Category Archives: spirituality

The sin of grumbling

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So having resolved to stop complaining, I confess to regressing in recent days.

Complaining is a sin. Perhaps not a major one like pride or greed but it is probably worse than lust which is what much of our Anglican Communion kerfuffles revolve around. It’s born ultimately from two things: a frustrated sense of entitlement, and a lack of faith.

The frustrated sense of entitlement is triggered when reality and expectation start to diverge in a significant manner. It is ‘My God My God why have you forsaken me?’ Yet we are not promised an easy life, we are in fact promised the opposite: “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.” Christians have no grounds for a sense of entitlement. It’s all grace, it’s all gift, and the appropriate response is thanksgiving and the counting of blessings. I resolve to improve, and my penance is to say the General Thanksgiving every morning until my heart is turned.

The lack of faith is even deeper. Faith and doubt are not opposites, faith and fear are opposites, and grumbling and complaining are centred in a fear of not achieving our heart’s desires, a lack of trust in God’s goodness and provision for us. It is the desire to achieve our own ends, and not surrender to God’s intentions for us. It is the Israelites running from the Egyptians and not listening to Moses saying ‘The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace’. I resolve to improve, and my penance is to sing this hymn each morning until my heart is turned:

Forth in thy Name, O Lord, I go,
my daily labor to pursue;
thee, only thee, resolved to know
in all I think or speak or do.

The task thy wisdom hath assigned,
O let me cheerfully fulfill;
in all my works thy presence find,
and prove thy good and perfect will.

Thee may I set at my right hand,
whose eyes mine inmost substance see,
and labor on at thy command,
and offer all my works to thee.

Give me to bear thy easy yoke,
and every moment watch and pray,
and still to things eternal look,
and hasten to thy glorious day.

For thee delightfully employ
whate’er thy bounteous grace hath given;
and run my course with even joy,
and closely walk with thee to heav’n.

(Wesley. Of course)

Rocks and beer

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This was chosen by a family at a funeral I took recently. Hadn’t come across it before, but I thought it was worth sharing…

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2″ in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He then asked once more if the jar was full. This time the students were sure and they responded with a unanimous “YES!”

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar — effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children, things that, if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car”.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff. “If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you”.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. Do something for the community. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

“Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers.”

The act, not the object

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I can’t let Corpus Christi go by without my annual rant.

We worship a God who is known in relationship, who is within himself, relational.

Wouldn’t the principal form of worship of said God therefore, surely, be relational too?

That is – we meet God, we come into the real presence of Jesus Christ, through the re-enactment of certain sorts of behaviour, within which reconciliation and adoration are combined?

So as we are welcomed to share in the bread and wine, so we are welcomed to the taste of heaven?

So Jesus is met in the action of a shared meal – not in the object of a piece of bread.

Jesus is not a commodity.

Jesus is not produced at our command.

That is the spirituality of western consumerism.

That is the spirituality that has ravaged the world and despises the poor.

That is the symbol of all that has gone wrong in our faith.

Grrrr…..

Some brief guidance for intercessors

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With a large tip of the hat to Doug, whose ‘Leading Common Worship Intercessions’ was invaluable.

Firstly, my thanks to you for agreeing to take on this ministry. Prayer is probably the most important element of Christian life as it is the foundation for everything else that we do, and intercessions – which are all about enabling people to pray – are a central element of our gathered worship. So herewith some hints and tips for how to lead intercessions.

Most important, expanding on the above because it is worth emphasising, is this: intercessions are about leading people in prayer, not praying in front of other people. The intercessor must therefore always have in mind the effect that what they say will have on people who are engaged in addressing themselves to God. Anything which distracts the person praying from that process is therefore a mistake. Here are some examples:

  • providing new information, or even giving too much information at all! The intercessions are not the notices, nor are they a television news bulletin;
  • nor are the intercessions a sermon, a place to engage in argument, or even a place to give views – praying for the situation in the Middle East is fine, praying for the Israelis (or Palestinians) to stop being such evil people – this is not fine;
  • if you are quoting a prayer by a famous saint, you don’t need to give acknowledgements – simply say the prayer in the way that it was intended;
  • being too long or too wordy, so that the people praying end up thinking about the intercessor rather than about God – keep things as simple as possible. As a general rule ten seconds of silence is more effective than a hundred words;
  • using a complex response which people find difficult to join in with.

So if these are things to avoid, what are the things to do? Firstly, remember that we do not know how to pray, but the Spirit prays through us – in other words, our task is to join in with something that is already going on, that has been going on for thousands of years. When we pray we are jumping into a stream that is already flowing, we don’t need to initiate the process. When we pray we are standing on the shoulders of giants.

If you are due to lead the intercessions, take some time to look at the readings set for the day, most especially the gospel lesson, and see if you are inspired to touch on particular themes (and trust your inspiration). Look at the prayer list in the black folder; I would not recommend reading out all the names left on the cross in the porch, but reading out all the names in our community who need praying for (the second list) is good. Catch the news headlines from the day before to see if there are any topical worldly issues that people may wish to bring before God.

Classic patterns (full texts available from Sam)
A five-fold pattern: Church, world, local community, the sick, the dead.
A three-fold pattern: world, church, individuals.
(These are addressed to God)
Bidding prayers (eg 9 Lessons, Good Friday) – these are addressed to the congregation, who pray in the silence and response.
Patterns can be used as a platform from which to jump off creatively, eg to include sung responses.

Suggested reading:
Leading Common Worship Intercessions, Doug Chaplin
Leading Intercessions, Raymond Chapman

A prayer before driving

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Holy Father,
I place myself into your hands as I begin this journey;
I ask that your Spirit might help me maintain a trust and serenity throughout my journey so that, when I arrive, I might be a source of peace and good will to those whom I meet;
I ask you to help me hold in mind all the many things that I have no control over, especially how long it will take me to reach my destination;
most of all, I ask that you will keep me [and those with me] safe, and that I cause no suffering to those who share the road with me;
This I ask, in the name of Christ my Lord. Amen.

(Something I’ve been thinking about since preaching this sermon on Sunday, and since all my family have just gone away on a long journey!)

The moral character of beauty

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A question asked by RevSimmy in the comments: “the equation of the aesthetic and the moral – i.e. beautiful art/music has a moral effect. Do we agree? Why (/not)?”

I would say: yes, I have no doubt that beauty has an effect on character, partly from watching this programme recently (and I’ve purchased the book, but haven’t read it yet).

Of course, this is a complicated proposal. I happen to think that the Weeping Woman of Picasso is also tremendously beneficial to character – but I’m not sure I would count it as beautiful, even though I could (and have) spent ages contemplating it.

I feel on stronger ground when thinking about architecture – I think the living environment affects how we live, both directly and indirectly.

And of course music….

What do people think?

Scruton’s programme is available on Youtube, part 1 here:

This ancient holy island

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I’ve been thinking about an article I read in the local paper recently, which discussed the creation of ‘The Strood’ – which is the causeway that links Mersea Island with the island of Great Britain. I now discover that the article can be found on the Mersea Museum website here, and it references an academic article that can be found here (pdf).

Key points:

– the Strood was not built by the Romans, but by the Anglo-Saxons;
– it can be fairly firmly dated, to between 684 and 702 AD;
– the creation of the Strood would have been a major engineering project which “suggests the presence on the island of a sufficiently important feature to merit such a structure and also a substantial financial expenditure on the part of somebody or some organisation able to afford it”;
– Essex at this time was an independent Kingdom (and so it should be again!);
– the King of Essex at the relevant time was Saint Sebbi;
– we know that the Anglo-Saxons founded a Minster church, of Benedictine character (linked with Rouen if memory serves) on the Island, probably in the ‘early 8th century’;

all leading to the slightly speculative conclusion “What can be more likely than that the saintly King Sebbi took a personal interest in the construction of the minster church at Mersea?”

A Minster church, of Benedictine character, founded by one who was “much addicted to religious actions, almsgiving, and frequent prayer”.

I find it remarkable how a place can have a particular spirit – and, unknowing of all this, it’s uncanny how it ties in to what I’ve been pursuing in the benefice over the last couple of years, especially my sense that the Rule of St Benedict provides all that the parish needs.

So. Society of Saint Sebbi anyone? (Feast day is August 29 – clashes with Greenbelt!!)

The language of ‘should’ and ‘ought’

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I think I’ve written about this before but can’t think where…

When I hear the words ‘should’ and ‘ought’ alarm bells go off. So often the language is used to reinforce social pressure to do certain things – because that is the way that the community does them, it reflects what the community expects and considers “right”.

Christians need to exercise extreme caution when dealing with such worldliness. I use this corrective: when considering an action that ‘should’ or ‘ought’ to be done, try to rephrase it in terms of the great commandments, ie:
– will this action give glory to God, or
– will this action show love to a neighbour?

If the answer is ‘No’ then the Christian is free from any obligation, no matter how strenuous the efforts to say ‘you should be doing this!!’

Is Church necessary?

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I’m having a lot of conversations (some of them in real time physically 😉 on the topic of whether church is needed or not. I made a comment on this earlier post giving my bottom line, which is basically that one part of the community can’t say to another ‘I don’t need you’ (1 Corinthians) which is still my basic stance. Yet more needs to be said, and thought. Here are four interim thoughts.

1. What is church? The church is certainly not the building; nor is it the institution called ‘The Church of England’ (or any other denomination), although it is much less of a mistake to think that than to think that the church is some ethereal, intangible entity (see next point). To my mind, the church is where baptised disciples gather in the name of Christ to be renewed and fed; it is also what those disciples do once they have been renewed and fed. It is the tuning fork which allows people to play their instruments well – separately and together. It is where the rough edges are worn off the immature personality, where discipleship is put into effect, where we show just how serious a disciple we are prepared to be. It is where our saltiness is scrutinised; it is where the world is challenged; it is where the kingdom is born. This is not and cannot be a solitary endeavour. It is of necessity communal. It is not true that “l’enfer, c’est les autres”; on the contrary, heaven is the full recognition and love of other people.

2. The idea that we don’t need other people – that they get in the way of our full realisation of ourselves, that they necessarily inhibit our self-expression, that they prevent us from becoming all that we can be because we’re worth it – this is simply the contemporary expression of old-fashioned gnostic heresy. That which is bodily, and messy, and confused – this is what was taken up by the Word made Flesh. What he has not assumed he has not healed. If we accept the Incarnation then the Body of Christ has substance – and the first thousand years was settled on the idea that the substance was your flesh and blood neighbour, whilst the mystical Body was how you met Jesus in communion. Not the least amongst the pernicious consequences associated with Corpus Christi is the notion that “church” is abstract and subjectively discerned. This is the privatisation of faith – incorporeal and anti-incarnational – it is not Christianity. If you cannot learn to love your neighbour (and enemy) within a church, you will never learn to love them without it.

3. The idea that church is there to meet personal needs, and that if those needs aren’t met it is alright to discard church, is just another manifestation of contemporary consumer culture. Having said that, there is a kernel of truth here which might sometimes be relevant. Calvin (I believe) said that so long as the gospel was rightly preached and the sacraments duly administered, there was no justification for leaving a church. That seems to me to be right. It also seems right to me that church should be where all the believers in a place are gathered together – and the reality of that is notable more by its absence than its presence. Discerning good motive from bad motive here is very knotty and problematic. The Spirit may well be calling out something new from the body of believers, and sometimes that something new is prevented from birth due to all sorts of more-or-less serious spiritual sickness on the part of the establishment. At what point can one say ‘Here I stand I can do no other?’ Part of the problem is that our culture has venerated the Lutheran stance to absurd levels – I am entitled to my opinion no matter how ignorant, incoherent and morally reprehensible it might be.

4. Thomas Merton writes in his ‘Notes for a Philosophy of Solitude’ that it is sometimes necessary for a person or a group of people to withdraw from the world and the church, not because of hatred for them (= you are blocking my self-actualisation etc) but out of love. If we take worldliness seriously, and our own complicities in sin seriously, then worldly idol-worship will inevitably contaminate the life of the church. It is then essential that there are people who represent the faith in stark purity and beauty, in contrast to the world – even if it is not the vocation of the church as a whole to be apart from the world. This is the eremitical vocation. Yet the hermit was someone accepted and endorsed by the wider community; this was necessary to ensure that the eremitic life was chosen for the right reasons, and not simply to avoid the hard spiritual labour of living alongside other people. I love the description of ‘Unfettered ones’ in Thomas Covenant. Truth be told, it’s something I have a hankering to pursue myself – but I’ll explore that another time.

Given that all existing churches are partial, and broken, and more or less deformed in myriad ways – is it wrong for someone to give up on a particular church (assuming that Calvin’s criteria are met)? I do not know. Still much to think about on this one.