Of course all our current disputes in the Church of England boil down to how we interpret scripture.  Interestingly, Jesus gives us a lesson on interpreting scripture in Luke 10.  He quotes scripture saying 'Love your neighbour as yourself' and is then asked what the word neighbour means.  If you look the word up in the dictionary you get 'a person who lives near or next to another' but Jesus, through the parable of the Good Samaritan, gives the word the broadest and most big-hearted definition imaginable - to include any fellow human being including our enemies.  Surely there is something we might learn here with respect to interpretation - and apply ourselves?

How to win Friends and influence People...

I was listening to my 4 year old chatting to her friend in the back of the car yesterday.  D says, 'I like my teacher...because she smiles at me.'

Perhaps it really is that simple!  I think it probably is...

I am the way, the truth, the ground on which you walk...to God

i've been reflecting on John  14:6 - the infamous verse that has been interpreted to mean that non-Christians have no hope of salvation.  (whatever salvation is - but that's another matter.)

An image came to mind of Christ saying 'i am the way, the truth, the ground on which you walk to God' and a picture of Christ physically laying down His life and becoming the ground for us to walk to God on.  this felt quite powerful - in underlining the sacrificial nature of Christ's love for us.  And also leaving things much more open in terms or who and how different people might be making their way towards God.

My name is Legion

I meet Andrew on Monday.  He tells me he has been visiting Adam and i immediately feel guilty.

Adam is someone i put Andrew in touch with.  He has some serious problems and needs a lot of pastoral care - something i realise i could not, or did not want to, give myself.  Andrew, i think, has found it equally difficult to do this.  But he has.  He has been visiting Adam weekly.  they read the Bible together.  Nothing miraculous has happened yet.  progress is painfully slow.  A man who has not been loved for decades, who has no real friends, cannot be healed in an instant.  But the love of Christ - shown to him by Andrew - is the only hope and i believe will be bringing healing.  obviously at some considerable cost to Andrew.

we talked about it and Andrew said the story of Legion comes to his mind.  Legion is an outcast.  everyone has given up on him.  He is tormented by many demons and quite frankly he is scary - and so has been chained up.  Nonetheless, Christ heals him.  He is not beyond hope.

this experience has shown me clearly that our calling to help the oppressed and marginalised is not all about visiting nice old ladies and tea and sympathy.  it's about doing things we really don't want to do - like, perhaps, befriending people we don't even like much at first.  But bringing the love of Christ into their lives.  And ultimately learning ourselves that Christ lovesus all, even (and perhaps, especially) the man called Legion.  

Andrew said, 'You know he's had a rotten life.  And he can be really difficult and angry.  But i've actually come to like him.'

what can i say?  But thank God for Andrew - for Andrew being Christ in this situation.  And praying for the courage and the open-heartedness to do the same - next time God presents me with such a challenge.  As He surely will!

How NOT to do the children's talk...

oh dear, worst experience since my first Junior Church class when i had to do the story of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch - explaining what a eunuch is to a group of 11 year old boys...

I was telling the story of Abraham and Sarah waiting and hoping to have a baby.  Somehow I managed to ask how long it takes to make a baby...which got some interesting answers (from both the children and the adults in the congregation).  I also suggested that A & S were quite old, perhaps as old as the children's grannies and grandpas - only to be corrected by one child who informed me that her granny was very young and could easily have a baby...

All this reminded me of something I once said to O - that it would be a good idea to invite feedback from the congregation during sermons.  I can understand now his reluctance to embrace this suggestion...

Feedback on Sunday

Arrived at church ready to do my v challenging evangelistic sermon (with altar call at end) but when I tell O about this he looks alarmed.  We need more prayer and preparation to do an altar call, he says.  And he's probably right.  I mean, it would be the first in years at St D's. Nonetheless, I'm a bit thrown.  O suggests we just ask people to stand and I go with this, although it's not the picture I'd had in my mind.

I wanted people to get themselves feeling in the position of Paul - through the sermon - and then to have an 'Ananias experience' at the end with O and I laying hands on them, the scales falling from their eyes, the Holy Spirit descending etc etc.  (I think if I'd explained all this in advance O would have been truly alarmed!)

Nonetheless the lesson of all this is better communication.  I really should have discussed it with O in detail before.

As it was, there was a lot of positive feedback on the sermon.  Two people stood but many more said they had been really challenged afterwards.  And three others signed up for next Alpha course.

So quite a success really.  thank God.

Conversion of St Paul

I am preaching on this on Sunday.  

O has suggested that I should be more challenging to the congregation - it's not enough just muddling along doing our best, with broadly Christian values, we need to recognise the call of Christ and make a firm decision for Christ.

Hmmm.  

I can see there IS a difference between being a 'good person' and being a disciple of Christ.  I mean it's a question of control.  In the former - no matter how 'good' you might be - it's still YOU in control.  Whereas in the latter, it's Christ in control and you are just following Him.  That really is a challenge.

I mean, Paul had a good career going for him at the Jewish temple before he set foot on the road to Damascus.  Then he had to kiss all that goodbye for a life of flogging around Asia Minor preaching the gospel and suffering a huge amount of persecution and ultimately death.  I'm sure if he'd just been trying to be a good person rather than following Christ he could have easily justified staying in Jerusalem.

We want to be good but we want to stay in charge.  The challenge is to give up that control to Christ and see what happens.  If we really trust that God loves us, should that really be such a scary thing?

Publish and be damned?

I've been strongly advised not to do this blog.  And I can see why.

I mean, clergy are not supposed to be blabbing to the whole world about the things they do and things they hear.  Things that are private and confidential.

But this blog is not going to do that.

The point of this blog is to share with others what it is like to be a Church of England curate in a major city in the UK - the trials, the tribulations and, of course, the many many moments of inspiration.

I am in the final months of my ordination training and will take up my curacy at St A's in July.  So there is quite a journey ahead.  

I hope you enjoy sharing that journey with me - through this blog.

p.s.  It seems somewhat ominous that I write this with this Sunday's reading open on my desk before me - the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus(Acts 9:1-22).  Let's hope and pray the scales fall from our eyes!