Relevant?

I've been thinking quite a lot recently about the "relevance" of what we do and say in Christian communities. Having read Tim Leeson's "Angry Rant" I feel the need to blog... or have my own rant...

At Greenbelt I was struck by the comment that we need to deal with the questions that people are actually asking - and these questions often appear through mass media. Hence, some of the more interesting Greenbelt seminars (at least for me) dealt with film and television: Lost, Doctor Who, etc... I came away with a new sense that my interest in popular culture should find a place in my "professional" communications...

During my sabbatical I was struck a number of times by the discord between church life and daily life. Churches should support their members in ordinary life, rather than draw them out from reality. After the welcome for some new ministers in Milton Keynes, a colleague and I reflected on the way our public focus on clergy effectively devalues the ministry of all members. I am feeling the need to find ways of reversing this process...

As I continue to reflect on the global economic situation I am concerned that a sensible and realistic but visionary voice needs to be heard. The social order we have constructed since the industrial revolution is slowly destroying the planet and we are facing a major change of direction. Big businesses and politicians find it easier to talk about "business as usual" but it would be more sensible to take a long cold look at reality and put in place policies for significant but steady change...

...and that's before we take account of some of the other issues of justice, peace and the integrity of creation...

Oddly enough, the Local Shared Ministry Project and the difficulties posed by deanery finance and deployment give me huge reasons for hope. The unsustainable models of church and ministry which were set up when Milton Keynes was founded have been on the rocks for a while now and a number of us have set out to develop more collaborative and sustainable approaches. This may sound like moving deckchairs on the Titanic or a desperate attempt to find ways to survive, but I think our attempts to build sustainable Christian community will help us develop ways to encourage sustainable human community. A genuine local shared ministry community could be a sign of hope for the whole world...

When I said I had a vision for a sustainable, growing church, I was criticised by a good friend for using the word "sustainable" - but I increasingly believe that this word "sustainable" is central to what the Church could offer to a commercially dependent, consumerist society - such as we find in MK.

This has not been an "angry rant". I recognised long ago that the Gospel is not just about the "spiritual" world, but is for all creation. Hence, we are called to proclaim freedom to prisoners and good news to the poor, to be good stewards in creation and to continually expand the circle of hope.

But how do we do this? Can Sunday Church, such as we have it in MK, create space for deep reflection and engagement on these issues? If we have "seeker" sensitive services, can we also debate homosexuality, economic theory or community development? And if we can't what do we actualy have to contribute to this world?

I don't think I've got an answer here. As a pneumatological democrat and a believer in collective decision-making, I'm extremely warry of standing up in church and expressing a personal opinion, since I'm not sure I actually have the right - particulalry if there is no room for debate. Traditional forms of church encourage a didactic approach, but challenging issues are better dealt with by communities. Which brings me back to Rolland Allen's "tell it to the church" and the reflection that leaders can only impose short term "truth".

In order to deal with some of these tricky issues we need forms of church that create space for debate, and enable us to engage with real life. For many of us, traditional church just can't do this. On Thursday night I met with some of our worship leaders for a time of reflection. On these occasions, we often find ourselves saying that we don't give ourselves time for deep reflection, but get bogged down in commities and activities which often drain our energies. Oh for a church where this is not the case!

I agree with Tim Leeson's rant and would happily have written it myself, but I think the answer is closely related to the issue of how we do church. Can the "emerging church" do better?

The Gospel According to Star Wars

Faith, Hope and the Force
I bought this book at Greenbelt thinking it would be a light read and a bit of fun. It turned out to be a fairly meaty piece of systematic theology using the Star Wars saga as a jumping off point. I felt I was back at university again...

It is a good book and certainly makes you think. John McDowell reflects on the underlying theological and philosophical issues that can be found in the Star Wars movies and explores issues of evil, politics, salvation and redemption in an original and thought-provoking way.

A must if you're a closet jedi with theological tendencies - but McDowell has some serious things to say about Christian discipleship which are worth hearing.

Emerging Priesthood

One of the things I decided to do while at Greenbelt was to start a new blog which focusses on priesthood. I thought this would be a good way of helping me to focus some of my thoughts about priesthood in a more coherent way. In can be found at Emerging Priesthood and currently has only two posts. My plan is to put all posts about priesthood on that site rather than on the main blog and to develop it as a separate project. It will be interesting to see if I actually do this...

NOTE: These blog entries have now been absorbed into my main blog and the separate space has been deleted.

Snakes Alive!

Sunday Communion

The person who came up with this year's theme - Rising Sun - made a big mistake, and this year's afternoon service proved it. Every time someone mentioned sun, it rained!

In spite of the rain we had a great time at the service with some good friends.

Westcott at Greenbelt

Greenbelt is always a good place to meet old friends and this year was no different. There were a number of old Westcott students around the place and here are four of us gathered for the communion service: James, myself, Jeremy and Greg.

Perpetual Dawn

I attended an evening alt.worship event organised by Moot on the theme of perpetual dawn - dawn/night/new day...

This was a phenomenally high quality event - too high for the average congregation to attain: ten projectors with rolling animations, original poems and a work of art created as we watched. Having said this, it did work very effectively, demonstrating what can be done with multi-media and some careful thought. I was particularly impressed with the way they had produced a piece of quality reflective worship without depending on familiar clichés or asking for two much audience participation. It was possible to be present and to allow the event to wash over me.

I also liked the way each member had brought something to contribute; be it art, words or a song. This put me in mind of quaker worship or Paul's advice in 1 Corinthians. This was clearly alt.worship created through a collective process and it worked very well.

Multi Sensory Evensong

I went to a multi sensory evensong put on by Visions. They had decided to put on a 1662 evensong with contemporary alt.worship music. It was a bit of a curates egg - good in parts. At its best it was very interesting - if not moving.

The best bits were the psalms, canticles and responses set to ambient or trance backing tracks - this (very nearly) worked very well... but could have done with a bit more punch when it came to delivery. I was quite taken by the way anglican chant seemed to fit with contemporary dance music. This could be worth exploring...

Overall this was a good try and I very much liked what they were trying to do, but I think this service suffered from a lack of confidence and overall slickness. Greenbelt can be a different venue for alternative worship so it would be unfair to be too critical.

I think this service could have been improved by a few more videos and visuals and a bit more thought about how to use Cramner's text. It would also have been good to see a bit more thought about space and movement. I was left wanting more...

Simon and Kathy

I bumped into Simon and Kathy Ruddiger at GB. Kath and and Simon are off to Filey in Yorkshire to be Childrens/Youth workers for a church there. They've already moved house and will be starting work soon...

Greenbelt Day Two

As a parent of primary school age children Greenbelt is usually dominated by queueing. Today was one of those days. I had to in down to the childrens area at 8 am to collect tokens for the 9:45 session - and so on until the childrens sessions finished. The problem is that seminars tend to overlap with collection times so it's hard to actually in to anything yourself. Nevertheless, Isla heard Simon Parke and Michael Morpurgo. We both went to see Juliet Turner again, and I went to a couple of alt.worship sessions.

Juliet Turner

We are all big Juliet Turner fans - particularly the kids who love her song Dr Fell and know all the words off by heart. Since she was singing at the Performance Cafe - at 10pm - we needed to stay up for the show. Izzy, unfortunately for her, slept through the whole thing and was therefore very cross in the morning.

She sang a number of old favourites and some of the songs from her new album, People have Names. It's always good to hear her talk about the songs and explain why she wrote them and what they may be about. We particularly enjoyed her introduction to the song, Pick a Story, since the little girl she wrote it for was in the audience.

This was classic Juliet Turner. The new album might seem a little same-y to some, but it's growing on us.

What kind of Church is emerging?

I went to a panel session about emerging church. The panel consisted of "leaders" from a range of communities and collectives from London to Seattle. They all said a little bit about themselves and what characteristics they thought emerging churches might have. So we had reference to collective leadership, acceptance, cultural relevance, need orientated mission, and so on... At one point they asked who would consider themselves to be members of emerging churches. I didn't put my hand up since I always feel I don't quite fit in with the "cool" people who usually run these things, but I'm not sure this was particularly honest. I am part of a range of communities which could be considered "emergent". The signs of an emerging church can be found in a wide range of places including some of the apparently more traditional communities...

Emerging Church - is the collective name for a family of new communities
Emerging Church - is the continual process of renewal and reformation which enables the Church to engage with each new era
Emerging Church - is what we are all becoming as Christ leads us on...

More Fondue Pictures

Greenbelt

Isla and I have been Greenbelters for a few years now. I first went in 1987 making this my 21st year! Isla came with me in 1992. We've got a number of friends who have been going for even longer. Our firend Dave was wearing his 1985 Tshirt this year!

We arrived at Cheltenham Racecourse (where GB has been based since 1999 - Iona's first year). Rozi and John arrived yesterday with the "yoof" who put up our tent - hooray! Rozi is driving electric taxis and John is deputy-managing a venue - Foxhunter.

During the first evening I managed to bump into Andrew Gear (our PDA) and then we bumped into Karen (our archdeacon) - it`s a small world!

The happy campers from Milton Keynes had burgers for tea followed by Mars bar fondue.

Being Awake on the Second Sunday of Advent

I rarely sleep before an 8:00am service. It's partly because I'm worried about getting up in time, and partly because I'm worried about waking everyone else up... I was woken early at 3:00am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. This gave me some extra time to contemplate three very different services - which required three very different sermons...
(Last night Isla and I calculated that I have preached between 60 and 90 "Advent" sermons in Watling Valley... How do I say something new?)

Services this Morning:

8:00am - Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer) - All Saints'
It was still fairly dark when I headed out to All Saints'. The 8 O'clock congregation have become a close knit group over the last couple of years - Ann and Roger have been particularly key in building relationships - providing a good example of a "Care Circle". The closeness of this community was demonstrated during Tony Knight's recent illness, death and funeral.
This morning's service was quiet (appropriate to the season) and I preached a fairly somber sermon... (Not one of my best, but gave me a chance to explore some themes...)

9:00am - Holy Communion - Holy Cross
A very different service at Holy Cross. In theory, this is the quiet communion service which takes place before "all-age activities" at 10:45am. In reality this is a fairly all age communion service with children and a wide range of people in the congregation... Christmas decorations were up and there were a number of visitors. This service therefore required a fairly high energy all-inclusive approach which I hope I was able to deliver. This service felt positive and fun - and I thinks the congregation were in good spirits...

10:30am - Holy Communion - All Saints
By the time I got to All Saints' I was completely exausted - mentally and physically - not only because of the day, but also because of the week and the long crisis and project filled term. I'm finding it difficult to cope with three morning services these days - must be getting old...
I had decided to try a more challenging sermon here, wanting to respond to critisisms from certain members of the congregation. To be honest, I was too tired, time was too tight, there were too many things going on, and I'm really not sure this is the right time or place.
Couldn't finish the service within the hour - which is a disaster for visitors and community development. Not a good morning...
I've tended to think of ASL10:30 as a "seeker service" where the emphasis is on the visitors and fringe members - on baptism families, wedding couples and those who drop in from time to time. These people need brief, engaging, simple but relevant sermons that communicate more by the way they are delivered than by their content. I can just about deliver this if I hype myself up on adreneline and get on with it. Content based expository sermons targeted at church members just don't work - and I haven't got the time and energy to write or deliver them. I think I'll write this morning off as an experiment that was never going to work and stick to the "seeker" agenda. I believe in it - and I can just about pull it off...
The question that remains is how to encourage the congregation to meet their own needs through the other opportunities on offer...

Night out with Crowded HouseWe don't get out much. This was our one night out this term and we were determined to enjoy it! Duke Special and Crowded House at Wembly Arena! What a night! Good to see DS although they were relatively tame compared to their wild performance at Greenbelt. Crowded House were phenomenal - they kept playing till 11:00pm! Great gig, great evening!

They'll soon be going back to New Zealand - a place very much on my mind since we have family there and Local Shared Ministry is big news... Shame it's so far away...