Bigbulkyanglican

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.

Moving update

Several people have prompted me that I have not updated on "the move" for quite a while - so this brief update will save me repeating myself.

+ I am now in my last three weeks at Oakworth with my final Sunday on May 18th - I hand over to the Wardens and the Ministry Team in the week beginning 5th May, and then the final week beginning the 12th is a dizzy round of farewells and visiting individuals. It is hard to put into words how strange this already feels - and I can't see it getting better until the deed is done. I will hugely miss Oakworth and its people.

+I have already started shedding my other commitments in youth work, spiritual direction and music some of which go back over a 15 years. To date this "moving on" has been a very positive experience - it is sense groups and organisations move on without me at a time of considerable strength for most of them. The personal farewells are inevitably more difficult.

We are moving to an excellent Chaplaincy House in Linlithgow which is both easily accessible to the motorway networks for the national part of the role and to Grangemouth where I will have a two day a week face to face base. Details of address and telephone etc will be emailed out when they are finalised. Initially I will be working from home until I can review the advisability of an office base for the work.

+ From a family point of view the house is different from No 18 - much more modern but smaller in some respects. Scots will understand me when I say that it is in the important secondary school catchment area - and we look forward to life in Linlithgow as a town - and the access to many leisure and music places as well.

+ We are moving 27-29th May, and I start the chaplaincy work on 2nd June. The initial few weeks will be taken up with induction and orientation and during the early part of July two weeks family holiday.

+ There will be a commissioning/licencing service in September at a time and venue yet to be agreed. This feels good to me because it will be a gathering of people that I have already had the chance to meet. I will post the details here when they are known.

Having past 50 without too much sense of its significance last summer while I was sabbatical - I now move towards celebrating 30 years of full-time ministry in the July with a whole new range of opportunities in front of me.

I realised the other week travelling down from Scotland that this kind of move would have scared me witless only a few years ago!

Now perhaps age has blessed me with a new realism while at the same time adding experience, and hopefully none the less energy.

I have much appreciated people's encouragement and support, (particularly from Scotland) over the past few months as we negotiate this move.

Moving news "distress"

One of those moments that "clergy on the move" dread happened to me today - when someone who I have been particularly close to during the past four years suddenly heard the news that I am moving to a new ministry in Scotland and was distressed/outraged that he had "not been told" - a feeling enhanced when he discovered that others have known for several months.

It is one of life's mysteries how M managed to slip through the web of information which has been woven to convey this news as widely as possible through a whole range of networks. The fact that he is linked into both an ecclesiastical and a musical network makes the "failure" all the more puzzling.

Several telephone conversations were predicated upon my assumption that he knew, but I can see with hindsight how he did not "hear" what was being said.

Its an odd business communication . . .

Tim Keller's "Reason for God" Website

Tim Keller (Pastor of The Redeemer Church in New York)has now launched a website which goes with his book " The Reason for God".

If you can overcome the cultural hurdles of mega-Church culture then I think that there is material here which will be helpful.

I am particularly struck by Keller's advocacy that the Gospel is not religious or irreligious - interesting parallels with some 60s British theology ( which went nowhere) but also some creative prompts for missional Churches.

Forgive and forget?

Forgiveness is a really tough matter, because all too often it is packaged with a explicit/implicit requirement that we also "forget".

I guess lots of other subscribers to the Daily Reflections from Henri Nouwen's Foundation will have been struck by today's contribution:

"Forgiving does not mean forgetting. When we forgive a
person, the memory of the wound might stay with us for a
long time, even throughout our lives. Sometimes we carry the
memory in our bodies as a visible sign. But forgiveness
changes the way we remember. It converts the curse into a
blessing. When we forgive our parents for their divorce, our
children for their lack of attention, our friends for their
unfaithfulness in crisis, our doctors for their ill advice,
we no longer have to experience ourselves as the victims of
events we had no control over.

Forgiveness allows us to claim our own power and not let

these events destroy us; it enables them to become events

that deepen the wisdom of our hearts. Forgiveness indeed

heals memories."

St Paul meets Robert Burns

Today is both The Feast of the Conversion of St Paul in the Christian Calender and Burns Night in Scotland offering the chance to celebrate two remarkable men and their lives.

Now Paul and Robert are very different characters to say the least, but they share in common the impact that their "radical" writings have on people today.

Good post here on the radical significance of St Paul and here for non-Scots on what all the Robert Burns fuss is about.

Grow your own priest

Mosts years various members of the family take a special delight in finding the tackiest religious Christmas present that they can find for me.

A certain shop in Leeds seems to have a hot line to reject Catholic tick tack of the kind that is sold at the duty free Shop at Knock airport.

This year there was also an assortment of Scottish and nautical presents added to my Santa sack.

But tonight I am making use at a meeting of our Ministry Development Team of one of the best 2007 presents which is a Grow your own priest toy - basically when you baptise him ( and it seems anatomically to be a him) then he grows 600% in size!

Questions for the Bishop of Rochester?

Picture courtesy of The Daily Mail

The Bishop of Rochester's latest take on Muslim presence in the UK receives the attention it does because of his status as a Bishop, his personal identity of Pakistani origin, and his role in inter-faith work at a national level. See a selection of coverage here

One would have hoped in the interests of the Church and the country that his views would therefore be so informed as to come across with real authority.

I take it as read that he sincerely believes what he has said, and that he has been accurately reported by the Sunday Telegraph. If either where not the case then he has had ample opportunity in other media to refute the published words. 

Sadly what it does is raise is fundamental questions about his intentions, his sources and his perspectives.

It is important to read what he actually wrote for the paper, rather than the summaries, so that it is possible to get a feel for the nuances of what he wrote- read here.

1. It is the tone of the article which raises the first important question - "who" is the Bishop writing for - for this is the first and fundamental question of any episcopal contribution to a national paper. Did he think that it would have a positive impact on Muslim leadership? Is it aimed at the many Christian readers of the Sunday Telegraph who might gain encouragement from his views on Christianity? Is it a predominately "political" target audience trying to influence political decisions and progress.

Plainly no-one other than the Bishop and his immediate advisers can answer that - but it would interesting to know whether they feel they have achieved their objectives?

In practice it does seem to have gained support from the kind of xenophobic views which are the staple diet of the Mail and its right wing competitors. Does the Bishop regard it as a success that he gains support like this or this which are the more unequivocal responses to his words?

2. Much attention has been focused on his implicit claim that Muslim "no-go areas" exist - but this raises the question about where these no-go areas are other than in the Bishop's fearful perception. If they exists as he claims then he should say where they are and define what he means by the term no-go area. Is he talking about very localised streets, local neighbourhoods, ward sized areas or what. It is this claim that appears to provoke the strongest negative response from people living and working in the cities which CMS's Richard Sudworth among others neatly and very charitably sums up here.

3. The generalisations of the comment (even allowing for the brevity of a newspaper article) cause me to ask other questions - how much contact and real experience does the Bishop have with Muslim communities here in the UK. From his own CV it seems to be very limited which raises the question of how qualified he is to speak about British Muslim experience, given the very limited time he has lived here in the UK and the nature of his employment here which have been pretty rarified to say the least?

4. When he writes about the lost era of "Christian" Britain it frankly sounds like a wishful longing for a state of the nation which never really existed - but it does raise the question whether he regards it as a "way forward". What does his Christian Britain of the future really look like - does it have any place for people of other faiths and their contribution to the good of society.

5. When the Bishop writes of the changing nature of chaplaincies does he not yet realise that the call for a neutral "multi-faith" approach comes more from a secular " all faiths are the same" type approach rather than from Muslim calls for distinctiveness - indeed such practices work against the distinctiveness of all the faiths as they are lumped to together. To that extent Muslims are the allies of Christians not the opponents.

6. The most telling question comes from a friend and Muslim leader and theologian - a third generation Lancastrian British Muslim who is deeply fearful that the Bishop represents the kind of "Pakistan based thinking" that some Mosques are working so hard to rid their own leadership of. It is precisely this lack of British understanding which the Bishop is re-enforcing. That for me raises questions about whether the Church of England and the Bench of Bishops has offered undue credence to the Bishop and his views because he is "from" Pakistan ("and understands these things") when in fact Muslim experience is moving away from the perspective precisely because people "from" Pakistan struggle to understand what is happening here. Ahaz puts the question sharply like this "Is it inconsistent to demand British born and educated Imams so that they can understand and work within the culture, but at the same time give credence to the views of a 1/2 generation British/Pakistani Bishop". I would ask whether the Bishops particular background may lead to a Pakistani perspective on Islam which is fundamentally unhelpful when trying to understand British Islam - furthermore does this extend to his understanding of Christianity in Britain?

Can I finish by highlighting a sad irony: the story was launched on the Feast Day of the Epiphany when Matthew records that it was strangers of the east that reveal The Manifestation of Christ. Moreover he records that it was " the whole of Jerusalem" and not just Herod that was "troubled" by this - but he nevertheless points out that it was these strangers who were the first to worship and recognise "God with us" in the infant Jesus. The danger is that the Bishop's views as expressed or exploited, fuel a fear of the stranger, while contributing nothing to resolving the real issues that do exist for British Muslims such as challenging fundamentalism, for inter-faith understanding, or the Christian concern for prophetic justice of which the Bishop writes.

Has the article raised important questions that take forward our understanding of our Muslim neighbours? I fear not.

Which theologian are you?

I rather tend to ignore on-line quizzes since they tend to be fairly predictable. But I feel rather out of touch with "formal" theologians so was quite unable to predict the outcome of how I would be aligned with the great figures of theology.

The result probably provides real proof of my theological ambiguity since it lists Karl Barth ahead of Paul Tillich but makes no mention of him in the final result!

You scored as a Paul Tillich

Paul Tillich sought to express Christian truth in an existentialist way. Our primary problem is alienation from the ground of our being, so that our life is meaningless. Great for psychotherapy, but no longer very influential.

Karl Barth 80%

Paul Tillich 80%

Jürgen Moltmann 80%

Charles Finney 67%

Martin Luther 67%

Friedrich Schleiermacher 60%

John Calvin 40%

Augustine 33%

Jonathan Edwards 33%

Anselm 0%

PS Just to demonstrate my theological ignorance is "Jonathan Edwards" not the triple jumper who recently found faith in renouncing his "Christian" faith?

You can find out who you are most like here

Primary Agency and The Trinity - a missional model

I have not had the time recently to continue with an extended write-up of the pastoral experience of primary agency as a missional model of The Trinity, so it has been interesting recently to hear myself and the idea being quoted in a three settings.

The initial motivation came from a desire to get The Trinity down from the dusty shelves of "serious theology" or "difficult topic" or something we look at on the Sunday after Pentecost - and would you believe Church of England incumbents least favourite sermon topic. As Michael said to be at a set of traffic lights on the outskirts of Leeds " this is our God why we don't live it"

This is an idea that seems to be developing legs.

In keeping with the times the most recent example came from a quiet day via a pod-cast, and I would want to make clear that this is not intended as a corrective of what I am quoted as saying - more an update on the thinking.

Some preliminary points (a health warning perhaps) need to be made first:

1. This is provisional pastoral theology - I am not claiming the ability or need to write or comment on formal doctrines of The Trinity - such work and writing informs what I write and it is valuable but I do not wish to engage in a dialogue at that level.

2. Clearly what I write is influenced by notions of "The Social Trinity" - but I have also read some of the criticism of the model and would accept some of them - particular for those adherents who claim elements of exclusivity for the concept. I see "The Social Trinity" as a pastorally helpful aid rather than the "definitive way forward" for doctrinal discussions.

3. The focus and purpose is experiential and pastoral - I recognise that the inherent danger in such approach is that people believe that we can only write about or believe in what we can experience. So be clear where I stand ( see 4.) and then accept that in terms of pastoral support and spiritual direction it is entirely appropriate to focus on how an individual and Christians collective have and continue to experience God who is Trinity.

4. I wholly hold to the orthodox faith on The Trinity - God being God etc. The Doctrine of the Trinity is the Faith and the Truth it is not dependent upon what we in this age experience about God. With filioque exceptions this is the Catholic faith which I wholly accept and believe.

5. Primary agency does not suggest an exclusive relationship  - so there is no suggestion for example that the Spirit has an exclusive relationship with the world in the model below.

The model of primary agency suggests that in the history of the Church there have have been particular ( but not exclusive) attributes to Christians' relationship with the three persons of the Trinity.

In line with Social Trinity thought, the emphasis on "personhood" is not to anthropomorphise the 'divine' or emphasise the difference or distinct nature of the persons - personhood emphasises that it is possible to have a relationship with The Trinity.

Firstly I suggest that The Father is the main focus for the relationship of the individual - for human beings to have a fruitful Christian faith there needs to be living and vibrant relationship as an individual with the Father. This is the fundamental element of the faith relationship - in fact most theistic people have it inherent in their being. The words commonly used are "being" and "sense". In spiritual direction work it can be a profitable starting point for people seeking faith, and also a point of renewal for those fearful of loosing their faith. The Gospel accounts illustrate how fundamental this relationship is for Jesus. When worship goes "stale" for people I frequently found they have lost ( or never found) this relationship within worship. A simple acid test is to ask people who they think they are addressing when liturgy uses the word "Lord" - it is intriguing especially among faith loosing evangelicals how often they are focus on Jesus are Lord ( certainly sound but not the liturgical point). It is the Father who offers the truest understanding of the creedal word "Holy"

Then I suggest that Jesus is the main focus for the relationship of the Church - Jesus founded and commissioned the Church - and the relationship with Jesus remains the touch-stone for the life and work of the Church. This raises particular issues for Pentecostal-charismatic churches (whose focus tends to be on the Spirit) and for high Anglican churches (whose focus tends to be on numonous Father) but also interestingly for some reformed evangelical churches ( whose focus on an anthropomorphised Jesus which tends to be heavily filtered by Paul, rather than on the Gospel accounts) The key experiential words here are "example" ( hopefully at a little more sophisticated way than the cliche WWJD) and "knowledge". Jesus is the focus for our understanding of the sacraments, for the orders of the Church, and sadly often the divisions within The Church. It is Jesus who offers us the true sense of the creedal word "Catholic.

Then I suggest that The Holy Spirit is the main focus for the relationship with the World. It is the Spirit of God which since the creation of the world is the active and dynamic agent of love which is at work in all human beings, in the structures of society, and the whole of creation. This is a challenge to all those of many traditions within the Church who engage in the "ecclesiastical captivity of the Spirit" ie claim that the Spirit is most or only present within the Church or where Christians are present in the world. So for example I have realised recently that there are two forms of " prayer walking" - there is a form which believes that God is already present where we walk and we are by our prayers being salt to that presence : by contrast there is a second form which, implicitly or even unintentionally, believes that the act of praying takes God into that place or situation. The experiential words here are: "agent", "experience" and "instinct". It is the Spirit which offers us the true sense of the creedal word " Apostolic".

Can I emphasise that this is in a very potted form (those who have heard me speak about it will perhaps say very potted)

I found the model useful:

in spiritual direction, where in particular it enables people to identify where there most favoured relationship resides (and has that gone stale for example), it enables people to identify which person of the Trinity they least relate to or struggle with which can provide an interesting way forward through spiritual exercises to build or renew that relationship - and crucially it offers a way of assessing the Trinitarian health/balance of their Church.

in understanding where other Christians are coming from - what lies behind their commitment, their fears, their passions, and not least their prejudices and intolerance.

in understanding my own Christian tradition and other traditions  for example how has Anglo-Catholicism lost its "founding" missional edge and become a club for the like-minded refugee from other missional trends within the Church?

in understanding the dynamics, weaknesses and strengths of particular churches - it may suggest that Anglo-Catholics favour the Father, middle of the road and evangelicals favour Jesus, and Charismatic/Pentecostals favour the Holy Spirit. Perhaps renewal in each tradition comes from a focus on another person.

in understanding how clerical leadership relates to those churches - do they favour one person while the dynamic of their church or particular congregations favour another?

and in the wider trends within the Church - for example in understanding the growth of gathered mega-churches as the last call of the modern age - but that as they say is whole other subject!

Can I emphasise that this is a missional model (not a doctrinal statement) - it is provisional ( and as yet very little tested by others) and I welcome responses by email or comment.

Some of the comments and illustrations have been taken from other contexts where there was the space and time to develop and critique them.

. . .  and yes I know there is a book here!

PS. I have experienced some posting problems which mean that initial post did not appear on this blog - but may have appeared on RSS feeds. This is current version.