Spare a thought for Claudio Ranieri - the recently sacked manager of Leicester City. Last season, a hero in a fairy tale that took his club to the Premiership title; this season presiding over a club threatened with relegation. If ever there was evidence that professional football is no longer a sport but a business, this is it. Leicester City FC plc is a failing business so a head must roll. No matter how successful you have been a mere matter of months ago.
Apart from that, there is an interesting observation to be made here about coaching and leadership. The same person, who can rescue an enterprise from obscurity and lead it to success, is not necessarily able to lead it to a sustainable future. A different skill set is required. The same might have been said of Winston Churchill, an heroic wartime leader, but rejected in time of peace. It is also true that many clergy would prefer to lead a small struggling church than take over a large, successful one from a previous incumbent.
This Sunday, we suspend our series from We Make the Road by Walking, and use the readings for the Sunday before Lent. As it happens, the Gospel is the same as the one we took 2 weeks ago including the story of the Transfiguration. A memorable moment in the life of St Peter, on whom we are focussing during Lent and right up to Easter. Tomorrow, rather than reflect on the Gospel reading, we reflect rather on Peter's own testimony in 2 Peter 1. Here, he describes that mountain top experience as a kind of preview of the glory which is to come when Jesus returns. He sees it as authenticating his own confession to the divinity of Christ. He sees it as a vindication of all that the Old Testament prophets taught.
So he encourages his readers to wait patiently, knowing that the Scriptures are trustworthy and that the Lord will indeed reappear and be manifested in glory, just as he remembered on the mountain. I guess that takes us back to Ranieri, and leading from success. Part of the challenge for leadership in any context is to hold a vision for what the future can look like; but if your best days are possibly behind you, what is there to look forward to?
This is why we need to see everything we do in the context of eternity. The best is always yet to be, however 'glorious' our days on earth may have been!
Saturday, 25 February 2017
Saturday, 18 February 2017
Making it Real
Did I forget to do a blog last week?! Only just realised.
Last week I had been away again, this time on a residential training conference for Mission Community leaders. Mission Communities (MCs) being the county-wide strategy here for developing networks of churches, the better to reach every man, woman child with the good news of Jesus Christ. It was a very useful week, in lots of ways. There was a significant degree of hope in the room, notwithstanding that none of us really knows what a MC will look like! There is no blueprint: it's up to each group to work it out for themselves. One key feature common to all, however, will be the necessity of far greater and deeper collaboration between ordained and lay people to 'be' church where they are. These old divisions must dissolve, in favour of a full-blown New Testament view of diverse ministries of many kinds.
After two weeks of several nights away, it's been good to be home-based again. However, there was still an 'away-day', also with MCs in mind. This time it was our own MC: we have a steering group of a dozen people charged with working out what our network of 14 churches, in town and country, will look like. We did an exercise together, 'building' a MC out of various blocks. What would be the components of our MC? Examples were: a variety of ministries, creative new acts of worship, engaged and engaging youth church, and a dedicated social life!
In the course of our discussion, we found ourselves again asking 'what do we mean by mission?' I don't know how many times I have been in a group trying to agree a suitable definition! Rather than spend the rest of the day trying to do so again, I found myself impromptu coming up with a simple one: God beyond the walls. Would that serve as a suitable container within which to put the concept? 'Walls' of course refers to the physical building of church (how often does 'mission' become 'getting people in' rather than getting Christians out?!); but the word also refers to the psychological, spiritual and social walls we tend to put up, differentiating ourselves from others 'not like us.' Jesus spent so much of his time, his mission, reaching out to 'others.' And we need to go wherever the Spirit of God takes us to share his love, grace and mercy.
Tomorrow's reading from Mark 2 shows just what Jesus was like: forgiving people their sins, preaching to crowds of people whom the Pharisees regarded as 'riff-raff' (the Message translation), eating with tax collectors and 'sinners', calling such people to discipleship. His mission was beyond the walls both of synagogue and social/religious convention.
McLaren concludes, With Jesus, faith is where it all begins. When you believe, you make it real.
Last week I had been away again, this time on a residential training conference for Mission Community leaders. Mission Communities (MCs) being the county-wide strategy here for developing networks of churches, the better to reach every man, woman child with the good news of Jesus Christ. It was a very useful week, in lots of ways. There was a significant degree of hope in the room, notwithstanding that none of us really knows what a MC will look like! There is no blueprint: it's up to each group to work it out for themselves. One key feature common to all, however, will be the necessity of far greater and deeper collaboration between ordained and lay people to 'be' church where they are. These old divisions must dissolve, in favour of a full-blown New Testament view of diverse ministries of many kinds.
After two weeks of several nights away, it's been good to be home-based again. However, there was still an 'away-day', also with MCs in mind. This time it was our own MC: we have a steering group of a dozen people charged with working out what our network of 14 churches, in town and country, will look like. We did an exercise together, 'building' a MC out of various blocks. What would be the components of our MC? Examples were: a variety of ministries, creative new acts of worship, engaged and engaging youth church, and a dedicated social life!
In the course of our discussion, we found ourselves again asking 'what do we mean by mission?' I don't know how many times I have been in a group trying to agree a suitable definition! Rather than spend the rest of the day trying to do so again, I found myself impromptu coming up with a simple one: God beyond the walls. Would that serve as a suitable container within which to put the concept? 'Walls' of course refers to the physical building of church (how often does 'mission' become 'getting people in' rather than getting Christians out?!); but the word also refers to the psychological, spiritual and social walls we tend to put up, differentiating ourselves from others 'not like us.' Jesus spent so much of his time, his mission, reaching out to 'others.' And we need to go wherever the Spirit of God takes us to share his love, grace and mercy.
Tomorrow's reading from Mark 2 shows just what Jesus was like: forgiving people their sins, preaching to crowds of people whom the Pharisees regarded as 'riff-raff' (the Message translation), eating with tax collectors and 'sinners', calling such people to discipleship. His mission was beyond the walls both of synagogue and social/religious convention.
McLaren concludes, With Jesus, faith is where it all begins. When you believe, you make it real.
Friday, 3 February 2017
Jesus and the Multitudes
I've been away on retreat for most of the past week, gathering with friends from the Aidan & Hilda Community. We meet annually at Shallowford House, the retreat house of Lichfield Diocese, near Stafford. Quite a long drive, but worth it - even with the West Coast mainline not 100 metres from the building!
This year, we have been reflecting on the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and the life of Martin of Tours a century or so later. It has been challenging and refreshing. One of the sayings from the desert was 'Go to your cell, and your cell will teach you everything'. That, of course, is not a prison cell but the quiet place or room - just as Jesus taught his disciples to pray (Matthew 6.6). Consequently, we were encouraged to spend some of the time alone in our rooms, just waiting on God. It's a bit scary in some ways - you don't know what to expect - and of course you are left alone with your own thoughts. Personally, it has been a disturbing yet revealing time, and a time to be reassured once more of the Father's blessing, even with all my imperfections.
More wisdom from the desert: Do not desire to be listened to and you will have peace. Hmm!
This week, our theme is Jesus and the Multitudes. One of the characteristics of his life on earth was his gracious dealing with crowds of people (like sheep without a shepherd), many of whom (lepers, prostitutes, demon-possessed, tax collectors) would have been regarded as unclean and beyond the pale for many in his day. Conversely, Jesus had harsh words for those who set themselves apart as morally righteous or superior, never associating with the likes of those others. Part of the adventure of faith is to face the challenge of who we are: morally superior, righteous, or - recognising our own failings - being ready to meet with grace any who feel themselves unworthy, excluded or beyond the pale.
In these days when we are only too conscious of divisions in society, it is particularly important to know where we stand.
This year, we have been reflecting on the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and the life of Martin of Tours a century or so later. It has been challenging and refreshing. One of the sayings from the desert was 'Go to your cell, and your cell will teach you everything'. That, of course, is not a prison cell but the quiet place or room - just as Jesus taught his disciples to pray (Matthew 6.6). Consequently, we were encouraged to spend some of the time alone in our rooms, just waiting on God. It's a bit scary in some ways - you don't know what to expect - and of course you are left alone with your own thoughts. Personally, it has been a disturbing yet revealing time, and a time to be reassured once more of the Father's blessing, even with all my imperfections.
More wisdom from the desert: Do not desire to be listened to and you will have peace. Hmm!
This week, our theme is Jesus and the Multitudes. One of the characteristics of his life on earth was his gracious dealing with crowds of people (like sheep without a shepherd), many of whom (lepers, prostitutes, demon-possessed, tax collectors) would have been regarded as unclean and beyond the pale for many in his day. Conversely, Jesus had harsh words for those who set themselves apart as morally righteous or superior, never associating with the likes of those others. Part of the adventure of faith is to face the challenge of who we are: morally superior, righteous, or - recognising our own failings - being ready to meet with grace any who feel themselves unworthy, excluded or beyond the pale.
In these days when we are only too conscious of divisions in society, it is particularly important to know where we stand.
Saturday, 28 January 2017
Jesus the Teacher
I'm reading an extraordinary book at the moment: Fear, by the explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Really, that man has no right to be alive, given the stories he tells of his life! Even at school (Eton) he was an adventurer and risk-taker, and so he has continued. Makes me realise how sheltered my life has been. Interestingly, even after so many hair-raising adventures he remains afraid of heights and...of spiders! The book explores the psychology of fear, and how to overcome it. It recounts many adventures of his own, but also stories of other people in history or on the contemporary scene who have known fear and triumphed.
One of the stories he tells is of one Fredrick Stanley Arnot, known as 'the little (David) Livingstone'. In the late 19th and early 20th century he was one of that band of intrepid missionaries who went to the African interior, both to explore and to evangelise. His fellow Scot, Livingstone, had been a neighbour and hero of his, and he determined to follow his example. He gained the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his discovery of the true source of the Zambezi River - some miles from where Livingstone believed it to be.
You can read the facts at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Stanley_Arnot, but this doesn't really do justice to the nature of his encounters with African tribesmen. In order to gain the trust of tribal kings, he had to witness the most terrible acts of savagery and brutality, no doubt fearing for his own life. Yet he went on to lead a band of missionaries who established churches, schools and clinics in what we now know as Congo, Angola and Zambia.
We talk a lot about mission these days, but when you read stories of men such as Arnot, you realise the true cost.
Tomorrow, our four churches come together at Christ Church. The theme is 'Jesus the Teacher', and we look at the parable of the Sower. In so doing, we reflect on the Kingdom of God and what we discover about it from this and other parables. At the service, we will take the opportunity to encourage everyone to take their part in the mission of God. We may not be called to the same acts of heroism as men like Arnot, but it is the same mission. And there is a cost. In particular, with annual meetings on the horizon, we need to remind everyone that governance is a vital part of mission if anything is going to last. The Sower would have had to purchase or otherwise obtain his seed before he could scatter it! The local church needs to manage well its resources for the work of the Kingdom.
One of the stories he tells is of one Fredrick Stanley Arnot, known as 'the little (David) Livingstone'. In the late 19th and early 20th century he was one of that band of intrepid missionaries who went to the African interior, both to explore and to evangelise. His fellow Scot, Livingstone, had been a neighbour and hero of his, and he determined to follow his example. He gained the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his discovery of the true source of the Zambezi River - some miles from where Livingstone believed it to be.
You can read the facts at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Stanley_Arnot, but this doesn't really do justice to the nature of his encounters with African tribesmen. In order to gain the trust of tribal kings, he had to witness the most terrible acts of savagery and brutality, no doubt fearing for his own life. Yet he went on to lead a band of missionaries who established churches, schools and clinics in what we now know as Congo, Angola and Zambia.
We talk a lot about mission these days, but when you read stories of men such as Arnot, you realise the true cost.
Tomorrow, our four churches come together at Christ Church. The theme is 'Jesus the Teacher', and we look at the parable of the Sower. In so doing, we reflect on the Kingdom of God and what we discover about it from this and other parables. At the service, we will take the opportunity to encourage everyone to take their part in the mission of God. We may not be called to the same acts of heroism as men like Arnot, but it is the same mission. And there is a cost. In particular, with annual meetings on the horizon, we need to remind everyone that governance is a vital part of mission if anything is going to last. The Sower would have had to purchase or otherwise obtain his seed before he could scatter it! The local church needs to manage well its resources for the work of the Kingdom.
Saturday, 21 January 2017
Good News!
Yesterday, Les and I completed our 5th Wainwright. Ok, so it was only a baby one - Ling Fell - but still a sense of achievement, and some glorious views from the top on a clear day.
Tomorrow, we take a break from Brian McLaren's book, to conform to the readings the rest of our Mission Community are using, from the Common Lectionary. The Gospel reading actually follows on from last week's very well. From Luke's account of Jesus's encounter in the synagogue at Nazareth, Matthew takes up the story with his move north to Capernaum, and Peter's home. Here, Jesus goes walkabout, announcing the Kingdom, calling people to repentance, teaching in the synagogues, preaching and healing. Along the way he collects his first disciples.
We see Jesus now doing what he said he had come for in his Manifesto last week.
'Mission' could be described as outside-inside-out. God's kingdom breaks in 'from above', leading to an inward transformation, which in turn drives the disciples outwards to do what Jesus did - fishing for people. The Good News is just too good to keep to ourselves! And it is demonstrated in practical ways, where darkness is turned to light - fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy about Galilee. Incidentally, I like the Message translation of disease in Matthew 4.23 - the bad effects of their bad lives.
Tomorrow is a special day for the 14 churches of our proposed Mission Community, as we exchange ministries. A preacher, lesson-reader and pray-er go from their own church to another, both to experience a different kind of worship and to offer a different kind of ministry. The object (mainly) to strengthen the bonds of fellowship between us.
Tomorrow, we take a break from Brian McLaren's book, to conform to the readings the rest of our Mission Community are using, from the Common Lectionary. The Gospel reading actually follows on from last week's very well. From Luke's account of Jesus's encounter in the synagogue at Nazareth, Matthew takes up the story with his move north to Capernaum, and Peter's home. Here, Jesus goes walkabout, announcing the Kingdom, calling people to repentance, teaching in the synagogues, preaching and healing. Along the way he collects his first disciples.
We see Jesus now doing what he said he had come for in his Manifesto last week.
'Mission' could be described as outside-inside-out. God's kingdom breaks in 'from above', leading to an inward transformation, which in turn drives the disciples outwards to do what Jesus did - fishing for people. The Good News is just too good to keep to ourselves! And it is demonstrated in practical ways, where darkness is turned to light - fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy about Galilee. Incidentally, I like the Message translation of disease in Matthew 4.23 - the bad effects of their bad lives.
Tomorrow is a special day for the 14 churches of our proposed Mission Community, as we exchange ministries. A preacher, lesson-reader and pray-er go from their own church to another, both to experience a different kind of worship and to offer a different kind of ministry. The object (mainly) to strengthen the bonds of fellowship between us.
Saturday, 14 January 2017
Join the Adventure!
It's been a good week, with two particular highlights. On Thursday, our 'Hub Team' (i.e. leadership team for our 4 churches) had a day away together, just catching up on where each church is at and taking time out for prayer. Then today, we had another of our 'Worship4Today' seminars, which I normally lead with a colleague but today was led by one of the authors, Helen Bent - an excellent musician and teacher. The session took us on a journey through the history of church music, and ended with us singing together a variety of music from Anglican chant to one of the latest worship songs. There was a golden thread throughout which joined us with those godly men and women who have gone before us, now offering their worship in music on a farther shore.
I think that tomorrow is especially significant in our preaching series. Having traced the story of God's salvation through the Old Testament to the birth and baptism of Jesus, we arrive at the crucial word 'Today'. Jesus has gone home to Nazareth (Luke 4.16-30), takes the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and reads the first few verses of chapter 61. Then he begins, 'Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.' Not only are the hearers indignant that this carpenter's son is apparently claiming to be Messiah, but his mandate (the Nazareth Manifesto) makes clear he is a compassionate healer and merciful redeemer, not a political activist. He brings good news to the poor, release to captives, sight to the blind, release for the oppressed. In other words, people not like those likely to be found in synagogues! Not surprisingly, Jesus is driven out but escapes (this time) with his life. As John would put it, his time has not yet come.
It makes you wonder what is the mandate of the followers of Jesus today. Are we also wanting to recruit Jesus to our cause, or are we with him? As Abraham Lincoln put it, My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side. I am currently reading a book called Dirty Glory, by Pete Greig, who founded the 24/7 prayer movement some years ago. Some of it makes your hair stand on end as, in response to prayer, present-day disciples of Jesus have found themselves carrying out precisely the same manifesto as Jesus in the most unlikely places from clubbers in Ibiza to pimps and prostitutes in Mexico.
Commenting on this passage from Luke, Pete Greig says The call to justice and mercy is the inevitable consequence of a call to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. And he quotes the Emperor Julian who complained bitterly in 362 about Christians' care for the neediest in society: Those impious Galileans not only feed their own poor, but ours also...Whilst the pagan priests neglect the poor, the hated Galileans devote themselves to works of charity.
To join the Adventure of Jesus is not just about personal salvation; it is also about the salvation of the world. God's ultimate purpose.
I think that tomorrow is especially significant in our preaching series. Having traced the story of God's salvation through the Old Testament to the birth and baptism of Jesus, we arrive at the crucial word 'Today'. Jesus has gone home to Nazareth (Luke 4.16-30), takes the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and reads the first few verses of chapter 61. Then he begins, 'Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.' Not only are the hearers indignant that this carpenter's son is apparently claiming to be Messiah, but his mandate (the Nazareth Manifesto) makes clear he is a compassionate healer and merciful redeemer, not a political activist. He brings good news to the poor, release to captives, sight to the blind, release for the oppressed. In other words, people not like those likely to be found in synagogues! Not surprisingly, Jesus is driven out but escapes (this time) with his life. As John would put it, his time has not yet come.
It makes you wonder what is the mandate of the followers of Jesus today. Are we also wanting to recruit Jesus to our cause, or are we with him? As Abraham Lincoln put it, My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side. I am currently reading a book called Dirty Glory, by Pete Greig, who founded the 24/7 prayer movement some years ago. Some of it makes your hair stand on end as, in response to prayer, present-day disciples of Jesus have found themselves carrying out precisely the same manifesto as Jesus in the most unlikely places from clubbers in Ibiza to pimps and prostitutes in Mexico.
Commenting on this passage from Luke, Pete Greig says The call to justice and mercy is the inevitable consequence of a call to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. And he quotes the Emperor Julian who complained bitterly in 362 about Christians' care for the neediest in society: Those impious Galileans not only feed their own poor, but ours also...Whilst the pagan priests neglect the poor, the hated Galileans devote themselves to works of charity.
To join the Adventure of Jesus is not just about personal salvation; it is also about the salvation of the world. God's ultimate purpose.
Saturday, 7 January 2017
Jesus Coming of Age
Already we are a week into 2017. It will be a year of many changes and challenges, and I am excited at all that God is doing among us here. We have issued a pastoral letter to every member of our four churches, in which we have emphasised the word 'together'. Using the analogy of fell walking, we have likened our churches' journey to that of an organised hike or ramble as distinct from a number of individuals all following different routes. We don't all have to be moving at the same pace, but we do need to be going in the same direction!
Over the next few months, we hope that the 'conversations' conducted in each church will start to result in some concrete actions, leading us all deeper into fellowship with God and each other, and leading many others to turn to God perhaps for the first time. I am particularly concerned that we devote ourselves to prayer. I was struck yesterday by Paul's mention of Epaphras, who is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured (Col 4.12) May we learn to wrestle in prayer, and long to see that particular request fulfilled in each other and many more!
I guess the Eastern mystics whom we remember at this time of year provide a good analogy. We don't know how many 'wise men' there were, but together they followed a star (their vision) which led them to worship. Ultimately, all our endeavours as Christians and churches should lead us to bow the kneel before the One who is Lord of all.
Tomorrow's readings in our series enable us to reflect on Jesus' baptism, which launched him on his public ministry. In a sense, it was his 'coming of age.' The point about this is that he had not yet begun his work, and yet his Father was 'well pleased with him'. McLaren comments, ...in that relationship there was an invitation to us all, because Jesus taught that all of us could enter into that warm and secure parent-child relationship with God (p110). The trouble is that our default seems to be that somehow we have to earn God's love and approval. Yet, our best prayer and work for God proceeds from that relationship, and deepens it, rather than being a condition of it.
Over the next few months, we hope that the 'conversations' conducted in each church will start to result in some concrete actions, leading us all deeper into fellowship with God and each other, and leading many others to turn to God perhaps for the first time. I am particularly concerned that we devote ourselves to prayer. I was struck yesterday by Paul's mention of Epaphras, who is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured (Col 4.12) May we learn to wrestle in prayer, and long to see that particular request fulfilled in each other and many more!
I guess the Eastern mystics whom we remember at this time of year provide a good analogy. We don't know how many 'wise men' there were, but together they followed a star (their vision) which led them to worship. Ultimately, all our endeavours as Christians and churches should lead us to bow the kneel before the One who is Lord of all.
Tomorrow's readings in our series enable us to reflect on Jesus' baptism, which launched him on his public ministry. In a sense, it was his 'coming of age.' The point about this is that he had not yet begun his work, and yet his Father was 'well pleased with him'. McLaren comments, ...in that relationship there was an invitation to us all, because Jesus taught that all of us could enter into that warm and secure parent-child relationship with God (p110). The trouble is that our default seems to be that somehow we have to earn God's love and approval. Yet, our best prayer and work for God proceeds from that relationship, and deepens it, rather than being a condition of it.
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