Monthly Archives: December 2010

This ancient holy island

Posted on by

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!!)

Gandalf’s Hope

Posted on by

I’m setting up another new blog, called ‘Gandalf’s Hope’; I want a place to park my more political rantings, and I think there is an argument for specialising. As with my other blogs, there will normally be a link here to what is posted there (it’ll begin simply with transferring some old political posts to that venue).

Embracing St Benedict (as opposed to Killing George Herbert)

Posted on by

This is from his Rule, on ‘The Character of the Abbot’:

“It is seemly for the abbot to be ever doing some good for his brethren rather than to be presiding over them. He must, therefore, be learned in the law of God, that he may know whence to bring forth things new and old; he must be chaste, sober, and merciful, ever preferring mercy to justice, that he himself may obtain mercy. Let him hate sin and love the brethren. And even in his corrections, let him act with prudence, and not go too far, lest while he seek too eagerly to scrape off the rust, the vessel be broken. Let him keep his own frailty ever before his eyes, and remember that the bruised reed must not be broken. And by this we do not mean that he should suffer vices to grow up; but that prudently and with charity he should cut them off, in the way he shall see best for each, as we have already said; and let him study rather to be loved than feared. Let him not be violent nor over anxious, not exacting nor obstinate, not jealous nor prone to suspicion, or else he will never be at rest. In all his commands, whether spiritual or temporal, let him be prudent and considerate. In the works which he imposes let him be discreet and moderate, bearing in mind the discretion of holy Jacob, when he said: ‘If I cause my flocks to be overdriven, they will all perish in one day’. Taking, then, such testimonies as are borne by these and the like words to discretion, the mother of virtues, let him so temper all things, that the strong may have something to strive after, and the weak nothing at which to take alarm.”

That’s an ideal I could aim at.

Growth in discipleship 2

Posted on by

Lots of interesting comments on my first post on this, here and on Facebook. I’ll concentrate on the things that I agree with.

First: learning styles. Yes, this absolutely needs to be taken into account. One model that I’ve liked is this one:

Second: the list in the last post can be jumbled up and shuffled around – it’s not a linear process I mostly agree with this, but not totally.

Put these two together and we’d have more of a spiral staircase, with lots of different access points. So the question becomes – do we provide a context within which people can enter in all sorts of different ways?

Those learning styles: Activist – Theorist – Reflector – Pragmatist. How do they fit into ‘learning how to be a Christian’?

Third: a comment from Tim on FB, “The problem as I see it is that the NT does not present the apostles and early missionaries as leading Christians through ten-week courses. This doesn’t mean that they didn’t grow disciples, though. I tried the ‘course’ approach for years and it just didn’t work for anything more than a minority of people in our context. I also noted that even those who had been through the courses were not necessarily practising the disciplines they had learned about. So I’ve come to the conclusion that the old-fashioned one-on-one approach may well be best. It seems to be working better for me anyway.” I liked this a lot, not least because it chimed with my last talk on St Benedict, wherein he described what the Abbot was supposed to do (how he was supposed to be) which was to focus on the monks as individuals. Raises the ghost of George Herbert again though…

So “What would Jesus do?” – in the ASB ordinal the priest is enjoined to ‘set the Good Shepherd always before [you] as the pattern of [your] calling’. I can see the following:
– plenty of private prayer time and solitude getting intimate with the Father;
– work with a small group of the ‘inner three’;
– work with a small group of ‘the twelve’;
– work with a wider group of disciples (and where Mary Mag?)
– generalised teaching to crowds primarily with parables but also with healing/exorcisms
– prophetic drama and public debate with the religious authorities.

I would say that he modelled a particular understanding of faith, and lived it in the circumstances in which he found himself.

(I’m not sure that he did much of what might today be called ‘public service’ or ‘good works’ – that seems to be a liberal distraction – things that make us ‘good people’ rather than ‘people of God’ – not that there’s anything wrong with being a ‘good person’!)

OK time run out; still thinking about this; more later.

A Christmas list for Santa (for Chelsea!)

Posted on by

Dear Santa,

I know that Chelsea are not necessarily numbered amongst the ‘good boys’ but in case you’re able to drop some presents down their chimney, I thought I’d send you this list anyway.

1. Carlo Ancelotti stays in post. We really don’t need any more messiness at the club. I realise it’s a bit of a forlorn hope, but it’s #1 on this list for a reason.

2. An established English centre-back in their mid twenties. We have a bit of a hole in our team structure, and one of these would certainly fill it (Gary Cahill for preference).

3. An established striker in their early/mid twenties. Drogba is great, Anelka is marvellous, but they’re both the wrong side of 30 and we need someone in between them and the Sturridges of this world. That’s why it would have been great to have claimed Rooney – however unrealistic – it showed up the gap.

Not much then 🙂 Thanks for reading,

A Chelski fan

Growth in discipleship

Posted on by

If you go to a school of Martial Arts, there is a clear structure describing how you grow from a complete beginner to someone who has proficiency (helpfully marked out by different coloured belts). The same scheme applies in all sorts of other areas. It doesn’t really apply in the church, and I wonder if that is a problem. In other words, I wonder if a clear structure setting out how we understand what it means to grow as a Christian would be of some use. As a first sketch, how about this:

Alpha

Post-Alpha

Confirmation course and confirmation

House groups and regular attendance at worship

Private prayer and becoming comfortable with silence

Regular and formal bible study, also some doctrine and church history

Service to church

Service to community

What do people think? What is missing?

Of course, having something like this offends against all sorts of shibboleths, eg that we are all of equal value in the sight of the Lord (true, but irrelevant). It begs the question of whether it is possible to be more ‘advanced’ in the faith than others. Yet I don’t believe anyone actually thinks that there isn’t a difference – it’s just that it is only acceptable to talk about such differences when the people being mentioned are a long way away, either in time or space.

I can’t avoid thinking that there is a distinct gap in our formation of new disciples, and we need something to plug that gap. (NB I’m aware that the Emmaus course covers much of this).

How I think the church will grow

Posted on by

“Indians had learned to look on us missionaries as friends, as people who would help them, and as good workers, but they had not yet learned to look on us as men and women of God.” (Quoted in Praying Hyde).

The church will grow when people perceive that here there are men and women of God.

And that will come about when we become men and women of God.

And that will come about when we put the first commandment first.

Let us pray.

Ah, Church

Posted on by

Found this from here, via Graham, and thought I’d share it as it impinges on several conversations being had within the benefice:

Here is a step-by-step plan for how to get more young people into the church:

1. Be genuine. Do not under any circumstances try to be trendy or hip, if you are not already intrinsically trendy or hip. If you are a 90-year-old woman who enjoys crocheting and listens to Beethoven, by God be proud of it.

2. Stop pretending you have a rock band.

3. Stop arguing about whether gay people are okay, fully human, or whatever else. Seriously. Stop it.

4. Stop arguing about whether women are okay, fully human, or are capable of being in a position of leadership.

5. Stop looking for the “objective truth” in Scripture.

6. Start looking for the beautiful truth in Scripture.

7. Actually read the Scriptures. If you are Episcopalian, go buy a Bible and read it. Start in Genesis, it’s pretty cool. You can skip some of the other boring parts in the Bible. Remember though that almost every book of the Bible has some really funky stuff in it. Remember to keep #5 and #6 in mind though. If you are evangelical, you may need to stop reading the Bible for about 10 years. Don’t worry: during those ten years you can work on putting these other steps into practice.

8. Start worrying about extreme poverty, violence against women, racism, consumerism, and the rate at which children are dying worldwide of preventable, treatable diseases. Put all the energy you formerly spent worrying about the legit-ness of gay people into figuring out ways to do some good in these areas.

9. Do not shy away from lighting candles, silence, incense, laughter, really good food, and extraordinary music. By “extraordinary music” I mean genuine music. Soulful music. Well-written, well-composed music. Original music. Four-part harmony music. Funky retro organ music. Hymns. Taize chants. Bluegrass. Steel guitar. Humming. Gospel. We are the church; we have a uber-rich history of amazing music. Remember this.

10. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

11. Learn how to sit with people who are dying.

12. Feast as much as possible. Cardboard communion wafers are a feast in symbol only. Humans can not live on symbols alone. Remember this.

13. Notice visitors, smile genuinely at them, include them in conversations, but do not overwhelm them.

14. Be vulnerable.

15. Stop worrying about getting young people into the church. Stop worrying about marketing strategies. Take a deep breath. If there is a God, that God isn’t going to die even if there are no more Christians at all.

16. Figure out who is suffering in your community. Go be with them.

17. Remind yourself that you don’t have to take God to anyone. God is already with everyone. So, rather than taking the approach that you need to take the truth out to people who need it, adopt the approach that you need to go find the truth that others have and you are missing. Go be evangelized.

18. Put some time and care and energy into creating a beautiful space for worship and being-together. But shy away from building campaigns, parking lot expansions, and what-have-you.

19. Make some part of the church building accessible for people to pray in 24/7. Put some blankets there too, in case someone has nowhere else to go for the night.

20. Listen to God (to Wisdom, to Love) more than you speak your opinions.

~~

No comments for now, although I don’t agree with all of it.