Martyn Joseph again...

If I had the choice I would go to a gig everyday of the week. My wife would go at least once a decade or maybe longer. In fact, it is 12 years since we last went (Eddi Reader, Manchester, since you ask. Someone was smoking something strange (smoking, now there is ancient history for you) in front of us and instead of being transported to another place, Victoria wanted to leave & said 'Don't you EVER take me to another concert'.....).

We went last Sunday (23rd) to Stockton Georgian Theatre, mingling with the happy crowds of simple rustic folk that throng Stockton's quaint streets on a Sunday night at 8...

MJ (that's what we in the know call him) was brilliant....holds an audience, uses humour, mixes songs well. I could watch him at least once a week. In a crowd of just over 100 there were at least 3 Methodist ministers, so it was a typical mixed crowd then.

There were so many highlights and bits (if I wasn't driving) where I could have sat drinking beer with a far away look in my eyes saying 'Take me from this earth now Jesus, because it doesn't get any better than this.' Over 2h 15 on stage and it could have gone on longer for me . He ended with 'Turn me tender'. Perfect.

I think we may go again to a concert, perhaps quicker than 12 years hence. Hmmm 'Napalm Death' and 'Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine' are in concert at the Stokesley International arena next month. I wonder if...? Perhaps not...

2nd post of the day...

I read this a few days ago from the always excellent http://annedroid-annedroid.blogspot.com/

How to Hide Jesus by Steve Turner

There are people after Jesus

They have seen the signs.

Quick, let’s hide Him.

Let’s think; carpenter,

fishermen’s friend,

disturber of religious comfort.

Let’s award Him a degree in theology,

a purple cassock

and a position of respect.

They’ll never think of looking here.

Let’s think;His dialect may betray Him,

His tongue is of the masses.

Let’s teach Him Latin

and seventeenth century English,

they’ll never think of listening in.

Let’s think;

humble,

Man of Sorrows,

nowhere to lay His head.

We’ll build a house for Him,

somewhere away from the poor.

We’ll fill it with brass and silence.

It’s sure to throw them off.

There are people after Jesus.

Quick, let’s hide Him.

I'm just looking at some ideas for Christmas services....might be a good idea to keep that poem in the centre of my thoughts/prayers.......

I so love this poster part 2

Found this under a site critical of 'emerging church' (http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/posters.htm).

Hey, I'm so 'emerging' that I can be 'in conversation with' criticism. How cool am I? (Not at all).

I so love this poster...

(HT: http://ffffound.com/)

Not blogged on Martyn Joseph yet- I will do. Like you care......

Mad or sane?

With a colleague today who works in a large mental health hospital.

He meets a woman who is a Roman Catholic:-

'I would like communion from you.'
'Are you sure.....you realise that I am not a priest.'

'We follow the same Jesus. It's all bread'

...thereby demolishing much of the church guff about a meal that should unite being used for centuries to divide. I'm wondering: who is mad and who is sane....

Quotes and thoughts........

(ht: http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/2006/nov/addis.php- an athiest site- I'm not proud!)

Quote of the day from Henri Nouwen...... OK I don't exactly live in the poorest part of the world, but one of the churches that I work with (sounds better than one of 'my' churches) is going through a good, creative review at the moment. I wonder how the discussion will go when we talk about the way forward- will one theme be 'I like things as they are. You can't change things for 'them'? Maybe we only exist when we exist for others....


“Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus we are called as members of the Church to keep going to the margins of our society. The homeless, the starving, parentless children, people with AIDS, our emotionally disturbed brothers and sisters - they require our first attention. We can trust that when we reach out with all our energy to the margins of our society we will discover that petty disagreements, fruitless debates, and paralysing rivalries will recede and gradually vanish. The Church will always be renewed when our attention shifts from ourselves to those who need our care. The blessing of Jesus always comes to us through the poor. The most remarkable experience of those who work with the poor is that, in the end, the poor give more than they receive. They give food to us…”

(HT: http://prodigal.typepad.com/)

A second quote for today, this time from LICC's weekly mailing (Nick Spencer) on Charles Darwin...

Moreover, he lost it (his faith) for a good reason – not so much his theory of evolution (although that played a part) but more because he witnessed his favourite child, Annie, aged ten, die a slow, painful and degrading death. Few people, no matter how strong their faith, could endure such a loss without severe doubts. In this, as in so much else, Darwin has much to teach us.

Darwin’s Christianity was more philosophical than theological, built on the seemingly secure foundation of universal human reason, rather than on the particularities of the Christian story, let alone the counter-intuitive scandal of the incarnation and crucifixion. Yet, as soon as Christianity moves away from the foot of the cross and loses sight of the crucified God, it became defenceless against accusations of suffering and injustice. No amount of philosophical justification or arguments for the immortality of soul is enough. The pain, the sense of injustice, the sense of loss becomes overwhelming. Christianity stands by the cross or it doesn’t stand at all.

In truth, Darwin’s own faith never stood anywhere near the foot of the cross. But which of us can say ours does?

2nd gig of the week this Sunday pm- Martyn Joseph......

I still haven't found what I'm looking for- part 1,256

Great post today on 'Naked Pastor' (see bog roll). I discovered 'paradox' over 10 years ago when reading Kierkegaard. Live with paradox, it is much more creative than 'synthesis' (aka the desire to always have resolution or the happy ending)- hence why I want 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for' at my funeral.....

Here is the post:-

1:I have amazing friends. I’ve lost amazing friends.
2:I’m blessed with a good church. What a headache!
3:I’ve got lots to be thankful for. I’ve got lots to complain about.
4:I’ve got a reason to get up in the morning. I could sleep all day.
5:I need people in my life. I sometimes wish they would leave me alone.
6:I’m loved. I’m hated.
7:I’m happy. No, wait, I’m depressed. No, wait…
8:I live in inexpressible light. It’s so dark I can’t find the switch.
9:I boldly go where no man has gone before. I’m an idiot!
10: I’m rich. I’m bankrupt.

So Low in Manchester.....

What a night- excellent. As my youngest son says 'so so good'. It was billed as a 'holiday concert', so they played the whole of the 'Christmas' EP/album and played much of the show with support band 'Ida', in so doing becoming a 7 piece.

Too many highlights or transcendent moments..... usual crowd shouting.... Alan Sparhawk dedicating the show to 'Michele Obama'- loud applause/shouts.... and then dedicating it to 'Jehovah...even our saviour Christ'...... total silence.... but great- good try!

I heard some new reggae (yes really...) style song. Normally 'reggae style' or 'reggae lite' would have me running screaming quicker than you could say 'G4', 'Il Divo' or 'Westlife'... but it worked and it was something about 'Every knee shall bow'. I would love to play that in church. Might even boogie to it, or at least respectfully tap (slightly) my right foot....

(the basement of the Academy looks nothing like this...) Good gigs are more than good gigs... you've got to have a good mate there. And I did....meal, honest conversation, catching up on faith, family and music and a bit of (respectful, in a kind of 'I'm evangelical but real') swearing and some testosterone fuelled (!) jokes....

Also bumped into the daughter of a good friend at the gig- quote 'I'm becoming really interested in how people with faith work it out in the rock world' - at least that is my take on what was said.

All together now.... 'Take the long way round the sea... (repeat to fade)

So Low.......

I'm off to see Low (http://www.chairkickers.com/ ) in Manchester today..... and then Martyn Joseph on Saturday. My first 2 gig week in my life.

Who says broke and impoverished Methodist Ministers can't have any fun? (Actually- I say that).

Rome wasn't built in a day

'They say Rome wasn't built in a day, but I wasn't on that particular job'.

Brian Clough

(HT http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=79075)

(I'm going through a Clough era at the moment- just finished 'Provided you don't kiss me' by Duncan Hamilton)

This post below is very very good (ignore the confusing numbering). It is about how hard, but how neccesary it is to start new things .... and how 'success' can be illusory. One for all those 'woe is me' types. Hmm... that would be me.....

4 posts in a day is too much for any sane person....

http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/6-reasons-not-to-quit

Thought for the Day....

''I like getting into hot water. It keeps you clean".

G.K.Chesterton.

HT http://annedroid-annedroid.blogspot.com/

...some more

I like this picture- (see http://www.baytrust.org.uk/assets/images/stillness.jpg)- I have seen so many drippy pictures of 'stillness'.... picture the scene- slightly drippy person talking in very strained 'spritual' tones...enough already....

...but that is how I feel...not always and certainly not in an 'um zen' way.....perhaps more an awareness now that I have done what I can do & the rest is up to God. At the moment I feel less anxious in the middle of busyness.

I guess I am also (see blog posting for Wednesday) becoming more aware that part of me will never fit and I'm becoming more comfortable with that....whilst at the same time not trying to slip into 'wilful angularity' TM (I've put 'TM' there as I've just coined that phrase...).

Also..... and perhaps its a 'decade thing'- now in my 40s- I feel more an urge to be creative, to experiment. If something is too staid or too predictable (apart from keeping my cd's in alphabetical order- there are limits)....inside I have my tongue out and am going 'thrrrrupppp'.

That is quite enough soul baring for now. On with the business of serious ministry.....important ecumenical business doesn't become boring all by itself...it needs working on...

Finding a way ahead.....

photo courtesy of...... http://www.flickr.com/photos/audrius/



''So, lets get this right.... you claim to hear from God, you work alone, you speak a lot trying to voice a community's hopes, fears, joys and despairs, you see people acting as a conduit for their joy, angst, pain etc etc and you do this alone?''' D'oh...







I never fully check what I've written on this blog in the past, but I think I have written elsewhere on 'The Messiah complex'---- that thing that siezes ministers that makes them think they are God--- ie if anything good has happened, it is down to them, if anything bad has happened it is their fault, if anything needs doing, only they can do it..... we all get it, I get it (fequently, but less so than before my sabbatical....I hope)...... I remember when I started the sheer covert (and overt) pressure to talk up how busy you were, how you never took time off....



In Wales I started to use a 'spiritual director'- a Roman Catholic monk- who would sit down, listen to me, pray, help me sift my thoughts and quietly teach me that I was not the centre of my world..... well someone helped me to find one here... I went a few days ago....



...next post says some more.......

Not fitting may be good...

I read this post yesterday on Jonny Baker (see blogs section):-

'you don't fit and that's your gift ............

cultures need people that don't fit - it's how things get moved on when they get stuck.....

...... and guess what - the institutional church really doesn't get it or them too well!

........they need these kinds of people to create new things often around or off the edges of the existing map.

....... if somebody is asking a lot of questions, doesn't fit, are creative - don't push them away. give them the space to create something different and new and resist the temptation to co-opt it.'

This really helped me- thanks Jonny!

I am still not sure ( a favourite phrase of mine) whether I am 'out there' as any kind of pioneer or whether that is my area of calling. I know I am called to be a Methodist minister but at the same time I feel perpetually uneasy with that role. I hope I don't aspire to what Soren Kierkegaard is reputed to have wanted on his tombstone: 'That individual'..... I need people.....

...however the phrase 'you don't fit and that's your gift' is at the moment helping me. Maybe I don't have to try and fit. Maybe when most other people seem to be nodding and agreeing and inside I am thinking 'this is crap/lame/ we could do something else but it will be scary (well it scares the living daylights out of me)'..... then that is good.

Guitar tricks- taught myself the (simple) riff to Portishead 'Over'- no one here is impressed. I am. A lot.

woo-hooo!

Ok- I couldn't have a totally happy picture...... but (whisper it gently from the tree bottoms)...more people than me have looked at this blog! The map even shows someone from Asia. I know no one from Asia. I can now die a happy man (oops- but first I have to see Bob Dylan, learn to play the guitar and 13025 other things...but you get the picture...

A really thought provoking post from someone who describes himself as an athiest on how Christians can talk to athiests...

http://www.joethepeacock.com/2008/03/how-to-actually-talk-to-atheists-if.php

if you read down it really is as simple (difficult) as that...

The weekend beckons; Remembrance Sunday and before that sleeping in a cold barn with at least 10 7-8 year olds- the things you do to support your children...

It's church Jim, but not as we know it....

A very, very long post, but it's worth reading...honest!

I found this at http://timchester.wordpress.com/ yesterday. Ok it sets up a dichotomy where the reality may be more grey, but it is making me think.....

Is your community a community of performance or a community of grace? Try these diagnostic tests …

Communities of Performance
--the leaders appear sorted
--the community appears respectable
--meetings must be a polished performance
--identity is found in ministry
--failure is devastating
--actions are driven by duty
--conflict is suppressed or ignored
--the focus is on orthodoxy and behaviour (allowing people to think they’re sorted)

Communities of Grace
--the leaders are vulnerable
--the community is messy
--meetings are just one part of community life
--identity is found in Christ
--failure is disappointing, but not devastating
--actions are driven by joy
--conflict is addressed in the open
--the focus is on the affections of the heart (with a strong view of sin and grace)

and then.......

How do communities of performance impede mission?

Communities of Performance
--talk about grace, but communicate legalism
--unbelievers can’t imagine themselves as Christians
--don’t attract broken people
--the world is seen as threatening and ‘other’
--conversion is superficial (people are called to respectable behaviour)
--people are secretly hurting
--people see faith and repentance as actions that took place at conversion
--the gospel is for unbelievers

.....versus........

Communities of Grace
--people can see grace in action
--unbelievers feel like they can belong
--attract broken people
--people are loved as fellow-sinners in need of grace
--conversion is radical (people are called to transformed affections)
--people are open about their problems
--people see faith and repentance as daily activities
--the gospel is for both unbelievers and believers