Bigbulkyanglican

Funeral, futher details:

If you cannot make the funeral then please take the time to listen to one of 'bigbulyanglican's' top ten albums; in particular, Prefab Sprout - Adromada Heights, track 4 - Life's a Miracle. Tom's love of music was with him to the end, as still now, his orders from amazon are arriving.

Bigbulkyanglican funeral

Funeral to be held at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, on Wednesday 17th September at 3:00pm. More details to follow later.

Bigbulkyanglican

This is Bigbulkyanglican's daughter, am sorry to inform you that my dad, the creative and friendly giant passed away last night. We know that your thoughts and prayers will be with us; Anne, sprog 1 and sprog 2.

Theology of Mission

Being doing some research and engaging in various conversations about the theology of mission of the seafarers mission agencies. This mission definition is interesting and exciting:

The Church’s deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable. For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being.

It comes from the mission statement of the Apostleship of the Sea which is the main Roman Catholic agency for seafarers around the world, and the words are those of Pope Benedict XVI

Current Reading update

Just updated my current reading Typelist - can I particularly commend Stuart Murray's book Post Christendom. Stuart writes from an Anabaptist background and a historical heritage steeped in small Christian communities on the edge of the institutional Church. I have that gut feeling that his insights into post-Christendom say much more than those who use the post-modern motif to explain how the mission of the Church in Britain should develop in the future.

Greenbelt follow-up: Share - Fresh Expressions experience and insights

I realised from conversations at Greenbelt that people hadn't latched onto to this useful link:

The Church of England has a website called SHARE with a freeform approach to sharing experiences from its Fresh Expressions network. In addition to a blog with a monthly feature it has some excellent material in the right hand selections marked as COMMENT.

The website is open access but is moderated by Andrew Wooding from the Church Army's Sheffield Centre - (and yes before you email anything I know about the passing physical similarity!)

Greenbelt + Matthew Herbert

So how do people find Matthew Herbert's music - or perhaps get a taster - not much around on Amazon etc.

But have a listen on Last FM here

With a more limited selection of music but more biog at his myspace here

Email address

I have as requested re-instated an email contact address on the site for those who wish to respond more privately than in the comments. See the top right corner. I cannot promise to respond to all emails.

Ecto update

Just updated Ecto to the latest version which has solved the problems of logging into my Typepad account - so if you have similar frustrations with the otherwise best of the Mac OS blooging editors then give it a try

Greenbelt Mystery

On of the holy mysteries of Greenbelt is how people who have never attended completely miss the diversity of the event.

Maybe it is because I am musical that folk still assume it is rock/pop festival.

Well the numbers were up again this year ( and I know lots of regulars who did not make it) so maybe the Festival couldn't cope if these illusions were shattered and the real value of the event were wider known.

Greenbelt encouragement

Its head down and a heavy week of work in London and the south of England so little chance to write more detailed Greenbelt reflections - except to say:

Congrats to the Sanctus team for the most coherent, and liturgically diverse Greenbelt Eucharist for many a year

Much encouraged by the increasing maturity of so much of the emerging Church input

Really good to hear of ideas for a Greenbelt experience in Scotland - which would overcome the traditional clash with Scottish school term-time.

Greenbelt Music - Matthew Herbert Big Band and Jamie Catto

Matthew Herbert was simply brilliant yesterday afternoon- in fact the only downer was the small audience - clearly Greenbelt punters are not as discriminating in their choice of music - or perhaps its a reflection of the diversity of music on offer that a mainstage act of such quality draws such numbers.

If you want a feel for his music then listen here. Imagine a traditional highly skilled big band mixed  with sampling and electronic effects. Some have compared it with the more orchestral tracks of the Cinematic Orchestra but it is more swing than that - if anything it is closer to the more electronic versions of the Petshop Boys. Anyway his music for "The Intended" has among other tracks given me much enjoyment.

I was slightly apprehensive as to how the scope of his music would switch to a big stage format - how does film music achieve that transfer. But the Big Band vehicle provides that opportunity - complete with jokes and introductions and the stageiness of the best of the live Big Band genre.

Looking forward to Jamie Catto this afternoon - a key part of the sound of the early Faithless and now one half of 1 Giant Leap

Greenbelt + Taize

Utterly wonderful Taize worship in Centaur last night - while Taize would never want any act of worship to be a clone of worship in the Church of the Renconciliation in Taize, last night was simply so close including all the elements.

Far too many "Taize evenings" and the like think is is all about the music - often streamed out like charistmatic choruses - lost count of the number that have had no intercessions or even worse readings from Scripture or no silence at all. Taize is profoundly liturgical and not just about the songs.

In fact only one thing came close to ruining the end to a long day - the brainless idiots who took photos of the candlelit sections with flash guns going off all over the place. PLEASE don't this - and please Greenbelt take a tip from Taize and have large signs outside saying no photograhy.

See one offender here - who should perhaps know better or at least one might have hoped the Church Times might ( well actually maybe not these days) - Whoops see comments where David assures me he is not the photographer - apologies!

Greenbelt and Fame

Greenbelt I realise doesn't do fame in the same way that other Festivals do - so there was a poetic image of Brian McClaren attempting to lead his first session with a huge crowd with a failed PA. The substitute was a good old fashioned load hailer which he wielded manfully through a 180 degree arch - so I heard about 30% of what he was saying - which is rather appropriate for a post-modern specialist.

The later panel on the emerging Church was even more interesting. A too big a panel ( a constant Greenbelt frustration which substitutes quantity for quality in the name of inclusiveness) included emerging practioners and Brian McClaren and they were asked to introduce themselves and say what was distinctive about their local emerging Church in three sentences.

Brian forgot to say who he was, and then talked about other peoples experience of emerging Church across the world for rather too long - he must have assumed that being Brian McClaren everyone would know who he is.

Greenbelt however has its prophetic edge - as we left at the end of the session the woman in front in the exit queue turned to me and said:

" I found that really interesting - but who was the garrulous American?"

The too bigger panel meant also that we heard only snippets of each Church's experience - and the inevitable happened in that the person who perhaps had the most to contribute to the UK context, Karen Ward from the Church of Apostles had very little chance to contribute. While it was excellent that most of the panel were women - I can't help noticing that it was the black person who was passed by the compere.

Greenbelt and Tiredness Reflections

Arrived at Greenbelt after a marathon but uneventful journey from Linlithgow - odd to back in England ( kind for feeling that you get when returning from an extended holiday abroad).

In the my notes moleskin I re-read the entry for Greenbelt 07 at which I arrived as part of my sabbatical. It said how good it was to arrive not exhausted - this year has returned to normal - I am shattered and feeling not very sociable which is not the best emotional equipment for Greenbelt.

House for Duty Priesthood?

I have spent some of the last few days rather painfully watching a ministry unravel.

J had opted for a professional/priestly role in the world combined with a parochial responsibility and house provided by his local Diocese. A man of great gifts and stamina has been reduced to a shell of his former self by 18 months of unrealistic expectations, lack of support and understanding from other clergy and a profound sense in the parish that they had been left with what was left over.

Given this somewhat toxic combination the Archangel Gabriel would have been on a hiding to nothing.

Fortunately the tenancy on his own house is due for renewal so he has been able to plan to leave the role without making himself or his family homeless.

This left me wondering again what we are really doing with this new trend of " house for duty" priesthood.

Well at a very practical and ad hoc level we are filling the gaps left after local Dioceses realise that there are not enough stipendiary clergy to go around - but surely it ought to be more than that.

In the absence of any national framework, it seems that some Dioceses are at least giving the whole development some serious thought - (reinforcing my view that there are really forty-three Church of England's!) and it is good to read in particular the material from Lincoln Diocese.

Gafcon musical treat

If you enjoy your Anglicanism at the conservative blogging end of the spectrum then here's a musical tribute

Scargill - where to from here?

Many will have read of the sad demise of Scargill - the House which is up for sale, and the Community which has been summarily disbanded. Many have written about their shock and dismay - many others have expressed their dismay at the manner in which the difficulties have been handled by the current Trustees. A far less helpful and accurate tussle about the ethos of Scargill has developed. Others have set about a campaign to save both House and Community

I have resisted commenting since with the move and the new role I do not have the time to get involved directly. However others have asked me to comment so I have with a heavy heart tonight added this comment to the Campaign site.

"I was on Scargill Council between 1998 - 2002, and on the Management Committee for part of that time. Like many I have been saddened by recent events and the decisions that have been made. Unfortunately with a recent move to a new role in Scotland I am not in a position to offer a more active response.

However in our sadness it is easy to lay blame, and to ask questions of others which lead to answers which are unintentionally misleading.

I have been asked to make the following points about the past and some which may help take the situation forward.

1. “Scargill” in my understanding of the history (and have known and met some of the founding fathers and subsequent Council members) has always been a balance/tension between what might be called the three “C’s”:

The “Community” - at the core of the life but it has always existing for others -

The “Context” - the life of the “House” in its very special divine setting - which has over many years provided both an attraction and a means of grace - but Scargill was always something more than this.

The “Causes” throughout its history Scargill has had emphases for its ministry at particular times - healing ministry, youth work, a pioneer of eco-projects on the estate etc etc - but these have never dominated at the expense of the other two.

2. The Council has always been a self-perpetuating body - and that until recently has been one of its great strengths - it has been a mix of current community (elected), The Warden,former community members, church leaders, and people with particular skills or interests. Significantly in the Nineties the Charity Commission insisted that Community Members ( as “employees”  could no longer be Council Members. After a sustained discussion they eventually agreed to the Warden remaining as a Council Member.

3. It is all to easy to imagine that it is only recently that Scargill has struggled financially - but in fact throughout my time on Council and in more detailed way on the Management Committee it was clear that Scargill was running on a knife edge financially calling for very careful and informed judgements which balanced income with both revenue and capital expenditure.

So where to from here in the actually situation which Scargill finds itself:

a. There has been tremendous turnover in the Council/Trustees since 2002 which is deeply worrying - ten trustees are now Charity Commission listed of which only three were on the Council when I left in 2002. I hear that two of those are no longer on Council. So there should be a list provided of who the current trustees are - if the Charity Commission list is not up-to-date then an updated list can be requested from them and they can enforce this. More helpfully the Chairman could publish a current CV of the Trustees and their previous history with Scargill.

b. People are suggesting that The Charity Commission cannot “intervene” without being clear what question is being asked. So they may not be able to stop the sale of the “House” since the current trustees have legal obligations to the Bank, and the current trust deeds do not tie the “Community” to Scargill House. It is hard to be convinced that the Charity Commission would accept either of the two alternatives which are being suggested ( one of which is based upon “promises” of cash, the other on a promise of a bank loan which will not have access to the detailed information needed to commit to that loan). Very regrettably I think that the current Trustees may well be right in making that decision.

c. It is questionable however whether the proposed “Foundation” (with its ambiguous intentions and inaccurate description of Scargill's purposes) actually falls within the terms of even the “revised” Trust Deeds - and it would worth asking for the Charity Commission to advise on that.

d. I fully understand and appreciate that the refusal of the Trustees to be more open about the sale is constrained by the current financial and legal position advice. Sadly this too easily leads to a sense that this is perhaps a stitch up (or asset stripping) by a group of Trustees with little understanding of the value and history of Scargill, who are determined to press ahead with a simplistic “cause” agenda of their making without any regard to the context and community which has been so essential to its ministry.

e. There is one very straightforward way to allay these fears which is be more open about the sale and the current financial position ( which would enable sound rescue plans to be put together) and to publically now say that if the sale is inevitable then no decisions about the future will be made until the sale has been completed (and the funds available are known) and the widest possible consultation about the membership of the Trustees and the future of Scargill has been undertaken.

Without such an undertaking I fear that not only might we loose the “House” and the “Community” but the causes as well into the kind of never never land of a “virtual community of members”.

If the Trustees fail to respond then I suggest that people will draw their own conclusions and an exciting alternative could be proposed for the Scargill Community to begin a new life, with a new set of Trustees, drawing on the wonderful support which has been demonstrated by this site. Sadly “Scargill House” will be a place of many great and happy memories, but also a memorial to the current Trustees failure to act".

Emerging - Missional - Monastic

The language which is used to described new forms of Christian faith is fascinating - some clumsily blend the three words together but actually they seem to represent diverse and different strands of a new experience and practice of Christianity.

There are also important distinctions to be made between the US (and those influenced by it) and the UK (and those influenced by it) into which are mixed Aussie and Kiwi perspectives which some suggest have more in common with the UK experience than the US experience.

A simple of example of this is that in the US the word emerging/emergent has achieved almost denominational status as an off-shoot/antidote to the Evangelical stream of Christianity. Whereas "Missional" seems to be considerably more conservative in its theology (equating often with new forms of evangelism) than in the UK where (particularly in its Anglican forms) it has a more radical and catholic intent.

Some would suggest that the US experience has been hallmarked by frustration with existing patterns of Church and seeking separate alternatives, whereas in the UK is has a greater emphasis on renewal in association with the existing structures.

Missional Anglicans in the UK would be amused to hear that some of the US Bishops did not know who Brian McClaren was before his guest appearence at the Lambeth Conference. I would be hard to imagine many of the evangelical networks in the US extending such an invitation to Brian McClaren.

One of the root issues is that is that Christians within these new traditions are intuitively uneasy with labels anyway.They recognise that the labels already have come to mean something that "they are not" and but which they are judged or pigeon-holed.

There is some helpful delineation of the different strands by Len Hjalmarson in Precipice here and vitally a healthy emphasis on insights and contributions rather than difference.

Some of the uncertainty about labels is demonstrated by Andrew Jones (Tallskinnykiwi) here as CMS and partners seek to support new forms of Church and mission. In this instance I would use the word "Missional Church Fund" since to me it more accurately describes what is intended - but then I realise that it will mean something else to other people outside the UK.

My relationship with the Apostle Paul

I stumbled upon Daily Episcopalian and the Episcopal Cafe through their coverage of the Lambeth Conference.

It is collection of resources and reflections from the liberal tradition of the Episcopal Church in the US.

Today's reflection on our relationship with the Apostle Paul seems to some up some of the dilemmas which many of us face when reading Paul's writings - or more often when other Christians "quote" Paul at us.

"But the deepest conversations come from when I can’t figure out what Paul is trying to say. Lord knows, he’s quoted all the time by anyone and everyone who wants to make a point on any and every subject. And Lord knows, people claim to understand exactly what Paul means, especially on the most controversial of current issues, sexuality."

Read the full reflection here

Quick Ikea

I have always thought that the queues at IKEA are over-exaggerated - but I have never been daft enough to shop at weekends or peak times  - but if you have ever faced frustration with queues or jay-walking extended families on the shop floor as you go about your serious IKEA shopping then this special advisory site could be helpful:

QUICKEA

David Walker and SSG and J Mark Brewer

Many will be aware that David Walker of the Church Times site has been forced by the threat of legal action to remove his material about SSG and the former SPCK bookshops, and the subseqent campaign by many Christian bloggers to support him by duplicating the material.

J Mark Brewer is now pursuing some of these bloggers with "cease and desist" notices and Sam Norton of Elizaphanian fame (having taken legal advice here in the UK) is among the first to ignore the "threats" and post the content of these emails and notices.

You can see what the detail of this is here

What is intriguing about his situation is whether any of the information provided does anything other than express opinions and share facts. Moreover J Mark Brewer feels that his reputation and that of SSG are in danger from what has been written about his and their actions. He challenges Sam about whether it is appropriate to slander a fellow Christian and quotes Exodus and Mark's Gospel

[2] Exodus 20:16 – the Ninth Commandment; Psalm 101:5 – “Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.” Jesus also preached against slander; e.g., Saint Mark 7:22.

and then goes onto to threaten legal action which is surely against Scripture as well.

It has interesting parallels with another blogging legal dispute which Tallskinnykiwi records here

Lambeth and the Press and Brian McClaren

I have resisted the temptation to contribute anything about The Lambeth Conference as there is probably too much being written about by people who are not there and do not know what is actually happening.

It is after all a private gathering for the Bishops of the Anglican Communion and I am happy for them to be afforded the privilege which, in good times and in bad, has throughout history been of benefit to the wider Church.

Some reflections mainly on the external commentary however have come to mind:

1. I am hugely impressed with the sheer energy which must be going into the simple participation in the Conference - days starting at 6am and then working none-stop throughout the day and the need to keep this up for 3 weeks- I can't help wondering given the length of the conference whether some space and relief from the treadmill would not be helpful. A least one blogging Bishop has acknowledged the exhaustion.

2. I am delighted that the press seem to have been fairly comprehensively excluded from so much of the conference. Sadly they seem to have only one agenda and that is to over-hype and focus on the gay issue. The standard of reporting from the religious correspondents has been frankly tabloid and the petty complaints about facilities and exclusion has become tiresome. Thank goodness that the Lambeth Media team are reminding them that they are there to report what is happening - not as contributors.

3. A particular low point in the standard of religious journalism was The Times stunt interview with Archbishop Deng Primate of the Sudan - who was coaxed into making controversial statements on the gay issue and his brother Bishop. This is journalism of the lowest and most exploitative kind where an individual of the greatest integrity (but only recently moving into the role and with relatively little understanding of the press in the UK) is used to pursue personal agendas. The presence of Chris Sugden in the background only confirms the the sense of revulsion. In the end I suppose there is something about the integrity of those involved - and having spent so much money and time on the junket at Canterbury the need to justify it with a story for one's Editor.

4. I understand that at a recent press conference where journalists were complaining about the lack of absence access (a privilege rather than a right surely) a frustrated journalist asked the question " so what was the point of us coming? to which the Lambeth spokesperson wonderfully replied "well you asked to come" The answer is of course In the days of the internet and blogging Bishops it is perfectly possible to obtain accurate views (across a range of perspectives) of how the Conference feels - so who needs the tabloids anyway. Perhaps the Editors will see sense in the future.

5. The best bit of ill-informed writing comes from The Tablet - The British Catholic weekly which I read each week because of its normally high standards of journalism.However they seem to have lost the plot a little when it comes to coverage of Lambeth and perhaps from sharing a press tent with The Times and Telegraph have succumbed to their obsession with the gay issue. The normally intelligent Victoria Combe writes in today's issue:

Dr Williams had sought to avoid a public spat between his (a very papal notion?) Bishops over homosexuality by enclosing them in a three-day retreat and reordering the Conference so that Bishops were in small listening groups . .  rather than open debates.

Surely the whole point of the Conference design and the retreat was the precise reverse - to provide our Bishops with a context where the real issues could be brought before God and where the differing voices and experiences could be heard.

The presence of Brian McLaren at the same conference as Cardinal Ivan Dias simply illustrates the diversity of the Anglican Communion and its ecumenical relationships. The Tablet struggles however with the identity of the former:

On Monday night the speaker, very warmly introduced by Dr Williams, was an American called Brian McLaren who comes from the "emerging church" movement which is critical of traditional structures, and is keen to develop a less rigid form of evangelism that can speak to young unchurched people." 

6. Congratulations to all involved in yesterdays London march for poverty - a brilliant bit of PR - but again taxing on the participants who were forced by the timetable to walk in cassocks and in the case of women spouses the clothing chosen for a Buckingham Palace Garden party which range from national dress to traditional Garden party hats and dresses. It was good to see and hear of a flash of genuine passion from Gordon Brown as well.

Current listening

Just got around to some site housekeeping and updating and a chance to test whether the iphone typepad posting software is a good as claimed - ( well its ok but nothing really beats the feel of a real keyboard for speed) - anyway the current listening is updated - really chuffed at the quality of the Fleet Foxes album - and the reports of the concerts have be remarkable - what other band do you know that at one concert would come out for the second half and spontaneously perform all the songs with just voices?

Return from holiday

It was good to return from holiday yesterday without the usual pressures of "lots to catch up on" - but perhaps this is a one-off.

For those who have known us for our advocacy of "Scottish holidays", and being bold proponents for the fact that it is rarely wet in Scotland (or at least not as wet as the English myth) will be pleased to know that it was thoroughly wet in Ullapool last week - and yes it was an absolutely beautiful "first day back at work" today. But we had a good time none-the-less and it is really great to only have to travel 4 hours to be home! One of the skills which I am going to have to learn is how to visit harbours and boats without clicking into professional/ministry mode.

With the Scottish holidays finished Avalon Gardens has returned to its lively self with lots of children out playing - thought lots of shops were shut today for Glasgow Fair - another event to explore next year - though the Glasgow River Festival yesterday was an absolutely cracking event at which I hope Mission to Seafarers may be present next year - and I blessed my first boat ( well actually it is a yacht) but it was great to be asked by Tony and Marilyn.

Gufcon conference follow-up

There have been many responses to the Gafcon conference - some wonderfully Anglican especially from English Bishops - which in certain cases could be summed up as " I share their commitment to the Bible even though what they are saying is heretical and undermines the Bible".

However by far the best commentary has come from Scotland's newest website of considered reflection on things Anglican and Episcopalian

Celebrating 30 years of full-time ministry today

On 3rd July1978 a young 21 year old theology graduate walked in CMS headquarters to begin a new job as "Youth Adviser" - I remember it well.

I was too excited (and naive?) to be nervous and was tremendous well cared for by Richard Handforth the Education Secretary and Margaret Kerlogue who was the profoundly professional and caring UK Personnel Officer (in those wonderful days before "Human Resources" were invented) .

Both had the wit and the wisdom to realise what a 21 year old would not know, and also what I could bring to the role and HQ - and nurtured me over the next few months into a new pattern of ministry for CMS

The diary entries for the day read:
11am 157 tour ( remember thinking just how big the place was and how would I remember the names)
"Harry Lunch" (lunch with Harry Moore the "Home Secretary" - a rather formidable man ex-army officer and Manchester Vicar - the generation gap was a delight and behind the bluff exterior was a great heart for people)
Collect car" ( the really scary bit was driving this brand new car through London to Wimbledon)
4pm Shelter ( I was already interested in the work of Shelter who shared 157 with CMS in those days!)

.And so 30 years of ministry followed via

five years at CMS in London
a year post graduate youth work training/study - with thanks to the All Saints Educational Trust  - at Westhill College Birmingham
two years at Battersea Basement Studios
three years as Senior Youth Worker at Leeds Parish Church
nine years as Diocesan Youth Officer in Blackburn Diocese
three years as curate at Mirfield Parish Church
seven years as Vicar of Oakworth
and now as Chaplain to the Scottish Ports

I have prepared some 30 year reflections on what has changed (and what has not) which will follow over the coming week.

A very special Sunday . . .

Last Sunday was a very special day with a flying visit back to Yorkshire for ordinations in the Bradford Diocese.

In line with the current trends in the Church of England the main morning Cathedral event was the ordination of deacons, with the priestings at an array of churches around the Diocese later in the day (more on the significance of this trend in another post).

Ordinations always have a very special character and ambience to them - an event in terms of attendance which muddles up the deeply committed with family and friends who perhaps rarely enter a Church or share in worship and yet who realise the significance for their friends or family who are to be ordained. In this sense it offers a particular liturgical challenge of matching solemnity and depth with accessibility.

At Bradford Cathedral I was struck by a sense in which these people who were being made deacon were being given "permission" by the Bishop (and being commissioned by a wider group of people present) to develop ministries which few of us can imagine. Such is the change in the Church (or at least the change needed in the Church) that few of us can predict what opportunities will present themselves as these newly ordained deacons develop their ministries.

The priesting in the evening was at the wonderful church of Christ Church Skipton which represents all that is best about the liberal Catholic tradition within the Church of England and with the added dynamic of the Bishop (Hewlett Thompson former Bishop of Exeter) ordaining his daughter Louise. ( see above)

We were made especially welcome by the local Church members with none of the fuss and pomp which sometimes overcomes Cathedral ordinations. I was reminded by the liturgy of some words of Robert Runcie about being priested in which he compared it to a a pilot being permitted "to fly solo for the first time".

From my own experience and others that I have known the first year of priesthood has a very special quality when the restrictions of training and diaconate are left behind, but the constraints, responsibilities and expectations of incumbency have yet to become a burden.

Then I had to drive back up to Scotland which might seem a crazy burden but actually was rather spectacular as I chased the departing day-sky back up the M6/M74 to arrive at Hamilton with a quite wonderful  sunset over Glasgow.

So blessings particularly to the Revd June Marks (doesn't that sound and read well) in her ministry as a deacon, and to Nigel Wright in his ministry as a priest and to all who were ordained with them.

Diocese of Edinburgh launches new website

 

My "new" home Diocese has launched its new website - compared with many Diocesan websites its a very polished design given its infancy - and there is some excellent Pre-Lambeth thoughts from Bishop Brian

Treasured books and tree houses

Over the past few moving weeks we have made some decisions about which books "to keep" and which to throw/recycle/take to the Charity Shop.

Childhood books represent a particular dilemma - "do you really want to keep that?"

I loved Swiss Family Robinson for the tree houses - remember how in some of the illustrations there were two with a linking bridge - but the style and story would probably seem rather twee or quaint now.

Well if you share my fascination with tree houses then see this:

wow

Training Courses

There can't be many clergy that attend in-service training courses in spectacular buildings like this. 

This is just one of the hardships which are being inflicted on me as part of the induction training as "Chaplain to the Scottish Ports".

The main part of the course took place in the middle section of this building which is Maritime Centre at Aberdeen Harbour and opened in 2006 and is designed to look like a contemporary lighthouse.

The course is an introductory course for people wishing to be officially designated "Ships Visitors" by the Merchant Navy Welfare Board and it was an interesting  wonderfully tutored course with an fascinating group of (mainly voluntary) participants from across Scotland.

Given my passion for both architecture and ships the venue was to say the least distracting - fortunately I wasn't the only one - so the course content was suspended on a regular basis as we paused to watch craft pass in and out of the ever busy Aberdeen Harbour and put into practice our newly acquired knowledge at identifying different types of ships - and we were also treated to a visit to the top deck which is the computerised Control Centre for the Harbour.

The building also contains some administrative offices, and a training simulator room which is boys toys gone mad.

The Harbour itself is just as fascinating, particular the specialist vessels which support the oil industry like the Danish-flagged "Viking" fleet of which the monster below is just one - with its bow located helipad. Its role is to sit on station alongside Oil rigs for two months at a time providing support and a place to escape to in the event of major incident.

Coldplay copy song?

I can't quite get my head round people objecting to Coldplay copying another bands song on their latest album (see here for one such write-up).

I am actually enjoying the new Coldplay album but surely its song writing appeal in the widest sense is precisely because of its non-distinctiveness - it sounds like a very good copy of every other song you have heard

What is perhaps distinctive about them is the Chris Martin voice and perhaps some of the instrumentation - but song writing I somehow doubt whether we have another George Harrison " My Sweet Lord" type case on our hands.

And when alls said and done, you have now heard of the band " Creaky Boards"

Cheesy Christian consumerism

With the recent move it is fascinating to note what "labels" removal men apply to packing boxes. My best this time was a box marked "books and charms". The books are self-explanatory, but the "charms", well they included several crucifixes and most of my icons.

Sadly my collection of Christian kitsch which had earned a full shelf to itself in the Oakworth study (from the generous donations of the respectful Sprogs for Christmas and birthdays) was not similarly marked - more plainly listed as "assorted"

But we have been looking for new coat hangers for the hall and visitors - so perhaps these will be suitable

selected from that wonderful site Christian Cheese

Noel Gallagher and Jon Sobrino

Now that would be some event - but actually the only connection is in my befuddled mind.

Really good post here about the development of Noel Gallagher's guitars over his career - I think in years to come he will be seen as one of "the greats".

And Jon Sabrino arrives in Edinburgh at Sacred Heart Church Lauriston Street for a public meeting at 7.30pm on Wednesday 18th June - a chance to hear one of the worlds great theologians speak on " Living Simply", the poor and Archbishop Romero.

Barnabas and BT

Yesterday was the feast of St Barnabas - his particular gift being one of "encouragement" - and yesterday was such a day with the completion of our move as a family - with GCSEs finished and school left - the precious plants which would not fit in the (second) furniture van collected - and even BT offering courtesy calls to check how we were coping with the Broadband and phone-line problems.

Today in the real scale of thing should have been an opportunity to dip my toes into the waters of Synod at the Scottish Episcopal Church - but with another BT engineers visit promised between 8am (please God no!) and 1pm (that would be better!) and the really pressing need to phones which work and internet which stays connected the more mundane matters prevailed - and at least another stage of sorting the shelving in the study (yes we really did buy another 63 ivar shelves from Ikea on Tuesday!) has happened.

The world of BT is very very complex - so today I had a brilliantly helpful engineer stood in our hall saying that what was needed was a new fitting to give us a direct ADSL line which BT would pay for (it normally cost you over £200) but he was not allowed by Ofcom to fit it even though he had the parts in the van and it would take perhaps 5 minutes - no a seperate division from BT Open Reach would have to be come and fit that - and that he could loose his job and his division could be heavily fined if he ignored the new rules introduced five months ago to increase competition! Despite him phoning his senior manager on his blackberry, and me phoning my direct link into Durham HQ - even these senior managers could not waver the rules!

Apart from the new fitting the latest theory is that the local primary school (with its superduper Scottish 8meg wireless network) might be taking all the juice - which could at least explain why our wireless connection runs a 512K some of the time and 6000K at others.

Anyway at least the phones seem to be fixed and we can confirmed the main MTS number - and today got out broadband based "home-phone" system working - so we can begin to confirm that number - and it was good to hear this afternoon that a neighbours broadband was working better than ever - so it seems there has been a long-standing problem at our house which has been corrupting other peoples lines as well - but which hadn't shown up until muggins attached a MacPro and a new Dell laptop to it - plus three other bits of wireless gear.

It is intriguing how much I am dependent on phone and broadband communication - and the phone is particularly important at the start of a new role cos you actually speak to people about things which it would be inappropriate to presume in an email.

BT blues . . .

Just a quick post to alert people to the difficulties which BT are singlehanded contributing to the move -despite speaking to over BT twenty people and having my own designated Complaints Manager we still have an unstable phone line, a Broadband connection which runs at 348K rather than the predicted 1800K and which repeatedly disconnects, and still no separate private number.

This is making life very complicated - so please bear with me as I enter another round of phone calls to resolve the problems.

In classic bureacracy style it was one part of BT which alerted me to the fault originally, while another part of it assures me that the level of service is normal for "remote parts of Scotland"!

In practice this means I am receiving emails (as far as I can tell!) but can't always get reliable enough connection to reply, and that phone calls have intermittent background noise, and a tendency to cut off, or you can hear me, but I can't hear you.

As the advert says this is BT Total Service!

Missional and conversions?

Some really good questions and responses to Mark Driscoll's challenge to emerging/missional churches "not having converts" from David Fitch and subsequent comments see here.- not least:

Having said all this, the number of conversions for missional church communities could still match the mega churches on the basis of percentages (if we were counting). This is Brother Maynard's point. I think that the missional communities that do persist may have a higher conversion rate than the Driscollesque mega church. Missional churches are so much smaller. 6 conversions from a group of 25 over ten years would match (or exceed) the percentage growth of a typical mega church. I think it would be interesting to measure how much dollars per conversion are spent in missional churches versus mega churches five to ten years from now when conversions start manifesting themselves in missional churches. I know I am not supposed to think this way, but I still smile when I think that indeed missional churches could be more cost effective when it comes to conversions because we resist spending money on buildings, programs and the show.

Architectural Containers

Found this post rather apposite today - sprung thoughts of doing something similar with the vast number of removal boxes we will have available once they are upacked - but also ideas for office accommodation in the new role at Scotland's largest container port of Grangemouth.

Missional Church and success

Excellent post from Internet Monk on what constitutes a missional Church - and questioning some myths about the success of large churches - although written from a US perspective there are many parallels in the UK where large churches have in essence become a business selling methods to smaller churches without regard to context or being locally missional

Betwixt and between . . .

At the very odd stage now where we are not really in one place or the other - reading Scottish papers and tendering Scottish notes to suspicious Yorkshire shopping assistants - with the move starting in earnest on Tuesday- just spent a day packing the specialist stuff so all the music equipment is cased or boxed apart from a very simple Mac Pro setup which is actually very impressive - found several missing things which is one of the few perks of the process of moving including a "I am Clot" CD which I bought and promptly lost - to the far regions of the speaker racking it turns out . . .

Typepad improve compose screen

 






One of the main reasons for using a Blog writer has been the limitations of the standard Typepad compose screen - just when I have finished a fairly protracted search for a suitable Mac version with the flexibility of Microsoft Live Writer - and finally settle on a much improved Ecto 3 - then Typepad respond to complaints/suggestions and launch a new and much improved Compose screen.

No don't all rush at once to Typepad because they are rolling out the changes over a period up to mid-June - but as one of the new recipients I can assure that its image handling in particular is very much better and more flexible.

The only thing that I have noticed is that it seems slow to load on my MacPro - so I wonder what it will be like on lesser machines.

If you have not been upgraded yet, then you can view the changes here.

Incidentally the photo was just a test load and not topic relevant - its a rather cute photo of Arcade Fire offspring stage-side at an American concert in the Spring.

Art installations on churches

Often thought that we could be all the more imaginative with the outside of our Church buildings - if only for temporary installations, but this is utterly stunning on the exterior of Washington National Cathedral

Yorkshire farewell thanks

An inadequately brief expression of thanks for everyone who came to my "Yorkshire farewell" in Leeds last night.

It was wonderful to see so many folk including some former colleagues from over 20 years ago who now have as many white hairs as I do. Of course I cringed at the YTV coverage from 1985 which I though long dead and buried. Guess I haven't changed that much as I start on the latest challenge.

From a wonderful occasion the high point for me was to meet the current staff and trustees MY and other groups it is really encouraging to see how the original vision has developed

Thanks especially to the terrible threesome who not only conned my into coming for "coffee" but also undertook all the planning persuaded others to come and sorted the food.

Thanks for you company, the gifts and the cheque

Tom

Idol boredom and BT

Got stuck on the phone today for 35 minutes while a very helpful BT assistant made arrangements to transfer our phone and broadband and its in situations like this when you can't really get on with anything else in case he asks the next question that this kind of thing becomes a helpful and fascinating distraction

Even better conversation with the Electric and Gas supply rep- who thought I was being unhelpful for saying that I hadn't got time to "pop up to Linlithgow" to read the meter at the new house!

Always did regret not doing physics A level!

Moving house

Can you imagine the conversation about "moving" between a splendid 80-something lady who has lived in the same house for all of her life, and the 50-something priest who is just about to move to his 14th home.

We shared our different experiences of what "home" means - and realised that we were perhaps a little envious of the others experience

We were agreed on two things - the actual process of moving is a bit of nightmare, and whether you move or not the world changes around you.

Bless you M for your wisdom and support.

Architecture and Church

Have at last finished my analogous read of Alain de Botton's "The Architecture of Happiness" - fascinating to see how architecture relates to cultural changes - and to compare this with the Church in the same historical context.

Was really struck by the role of the purists in architecture which has many parallels in the contemporary Church and how the obsession with theeation of the "new" (interestingly referred to in architectural/theological language such as "new heaven" and "paradise") rather than the adaption and renewal of the existing which is required in the post-modern era

The Allelon post today has similar thoughts from Ryan Bell. He quotes architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne:

". . . in the last three or four years, we have embarked on a kind of high profile architecture here that required very different skills from those Meier displayed at the Getty. Instead of building new landmarks from scratch, architects are being asked to extend, restore or otherwise re-imagine existing ones."

and draws conclusions which mirror mine about de Botton's insights

"This make me think immediately of the so-called “church planting movement” that has been popular in my tribe. But different skills are required today. Adaptive reuse is the way forward in our overcrowded, sprawling city. Rather than creating new, “idealistic” churches we need leaders with “different skills” who can lead “adaptive” ventures in our communities, connecting with what has been and leaning into a diverse and rapidly changing future.

I did a little experiment. I went back through the article and everywhere he referenced the Getty or architecture I substituted the word church. It didn’t work perfectly, but what emerged was a striking parallel between this conversation about the relationship of a museum to a rapidly changing city and the conversation I am increasingly a part of about the church and a rapidly changing world."

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor's lecture

The decision by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor to offer a lecture on the place of faith in the UK is an interesting one. The coverage which follows is even more interesting - IMHO even five years ago such an event would have gone unnoticed by the popular press being regard as an inside event for the faithful. There is much to be encouraged by this on both sides - that the Cardinal should choose to enter the public forum positively ( instead of only being heard to be against things), and that the press should choose to respond and cover it.

I was particularly enamored of the call by the Cardinal for Christians to talk in language suitable for a the secular country - but therein lies what I think is a confusion of language in what he was saying. In his lecture he appears to use the words secular and aetheist interchangeably - there is an important distinction which I am certain he knows - but was not always obvious from what he said.

I was also less than convinced by his argument for fideism - basically that faith is in itself the rationale for God and is not dependent on reason. This links with the call from the Papal Ecumenical spokesman for the Anglican Church to decide whether it is protestant or catholic. It is of course both - and it has always be an essential tenent of anglicanism that faith and reason both direct us to God.

I wonder whether this requires a more careful definition of our deistic terminology which might include this list:

Agnosticism The belief that one lacks the means of knowing whether or not there is a God or many Gods or no deities at all

Anthropotheism The belief that Gods are basically human in nature

Atheism The belief that there is no God

Autotheism The belief that one is oneself divine

Creationism The belief that each human soul is created individually by God or that God created the world in six days

Deism The belief that God created the world but does not act within it

Ditheism The belief in two Gods

Dualism The belief that cosmic history is a battle between the two great powers of divine goodness and malicious evil

Emanationism The belief that all things are outgrowths of, or emanations from God

Fideism The belief that religious faith confirms that there is a God without recourse to reason

Hecastotheism The belief that all objects have sacred power

Henotheism The belief that among several Gods one is supreme

Herotheism The belief in deified men

Kathenotheism The belief that among several Gods one is supreme at a particular time and that different gids can be supreme in succession at other times

Monotheism The belief that there is only one God

Myriotheism The belief that the number of Gods cannot be counted

Panentheism The belief that all things are in God

Pantheism The belief that God is in all things

Polytheism The belief that there are several Gods

Rationalism The belief that human reason is the High Court in which to decide what counts as knowledge (of God) or superstition.

Secularism whether God is God doesn't really matter

Theism The belief that there is a God

Trinitarianism The belief that there are three persons in the one God

Zootheism The belief in animal Gods

Press releases which accompany such events are always revealing for what the speaker intent - so read the official Westminster press release

Israel's 60th Anniversary

The nation and people of contemporary Israel celebrate their 60th anniversary today, and I personally reflect upon the extra-ordinary achievement - the remarkable individuals who emerged from the tragedy of the Holocaust to create a nation within a decade. I believe it is right to give thanks to God for a democratic Israel.

Haaretz records the hopes of the current leadership for a peaceful and just solution with their Arab and Palestinian neighbours - thoughts and ideals which cause me to be to myself at odds with many of the Christian leaders who I most respect in their wholly inappropriate sidetracking of the day for their own purposes, in their call for justice of the Palestinian people signatories - the cause is clearly right the timing is not.

It takes balls

Could not ignore the caption or the photo:

Priest as President

This is a view from within the Catholic Church which has some resonances - not sure that I agree with the conclusions about orientation - but it does suggest some important thoughts about the role and nature of eucharistic presidency.

One objective of the liturgical reforms of the 1960’s was to encourage the active participation of the Catholic people in the celebration of the sacred liturgy, in part by reminding them that they are participants in, not spectators of, offering the sacrifice of praise at the heart of all Christian worship. Unfortunately, in the years following the II Vatican Council, the Church’s desire that all the faithful participate fully in the sacred liturgy was too often rendered a caricature of the Council’s teaching, and misconceptions about the true nature of active participation multiplied. This led to the frenzied expansion of “ministries” among the people and turned worship into a team sport. But it is possible to participate in the liturgy fully, consciously, and actively without ever leaving one’s pew, and it is likewise possible to serve busily as a musician or lector at Mass without truly participating in the sacred liturgy. Both of these are true because the primary meaning of active participation in the liturgy is worshipping the living God in Spirit and truth, and that in turn is an interior disposition of faith, hope, and love which cannot be measured by the presence or absence of physical activity. But this confusion about the role of the laity in the Church’s worship was not the only misconception to follow the liturgical reforms; similar mistakes were made about the part of the priest.

Because of the mistaken idea that the whole congregation had to be “in motion” during the liturgy to be truly participating, the priest was gradually changed in the popular imagination from the celebrant of the Sacred Mysteries of salvation into the coordinator of the liturgical ministries of others. And this false understanding of the ministerial priesthood produced the ever-expanding role of the “priest presider,” whose primary task was to make the congregation feel welcome and constantly engage them with eye contact and the embrace of his warm personality. Once these falsehoods were accepted, then the service of the priest in the liturgy became grotesquely misshapen, and instead of a humble steward of the mysteries whose only task was to draw back the veil between God and man and then hide himself in the folds, the priest became a ring-master or entertainer whose task was thought of as making the congregation feel good about itself.

But, whatever that is, it is not Christian worship, and in the last two decades the Church has been gently finding a way back towards the right ordering of her public prayer. In February 2007 Pope Benedict XVI published an Apostolic Exhortation on the Most Holy Eucharist entitled Sacramentum Caritatis in which he discusses the need for priests to cultivate a proper ars celebrandi or art of celebrating the liturgy. In that document, the pope teaches that “the primary way to foster the participation of the People of God in the sacred rite is the proper celebration of the rite itself,” and an essential part of that work is removing the celebrant from the center of attention so that priest and people together can turn towards the LORD.

Accomplishing this task of restoring God-centered liturgy is one of the main reasons for returning to the ancient and universal practice of priest and people standing together on the same side of the altar as they offer in Christ, each in their own way, the sacrifice of Calvary as true worship of the Father. In other words, the custom of ad orientem celebration enhances, rather than diminishes, the possibility of the people participating fully, consciously, and actively in the celebration of the sacred liturgy.

Father Jay Scott Newman