I went to St John's by myself on Sunday morning, and had a small insight into how it must feel for people who, for a variety of reasons, come to church by themselves.
Now remember that I know a lot of people at St John's, and I was welcomed at the door by an old friend. But when I went in to find a seat, it was difficult to see where to sit. The natural reaction was to look for someone I knew. But I didn't see anyone immediately, and sitting by myself didn't really appeal, though there were a number of empty rows. Yes, I could have sat next to a stranger, but I'm used to being the welcomer, not the welcomed, so that just didn't feel right.
So there I stood, feeling like a lemon, searching for a face I knew. And I realised that many people who come by themselves on a Sunday, must get that 'lemon-feeling'.
So we must pay special attention to those who have to come to church by themselves. If it's possible (and only those affected can answer this) we need to create a genuine sense of belonging, of family, of home.
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Saturday, 6 June 2009
New Word Alive
"Be changed; be equipped; be encouraged; be still. New Word Alive 2010 promises to be a life-changing event as we encounter God in his word, rejoice in the living Christ, and we are renewed by his Holy Spirit."
Information about New Word Alive arrived in the post today, and it would be great if we could go as a group from St Peter's. The dates are 13 - 18 April (which is during Kent school holidays).
Perhaps a blog-reader would like to be our group organiser...?
Information about New Word Alive arrived in the post today, and it would be great if we could go as a group from St Peter's. The dates are 13 - 18 April (which is during Kent school holidays).
Perhaps a blog-reader would like to be our group organiser...?
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
More on prayer
Some of this is courtesy of Matthew Mason's sermon on Sunday evening. When the disciples ask to be taught to pray, Jesus says, 'When you pray, say, Our Father...' . So prayer is speaking to Father. Not listening, or emptying yourself, not eastern meditation, not a super-spiritual connection with God, but talking to our heavenly Father.
And Jesus tells us a lot about our Father. Just from Matthew 6 & 7, we learn that our Father knows what we need, he's good, he gives and he forgives in the same way we forgive. That last one is, of course, a real challenge.
Matthew (Mason, not Disciple) suggested that if we're not used to talking to our Father, we could start with just 5 minutes a day each day in June. If there are 120 adult members at St Peter's, that's 10 hours of prayer every day! But surely some of us ought to manage more than 5 minutes...
(None of this removes the need to listen to God by opening our Bibles... but for now we're talking about talking to Father.)
Where and when do you find time to pray?
And Jesus tells us a lot about our Father. Just from Matthew 6 & 7, we learn that our Father knows what we need, he's good, he gives and he forgives in the same way we forgive. That last one is, of course, a real challenge.
Matthew (Mason, not Disciple) suggested that if we're not used to talking to our Father, we could start with just 5 minutes a day each day in June. If there are 120 adult members at St Peter's, that's 10 hours of prayer every day! But surely some of us ought to manage more than 5 minutes...
(None of this removes the need to listen to God by opening our Bibles... but for now we're talking about talking to Father.)
Where and when do you find time to pray?
Monday, 1 June 2009
Prayer
In almost 5 years at St Peter's there have been very, very few discouragements, though my attempts to increase our corporate prayer life really do seem to have fallen on stony ground. But I'm not going to give up: when we pray, God hears and acts - and I'm sure that we'd all love to see God's hand at work amongst us, our community and through our Mission Partners.
At two of the churches I've visited in recent weeks, prayer was on the agenda. All Saints, Crowborough has a 5 year plan to increase prayer and to pray for revival. St John's has a sermon series on prayer, and had a very encouraging response to a call to prayer at its last monthly prayer meeting.
I'm praying that the Praying for Mission course in June will begin to stimulate a desire to pray, and from September we will have a monthly church family prayer meeting. I don't know when the best time for this will be - perhaps we need to have various slots (Tuesday evening, Saturday Morning). Perhaps WWW and the Thursday Bible study could devote one session a month to a greater focus on prayer.
One of the things I need to spend more time thinking about is how we teach new Christians to pray. Talking to Father is such a vital part of the Christian life, but it's not easy - especially when it comes to corporate prayer - many of us were privileged to be taught as teenagers when we were bold and enthusiastic to try new things. It's much harder for adults, but no less important.
Ideas on any of this can be posted here...
At two of the churches I've visited in recent weeks, prayer was on the agenda. All Saints, Crowborough has a 5 year plan to increase prayer and to pray for revival. St John's has a sermon series on prayer, and had a very encouraging response to a call to prayer at its last monthly prayer meeting.
I'm praying that the Praying for Mission course in June will begin to stimulate a desire to pray, and from September we will have a monthly church family prayer meeting. I don't know when the best time for this will be - perhaps we need to have various slots (Tuesday evening, Saturday Morning). Perhaps WWW and the Thursday Bible study could devote one session a month to a greater focus on prayer.
One of the things I need to spend more time thinking about is how we teach new Christians to pray. Talking to Father is such a vital part of the Christian life, but it's not easy - especially when it comes to corporate prayer - many of us were privileged to be taught as teenagers when we were bold and enthusiastic to try new things. It's much harder for adults, but no less important.
Ideas on any of this can be posted here...
Friday, 29 May 2009
Genesis, John & Governance
This week has been a real mix:
First, I've been studying Genesis, and I've been amazed at how skilfully it's put together, with themes interwoven, developed and only concluded in the New Testament. For example, in chapter 19, the destruction of Sodom, there are many allusions to Noah and the flood.
Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was at an Oak Hill College Council meeting. It's always encouraging to be in a place where young men & women are being trained for a life-long ministry of making disciples. The headaches of difficult governance issues are put into perspective and shown to be really important.
Now today (Friday), I've been preparing some material on John's Gospel for the Diocesan training course for Readers (preachers) and Pastoral Assistants.
Not, perhaps, as varied as a normal week for a vicar, but it's good to be able to spend more time on a few things rather than rushing from one to another.
First, I've been studying Genesis, and I've been amazed at how skilfully it's put together, with themes interwoven, developed and only concluded in the New Testament. For example, in chapter 19, the destruction of Sodom, there are many allusions to Noah and the flood.
Then, on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was at an Oak Hill College Council meeting. It's always encouraging to be in a place where young men & women are being trained for a life-long ministry of making disciples. The headaches of difficult governance issues are put into perspective and shown to be really important.
Now today (Friday), I've been preparing some material on John's Gospel for the Diocesan training course for Readers (preachers) and Pastoral Assistants.
Not, perhaps, as varied as a normal week for a vicar, but it's good to be able to spend more time on a few things rather than rushing from one to another.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
You Can Change
This is a great book! I've mentioned it in previous postings, but now I've finished it, I'm happy to recommend it to you.
It's subtitled, 'God's transforming power for our sinful behaviour and negative emotions'. Now if a book has the word, 'power' in the title, I'll normally give it a wide berth because it's probably promising something that God himself doesn't promise. But this book is different.
Some books I've read about holiness have talked about severe discipline - like getting up early to read the Bible and pray for 3 hours - and I don't have that sort of discipline. Others have given anecdotes of people who have suddenly been freed from sin and now live a life of permanent holiness, joy and perfection. But I've never met anyone like that, and it's not what the Bible teaches.
This book is realistic. Realistic about the reality and persistence of sin, and realistic about the reality and persistence of grace. It shows how the Bible teaches us that change is possible, and how change is possible. No quick or cheap fixes, but a healthy dose of biblical realism.
One warning. The opening paragraph is really quite surprising - shocking for some. I've emailed the publishers, and they're planning to change it in the next edition.
Tim Chester, 'You can Change' (IVP 2008)
Available from Tonbridge Christian Book Centre and Amazon
It's subtitled, 'God's transforming power for our sinful behaviour and negative emotions'. Now if a book has the word, 'power' in the title, I'll normally give it a wide berth because it's probably promising something that God himself doesn't promise. But this book is different.
Some books I've read about holiness have talked about severe discipline - like getting up early to read the Bible and pray for 3 hours - and I don't have that sort of discipline. Others have given anecdotes of people who have suddenly been freed from sin and now live a life of permanent holiness, joy and perfection. But I've never met anyone like that, and it's not what the Bible teaches.
This book is realistic. Realistic about the reality and persistence of sin, and realistic about the reality and persistence of grace. It shows how the Bible teaches us that change is possible, and how change is possible. No quick or cheap fixes, but a healthy dose of biblical realism.
One warning. The opening paragraph is really quite surprising - shocking for some. I've emailed the publishers, and they're planning to change it in the next edition.
Tim Chester, 'You can Change' (IVP 2008)
Available from Tonbridge Christian Book Centre and Amazon
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Welcome
Welcoming people properly to church is so very important.
Sarah and I went off to and Anglican church in a different town today, and although there were people at the church gate and the door who said hello, we didn't really feel welcomed. It's OK just to give regular church members a cheery 'good morning', but newcomers need to be spotted and not only greeted, but given confidence to know that they're going to sit in the right place, and are genuinely welcome to be there. Having said that, at teh beginning of the service, the vicar spotted that we were visitors, and gave us a broad smile as he welcomed everyone.
After the service, refreshments were served, but weren't told where, and it wasn't obvious, so we wouldn't have stayed had we been newcomers rather than visitors.
Having said all that, the music was excellent, and the preaching sound and helpful. One interesting point was that there was no specific time of prayer, but rather prayers were said at appropriate points during the service, which gave the impression that prayer was something that Christians do naturally - we don't have to have a formal 'time of prayer', we pray as and when it seems appropriate. There was no confession, which rather surprised me, and no creed (but it was billed as an informal service, a more formal service having taken place earlier).
So, as ever, there were things I liked and may copy at St Peter's, and things I didn't like and won't do. All this goes to show just how important welcoming is, and I pray that the recent course will help St Peter's to excel in this ministry.
Sarah and I went off to and Anglican church in a different town today, and although there were people at the church gate and the door who said hello, we didn't really feel welcomed. It's OK just to give regular church members a cheery 'good morning', but newcomers need to be spotted and not only greeted, but given confidence to know that they're going to sit in the right place, and are genuinely welcome to be there. Having said that, at teh beginning of the service, the vicar spotted that we were visitors, and gave us a broad smile as he welcomed everyone.
After the service, refreshments were served, but weren't told where, and it wasn't obvious, so we wouldn't have stayed had we been newcomers rather than visitors.
Having said all that, the music was excellent, and the preaching sound and helpful. One interesting point was that there was no specific time of prayer, but rather prayers were said at appropriate points during the service, which gave the impression that prayer was something that Christians do naturally - we don't have to have a formal 'time of prayer', we pray as and when it seems appropriate. There was no confession, which rather surprised me, and no creed (but it was billed as an informal service, a more formal service having taken place earlier).
So, as ever, there were things I liked and may copy at St Peter's, and things I didn't like and won't do. All this goes to show just how important welcoming is, and I pray that the recent course will help St Peter's to excel in this ministry.
Friday, 22 May 2009
Icons, images & idols
One of the things I love about the St Peter's building is that there are no icons or images - not even a cross.
But why is that good? First, because God told us not to make images. but there are other reasons: as Tim Chester says,
But images & icons also limit our understanding of Christ. Of course, people who use them say that they're helpful (just as Israel did when it made the golden calf), but they actually restrict Christ to one particular form: a baby; crucified but not risen; welcoming children but not rebuking pharisees; cuddling lambs but not judging the world. And so on.
If we really want to engage with God, there's only one place to do that: in the Bible, God's word. It's there that we engage with God. It's there that we meet him. As Tim Ward says,
But why is that good? First, because God told us not to make images. but there are other reasons: as Tim Chester says,
We were made to be God's image on earth [Genesis 1:26-27]... We're not to make images of the living God precisely because we are his image. We're God's representatives on earth. We're God's glory, displaying his likeness. [You Can Change, pp14f].The implications of this are far-reaching. If we want to see something of the reflected glory of God, we don't look to a stained glass window, or a painting, or a crucifix, but to the person sitting next to us in church! Rather than revering a shrine or an icon, we respect people as made in the image of God. In my experience, the more a congregation reveres its buildings and images, the less they respect each other...
But images & icons also limit our understanding of Christ. Of course, people who use them say that they're helpful (just as Israel did when it made the golden calf), but they actually restrict Christ to one particular form: a baby; crucified but not risen; welcoming children but not rebuking pharisees; cuddling lambs but not judging the world. And so on.
If we really want to engage with God, there's only one place to do that: in the Bible, God's word. It's there that we engage with God. It's there that we meet him. As Tim Ward says,
Scripture is the primary means by which God presents himself to us, in such a way as we can know him and remain in a faithful relationship with him... Scripture is God in communicative action. Therefore to encounter the words of Scripture is to encounter God in action. [Words of Life, p179].
Monday, 18 May 2009
How to read the Bible
All too often, we read the Bible in bite-size chunks, hoping that God will have a personal message for us in one of those half-dozen or so verses. There are a number of problems with this: first, it implies that God only speaks to us in some of his word, some of the time, rather than acknowledging that the whole Bible is God's message to us. Second, we fail to see the big picture, and so fail to see the big message.
Having said that, of course it's true that the big picture is made up of small parts, each of which needs to be understood - each word, each sentence, each paragraph has to be understood in order to understand the big message. But then the big message affects the meaning of the words and sentences. (If you like big words, this proces is called the 'hermeneutical circle').
But the point here is that the smaller parts cannot be properly understood without seeing the big message. And I'm not just talking about that familiar thing, 'context'. It's more than that.
Take, for example, Genesis 12-50. There you have the biographies of Abra(ha)m, Jacob and Joseph (amongst others). Have you noticed how similar things happen to each of them? They leave their homeland, quarrel with family members, go to (or towards) Egypt; Abram and Jacob meet their brides at a well, but are childless.; when they finally have a child, their wives argue; they all receive promises of blessing from God. And so on.
But that doesn't mean that it's simply one biography retold 3 times. Each is subtly (and not so subtly) different. And these similarities and differences provide clues to the meaning of Genesis - clues to God's big message for us today.
However... it's not always easy to see this big picture. We're not used to reading in this way. Fortunately there are good books to help us, and I'm now beginning to read through a number of these. It's hard to summarise these new things I'm seeing in Genesis briefly on the blog - you may have to wait for a sermon series - but I may try over the coming days...
Having said that, of course it's true that the big picture is made up of small parts, each of which needs to be understood - each word, each sentence, each paragraph has to be understood in order to understand the big message. But then the big message affects the meaning of the words and sentences. (If you like big words, this proces is called the 'hermeneutical circle').
But the point here is that the smaller parts cannot be properly understood without seeing the big message. And I'm not just talking about that familiar thing, 'context'. It's more than that.
Take, for example, Genesis 12-50. There you have the biographies of Abra(ha)m, Jacob and Joseph (amongst others). Have you noticed how similar things happen to each of them? They leave their homeland, quarrel with family members, go to (or towards) Egypt; Abram and Jacob meet their brides at a well, but are childless.; when they finally have a child, their wives argue; they all receive promises of blessing from God. And so on.
But that doesn't mean that it's simply one biography retold 3 times. Each is subtly (and not so subtly) different. And these similarities and differences provide clues to the meaning of Genesis - clues to God's big message for us today.
However... it's not always easy to see this big picture. We're not used to reading in this way. Fortunately there are good books to help us, and I'm now beginning to read through a number of these. It's hard to summarise these new things I'm seeing in Genesis briefly on the blog - you may have to wait for a sermon series - but I may try over the coming days...
Friday, 15 May 2009
Spotify relieves tedium!
I've been pressing on with collating the punctuation in P66 this week, and now that I've noted 520 punctuation marks in 88 pages of the manuscript, it's getting fairly tedious. Still, music streamed from Spotify helps - Eric Clapton, Elgar's cello concertos, U2, Joe Jackson, Rachmaninov, Sixpence none-the-Richer, Snow Patrol, Debussy and so on and on and on... And it's free and without limit! Marvellous!
Having found all these punctuation marks, I don't want to read or hear anyone else trotting out that old myth that the Greek Manuscripts had no punctuation!
Though the marks are inconsistent, over 95% make sense, and include midpoints, chevrons (>), apostrophes and colons. Rather than indenting a new paragraph as we sometimes do, the scribe outdented new paragraphs. But none of that is really interesting, it will need some statistical and linguistic analysis to see if there's anything of sugnificance.
Having found all these punctuation marks, I don't want to read or hear anyone else trotting out that old myth that the Greek Manuscripts had no punctuation!
Though the marks are inconsistent, over 95% make sense, and include midpoints, chevrons (>), apostrophes and colons. Rather than indenting a new paragraph as we sometimes do, the scribe outdented new paragraphs. But none of that is really interesting, it will need some statistical and linguistic analysis to see if there's anything of sugnificance.
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