media coverage. No-one who was alive in 1997 could fail to notice the way Diana’s death was dealt with, and in recent days the newspapers and tv have been full of the death of Jade Goody (of Big Brother fame). Rightly or wrongly, people have become so consumed with individuals in the public eye. The media courts them, there are contrived photoshoots, Hello magazine deals to be made and we devour every little titbit available. People come out of the woodwork to say ‘I knew them’, or ebay sells a lock of their hair for a small fortune. And somehow we become part of that crowd. We are bustled along with the tide of public opinion, sharing sympathies or condemning people without really knowing anything about them.

When I think of the crowd of Jesus’ day, they too were manipulated. Not by the media but by religious leaders and circumstance. And I think about, if I were there, would I too shout ‘Crucify’? Would I deny Christ, like Peter, through fear?

I believe part of the challenge in our Christian life is to set ourselves away from the crowd. To stand firm in our faith. Yesterday, as we drove to Poppy’s Baptism, I saw several old people walking away from church, proudly displaying their palm crosses. And that struck me – we should not be ashamed of our faith or Christ in any form, whether a baby in a manger, broken on the cross or truimphant from the grave.

I am guilty of being part of the crowd. I pray that I can remember to step away from it when it really matters.

Everyone has album’s they return to, and for oldies like me, that means getting hold of a piece of music via a different format. I find the nicely packaged CD can awaken memories of well worn vinyl covers.

A while back my sister bought me a copy of J.S. Bach’s ‘St Matthew Passion’, featuring the latest translation and recorded on authentic instruments. It’s a delight to listen to this clear, sparkling recording and read the pocket size, illustrated booklet. Bach’s joyous melodies sparkle from the light, period, instruments, the vocalists have perfected each part, beautiful harmonies fill my kitchen.

As a critical adult I’m awe struck by J.S.’s narrative art, his characters speak passionately while the events of the passion unfold through the double CD box set. Bach weaves texts from Matthew’s gospel amongst the choruses, and expands on his Lutheran concept of salvation. Perhaps this explains the sparkling joy driving this music. For Bach, the crucifixion is the means to our redemption.

How different this CD is, from my Dad’s post war vinyl box set. I can still feel the solidness of that black box, and love the stark, album size, pages of the book. Where the type only just held its own across a page of velum colour paper. My Dad had first heard J.S.’s passion after the war, and had found the music overwhelming. And indeed, Bach engages with the full depth of the Passion. Subsequently, it had become a special event for us to play the entire work every year on Good Friday. As children we’d join in, munching hot cross buns and smudging sticky fingers across the sleeve notes.

Bach took my heart apart too, as he recounted the last hours of Jesus life on earth, the meaning of his sacrificial death, and our human response. “Grief for sin, tears the guilty heart in twain”, might be seen as strong words to engage a child with. And yet for me, there was a connection with the deep feelings I held, from the angst of growing up in a family where nothing was quite right. I knew I’d messed up, and the rage and frustration I felt towards my unsympathetic elders, dumped a further burden of guilt – your not supposed to feel angry! (fortunately, my Dad showed me he understood).

Mum loved the drama of the Passion, having spent her formative years in a convent, she knew the biblical narrative at depth, and instilled in us a sense of awe by describing the darkness that covered the world at the point in time Jesus died.

The quality of soloists on the CD my sister chose, is a wonder to behold, who would have thought vocalists could sing so beautifully? My memories of the recording my Dad had, are of voices giving rent to the depth of despair, at times sounding similar to a strangled cat. As the music unfolds I entered a place of frozen sorrow, about the brokenness of humanity and the cost this proved to Jesus. As Bach recounts the betrayal, flogging, trial, the crowds baying for Barabbas, and the torturous death, awareness of his pain envelopes.

As I listen again to the refrain recounting Jesus praying in the garden,

“My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me – not as I want it to, but as you want it to.”

Here’s the reality of Christ’s anguish. Then followed with the account of the mocking in a chorus.

“O head full of blood and wounds, full of pain and full of scorn, O head, wreathed in mockery with a crown of thorns, O head once beauteously adorned with the highest grace and honour, but now so basely reviled, let me hail you! O noble countenance before which the great world would otherwise be timid and afraid, how have you been spat on! How pale you’ve grown! Who has so shamefully misused the light of your eyes, a light that no other can match?”

The tenderness in these words invites you to be physically present with Christ.

Here’s to Bach’s transparent love for Christ, and his belief that through the torment of the passion, comes the universal hope for mankind, to be found through Him alone.

I shall remain profoundly grateful for these shared memories from my childhood. The understanding of Christ’s solidarity with our suffering, his determination to enter our darkness, has meant my darkness feels known, and at times, penetrable. The fact that Jesus took such a humble form, and appeared as one whom we despised, also gave me a sense of being valued despite my awkwardness.

“In tears of grief, dear Lord, we leave Thee.
Hearts cry to Thee, O Saviour dear.
Lie Thou softly, softly here.

Rest Thy worn and bruised body.
At the grave, O Jesus blest,
May the sinner, worn with weeping
Comfort find in Thy dear keeping,
And the weary soul find rest.
Sleep in peace, sleep Thou in the Father’s breast.”

Thank you for reading my reflections, and now over to you. I wonder what the crucifixion might mean to others, or what memories Christ’s passion brings up?, are any of you fans of J.S. Bach?, or does a different work bring meaning to your faith?

“In our darkness, there is no darkness, for you, oh Lord, the darkest night is clear as the day.” (Taize)