End of term!

So we've come to the end of Hilary Term - one third of the way through my training already! This has been a ridiculously busy term, with lots of essays, supporting pieces, formational stuff and more! Some of the highlights:

Worship

Working with members of my College Group to put together a Creative Eucharist was an excellent experience. We had some differences of opinion during the process - inevitable when the group is full of leaders - but it was a valuable learning experience and resulted in a service which flowed very smoothly and enabled a lot of people to meet with God.

Another highlight happened two days later, when a member of our group (not me!) performed some highly entertaining tricks with a thurible during the service commemorating Edward King, a principal of Cuddesdon over 100 years ago.

Placements

Both placements this term have been good, especially the opportunity to preach at St. Barnabas. I will also be acolyting there on Easter Sunday, which will be exciting! The Steppin Stone placement is nearly at an end - one Thursday to go - and I will be sorry to finish there. It has been so important in keeping my training grounded in the realities of ministry.

Studies

Best course of the term has been Reformation - a huge gap in my knowledge up until now, but not any more! I have two supporting pieces to do on this over the holiday - have already started the first one, on the reason Erasmus & Luther disagreed over free will. Fascinating stuff!

College Life

I am officially part of the new Kids Church Leadership Team - a colleague and I led the last one of term Wednesday just gone. It is nice to be back involved with this!

I am also continuing as Assistant Social Club Treasurer for the next year - the guy who gets to tell everyone how much they've been spending at the bar!

Easter Holidays

We're going to be back and forth over the holidays, with me having the two essays to write, as well as revision for exams (first week in May). But there is a wedding at St. Mark's to look forward to, as well as experiencing how St. Barnabas 'do Holy Week'. And we will be visiting family at various times as well. Then it will be back for a new term, and getting ready to say goodbye to those who will be leaving college in June - which will signal one year left for us here!

Church Army news

Some big news from this term is that I have written to Church Army to resign my commission as a CA Evangelist.

This is a decision that has taken much thought and prayer in reaching. The seeds were sown in the first week of training here at Cuddesdon, when I distinctly felt God challenge me over the fact that I had basically not put any thought into the matter whatsoever. (That was because there is no requirement to resign until ordination itself, which, of course, was 2 years away at that stage).

I therefore spent a lot of time reflecting on that, as well as speaking with my spiritual director, another CA person here at college, and one or two other people, before reaching my decision.

There were a number of reasons why I came to the decision to resign, the most important of which is to do with my formation as an ordained priest. I felt that, the longer I remained a commissioned CA Officer, the more it was getting in the way of my formation as a priest. God, after all, is calling me away from licensed lay ministry into ordained ministry.

This is not a case of one being better than the other, simply of there being a distinct difference. I am also not going to stop being an evangelist! Again, it is a calling to something different, of which evangelism is a part. The 12 years with Church Army have been immensely valuable, both in terms of God preparing me for this stage of my life, and, I hope, in being of some use during that time to others!

It was a very strange feeling both writing the letter, and then posting it. There was most definitely a sense of sorrow, but also a sense of release, if that makes sense, in that I am no longer holding onto something which God is calling me to let go of.

Making this decision has given me this period of Lent to reflect upon it and let go, with the promise of Easter and 'new birth' to look forward to!

Preaching tomorrow!

So I'm preaching at my placement church tomorrow (St. Barnabas) - the first time I will have preached since we moved last August. We don't have to preach in our first year, but I didn't want to go a whole year without having preached, so I'm grateful for the opportunity.

It's an interesting sermon to have prepared, because St. Barnabas use the Roman lectionary, rather than Common Worship, which means that tomorrow's Gospel reading is Luke's version of the Transfiguration. (In Common Worship, it comes just before Lent). So it's been interestign seeing why the Roman lectionary has it during Lent.

Basically, it's because, during Lent, Christians are called to participate in "the Paschal Transfiguration of Christ". Now, this phrase is a new one on me, so I had to do some research to find out what it meant! And I found this from a sermon by Fr. Jan Rokosz (a Polish Roman Catholic priest):

A paschal transfiguration occurs in the life of a Christian immersed in Christ. It awakens life in places where there is death, power – where there is weakness, joy – where there is suffering, forgiveness – where there is abuse, good – where there is evil, love – where there is hatred, and resurrection – where there is the cross. And all this happens, thanks to the love, power, and wisdom of God, which are continuously revealed to us through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, in the Community of the Church and for her strengthening, and ultimately – for our everlasting good.

I think that says it all! And so I am incorporating that quote into the sermon tomorrow!

The Eucharist

Interesting experience this week, during Creative Worship (which happens every Monday evening, led by one of the College Groups).

During the worship, the Reserved Sacrament was placed on the altar in church, as a symbol of Christ's presentation at the temple, and some members of the college community knelt before it.

Now, I have no problem with people doing that if it is part of their spirituality - it's not mine, but God has made us to be different, and that includes how we connect with him in worship. It's one of the great things about the Anglican Church - its breadth - and one of the reasons I chose Cuddesdon to train at.

The interesting thing for me is that it has challenged me to think about what happens at the Eucharist, when the bread and wine is consecrated. I don't believe that the bread and wine literally become Christ's Body & Blood, but I find it difficult to articulate what I do actually believe happens. I believe that I am meeting with God in some way, taking part in an 'active memorial' of the Last Supper, but I struggle to say any more than that, really.

In a way, it doesn't matter too much, except that it is likely that future parishioners will want to talk about this with me, so it is something that I do need to reflect on over my time here. The good thing is that there will be plenty of opportunity to do so, what with learning about the Reformation this term (in which the nature of the Eucharist is a significant feature), and a whole week on the Sacraments in December of this year.

God continues to challenge!

Faith and Work

Despite the relentless snowy weather - which is making it very difficult to get in and out of Cuddesdon - the new term is underway with a Themed Study Week. Unlike the week which ended last term, this week has a variety of options for us to choose from; I am doing a week on Faith & Work.

I asked to do this because there are so many aspects to this course which are relevant to future parish ministry. Surveys are regularly conducted which show that many Christians struggle to make connections between their faith and daily life, and received little help from their local church in this area. And yet, for those in our congregations who do work, they will on the whole be spending more waking time at work than at home in a typical week. And so I believe that this has to be a key area in which the parish priest supports the congregation in his or her care. There are also, of course, issues around unemployment, retirement, etc.

So far this week, we have had some introductory thoughts, followed by a trip to one of the big Investment Banks in Canary Wharf yesterday. We met a number of key personnel - some of whom are Christians and some of whom are not - along with the Chaplain to Canary Wharf. It was a very interesting day, particularly in understanding more about the banking industry, the pressures that people who work in that atmosphere have to deal with, and in visiting the homogeneous, impersonal trading floor.

Then today we have been doing some theological reflection on our time there. Still to come, we will be looking at how Christian Theology of Work has developed over the years, and then thinking about specific ways in which pastors can support Christians at work.

It would have been nice to visit somewhere very different as well - banking, of course, is very different to healthcare, which is different to education, which is different to manufacturing, etc - but this week has been excellent so far. And it has been a great way to kick off the new term, before going back into the normal timetable next week.

A Public Thank You

Just wanted to say a huge thank you to the very kind person - you know who you are - for the gift we received today. It is a real blessing (especially at a time when the budget is very stretched, and the next grant won't arrive for three more weeks), and we do appreciate your generosity. God bless you :)

Meditation for 2nd December, 2009

As promised, here is the copy of the meditation from this morning. For reference, the New Testament reading at Morning Prayer was Matthew 12:38-end.

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Who is my mother and my sister and my brother?

The other week, Clare & I went to see the film 2012. It’s one of these movies where you leave your brain at the door, and just go to enjoy the special effects, which, it has to be said, are very impressive. The plot of the film is literally the end of the world – as one character says, “those guys with the placards – they were right all along!”

Actually, I do find it hard to leave my brain at the door, because, having become interested in theology as it may be expressed through film many years ago, I find myself automatically looking for what films may be saying about God, Christ, the human condition or any other theological subject one can think of. There are several such themes in 2012, an obvious example being the naming of the huge boats that have been built to withstand the huge tidal waves which are expected to accompany the forthcoming destruction, and which will house enough people to ensure the survival of humanity to begin a new life after the apocalypse. You will probably not be surprised to hear that they are known as the Arks!

A particularly poignant scene occurs towards the end of the film, shortly before the tidal waves reach the Arks. Most people on an Ark are there either because they are “important people”, or because they are rich enough to have been able to buy themselves a place. But, despite their being room for at least twice the number who are actually on board, those in command have left no places available for the thousands of ordinary men and women who actually worked to build the Arks. Salvation, it seems, is not available to the poor or lowly...

And so to this poignant scene. Try to imagine it. As the tidal waves draw ever closer, crowds of people gather at the entrances to the Arks, pleading for the doors to be opened for them. The commander refuses to open the doors, saying that there is no time, and to do so would ensure the extinction of the human race. Only one person is brave enough to speak out, asking what is being said about their humanity, if they begin their new life by abandoning those who could yet be saved. To liberate or not to liberate...that is the question...

This dilemma is pre-figured in an earlier scene, when the central character pleads to a young Nepalese to include his family in an escape plan. The Nepalese is reluctant, until his grandmother reminds him that they are all part of the same family – the family of humanity.

I wonder how that grandmother would respond to the question Jesus asked in our New Testament reading this morning. Who is my mother and my sister and my brother?
We could take Jesus’ words and say that he is rejecting his earthly family...or we could say that he is enlarging his heavenly family. “Whoever does the will of my Father”, he says, “Is my mother and my sister and my brother.” I wonder what that implies about the grandmother who showed compassion towards those of a different race and language and faith...

There is an old African-American spiritual song, called “Lord, I want to be a Christian”. It includes words such as, ‘Lord I want to be more loving in my heart. Lord I want to be more holy in my heart. Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.’ In the Southern States in the 18th century black American slaves would sing of and to the liberating God, present with them through the Holy Spirit in the midst of the appalling indignity and injustice of their captivity. In the face of the most inhumane treatment, they sang songs of grace, holding onto their humanity, desiring to become more like Jesus Christ, and to do the will of their Father in Heaven.

They were, as we are, part of Christ’s family.

One aspect of Advent Season is our preparation to celebrate afresh the Word Incarnate, love Incarnate, come to earth in great humility, not, as in 2012, to save only a chosen few, but to liberate all – poor and rich, powerless and powerful, weak and strong, the whole of humanity, desiring each and every one to become a part of his family.

As we prepare to celebrate the Incarnation, we reflect on what it means to be in the family of Christ. We work as the mothers and sisters and brothers of Jesus to grow the Kingdom here on earth, to do the Father’s will, to follow Christ’s example, to remember that we are one family – one Body - because we all share in the one Bread. In the words of Matthew Henry, in his commentary on today’s Gospel passage, “let us look upon every Christian, in whatever condition of life, as the brother, sister, or mother of the Lord of glory; let us love, respect, and be kind to them, for his sake, and after his example.”

And, if I may be so bold as to add to his words, why not extend that attitude beyond the family of Christ, to every single member of the family of humanity?
Who is my mother and my sister and my brother? Who is not...

Pause for 3 minutes

Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.
Lord, I want to be more like Jesus in my heart.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.