Just finished Sabbatical!!!!

We had to put our cat Misty down yesterday.He was 19 years We had him for 9 years in South Africa and 10 years in the UK. Affectionate to the end. We really wished he would have passed away naturally. This is really the tough side of having pets

Funding of hospital chaplains attacked

On Monday’s BBC “One Show” retiring agony aunt Claire Rayner attacked the government funding of hospital chaplains. She added that she was mystified regarding the actual roles of the chaplains.

This prompted (at the last count) 100 postings on the One Show Blog. It was interesting to see that about two thirds of the responses support the chaplaincy. This included people outside faith groups who said they valued the support during difficult moments.

Critics were aghast at the NHS funding of clergy. Many saw church organisations as being prosperous!! Some put chaplains in the same category as the MP scandal and demanded the monitoring of expenses. No doubt this will elicit a series of confessions about clergy second manses, four figure restaurant accounts and moats around the church property!!!

The Trinity and the Coffee Shop

486px-Andrej_Rublëv_001
Originally uploaded by shannoncult

I Love this picture of Andrei Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity. Is it possible to imagine the trio sitting around a table at Starbucks?
Every sweep of the paint brush resonates with symbolism.
The Father is on the right. He is adorned with different colours which change with light, He cannot be confined.
The son is wearing garments reflecting the link between heaven and earth. Reddish brown symbolises the earth. The blue cloak suggests heaven.
The Holy Spirit is in blue and fragile green garments. Often he meets us without our recognition.
In the background is a hill of prayer and a house of hospitality. A tree represents the death to life nature of the resurrection
The relationship flows in an anticlockwise fashion from father to Spirit and is channelled into the space at the table.
The object of all the energy is humankind.
I look at the coffee outlet, product highly visible to the world, offering a seven day hospitality.
I wonder if sometimes, the energy within church life has been used up in another direction?

New Community Hall Kokstad Natal

The Hall largely funded from donations from Caverham Heights and Great Ayton Methodist Churches. The hall will provide facilities for primary health care and a centre for young people.

Serving up a grande passion

On a sunny morning my golden retriever Fergus enjoys nothing more than a little alfresco styled fellowship and fuss at a table outside our local coffee shop.

Arranging a coffee in the company of Fergus is quite a strategic operation. Last summer he followed me into the shop with a table securely attached to his lead.

However this time the barista saw my predicament. She told me to sit down, brought the coffee and water for Fergus. I was then surprised and delighted when she refused to take any money. Instead complimented Fergus on his good looks!!!

"Surprise and delight" is a core value being adopted by many companies. Michelli in his book The Starbucks Experience accounts how baristas in a America have gone out of their way to create opportunities to do random acts of kindness.

• Memorising customer details such as their pet's name.


• Serving up coffees to a parting business. Then alerting another outlet of the arrival of the business in a new neighbourhood.

I was intrigued to discover that the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist church have got into the act. Radical hospitality is one of their five core values. I quote from. The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by Robert Schnase Abingdon Press 2007

Radical means "drastically different from the ordinary practice, outside the normal," and so it provokes practices that exceed expectations, that go the second mile, that take welcoming the stranger to the max. It means people offering the absolute utmost of themselves, their creativity, their abilities, and their energy to offer the gracious invitation and reception of Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.

Considering our British reserve some would write this off as too risky or even too naive.

However I believe many people are looking for authentic evidence of faith lived out in community rather than what is often regarded as the cloistered experience of Sunday worship.

The good news is that hospitality is not an acquired skill, it's an attitude. It's a brew of the soul. It's a cup easily served .

Is it going to be tall, grande or massimo?

Starbucks and encounters of a third kind!

Michael Frost in his book Exiles mentions the idea that people need "third place"environments to meet, develop friendships, discuss issues and interact with others. The "first place" is home where we live. The "second place" is the work place. For many people, home is a place of privacy and withdrawal and work is a highly pressurised environment.

The subject was discussed at a recent Mission Shaped Ministry workshop (Southhampton). A number of us (I am pleased to say!) suggested that Starbucks Costas etc were good "third place" environments

Some who attended the course ruefully commented that church should be an ideal "third place" However the busy life of maintaining church a organisation had to a degree pushed out this "third place" environment lessening the focus on interaction, relationship and conversations about faith.

Should we be looking for modifications in our church programme or should we be hunting for a "fourth place?"

Hout Bay near Capetown

"...if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing is impossible for you." Matthew 17:20 (NIV)

Starbucks! Can the church sip from this brew?

Universally Starbucks opens 5 outlets per day. (That was stated before the credit crunch!) The company attributes it's success to a focus on hospitality rather than profit making.

The Starbucks core values sounds like a highly intentional church mission statement on fellowship. Could the church learn something from this brew?

Michelli in his book The Starbucks Experience lists the five core values as principles for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. He prefaces each of the values with a quotation which I have included.They are as follows:

Make it your own
"This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognised by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."

George Bernard Shaw

Everything matters
" Too often we underestimate the power of touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear. an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn life around."

Leo Buscaglia

Surprise and delight
" I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was a service. I acted and behold, service was a joy."

Rabindranath Tagore

Embrace resistance
"Don't mind criticism. If it is untrue,disregard it; if unfair, keep from irritation; if it is ignorant, smile; if it is justified, it is not a criticism - learn from it!"
Author unknown

Leave your mark
"How wonderful that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. "

Anne Frank

The Starbucks core values remind me that Koinonia (Gk: fellowship , having a share in, common participation, communion) is a vital part of church life.
However has it been neglected? Do we need to rediscover passion? Do we surprise and delight? Do we try to change the ordinary into extraordinary.

Sunrise in Natal

As part of my sabbatical Charlene and I went out to South Africa. This was taken at Shelly Beach South Natal near our chalet.

BRIDGE IMPLIES A "WAY"

I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except though me. John 14:6



Well known but troublesome passage. It has been a stumbling block to friends of mine who see it as an expression of superiority and arrogance. I often feel a double take coming on when I use the words in funeral service attended by a largely secular audience



Did Jesus really put his hands up in the air and say HALT that's it, ignore all other faiths and philosophies!



Commentaries suggest that we should look the root meaning of way and the context of the passage.



ROOT: New Interpreters Bible ( Vol IX page 742) suggests that the "Way" has it's roots in Judaism and is translated "lifestyle of the wise" It suggests to me that Jesus was pointing towards Himself as an example of the nature that his followers should have.

Therefore arrogance and superiority would be counter to the intention of the passage.



I like what McLaren (A New Kind of Christian) says:

I think some Christians use Jesus as a short cut for being right.In the process they bypass becoming humble and wise. They figure if they say "Jesus" enough it guarantees that they won't be stupid.



Peterson (The Jesus Way) ..and who wrote The Message believes that metaphors (such as "way") are vulnerable to "bullying" by those who have personal agendas.



CONTEXT: The New Interpreters Bible (Vol IX p744) suggests that the John passage reflects the words of a particular 1st century community who were convinced of the truth and life they they had received from the incarnation. Also to apply it as a sweeping statement about 21st century Christianity and it's relationship to other faiths is to take the meaning out of context.



For me this means that I can celebrate Jesus as the way , truth and life and at the same time respect other faiths and philosophies.



CONCLUSION: Maybe as Christians the greatest gift to theworld is in our attempts to imitate Jesus. The nature of Jesus is the "palette" by which we paint our relationships with each other and the world. The colours are best described by Paul in Galatians 5:22, love, joy peace patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness.

BRIDGES: Can history help us?

• Can the history of bridges show us any thing about our faith journeys? Having seen the Caversham Bridge and short of getting the"T" shirt, I went to see the "movie" at the Reading Museum.
  Reading was thought to have begun it's genesis as a ford across the river Thames.
• 1086 there was a settlement of 600 people.
• 1100s saw the development of pilgrimage points at each side of the river.
• 1121 This was developed by King Henry I 1121 with the financing of Reading Abbey.
• Kings poured money into the development of the bridge as an important "way" to other places.
• The town prospered as a crossing place.
• It had it's of pain and conflict with the Vikings, Dissolution of the monasteries and the civil war.
• Rivers (Thames and Kennet) and bridges featured were consistent features in the history of Reading

My thoughts are:

• We need a history of bridges in our faith journeys.
• Bridges prompt new beginnings and refreshing experiences.
• They are places of conflict.
• Thy are places of vulnerability.
• They are places of prosperity.
• They give rise to a "way" or direction.
• Our histories of bridges are life stories.
• Our experiences of bridges adds value to communication with others.
• Bridges and can build community life.
  

"BRIDGES" Pointing towards a rhythm of Christian life?

Yesterdays posting developed "Bridges" as a metaphor for a journey. However does it also imply a rhythm of engagement of the church community in walking with people. In other words walking with people in their quests, reflections, crisis's and discoveries.

I wonder if our weekly church programmes fall short of opportunities which reflect the the pulse of life, it's quests, crises and discoveries?

"BRIDGES" Making sense of our quests!

Bridges could represent part of the journey we take in our quest to discover meaning in our lives.It is also our story. It is through sharing our story that we make sense of our place and role in community.

• Search for a river crossing: The quest!
• Discover the bridge. It has been already created!
• Crossing the bridge. Moments of reflection? Moments of crisis? Do we continue or turn back?
• Arriving at the other side: Continue journey with a new energy having reflected or struggled with a crisis.

For me Christian life is about crossing bridges. Discovering that a bridges were already created by God.
Palm 139: All the days for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." (NIV).
Crossing the bridge with all it's moments of reflection and crisis. In this we meet the crisis of Jesus on the cross. It makes it's impact. A sacrifice which calls for a response.
I look at the flowing river far below.
What do need to discard?
What do I need to equip myself to journey on the other side?
- It's about absorbing the nature of Christ and applying it to the world around us.
I.E. Love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Gal 5:22)

That's the bridge crossing!
The constant quest, struggle, our story, our compassion,our Christ following.
Without out this we do not make sense.
Without the above our churches turn into benign internalised social clubs.
We destroy are greatest asset .... compassionate community.

Bridges

Beginning to enjoy the offering of a three month sabbatical given after 10 years hard labour! Decided to develop experience in digital photography, Photo shop and PowerPoint.

Calling the project Bridges, Baristas and the Business. It's a post-modern reflection on the church in the 21st century.

BRIDGES

Post -modernism! Many in our church community are confused by this expression Is it an oxymoron or does it express one of the greatest social "bridges" to be crossed by the church

In his book " A new kind of Christian", Bruce McLaren compares 7 dynamic changes in the 1900s with 7 dynamic changes in the medieval times.

He compares changes in communications, scientific view points, intellectual elite, transport technology, economics, military hardware and changing dominant authorities.

Inspired by Britian's rich heritage 0f bridges I look at the above and other bridges that we as individuals or commmunity need to cross.